Gator Bait!

This is a CRAZY picture that a friend of mine posted today.  It was taken yesterday by a family on their way home from church.  This is from the East coast of Florida in the Palm City area.  The gator is eating a wild hog.  The big vultures are hoping for a scrape or two. Thought this was a wild picture!!!  The joys of living in Florida!

Good thing I didn't see this picture yesterday!  Jon & I wanted to go to the woods to hike but the day flew by.  We finally had time right after the sun set.  So we loaded up and went.  We included flash lights, head lights (lights worn on the head) and MACE (the real stuff not the $10 kind you can buy at Walmart)  There is a preserve right near our house so we went there.  After all the crazy little tiny trails we went on Saturday, we went on a nice big one, made by a machine with some shell on it so it was nicer.  Anyhow we got out there and it was pitch dark except for the moon.  After I got over being nervous, it was really quite the adventure and I'm glad I went with him.  Wish I could have taken pictures but it was too dark.  We could feel cold air streams, then we'd walk into an area with warm air streams.  Jon kept telling me there were ancient Indian burial spots out there.....  I did refuse to go down by the river with him!  It was not a night to run into gators!!!

Well hope everyone is having a good start to their week!!!!

All about Books

Books are your friends!   Who remembers that quote?  My absolute favorite thing to do is READ!  I can read for hours, read while I eat, read while everyone else watches tv, I've had way too many "reading hangovers" from staying up to finish a book when I ought to have gone to bed!  The only thing I can't do is read in a car-I will get terribly carsick!

My all time favorite author is Agatha Christie.  I have all her books, every last one of them.  Some are not in the best of shape so I'm in the process of replacing some of the paperbacks.  A new (to me) author is Rhys Bowen.  She has two main characters, one set in 1930'a England and one in 1900 New York.  I like Diana Mott Davidson too with her Goldy the cater, although her teenage son needs her to straighten him out LOL.  Joanne Fluke and her Cookie Cater is also good.   Blaze Clement who has a series about Dixie a pet sitter is great too, it's set on Siesta Key, one of my favorite places. There is also Mary Higgins Clark, her daughter, Carol Higgins Clark and Mary Jane Clark (no kin)/  And I confess to Janet Evanovich and her Stephanie Plum books.    These are just a few of my favorite book series. 

The book "Winds of War" and its' follow up "War and Remembrance " by Herman Wouk are very good but LONG and deep.  There is also a movie based on the books.

My favorite classic book is "To Kill A Mockingbird"  by Harper Lee.  I can reread that book over and over.  Ms. Lee never wrote another book, I often wonder why she didn't but her one book is so good maybe nothing else would measure up. 

As a child I read voraciously, and would read anything put before me whether it was the Tallahassee Democrat or Reader's Digest.  I read the Bible through yearly.  I honestly can not remember NOT knowing how to read.  Don't ask me how I learned but I was reading the newspaper by the time I went to kindergarten.  I knew all about Vietnam and Nixon.  Believe me that is my only parlor trick-reading early LOL

During 3rd grade, I had to go through months of "patching" my lazy eye.  My aunts were too afraid of surgery to allow me to have my eye surgically repaired so I had to wear a patch for that year.  I can not see well enough with my left eye, the "bad" eye to read so it was hell for me.  My aunts had to read to me for hours, but it just wasn't the same for me.  I had a HORRIBLE teacher who spanked my hand with a ruler for not writing correctly with the patch on.  That was a trying year that really didn't do much for my eye and kept me from reading. 

My 5th grade teacher Mrs Musgrove read us the book "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" by E. L. Konigsburg.  I LOVED that book.  I've read it several times since, even as an adult.   Other children's books I liked was the whole "Little House on the Prairie" series and "Tom Sawyer"  One book I read was about a little girl whose family had a baby dropped off on their doorstep.  They named her Sally, which is what I named my pet pig....I've never been able to find that book again but it was so sweet and the illustrations were very pretty and unique.  Anyone know the name of that book?

When I go to the library, I usually get 10-20 books.  I always have done that and people always comment. But I read them, even the "boring" ones.  Better to have a boring book than no book!  Even autobiography's or biographies are interesting to me, especially if they share some juicy gossip.  Self help books do nothing for me tho!

I LOVE mysteries.  I prefer them with a bit of humor in them.  Generally speaking, I don't like male authors...sorry....but all too often I read more about the criminal mind than I want to know, too dark for me.  Had enough of that in classes as a probation officer.....    There are a few male writers like Jonathan Kellerman that I like in small doses.   I've read some Stephen King but can't do that too much either.

So a little confession, I try and get Large Print when I can and if not, I have a humongous magnifying glass that I use.  If I don't use it, everything goes blurry after awhile.  And NO I do not want any type of "e-book" that really tires my eyes out plus I read too fast, it annoys me having to have the words enlarged and then only having a short area to read before I have to move it again!!!  

My husband is a reader but he is so slow.  He tends to buy more books than I do and some he never finishes which drives me bonkers.  We recently gave away three huge boxes of books of his. Steve  and Shad do read but they like only the most current best sellers it seems.  I'm glad they do like to read but they prefer video games and movies to books-I can't understand that!!

One thing I don't read very much is anyone else's blogs!  I'm afraid I will try to imitate the writers.  Plus I do not like ADS!  Aren't you glad I don't put ads on my blog?  I've been contacted by several companies as well as some individuals to post ads on here and I resisted.  It was not a hard decision for me as much as I hate ads on other blogs.  I enjoy writing my blog and I don't want any interference. 


Here is the link for the FB page for this blog.  On days when I don't blog, I will usually do an update to the page.  You can like it and then see any updates.  Feel free to share it also.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Real-Life-By-Yvonne/1405082996394656

Happy Late Thanksgiving

Hope all of you have had a great Thanksgiving season.  We've had some great family time these last few days and are grateful for times like this, to focus on our relationships.  I have barely looked at the computer in the last few days:)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm so sorry my blog is all freaking out with the pictures-  That was basically a recap of our day backwards!  I can't see the pictures as I write the blog.

 

We only had my brother in law and his family over for Thanksgiving, the smallest group and the BIGGEST turkey- all 24 pounds.  We ate, went out to the house and then ate some more.  Jon and his brother Jim went and spent some time with their dad.  I stayed home with Selah as we had a few hours with no nurse. 

 

We did NOT do Black Friday or Thursday either but I did let Steve talk me into going to Walmart  later on Friday afternoon.  Thankfully there was hardly anyone there and we did find some DVDs for $2 and some PJ sets for all the little ones for only $4. 

 

Today Jon and I went on a hike in the woods, it was very pretty and peaceful except for all the sky divers parachuting from our local airport.  When they jump, you can hear it and when there are 10 jumping at a time, it sounded almost like gun fire.  Today was a beautiful day for jumping out of perfectly good planes if that what you wanted to do!  LOL  Not a cloud was in the sky and the temp was in the 70's.  But I'd rather be walking on the ground than speeding towards it from the air! 

 

Again I hope you all are having a great relaxing holiday season.  I know I am so thankful for all God has given me.  We are blessed.

 

 

 

 

 

Misty Rain

This picture is from yesterday.  It is our road with misty rain and fog about 2pm in the afternoon.  I thought the picture turned out lovely!

I will tell you a funny....  I'm outside taking pictures, it was just so beautiful and still.  A second after I took this picture there was a huge lightning flash and thunderclap!  I thought I was a goner!!!!  Well thankfully I did not get hit and I did get a beautiful picture. 

We have the most unusual rain sometimes, it is a soft, misty rain with fog.  It's always alluded my efforts to catch it in a picture.  I've never seen "our kind of rain" anywhere else.  It's almost like being at Niagara Falls  and having the mist all around.  It's just gives the most peaceful feeling.....

Well I hope all my American readers have a Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow.  Our turkey has been defrosting and I plan to put it in the oven around 3 am this morning so it's done early.   We were laughing at how BIG it is (24 pounds) and this year we have the smallest crowd in years 10 people...we'll have a lot left over.  This turkey weighs FIVE pounds more than Sarah did when we brought her home at 5.5 years old.  For some reason that has just freaked me out!!  She's a lot bigger than the turkey now and thanks to my wonderful Magic Bullet she will be chowing down on the turkey tomorrow right along with us! My girl LOVES to eat! 

Racism has no place in America!

I don't know about you but we were watching the TV last night as the verdict from the Grand Jury was read last night.  And I'm angry!  I'm angry that people would react to our court system like they did.  I'm angry that racism is used as an excuse for lawlessness.  I'm angry that our leaders have no backbone or may even want to stir up racism in their comments. 

For 13 years altogether I worked in the juvenile justice system.  I can honestly say I do not remember any situation where a probation officer, a cop, a judge, or a lawyer acted in a racist way towards anyone "in the system"  There were times when it was an "us vs. them" situation BUT the "us" might just be a black officer dealing with a black teen.  It was law enforcement verse criminal, whether the criminal was black, white or Hispanic. 

My husband has worked in law enforcement as an officer ( just a little over a year or two) and as a chaplain ( now close to 17 years)   He has seen or heard of  a few incidents of possible racism over the years but it was as apt to be a black officer on a white criminal as it was to be a white officer on a black criminal.  In fact the last firing/resigning I know of was of a black officer who said something to a white criminal who was baiting him.  My sympathy was 100% with the officer!  When I heard from someone what had happened, I could have cried!  I had known the officer for some years and always thought the world of him.  I KNOW that officer did not hate whites, he was just pushed beyond his self control by a white criminal and said & maybe did something ( I can not remember all the details right now) that he should not have, being the professional he was, and he lost his job. 

I HATE that this whole Ferguson incident has become about race.  I'm very proud that the Grand Jury listened to the testimonies and made a decision based on facts NOT stories and not emotions!  It is quite interesting that the "witnesses" stories began to change once the autopsy reports came out, reporting that Brown had not been shot in the back.  If you listened to what the DA said last night, it was almost laughable as he talked about witnesses who changed their stories or who backed away from testifying once other witnesses and evidence made it clear that the people were lying.  I'm so proud that many in that community stepped up and told the truth of what they saw, I'm sure some were scared of their own friends and neighbors because the real story did not fit in to what the race baiters wanted to be told. 

I do not believe that Officer Wilson targeted or shot Brown because he was black.   Officer Wilson was a cop in good standing.  Michael Brown was a criminal who had just robbed a store.....  Brown was much bigger than Officer Wilson and had drugs in his system.   No one reported that Officer Wilson said anything racist to Brown.  Wilson has no background of doing anything like that at all.

This is a blog that I thought was very good....
http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/hey-ferguson-protestors-justice-has-been-done-but-you-never-wanted-justice/


I wish this country could get past always having people make things be "black verse white"   I don't know about you but I judge people on their character NOT the color of their skin.  There are some crappy white folks and their are some wonderful black folks....there are also great white folks and awful black folks....or Hispanic, Asian etc.....   The color of someone's skin is not an indicator of the person's character.  There are white people I would not want to be alone in a room with!  And then there are some black folks I'd trust my life to.....  So don't allow race baiters to turn something that was NOT about race ever.....but about a cop trying to protect a community from a thug!

Why INTERNATIONAL Adoption?

Have you heard of this story?
http://www.wfla.com/story/27459315/us-congressman-aids-in-dunedin-couples-intercontinental-adoption

A local Florida family adopted a very sick little boy from the Congo and has had to fight for months to bring him home.  Our US Congressman Mario Rubio got involved and helped the family.  (I LOVE Rubio!)  Anyhow the story is sweet and all has ended well, hopefully the little boy will get the surgery he needs and live a long happy life with his new sweet family.

So I read the comment section, I rarely do but I was SHOCKED at the very very nasty comments directed towards this family and to international adoption in general.

Let me answer some questions for folks who do not understand......


First, International adoption and US adoption generally cost about the same, around $25,000.  Most of that cost is legal fees to the governments and to lawyers.  Often an healthy infant adoption in the US is closer to $60,000 and the cost of the birth mom's housing and medical bills are involved.  I do not know anyone personally who adopted that way as it is so expensive.    Recently I saw the announcement for a few special needs adoptions in the US that were $25,000 -$30,000.  

Second, Adoption from the foster care system is often said to be something people should do BEFORE they ever think about going overseas.  Well......for the record MANY children caught in the foster care system are NOT available for adoption.  I have had quite a few friends who have been or are foster parents and have wished to adopt the child(ren) they were fostering only to see that child(ren) go back to the birth parents OR to other relatives.  That is how the American Foster Care System is set up, reunification of the family is the goal.  And if reunification of the family is not a possibility, then IF there is a willing relative, the child will go to them.  So even though we have millions in the foster care system, only a small percentage will be adoptable.  Many years ago we looked into adoption from foster care and were totally turned off by the uncertainty of the process.  We were told we'd have to go through classes and then do foster care.  Then if a child came through we would have to go through about a year process IF the child was released for adoption.  I did not want to deal with all the emotional parts of this, knowing a few families who were devastated by having to give their beloved child back to parents or relatives.  So adopting from foster care can be free financially, sometimes even giving the adoptive family a monthly stipend for the child BUT it is costly emotionally. 


Third, for all the folks ( I replaced the word folks for the word I had written LOL)  who don't understand, International adoption requires approval from the US government and a foreign government.  It is MUCH more stringent than a private US adoption or even adopting from the Foster Care system.  People get through the cracks in all systems because each layer of protection is dependent on the layer underneath to get the right info on families.  For international adoption, a family must first be approved by a REAL home study agency/social worker.  Then they have to pass the state & local  background check and any other state/township area lived in the past.  Then they have to have a clear record with the Child Protection Agency for the state they live in and any states they've lived in the past 10 years.  Up to this point domestic and international adoption is equal....but for families wanting to adopt internationally, they then must be approved by the Department of Homeland Security.  That includes a nationwide background check as well as meeting ALL of the Department's requirements which are higher than state requirements.  THEN when ALL of that is done the dossier of paperwork is sent to the country the family wished to adopt from.  The family must show they meet all that countries' requirement AND passed international Interpol's background screening.   Also some countries have different standards.  China has a higher medical standard that parents have to pass.  Most countries will not adopt to single people or to homosexual couples.  Some countries do not allow divorced people to adopt and have age limits.  So....if you adopt internationally your family is scrutinized deeply and there are many more rules to follow.


Fourth, our US Foster Care system is flawed BUT it's so much better than anything I've seen in other countries.  The system might break down here, some children may not get all the services or medical care they need and in a few cases, a child might be abused BUT the difference is some adult will get in trouble, lose their job, go to jail, depending on the situation and hopefully change will come out of the situation.  No system is perfect but some are better than others! When I think back to the orphanages I've seen, they would be shut down in the US. 

In our personal case, we were not planning or thinking about adoption either time we adopted.  With Shad we "just happened" to get a newsletter that told about him and our hearts were moved since we had just had Sam.  With Sarah, I "just happened" to see her picture and was moved because of the similarities between her and Sam.  And Selah was a precious surprise to us.....

Some people adopt because they can't have biological children. Some  adopt a specific gender.  Some people think it is the "Christian thing to do"  We adopted because somehow THOSE children were OUR children. 

Yes we had thought about adoption after we'd been married a couple of years and couldn't get pregnant.  But we were turned off by the cost and the fear of going through the foster care system.  Plus we were not sure we were ready to give up our childless life!!!   Then again after I'd had Steve I read an article about the "dying rooms" in Chinese orphanages and I prayed that God would let us one day adopt a child to save them from that fate.  (BTW, I believe I saw a "dying room" in Shad's orphanage) But I didn't look into it or do any research on adoption.   Then after Sam was born, adoption was not on our radar at all.  It was not discussed nor research in any way until we saw Shad's picture and read about him and our hearts were moved.  Once we had our three boys, we didn't think about adoption again except once briefly right after we adopted Shad.  At the time I saw Sarah's picture, it was not something we ever thought we would do again at our age.  But once again we were drawn to THAT child.  Then as the adoption progressed we decided to adopt another little blind boy who was in Sarah's orphanage.  He was adopted by another family and then that's when we learned of Selah.

Having been in the girls' orphanage for weeks, there were three children who we were drawn to by daily interacting with them.  We were in the process of researching the possibility of adopting one or all of them before the accident happened.  

So for us adoption was not "something we did" it was always because of SOMEONE we were drawn to specifically.   Every case is different and every family is different. 

I'm for adoption of every kind, anything that gives a child a home and a family to love.  So whether it is an adoption out of the foster care system, or a private adoption or an international adoption....I celebrate it!  

I do have one last word for all those jerks who wrote in the comment section of that article, the ones who were so very concerned for the orphans in America....WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT?????

Waves.....

I'm a Florida girl.  I love the ocean and being at the beach.  I love it when the sun is shining and I love watching  a thunderstorm sweep over it.  I love the smell and sound of a beach.  I love the waves.  Nothing is better than riding the waves when a hurricane is out in the Gulf.  Yeah I know you're not supposed to do that but it is great fun.  The last time we did it was years ago but it was a blast in spite of all the bruising I got on my legs from the waves literally knocking me down. 

Well today one of those "waves" hit me.  It washed over me right during Jon's sermon.  We humans are funny.  We can act like nothing is the matter even when our heart is breaking.  I have no idea what triggered the "wave"  But as Jon was speaking and I was sitting on the front row with my kids...a longing for Selah- the Selah before the accident- washed over me so hard that it seemed to take my breath away.  I could remember her little babbling noises and how she loved going to sit at the table to eat.  I could remember the funny little way she tried to drink out of a cup.  SHE came back to me in my mind.  OMG....all these memories just flooded my mind, so clearly.  Sometimes I try and remember Selah and can't....but today I could remember her and oh did it make me miss her so much. 

I had to ride that wave of memories in my head till it was gone.  It left me wishing for all that was lost....Oh Selah.....

So I managed, grateful for being able to remember various nuances of Selah......I gathered myself together.

Then as my husband was finishing up his sermon, he sang a song with the congregation.  Well he didn't have the words of the song....got it a bit messed up.  Then as the crowning touch managed to sing about God as being created rather than the Creator!  -the song is taken from Revelation 4:11 "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are  created.  Thou art worthy O Lord."  He sang it as   "and for thy pleasure thou art created." Anyhow for me, that just took me over the edge.  I was pushing down my laughter and just looking straight ahead.  BUT my husband had to mention his mistake and the fact I was trying not to create a scene and that just did me in!  I started laughing a bit hysterically!!   You HAVE to be a pastor's wife to get it I'm sure but there are just some things that totally crack me up and singing a song really wrong does that ! 

So I went from a deep despair to laughing in a matter of minutes.  Humans are strange like that, sometimes we can't handle our feelings very well.  Or maybe God helps us to be able to be distracted when sorrow rolls over us.  Or maybe I'm just crazy myself.....

We did take pictures today

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My satilitte or computer is messing up once again and I can't see the pictures!
They are from playtime yesterday and church today.  Hope you enjoy!