Carolyn's Random Thoughts

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25757291/ ... it makes me so very sad.

Connor continues to enjoy soccer camp, although he came home early today due to a bit of dehydration – he forgot his water bottle and didn’t drink enough from the coolers they have.  He only missed an hour of camp but I feel bad. 

Our “kittens” celebrated their first birthday this past weekend.  Morgan has had a remarkable change of heart recently and has become something of a lap cat.  He even lets me pet his belly, which is amazing for him.  I’ve woken up several nights with one large purry lump on my side, and the other large purry lump on my feet. 

Compassion has added a picture of Birri to my account online – it was so nice to see her face, although she looks sad.  I was sharing with my mother about Birri and my dilemma about what to write.  Mom immediately starts rattling off what would have been the PERFECT first letter… talking about what an exciting time it is in her life to be about to be a grown woman and all the possibilities… and I sat there open mouthed at the discovery of how much I still have to learn about parenting mentoring.   Of course I don’t have teenagers of my own either.  Yet.  Even though my involvement with Compassion is supposed to about Upendo and Birri, I am still amazed at how much *I* am getting from it.  Now to remember the first lesson when I started writing to Upendo… these are not pen pals, and my letters matter whether I get one back from them or not.  But I must say I’m just about to BUST to hear from Birri.  Those are my favorite stories that Compassion posts, the ones about the kids and their letters.  I hope getting a sponsor letter will put a small smile on that pretty-but-sad face.  If she’s like Upendo, it will be early September before I hear from her at the earliest.  And it could be November/December. 

My kids have six weeks of summer left before school starts.  Where has it gone?  After his strep, Connor rebounded quickly and thoroughly enjoyed the remainder of his week of Cub Scout Day Camp.  We attended the closing ceremonies Friday and enjoyed our ice cream, the Indian dancing, and the skits the kids did.  This week he’s attending soccer camp thru the league he plays in.  Charles says he was very excited to get his new soccer ball (he goes up in size of the ball this year), and I suppose we’ll hear more (much!) tonite.  Before he started playing two years ago I didn’t even know there were different sizes to the balls.

Duncan and I had a scout meeting last night to prepare for resident camp next week.  This included his swim test.  There are nine boys going from Troop 749.  I’m really excited for him as I know they will have a marvelous time.  I just have to get him packed this week so he’s ready to be dropped off on Sunday at 11am. 

On the things-to-waste-your-time-on category, I have been back to visiting Where’s George again since I got a marked bill in March.  It’s a currency tracking project that is quite fun.  It costs nothing except your time in recording all the US currency (bills) that pass through your hands on their website.  I got a hit in Oregon today, my farthest hit so far.  I also got a hit in Gastonia, which is just right down the road.  My other semi-time-waster is the Gas Buddy website.  It helps you find the cheapest gas wherever you are.  I do my part by recording prices for the stations I pass near work every morning.

I discovered a new opportunity through Compassion this week by reading their blog… for kids whose sponsors don’t write to them, they take volunteers to write.  You run the risk that their sponsor will exit the program, and then you’d have to pick it up or let them transition to their new sponsor, but still… have I mentioned how much Compassion stresses the value of the letters, that they are as important as your financial contributions?  I saw this as an opportunity for me to continue to grow in the mentor role, and to let some child reap the return benefits, without taking on something else I can’t afford now.  So I emailed Compassion, and they put me on the waiting list, stating it was as much as three months waiting for a child needing a correspondent.  Imagine my surprise then when I logged onto the site to get their address (I’ve got a math workbook I’m mailing to Upendo) and saw I had been assigned a child to write to!   Her name is Birri, and she’s in Ethiopia.  She’s older (almost 18) and in the 7^th grade.  My first reaction was “Oh, wow, what do you say to a young adult?!”  But then it hit me that I didn’t know what to say to Upendo in the first letter either.  I would never have picked an older child, but I trust that God handed me what I needed.  I also saw in her profile how she likes singing & music – the last letter I wrote to Upendo I spoke about how much I enjoyed music and how often I see God reaching out to me through music.  I called this morning and spoke to a sponsor/donor representative with a few questions about her; she’s been in the program for 11 years.  I wonder if she has ever gotten a letter from the generous people who have sponsored her all this time.  It breaks my heart a bit, but hopefully my time and letters will help.  I mailed my first letter to her this morning.

I took a positive step towards improving our finances the past few days.  I did a little scrutiny on our budget, and looked for things we could change or do without.  As of 7/31, we'll be on digital phone, and will save $80/mth for the next two years.  I cancelled a subscription to a game I rarely play, which will save $12.99/mth.  I'm going to cancel a second game which is $9.99/mth that the kids no longer play.  I regularly check Gas Buddy and try to time my fuel purchases when I'm near a cheaper station.  I did that this morning when I went to Aldi's for fruit and snacks and paid $3.89/gallon for regular.  So there's over $100/mth to put towards the medical bills that rolled in from my kidney stone last month.  I also am putting more time into couponing and rebating again, and I just traded with a lady for $65 in rebate forms, and am joining a coupon train at Hot Coupon World to swap coupons to see if I can get more of what I can use.

So what are YOU doing to battle the high gas and food prices at your house?

With the food prices soaring, I know we are all feeling the pinch.  I myself have started hitting Aldi’s to get fruit and snacks.  It’s not in my normal travel pattern but I’m going once a week because of things such as bananas being $0.25/lb cheaper.  Bread is over $1.00 per loaf cheaper.  I spend time on sites like The Grocery Game and Hot Coupon World to find the best deals to keep my bill down.

I read a post on the Compassion blog yesterday that reminded me how lucky we still have it.  It talked about the Global Food Crisis and how much the rising prices and lack of supply are affecting third world countries.   What struck me was a post about a visit to Tanzania, near Arusha, which is where Upendo (the girl I sponsor in Tanzania) lives.  It discusses a mother who was sick and in the hospital, and her children had to choose between bringing her food at the hospital, or buying food for themselves.  What if this was Upendo’s mother?  Even though I know Compassion is doing a lot for her, is it enough?  It’s sobering to be jolted out of your fantasy that you are “doing the right thing” and discover it might not be enough….  When I started sponsoring Upendo in February, it meshed nicely with my personal philosophy of giving a hand up, not hand-outs.   I have reaped the benefits of my $32/month sponsorship in the spiritual growth from the letter writing she and I have done.  On days such as yesterday, God pushes me to grow a little more, as he nudges issues like this into my awareness.

On another note, I have a new goal… to raise $4,000 by November 8^th.  Why you ask?  So I could go visit Upendo in Tanzania.  Compassion regularly offers trips to the countries they serve, and Tanzania is up in February 2009.  ONLY $4,000.  I’m really hoping for a lucky lottery ticket so I could go.  Truthfully, I expect it will be the next trip, or the trip after that for me.  But if anyone has a spare 4K laying around…. I did apply to be considered for the next Compassion Bloggers trip to the Dominican Republic.  It occurs this November.   I don’t expect to be invited to go, but I’m passionate about getting others to reach out and sponsor these kids.  Plus, it makes me work harder to grow my writing skills and my readership.  It’s win-win, whether I get to go or not.  I’ve discovered as I share my journey with my friends that several sponsor children through Compassion and other organizations.  The T. family sponsors a little boy in China.  My friend T.G. sponsors a little girl in Thailand through Compassion.  If you don’t do it to be charitable, do it for yourself.

What a terrible blogger I am to not write in almost three weeks!!  Not a great way to build traffic or friendships, is it?  I need to take a page from Catherine or Shannon and write more!  At least I’ll catch you up on what you’ve missed.

Connor and Duncan finished their school year, and will be out of school until the end of August.  They miss their friends at school and their teachers, but are very glad to have more time to play and relax.  We were very proud of Duncan at his graduation day.  Each year one student per homeroom at his school is given the Principal’s Award, which is for the student who demonstrates the best character.  Duncan was chosen for his class to get this award.  I was so proud I cried when he went up on stage to get his award. 

My mother has finished the radiation treatments for her lung cancer.  Now we wait to see if the cancer has shrunk or disappeared, so this is a time of prayer and hope for us.  We should have news by mid-July to know if the treatment is working to rid her of the disease.  She is feeling better, so we are hopeful.  I went to see her this weekend, and she seems to be doing well.

Connor started Cub Scout Day Camp today.  We had a bit of a trial getting him up and going this morning.  We woke him up about 6:30 am and he SCREAMED at us in tears that he was tired and needed more sleep.   We chuckled and told him nicely he was going to camp anyways.  After he got dressed and found his shoes, we let him lay back down until time to leave.  Charles said he fell asleep in the car again on the way to camp, which started at 8:30 am.  I figure he’ll go to bed easy tonite LOL!  He finished Vacation Bible School the week before July 4^th; they worked on the Ten Commandments.  Next week he heads to soccer camp run by his league; he did this last year and really enjoyed it.  (Note -- the nurse from camp called at 1:23 pm and said come get him, upset stomach.  So Charles did, and took him by the pediatrician.  Good thing, he has a BAD case of strep, so he'll be missing at least tomorrow from camp!  Poor kid!)

Duncan just got home from two weeks at Camp Grandma.  They both enjoy it very much.  He has missed his computer, but otherwise just seems to miss his grandmother.

Our poor kitties have had a rough week or so.  We realized that Morgan had fleas again so we went to the vet on payday to get the prescription flea medication for them both.  Let me tell you, these were some strong willed fleas… I’ve never seen insects fight so hard for their lives in the 2-3 hours after the application of the medicine.  Poor Morgan, he bit and scratched and twitched and talked and just acted miserable.  He reminded me of a Mexican jumping bean in a hot skillet.  Even Brigit was fidgety.  At least until Brigit scared Charlie half to death.  All of a sudden he starts screaming at ME to come help him with Brigit, because she was “foaming at the mouth”.  OK, she was blowing bubbles, but she looked perfectly fine otherwise, except for being indignant at being scooped up so rudely.  After a call to the emergency vet we decided she had licked either her or Morgan’s flea medicine, which tastes really bitter, and it makes them produce bubbles to get it out.  Poor thing.  After about three hours the flea-gate settled down, and both cats slept the WHOLE day the next day.  We are vacuuming and applying flea spray to kill whatever still remains, but Morgan is taking few chances.  He’s been camping in the kitchen where there is no carpet.

I'm just not very chatty.  I need to write long LONG posts and tell you about what I gave my DH for father's day, my latest letter from Upendo, where Mom's illness stands (radiation is DONE), and everything else that is going on.  But I'm too tired.  I'll get to it...

Boy I've really been a bad blogger lately.  I ended up in the emergency room yesterday with what I thought was a kidney stone.  I didn't know how right I was... a 7mm stone!  Today at noon I had a lithroscopy procedure to break it up, and now I feel like someone has kicked me in the back with a steel toed boot.  So forgive me if I don't do much in the next day or two.

Sorry, trying to be funny and probably failed.  Happy Memorial Day!!  Sorry I haven't written, have I mentioned I feel overwhelmed lately?

Eleven days of school left for the boys, and end of grade testing is OVER!  I swear, now they will be partying non-stop til school ends.  Connor's field day is Friday, as well as Duncan's fifth grade picnic.  Wednesday of next week is Duncan's field day, then graduation on Thursday, and the final drama club performance on Friday.  Phew!

Mom has three more radiation treatments left.  I know she is enjoying having this long weekend to recuperate.  Then the hard part starts... four months waiting for the next scan to see if the cancer is gone.

I had my annual eye exam last week, and my glasses changed.  I expressed my unhappiness with my bifocals, and how poorly I've seen this year.  Our compromise is changed bifocals, and a pair of computer glasses.  We'll see how this goes.

Our excitement for the weekend was Charles slipping in the den and badly stubbing his big toe on his right foot.  (This happened late Thursday evening)  I spent Friday running him around; the doctor removed the toenail in it's entirety to avoid infection under the nail.  Say it with me... EWWWWW!!!