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Rusty last week on his first day of school.

Me: “I make a terrible blogger.  I just can’t seem to find time to be on the computer.”

Rusty: “But you make a terrific mother.”

I guess that sums up my week!

Today was Honeybee’s birthday — her second time turning eleven — and tomorrow she’ll have her first ever birthday party.  I have a post in the works and photos to share.

Lots of posts are swirling through my head — maybe I’ll have a quiet moment soon!   Don’t forget to add your thoughts to this week’s Tuesday Topic: Changing Birth Order

Happy almost Friday.

~Lisa

Here it is, a new Tuesday Topic, posted on a Wednesday no less.  I got home from Seattle too late last night to start blogging, although I was tempted.   We had a truly fantastic time at camp and were sad to see it end.  Honeybee and Dimples had good appointments yesterday and we had a decent drive home.  With the two little boys along for the ride, it was a little more challenging than usual, but they did pretty well.

This week’s Tuesday Topic is from Tami who wrote:

We added two children to our family last October, making us a family of six. The newly adopted kids are now the oldest and the youngest in our “birth order”.

A big thank you to everyone who has stopped by my blog in the last few days.  Your encouragement and comments mean so much to me.  If you are new to A Bushel and A Peck, and found me through Empowered to Connect or We Are Grafted In, thank you for taking the time to click over to my blog.  I hope you’ll get to know me and that I can be of some help and encouragement to you.  If you would like to get to know me and my blog a little bit more, you can check out my About Me page, and my FAQ’s — or not, either way, I’m glad you are here.

I’ve spent the morning packing for REACH Camp which is a very special event for our family.  REACH is a camp for families that are impacted by HIV/AIDS and our kids look forward to it every Labor Day weekend.

The comments to my recent posts on kids and food issues, Making a Food Plan, and That Darn Beef Jerky, have been very interesting and I am enjoying learning from all of you.  One comment was so helpful that I decided to feature it so none of you miss it.  It is from “C” who writes the blog, By the Way…

When I was working in Ethiopia and told people I was a vegetarian, they either laughed out loud or shrank away in suspicion. At restaurants, waiters wanted to know why I would ask for “peasant food” if I could afford to go out to eat. I was once told that as a “rich American,” I should be eating beef – morning, noon, and night!

In Ethiopia most people live on lentils, chickpea, potato, onion, carrot, beet, and maybe greens or cabbage. Meat is relatively very expensive, and most people eat meat *only when they can afford it.* So, how much meat a family eats is a sign of how well they are doing.

Today my article, Walking Humbly, is being featured at Empowered to Connect.  I am very honored and excited about it!  Empowered to Connect is a wonderful resource for foster and adoptive families created by Dr. Karyn Purvis and Michael and Amy Monroe.

If you have read my blog for long, you know that Dr. Karyn Purvis is one of my heroes. When we were in our deepest place of despair in finding healing for our children, somebody sent me a link to some videos of her teaching and I cried all the way through them.

Today kicks off the beginning of our homeschool year!  Rusty is in tenth/eleventh grade (we homeschoolers don’t like to be pinned down), Ladybug is in seventh grade, Sunshine in third, Eby in K, and Little Man in Preschool.  My greatest hope is that our year will be filled with delightful learning.

Since we are heading to REACH Camp on Thursday, we are going to keep it simple this week:  Bible, Math, History/Literature, Phonics, and Science classes.  We’ll add spelling, grammar, handwriting, etc. later.   I am particularly excited about a music class I am doing with Rusty and Ladybug, Sonlight History and Literature with Sunshine, and teaching Eby and Little Man to read.

Have a wonderful Monday!

~Lisa

Not many teens get up on a hot Saturday morning and run 12 miles in preparation for a  race to benefit orphans.  My friend, Signe, has a wonderful daughter who is running a half marathon to raise money for HIV+ children in Ethiopia.  Specifically, she is hoping to provide a refrigerator for Lola orphanage and  fund a grant for the adoption of an older HIV+ child.

You can donate to her cause with a few clicks through Network for Good.  I finally made my donation this morning — with only one week to go until her race, don’t delay if you feel prompted to encourage her and support her cause.  Let’s make sure Madison has great success as she chooses to love others more than herself.

This is what Madie had to say on August 2nd (I stole it from her mom’s blog):

“Hey everyone, it’s Madie. I am half way through my training, which means race day is only a month from now. I have raised $220, and I am very grateful to the people who donated and are supporting me in this run. Thank you!

I am running this race because I want to help kids in Ethiopia who don’t have lots of the things they need to live. I have not been to Ethiopia, but I have two adopted siblings that I love very much, and it makes me sad to know that there are many sweet children just like them who don’t have homes or family to love them.  While doing my 10 mile run the other day I kept telling myself the goal is to finish without stopping. And then I realized that we often set goals for ourselves, and we think about our future. But these kids don’t really worry about what college they are going to or what they want to be when they grow up, they think of how they are going to get through this day.  Someday I hope to go to Ethiopia and actually give some of my time to these kids and help them in their schooling, so that they can set goals for themselves and become doctors or therapists or what ever they choose. My goal for this race is to raise money to help these kids so that they can have a brighter future. ~ Thanks, Madie”

If you would like to donate to Madie’s run you can send a check to From HIV to Home, PO Box 19212, Denver, CO 80219, or give online through the Network for Good page. Let them know it is for Madison’s run.

You can read more about her run on this update and be sure to follow Signe’s blog as race day approaches.

~Lisa

If you have kids with Sensory Processing issues, or suspect that you might, take a moment to watch the trailer for a new instructional DVD by Dr. Karyn Purvis:

A Sensory World: Making Sense of Sensory Disorders

You can also read more about it on the Empowered to Connect website.

I was so impressed that I ordered a copy today. At $30 for over 90 minutes of instruction, I am confident that it is a worthwhile purchase.  I can’t read the stack of books by my bed in 90 minutes and I am guessing I’ll quickly learn lots of good information and new techniques by watching this DVD.

I’m excited to tell you all about it.  Maybe we’ll have to mail it around the country to each other.

~Lisa

As we developed Dimples’ Food Plan, she became increasingly bold about requesting the foods she most likes.  With a family of 13, there are many foods we all enjoy that just don’t fit our budget.  While we don’t skimp, I generally buy foods that give maximum nutrition, but may not always be exciting or fancy.

As Dimples listed off the foods she wanted in her plan, she asked for beef jerky, and then added, “My Mom won’t buy it for me because it costs too much.”

It seems that Dimples’ food trauma history – or lack of food – is more substantial than we initially realized. Issues about food: what to eat, when to eat, how much to eat, seem to take a disproportionate amount of time and energy, and are a significant drain on the loving relationship I want with her.

With help from Deborah, Dimples made a meal plan for the first month of school. It looks like this: