Here is what happened. We were up and out the door early to get a light changed in the Tahoe at Walmart. While waiting for that to happen, I went shopping for a few items for our upcoming vacation. More on that later too. It seemed every aisle we shopped contained something that Stephen just couldn ‘t live without. I remember in the toothpaste aisle he wanted these disposable rotating mini toothbrushes. I said no. Still he begged until he was blue in the face. I didn’t give in ..but about 9:30 that night as I was doing laundry, I found two packages of the toothbrushes laying on top of Stephen’s jeans. There weren’t hidden. Then in the bathroom trash can I found a candy wrapper. Both items were things he had begged for at the store. As soon as I discovered the merchandise, I went into his room, got him out of bed and back to Walmart we went. It was the same old story. The clerk says”oh don’t do that little boy, it can get you into a lot of trouble”. I dont’ even get embarrased by it anymore but I do get frustrated that they don’t take a harsher stance. I am thankful that he wasn’t arrested, at the same time I would like them to ‘scare’ him. The candy had come from Dollar Tree..we couldn’t go there until the next morning…The clerk was a little bit more stern with him. At the end of the day, I feel like my bad attitude had to have something to do with his actions. At the same time, has to be able to take responsibility for his own actions. He can be upset and mad at me but that is not an excuse to shoplift!!!

                The other big news of the summer is money. We’re running out. I just don’t seem to be able to manage our finances as well as I had hoped. I had hoped to stay home until next summer. Landon will go to school in the fall of 2010. But as it stands right now, the savings will run out by the end of 09. So I am trying to find a way to work in the school system. I know Stephen is ready for some independence but I still need to be here afterschool, on bad days, for therapy etc. My best bet I believe is to substitute teach. The question is, will that bring in enough money. I don’t have to bring in a ton, just about $1000 a month. I interviewed for a preschool teacher’s aide job that only paid $13k but it didn’t feel like the right  job. It required some special classes and after the school system paid for you to attend the classes they woudn’t be likely to hire you on to another district job. They would have invested too much money. We mutually agreed that wasn’t a good place for me. I want to get experience to move into a higher paying job in the next few years. Substituting seems to be the best bed. I can work when I want to and take off without displacing anyone. Another option, working for my mom at the Yellow Umbrella. It would just be during school hours and would be enough money but the problem is what to do when school is out. I am earnestly praying about the direction God wants for my life. I am even open to moving away for a few years. It would not be my first choice, but if God leads Mark in a ministry direction, I will follow. 

      For the next three weeks I am keeping 3 girls, my best friend’s daughters and another girl. It helps them out and brings in a little extra cash.  This summer Stephen has had two sleepovers. That is a huge deal. Yes most 11 year olds have been spending the night,e tc for several years. For Stephen it just wasn’t possible.  Of course we still can’t let him spend the night away from home unless it is someone who understands the risks but having boys over has been just fine.

     We did manage to take a vacation. After we decided that I would try to return to work, we decided to splurge on a vacay. We booked a condo in Gulf Shores and invited Mark’s parents to go. It was short but sweet. I got lots of beach time! It was great to get away and for the most part the kids were good. There was usual bickering between the boys but they made friends at the condo and spent lots of time playing in the pool. Mark and I believe we will eventually move to Florida or Alabama so we plan to encourage our kids to go to college there! Yeah..so we are dreaming, oh well.

     I won’t promise to write everyday because I won’t. I will try to do a much better job with the blog. I am addicted to FB of course, so I spent most of my writing time on there. Look me up if you aren’t already a friend.

Love, Kim

From Fort Smith…take Rogers Avenue (hwy 22) to Barling. Turn left on “H” street at Big A’s Conoco. Follow “H” street to 4 way stop. Go through stop signs and continue to 3rd Terrace on the left. Turn left and go to top of the hill. We live at the last house on the left at the top of the hill.

From Van Buren…take hwy 59 through industrial park and follow through the river bottoms to the bridge. Pass Lock and DAM 13 and turn on the first street to the right on “K” street. Go to 2nd street on the left (3rd terrace). We are the first house on the right just pass the house on the corner.

   $15 Goldstar microwave…the light is burned out but it can be replaced easily.  

$40 Jogging stroller..great shape but does have a few stains on the seat.

  

  

 

 

 

 

My best friend is helping me with a new craft project. Now I want to give others a chance to see our ideas. These cans are the first guinea pigs that we made as gifts for teachers, graduation and fa baby shower. Other ideas are in the works including some for father’s day, a tool basket, a movie basket, a grilling basket, etc. We can create anything you can come up with. Let me know if you see something you like and how much you think would be a fair price.

Love, Kim   479-462-5910   479-652-2487

      In the last week we have been opening our pool. What would normally be a 1 or 2 day project turned into a week long project. Thanks to help from my best friend and her husband, we were able to put in a new liner and get the 12 year old pool up and running again. It took some doing..let me tell you. Putting in a liner is no easy thing. It isn’t perfect but it will work. Hopefully we will never have to do that again. This liner was only 3 years old. It should have lasted 7-10 years. The problem is that we ‘cheaped out’ when we originally put it in and didn’t put anything between the liner and the concrete foundation. That combined with pool chemcial mixes in the water caused the liner to erode too soon. This time we put foam padding under the liner and switched our chemicals to salt water. So far things are working marvelously!

      We are now at the end of a three day holiday weekend. We survived with only a few casualties. Saturday our friends came over to swim and cookout. We had grilled chicken and corn on the cob. Stephen made it through most of the afternoon but then ended up being sent to his room. He had to eat dinner alone and missed out on a movie.

    Sunday we didn’t have any company over. Church went well then we watched the Indy 500 and waited in vain for the Coca Cola 600 which ended up being rained out for that day. Stephen was able to participate in all activities all day long.

     Today the kids and I went to the Old Fort Days Rodeo Parade. Stephen went along but mostly seemed bored. Makenna (my friend Angie’s daughter) went along as well. We had a good time then came home to cook burgers and hot dogs on the grill. The rest of the Smith family joined us to swim and eat. Despite the occasional rain showers, the kids had a great time in the pool. Angie and I got to visit while the guys watched the NASCAR race that ended up being rained out more than half way through. Stephen was able to stay on track all day today as well. It was a nice holiday. I am thankful for that.

     I am sitting outside on the patio blogging and getting eaten ALIVE by bugs so I guess I will sign off. School will be out soon and we’ll be spending mega time in the pool. One because I love summer and the water, two because we really need to conserve funds. The less driving we do and the more we stay home, the cheaper we can be! Of course that will also mean lots and lots of time at home with Stephen. I am trying to come up with unique ideas to keep him busy. We managed last summer but I didn’t really have RAD training until mid August so I wasn’t as strict on him as I am now. Though I had hoped to be a little further along by now, I am still proud of his progress. I now know what he can do, it is just a matter of what he is willing to do that determines how much fun his life can be.

   Love ya, stay in touch. Any ideas, please send comments.

Kim

      When Stephen stays home from school I keep him busy. I head over to Angie’s house to do a few chores and keep her company for a few hours. Tuesday that included having Stephen do grunt work. He cleaned a shower and two toilets at Angie’s house. He didn’t do it willingly. I used food as a motivator. Shame! Shame! I know better. With RAD kids you are never supposed to use food as a tool. Many RAD kids were deprived of food as an infant so they grow up hoarding and sneaking food. Even though we don’t know if Stephen was deprived of food, he has always hoards and sneaks food in his room. Still, I used food on Tuesday. As I told you, Stephen didn’t get ready for school in time. Thus he didn’t get breakfast. Landon and I had time for breakfast so the way I see it,  Stephen made a choice not to get breakfast. As you can imagine, by the time we got to Angie’s house, he was starving. At first he refused to do anything. I asked him to strong sit. He got up and refused. Let’s just say I found another way to motivate him. Finally he realized it was no work, no food. Then the slow and pokey process of scrubbing the shower began. He found many excuses, one after the other, from having a headache, to being too tired, etc. Finally though he got with it and got the job finished. Then he moved on to the toilets. We started at 8:30 and finished at 11:30. One job down, many more to go, or so I thought.

    My mistake next is that I didn’t go straight home and put Stephen in his room. Instead I fed him and then decided to try and squeeze in another chore. I volunteered to have Stephen mow my Grandpa Curry’s yard. From the moment we arrived, I was in a rush. Thunder was rumbling overhead and I wanted to get the yard mowed before the downpour. That meant I was trying to rush the kids to eat and get the job done. It just didn’t happen the way I had planned. Stephen refused to help. I decided that I would mow. I really didn’t mind, but I did mind that Stephen was refusing and there was nothing I could do about it. That’s when my frustration went over the top. I stayed frustrated for the next hour or so. All the while my 88 year old Grandma is babbling non=stop about the single yellow rose that she received at church Sunday for being the oldest mother. It’s not that I wasn’t interested in her story, it’s just that she is very hard of hearing and continues to talk even if no one is listening. She kept asking me if I wanted the rose. No grandma, no thank you. NO! No! No! My grandma is very dedicated to the Lord. I love her but sometimes she really gets on my nerves and on this day I didn’t have any left to fray. On top of all that, my grandpa’s mower wasn’t working properly so I never finished the mowing.  I gathered the kids and my stuff (SWTR newspapers that my grandparents get and save for me since I cut out our subscription. I now read it a week late just to make sure I didn’t miss any news…you know “newsies” die hard). In a huff I drove home and put Landon down for a nap. Stephen went to his room while I cooled off.

    Yes it was a stellar day for me as a mother. Not one of my finer moments to be sure. I asked God for forgiveness before the day was through and prayed for a better tomorrow. It is now 11:10pm on Wednesday and I can say this was a very FINE day. Praise the Lord! Stephen stayed on track all day long. I wasn’t quite as calm and collected as he was, but I did manage to not blow my top. 

    Stephen had a great day at school again! I asked his teacher is she thought he could go full time for the last two weeks of class. She thought it was better to keep things as they are. Remember just yesterday he missed school for his attitude, two weeks ago he did miss a field trip because of attitude, etc. She believes (and is right) that he would probably ‘blow it’ if he was given the chance to go all day. She likes how things are going right now.

    TOmorrow is therapy day. Our appt is a little later than usual so we don’t have to be in such a rush. I am hoping we won’t be fighting severe weather on our way to Little Rock.

    At home we are staring a new project, opening the pool. I wish it was just as easy as taking off the cover, but this year we have to replace the liner. That is going to be a big chore. First we need 48 hours with no rain so we can spray a protective coating on the deck. Not sure if we will ever get a dry spell like that.

    The big news besides Stephen’s behavior is his recent viewing of the “coming up age’ film at school. He has been full of questions ever since. He is quite willing to discuss all issues openly. Apparently his classmates were amazed at his uninhibited questioning of the school nurse after the movie. Seems they were quite impressed with his boldness. He told me that he finally knows where a woman puts ‘the pad’. All this time he thought that we stuck it to our privates. Now he knows that it sticks to underwear. What a revelation! That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Tonight he asked more questions about puberty. Specifically he wanted to know when he will get taller.

   More news from the homefront coming soon. Keep in touch.

Love, KIm

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