Author Archives: wendiplus11

~Pinterest Projects~

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Okay so no judging me on my mess… I have 5 going on 6 kids. I have been waiting 6 months, already for #6. So that means I have to stock forums, Facebook and my agencies website around 47 times a day. The carpal tunnel/IPod-itis is flaring up. Okay a little exaggeration..but not much.
In my free time, I love the website Pinterest! Love it!! So many great ideas to pin!! And to possibly try at home. And I have….

So the next several months, while I am waiting even longer for our little one to come home, I am choosing places in my house that cause me stress and doing something about it.

And the movie cabinet is #1 on that list! Below are two areas that drive me over the edge. I am so tired of this being a mess.. It looks like this about 2-3 times per week. So it had to go!!


DVDs stacked everywhere.. When mom yells put them away or clean up that mess. It’s a cram and shove anything anywhere!!


So yes I threw every single DVD box and most (which weren’t many) any VHS tapes in the trash!!! They are gone!!!! Don’t say how wasteful.. Or take to goodwill.. Or you may want those VHS tapes someday…. Which were all things my friends and mom told me.
Sorry ladies.. VHS is OUT!!… DVDs fit into sleeves nicely if I need to loan them out.. Blueray is next…. And the little digital disks of movies are already out! I have zero… Attachment to stuff! I hate cluttery stuff and this makes me feel great!!

I put all educational CDs in one case, seasons of Cosby and little house in another case. The small pink box holds the rest of the CDs and organize according to subject.
I did save some VHS.. All home movies of course… On 9/11 when we taped for 4 days straight of fox news… Dance recital… My friends high school copy of Pretty Woman.. Pretty much the important stuff.

Isn’t it beautiful!!!!! And clean and neat and stress free!


Now Chloe has gotten into pinning as well.. This is not a recipe I have allowed on my pin boards. I will admit I am a little bit of a food snob.
This is a technique… I have never heard of… I am going to explain it. Now before you start assuming, like my friend last night when I explained said to me, ” Are you drinking?” no I am not…:)

Okay Chloe and her dad cut up
Sausage links into 2-3 inch pieces and pushed through uncooked pasta noodles, then Boiled them and covered in creme sauce to serve. Very odd…
However everyone thought they tasted great including the food snob!!


If you would like an invite to pinterest… Leave me your email!:) you know you want to pin this fabulous sausage/noodle recipe!

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Did Apple Juice Cause This?

ADD, ADHD, Apple Juice, Arsenic, Hyperactivity 4 Comments

I am going to write to simply help others who might be experiencing the same behaviors with their children.
Many who read this will think I am absolutely nuts. That’s okay this is my experience and my child.
Paul’s behavior has been crazy, unpredictable, annoying, unemotional, untouched for several years. It has gotten worse as he has gotten older. Actually, maybe not worse but different.

So of course, I could have easily took him and got a diagnosis and medication. But I felt there was more to this story than I was seeing.

Being the google obsessed mother that I am, I found the Feingold diet. We did it and I found that something was causing some difference in behavior. But I couldn’t pinpoint it.

So a few months later…behavior is still at its worse and someone tells me you crave what you are allergic too. Hmm…interesting. But my thoughts first go right to Paul and think the only ‘food’, he loved was apple juice.
Now I should have stopped and realized how much he really loved apple juice. Like the time I went to the store, Chloe was babysitting and he drank a half gallon of apple juice. Or the time I caught him up at 3am drinking a tall glass of apple juice. Or that apple juice was the very first thing he asked for every.single.morning.

So in November I started thinking…could it be apple juice? So I googled ‘apple juice hyperactivity’. CAN WE SAY WHAT??? THIS MAKES ME ANGRY!!!! I have told my doctor over and over, I was worried about the amount of apple juice he wanted to consume. My doctor always said, “As long as it’s 100% juice and he is cleaning his teeth, its fine.” Okay….not so much. Hundreds of website talk about the concentration of ascorbic acid in apple juice and how it cause ADHD, ADD, Hyperactivity…among other things. This is crazy! Why isn’t this out there?????

In the beginning of November, I took Paul off of apple juice…cold turkey. The first morning, he said please can I have apple juice? I said no but you may have an apple. That morning Paul ate 4 apples, again I don’t usually let him eat 4 apples or even 4 glasses of juice a day, but I was seeing his reaction. And yes he was CRAVING, that apple juice feeling. The apples wouldn’t affect him this way because the ascorbic acid isn’t as concentrated in an apple as it is in apple juice. He drank some 100% cranberry juice that day.

Fast forward 5-6 weeks later, I start noticing this sweet, calmer, emotional, LOVING, tenderhearted little boy, which I have been missing out on. He is so sweet! I am sad I didn’t catch this sooner.
I went to our homeschool co-op and started sharing what I tested at home and found out. I always start this conversation with, don’t think I am crazy but here is what I think was wrong with Paul. Three other moms were in the preschool room with me that morning, two of the moms said, “Did you see the Dr. Oz about the arsenic levels in apple juice. WHAT?????? This is crazy!!

Again, confirming my mommy instincts to not medicate and find what is the problem. And boy I am thankful…

I am happy to say my precious little 6 years old is BACK!!! And we are enjoying him.:)

I would like to say that this is what works for my child. Obviously, some children do need medication. I have just always felt it wasn’t our answer.

My To Do list

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Okay I have never had the issue of getting my kids to eat. My kids are always starving until Mia.. And well she never tells me she is hungry. I fix her meals and she plays. She likes noodles and pizza. But this girl can’t live on pizza and noodles alone.


So this morning she is drinking a Dannon Danimals and eating a half of a Bacon Lettuce Tomatoe sandwhich.


And she ate most of it..


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How Could She Know?

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As you lay sleeping far away as still as you could be…
How could you know the joy today your photo brings to me?
A few short months and you’ll be mine, and “I” will soon be “We”.
How could you know the love I feel?
It’s something you can’t see.
So have sweet dreams, my precious girl.
Sleep well and tenderly.
Some say that you’re the lucky one.
How could you know it’s me?

Originally written by Kris Haughtry but rewritten to fit our family.

Mia and her Puppy

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Mia loves to push her puppy around in her shopping cart!! It’s so cute!! Not sure how the puppy feels about that.. But she cooperates for a little while!


Kisses for Penny…


Fixing Penny’s blankie…


Mia and her tutu.. That she insisted upon wearing to co-op today!:)


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Two Countries One Heart…

Adoption 2 Comments

I loved seeing this in our church bulletin! I have received some discouragement from others about adoption. However the encouragement I have received from my real friends far outweigh that. it doesn’t matter what other says. It matters that our children come home.


It matters if they have hope knowing they are home and can thrive or hope that their family is coming.


I received this bumper sticker on the morning of Mia’s finalization day. An old friend who married a Korean man, thought of me ad sent this.

This is so true. My heart is in Korea and America. My heart is in orphanage sleeping right now. She will wake up In a few hours and eat breakfast. She will bundle up to go outside with her friends and hop onto her bus and head to preschool. I imagine she sits with this beautiful little girl named Coralie. Coralie is a special little girl whose parents are coming to get her in a few weeks. I imagine my little ‘heart’ sitting by her friend and looking at with large eyes, listening intently of all the new adventures she is about go on. I know Cora is thrilled to be moving to America and have two big brothers. I am sure Cora is glowing!!! I am sure she talks about getting on a plane with her Omma and Appa. She is excited and nervous yet keeps talking to remind herself of the wonderful moments up ahead. I am sure my ‘little heart’ is thinking, Wow Cora sure is lucky! She has been receiving gifts, candy and pictures from a real family. A family that wants her, the only family ,my little heart has known like that wasn’t able to keep her as they were only her foster family. I’m sure sweet Cora says to her your family will probably come soon. I pray she believes her.

My prayer is Please God wrap your arms around my little heart in Seoul, Korea and whisper into her ear, “Mama is coming.. She is trying everything she can to get their as fast as she can.” Please Lord give her hope of her family coming.
It is a proven fact that orphans who know they have a family, even if it takes awhile, start improving in so many ways! I believe it and if you have met Mia Grace and seen her file. You would believe that too.

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