The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Gen. 1:1) He did, ya know?

"The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and care for it." (Gen. 1:15) Man should care for God's creation perhaps?

"The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him." (Psalm 24:1) This land we walk on, the plants and animals, the resources... everything.... belong to the Lord.

Which begs the question, if the we say we love the Lord, how can we not also love his creation? How can we not be good stewards of the resources he has given us? We preach about good stewardship of our money and our time, but is stewardship of resources not important too?

I'll be honest. I've been a bit slow to get on the green bandwagon. I've lived most of my life in places that didn't have recycling available, or at least not easily accessible. I have thrown out more plastic bags than I care to remember. And have I mentioned how much I like really long showers?

And admittedly, there is more that I could do to care for God's creation than what I am already actually doing. In other words, I am not even half way where I should be. To be honest, environmentalism is a bit daunting. There is so much to it that I don't even understand. I am inexperienced.

But God kept putting people and things in my path that kept whispering ~ Caring for God means caring for His creation.

So I made a goal. I decided I would make one easy change at a time. Once that thing became habit, then I could add another thing. I am not very far along in my changes. I have been doing this for about 3 years, and you can tell from the list below that I am a slow learner. But hey, something is better than nothing, right?

So, here goes...

{Reusable Shopping Bags} Many stores will give you money back for using them. Plus, (and I love this one) Kroger will replace your bag for free if it rips or tears. It took me a while to make this a habit, because I kept leaving them at home. But I kept trying to figure out ways to remember, and now I put my wallet in the bags before I leave the house. I can't very well shop without my wallet can I? I also keep a spare bag tucked into a pocket in my van for surprise trips to Kohl's.

{Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs} This one is really easy because my electric company keeps sending me coupons to buy these things at dirt cheap prices. The only problem I've found is how to recycle them.

{Gardening} Who knew I would actually like gardening? But I can't tell you how much I enjoy seeing food come out of my backyard. It tastes better, it uses fewer energy resources (no transportation costs), no pesticides are used, and it saves me money. Win, win, win, win.

{Composting} I didn't even know what compost was a couple years ago. Basically, I throw all of my vegetable peels, stalks, cores, some dried grass clippings... whatever... into a bucket and let it decompose naturally. And then, I use it to fertilize my garden. Less waste goes to the landfill, and my waste is put to good use. Again, win, win.

{Recycling} Actually, my grandmother shamed me into this one last summer. And if an 80 year old woman can learn something new, why can't I? (Love you, Ninnie:) I still can't recycle a lot of things where I live, and I still have a lot to learn, but it is getting better.

{Use/Repair Something Old Instead of Buying New} I hate waste, and I hate spending money even more, so I've been doing this one a long time. What this one means is that if we live more simply and have less stuff, then we are using fewer resources. Do you really need that new sweater? What about a new cell phone? Really? I am not saying you should never buy anything. What I am saying is that you should evaluate the reasons for the purchase. Do you need it? Or do you just like new stuff?

{Energy Efficient Appliances} I have been putting this one off because of the point above, but my washing machine finally croaked. Did you know that a traditional top loading washer uses 40 gallons on a load? That is insane. My new large capacity front-loader uses less than half of that.

So, that's my short list. I am sure there are other things that I am forgetting (or don't even know about), so I have an idea. I would love it if everyone would share one thing that they do to care for the environment. Or that they should do. Then we all can have some new ideas about what to do next. So, fire away. (Blair, you can go first;)

Happy Earth Day!

Bits of Brilliance

I follow a lot of blogs. One click on my profile will show you that I really have an addiction. Recently I tried to purge some from my list so that I would spend less time on the computer, but unfortunately I have found others to take their place. Oh well.

I think the reason I keep reading is because sometimes others can speak what is in your heart, or teach you something that had never occurred to you, or just bring you peace. They make me feel less alone than the voices in my head.

This week I read several posts that make me think really hard about love and God and adoption and the least of these. Things I can't stop thinking about. Things I want to share with everybody.

So today you get to reap the benefits of my addiction.

We'll start with Carrie, who lives and serves in China. Last week she threw a birthday party for a little girl who is in foster care. (While you are over there, you might consider clicking on the Chip-In link to help little Kiah get the heart surgery she needs.) Beautiful.

And then there is Katie from Amazima Ministries in Uganda. She is working with an extraordinary group of women there, not to mention serving her community and parenting a boatload of kids. Amazing.

Christine at Welcome to My Brain is encouraging parents of children with RAD. Her thoughts on therapeutic parenting and love totally challenge parents (in a good way), even for those of us not parenting kids with serious attachment issues. Empowering.

TongguMomma talks about God and adoption, but it isn't at all what you are expecting. And I think it's wonderful. In fact, it reminded me of Katie's post about her work in Uganda (see above). Thoughtful.

And last but not least, it always makes me smile to read about Cheeky over at And Then There Were Seven. Go read her momma's words about love and refilling her "dry well". Inspirational.

How about a little joy for a change?

After yesterday's post, I felt the need to write about something more positive. Last night as I was going to bed, I considered. What is something that is really great right now, something amazing? And I realized that I can't remember the last time we had any "steps back" with Kate NaNa. You know, two steps forward, one step back? Well, we have had a lot of steps forward here lately, but I can't remember the last backwards one.

That's not to say that parenting her is without issues. She seems to have skipped over the terrible twos in favor of the sassy threes. She gives me attitude, and lots of it. Sometimes I hear words coming out of her mouth, but they sound like something Will would say (who spent about 3 years in the terrible twos/sassy threes, and still likes to visit there occasionally). But she usually responds very quickly to requests for appropriate behavior, and behaves a whole lot like my other two.

She is becoming more and more cuddly, coming up and giving me unexpected hugs. She tells me several times a day, "I love you, Mommy," without my prompting. She is even making huge strides with her Daddy. She still doesn't like it when he goes to work (she wants all of us together, all the time), but she greets him happily when he gets home. And last night when I told her Daddy was putting her to bed, she smiled and said, "I love him." Only a month ago that would've gotten a grumpy face and crossed arms, if not a full out cry-fest. She has settled in to our family so beautifully.

Kate NaNa is pure joy to parent. She really is.

And as for medical/speech issues, they continue to be less and less of an issue in our daily lives. He speech is now clear enough that most people can understand her, as long as they pay attention. She continues to receive speech at the local preschool. Her hearing fluctuates depending on how much fluid is in her ears at a time. Her previous tubes are not in place anymore, and so she has some fluid build-up at the moment, but it doesn't appear to be slowing her down. Her vocabulary and pronunciation have continued to develop, despite any mild hearing loss that it creates. She continues to have ear infections, thus the other reason for the tubes. But even that is just normal life at this point, not any big disruption.


She is really just a happy, normal, amazing, resilient, wonderful child. I can't imagine my life without her.

Frustration

***Warning: Long, venting post about insurance and doctors. Read at your own risk.***

Kate was supposed to have ear tubes put in next Monday. Supposed to. But we all know how that word works, right?

This past Monday, her doctor's office called to discuss fees, since we haven't met our insurance deductible yet. There were no surprises there, but the conversation reminded me that I needed to call the Commission to make sure that they were still not contracting with my doctor.

(For those of you who don't know what the Commission is, it is a program in our state that provides care for children with various medical needs. Kate is a patient of one of their cleft teams, and they have provided her with dentistry, audiology services, and plastic surgery services, including her palate repair, free of charge. The providers are wonderful. The red tape? Not so much.)

So, I call my coordinator at the Commission, and she informs that while my doctor is not contracted with them, there are other ENTs who are. WHAT? Before, I had been told that there weren't ENTs, and I had to find my own. Now, 18 months later, the story has changed, and we are faced with a decision. Continue on with our current ENT, or change providers for these ear tubes.

What to do? The doctors are less than a mile from each other, so the distance is negligible. I know nothing about the new doctor, but I honestly don't have strong feelings about Kate's current provider either. He has done a good job, but I get frustrated with him sometimes too. But I prefer him more than I prefer going to a new doctor.

To get the whole picture, here's little background on me for ya. I'm a researcher at heart. If I need to buy something new, I will read all about it, price check at least three different stores, and ponder the decision for a month before I purchase it. Not every time, but the bigger the purchase, the more the research. You also need to know that I used work for an optometrist, and one of my responsibilities was to contact insurance companies to find out patient benefits before the patient came in. Plus, I have had to fight with my insurance companies to provide coverage for me and my children on more than one occasion. I know the lingo. I ask a lot of questions. I threaten to report them to my state's department of insurance. I annoy the crap out of them.

So, I did not just say "whatever" and do what they told me to do. Partly because everyone was telling me different information. One person told me that if I used Commission providers, I would be billed at 65% of the total cost. Then I heard that it was 65% of the allowable cost of my insurance company. Then it was the Medicaid rate.

Lost yet? I sure was.

In addition to my doctor's office and my contact at the Commission, I contacted eight other people (not counting receptionists), trying to figure out what my costs would be if I used a Commission provider versus Kate's regular ENT. Which meant I had to explain the problem to every. single. person. that I spoke with.

So what did I discover? After talking with three different offices at our regular hospital, I put together an estimate of what they would bill us if we used them, along with what our insurance's contracted rate was and what we would be responsible for. It was higher than I expected (choke worthy, in fact), but still do-able. Then I called the other doctor/hospital that is contracted with the Commission and found out what they would charge, approximately, of which, no one seemed to be able to tell me what I would be responsible for. I made phone calls for three days, left more messages than I could count, and cried a lot, and still was no closer to knowing what I needed to do.

This morning (day 4) I woke up to start calling back all the people who still hadn't returned my calls, and with a plan for finding out the Medicaid rate for this procedure. Thankfully the first person I talked to actually seemed to have some answers. She said that if we used the Commission provider, that they would bill our insurance, and then they would bill the Commission, and then we would not be responsible for any of the associated costs. I told her that this contradicted what several other people had told me. She checked her information with the supervisor, and yes, it was correct information. So let's see, do I want to be charged a whole lot of money or $0? Hmmmm.

How does a mom weigh a free doctor that she doesn't know against an expensive doctor that she does? This isn't the first time that I have had to make a decision like this. We had to do this about a year ago when we got new dental insurance. We loved our pediatric dentist. Loved. But our insurance wouldn't pay for her. They would only pay for one specific pediatric dentist. So I cried. And I called our insurance and complained. And then I called the new dentist. And guess what? We love her even more. She is completely amazing.

But I am still frustrated. Frustrated that I didn't know about the ENT contract until this week. Frustrated that now we have to visit another doctor. Frustrated that this will postpone Kate's tubes until... I don't know. Frustrated that even after I made a decision, I still had trouble contacting Kate's coordinator who had to pre-approve the new doctor before I could make the appointment. And then I had to talk to three other people to make it happen.

{sigh}

And some of you people wonder what I do all day...

Everybody needs a cool Uncle Jacob.

Have I mentioned that we loved spending the week with Jacob? While the kids were on spring break, we went down to Mom's to just love on him as much as we could.

We went to the park.

We practiced our bike-riding, sans training-wheels.

And of course, we played more soccer.

They wouldn't even let poor Jacob lift weights without their "help". Bless his heart.

However, we still didn't get enough hugs and kisses in, so he and Mom came up last night for a pre-birthday celebration at the Chang's. Good food, good time.

And this morning, we got up and said our goodbyes. I try to remember that this trip was an unexpected surprise. A gift. A time for my children to get to know their aunt and uncle. (I promise I am not ignoring sweet Alison, but she is spending time with her parents and sisters' kids right now, as she should.)

And so now I ask that you lift up these two who are so precious to me. To all of us. For their safety and their work. And that we can see them again, asap.

Wordless Wednesday {Brotherly Love}

Easter

Jacob and Alison were at my house for Easter weekend this year (yeah!), and my children tried very hard to keep them entertained.

Among other things, we had the cousins over,

flew kites and rode bikes,

played soccer, football, and T-ball,

dyed eggs, hunted eggs,

and climbed trees.

Somewhere in there, we also ate too much food, introduced them to a bunch of people at church, and celebrated our Risen Lord.

It was a good weekend.

Will: Almost Kindergartener

A few weeks ago, I enrolled Will in Kindergarten for the fall. Technically I could've started Will in Kindergarten last fall, but for a variety of reasons, we chose to wait. I really can't believe he is old enough to do this, but at the same time, he seems so grown up all of the sudden. He is starting to sound out words, he helps me around the house and garden, and yesterday he counted to 100 by 2's. When did he get so big?


Will also loves to build complicated "houses" with his Duplo Legos (yes, we have the smaller ones, but he likes these because the finished product is bigger:). Yesterday he built a creation that had four legs, ears, eyes, mouth, and nose. It was very cool.