OK, so have you ever wondered what it would be like to collect stool samples on an eleven and twelve year old with questionable digestive tracts? If so, let me tell you it is AWESOME!!! But, I have to say watching the 6'2", 200 lb Texan gag while writing the names on the vile was PRICELESS!!! Bearing in mind that all the 6'2", 200lb Texan had to do was write the names on the little bottle, yours truly had collected and bottled the stool. Don't mess with Texas, unless of course it involves children's stool and then you had better call in the big guns, California!!
Funny story ~
Once upon a time there were two very naive and idealistic adoptive parents who conjured up a picturesque family outing to the zoo, what could be better then 6 children and their two (stupid) parents at the zoo?! Our parents reasoned, "they have been home for over a month, we can handle this." Our young mother (well, somewhat young) mother envisions wonderful family pictures of her six little darlings gaily moving about the park, which in reality is quite funny when these six little darlings have yet to leave the house all wearing shoes, matching socks, without food or snot dried to their darling little faces and without their hair looking as if they just stuck their hand in a light socket. However, our naive parents take one step further into total and utter loss of their senses and decide to stay in a hotel with the sweet little darlings. The family checks in and unpacks and then heads out for a swim, no children drown and we are off to a great start. Everyone is sharing a room, we are together as a family, what could possibly go wrong? Our senseless mother rides up the elevator after the swim and dinner and smiles a little smile of peace and satisfaction, enjoying this "normal" outing with her family. A light begins to dawn in her tired and overwhelmed mind, a light at the end of the tunnel, she ponders the idea of being a "normal" family again sometime soon. What was she thinking!!!
Well, I can tell you one thing that she was not thinking about was the hotel fire alarms that say, "Fire, Pull." I am quite sure that she was not planning on meeting the Columbia fire department, nor being "that family" that just set off a very loud and quite scary hotel fire alarm. She was not imagining that her child would make several young children in a hotel lobby blubber like babies when the deafening alarm sounded. No, she did ponder meeting the hotel managers under these less then ideal circumstances. And when she stood listening to her husband explain to the HUGE firefighters that his daughter had newly arrived from ET and there was a serious language barrier and when the fireman looked at her husband with shock and disbelief on his face and said, "permanently? this is permanent?" she could only laugh (and maybe fight back a tear or two of embarrassment) and pray silently, "Dear Jesus, this is permanent, sweet Jesus, help us." And He did.
How did our sweet little darling do it? She did it with 4 of our her siblings standing no further then 2 feet from her. Why did she do it? Well, it says pull on it! That is very misleading.
So fast forward to the next morning (after our naive mom spent the evening hiding in her hotel room) and she is in the shower begging God that no lions get set free, no bears are let loose to roam and romp about the park and please God do not let our Ethiopian darling find her way into the snake house, please God, no snake house. And God heard her prayer and their day at the park was wonderfully uneventful and she even had a few photo ops of her six little darlings!
A side note to this story, when I used the word HUGE to describe the fireman that might be a slight understatement, when I tell you that God sent over the largest firefighters ever seen I kid you not. God certainly had a good laugh that night as these men stared us down and not so politely explained to our skinny little Ethiopian that the fire alarm is NO JOKE!! Got it, write that one down in the baby book. Man, this is going to be a great baby book!
I tell funny stories because right now I need to laugh and not cry. Right now I need to remind myself that God can handle flooded kitchens, rotten apple cores, hotel fire alarms and everything else we can throw at Him and as situations arise that are not funny in the slightest I need to step back and laugh when I can. The last week has been painful, very painful, I will not write about it until I have more conclusive answers but please pray for us.
God is good, all the time.
Funny story ~
Once upon a time there were two very naive and idealistic adoptive parents who conjured up a picturesque family outing to the zoo, what could be better then 6 children and their two (stupid) parents at the zoo?! Our parents reasoned, "they have been home for over a month, we can handle this." Our young mother (well, somewhat young) mother envisions wonderful family pictures of her six little darlings gaily moving about the park, which in reality is quite funny when these six little darlings have yet to leave the house all wearing shoes, matching socks, without food or snot dried to their darling little faces and without their hair looking as if they just stuck their hand in a light socket. However, our naive parents take one step further into total and utter loss of their senses and decide to stay in a hotel with the sweet little darlings. The family checks in and unpacks and then heads out for a swim, no children drown and we are off to a great start. Everyone is sharing a room, we are together as a family, what could possibly go wrong? Our senseless mother rides up the elevator after the swim and dinner and smiles a little smile of peace and satisfaction, enjoying this "normal" outing with her family. A light begins to dawn in her tired and overwhelmed mind, a light at the end of the tunnel, she ponders the idea of being a "normal" family again sometime soon. What was she thinking!!!
Well, I can tell you one thing that she was not thinking about was the hotel fire alarms that say, "Fire, Pull." I am quite sure that she was not planning on meeting the Columbia fire department, nor being "that family" that just set off a very loud and quite scary hotel fire alarm. She was not imagining that her child would make several young children in a hotel lobby blubber like babies when the deafening alarm sounded. No, she did ponder meeting the hotel managers under these less then ideal circumstances. And when she stood listening to her husband explain to the HUGE firefighters that his daughter had newly arrived from ET and there was a serious language barrier and when the fireman looked at her husband with shock and disbelief on his face and said, "permanently? this is permanent?" she could only laugh (and maybe fight back a tear or two of embarrassment) and pray silently, "Dear Jesus, this is permanent, sweet Jesus, help us." And He did.
How did our sweet little darling do it? She did it with 4 of our her siblings standing no further then 2 feet from her. Why did she do it? Well, it says pull on it! That is very misleading.
A side note to this story, when I used the word HUGE to describe the fireman that might be a slight understatement, when I tell you that God sent over the largest firefighters ever seen I kid you not. God certainly had a good laugh that night as these men stared us down and not so politely explained to our skinny little Ethiopian that the fire alarm is NO JOKE!! Got it, write that one down in the baby book. Man, this is going to be a great baby book!
I tell funny stories because right now I need to laugh and not cry. Right now I need to remind myself that God can handle flooded kitchens, rotten apple cores, hotel fire alarms and everything else we can throw at Him and as situations arise that are not funny in the slightest I need to step back and laugh when I can. The last week has been painful, very painful, I will not write about it until I have more conclusive answers but please pray for us.
God is good, all the time.
I laughed, and I cried and will continue to pray. We love you, Ruppel's. Jennie, thank you for sharing your heart. Blessed by you.
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