Porters Portals

Life has been feeling a little 'full' lately so I haven't blogged for a while. Fathers Day has come and gone. I wanted to mention on here what great Dad I have. He has had his challenges and we sometimes have challenges with him but he truly is a GREAT Dad. He never left us. He never sexually abused us. He always provided for us. There were many rough times but he got us through (with the help of a wonderful wife). He picked up a few belongings and drove our family to Oregon. He left behind him Mom and all his siblings to come to a state where he only knew his brother in-law and sister in-law. It appears to have been a wonderful decision. Gave us kids more opportunity. He did a full turn around a couple of years ago when he had a health scare and it was wonderful to see the change. He started going to church. He started being loving and kind to my mom and though some of the ol' Ed comes through he is still a better person. God saw to that. He has fallen in love with my ...

Some weeks...some days I feel so weary. Tired of cleaning the house, tired of fighting, crying kids, tired of dreaming up meals, tired of preparing school lessons and church lessons, tired of coordinating state appointments , tired of being a wife, tired of thinking. BUT then I stop and I talk to my God and I ask Him if this is what he would have me do...all these tasks, all these ministry's and in my heart I hear "this is where I have you." This is where my Father has me. He has me waking up several times a night to care for the foster baby. He has here to care for the recuperating husband, to feed the children, to clean up their messes and to LOVE them. He has given me the opportunity to prepare Home school lessons for kids whom I am blessed to be able to home school . He has given me opportunity to have ALL these kids. He has blessed me with so much and during those weeks or on those 'days' when I tire of it....I just have to take a moment and talk to the one ...

When I went to post about my sisters birthday I couldn't locate a current, clear picture of her. I located one today (On her daughters FB...lol). This is a picture I took at the coast a few years ago when we took our mom to the coast for Mothers Day. It was a trip of a lifetime for us. It was an amazing weekend we were blessed with safe travels, perfect weather, great food, an excellent room and tons of laughter! In the picture above, from left to right, my sister Debbie, my sister Angie, my Mom, and my sister Jeannette...the birthday girl. I have also included an updated pictures of Jeannette with her two girls, then her daughter Sonia's family and her daughter Jennifers family. Beautiful!

Today is my Sister Jeannette's birthday...Flag Day! We always joked that America celebrated Jet's birthday by hanging out their flags in her honor. She is my sister who is closest to me in age (me being the youngest of the brood). What I remember of her is her being quiet. She read a lot and she got A's and B's in school. She learned two foreign language classes, French and Spanish. She was always skinny (How I missed that gene isn't fair at all) and she was the one that had the most red in her hair. She is a good hearted person though we kid her about being the 'scary' one. She loves horror flicks and Sci Fi . She is a brilliant woman. The knowledge she has in her head is staggering (another gene that seemed to stop before me). She has the knowledge of God but I am not sure if she has a relationship with Jesus. She knows about him and she probably has more knowledge of the his history than I, but as for a relationship...that's between her and him. I p...

It has been quite a couple of weeks. The husband ended up having surgery on his knee just this past Wednesday. It has made for a very long week. Today has been better so far for which I am so thankful. As of Tuesday night I now have a High School Freshman again. He is so very excited. We were very proud of him at his graduation. He received two awards, one choir award and one athletic award. The awesome part of the choir award is he gets 10 weeks of voice lessons. That is great. I always wanted voice lessons so I am very happy for him. Our Foster Girl MK had a great award ceremony last week also. She received 5 different awards. Attendance, Personal Success for reading, Most Improved, 'Perseverance,' and another reading award. How fantastic is that. This for a little lady who missed over 50% of school last year and came into her 2nd grade class reading at a Kindergarten level. She is now up to a 2nd grade level. She has worked so hard and has been so proud of herself. What a t...

I was preparing for bed and just felt overwhelmed with emotions. I have a sick daughter today. VERY sick and so my mind has ran wild with thoughts of serious diseases and such. It's crazy. I have never been an over reactive Mom but lately with all the deadly stuff that goes around it can be scary. It's also been a week and a half of stress with the state. Though we did only have 1 parental visit last week, this weeks was cancelled one hour before they picked up LB. ONE hour. It was a break down in communication. I was so frustrated because 1, Bio Mom can not keep her mind off herself and keep her focus on these kids. So, she is not longer in a stable environment for visits. Grrrrr !!! The same day I find out that the foster baby has to go and visit her bio mom in jail. That one angers me to no end. It is not about the baby, it's not even about the mom really. It's about the attorney's making people jump through legal hoops because???....because they can! It's al...

I have a difficult time blogging or even being on the PC when it's hot and in the opinion of this 'raised' western Oregonian it has been hot!!! Today was much cooler and so here I am sitting at the computer. The husband is still bummed but on the mend. He will go back to work just in time for school to be out. So much for catching up the homeschool kids. We received news the other day our foster baby's mom will not be having visits for a while. Sad for the mama but happy for me to have a break from all the visits. The other two kids are down to one visit a week. So, I was looking forward to some extra home school time and focusing on the those students when last Monday hit and the husband was home. That threw a wrench into everything and when he goes back to work the two public school kids will be out of school. Yes, I am feeling irritated and sorry for myself. Just seems ya can't catch a break. Just some self centering's leaking in. So now that, that is out the...