Bill is feeling sore, but he is definitely feeling better since coming home from the hospital after having back surgery.
He writes about that and the arrival of their sixtieth child, Bjorn Wilhem, three years old, who was adopted from Finland. Bjorn was born deaf and blind, and he is an albino child.
Weds., April 25, 2007, 6:15 a.m., D.S.T., Nashville, Tennessee~
Dear Journal~
Bill here. I am tired, but I definitely feel better. I came home from the hospital a few days ago, and am on restricted duty. I can't return to work for a few months, and I am on "light duty" at the house: Louie is watching over me like a hawk; she won't let me lift anything over five pounds.
Still wearing the dang back brace; that is one ot the worst inventions known to mankind. It is bulky, annoying, and uncomfortable at best. I can't scratch if I get an itch, and it restricts any unecessary movement just like it is designed to do. It works too well. LOL (It's fun trying to get up wearing this thing..NOT.)
And heaven help me if I cough or sneeze. *OW* LOL
Louie has been a very good nurse though; she does need to leave her work at WORK, but when a husband like me has surgery, then she has to care for me. (At least I HOPE she does--and she does. :) ) She is very good at taking care of me, and she promised me today that after she gets home from work she'll give me a sponge bath. MMMM. I'm looking forward to that; she gives the best baths known to man! :)
We may be in for some rough weather later today: a line of severe storms are possible as they migrate eastward. They are currently in est Texas haading towards Louisiana. There may be the threat of flash flooding and even the possiblity of tornadoes. NICE. I guess we'll be spending part of the day in the saferoom, praying for God's protection over us while the tornado sirens scream overhead. NIIIIIIIIIIIIIICE.
I guess I'll be comforting scared kids (and a scared wife; my wife doesn't do storms very well). When she gets scared she looks like a scared little baby rabbit: she's all eyes. LOL She gets quiet, and she looks at me, a look of sheer terror on her face. I feel bad for her. I guess I can understand: she's been through hurricanes, so storms scare the very liver out of her.
Guess what. Our new child, Bjorn Wilhem, is here. He is so beautiful! He looks like Johnny did when he was a little boy; it's like looking at Johnny as a child all over again. He has the same white blonde hair and penetrating blue eyes like Johnny did, but the similarities end there. He is blind and deaf, and he is somewhat hyper. He screams or cries frequently, and any little thing sets him off. One never knows when he is going to start screaming or biting himself again. It's very frustrating, but we are trying our best to comfort this scared little boy. I guess we should understand: he is from Finland; he is not used to America (or us) yet; it is going to take some time.
We'll just have to be patient with him is all, try to comfort his fears, try to help him adjust. It's something all of the kids went through when they first came to us; it's something we're used to. Eventually, though, the kids settle into our family, and they learn English if they are foreign=born, learn the American way of life. It may be overwhelming, but they do learn.
Now to look at the majority of our kids you'd never guess that a good portion of them were born in another country because they look or act so--American. :)
The children have taken to their new little brother like ducks to water: they fight over who is going to take care of him, and Louie and I have been putting kids into their bedrooms until they calm down or into the time out corner. LOL The wailing wall has been doing a booming business since little Bjorn's arrival into the family...LOL
Well, nothing else much new here other than my being home, the arrival of little Bjorn from Finland, and the impending severe weather--always the weather. That's springtime here in the south; we might as well make the best of it. (That's one thing Louie'll never get used to; she's an emotional wreck during the springitme. When those tornado sirens go off, she's grabbing kids left and right, and she's screaming for us to get to the saferoom! LOL)
Bill sounds like he's slowly recovering; looking forward to bedbaths, separating children fighting over taking care of their new brother (instead of just...fighting LOL), anticipating the impending severe weather and the howl of tornado sirens...how do you fit 60 kids in a saferoom??? LOL Very well penned, Karen; BRAVA!
Explore the mystery of how nature makes unexpected gifts of creative wonders to an unsuspecting caregiver one late night and early morning in southeastern Georgia, USA.
