Shelton Shenanigans

I have been meaning to do this post for a while now, wanting to update you on the cookie dough sale and the other adoption-related stuff - I even sat down once and tried to write - but I've been completely uninspired.  Then we came home yesterday to a letter in the mail addressed to "Bawrence Shelton (A really bad misspelling of Steve's actual first name, Lawrence) (seriously, is that even a name), and I was amused.  That was followed by an evening of mishaps as a neighbor kicked a ball into our yard, and Tyler, in trying to toss it back over the fence into their yard managed to get it stuck twenty-five feet up in their tree, after which he walked off sheepishly leaving them to fend for themselves.  It was, after all, their ball, their yard, and their tree, so that made it their problem, right?  Five minutes later, if that, Trevor wiped out on the kitchen floor and collided with the table.  When I asked what caused the fall, he said he slipped in pickle juice....

Ever play "Would you Rather?"  It's this torturous little game where you are given two completely undesireable options which you must choose between, and then explain why you chose one torment over the other.  Example: "Would you rather eat a plate full of toenails or a plate full of hair?"  A rational person would scream, "Neither!"  But neither is not an option, so you pick one over the other and justify it with something ridiculous like, "I'd eat toenails because I prefer crunchy things over stringy ones."  It's really quite absurd. Well, there are some days I think I live in a "Would you Rather" game.  Like today, when I was putting away groceries.  The question in my head was, "Would you rather get all the groceries put away in a relatively quick manner without a screaming baby, or would you prefer to sanitize the cans of soda that he is gleefully rolling across the floor, building towers with, trying to stick in ...

Don't you love it when people post weird titles that make no sense?  Oh wait, I just did that!  :)  Hang with me for a few minutes, and I promise that will come together for you.  But we have to cover some back stories first. Seven weeks ago I had a follow-up visit with my surgeon after having had half my thyroid removed fourteen days before.  Our major concerns going into that surgery were two-fold: that my vocal cords would be damaged, and that I might have cancer.  The plan was to take half the thyroid, test the mass on it while I was still in the operating room, and if cancer was there, take the other half.  The first thing I asked Steve in recovery was whether they took half or all of the thyroid.  He told me they only took half, and I quickly discovered that I did indeed still have a voice, so I thought we were good to go from there and that everything would be smooth sailing, just get on some meds and move on. So I was caught completely o...

This charming little fellow masquerades under the name of Trenton.  At least, that's what we put on his birth certificate when he was born sixteen and a half months ago.  Little did we know how much personality would burst forth from this little guy in true Shelton fashion, and that it wouldn't take long for us to start calling him by a more descriptive name--Pilikia!!! Pilikia is a fancy word for "trouble."  I got it from a word of the day email from Dictionary.com.  It has no other meaning.  Just trouble.  When I first learned it, I thought it would be a great name for a children's book character, a puppy or kitten, perhaps.  But, since I haven't gotten around to writing a book about Pilikia the Puppy, I quickly assigned it to the toddler in our house instead. Ironically, raising this one is a lot like raising a puppy.  He and my Seeing Eye dog have a lot in common.  Both will pant and plead with you when they want something, although one...

We are now three days past Christmas and three days ahead of New Year's Eve.  We're right in the middle of the span of time where the sentimentalists are clinging to the last bit of Christmas while the practicalists are boxing, shelving, and happily storing Christmas away until next year.  I was a little startled how quickly the non-stop Christmas music stations flipped the switch back to their usual sets on December 26.  Christmas is over and done with and they're moving forward!  I am almost there, but wanted to share one poignant lesson I learned from the Christmas story this year. One of the Shelton traditions is that I tell the boys a Bible story every night at bedtime.  I rarely tell the stories the same way twice.  I believe that if you want your children to believe that the stories in the Bible are true, you need to tell them as if you believe they're true.  So I'm creative, sometimes dramatic, and always looking for a devotional thought to em...

I started out my last post by stating that one of my goals for this blog was to always be honest and open about where we are in our adoption journey.  That has not changed, although I have been struggling to find the words to start this entry.  Hang on with me, this one may be a little more up and down than usual. December is two days away.  Christmas will be here in under a month.  My plans for this month were to push the book hard, everywhere we could.  We also have Christmas cards that need to be marketed, and I annually do a Christmas concert at a little country church nearby that is on the National Historic Registry which has become one of my favorite places to sing.  I intended to sing my way through this month and raise adoption dollars from generous folks who like to give to charitable causes at Christmas.  Thus were my plans. As it turns out, life has taken a different twist.  My December calendar now revolves around two dates, Christma...

One of my goals with this blog is to always be honest and open about where we are in our adoption journey.  We are, after all, regular people, subject to emotion and weakness, and along with the highlights that are fun to write about, there are struggles of all kinds.  And over all of it is a really big God who isn't surprised or intimidated by any of it.  He is our source of balance.  So, with that in mind, allow me to tell you about the ups and downs of this week. Sunday, November 11 was a whirlwind day.  We were triple booked with events we weren't going to miss!  Our church had a special Veteran's Day Service, in which the choir played a prominent roll, and in which I was to sing a pretty rangy rendition of our national anthem.  Following that, we were off to a chili cook-off/silent auction fundraiser for friends of ours who are adopting.  That event was about an hour and ten minutes from our home.  From there, we went another ...