We had a good time at the zoo... unfortunately, most of the animals were sleeping... so that was a bit of a bummer. But it's a pretty cool zoo. It's divided into 2 sections, Australia and Africa. We went to Australia first, trying to avoid the Africa crowd. At first, we were really trying to explain, "See the monkey over there? He's sleeping. No, over there. See?" Once Toby figured out the routine, he was a pro. He and Brynn were pretty excited about the giant birds. Me? Not so much. I fear birds.
R2 doesn't care too much for the zoo. We've taken him several times, and he just can't see far enough. If something is right up by the window, he gets excited. Oh, and the sheep corral, complete with Daddy's antics... very exciting.

After 10,000 years of walking around, we finally made it to Africa where we all tried to summon up the energy to care. Paid for the tram to ride back to the front. Now, that was fun.
The whole day was a neat experience... just HOT and lots of walking. I think next time we'll do the boat or train tour.

Ah, and the forty day fast starts today. I'm fasting most media, but I wanted to keep updating my blog. So I'll be here.

And in that spirit, we are off to the zoo! 

So, yesterday we went to the ocularist, who makes ocular prosthetics. I love saying medical stuff. Rolls off the tongue.

I brought a stash of toys- didn't know how long we'd be there or how kid-friendly the office would be. Since I took that precaution, they had a toy box there and we got in very quickly.

So R2 sat in the chair and Dr. Turntine looked inside his itty-bitty eye and asked us a few questions... and it looks like we're going to go for it! Here's the process... I don't know about you, but it's interesting to moi.

They begin by knocking him out via anesthetic and making an impression of the damaged eye-globe. This is done by putting some kind of clay-like substance in the socket and having it form a perfect impression of his eye. They will then use this mold for the shell.

Second, we'll get a clear "conformer". This is like a thick contact lens, shaped to fit over his damaged eyeball and begin the process of stretching his eyelid and getting everything ready. We'll go through a series of conformers before it's determined that his eye is ready for the scleral shell.

None of this is painful... he said there's a little bit of pressure and weird feeling-ness the first 24-48 hours, but after that he shouldn't notice it.

Once the stretching is done (6-12 weeks) then the eye should be ready. The scleral shell is the same basic material as the conformer, but painted to look exactly like R2's good eye. It used to be that they had to be taken out overnight and cleaned, like contacts, but that's not necessary anymore... once the shell is in, it stays in until it needs to be refitted or something.

It's interesting, even having had the new glasses for a week or two now, it seems like kids are friendlier to him... they still think he's weird... but not scary. I can't think but that's got to feel better to him. Maybe someday he'll let us know.

Some of you will recognize this outfit... worn by another guitar player 29 years ago or so...


We're leaving momentarily for the ocularist... he will evaluate R2's eye and give us the info on an ocular prosthetic, scleral shell, whateva... I'm very curious about the whole process.

And now I will speak of pickles. I wrote an email to VKG requesting that she bring a particular kind of pickles with her when she visits... (polski wyrobi, for the pickle enthusiast).

Evidently this raised the alarm among the hens... my fertility was bandied about. The answer is no. They just happen not to sell those pickles here... Sheesh.

I was raised on polski wyrobi, a spicy whole pickle, which my dad and I would loudly crunch with a big bowl of popcorn and a cold glass of milk. I don't know why, and I didn't ask questions, because it was GOOD.

In recent times, they have quit calling them that. Probably some Polski had it up to HERE, I don't know. So I went on a google expedition and found they are now called Kosher Dills. Uh, yeah. Cause THAT'S the same.

Bought some kosher dill spears yesterday... close. Unfortunately, spears are soggy and slimy. My quest continues.

You are now free to carry on with your lives.

The new baby Peterson will be...
	a BOY
	a GIRL
pollcode.com free polls

Josh and Shannon have the big ultrasound today.... I thought about adding one more option to the poll, "A Weasel", but did not want to unduly influence the vote.

Toby is currently in Time Out. I'm trying to use time out now in place of chasing him down, grabbing him by one arm, physically restraining him and giving him a swat. Oh, with yelling. From both of us. His most recent offense is pummeling r2 with sticks he found in the backyard. Sigh.

In other news, I had cute business cards made with my name, and my kids names, and my cell and email. 250 of 'em. What that sets in motion is either my email or phone becoming defunct. And... the Oscar goes to my email address. Story of my life. Order checkbooks with address, move. Address labels... a joke. Take band pictures, change band members. anyways, if you care to email me, my revolution addy is not working. I'm working on a fix... it will probably go into effect right when we change ministry names and ax revolution or something.

I am becoming a more disciplined person. (keep saying, it Jess...) I have been working out 3 days a week, and today begins my new plan of spending time in the house of prayer every day. The plan is 2 hours, for my solo flight today I will be doing 1. You see, I live in Kansas City. And maybe that doesn't mean much to you, but if you follow the prayer "movement", you know this is kinda the mecca around here. 24 hour prayer for almost 10 years now. The big daddy IHOP.

Problem is, I don't like to pray that much. If you're shocked, maybe you're new here. I like to pray loud. With a lot of people, for a cause. Love that. But when it gets down to me and God, or me, God and a room full of white people praying quietly with a background of modern worship, not so much.

Regardless, or irregardless if you prefer, I am wasting my opportunity to go and soak in a place that has been bathed in prayer. Deep fried, if you will. Plus, I need to work on the whole me-and-You-alone aspect of the ol' relationship with God. So off I go.

I made a decision yesterday. After 16+months of feeding Brynn every 2 or 3 hours at night, I would like a break. I don't want to wean her, yet. She's most likely my last biological baby, and even though you can nurse an adopted child, I don't know if I will. So no, not yet. But nightweaning is sounding better and better.

The problem has been, I hate the strategy called "Cry-it-out", known in some circles as CIO. If you did it and it worked, great. Just not my bag. And most proponents tell me their horror success stories like this, "Oh yeah, Hildegard used to wake up all the time! So I just put her in another room like the garage overnight... true, the first night she screamed until she threw up. But the second night she only cried for three hours! And by the fourth day she quit crying altogether! Now she just stares at the wall with empty glassy eyes when I leave the room! It's great! I feel so RESTED!" And I look at my tiny little princess and I am like OH HECK NO I am not doing any variation of that with her.

But last night I decided to see what she would do, expecting to go get her after she would cry for a while... put her playpen in the living room and waited. Nada. I think she whimpered a little around 2 or 3 am... but not really. At 5:30 she woke up and was actually crying so I went and got her and nursed her. Then she was all excited and crawling around and screeching so I put her back in the playpen and she took it! She drank a little water and played with a toy and went back to sleep. CWAZY. Then she woke up for reals at 8, which is gravy for me.... 11:30 to 5:30 was like a vacation!

So I actually have a crib set up in Toby's room (she's been in our room till now). But I don't know about that... I mean, they would be waking each other up and such... and Toby might torment her a lot... and they would scream a lot which torments me. But I don't really want to leave her in the living room.

Whatevs. Point is, she slept. And no crying. I have won the baby lottery.

We just bought a bed off Craigslist... I have been haunting the free section for months now, but I never get to ads in time. Stuff is gone literally minutes after people post it. So today, when I saw a full size box spring, mattress and frame for 25 bucks, I got the jump on it. Because our minivan is awesome, all the rear seats come out or stow in the floor. So Richy was able to fit all of it inside the van. Yess.... and now it's all set up and R2 is very excited, since he gets to sleep in it unless we have guests.



And now, a little gratuitous cuteness for your viewing pleasure.

---

Father's Day card. Lots of things to write to Daddy.



Toby logic: If one apple is good, FOUR apples are GREAT.



Bean wants to play outside...



Daddy putting hot air to good use.



Bean gets to play outside. Kind of.



Discovery.



The most fun thing in the world EVER is walking.

---

In other news, I am trying to move into this house, which is good since we've been here 6 months. Unfortunately, half the garage is still populated by things in boxes that surely I need...

So, the glasses came in today. So far, Toby has not messed with them, probably because he has been asleep. Brynn has stolen them twice. And despite my adjuring "Don't put your face over there!", his face keeps getting within her grasp.






Pretty good, huh?
He's walking around tilting his head and looking at stuff... very excited and cute.

In other Clark news, we (Radiant) are definitely playing at the Call DC II. You should go. Find a bus, train, or plane... stick out your thumb and plan on sleeping in a tent, whatever. We will be gathering on the Mall in Washington DC, and fasting and crying out to God. For 12 hours. Or maybe 14. To quote Dr Phil, this is gonna be a changing day in your life. August 16th. Be there.

In other, other Clark news, Brynn is sitting up on her own now! She tried it the last day we were in Texas, and now she's a pro. Also on her agenda, pulling up. She doesn't quite have it, yet. But she gives it a good try. If we pull her to standing on something, she can't figure out how to sit down and will stand there whining indefinitely.

And that is the news of the day... later.

Inevitabilities of life:
If I have to go somewhere, one child will lose a shoe 3-5 minutes before we have to be in the car. At least one child will spill something on themselves. Poopy diaper(s).

If I mop the floor, within one hour of the floor drying, someone will spill a whole bowl of something, probably something red like chili, or sticky and impossible to sweep, like rice or macaroni and cheese.

If I answer the phone, all hell will break loose. Especially if I am talking to a doctor or government type.

If we go to the park, or an indoor playground, at least one child will have a dirty diaper. Especially if I forgot to bring wipes. This one is so predictable, I could market it as a laxative.

If all three children are asleep, and I am cleaning, even vacuuming in their room, they will stay asleep. If I sneak away to a private room, someone will wake up. Especially if I am eating chocolate very quietly.

If I kick everyone outdoors, they will stand at the door looking in. If they can't go out, they stand looking out.

If I wear white, I will be clutched by peanut butter hands, or tomato saucy ones. If I wear black, it will be snot, or cheese sauce.

---

If I complain about having kids, even jokingly, I remember how desperately I prayed for them, and how lonely I used to be.

Bring on the cheese sauce.

This is the new table... I really like it, except for the flowers. I figured they would come off via Magic Eraser, but no. This table is, to put it in car dealer vernacular, pre-owned. So it has some chips and scuffs and scratches... I toyed with the idea of sanding and re-staining, but really... we paid 60 bucks for a table and 5 chairs. Good enough.
It's actually very soothing to me to be able to sit at the table, all 5 of us in one place. We've only been able to do that at restaurants before... feels very family-ish.
Thank you, Jesus and Craigslist.

In other news, we are considering getting a scleral shell for R2. Wot's this? you say... make 'im a turtle and such? Uh, no. It's a mix between a false eye and a contact lens. A shell that fits over the disfigured eye, that is painted to match his good eye. We actually meet the ocularist next Wednesday. This is something I've wanted to do for a long time, but it brings up issues... like, how traumatic is the process... weeks of wearing a "conformer" to shape the eyelid, and then putting in the lens and having to take it out at night and clean it... for someone who might not even comprehend all this.

Gut-level though, I want this for him. I HATE it when kids are scared of him at the playground, or say mean things. And that happens a lot. He doesn't seem to be aware of it, but surely at some point he will... and Toby will, soon.

And he's such a handsome kid. I would love him to look whole. So is this about me? I hope not. We'll meet the doc, talk about it... learn the pros and cons and see if this works for us. I hope it does.

Today, we dropped off the MOG at the house o' prayer and went our merry way... we went to the hospital and picked out R2's new glasses... (they'll be here in a week), we went to the Golden Arches, to the car wash, to walmart, to pick up the MOG, to the park and now finally home. I was attempting to kill 4 hours whilst we fogged our house... there are far too many living things here.

Home now, and it smells like Hiroshima in here. Hopefully all bug-kind is killed dead. I am currently a little poisoned myself.

It was a sweltering 81 degrees here today, folks. Break out the antiperspirant.

Father's Day Sunday... acknowledge the fathers in your life, whether they be biological or spiritual or whateva...

That's all I got, my brain is fogged. Happy weekend.

Spent a lot of hours at the ophthalmologist today... she was like a movie doctor... flowing wavy blonde hair and the sparkling blue eyes and so on... a sight for sore eyes. (sorry) Anyways, R2 will be getting glasses again, with a little prescription but mostly to protect his good eye.
Now we're off to pick up a table I bought on Craigslist. YAY!!

No time to be witty today. Maybe tomorrow.

Isn't this a good picture of us? We're growing up so fast... ;)

Took us about 14 hours yesterday, McDonald's TWICE, and 4 poopy diapers. But we made it. We got home around 10:30... stepped out of the van into spiderwebs... in our garage. YUCK. One of us was freaking out more than the others, and it wasn't the traditional role of more-freaked-out-by-insects gender. I will leave it at that. We fought our way through with the spazzy cobweb hand movements, and moved in. We also discovered carpenter ants stinkin up the place. ONE of us was too spazzy to sleep because "something is biting me" so we changed the sheets and ONE of us attempted to thump an ant away, only to have it boomerang back multiple times. Another one of us picked up the ant, squished it and threw it away. I'm just sayin.

After the terror and pestilence by night, it was great to sleep in our bed. Toby woke up once a little scared, but he must have figured it out because he went back to sleep.

Now I have spent the morning cleaning and squishing ants as a warning to all the other ants. The MOG did something very important that took a long time that looked like checking his email, and now he is mowing the grass. It is of jungle proportions. Toby really wants to go out there, but nooooo... we steer clear of tall grass, we Texans.

The plan is, post-lawn-care, to go to Cici's and then grocery shop. YAY!

we are off! Blogging from the iPhone...

Sunday, Jacob walsh got married, which was very fun since he is a Radiant and also, I have known him since he was a wee mite.
Then last night was the birthday party, which was a grand Yablonski event.
Today, we drive for 12 hours, glory. So far we've thrown back a couple yogurt parfaits and hash browns and such. Now, I will desert you for John Grisham. Nothing personal.

Richy's twitter reads: "5 preaching "engagements," 2 weddings, 3 radiant events, 1 unexpected funeral (as most are) 1 short vacation. Texas, that's a wrap."

It was a very eventful 2 weeks. I'm tired, which is bad news, since tomorrow after a 12 hour drive,  we're back to the Land of No Babysitters. I am looking forward to getting back to KC, though. I miss my house. Oh, and it's 115 degrees in the shade here. No bueno. We are planning on moving back next year, so I will have to kill my inner wuss and remember how to sweat.

Tonight we're having a birthday bash for R2 and Anila... YAY party!! 

a breath

of fresh air

a song

I didn't expect

a celebration

every day

a depth

hidden, and growing

a joy 

to behold

Happy birthday, big boy.

Today is Richy's 9th birthday, and I should put some thought into a post about him. But we're about to jet out of here, so I'll just give you a little taste of the beach pictures. It was a blast. Unfortunately, I am now a bright-ish coral color from the knees down and on the old shoulders. Thank God I'm not a bikini type. That would be quite a bit much more skin for frying. More tomorrow on the beach trip.

If the question is why are we some kind of mutant retro family, the answer is, I don't know. I never realized we looked like that.

I sit today with the ocean at my back, and a man-made waterfall in front of me. Thank you Jesus for Priceline... we got a killer deal on our room, and man!! THIS is a vacation.
It's always a little funny to me when we get to stay in a nicer place.. our typical fare is Comfort Inn, often on reward points. But occasionally a host church puts us in a Marriott or something. I feel like such an imposter... like I should just fess up to the desk clerk... "I didn't pay for this room!" or "I'm actually broke! I don't deserve to take my Walmart swimsuit into your pool!" I don't, though. I just play it cool. Even when the valet pulls open my door and I didn't know he was there and he just scared the life outta me... play it cool. Maybe no one will know... :)

So, to update you on the weekend and such. When I left you, my imp was smirking. I can't help it, or I don't want to. Some things are just a bit funny. Like in worship, I'm all reverent and God is there and I can feel his presence. STILL, when the lady with the angel wings flits by, or the guy with the giant crown, I get it. And one part of me thrills and acknowledges it as true worship. That part is fully tuned in. The other part of me is smirking. I think my dad made me this way.
Seriously, though, when Leah dances with her dance company, nothing can compare.

I had my three at the conference with me. They had a great time, except that one part when I dragged a limp, screaming Toby off the stage by one arm. Thank you, thank you. I'll be appearing at Walmart all week.

Then Sunday, the MOG preached at Freedom Fellowship, and either his preaching is getting really good, or I'm getting saved. I listened to the whole message, and I am usually too antsy to sit still very long. Then Sunday night Radiant played at the same church and I got to sing with them quite a bit. I LOVED Sunday night. It was so good! Rock and roll, of course, and God came and was meeting with people... beautiful.
And I was wearing Brynn, as I usually do... she sang and kicked her little feet and she was a big hit. The boys were out in the audience with VKG and about 1/3 of the cousins. They (not VKG, but the littles) danced wildly and ran a bit and shrieked a bit and had a gooooooood time.

So we'll be here in Galveston for one more night, and then tomorrow VKG and a contingent of wee Clarks will meet us here for a day at the beach. I am so excited to see what Toby and Bean think. I know what R2 thinks... he is captivated by the waves. He will be out there, watching the water roll over his feet and flapping his hands until we drag him out.

I blog today from the iPhone en route to Galveston for a little r&r. Hopefully our hotel will have wifi so I can update on a great weekend of ministry with pix. If not, you'll just have to make do with these mini blogs. I hate trying to type on the phone.

But yeah, it was a beautiful weekend with lots of radiant musica. And multiple occurences of Mexican food. Me love you long time, Mexican food. Especially FREE Mexican food.