Is it just me...

... or does this photo make you think that I'm going to have an

extremely handsome teenager on my hands any day now?

Great news today... G's birth certificate arrived!  We had been told that our state takes up to 5 months to issue certificates for foreign born children, but my lawyer suggested a tip, and sure enough - the certificate arrived today (just a week or two later)! 

I LOVE looking at an official document showing me as the mother of this beautiful boy.

College Acceptance

Joseph got his first acceptance letter!  I asked if he wanted to go out to dinner to celebrate.

"No, we'll celebrate when I get accepted to 'THE ONE'."

All hopes continue to be in that basket.

Travelin' Man

G loaded up his bag full of the essentials - matchbox cars, slinky, glow sticks, etc - and announced: "I goin-ah the city."

More imaginative play!  LOVE that!

One from Thanksgiving

The men took the carving very seriously.

How cool is it to see G in the mix?

What a Hero

Superman has been at our house lately - flying crazily here & there.

It's not like I imagined he would soar.  It's more like being flung around by the edges of his cape.

Very exhausting, the flying is.  Even a superhero needs to rest.  Face down in the carpet.

(p.s. The "new" camera is pretty disappointing, eh?)

Thought for Thanksgiving Thursday

(January 2010.  First night together at home.)

I have so much to be thankful for.  I think of the obvious things, and then I read these verses from 1 Thessalonians 5:

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

With my co-workers, I am reading through the book “31 Days of Praise” by Ruth Myers. She wrote the book after living through her husband's suffering from cancer and then her life as a widow with two young children. So far, the book has been a great direction-setter for a lifestyle of praise. Thought I’d share a bit of one prayer with you for Thanksgiving:

“I choose to thank You for my weaknesses, my infirmities, my inadequacies (physical, mental, emotional, relational)…for the ways I fall short of what people view as ideal…for my feelings of helplessness and inferiority; and even my pain and distresses. What a comfort it is to know that You understand the feeling of my weaknesses!...and that in Your infinite wisdom You have allowed these in my life so that they may contribute to Your high purposes for me.”

“Thank You that many a time my weaknesses cut through my pride and help me walk humbly with You…and then, as You’ve promised, You give me more grace-You help and bless and strengthen me. Thank You for all the ways I’m inadequate, for they prod me to trust in You and not in myself…and I’m grateful that my adequacy comes from You, the all-sufficient God who is enough!

Thank You that I can trust You to remove or change any of my weaknesses and handicaps and shortcomings the moment they are no longer needed for Your glory, and for my good, and for the good of other people…and that in the meantime, Your grace is sufficient for me, for Your strength is made perfect in my weakness.”

I am thankful for you.  Hope you have a great Thanksgiving day.

The Back Seat

I just can’t seem to slow down lately and get to the computer. I hate to be leaving you out of the deliciousness that’s happening here every day.
Here’s one of the reasons I laughed today:


This morning I placed a bag FULL of papers on the backseat of the car next to G. As I rounded the first bend, the bag tipped & the papers started sliding around. G was peering down from his carseat and calling out to me: “Be fahfuh (careful)! Fahfuh Mama! Too fas, too fas! Be fahfuh!”

Wish I could record his sweet voice for you.

Tis the Season

For reclining turkeys and their floating legs. 

What's up with the teacher labeling the picture "turkey?"  I mean - c'mon - obvious.

And - yes - this means that my new (used) camera arrived.  It requires some extra steps, but hopefully I'm back in business!

Hand-me-downs

Sorry for my absence.  I'm having an especially busy week, and I'm at a loss without a camera.  Here are some old photos, just to keep you entertained :)

I thought Joseph was adorable in these pjs. 

And now G.  Love the Simbas.



Remembering

I spent last weekend reading other blogs & news articles, remembering what it was like after Haiti's January earthquake, and crying.  In some ways, the pain still feels so fresh.  I remember - not just in my mind, but with my body - how it felt to desperately ache for news of G.... how it felt to know the suffering others were enduring.

G has been looking back too.  For the past three days, he's asked me "airplane Mama" - he wants to see the photo I have of him on the airplane from Port-au-Prince, and the photos from our first days together as a family.

So much has changed for us.

So much has not changed for people living in Haiti.  I hope we're all continuing to pray for them.

You Need This

A perfect recipe =
Less than 5 ingredients
Less than 5 minutes of prep

Presenting - Trader Joes Soup!

Ingredients:
- One 32 ounce carton of TJ Roasted Red Pepper Soup
- One 12 ounce container of TJ Black bean and roasted corn salsa
- One package of TJ Spicy Jalapeno Chicken Sausage (I used Spicy Italian Chicken Sausage - no harm done)
- One can of diced tomatoes
- Salt to taste (I didn't add any, and I thought it was perfect)

Directions:
Drain out just a bit (but not all) of the juices in the black bean and roasted corn salsa.
Combine all ingredients and simmer for as long as you want or eat right away.
Garnish with croutons or tortilla strips.

The recipe yields approx 7 cups of soup.  There are 150 calories per cup.

I don't know who invented this recipe.  But I do know...

It's powerful good.

Zoo

Thursday was a gorgeous gorgeous day here.  And we went to the zoo.  AND Joseph joined us.  AAAANNNDDD it was free day.  Does it get any better than that?

G was scared at different points - mostly when going through doors into exhibits.  We had lovely conversations about how Mama always keeps him safe. 

He was totally unimpressed with amazing things like BISON GRAZING JUST A FEW FEET AWAY!  That gave me flashbacks to encountering bison on the snowy Yellowstone mountain roads.  At the zoo, I was pretty sure they were behind ultra-strong metal cables but I was still a little nervous.  They're just big, ya know?     

Back to G.  He had a minor tearfilled experience as we dragged him past the carousel: "I wan dat!  I wan dat!!"  But otherwise smooth sailing.  As we passed the site of previous zoo meltdowns, I was enjoying how far we've come.

For the second zoo visit in a row, G enjoyed the camels.  Really?  Out of all the options... camels?

You'd probably like to see a photo of Joseph holding G - both of them smiling - while a polar bear swam just six inches away (behind glass).  I'd love to see a picture of that too.  I need to solve my broken camera dilemma soon!

Thought for Thursday

From "Do Hard Things" by Alex & Brett Harris:

"You're probably familiar with the saying 'ideas have consequences.'  But did you know that expectations have consequences?  It's true.  The power of expectations has been documented in study after study over the last few decades."

The authors wrote about two studies... 
"Both studies were set up the same way.  Teachers were given two classes of randomly divided students.  However, the teachers were told that one class was made up of the best and brightest students at the school and that the other class was made up of the slower to average students.  With that, the teachers began to teach.  And guess what happened?

All of the teachers' interactions were tainted by their expectations.  When the teachers worked with a student in the 'bright' class, they persisted with the student until he or she found the answer.  But when a student in the 'slow' class didn't find the answer right away, the teachers moved on to another student."

"Don't miss this: statistically the classes were exactly the same.  The only difference was in what their teachers expected of them.  Soon, the students began to meet those expectations.  The 'best and brightest' class began to excel, and the 'slower to average' class began to lag behind."

It's worth thinking on.

Accomplishment!

Celebrate with me.

My church is gearing up for our next medical missions trip to Haiti.  Tonight I finished drafting the medical supply order!  It was more complex than ever, with us expecting to serve more adults, have a larger team, and face cholera concerns.  But some major decisions have been made.

Metronidazole; Albendazole; Clotrimazole - I have conquered all.  Hooray!

Trusting that the few hours I spent will be significant in caring for people in Haiti.  So glad I get to be part of that.

Fall Fun

Disaster has struck: My camera is broken!  Not sure how I will blog without photo evidence, but I'll save that worry for another day.  I have an Autumn photo dump I can share tonight....

(loves his "bike" and super-loves taking it down the hill)

(first pumpkin carving)

(picking up apples with M)

(note G's frog boots - he loves them)

It's been so gorgeous here.  I can't help but pity my poor Florida & California friends who miss this beauty :)

That's it.  The end of the photos.  Yesterday there was a potential blog post that involved dining without silverware, but who wants to read about that?  You'd need to see it.

This makes OVER ONE WEEK since I last took a picture of G.  Just imagine all of the unrecoverable sweetness that I've missed.  Better get that camera fixed soon.

Halloween

G attending two schools made for THREE Halloween parties.  Sheesh.

Party #1

All of the children filed in to the empty chairs facing their parents, then proceeded to sing lovely Halloween-themed songs.  Ooops.  Did I say that ALL the children filed in?  That should be "all the children except one..."

..."one who stood in the very middle of the arrangement, mouth opened, ignoring the teacher's requests that he sit, while he scanned the crowd looking for his Mama."

I was sitting at the very end of one of the rows.  The principal stooped down to me and asked if he'd spotted me yet.  I said no - then had to stop her from waving to him.  Didn't matter - he stood there and searched 'til he found me, then broke into a huge grin and RAN over at me.  Wouldn't go & sing a song with the other kids.  Kind of embarrassing.  But kind of sweet too, ya know?

Dinner was cupcake, with a side of cookies.

Party #2

No singing, but we did enjoy a parade through the school.

Breakfast was cupcake, with a side of cookies.

Party #3

I boycotted.  Sent G in a Spiderman costume, just to get a break from Pooh.

Let's just imagine what lunch might have included.


Trick-or-treating

Pooh was back.  My camera was broken, but my neighbor saved the day.

We just went to a few houses up & down our street.  G took a small bucket for treats.  VERY INTERESTING to see how the neighbors reacted to that.  I received lectures on how that bucket would never hold "enough."  Some neighbors offered to give him extra treats.  Most neighbors skipped the offering and just dumped extra treats in the bucket.  I think we visited 10 houses and got 50+ treats.

We could have visited more houses but the Dog Terror was in full force.  At the beginning of each driveway, G asked me "Dog, Mama?"  If I said "No dogs live here, G," then he would ask me continually up to the door of the house.  If I said there was a (nice small friendly) dog there, then ... we moved on.  At one house we were surprised by the yellow lab that barked a greeting.  The lady neighbor was even more surprised by the FIRE ALARM BURSTS OF TERROR that erupted from my son, as I tried to gracefully back down the driveway.  She wanted to convince G that her dog was nice and she had two handfuls of Snickers for him.  I just wanted to stop the clawing screaming maniac.  It's always nice to meet the neighbors.


Dinner was pizza.  Because I'm much healthier than the cupcake scene.  Obviously.

Expression of gratitude for solving the Christmas panic of October 2010

I really love your ideas!  Thanks for taking the time to post & email me!!!  You all will carry me through this Christmas, "Teacher Appreciation Week," and Christmas 2011 too.  Hooray!

At this point, I'm leaning towards the easiest idea: filling little plastic bags with different treats to create a small treat mix AND writing handwritten notes to each teacher.

I hear you all snickering from here.  All of my dear friends who never ever have received a handwritten note from me.  But this is the year.  It will happen.

I'm glad to have a plan.  Thanks again.

Back to autumn...

Thought for Thursday

From Gary A. Haugen's book, "Just Courage"



Gary tells the story of being 10 years old and camping & hiking on Mount Rainier with his dad. On one particular day they had been hiking on pleasant asphalt trails around the Paradise visitor's center. He writes:

"At the top of the meadow trails, however, the paved trail ended and a large warning sign indicated the beginning of the trail used by climbers on their way to the summit. With a text undoubtedly drafted by lawyers, the sign warned of every conceivable horror that awaited those who ventured beyond. I wasn't feeling particularly tired, but my little stomach ached as I looked up at the massive rock formations and snow field that went up and up and up. My dad suggested we try to reach Camp Muir, the base camp used by climbers heading for the summit, and my brothers eagerly accepted. Dad assured me I could make it, that he would help me and that the view and the triumph would be more than worth the effort - and that it would be marvelous to do together.”

Gary, however, was thinking about the potential trials ahead. He pleaded with his dad to be allowed to wait at the visitor’s center. Finally, his dad relented and left him behind while the others went on up the mountain.

“The visitor’s center was warm and comfortable with lots of interesting things to watch and read. I devoured the information and explored every corner, and judging by the crowd, it was clearly the place to be. As the afternoon stretched on, however, the massive visitor’s center started to feel awfully small. The warm air felt stuffy, and the stuffed wild animals started to seem just – dead. The inspiring loop videos about extraordinary people who climbed the mountain weren’t as interesting the sixth and seventh times, and they made me wish I could be one of those actually climbing the mountain instead of reading about it. I felt bored, sleepy and small – and I missed my dad. I was totally stuck. Totally safe – but totally stuck.”

On their drive home, his dad and brothers had nothing but exhilarating stories to relate about their day spent conquering the mountain.

Gary finished his story:

“Truth be told – I went on the trip and missed the adventure.”

“Likewise, it is my sense that many Christians are starting to suspect that they are stuck at the visitor’s center.”

“In different times and in different ways, our heavenly Father offers us a simple proposition: Follow me beyond what you can control, beyond where your own strength and competencies can take you, and beyond what is affirmed or risked by the crowd – and you will experience me and my power and my wisdom and my love.”

We are family

"The LORD reigns forever,

your God, O Zion, for all generations.

 

Praise the LORD."

 

Psalm 146:10

It's official.  G is legally my son!