A Quiet Weekend

Emma and i have been keeping busy the past few days. We have learned to blow kisses at strangers and friends and have now mastered the art of taking off our pants and diaper. Okay, "we" haven't mastered that, lol, Emma has. She's also chatting up a storm with me during the day. I feel so sorry for our neighbors cat named Kit Kat; every time Emma and i go out to the mail box, Emma starts looking for Kit Kat. Kit Kat use to hang out near my bird bath, but after having a little toddler scream "kitttyyy" and chase madly after you, well, i think that Kit Kat now hides at the sound of our front door opening. Poor cat....

One of the things that Emma and i love to do is to go to Publix. I love shopping there and Emma, well, loves the balloons and their friendly staff. I wouldn't go near the bakery for fear of a sweet meaning bakery staff person handing Emma a cookie but yesterday, well, the sweet meaning bakery staff lady found us at the meat counter, cookie in hand. I wish that i could say that Emma hated the cookie, but nope, she was thrilled with "kookkie" and blew the bakery lady a kiss. It seems that Emma and i have something in common, lol, our love of "kookkies".

Preschool starts back again on Tuesday and i'm looking forward to those few hours to get somethings done. I'm on the MOPS Steering Team this year as their Publicity girl-so i get to do the newsletters for the meetings. I truly thought that i would be a complete flop at the newsletter seeing how i'm a bit computer challenged....but i love putting the newsletter together. The Steering Team is an interesting mix of women who are all ages with all ages of children. To say that it's nice to get together with other Moms is an understatement. The church that we meet at provides the day care during the meetings, so it is just a time for Mommies. We eat lunch together, talk, chat and laugh. If you've not ever been to a MOPS meeting and have a pre-schooler aged child, please find your local group and join!

And for some big news....Robert and i are seriously considering adopting again. We've talked about it for a while now and are still in the deciding stages, but i think that within the next year or so, we will be putting together another dossier. We would like to wait to see what will happen in Guatemala and if that country will open up again but we are also looking into other programs. I would love for Emma to have a sibling who is also from Guatemala. We'll see....

Little Girl in Pigtails

Pigtails!

After much bribing with a cookie, i managed to get Emma in pigtails for the first time! Too cute, but wow, what a lotta work to get her to sit still long enough for me to get them in. I'll have to keep practicing, as you can see, lol, the pigtails are a bit lopsided!

We have contractors at our home working on a few things and it has been fun to watch Emma interact with them when i let her near them. Jason and crew have been full of smiles for her and she has been entertaining by giggling and smiling at them. Emma was thrilled when one of the gentleman let her hold his hammer and proceded to smack the hammer onto my coffee table rather joyfully. That was the end of her "play time" with the construction crew for the day.

And sort of good news: We've decided not to move and we will be staying put for a few more years until Emma is a little older. We are still going to finish our punch list of things that we are working on and we'll be doing some hauling stuff away-next we are planning on painting the entire house, re-carpeting and hopefully, hopefully, replacing the kitchen floor. Yep, Jason and crew will be busy! :)

Sit still? Yeah, right....

It is getting to be more and more of a challenge to take photos of my little Emma. She won't sit still long enough, she's always looking for the next adventure. Her newest trick involves dragging a chair to the kitchen counter with her little stool and then she'll climb on her stool and then climb onto the chair. Thank God she's still too short to complete this little circus act of hers by climbing onto the counter. Emma thinks that this is a barrel of laughs and will say "wheeeee" when i get her off the chair. Robert tells me that we should have named Emma "Joy" instead of Emma because of her joyous nature. One of my favorite things to do is to listen to her at night. Emma wakes up at 3am most nights and 'chats' with Mr. Cupcake and her slew of stuffed animals. She giggles, laughs and squeals and chats up a storm...and then falls back asleep. These are the memories of Emma that will forever stay with me as she grows up.

It's also been amazing to watch her language develop. She can now sting two words together like "It's Dada" or "It's Dora". Of course my favorite word of hers is "It's Mama!". :) I feel so blessed to be a part of this...i've often heard that children are like little sponges and Emma proves to me that this is true. I am trying to use Spanish when speaking to her too and she can say "abuela", "mano" and a few others with ease.

Truly a magical time for me....and of course, a lot of work, too. Trying to stay one step a head of an 18 month old, while fun, can be exhausting! Needless to say, when it's time for bedtime for Emma, my bedtime follows shortly after. No problems falling asleep for me! But the days are good and happy with only a few tatrums here and there. Mostly these are about my taking my car keys from her and the tatrum doesn't last long. It's interesting to me that when i walk away from her in the mist of a tatrum, she'll come find me! I guess it's the best way to handle it, but wow, do those tears melt your heart. I think that these things come with her growing independence; it's almost as if my job as a Mommy is a series of good-byes as i get this little baby ready to be a toddler and then into a pre-schooler and then off to school. I want to freeze so many of these moments because time just goes by so very fast, it seems, and i want to remember this time in vivid detail. I hope that one day Emma will cherish all of the photos that i've taken of her...

A favorite video....

Baby Feet and Baby Toes....

 

No, not really 'baby feet and baby toes' as little Emma is now 18 months old. I love her feet and little toes and how she'll cross her feet at the ankles. My little baby isn't a little baby anymore...i'm afraid that i'm a Mommy to a little toddler.

A little toddler who has learned to put things into the toilet, who is able to jump on our bed, who loves bath time in the big girl tub and who is able to melt my heart with a smile and the words "Mama".

Being a Mommy to a toddler is a good thing, really! :)

Oh, I'm Leavin' On A Jet Plane.....

...and i'm not exactly thrilled about it. :(

I'm leaving on Friday to visit my sister in FL. She's going through what is shaping up to be a nasty divorce and custody battle and she's asked me to come visit to help her get settled in the home she's rented. We've not been together, alone since before my neice was born almost 9 years ago; growing up, we were 4 years apart so we didn't have much in common and well, i truly don't think that we 'liked' each other. We are just so very different; she's a Martha Stewart clone, i'm well, just not. I'm very 'lets save the earth' and she thinks it's a 'pain' to recycle. I'm a "we-should-help-the-less-fortunate' she thinks that they should help themselves. She's a whiz at decorating, i'm not. She's extremely thin, and i'm more the curvy (ha!) type. I loved to run, she hated to run. She's always had her act together (okay, until now she has always had her act together) and i've been the black sheep finding her way. I loved to read, bake and she's all about being social with tons of friends. Amazing how different sisters can be! ;)

It's ironic how the death of my Mom made the one thing my Mom always wanted to happen, well happen; we became closer. Perhaps it's because we both have children or maybe it's just because we've grown up or it could be that we now realize that we are the only family that we truly have left. I've never been jealous of my sister for all of the things that she has had in her life....until my niece was born. My sister became what i always wanted to be....a Mother. But my niece was such a fantastic little girl and i LOVED being an aunt. I LOVED IT! I bought presents, i read to her, i played with her, spent holidays with her....and i loved every moment of it.

Her new home is very near to the beach-within walking distance so i'm excited about that. And i'm only going for three days, so that's good, too. What is not good?

Emma is not coming with me.

Words can't possibly tell you how my heart already aches that she won't be with me. I won't be here to see her in the mornings-my favorite part of the day. When i go into her room in the mornings, she immediately stands up, cheers "yay" and holds up Mr. Cupcake and grins ear to ear and calls me "Mama". My heart swells every morning as this plays out. I won't be able to feed her breakfast, nor chase her around our home, nor read to her, or giggle with her for three days. While i know it's going to be good for my sister to have me with her to help her set up her new home, i am so going to miss my Emma.

Oh, and my husband, too, who is reading over my shoulder as i type this. :))

There is a lot for me to do before i leave....so i guess i should get started.

But first, it's time to sneak into Emma's room and watch her sleep.

Our New Favorite Song!

A Commentary

Commentary: Our tragedy and God's love for orphans

By Steven Curtis Chapman
Special to CNN

Editor's note: Christian music star Steven Curtis Chapman's daughter, Maria Sue, was killed in an accident in May in the driveway of the family's home. Chapman, a Grammy winner, will talk about the family's grief and faith on Larry King Live on Thursday, 9pm ET.

Franklin, TN: In America alone, there are half a million children in foster care, and approximately 120,000 of these children are waiting to be adopted. In many countries, children are too often orphaned or abandoned because of poverty, disabilities and disease; every 15 seconds, a child loses a parent because of AIDS. These are staggering facts that can seem overwhelming and discouraging, but I believe that God has a loving plan for each child, and that plan is you and me.

Caring for these children is not the job of governments or institutions; instead, it is the job of families, people and communities. As Christians, our compassion is simply a response to the love that God has already shown us. Mother Teresa would constantly remind those who worked with her that the Bible clearly teaches that whatever we do for the least of these, we do for Jesus. So in a very real sense, caring for orphans is a chance to meet the person of Jesus in "the guise of human suffering." This is an invitation from the heart of God to know him and to experience his love.

Nine years ago, my wife and my eldest daughter, Emily, traveled to Haiti on a mission trip. Having been exposed to extreme poverty for the first time, Emily returned home with a determined passion to make a difference in the lives of at-risk children.

Only 12 years old, Emily went on an all-out campaign to persuade us to adopt. She bought a book on international adoption with her Christmas money and would read it to us regularly. She began fervently praying and writing letters to Mary Beth and me, encouraging us to consider giving a waiting child a home. Emily knew God was leading us in the direction of adoption; however, Mary Beth and I were not yet convinced.

My wife and I had always supported the idea of adoption, and as Christians, we understood the importance of loving and caring for others. But what I had not yet grasped was that adoption is a physical picture of what Jesus has done for me. I did nothing to deserve God's love; in fact, I was living as an orphan, without hope. Yet God chose to pursue a relationship with me, and through the death of his son Jesus, I was adopted into God's family.

My wife and I began moving toward adoption with fear and trembling and asking all the questions people ask. I remember Mary Beth crying herself to sleep at night saying, "What are we doing? I can't do this." However, God kept reassuring us that this was the direction he was leading us. It was a huge journey of faith for us.

In May of 2000, we found ourselves in a hotel room in China's Hunan province, welcoming the newest member of our family, Shaohannah Hope. From that moment, we began our journey into the world of adoption, orphan care and Shaohannah's Hope. iReport.com: Send a video question for Chapman

We went on to adopt Stevey Joy and Maria. Recently, our youngest daughter, Maria, passed from life on this earth and is now safely in the arms of Jesus. We have been completely overwhelmed by the love and support of so many during this time of deep, deep sadness. Through all that we've experienced, one thing we still know is true: God's heart is for the orphan.

In our travels to Latin America, Africa and Asia, we have visited many different orphanages. If you look past the surroundings and into the eyes of the children, they all have the same look. They seem to convey, "I don't think this is what I was made for. Where do I belong?"

These children are crying out for the hope of a family, for the hope of community, for the hope of a permanent love. Our mission, and the mission of our adoption charity, Shaohannah's Hope, is to show hope to these children and to mobilize people, families and communities to be living examples of God's love for them.

We started Shaohannah's Hope in order to connect willing families with waiting children, but the reality is that there are many orphans who cannot be adopted. Even though we may not be able to bring them into our homes, we still have the opportunity to show them the hope we have.

If only 7 percent of the 2 billion Christians in the world would care for a single orphan in distress, there would effectively be no more orphans. If everybody would be willing to simply do something to care for one of these precious treasures, I think we would be amazed by just how much we could change the world.

We can each do something, whether it is donating, adopting, fostering, mentoring, visiting orphans or supporting families that have taken in orphans. You can change the world for an orphan.

Christmas is coming....

...and will be here quicker than any of us realize. While most families i know are so blessed, well there are many others in the world who are not. Please consider helping a child in need...i received this email this morning and wanted to share it. Sharon and her husband do wonderful, wonderful work in Guatemala. Mayan Families is a small non-profit group operating in the Highlands of Guatemala. Sharon and Dewight Page live and work in the Lake Atitlan region. If you've never heard of the work of Mayan Families. they are supported completely through donations, which are U.S. tax deductible. They are also not affiliated with any political or religious groups...they truly do this because their hearts are in Guatemala. If you are making a trip to Guatemala soon, please let me know as i have a few things that i would love to donate.

Below is Sharon's email:

Hello,

If anyone is planning a trip to Guatemala and can carry a few toys with them, second hand is fine, we are in real need of toys for Christmas. Last year we gave out over 3,000 toys to children who otherwise would not have received a gift. Many of these carried down by families from this list. Unfortunately, there are not so many families coming these days so we have a real lack of toys. We do not have a lack of children who will be hoping to get a toy for Christmas! Stuffed animals are great, second hand is absolutely fine. If you can help please contact us. We can pick up from any hotel in Guatemala City and/or Antigua.

Many thanks,

Sharon

www.mayanfamilies.org

Baby Talk

Baby talk.....


Well, you are babbling. Not a lot, but just enough to be very, very cute! You have also mastered the roll~rolling over an then continuing to roll. I was watching you as i was folding laundry....and you were on your baby Enstien Mat. And the next thing i knew, you were off the mat!! You are learning so much, Emma.....your Daddy thinks it will be very soon when you baby babble continueously and start to crawl. So fast!

You need me, lol....off i go!

Love you....

Mommy

Quote of the Day

 

Every day, in my email box i get the "Quote of the Day". Some days, they are really artsy-fartsy quotes, other days i have no clue why someone would be picked for their "Quote of the Day", some days i just delete and some days like today...well, i find a keeper.

Here's today's quote:

"I have an irrepressible desire to live till I can be assured that the world is a little better for my having lived in it."

– Abraham Lincoln

Yup, it's a keeper...and probably my new favorite quote.

A Birthday Party for Noah!

Today, Emma and i went to Noah's second birthday party/family day celebration. I met Noah's mom, Valorie while she was waiting for Noah and i was waiting for Emma. It was so nice to have a friend nearby who knew how i felt! I was finally able to meet Valorie's husband and her extended family. It was so much fun to visit with other families and to see other children who have settled in with their families. Noah came home last year on August the 2; on August the 1st last year (which was also his birthday!) it was the Embassy Appointment Day-so there was much to celebrate!

Noah has grown so very much since the last time we visited together. He's all boy, running, jumping, driving his little car, playing with his pets. His life is so filled with extended family that love him....the grandmas were loving on him today as were aunts and uncles. Too wonderful to see all the love for this little boy!

Emma had a wonderful time....mainly because there was a kiddie pool and a swing. That's all my girl needs for a good time! She wasn't interested in cake or ice cream, just running and swinging and playing in the pool. I tried to get a photo of Emma and Noah, but they kept running away, lol, so i finally gave up.

It was a wonderful day, a wonderful party!

And here's a photo of my little one on the swing~

A Prayer Request....

I am in need of a huge prayer request. My sister and her husband have had a rough time this past year; the night before last, my brother-in-law had my sister served with divorce papers in a parking lot of a restaurant. There is little doubt in my mind that this divorce will be messy and ugly as there are restraining orders and temporary custody of my little niece and two little nephews has been given to my brother-in-law. (They have three little children who are 8,7 and 3.) I know in my heart that those little ones are scared, hurt and don't understand the actions of their parents the past few days and don't understand why they can't see their Mommy. Robert and i have offered to take the children until their school year starts to give everyone some distance to let them work on things without having the children near to witness all of this drama and let us just love on them~but i don't think that my brother-in-law will agree to that.

I'm so very afraid that this all will get much worse before it gets better.....and other than pray, i don't know how to help. It's so very sad to see this marriage which seemed to be so strong at one time, fall apart at the seams....they've been married almost 15 years.

Please keep my sister's family on your prayer list....i am at a loss of how to help them.