Kids rock

For every moment my children have driven me to the brink (c'mon, we have all had those moments where we have felt like crazy people - saying ridiculous things such as, "Eat the broccoli or we WILL NOT SWIM!" Really? Are the two related??? or "STOP PRETENDING TO POKE YOUR BROTHER!") we have 100 moments where I feel so unbelievably blessed to be a mom. We are on 24 hour high in my house right now. My husband is awesome, but one of the things I most admire about him is his ability to accept our children for who they are and encourage them in every way. That probably sounds odd - because of course I accept my guys as individuals, but I think I am more likely to say, "They are night and day - so very different!" than he is. We have decided it is important to give them as much one on one time as possible before baby girl comes home. This weekend, Dennis took Reilly to Atlanta to catch two Red Sox vs. Braves games. We could have all gone, but Colby really has little interest in baseball, and would have found the 5 hour car ride torturous. Reilly, on the other hand, thought it was the greatest opportunity ever! Today they are touring Georgia Tech. Reilly is 7, but he will love it. It will give him some reference point for all the GT / ACC match ups. My heart is so full thinking of how happy he is right now. How great he gets to share it with Daddy.
Colby and I have had fun too! Yesterday we went to the water park. I really didn't know what to expect. We had a BLAST. Colby knows no fear. I, on the other hand, am a wimp! He definitely had to encourge met to go on several of the slides. He did all but the two I refused to allow him to ride. Bear in mind, he is about a half inch shorter than the requirement to ride most of the rides, but he did them anyway. There were a few that I had my eyes closed tight just waiting for them to end, and the minute we finished, he grinned and said, "Let's do it again!" But the pure delight on his face made it all worthwhile and we stayed for 5 and a half hours! I was so exhausted last night and he was just fine. Colby talks non stop and simply has the most wonderful spirit. He is open minded and accepting - if you are willing to have fun, he is willing to have fun with you - whomever you may be! What I love about him is that places like water parks attract all sorts of folks, and he just smiles and says hi to everyone he comes in contact with. I swear, God gave me Colby to eradicate the judgemental side of my personality. We can learn a lot from our kids!

Why do vacations pass so quickly?

Have you ever noticed that "time flies when you are having fun"? It really does. We recently took our boys to Boston to visit my brother and his awesome family. His kids are the same ages as my boys, so they have a blast together. While we were there, it was the 5th anniversary of our niece Lily's, "Gotcha Day". She was adopted from China. That certainly made me think. What will our family be like in five years? Will it seem like our little girl was always a part of our family? I am just so ready to welcome her home.

Anyway, back to time flying. We took the kids in to the city for a trip to the Aquarium. Apparently approximately a billion other people had this thought as well. The fish must have been looking out of their tanks wondering, "Hmmm, why are all those humans packed in, body to body, staring at us? At least we can swim around and not smash into each other." But we had fun and wandered the city a bit. On Friday we headed in for a Red Sox game. My 7 year old is a HUGE sports fan, so this was definitely the highlight of his trip. My brother bought amazing seats and we had a wonderful evening. It was so great that Lily's barfing in the limo on the ride home barely put a dent in the experience (ok, maybe more so for Jess, who had Lily in her lap when it happened!) What is up with kids and hair-trigger vomiting anyway? They seem to have no ability to offer warning. How many times have I heard, "Mom, I don't feel good" - only to have the statement punctuated by projectile vomit. But I digress...

While we were in Boston my brother and his lovely wife gave us a Flip Mino video recorder. The thing is so cool! It is smaller than my cell phone, but takes an hour's worth of video, only to - in true inspector gadget fashion - plug directly into the computer for downloading. Wicked Awesome. (That one is for my brother - we had a very funny discussion of random Mass. dialect idiosyncracies and bizarre sayings. I wonder if they guy who invented "Can of Corn" to describe an easy catch (or whatever simple, non-thought producing action) really thought it would stick. It makes me want to come up with something utterly ridiculous and try to get folks to start saying it. hmmm, I will have to start thinking about that one.

And finally, why is it that the reality comes crashing down on us whenever we return from a vacation? Did I know that our dishwasher was broken before I left? Yes, but I didn't have to deal with it because we were going out of town! Now, loading my dishes is like playing Plinko with Bob Barker. The door won't go down all the way so I have to essentially roll the dishes in. We have one working phone in the house. AT & T can't seem to figure out why none of the other jacks work. At one point, we had three different phone lines. Now, we just want one line coming in, yet it is apparently completely confusing the phone company. Really?

Oh, I could go on and on. But, alas, young Reilly is begging me to play wiffle ball. Definitely the better use of my time.

We have reached the TOP 10!

We have finally made it into the NAG's top 10! This means that a referral might be imminent. I have really tried not to get too worked up about timing prior to now, but it is beginning to feel real! The boys seem particularly excited now; I think they have been happy about the decision to adopt from day one, but it was a very abstract concept for them. It must seem more real to them now because they are beginning to ask more questions about referrals and time lines, etc. They will be such good big brothers. Both have such different things to offer a sister! Reilly will be nurturing and sweet; he will be the brother that helps change diapers, holds her hand as she learns to walk, practices her alphabet, etc. Colby will teach her how to LAUGH; he is an expert in the field. He is simply innately funny, and loves to make others laugh. He is busy with a capital B and has more fun in an hour than most of us do in a week. I wonder if she will be cautious and reserved like Reilly or wild and carefree like Colby. Hmmmm

We are headed to Boston tomorrow to see my brother and his awesome wife and kids. He got us a box at Fenway for the Red Sox game against the Braves. I am not sure anything could excite Reilly more! We can't wait. We'll get to catch up with some old friends as well. So, I probably won't check our YG as much (although it is so nice that I can check from my phone!) so I hope lots of folks pass court and there are more referrals this week!

Here we go...

OK, so I am a blog virgin. I have read plenty of blogs, but never have I felt the need to write my own. I am still not feeling particularly called, but it has been raining for days and I am procrastinating on getting any meaningful work or household chores done. I have absolutely no idea the journey this blog will take in the future, so it may be meaningless drivel that no one wants to read - and you know what, that is totally fine. More than anything, I am just glad to notice there is a spell check button. I am a former English teacher and current school administrator, but I am not a naturally strong speller. I have an irrational fear of posting something with horrific spelling errors and looking foolish.

My brain is going a thousand miles an hour trying to come up with something witty and intelligent to write about. Apparently the synapses aren't all firing, because I am drawing a blank. I swear, when I was running this morning, I was on fire. Had anyone been there to listen, they surely would have been wildly entertained. Instead it was just me and my thoughts - and my slightly asthmatic lungs attempting to breathe as I finally get back to running. Oh well. So, I guess with the thought in mind that in the future the only folks who might stumble upon this are family and friends who are mildly interested in a peek into our lives, I will make today's post about the topic of converstation that comes up the most - the adoption of our Ethiopian little girl.

As I have told many of you, a few weeks ago the Ethiopian government began investigating the cases of abandoned children in Addis. MOWA stopped writing letters of endorsement for the court system as well. It is impossible to pass court without a letter from MOWA. Thus, the referrals have dramatically slowed down and so many families are stuck in limbo waiting to pass court so they can be united with their children. We are entering into our 7th month of waiting for "the call" since getting our paperwork overseas. This process is so much harder than I ever anticipated. I am crossing my fingers that come July, we learn who our little girl is. Unfortunately, the courts shut down anually for August and September, so we likely would not get to travel until late fall - making it an 18 month "pregnancy". I have learned a great deal during this journey. I suppose the greatest life lesson I have gleaned is that patience truly is a virtue. I can't control the course of events, so I just need to learn to step back and let it all happen. Yes, this is WAY harder than it sounds. Especially for me - who is a self proclaimed control freak. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from Reilly, when he was probably 4 years old. I remember telling him, "Reilly, sometimes you just need to go with the flow" to which he responded, "Mommy, I do NOT like the flow" as he balled his little fists up in frustration. Well, Buddy, I too am not a fan of the flow, but such is life.
Everyone asks us what we will name our daughter. Last year, when we first began talking about it with the boys, Colby really wanted to name her "Pikachu" after his favorite Pokemon. While that will not be her formal name, we have yet to settle in on a favorite. We have a short list at this point, but we can't seem to agree. (Ok, I pretend it is a democracy, but I am fully aware that I give my own vote far more weight than anyone elses... but we can pretend). I really am longing to hold her. I have done a fairly good job of managing my emotions during this process, as I knew up front it would be long. But now I am simply ready - ready for gummy smiles, belly laughs, and baby kisses. Yes, I know the adjustment will be hard, but really do I need to focus on that in my daydreams?
So, I will sign off for now and get to work. When I have a brilliant - ok, even not so brilliant- thought about some other random topic, I will post. Believe me, my brain swirls with a bevy of thoughts - from my uncharacteristic love of the TV show "Tori and Dean" to my thoughts as to why there are clearly genetic differences in genders (c'mon, we all know that women are programmed to nag and men can't unload a dishwasher...). Adios for now...