I'm on my way

Today is my last day in the U.S. for the next ten days. We leave at an ungodly hour very early in the morning. My kids go back and forth between saying they are going to miss me to being very excited about their plans with their dad. I am looking forward to the adventure and challenges ahead. We have a lot of work to do but I do not think it will feel like work. I am packed and ready. There is always that weird feeling before I leave for a trip where I just never quite feel ready and have to just decide that I am ready. So, I'm ready. This trip is good for my soul. That sounds weird I am sure but it has done good things for me already and I have not even left yet. I look forward to coming back and sharing all that we saw and did. There will be a lot more to see and read when we get back. There will be some blogging going on during our trip at my husbands work blog LJ Urban so you can always check that out. I hope to have many stories to tell soon. Until then pray we have a safe journey and do what we have set out to do.

The Truth

There is a movie called Once that I loved. It was one of those movies that you sit there and watch it and as soon as it is over you want to watch it again. We have the sound track from it and there is this song that I love. One the the lines in particular. It says, " sometimes the truth has a habit of falling out of your mouth". I am not sure exactly why I love that. Partly because I feel like I do that sometimes where I say the truth on accident and am not sure if I should have but there it is and it is the truth so I can't really take it back. Partly because I wish that the truth would fall out of my mouth more often. I have a friend that is really good at just stating the truth if you like it or not. She is so bold and I like that. I never have to wonder what she is thinking or if there is something going on because if there is she would tell me. I love that and want to be that but it is hard for me to not think about what the other person will think or feel or how will it come across. If the truth is said in love and not in judgment is it better received? How do I handle the truth when I am confronted with it? I want to learn to be real. Who I am no matter who is around or what people think. I want the truth to have a habit of falling out of my mouth.

It's today, it's today

That is a quote from Stewart Little. The day that they are going to go pick up his new little brother. Well, for us it is the day that we finalize our adoption. She has always felt like ours. We have loved her since the day we first saw her but today we have a legal document that says it is true. No more having to explain at the doctors office why she goes by two names. No more keeping perfect track of everything we do. No more calls when we are going to leave the county. All of that was well worth the outcome but it will be nice to be done. We have our court day this morning and then we are throwing a big party in the late afternoon at our house. We wanted to celebrate this big day with our friends and family. I am so glad as I look back at this journey that our family has gone through. I am so thankful that we made this decision. Our lives will never be the same and we are all thankful for that. Last night we were talking about the upcoming court date and telling the kids that they might ask them if they want to have Little Bird as their sister. My son took it very seriously and told LuLu that she cannot even kid around if they ask her if she wants to or not. I thought that was very sweet. The love the three of them have for each other is amazing to me. So, we are off to the court house and then back home as a legal family and ready to PARTY!

A day in the life of little bird.

Little Bird update.

She is fully crawling now. She is fast. She pulls herself up to a standing position at the couch and today she walked along the couch. She has four teeth. She says Mama and DaDa. This is all happening way to fast. Her whole world view has changed in the last couple of weeks. She can get where she wants to be. She can get into things. She can find the smallest little anything that is left on the floor. She has also become much more clingy to me which I love and dislike at the same time. I think she is a little afraid of all this new found freedom and she wants to make sure I am there in case she needs me. What a girl. I cannot believe the love that I have for this sweet, lovely girl.

Here is another one...

I do not know why this guy makes me laugh so hard but he does. I just had to share another one. I think the humor reminds me of my friends from high school or something. I laugh everytime I watch this.

My arms are really sore

Four shots. A pack of malaria pills. Some mosquito nets. A bottle of insect repellent. And we are just about to leave for West Africa. Just 11 more days.

Only Two Weeks

I have not written about this yet because I am not sure how to put it all into words. About a month ago my husbands business decided to do a project that would require some traveling. My husband asked me to head it up and so I got to work on it. (I am being vague because they want to launch it all at once so I cannot say to much). The thing is, I am going to a country called Burkina Faso in two weeks. It is in West Africa. I will be going with journey mama and a lady that works at LJUrban. We met with one of the guys that is heading up the program in Burkina Faso last Friday and got a lot more details. LJUrban will be posting pictures and video on their web site after we get back. Then it will all come together. The main thing right now is that I am leaving for 10 days in two weeks. My mind is going crazy trying to think of everything that needs to be done before I leave.
I need reading material.
What should I wear?
Will it all fit?
I need to load my IPOD.
The laundry needs to be done.
And food in the fridge.
Will they really all be ok without me?
I know they will.
I am so very excited. I cannot even put into words what I am feeling. I hope to be able to explain it more when we return.

What a great day.

I had such a great birthday. I got to go get my hair cut. Which I always really enjoy. I spent time with my kids. I opened the presents from them. I had great friends who gave me gifts and called me and wished me a happy birthday. And my husband totally surprised me by having my mom come and watch the kids while we went on a real date. I was not expecting that at all. We went out for sushi and then to the movies. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day. I have one amazing husband. One of the presents that I got from my husband was an object that allowed me to take these yesterday. Can you guess what it was?

I have learned.....

1. My kids make me laugh every day
2. I really did marry the best guy in the world.
3. That is really is possible to become even better friends with your sister.
4. I still love going to the library as much as I did as a kid.
5. My son would learn to ride a bike the first time he tried.
6. My daughter would sing songs to me almost everyday.
7. My baby would learn to crawl and say mama in the last week.
8. That going for walk with my family after dinner is a sanity saver and we all enjoy it.
9. That my mom was right, a lot more than I thought.
10. That I am starting to sound just like her.
11. That I enjoy baking more than cooking.
12. Moving is hard and I hope that we do not have to do it again, ever.
13. I don't like to shop as much as I used to.
14. The beach is one of my favorite spots to read a book.
15. Good friends will stick by you through a lot of stuff.
16. That I am a stronger woman than I used to believe I was.
17. Family is really important.
18. I will always pick the slowest line at a store.
19. I like sushi.
20. That I would miss my friends that are far away the most on days like today.
21. I love the smell of rain.
22. I do not really like gardening as much as I thought I would.
23. That good shoes are hard to find.
24. So are good jeans. It is a never ending quest for me.
25. To be more comfortable with who I am, not who I think other people want me to be.
26. I enjoy people with a good sense of humor.
27. That parenting is a scary journey, but God has so much Grace.
28. I am not really dreading today.
29. That today I start the first day of the last year in my twenties.

Books

The other day driving in the car with my kids my son, looks up from the book he is reading and asks me, "what did I do before I could read?" I started to answer and he pipes up with,"did I just look at books?"

That is my son. His love for books is so complete that he cannot even imagine doing anything else.

Getting Closer

Today we signed the adoption placement papers which officially take Little Bird out of the foster care system and into the adoption phase. We are that much closer to finalizing. It was a strange day because the office we went to was the same one we met at to find out about her for the first time. I was remembering all those feelings again. The wondering if this would be the one, how do we make this decision, what if they do not pick us. And then the driving away knowing that we would be picking up our little girl the next morning. The excitement, fear, business of getting everything ready. It was just a lot of emotion. They gave us her full file today since they are closing it out and we got to keep the Polaroid picture that they showed us that first day. That is the picture that we made a life changing decision on and I am so glad we get to have it. I am so glad we were the ones that God picked to parent her. She is such a joy in our lives.

My husbands practical jokes

A little background. A few months ago my husband told my daughter that the sap on the outside of the house was the house peeing. Nice, I know.

This morning she saw a picture of a fire truck and said to me and my husband, " our house won't burn and we said yeah we have a safe house and she said " It won't burn cause it pees.