Almost Wordless Wednesday

This picture is for you, Kim, and your lovely dh who supplied the blue slushie machine. My girls loved them! We will miss you....

P.S. It all washed off before Mass on Sunday, except for the little pool of it that accumulated at the top of her pull-up :)

New Skills

The List:
3 spoons,
2 sippy cups,
a stuffed animal,
a pretty pink shirt,
the remote,
and 4 dish towels.

What do they have in common? These are the items I have found in the trash can. The follow-up question is, what did I not find that made its way out of the house? My keys, you know the one with the expensive fob that opens all the doors to the minivan, are still missing. For over a week now I have had to resort to the valet key. It is no fun!

The Offender: a cute 16 month old girl who recently aquired the ability to walk.

The Accomplice: her father who encouraged her to pick up the things she found on the floor and put them in the trash can. He thought he was teaching her to help her poor overworked mother :) A decision that has backfired.

The Proposed Solution: Do you think I can convince dh, who is already seeing dollar signs in his sleep over our second adoption in a year, to fork over the small fortune for one of these?

He did after all start this...

Reporters

I know you have all had one of those Sunday mornings... The one where no one has clean dresses, and if they are clean they are wrinkled and in terrible need of an iron. One where you walk into the closet and surrounded by clothes, nothing seems "right." It could be that the weather is warming up and summer dresses are only a reminder of winter's over indulgences. A morning where you just feel two steps behind and wonder if you will ever make it to Mass presentably and on time. That was my Sunday morning. We made it, but I just felt off.

As we were leaving Mass, I was approached by a reporter from the local paper. She began by telling me how nice all the girls and I looked. While I thought she was just paying me an undue compliment, it turns out she was writing an article on women (and girls) dressing more formally for Mass. She asked if I always wore a dress to church and if I required that from my daughters.

I do require that for the most part the girls wear a modest dress to Mass. I also try to do the same.

I had a hard time answering her initial questions. After a morning of scrambling and making-do, I felt unprepared to answer questions about dressing up for Mass. Luckily I have had this conversation on a few occasions and was able to remember some of them. I liked an analogy a friend used about how we would dress if we were invited to the home of some dignitary, our boss, or the Pope. We wouldn't show up in our ratty clothes, but rather we would make an attempt to be presentable. Mass is coming to the house of our Lord, how much more should we prepare ourselves? I feel that making a few extra efforts on Sunday morning teaches my girls that going to Mass is special.

I do think this must be balanced with remembering we are not attending a fashion show. I don't think it is necessary to dress to the nines, nor do I think we need to spend excessive time and energy in our physical appearance. In fact, in some cases, time would be better spent Spiritually preparing for the mystery about to take place. And let's face it, we have all had worse mornings than what I had where dressing up just isn't possible. As with most things, balance is key. I also firmly believe being at church is of primary importance, our dress is secondary.

I am glad I went through the extra frustration on Sunday to get everyone ready for Mass. I hope that I was able to adequately answer the reporter's questions. I also learned my lesson and finished the laundry earlier this week. Let's hope this Sunday morning goes a little more smoothly too.

P.S. The picture above is not from Sunday (it is from Easter). This Sunday, no one looked that nice and there was no need to document it with a picture.

Adoption Milestones

This week we crossed off two important adoption paperwork items. First, we received our home study. We are still waiting for one more police clearance to come in, but it is written and ready to go as soon as the clearance is received. This means we can send in our application to adopt a foreign child and put together the rest of our dossier to China. It also means that the paper chase is almost finished for us. The rest of the process means minimal paper work and lots of waiting.

We also received our preapproval from China this week. This is just a short message letting us know they received our Letter of Intent and will expedite our dossier for consideration once it is received in China. The goal is to have it there in less than three months. More importantly, the preapproval means we can finally post pictures of our little Joseph.

Blog world-- meet Joseph...

Peace

Since receiving the news of little Joseph things have been hectic. There is so much paperwork to be done on top of the business of life with four children. There are times I get a little anxious about how we are going to do this. None of my girls have even had stitches, will I really be able to deal with surgeries? I read message boards and start to get a little overwhelmed.

In one of those anxious moments, while searching for more information about our little one, I came across this quote on the web page that announced the arrival of our child into the foster home where he is currently receiving care:

“Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work.”
– Mother Teresa

A quote from Mother Teresa published by the people caring for our little child! It just shows the hand of God in this adoption. It is another reminder for me to put my hope in the Lord. He has already given me a beautiful sense of peace about this adoption. This quote was just another instance of Him reminding me how much He is guiding this process. I am thankful for this little consolation on an anxious morning.

Wordless Wednesday

An Accident Averted

Being the nap-nazi I am, I still insist my three-year-old take a nap. I think it is good for her and it helps me to have her down for an hour in the afternoon. My older girls napped until they were 5, and even then I was known to require an occasional nap.

That said, there are days now when I get distracted trying to school the older girls, and keep the baby entertained. On these days, poor Bophie's naptime may get lost in the shuffle. Lately Bear has been helping out putting her down for a nap. She gets some reading practice as she reads to Bophie. I also think she benefits from a little down time herself. The picture above is from a day last week where Bear was putting Bophie to sleep... or was that Bophie putting Bear to sleep?

The sister system of napping works most days, but there are some days little Bophie rebels. On those days the back-up is that she crashes wherever she is playing. Which is typically a good thing. However, combine that with the whole potty training thing and there may be trouble. Remember this? At least then it was a rug easily thrown into the wash. Today I found Bophie on the landing of my recently professionally cleaned, carpeted stairs--wearing only undies. Thankfully, I caught her and was able to move her to her bed. I may have more laundry when she wakes, but it sure beats the alternative!