Weekly Update

Okay it has been forever. I'm sorry it's been so long, but I promise to get everyone caught up.

But first... how about a little peek-a-boo.

Where's L?



Here she is!



Okay... now that we have that out of the way I can tell you what we've been up to! My parents have been in town for a visit and we have been all over the place! We started out the week with a trip to a local pumpkin patch/farm/fun place.

The first thing we encountered was a turkey. L was pretty interested...



...until that turkey gobbled at her and then she did this:



She eventually did forgive that crazy turkey, though.



She had a great time. She enjoyed sliding on several different slides, seeing the animals (there were one day old piglets!) and wandering around all the wood cut outs.













At the exit of the farm you get to pick out a pumpkin. Sweet baby L (are we ever going to call her sweet toddler L? I'm not sure) had a great time picking out a hundred pumpkins.











We also headed into the city a couple of days to do a little touristing. L had a fantastic time!









We actually took one of those crazy tour buses that take you around town. It was one of the best things we did. I always learn something new about the city and it sort of relaxing after doing a lot of walking.





Sweet baby L was so tuckered out from having her Mawmaw and Pawpaw in town that she did something that she hasn't done for six months. She fell asleep in my arms! I hardly wanted to move her, but when we got off the bus, I had to, but she stayed asleep! She was really tired!



Later in the week we went to the aquarium. It was so awesome! I didn't get a lot of great photos, because the light was really low, but it was really really neat. I'm guessing we'll be going back many times!











The next day we all headed back into the city for more touristing. We headed to a museum that ended up to be more quiet and a bit longer than we'd intended, so sweet baby L and I headed across the street to a portrait gallery with a huge courtyard so L could run around. She had a GREAT time!

(making a face at some running kids)







And... finally... yesterday was their last day here. We spent that final day in the city learning about the architecture and formation of the city. It was really fun.



(that's sweet baby L and me at the base of that huge column)



It was a really great visit. Brad and I got to see a bunch of places we'd never seen before and I think that everyone enjoyed themselves. We'll be back next week for our regular update. Enjoy your week!

A letter for adopt-a-things

Hello everyone!

I realize that many of the people who read this are family members and friends, but I know that there are a few of you out there in the adoption community who read this and I thought I would post this for you guys. I have long been (okay, for a year) irritated about the many local adopt-a-programs around where we live. The language is misguided and actually sort of insulting. I realize that it's simply a marketing gimmick intended to play on people's emotions giving them a sense of ownership and personal involvement in a program, but adoption is the sacred bond that formed my family, and I hate when I pass those many adopt-a-highway signs. I'm not taking that highway home and it isn't becoming part of my family.

I wrote a letter today to a local homeless shelter that has an adopt-a-family program that my church group has participated in and in which my family has intended to participate again this year. My inspiration was from the adoptive families website and this pdf including two extremely well written letters about adopt-a-programs. I felt like my letter was a little too close to those originals to post, but I hope that you'll read those and use them in your communities too!

By the way, the adoptive families website is a great resource! There are tons of resources for families formed through all kinds of adoption.

Enjoy!

Weekly Update

Howdy!

It's been awhile and a lot has happened! We traveled on sweet baby L's birthday to go see Mawmaw and Pawpaw and Grandma. Sweet baby L was a very happy traveler considering that we were driving nearly 24 hours! We decided to try it in one day, starting at around 4:30am thinking that Sweet baby L would sleep the a lot of the day. We got a late start, around 5:00 (expertly timed with the opening of Starbucks) and scooped sweet baby L up and put her in the car. We had turned her carseat around the night before since she's now over 20 pounds and 12 months! My plan was that it would occupy her on the road. It really did! She slept only 3 hours the entire trip! Luckily, she was very happy and easy going on the road, but she was wired and exhausted when we arrived at Mawmaw's house. We had to fight her to get her to sleep. We did eventually all get to sleep, with L in between her mama and daddy, and of course, she got up right on schedule!



At Mawmaw's house L had a few gifts to open.



This was her first experience of actually opening gifts, but I think we'll have to wait until Christmas before she's really interested.





I think her favorite part was actually the ribbon.



She did get around to opening the paper, eventually.





A baby doll!



and a stroller!



Her e-grandma, Becky was even very thoughtful and sent something (thanks so much!).







Woohoo! Some super awesome books!

Things were too busy when she opened her gift from Mawmaw and Pawpaw. I know that I've mentioned how shy she's become and so she wanted to stay right beside me. Luckily, cousin K has some really handy gift opening experience and was happy to help.





It was a car just like our friend C's! We're going to have tons of fun with this in our new neighborhood! K was even nice enough to try it out.



There are two things that I loved about visiting. The first was seeing my sister-in-law and super duper close friend Lisa. L warmed up to her right away (which is interesting because L spent a lot of time not warming up to people) and they had a wonderful time playing. This is an action shot, you can see the beans in the jug flying around if you look. :o)



My other favorite thing about visiting is Sonic. Seriously. I love Sonic. It's a problem.



The biggest reason we decided to visit when we did was the memorial service for our dear aunt Dorothy who passed away in July. She was a sassy, spunky lady who will be very sorely missed.



Sunday was the day of L's first birthday party. It worked out really well that we were able to have the party with so much family around. Next year it'll surely be friends and any family that can make it at our home, but this year was perfect to have it exactly as we did.

Grandma let L start her day off by playing the piano. L is getting ready for those piano lessons in a few (or five, or six or seven) years!





Then we had presents at grandma's house.









A robot book!



and an accordion (to go with her xylophone, of course!)



She also got her very own They Might Be Giants CD/DVD and she loved watching it and dancing with Aunt Lisa!

The last gift she opened was from Grandma!



A vacuum!



We were so lucky to have Uncle Kyle and Aunt Lisa around to help us get ready for L's big party! Uncle Kyle is very tall, and so was very handy to have around while we were hanging bouquets of daisies and lanterns from the trees in the front yard. He did even climb into the tree, and we're all glad that nobody was injured.











L enjoyed watching everyone put things together and riding in her car.



Aunt Mary and cousin K arrived on their bike!



K noticed right away when the cupcakes came out.



And the party was really amazing. There was a pinata, and cupcakes and candles and tons of fun.



(I guess I may not have mentioned, for those who don't know, the party was held on Brad's actual birthday so the party was for both L and Brad)



















It was sad to see the night end.



Now to give credit where credit is due. I am so very blessed to be surrounded in my life by a whole bunch of really fantastic photographers. The photos in this post are either my dad's, brad's or kyle's. Aren't I a lucky scrapbooker?!

The rest of the week went well. We traveled back over two days and got to stop in a place that Brad and I both hold pretty dear to us. On our trip home Brad's stomach started to feel a little funny, and as soon as we got here L started to have some very scary diapers. She's doing okay. Due to the frequency and color we think that it may have been rotavirus, except that it seems to have passed. She did return to normal diapers late today, but she's still clingy and not wanting to play or eat much. We're getting together with friends on Wednesday so if she's not better by tomorrow, I'm thinking we'll have to skip that. We're keeping our fingers crossed as we were really looking forward to that!

See you next week!