3 1/2 Life Lessons

I am not sure if the title is appropriate or not but here I go... three and 1/2 things that have taken hold of my emotions in the last few days. Yesterday Nat got home from school and was very excited to show me the artwork she did in art class. It was very neat and I could tell it was a lot of fun. Well as the night progressed, Jack ate it. Yep, 50,000 pieces later, Nat found it. She wailed, not cried, wailed to the point that my heart ached for her. She was truly heartbroken and I grabbed it up really fast and threw it away to keep her from having to look at it. She said, " I really worked hard on that and they don't have anymore." Daddy was out of town and we had called him to say goodnight and she told him all about it. He asked her if we could tape it. ( A thought I had never had due to the severity of the dog chewing!) She told him, "no, you haven't seen it, it's in too many pieces." After we hung up, I thought, maybe I could tape it and dug it out of the trash and began to see if any of it still went together. Well, lesson # 1, perseverance! I did it and 30minutes later...a brand new masterpiece. I practically had to wake her up to see it but it was well worth it. She looked at me with great satisfaction and rolled over and went to sleep. Life lesson 1 1/2...husbands can really have good ideas!!!

Then the second lesson. I walked to the bus this morning and the bus driver asked me if it was my mom that got Nat on the bus a few mornings a week. I said, "yes" and she said, she sent me the sweetest card and told me she was praying for me. Tell her I am going to Lexington tomorrow and will let her know how it goes. They have already developed a relationship and mom knows all her health problems because Nat had a substitute driver one day. That's my mom! At this moment my mother is lying in the hospital with thoughts that she is absolutely worthless to any individual in this world because she feels so bad most of the time. She had 2 good days last week and I could hear the bitter sweetness in her voice because she new it wouldn't last, because it never does. And a few days later, she was admitted into the hospital with a bout of pancreatitis. The best thing that could ever happen is that her lab work actually be abnormal so they don't look at her like she is making the pain all up in her head. It has been abnormal and she is getting better. I ask God all the time, why does she have to suffer so much. Why can't she be sick for a little while and get better like lots of other people. Why, Why Why!!!???? Maybe lesson #2 is that she can relate to others like no one else can and bring them comfort because she is not just making up things to say to people, she actually knows how they feel and what they need to hear and maybe that is her work for God. But, being her daughter I wish her work for God could be painting or writing or traveling...something much less debilitating.

Lesson #3. My family and our extended "people" (which branch really far and wide) have enough real love in their hearts to cover the world and back. We had Reese's birthday party last Sunday and I took pictures like I always do. Too many some would say!! But, like usual, I got them developed and was sitting in the car looking at them and a flood of emotion filled my soul when I got to the one with 8 out of the 10 cousins he has. I looked at the picture and it spoke to me so boldly. Look at these kids and how happy they are to be at Reese's birthday party. Look how much they LOVE him. They don't feel that he is any different than any of the rest of them. They don't remember anymore that he was adopted!!! And that really speaks a lot to me about our family and how much we love each other. We love him like there is absolutely nothing different about him. I even forget he has dark skin sometimes. He is just so familiar to look at and he is just Reese. Not Reese from Guatemala, not adopted Reese. Reese my son. And I love my family for being who they are. They couldn't just make love up like that (if that makes sense?) It is who they all are.

Oh, What Fun We Had

We had the opportunity to stay at Jody and Shannon's for 5 days and 4 nights and keep the kids while they went on vacation to Cancun. And Oh, what fun we had!! The weekend started off with 2 birthday parties and a trip to Chong's. We rented movies and ate popcorn. (Not before spilling a whole bag of popcorn and glass of sprite on the kitchen floor!) Guess Who??!!! Then it was off to bed. Oh yeah, that came after Reese crying for an hour because " I wah go to me how. I go hoe." So we put him in the van and tried to make him think he was going home. Didn't work for me so BB tried and was successful. So off to bed we went.
Up early to go to church. We went to our church because I really didn't know where to drop everyone off or where to find them when church was over at their church. It went well and we ate lunch at MM and PP's house but we had to be home between 12:30 and 1:00pm to get Harper to sleep. Shannon left instruction and they actually worked. I wasn't going to mess with that and it proved to be a very good thing. BB and the kids went outside for a little water hose limbo and tractor pulls and such.
Monday we got up and went to the Labor Day Parade which was extremely warm and finished with a trip to Burger King. Everyone did very well. BB took the 5 kids swimming while I put Harper down for a nap. I think I actually passed out on the couch at this piont. Not quite sure. Very fuzzy!! Just kidding:) When they came home from swimming, it was to the showers and supper. Maci and Max called to see if they could come over but we had them to our house instead because it was 3:30pm and I had alrealy made them get into their pj's. I was just thinking one less change of clothes to wash and I wasn't sure how long it would take me to get everyone ready for school the next day. Hudson was watching football and said. " Nae Nae it feels like 8:30 but the clock only says 6:30." I said well if I hadn't made you get in your pj's at 3:30 it might not feel so late!!! He said. "yeah" and went back to watching the game. By 7:30 we had all the backpacks lined up by the door and ready to go. We had a great night that night. Even greater for me because Hudson woke his BB up to change his sheets. I never knew what happened!!!
Then Tuesdsay was our big day. BB and I had to work. 5 out of the 6 kids had school and His Group was singing at 7pm. Rita came and got Harper, BB had 4 stops 30 minutes apart for drop off, and I had to be at work at 7am. So we got up, got ready, BB cooked us scrambled eggs and hashbrowns and off we went. I called BB later and he said, "well, 430 miles later and I am finally at work!" That night we called in the troups. MM, Cheryl and Grandma Linda all came over and watched the kids and helped with homework while we did His Group stuff and when we got home they went to bed. Everyone except me and Syd because she forgot to tell us she had a test on Wed. We studied until she couldn't hold her head up anymore and off to bed she went. Wednesday I took them to school and kept Reese and Harper. It was a good day. We went to the grocery and back home to cook supper. We had dinner and a little play time with Max and Maci and then Jo and Shannon returned. We were actually sad to leave. We had a great time and felt blessed that the kids would feel comfortable enough to let us stay with them and blessed because Jo and Shannon trusted us enough to leave their most precious possesions in our care!

They meet again!

We got together again the 2nd of August and had lots of fun. The Coomes' came in for one night and it was so much fun. We ate lunch and let the kids play and then we went to the park so extended family could meet Michael and the family. We ate pizza and ice cream and played for a while. It is a real blessing that we are getting to know them and develop a lasting relationship. We have two trips scheduled already to see them again. I am thankful for their interest in having a relationship with us. This is such a wonderful opportunity for the boys as they grow and learn about us and each other. We look forward to the fun and exciting times ahead.