Winter is here but let’s talk about Spring!

Over the holidays, I sure have enjoyed my fair share of days where I didn’t even get out of my PJs all day.  And while I find those days quite enjoyable, I realized I have a hard time allowing myself to have them.  Like most moms/wives/women, the moment I sit down, I see 100 things that need to be done.  Steve doesn’t understand this t all.  But he has been phenomenal at doing everything he can in order to give me as few excuses possible to NOT sit down and SLOW down.

Today, the only thing on the agenda was my morning hair appointment.  I was there and back by 11:00 so we decided to haul across town to look at new living room furniture.  Taking Kylie furniture shopping was about like taking her car shopping (although we didn’t do that when we bought my car).  After the first stop, we found what we thought we wanted, but we just wanted to price shop, so we left Jenna and Kylie in the truck to go in the next place just to ensure our choice at furniture store 1.  Well.  Wouldn’t you know it we found something we liked better at stop two?  By this time, we were all starving and it was way past lunchtime, so we got all the information and left for some lunch.  After we ate, Steve and Jenna went in one more store and this confirmed out final choice found in store 2.  We ran back there and I went in and placed our order and we headed home.  Steve then took Jenna to a movie for date night and I have enjoyed a night home with Kylie.  She’s in her bed now and I in mine.  I’ve read my Bible reading for the evening and am getting ready to order some photos.

There’s supposedly snow coming our way tomorrow night, so we’ll see.  Kylie has her annual visit with the plastic surgeon at 9 Monday and I betcha if the snow comes, we’ll never get there.  I surely hate to reschedule, but I’m not risking all of us ending up in a ditch either!  It’s at the very least going to be bitter cold (for here) down in the single digits not counting wind chill.

With that said, I thought a little catching up back to the warmer days of spring might be in order.  As I’m going back, I have to reread my blog to see what I might have posted.  Forgive me if there’s some repetition here.  Back at the first of April, I was chosen to chaperone Jenna’s school trip to Nature’s Classroom.  I’ll be honest, I dreaded it as my idea of a fun time is not with a bunch of 5th grade girls.  However, it turned out not to be so bad despite the chilly, wet weather.

I did realize how stinkin’ out of shape I was.  Mostly because of food like what they served.  You’d think it would be kinda…meh…but it was some GOOD home cookin’!  And it was quite nice to completely unplug and enjoy nature since normally, this family is not much for nature-y kind of stuff.

The girls in our cabin were fun and my two fellow chaperones were THE BEST!  I missed chaperoning the 6th grade trip but the 3 of us are already planning a 7th grade trip reunion!  I wish I’d gotten a photo of the 3 of us, but it was just too busy.

The best part of the trip was spending time with this girl.

Spring also brought an afternoon of play with these sweet neighbors (who have since moved away which made us SO sad).  Tell me how cute they are?  We actually met online when we realized we literally lived 2 houses away.  Our neighbors traveled for their youngest, J, just a week or so before I left to pick up Kylie.  In fact, she loaned me her carry on bag.  We sure do miss these sweet faces!

And after lots of Spring Day play, this happens.

And then I’ll end with a sweet Sunday morning photo…

My Happy Place

This is my happy place…

My lifegroup from church.  I love these people.  They, collectively, make up my happy place.

More on Created For Care

I’m delinquent in posting the REAL reason why I went to Created for Care…my roommates were of course, the best part of the trip socially, but I did learn tons.

Here are Jennifer and I…

I was so thrilled to have this view from our room…

And during one of the main sessions, the showed photo after photo of adoptive families represented there and I could barely hold back the tears…

The first break out session I went to was about finding creative times with God.  Back when I was young, single and then married without kids, I had no trouble setting aside a quiet time.  It was usually some prayer time and a devotional reading.  But since then, it has become a struggle to find any time alone with God.  And when I say a struggle, I mean, a REAL struggle.  It’s like I can read the Bible, do a Bible study  or pray, but I can’t manage to get them all done.  So when I saw this was a break out option, I jumped at the chance!  And it was OH SO GOOD.   I picked up some awesome tips on finding time when and where you can in the midst of life.  But the best thing I heard was that this might just be a season where setting aside even 30 minutes isn’t going to happen at the same time every day.  Or even several days.  Or maybe EVER.  But she gave us several ways that we can meditate on the word and prayer even during crazy life.

After the leader spoke, there were different stations to go to.  One was to pray over the world…any particular area you felt called.  I prayed over China and Russia.  And then I prayed over all the orphan children.  There was a cross in which you could read scripture and just pray.  Then a tent of rest where you just sat and did nothing. 

There was a station where you created what you thought love looked like.  Here’s my creation.

We also had to paint a picture of how we thought God saw us.  I brought my painting back to the room, but not sure if it made it home.  They were all just very good exercises.

The second breakout I did had to do with keeping your marriage alive after adoption.  I have a fabulous marriage and I am thankful every day that God gave me Steve.  But our marriage could be so much better.  I won’t go into detail, but again, got several good tips to help make things better.

The last session I picked was on spending time with God and man oh man did it rock my socks off.  It was just a culmination of all the things I needed to hear.  In the session, she played this song.  I’d never heard it before, but if the words don’t speak to you, then I don’t know what would.

I knew what I was getting into…

It was such a good weekend on all accounts and after so many months of waiting for the days to pass and for it to arrive, poof!  It was here and gone so fast.  I miss my roommates.  I miss being in a room with 450 women who KNEW what it was like to live your life.  I miss seeing nearly 450 different adoption t-shirts on those moms.  I miss it all.  But I look forward to putting what I learned into practice.  And for that, it was ALL worth it.

One Year Home!

One year ago today, at 12:07pm, the wheels of a large aircraft touched down on a Chicago runway after a long journey from Hong Kong.

The minute that happened, our Kylie automatically because a US Citizen. 

I have made several international trips and every time, landing in the US has brought me to tears, but there is nothing…hear me…NOTHING like arriving on US soil after 2 weeks in China WITHOUT your husband and with your newly adopted child.

I knew that just steps outside of customs Steve awaited and I got choked up just thinking about it.  I knew once I latched on to him, I might never let go.  And I really didn’t want to.

But then, we touched down in Nashville and I really did think I would cry from joy.  PURE.  JOY. to see these faces all waiting to see this child they had prayed for.  My photo calendar has a few of these photos for the month of March because they are so dear to me.  So, in celebration of Kylie’s citizenship and surviving a whole year at home, here they are again.  (click here to see the blog post about our arrival).

Note:  I still cry when I look at these pictures…the smiles…the joy.  I love these people.

Created For Care

A few weekends ago, I took a long weekend to attend the Created for Care retreat for adoptive moms.  It was something I had waited for since…well…for MONTHS.  And it seemed like the weekend would never arrive.

The weekend was wonderfully great, but the best, best, BEST part of it was my roommates.  And I’ll devote an entire post to what I learned there (maybe several posts) but this post is mainly about these awesome moms I spent the weekend with.

Next to me is my friend Jennifer.  Jennifer and I have know each other for about 2 years now.  I found her online and purchased some hair accessories she was making and selling to help fund her own adoption from China.  Somehow we ended up chatting by phone and now I talk to her every single day almost.  As you know, I have a long commute home after work and Jennifer and I chat nearly every weekday on my way home and let me tell you, it makes my commute feel so much faster!  Jennifer and I met IRL last May when she brought her family to town on Memorial Day weekend.  It was the last days I had off before heading back to work from my leave and it was a fun weekend.  Jennifer flew into Nashville on Wednesday evening and then spent the night at my house.  We headed out to the retreat Thursday morning to get there Thursday afternoon and enjoy some down time before the conference started.  Thursday afternoon we stopped near/in Chattanooga to eat lunch with a friend of hers.  We took in a movie (Safe Haven) and then headed to a new friend of mine who I have gotten to know since working with her the last several months.  Kim was kind enough to not only to invite me and Jennifer to her home, but she COOKED DINNER!  She was a wonderful host and I am so glad I got to see her and even meet her husband and son.  Thanks sweet Kim for the great dinner and even greater company!

Friday found Jennifer and I at Chik Fil A for breakfast.  I’d never eaten CFA at breakfast and it was DELISH!

Then we did a little shopping and I bought my first pair of Toms!  (shout out to EY!) and then we met with some of my attorney friends I work with who are also located in Atlanta.  It was a great day hanging out! 

After arriving back at the lodge, our other two roomies greeted us!  So on to them…

Next to Jennifer is Angie.  Angie and I met through Julie (more to come on her).  Julie and Angie have adopted daughters who were both from the same orphanage.  Angie gave a VERY generous donation to our adoption even while she was in the midst of her own.  She has an adorable cleft daughter who doctors have done MIRACULOUS work on.  And if you can love someone you’ve never met, this is the girl.  She’s a precious woman and one that I can only aspire to be some day.  Put simply…she ROCKS.

Next to Angie is Julie.  Julie and I met online right after I received Kylie’s referral.  Julie has an absolutely amazing story regarding her 3 children and her adoptions.  Julie found ME online right after I transferred agencies.  We started emailing back and forth and talk online or via email multiple times a week.  Julie came down and hung out with me in the fall during Empowered to Connect.  I visited her when Jenna and I went to Chattanooga on the Passport to Purity trip.

I’m telling you, these women are my SOUL sisters…I see so much of myself in them and we have so many similarities in terms of parenting, struggles, likes and dislikes.  It never fails to amaze me how God brings people together.  Never in a million years would I have imagined saying some of my closest and dearest friends are those who I met online and rarely see IRL.

I love how God does that.  And I love these girls!  I hope this is an annual occurrence!!!

More of Kylie Turning 2!

I have no excuse for not posting lately except that I have had other things more important to do.  I never was able to finish up Kylie’s birthday from several weeks ago. 

It was a great time though.  We had nearly 100% attendance which made us happy.  We had so many guests who came to love on our Kylie.

We just had some finger foods because it was noon and I figured everyone would be hungry.  It was nothing special and not Doc themed but it worked for both adults and kids.

And then came the moment I had waited for.  After missing her 1st birthday, I had been waiting to sing Happy Birthday to our girl.  It was very clearly more momentous to us than her.

Singing Happy Birthday!

Boy I sure hated to cut that pretty cake, but it had to be done.  And it was delish!  Kylie definitely thought so too!

My Asian Princess has a sweet tooth (which had to have been picked up here in the US because it’s rare to find sweets in China) and she dug that icing.  We paid for it later in the diaper department. 

After she got all cleaned up, it was present time.  I really wanted to do an “in lieu of gifts” idea, but I never could get something together in time.  I did hear somewhere about saying in lieu of cards, bring $5 and that is donated to some charitable cause.  I totally forgot to do that, but I would have loved to have picked someone to be blessed by that.  Anyway, Kylie got tons of stuff…

At first I felt bad about all the stuff, but then I realized that she’d never had a birthday party like this before and since her birthday is so close to Christmas, she will have to wait quite a while before more gifts come in.

In the end, I couldn’t have asked for the party to have gone any better.  I didn’t feel like I stressed out too much over it and I didn’t feel rushed or overwhelmed.  It was a good time and I’m looking forward to a 3 year old party next year!

Past Due Visit (and post)

Many of you remember my “WBFF”, Katelyn who packed up and moved to Colorado right about this time last year.  If you need a recap of my breaking heart, you can read about that here.

Well, some big things have happened to Katelyn since she moved…first of all, she got engaged!!!  She is currently planning a wedding which you can follow over on her blog.  Also, her fiancé has gotten the fabulous professional opportunity in Seattle and so they are once again, moving even FURTHER AWAY FROM ME.

OK, but this post isn’t all about me.  Back in…ahem…November, Katelyn came back to Nashville for a visit.  Lots of it was wedding prep, but somehow she managed to meet up with me for lunch.  Steve, Jenna and Kylie were able to come and meet us (because for some reason, Jenna was out of school that day) and so Katelyn got to meet Kylie for the first time!

And where did we meet for lunch?  None other than the delicious and ever favorite (for both of us) Jet’s pizza! 

Kylie and Jenna had fun playing in the restaurant.

It was a short visit for us, but it was so worth it.  Next time I see that smiling face, it will be at her wedding!

Christmas!

OK, so hopefully this post will wrap up the Christmas posts and get me back on track. 

Christmas Eve, Rachel M. and I hosted, what has morphed from our families’ Christmas Eve celebration into a Christmas Eve open house of sorts.  I love love love to bake between Thanksgiving and Christmas, so I bake up a storm and Rachel typically contributes the savory finger foods (and some sweets too).  We invite anyone who doesn’t have anything to do on Christmas Eve.  We always think not many people will come, but it ends up being 6 or 7 families and just the right number.

Of course, we work around the awesome Christmas Eve service at the church. 

I’ll tell ya, the service is one I look forward to every year.  It’s not long and it’s all family, so I wasn’t sure how Kylie would do.  But as expected (since we went to the 2:00 service), she fell asleep and slept right through the best part…

It’s an awesome quiet time right before the mass chaos of Christmas.

Christmas Eve, we let Jenna open up one gift and traditionally, it’s always pajamas…usually Christmas themed.  This year, there was a little twist and it was a big hit!

Footies!  And to top off the excitement of the day, right before we left for service, Jenna comes in with this…

Good thing the tooth fairy and Santa know each other! 

Christmas morning, Jenna managed to sleep until about 7:30 or 7:45.  I woke up before her, of course, and got presentable.  When everyone was up, we traipsed downstairs.

This little scooter thing was Jenna’s gift to Kylie.  She saw it somewhere (on tv, online?) and paid for it herself.  It is like a 360 ride on toy and so it’s very easy to maneuver and Kylie LOVES it.

I love this but still haven’t found time to put photos in it.  In time though…in time.

Jenna took money and bought both of us stuff and she is getting really good at picking out thoughtful gifts.  For instance, because Steve volunteers at the gun range, she picked him out a Wii paintball game.  But the biggest “Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle” gift this year was for Jenna.

So Jenna reads the riddle (there were numbers underneath but for privacy, I cropped them out) and she’s trying to figure out what it means when the box starts vibrating.

Now before I catch heck about giving my 11 1/2 year old a cell phone, an iPhone no less, let me explain…this is my old iPhone 4 (part of our early Christmas to each other was that Steve and I upgraded to 5s) and because of our shared minutes plan, it only cost me $10 more to put Jenna on the plan AND I am under no contract and dropped our $30/month mifi, so still saved $20.  Anyway, we wanted to see how responsible she would be while we have little to lose and lots of control.  In this day of instant contact, I like being able to reach Jenna when she’s at a friend’s house or across the street/outside playing.  Anyway, it has been a good thing for us (the best way to get her to listen is threaten to take away the phone!) and the phone did come with a list of rules that she had to agree to before accepting the phone.

Anddddd…that’s her reading them.    But all in all, she’s been good with it and I loved her excitement.

Later in the afternoon, we went for the Taylor family Christmas and how wonderful it was!

My niece Alex and her family weren’t able to make it in town but this is the rest of the crew.  I love these folks.

After that, we went home and exchanged with the big kids which I always enjoyable.

This is Steve with his gift from Chase.  I can assure you, he didn’t smile like this for ANY gift I got him  Humph.

We bought Gage a Wii which was his big surprise.  He didn’t really get too excited over it here, but Micah says they play it all the time so I know he is glad to have it.

It was a good Christmas.  Not too chaotic…I wished the weather had been colder.  I’m a fan of white Christmases, but that definitely wasn’t in the cards this year.  Maybe next…

And that concludes the Taylor Family Christmas of 2012.  Thanks for hanging in there with me!