The Countdown Begins....

Mason-Kate is turning two in just six more days! The countdown has begun, we are busy singing the Happy Birthday song, teaching MK to hold up two fingers, teaching her to say "two" and practicing blowing out two candles. We love birthdays! During all of this preparation, I do find myself thinking of her birthmom, the lady who gave her life. The poem below is one that I have read many times and will read to Mason-Kate and the boys many more times.



Legacy Of An Adopted Child

Once there were two women who never knew each other.
One you do not remember, the other you call mother.
Two different lives, shaped to make your one...
One became your guiding star, the other became your sun.
The first gave you life, and the second taught you to live it.
The first gave you a need for love, and the second was there to give it.
One gave you a nationality, the other gave you a name.
One gave you a seed of talent, the other gave you an aim.
One gave you emotions, the other calmed your fears.
One saw your first sweet smile, the other dried your tears.
One gave you up ... that's all she could do.
The other prayed for a child, and God led her straight to you.
And now you ask me, through your fears,
the age old question unanswered throughout the years...
Heredity or environment... Which are you the product of ?
Neither, my darling ... neither...just two different kinds of love.
-Author Unknown

Three's Company!

Three is definitely company where the ill and afflicted are concerned around our home. After picking Colin up from school today, he was giving me the usual rundown on the day's activities at school. He ended with this, "So, mom, I am not sure exactly how to tell you this but I didn't do so well on my test today. You see, it is like when I turn my head, it really hurts and...." He could have stopped talking the minute he mentioned not doing well on his test. For Colin, this is out of the norm. Once home, we took his temp, which of course was well on its way over 100. Colin then started begging me for my concoction of "bug juice" so that he could get well quick and go to school tomorrow. He was given the special juice, a mixture of grape Gatorade and Sprite, but there will be no school for him tomorrow. So onto Pryce. Pryce did well today, no fever, Tylenol only in the AM. I left for a moment this afternoon for a quick run to the store. While in the store I ran into both of Pryce's school teachers. I smiled and told them how I thought he was all well, hoping to return tomorrow. I came home, Pryce is curled up in a chair, of course, with fever! I am now throwing in the towel....we will just try again next week!

"Mate"

Well, when one is sick, two shall be sick, it only makes sense, right? One would think that Pryce has had his share of illness but that is not to be the case. After preaching to both boys about the importance of hand sanitizer use AND washing their hands at school, Pryce came home yesterday with a fever, 103.5 to be exact. Of course I had jokingly stated to the dr. last week that we would see him again in a few days with one of the boys....it was a JOKE that suddenly became reality today. While we waited in a room to be seen, Pryce and I were just chatting. The chat somehow turned into a discussion about how one particular little girl in his class always yells to him, "Hey Pryce, I know who your girlfriend is!"...Pryce does not like this one bit. I asked him how he responds when she says this. He told me that sometimes he walks away, other times he just simply says he doesn't have a girlfriend. Then he said, "Mom, I just don't tell her about Keaton". I said that was fair. In reality there are two little girls in Pryce's life, one is a precious little girl, Keaton and the other is another precious little girl and longtime friend, Julia. So I asked him about Julia. Without hesitation, he said "oh, Julia, she is my mate." I was somewhat interested in what being a "mate" entailed so I dared to ask "Pryce, what is a mate?" He said, "you know, it is part girlfriend and part friend".....of course, I should have known.

Cleft Healing Home

Below is a link you can click on to watch a video from an organization called Love Without Boundaries. This organization helps thousands of "special needs" children in China each year. This particular video clip is from their Cleft Healing Home. It features cleft affected children and shows you the triumphs that they must overcome just to be adoptable.

http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=BGTUFqrLXs0&feature=channel_ page

"Waiting Children"

This post is for anyone out there in "blogger world" who may be considering a "special needs" or "waiting" child. I often try to come up with the words to encourage people to go the special needs route in adoption and I find myself at a loss of how to say what I want to say. I have been following a blog, http://www.cupcakesandhairbows.blogspot.com/, and their post today, titled "Answered Prayers", really sums up what I would like to tell others about a special needs adoption. The post speaks specifically about parents taking a chance on these children....we have found that to be so true with our little Mason-Kate. I remember when we were not open to taking that "chance", we specifically stated that we wanted a child that was deamed to be healthy. We got that alright, and more....Mason-Kate is healthy, happy, energetic, loving, hilarious, etc., etc., etc. Her "special need" turns out not to be so "special" after all.

Sunshine!

After a few dreary days both literally and physically (for MK), the sun is finally beginning to shine again! Mason-Kate is doing much better and we are all enjoying our last official day of winter vacation with the boys. It has been so nice to just be home with everyone. Colin has spent the last week teaching himself to play a Beethoven song on the piano - only, there isn't any music to read, he has done this by what he has heard on a Charlie Brown episode. Amazing! Pryce has been steady playing his new DS, putting puzzles together and asking us when we can play Apples to Apples again - we have played at every meal since we got the game. Mason-Kate is currently fascinated by this fridge phonics game that we have - it consists of letters and the idea is to make three letter words, it says the sounds and if you make a word, it says the word. The other day we noticed that MK had the letters C-E-O listed as her three letter word....that made us laugh as she really can act as the CEO at times. Today she decided to take it a step further. Each letter is a different color. MK took the bag of letters into our living room and proceeded to sort the letters by color. This is something that Colin would have done at this age, and it is very interesting to me just how alike those two are in personality. Different but all too similar. She also did some modeling for us today with her new purple "neguc" on. She made me laugh. She got everything on and then she looked at me and said ,"Now"....I say that all the time when I have finally finished one task and I am getting ready to move on to another.

Looking pretty with the new jewels on.

"Now, if I can just stand up in these things..."