Top Laugh of the Week

The boys participated in a Lego camp during the past week and loved it! They attended a half day session and participated in 3, 45 minute sessions. The first session of the day was one that did not involve Legos and the other two were strictly Lego creativity classes....very cool. The classes that were offered were artsy which my boys are not so much, they are typical boys. One boy was involved in what was titled Family Tree Art....being that you had to choose between that class and a class on manners, I thought the art class would insult him less. He went, and on that first day he described that particular class as "stressful" but it grew on him. Ok, we were good with him. On to child two....child two was placed in a class called Bach To Rock. I thought it sounded good and being that he (both boys) loves music, I felt that it was an appropriate pick with a cute little name. Off he goes, he wasn't so impressed the first day with this rock class but it grew on him. On the last day we are driving to camp, everyone is pretty quiet when my Bach to Rocker perks up and states that he is nervous about attending camp. I, being concerned, asked why. His response was that the teacher told the class that they would be tested on the composers they had learned about throughout the week. I asked him to name some that he could remember for me. He states "Johann Sebastian Bahth" (prounounced Bah-th)....I stated "oh you learned about Bach?"....he says, "oh yeah we learned about him too!" Hmmmm.....

Enquiring minds want to know.....lately, the top two questions that I am asked in reference to MK happen to be about the adoption process and her birth family. Strangers as well as acquaintances will ask if the adoption was "hard". My direct response is not a simple one because, to me, it depends on how you look at it. The adoption process itself is busy. The paperwork is busy. The accumulation of notarized documents is busy. The communication with the necessary government officials is busy. Basically, what is known as the "paperchase" in adoption land is busy. For me, I liked this period because, though it was stressful at times, I felt as though I was getting somewhere, moving forward, I was working towards my ultimate goal of adding to our family. It is not hard, it is busy and it is not fast. Then the paperwork is over and the wait begins. The wait, and I am sure most would agree, is emotionally hard. But, then again, when getting pregnant, assuming one is trying to get pregnant, the wait to see if you are pregnant is emotionally hard too....then the disappointment sets in if the test shows a negative sign and the wait for yet another month to go by sets in, etc., etc. Adoption world is a similar road. Each month goes by and families wait to see if it is their turn yet, guess at when it may be their turn and dream about the child they long to have. The wait is emotional. The process is busy. As for birth family questions....many people will ask me if I ever think about what MK would be doing had she not been adopted. Honestly, not a lot. I will allow myself to wonder what MK's life would be like had she been adopted by another family....would she be the same child, would they make her laugh the way we do, would she be so silly, would she distribute the same prissiness that she shows with us, and the list would go on. Then I realize that God had a plan for her and us....He stepped in and brought us together, HE knew His plan for her and we are it. Her birthday was bittersweet as I did think, on that specific day, about her birthmother, the circumstances of MK's birth, the emotions that her birthmother had to have had - what were they? - I do wonder about that specific day. And on that specific day every year I am sure those thoughts will carouse through my mind as that is the one day of every year that I will share my daughter with a woman I will most likely never know. Sharing, one will be remembering giving MK life and the other will be celebrating the life that MK was given. But during our day to day life, the adoption card (as well as the cleft card) does not play into our lives and we really do not think about it unless someone asks. And I know MK will ask eventually and we will openly tell her everything and anything she wishes to know. However, we will not make anything up. The reality is that we don't have ALL of the answers to the questions she will have. Changing gears....MK's latest responses to questions always begin with a very long, southern accented "wellllll"....sometimes we get the "wellll, yes" and other times it is "welllll, no" but all the time it begins with the "welllll" and her hands are on her hips, eyes looking up as if she is truly pondering her answer. She is singing too....her current hit is "I love you mommy, daddy, Col-Col, Pryce"....and then repeat. She is talking to us more now and notices everything, especially if it does not meet her cleanliness standards. For example, today as we are riding in the car she says "oh no mommy, car mess". I looked over and the car beside us was one of those traveling billboards, you know, the multi-bright colored car with writing all over it. This puzzled her. As we approach the official 2 1/2 year old mark with her, I can hardly believe that she is growing up and changing so quickly. Time is flying....

Our Family Fourth

We set out to the NC mountains early Thursday morning via Columbia. First stop, pick blueberries. For a $1.30 we received over a pound of blueberries. The bad news is that C seems to be the only one of our 3 children willing to eat them.....P had me pay him a dollar to even try one and MK proceeded to pick them all off of her plate when they were offered to her at dinner. The MK thing has us stumped....MK eats EVERYTHING!

Then it was off to a local joint for lunch with our old Massachusetts neighbors (and some new friends too!). After lunch and goodbyes, we piled into the family van and were NC bound. Upon arrival we stepped out into the chilly mountain air....we went from 98 degrees to 69 degrees.....WOW! That did not stop the boys from getting in an ATV ride prior to bedtime that evening. Friday my mom and I took the boys to a local Indian village (replica, of course, and I cannot recall the name) where we learned about archery, beading, hut building and traditional tribal dancing. The boys even decided to try their hand at dancing.

The village was neat but I must note that what made the morning was going with my mom and trusting that she knew exactly how to get there. My mom is notorious for stating that she knows how to get to a specific location....then, while we are in the car, she will always state something to the effect of "well, I thought it was this way but let me think about it....try turning here, I know it is here somewhere....." and so the story goes. It can be quite entertaining to say the least and those trips always end in laughter as did our trip on Friday.

Saturday we wandered into a nearby town for a little festive nature. The town is called Waynesville and is very near my parents mtn. home.....very quaint in style, there were bands of all sorts playing music along the streets, we shopped, we people watched and we met an eleven year old girl from Hefei, China who was kind enough to give MK and the boys each their own little American flag to honor Independence Day. Later that afternoon, Ryan and I took the boys over to a local river to wade in. C spent most of his time building a dam. P met a friend who taught him how to catch "scout" minnows.....aka trout minnows. Then we discovered what appeared to be a river cane forest of sorts. Awesome, yet hard to describe.

We closed out our evening with the viewing of a fireworks show in the valley, a tradition. The boys topped off their weekend on Sunday morning just the way they started it, with an ATV ride. Then, we were on our way back to the reality of HOT weather.....and much needed naps for MK.