On This Mother's Day, I Am Thankful For.....

Ryan. Ryan made my dream of being a mother possible. Before marriage, we discussed children. His comment, one at a time. My comment, FOUR. When others were planning their careers, I knew what mine would be, a mother. That was my dream. Always. I was the child who faked sick (sorry mom) in 6th grade so I could draw my dream house plans complete with a bedroom for each child and then I got out the dependable Sears catalogue to shop for furniture to go in my dream home. I always planned for a family and Ryan has made that all possible.

My mother. For always being honest. My favorite line that I can still hear my mother saying is, "Are you going to wear that?" I would give her a snide look and she would shrug and say, "Well, alright." Though I do not always agree with her thoughts, she is the one who never fails to make me think. Thank you for helping me see the bigger picture when my own eyes are squinted.

My mother-in-law. For raising Ryan to be the man that he is. Ryan is patient. Ryan always jumps in without a complaint. Ryan loves his family. Ryan does dishes. Ryan goes with the flow most of the time - if he really has an opinion, he will express it and I have learned to listen up.

My boys. For making me a mother first. I felt you kick for the first time, I wiped your first tears and I celebrated your first smiles. I love that God gave me the privilege to parent the two of you. I love that I can look at each of you and see a piece of your father and myself present in your beings. I love that you are our biological children. Because of you, I know the sacrifice that your sisters' birth families made when they chose to surrender them to another's care.

My girls. For being the icing on the cake - you made our already happy family even happier. I will never forget the day that we met - I knew you at first sight - your eyes fixed on mine, filled with curiosity, mine filled with tears. I love that today, MK, age four, without any prompting, looked up at me and said, "Mommy, I am so glad for happy mother's day. Children without a mother or a father don't have a happy mother's day." Because of you, I know unconditional love has no boundaries.

Milestone

Though Ryan has always been a favorite with my children, he has had some work to do with Maddox. Where MK immediately took to him, Maddox immediately took to me. No complaints here as I have LOVED getting all of my hugs and kisses and pats on the back (she does this quite often) and sweet cuddling time. She is my little sweetheart! Today, though, we saw an excited Maddox when her daddy arrived home from an overnight camping trip with the boys. The boys were wanting to hug on her and dote on her yet Maddox had other ideas in mind. The minute she saw Ryan, she took off in one direction, and one direction only, and nothing was going to stop her. She made her way to Ryan and grasped hold of his legs and squeezed them as tight as her little hands could. It was absolutely precious!

Our Girls

Girls night out! With Ryan and the boys spending some quality time on a local lake with friends, the girls and I spent some time together around town. First up, the prep. Baths, showers, make-up - gasp - yes, MK applied real lipstick for the first time tonight all.by.herself. She thought it was bee-u-ti-ful! Next up, the nails - MK's must do on a girl night. We introduced Maddox to our favorite nail salon, you know, the one with the bunny chairs. Only now, they have Princess chairs, very appropriate. MK walked in, chose her colors, introduced everyone who would listen to Maddox and took her seat. This is what our evening in the nail salon sounded like - "Mom, Maddox loves my nails. Can you please take her over there where she can't get into my chair? Maddox, come here, come over here and see me. Um, Mom, she is messing up my nails." In other words, MK could not decide if she really wanted Maddox around or not. Following our nail makeover, we went to dinner. Our favorite, pizza outside with the band playing next door, MK coloring and Maddox dancing. Perfect.

Celebrating Maddox

On Saturday, April 30, my parents held a party in honor of Maddox. People that I have known since my childhood as well as folks that I have not seen in years, all gathered together to share in the love of our little girl. What a true blessing it was to have everyone present for this event.

There were not many photos that were taken. One can imagine how distracted I was :) Between talking about our new addition, chasing our newest addition and feeding our newest addition, my hands were tied. My lips, however, were moving constantly trying to get updates on those that I have not seen in so long. The mental image will be forever etched in my memory from this night of celebration. We not only celebrated Maddox, we celebrated our family!

Maddox tried her very first piece of cake. As expected, she LOVED it and wanted more and more of the icing. What a treat!

Thank you to all who came out for the evening. Every one of you has meant so much to my family - my father, mother and siblings as well as my husband and our children - and I love that you continue to support us with prayers, encouragement and love as we move through life. Thus far, it has been a wonderful journey!

Happy Birthday Pryce!

Nine years ago today, Pryce entered our world and immediately made it a better place to live. With him, he brought peace, laughter, sweetness, kindness, a way to calm others and a good friend to all whom he meets. We love this little guy with all of our hearts and we are so blessed to be able to call him our son!

Pryce loves his siblings. He and Colin are the best of buddies. He will play and play with MK. He adores Maddox and always wants to know what he can do to help with her.

Pryce inherited his mother's "planning gene." I am, by nature, a planner. I remember as a child planning out my birthday parties months in advance. Pryce is the same way. He loves a good plan. The party plan has been in place since Christmas and he was so pleased with the outcome. On Friday, Pryce had four homeschooling friends over for a campout. What a great time they all had. They made yummy ice cream sundaes, they went Snipe Hunting, they told stories until the wee hours of the evening and they had many, many Nerf war games to attend to. It was perfect boy fun!

On Saturday afternoon, Pryce invited some neighbors, some school buddies and some Boy Scout den members over for a party in our backyard. Again, Nerf wars were fought, balloon toss was a hit and a treasure hunt ended with a great surprise to take home!

Pryce's backyard crew.

The birthday sing-along.

The homeschool crew. What a great group of friends Pryce is surrounded by!

The birthday boy! Nine years old. Wow, they really do grow up way too fast!

Sisters?

Once upon a time, I worked at Gap Kids. I often opted to work on the Baby Gap side of the store. I loved helping first time parents with their special purchases or grandparents who were purchasing the perfect outfit for their latest addition to the family. I heard story after story and loved every minute of it. One day, I helped a lady who looked pregnant and she was buying a lot of pink, itty-bitty baby clothing. As she was checking out, I glanced up at her nonchalantly and asked, "Oh, when are you due?" The poor girl's eyes said it all before she even spoke. Had I paid closer attention, I would have noticed that there, right in front of her many pink clothes, was a stroller with a, her, tiny, tiny little baby girl.

Another time, I was visiting a friend and we were having dinner with several families who had adopted from China. We had only been home with MK for a short time and I knew very little about the Waiting Child program. I met a family with two adorable little girls, one was a NSN adoption, the other, a SN adoption. The mother began telling me of the child's needs and stated the care that she would need. Without a thought, I asked, "Did you know she was going to require such attention before you accepted her referral?" I did not mean any harm.

Weekly, even in China, people have approached me and asked, "Are they sisters?" The people who choose to ask do not mean harm. They also do not pay attention to what is in front of them. They are curious. If they paid attention to the scene in front of them before asking, they would take note of my very intuitive four year old, the one who does not miss a beat. You know, the one who speaks endlessly about her new baby sister. How confusing it must be to hear perfect strangers asking your mother if your new baby sister you have been praying and wishing for is really your sister.

Biologically speaking, no, they are not sisters. They were both born of different birth families and they were born in two different areas of China.

Familial speaking, yes, they are sisters. They were born of the same dream, the same parents, the same brothers. They were found and united with their forever family. They were wanted. They share the same history - they were both born to birth mothers who chose life for them, who cared enough for them to place them in a well traveled area knowing that they would be found, they both lived with foster families who gave them the best care possible until they were in our arms, they both came to us, their family, through adoption, and more importantly, through love.

When you see a family out and about with children who are of another race, please take the time to pay attention to the scene. Often, the parents do not mind the question in a private setting - I would take the time to explain to the grocer or the clerk or the attendant to tell them the miracle of adoption, the miracle of family through adoption, but not with my four year old, my eight year old, and my eleven year old in tow. Instead, hold your questions and make a kind statement about the beauty of their family.

Easter 2011

Early Easter morning.....very early Easter morning :) Two parents and four children who are most often later to church than earlier, awoke, dressed, viewed the Easter bunny goodies that were brought, ate a quick bite and jumped into the car. Over the hills and through the woods we traveled.....and we ended up in SC with cousins, uncles, aunts and grandparents! What a wonderful day we all had together!

The two "Kates"....Mary-Kate and Mason-Kate are fast becoming best buddies when they are together. We are so happy for cousins!

Maddox doing her usual, exploring. This was her first trip to Gran and Pop's house. She took it all in stride, as expected, and bonded with cousin Kemp over a helping of Goldfish. Yum.

Such a sweet, sweet little face.

So happy for these two little guys in my life.

Prayers were said and a grand meal was eaten, complete with Chocolate Delight - a fav.

Gran with all of her 9 grandchildren. Gran and Pop planned such a fun, family filled day complete with church at the church I grew up in, appetizers, dinner, Easter goodies, and an Easter egg hunt for the children.

Aleigh and Pryce scored the prize eggs!

Just a swingin.....Emma, Pryce and Maddox were all full of happiness and laughter.

Our big girl on her new bike. She is quite the rider and loves her new set of wheels!