FIVE.

March 26, 2007

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

Time.goes.so.quickly.

We praise God for the gift of our little T-man. His laughter, sweetness, and shepherding heart are such a nice balance to the fair dose of mischief in those sparkling brown eyes. It's amazing to see the Lord grow that round and cushy baby into a little man. Can't wait to see where the Lord will take him!

Capture Gratitude: Texas Edition

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“There is no event so common place but that God is present within it, always hidden, always leaving you room to recognize Him or not to recognize Him.”  Fredrick Buechner 

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As you could probably tell from last week's Capture Gratitude, we spent Spring Break in Texas, visiting family and friends...Praise God for His many gifts! Lots to share this week, so I'll keep the words to a minimum! (well. I'll try!)

87.SEVEN YEARS LATER
Matt & I ate dessert under this tree in Research Park (College Station, TX) on our first date. Whenever we're in town, we like to get a picture here... So fun to see our family grow through the years!

88. DRIVING ON MY FAVORITE STRETCH OF ROAD, AT MY FAVORITE TIME OF YEAR.
Every year at this time I start to see pictures of bluebonnets...and there's almost nothing that makes me more homesick. I told Matt, "If we see even ONE bluebonnet on the way to College Station , we're pulling over and I'm making the kids cram their faces around it so I can get a picture!"

(kids-in-bluebonnet pictures coming SOON!)

89. MY FAVORITE FAMILY (besides my own, of course)
I can't even begin to tell all the ways the Lord has blessed me through this family over these many years. They are a BIG part of who I am today, I'm still reaping the benefit of all that they planted in me.

I started babysitting for the Paines when their oldest were 2 and a couple months old. Now those oldest are a Junior and Freshman at Texas A&M, and all 4 of the kids tower over me.

Even if it was just for an hour or so, it blessed my heart so much to see the Paine kids chasing around after my kids.

90. TIME WITH SO MANY OF MY FAVORITE PEOPLE
I have 15 years of relationships in College Station - so thankful that so many fun friends were in town to see us, even it if was a quick visit!

My College Station Mom & Dad, Pam & Perry, who let the crazy Meyers take over their quiet house for 2 nights (upper left), the sweetie Paines (upper right), Lovey & Poppy, whose house I lived in for years, it was so fun to see the boys running rampant at 214 (bottom right), and my boys with the Chengs' and Bryants' kids (bottom left).

 From the upper left, clockwise Lauren Paine, Sarah Malone, Cutie pregnant Marci Corry, and Christine Martin & Julie Jennings.

With Pam Koch, Erin Cole, and Julie Raymond (Ally was in her pjs, so I knew she wouldn't let me take a picture :D); and with my Heather.

91. COUSINS
Love love love seeing my boys with my sisters' three. They enjoy each other so much, it makes my heart happy. Langston hardly knows us (he just turned 3, and hadn't seen us since the Nana-took-us-all-to-Disney trip in October 2010), but he warmed up to me eventually. Of course he loved Uncle Matt, Luke & Micah right away. And decided that Tobin was his "best friend" upon sight.

We spent our last day in Houston with them, and it was hard to say goodbye (I was holding it together, until Tobin hugged Alyssa and turned into my arms and BURST into tears.)

92. LOGAN
Logan was born the summer I moved to Nebraska, and at the time I wondered how much of a relationship I'd be able to have with him. Would he remember me from visit to visit, would he know how much his Ray ray loves him?

 Yes. He does. And I am so thankful for his life and heart and health, and the way God has used him to change our whole family. Also: Cuteness.

93. BOOKENDING MY TRIP WITH SOME OF MY OLDEST AND DEAREST FRIENDS
It's about 15 hours from Lincoln to south Houston where my family lives... We've made the drive in one day when we had to (driving to Austin for Uncle Jon's funeral)...but it's pretty miserable.

Lucky for me, several sweet friends live along the way. On the way from NE to TX, we stayed overnight in Ft. Worth with Susie (my post-college roommate for 7 years, daughter of Lovey & Poppy, pictured above.)

Coming home from Texas to Nebraska, we stayed the night in Oklahoma City with my sweet Dionna (and Fred, Walt, and Augie.) Dionna and I have only seen each other for about an hour in the last 7 years (we both got married and moved away in 2005), so that time was SUCH a gift. Loved getting to meet her little cutie boys, and spend time with she and Fred. SO MUCH FUN.

94. 30+ hours in the car...and we still like each other.

 p.s. Can we just all take a moment of silence to thank God for whomever invented the in-van DVD system? How did my parents do this? They just tossed us in the back of the station wagon and hoped for the best, I suppose.

 Thankful for our Texas trip, for time with my family and so many friends.... Thankful for yummy food (I'm sorry - the food in TX is BETTER. I mean, I like Runza and all, but....), and being back in the homeland. And now we're thankful to be HOME and finding our normal again! And I want to remember to treasure time with the family & friends who are close as much as I value the quick visits with dear ones who are far away...thankful that our family is so rich in friends and relationships.

This is easy??

Our big airport moment was almost 4 months ago now, and we have had a much easier time than I expected. Actually, we are doing so much better than I expected and prepared myself for, in some ways I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I read and researched a LOT during our season of waiting. I read books, I trolled blogs. I asked adoptive parent friends to be honest with me about the hard parts, because I wanted to be ready. I think when you prepare yourself for the worst, you can be pleasantly surprised when it’s much easier than you expected. And we have been pleasantly surprised.

Even though we’re not experiencing the “worst case scenario” I prepared myself for, this is still one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.

 I do have a story to tell, one that I hope prospective adoptive parents can hear and be ready for: Even on an “easier” path in adoption, this is really hard.

I haven’t experienced any level of post-adoption depression. My feelings for, and attachment to, our new son have progressed exactly as I expected them to.  Micah himself is transitioning beautifully into our family.
And yet…

Read the rest of the story over here, at  A Safe Place to Share, a lovely place of truth and honesty started by some friends from the Ugandan Adoption World. You should look around while you're there - the stories that have been shared over the past few weeks have encouraged,  challenged, and blessed me SO much. Praying that this little corner of blogland would be a window into truth and reality, and help many adoptive parents know they are not alone, as well as help prospective adoptive parents be more prepared for what's ahead.

Capture Gratitude: LOADS of gifts

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“There is no event so common place but that God is present within it, always hidden, always leaving you room to recognize Him or not to recognize Him.”  Fredrick Buechner 

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So so many gifts this week. Many pictures to share, and not many words. If you know me in real life, you won't need many words to realize what gifts each of these pictures represent. The rest of you will have to use your imagination... It won't be hard, I think. :)

73. This smile. Are you kidding me?

 74. So many of our friends and family sporting beautiful Ugandan necklaces (and helping us finalize our adoption!) 
I only have a few left, so if you want one, you should act quickly!

74. Meeting a long-prayed-for daughter
(her face is SO cute, but it's not my face to show...sorry. MM enjoyed introducing her to our dog. Through the window, because that was as close as she was willing to go.)

75. My boys on Susie's bed

 76. A few hours with 2 of my oldest and dearest friends
Lots of driving represented in this reunion.

 77. This needs no explanation.

78. Susie's "peeking through the flowers" habit/fondness/mania

79. Micah Marvin with Alyssa Renee

 He is in love.

80. My dad
Even after months of chemo and major surgery, he looks so healthy... 1 more month and hopefully we can move out of the cancer chapter and onto the life-after-cancer rest of the story!

81. Rain on a tin roof.

82. Micah getting lots of time on this particular lap.

83. Barefoot. Goodbye winter, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

 84 - 86. Playing in the rain + The beach + My very favorite people = happy hearts

In case you wondered...here's what Micah thinks of the beach:

My cup overflows.

Easy Peasy Kid Treat: Waffle Sandwiches!

OK. This is a super fun kid treat. Not healthy at all, but a fun treat when you're looking for something special or just different.

Tobin recently found a Pampered Chef kids' cookbook that we received as a wedding gift. He's been begging me to make some of the recipes for him. We had all of the ingredients for this one, and it was one of his top requests - so I told him we could make it.

And then he asked me every day for a week or more, and I kept putting him off - our mornings didn't lend themselves to having this for breakfast. Finally last weekend we decided to get creative with our lunch.


All you need is:
2 Frozen waffles (the recipe calls for mini waffles, but I had chocolate chip Eggo ones)
Peanut butter
Jelly
Banana

(See? If you're like me and keep frozen waffles around for an occasional easy breakfast, you probably have all of these things on hand today.)

Toast your waffles, and cut them in fourths. Spread 4 fourths with peanut butter, and 4 fourths with jelly. Place banana slices on each peanut butter fourth, and cover with the jelly fourth.

Set them before your 4 year old and have him jump up, throw his arms around your waist and say, "I WUV YOU MOM!"

** Sorry about the see-food. He was pretty excited. :)

If your kids are a little older, they could totally make this with you or by themselves. But my two + peanut butter always results in a mess. And Luke thinks waffles and bananas are gross. So I did the assembly myself.

Capture Gratitude: Counting GIFTS

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“There is no event so common place but that God is present within it, always hidden, always leaving you room to recognize Him or not to recognize Him.”  Fredrick Buechner 

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66.  LENT

Our church community doesn't celebrate or observe Lent... Because I wasn't raised with any meaning behind Christmas or Easter, I'm always looking for ways to truly celebrate Jesus in our holidays and traditions. I've found a lot of meaning and value in preparing my heart for Easter through the Lenten season.

This book has been such a help and treasure in that over the past few years. I love Walter Wangerin's writing, he has really helped me to use my imagination as well as my mind. I highly recommend this book as well as his Christmas/Advent companion, Preparing for Jesus. Such a blessing.

67. BROTHERS
 I think I share this as a gift every week, but I'm so touched and thankful for how well my little 2 are getting along (most of the time, at least.) They do spend a fair amount of time either fighting or playing VERY LOUDLY (they get along louder than they fight), so moments like these are treasures:

And because I can't resist sharing this... The other day they were all piled on top of me at bedtime and giving each other kisses goodnight. It was so cute I tried to "capture" my gratitude for that moment. But this is what I got:

  

 Super awkward, no??

68. GOOD BOOKS

 We have an old compliation of Winnie-the-Pooh stories that Tobin loves. They're abridged and there are just four of them. So I decided to get the full collection of them from the library, and Tobin and I have been reading them together (mostly at bedtime.)

Oh, I love these stories. The language is so rich, and they are funny in such a quiet, smart way. They don't hold M's attention at all, but Tobin just lays and listens, and LOVES them. Luke has sat in on a few of our readings, too, which touches my heart. Love the words. Love the illustrations. And love hearing Tobin as he plays saying to himself, "I'm just a little rain cloud..."

69. COUSINS
I am so thankful that my boys are getting to grow up with at least one set of their cousins! They are with Betsy's kids every Thursday, and Tobin spends all day Friday with them (at Grammie's) as well...Micah will be joining them soon, as soon as I'm ready to let him spend the night away from me.

I love my boys' relationship with the girls, but it's been especially fun to see Micah fall in love with them. He has probably asked me about them every day this week. Whenever we get in the car, he says, "See Ell-REE? See Anna-LEE?" So cute. And he's taken to calling every picture of a little girl either Ellery or Annalise too... He especially thinks every picture of a little Asian girl that we see is Ellery. Why? Who knows. But it's cute!

 70. CUTENESS
My life is filled with a lot of noise and a lot of need-meeting. "Constant intense parenting" as one of my fellow adoptive parent friends calls it. So it sure is a good thing that they're this cute!

 (I'm trying a new do on Micah - we're starting little baby dreads. LOVE THEM. But don't know if I have the patience for this... It takes a long time.)

71. LOVE THIS MAN OF MINE

Some of the best marital advice I got was from my friend Brian, who used to say, "Life is too serious. Marry someone who makes you laugh."

 Check.

And speaking of that...

72. LAUGHTER
Thankful to have a family that loves to laugh. All three of our kids, if they hear something funny going on, will come running from anywhere in the house to be a part of it. And I think for all three of them, one of their primary love languages is tickling.