Random Ramblings

Yes, another edition of Random Ramblings.

Kid Cereal

Jack and Kate often have heated exchanges concerning food, he being of the opinion that food should be healthy and good for your heart; she being of the opinion that everything else just tastes better.

Nowhere are these exchanges more vehement than at the grocery store. The other day we went to the juice aisle (which is also the candy aisle) and Katie picked up a bag of candy and held it rapturously to herself and exclaimed "This is my favorite!" Jack scowled and said "Katie, you know I'm going to be a cardiologist, you're just teasing me." You can see how she would enjoy poking a little fun at him.

Then we moseyed over to the cereal aisle. Some of you may know my prerequisites for cereal (see this post) so my kids don't whine much for cereal. Jack said "Why do they put the kid cereal that's full of sugar on the bottom shelves and the healthy adult cereal at the top?" I told him so the kids could see all the kid cereal. Jack said "But that's going to make them want it."

Exactly. This is one of the great things about being with your kids so much. They are with me on every shopping trip (it's nausea-inducing awful sometimes), but we also gets lots of time to discuss. We talk about the marketing and the insane amount of money companies spend for packaging, advertising, location of products, etc. We look at the nutrition labels and cost per ounce. We weigh produce and decide what to get based on season. They line up like little soldiers to load and unload the groceries at every step. One cashier even commented that I hadn't put the baby to work yet. Give him time.

Poptarts

Speaking of children's breakfast foods, Poptarts are another one of those foods I'm a little strict about. The kids used to ask for Poptarts, after seeing them in the cereal aisle, so last year we put them in their Christmas stockings. Bliss, pure bliss.

This year we did the same thing. I noticed on Christmas morning, as we were setting the stockings up, that they weren't even Poptarts. I had just automatically bought the generic version. They're Wal-tarts.

Christmas Day Matt was talking to his Dad and his Dad mentioned that our niece and nephew (9 and 7) had each opened up Ipads for Christmas. I called out "Did you tell him we got our kids Poptarts?" Thank goodness we didn't celebrate Christmas together. Our kids would be sorely put-out.

To show you how happy our kids are with sugary breakfast food, here is a picture my sister took of Katie opening up a box of Christmas Captain Crunch at our Christmas Eve party. She literally squealed with glee upon opening it. Disregard the blurriness. And my face. Apparently I was giving directions. And not happily.

Adoption Update

Remember how my big, important dossier was sent to Washington, D.C.? And how I was worried something had somehow gone wrong? That day after that post, the courier service called and said that three of our papers were a couple days over the 6 months date.

Cried my little eyeballs out. Like, my eyes were sore crying. Then I pulled myself up by my bootstraps flip flops and set out to redo those papers. Good friends took my youngings, papers collected, notarized, and mailed. Date pushed back a little. Deep breaths taken.

Pinterest

My last ramble is about that addictive site. It gives the illusion of getting stuff done without anything actually getting done. You spend a bunch of time looking at sites with amazing, healthy dinners in the crock pot and houses full of stenciled wood floors and do-it-yourself lace camisoles. Then you get off the computer and it's back to the reality of Hamburger Helper and sweatpants. It makes me wonder how these women really live. I thought I was doing ok living my life but now I think "My goodness, I've gone a whole day and haven't made one single wreath."

Adoption Update

Today I mailed our dossier for the adoption. Dossier (pronounced dossy-ay, it's all kinds of fancy) is the packet of paperwork that gets sent to China. This is what a dossier looks like:

Each of those papers on top is the state seal. Underneath is the original paper (medical exams, homestudy, financial stuff, police checks, etc). Some of the original documents are just one sheet, some are two, some are like 19. Every single page had to be copied twice: once for the Chinese Embassy to keep, and another for our agency. All that paperwork plus a couple checks made out for obscene amounts. So this is what I took to the post office this morning:

I used to wonder why more people don't adopt. This is why.

That packet represents about 8 months of work and hours and hours of appointments, copying papers, getting things notarized and signed. It was odd at times. I would say things like "Hey guys, be quiet! Could you just watch your movie in peace?" And then go back to filling out papers that proved we were good parents. This big hurdle is done now. I should be relieved. I should be excited. But I'm worried that I forgot something and it's going to be a ridiculous problem. And I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I just dropped $43 to mail three documents.

It's a tough process and I'm trying to trust God that He has this all planned out and has for awhile. While we cried and talked and prayed about this months and months ago, He already knew her.

About a week ago I was stressing about getting all these papers together and I was talking to a good friend on the phone. I'm so thankful for her and her heart for adoption. The one thing she said that I carry with me is this: Savor this time, for it is the start of her story.

Oh man. That's good stuff.

Everyday I have to give this process to him. Everyday I have to trust the One who is unfailingly trustworthy with my child - and it's so difficult.

I have to remind myself that He keeps His promises.

I have to tell myself that He sees the road on and on ahead of us.

And to trust Him with our daughter whom we've never met - we've never even seen.

Because He knows the contours of her face.
He knows the exact shade of her brown eyes.
He knows the sound of her soft sweet breathing when she sleeps.

And when I was putting together all these papers during the bright light of a Florida afternoon, I would remind myself that on the other side of the world, my daughter slept.

I would sign those papers during the day and know that that same sun would greet my sweet girl the next morning.

And one day, we will feel the sunshine on our faces together and I will thank Him for His faithfulness.

Ode to a Toddler

Our 18 month old is sweet and cuddly and adorable...and basically terrorizes the house and those who inhabit it.

A couple days ago I had a cold. An average, everyday cold - sneezing, coughing, sore throat, chills. The kind of cold that sends people to the EMERGENCY room in droves for unnecessary antibiotics.

Ahem.

Anyway, there I was, all achy and drippy and awful. Noah was at the peak of health and energy on this particular day. He had found a bag of potato chips and spilled them all over the kitchen floor. Then he put on one of Katie's shoes (just one!) and proceeded to dance all over them.

Noah's dance is quite unique. He dances in a circle and claps. It's really more of a gallop, like a pony that is missing a leg but still insists on trotting about.

He also had a soggy green tea bag clutched in his little hand. His sharp little eagle eyes spotted a string hanging out of my steaming mug of tea on the counter. The only logical thing to do in that situation is to incorporate it into one's dance.

There he was, laughing and dancing his lopsided pony dance on a huge pile of chips. He was clapping enthusiastically - soggy tea bag being flung all over. Oh, and wearing one big sparkly clog.

At the noise I trudged into the kitchen. Hair unwashed and probably heinous looking, body hurts, pj pants shuffling in on slippers. I looked up and "What the...? I don't even...why....?"

Obviously I didn't get a video then, as that wasn't even a thought in my stuffy little head. But we did get a video of it later, just because it's so darn cute and we want to remember this, in case Noah ever puts that little gimpy pony out of his misery. Without further ado, here is a video of Noah dancing:

It goes without saying that Toby Mac is playing in our home. Also disregard my weird squeaky voice. It sounds the same on videos, answering machines, cell phone messages. I'm beginning to think that's how my voice actually sounds.

Now imagine the dance on a pile of chips with a soggy tea bag in one hand. And no music. And one big blue sparkly clog.

Noah also has a very particular idiosyncrasy of rubbing anything remotely liquid in his hair. Every since he was an infant, he has signaled sleep by rubbing the top of his head and pulling gently on his hair. Nowadays he still does that but with the added bonus of actually putting things in his hand before he rubs his head. Every time we eat soup or spaghetti or yogurt it ends up artistically slopped through his hair.

Strawberry yogurt and kiwi seeds, anyone?

With that in mind, let me tell you about a recent incident.  Those of you who are friends of mine on a certain social site may recall Noah's haircut a few months ago. Necessary due to the fact that he had slathered almost a whole container of Vaseline on his head, his clothes and the couch. I fine-toothed combed his hair, added cornstarch and held him over the tub, rubbing clarifying shampoo into his long tresses. Ended up lopping off most of it because petroleum is tough stuff my friends.

A couple days ago he got a hold of it again - just a handful onto the top of his head. This time I just shrugged. It will come out eventually and in the meantime, his hair will look styled. Which can only be good for me. It shows I'm trendy and stuff.

You may be wondering why I still left the Vaseline on his changing table after the first incident.

As my husband's youth pastor Dean used to say "One more time for the slow learners."

Yup.

A Spouse with Mad Skills

This is my husband. He makes things. I love him.

This guy is seriously talented with power tools. He's made bookshelves, toy shelves, bunk beds, a very cool nightstand for my birthday, Adirondack chairs. All conjured from the well endowed recesses of his mind. Take, for instance, this crane. He made it as a Christmas gift for Jack - out of scrap material he had in his shop. No plans, just made it up as he went. The boom (the thing that looks like a giraffe's neck) swivels around on some fancy wheel thing. And Matt figured out a pulley system that goes up and down when the handles are turned. He also put wheels on the bottom so Jack can ride it from work site to work site. We spray painted it a nice bright construction yellow and I did the black trim and his name. Matt then attached our old Alaska license plate, as Jack was born there. Pretty awesome, no?

Jack drew up plans for a big crane months ago and asked Matt to build him one he could sit on. Of course, Jack's plans included armrests and a cupholder but life is tough sometimes, kid.

And then there's this tv stand:

 Matt picked it up at a garage sale for about $35. We think it's the bottom part of a hutch. Since my blogging is still fairly mediocre, I didn't take a before picture. Just imagine it with 1950's ugly oak stain with brass colored hardware. See? Just like a picture. The dresser looks exactly the same on the outside, just different colors. Down the middle were 4 drawers, one on top and the other three on the bottom. I told Matt I wished those three drawers were gone and there was a door that opened and a shelf on the inside for the stereo and dvd player.

See what he did there? Took the fronts off all the drawers and using a combination of skill, ingenuity and probably magic, he made them into a door. Added a couple of very manly hinges. Then he removed all the drawer things on the inside and installed a shelf. So it still looks like three drawers unless you try to open one and "What!?!"  Mind blown. He created a piece of furniture exactly as I wanted. Happy wife, happy life. Of course, I did a lot too. I picked out the paint color (Matt actually painted) and spray painted the hardware a lovely oiled bronze. It was a team effort. Good job, us!

This was our tv stand before - my nice entry table was forced to hold the tv and gather dust.

It belongs in the dining room, holding candles and gathering dust.

Wires everywhere, like a computer desk had thrown up. End table in the corner for no apparent reason. Sad and depressing. And probably a bit hazardous.

Now we have this lovely pop of color that makes me all cozy inside. The camera doesn't do it justice (because it's small and cheap and I don't know what I'm doing) but it's a warm cranberry color. Oh, and also imagine creative pictures on the wall - canvases, black and white, inspirational quotes. Like it should be on Pinterest. There, that's better.

Watching 'Brave' on their noble steeds