Thoughts about family, children, adoption, organizing, living more simply and following my heart.
Please join me in my adventures. Have a wonderful day!
Warmly, Linda
We had a festive Celebration in honor of my Dad's 80th birthday. Marty & Cindy flew up for 24 hours (from noon Saturday to noon Sunday) so we had an intense, heartwarming visit. We had a wonderful relaxing lunch at Sue's home, and spaghetti dinner at ours. I was so anxious to spend as much time as I could with Cindy that I woke her up at 7:00AM on Sunday, so we could be together again!! I had been up since 5AM and I could not wait any longer. We had a great morning, the family came back over for brunch and then the whirled home, back to Georgia.
Here's Megan, waiting for Uncle Marty and Aunt Cindy to get off the airplane!! She is so excited.
Apparently so are they.
Megan went around with camera in hand and took pictures of everyone. I censored the series that included shots of everyone's bottoms!
Dad requested Spice Cake with Dark Chocolate Frosting as his birthday cake.
His pie request was Sour Cherry, which was made by Eric's mom, with cherries grown off the tree in their front yard. Have you ever seen such a perfect pie?? It was delicious.
Here is the birthday boy, with Cindy and my sister, Sue's son, Ben.
My sister's other son, Alex, and friend, Ashley.
Megan got lots of hugs that day.
PS. Thanks to everyone who commented to me that they are still out there reading! I am happy to know that so many of you get joy from keeping up with our life events! I enjoy my the blogs that I follow and even though I wax and wane in my ability to keep up with them all, I feel that I have friends all over the world!!
This, in and of itself, is an amazing feat. It is very difficult to beat Eric out of bed, as he is Mr. Early Riser, starting his morning at about 5:15 each day, so he can have a bit of quiet time to read over breakfast and still make it out the door by 6:30. Who can compete with that? Who would want to? Usually, he wakes me up by 6:30 and Megan stumbles into my room, bleary-eyed and hair tussled, shortly after that,saying "A Mama?" Which means, "Where's Mama".....That's what she says for everybody when she wants to know where they are: A Dada? A Matt-Matt? A Mare-Mare? etc....
Anyway, here I am, showered, dressed, coffee made, laundry agitating, and me completely avoiding finishing up the slide show for my Dad's 80th birthday party, which is today. It's not that I don't want to do it; it's that several things have happened and I want to record them now, while they are fresh. So I will post them each in their own slot.
First thing, and very important!! Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband.
Eric and I met in college in our sophomore year. I was 17 and he was 18. He was walking on crutches , having injured his ankle "pretending" to ski down a grass covered hill in front of his dorm. I had seen him around the previous year, and but did not really know him. I commented on how tall he was and that I thought he grew a lot over the summer (I am under 5 feet, so everyone looks tall, but on the crutches, and standing above me on a hill, he looked huge). A few weeks later, my friend and I met him again, much improved, and this time riding a bike down the big hill, into town, as he had drawn the shortest straw and had to go get the beer. He said he and his suite mates were watching the movie, "Stripes" and invited us to join them. Well, Becky and I did, and from that moment on, I was in love with Eric. We talked all through the movie and way after everyone else had left. He was badly in need of a haircut and told me that his mother was the only one who ever cut his hair. I sympathized and immediately offered to do this for him (even though I never did before!!!) The next day, he showed up for his "appointment" at my suite and my friends and I giggled through it. He told me if I did a good job he would let me cut his hair for the rest of his life. 23 years later, I am still the only one cutting his hair. I am not sure how I knew what to do, but I got the job and I am so thankful. Eric has been the best friend and support imaginable and I am blessed by his presence in my life! Happy Birthday, Honey!! I love you!!!!
One night, at the end of November, after I had gone to bed, Matthew told Eric that he has a girlfriend. Now, honestly, we were not prepared for this. We hadn't really given it any thought. Matthew had always been so focused on playing with his friends, sports, Math, music... girls were not ever a topic of interest, and now suddenly a girl friend! Wow! Of course, this is a very welcome and normal turn of events, after all, he just turned 14 this month and to find out that he is socially able to manage this arena, as well as all the others! Well, that is just very satisfying as parents. And the change in him is very noticeable. He is more patient and measured in his responses, he is open and relaxed when talking about his friend, and he is interested in our offers to include her in family activities.
A few nights ago, he woke me up and said he needed me. I could tell he was very upset. I couldn't imagine what was wrong. I followed him to his room and he could barely speak. He had been reading an assigned book for ELA called Night, which is one man's personal account of his experience during the holocaust. Matthew had become overwrought with anger and grief at the indignities and injustices done to the Jewish people and he that when he read the part where the Jews were assigned a number, engraved into their arms he threw the book to the floor and came to me. I held him for an hour until he fell asleep. He is a changed person now. He knows that the world has both great joys and great sorrows. In the book the man struggles with his feelings towards God and his anger that God does not save even the babies. Matthew and I discussed this. I explained my view, which is that God is limited in his ability to help only those who want help, and who are willing to receive it in the form of guidance and love, not control. I shared that in my opinion, God is Great Love, that can sustain and strengthen so that people can have the courage to take the path that is before them, and make conscious, informed choices in order to make the best of their lives and situations, given the cards they are dealt. And I shared that in my times of deepest grief, confusion and pain, when I have said "God, please help me". I have always felt immediate peace.
Last night, my mother called me and said Guy was not feeling well. He had been up the previous night with a stomach bug or something and had not eaten or even gotten out of bed all day. Several years ago this happened and he narrowly escaped severe dehydration, so needless to say, she was worried. In anyone, this would be a problem, but Guy is extra vulnerable as he will celebrate his 93rd birthday in April. Later in the evening we spoke again and Mom said that he felt a little better and was going to get up and have coffee and tea, so that was a relief.
Guy is my stepfather and they have been married since I was about 10, which is over 30 years! He has been a wonderful part of my life and I love him dearly. He has 7 children of his previous marriage and I have always enjoyed my relationships with them very much. We are particularly close to Billy & Janis, who visited with us at Christmas time and are pictured in that post.
Here we are in 2004 with some of "the girls". I have no idea why that box is there, but it cannot be removed. Too bad.
Megan loves to "see" Grandpa Guy on the webcam through Skype, which she calls "online". Mom never thought he would be interested in this, but he is and he comes happily to the computer to see her, send her kisses and sing her songs.
Here is Guy jamming with Marty, Thanksgiving 2003
And our most recent trip to see them in Florida, April 2007.
It went by in a blur of creating, baking, hugging, buying, wrapping, snuggling, driving and rushing around. We enjoyed making holiday cutouts with our in house bakery staff. We ended up making 8+ kinds of cookies that we shared and enjoyed throughout the month.
Uncle Bill & Aunt Janis made their annual visit, despite very inclement weather. We really enjoyed the time spent with them and had quite a game night. Candy Land anyone??
We recently purchased this very comfy leather couch. It's rounded (called a media sectional) and HUGE, so that the entire family of five and two other adults can sit on it comfortably. It has two hassocks that are on wheels and are rounded too, so that they can be turned around for additional seating and game playing. They also open for storage, which is an incredible feature for the organized minded individual like me. Eric likes that he can grab a hidden blanket without moving his feet, and he is still tying to ply me with ideas about refrigerated beer storage. :)
This year we took our family photo on the new couch and finally, thankfully, did not have to say "still waiting for our China girl". She is here and real and really happy about it.
On Christmas Eve we went to Grandma Marion & Grandpa Tom's. Both of Tom's children were there with us, Kate & Terry.
Megan took this picture of me and Mary Alice. She's pretty good with the camera!
After dinner, Matthew played the Xylophone at our church's Christmas Eve service:
Our Christmas Morning Tree
Our Christmas Morning Cinnamon Rolls
Megan's reaction to Christmas morning was very laid back and she made breakfast for herself before opening any presents!
We had lots of snow in December!
Here are Linda & Megan at the top of Mt. Everest.
Okay, it's just our local sledding hill, but it looks good, doesn't it.
After Christmas, we traveled to Pennsylvania to visit Eric's brother's family. The cousins had a great time together.
Here is the cookie man!!
Calling for Pizza....
Ian and Matthew made this Domino Structure. It didn't fall exactly the way they wanted, but it looks pretty cool.
And here is Megan's beloved Miss Elizabeth, which she pronounces "babah beth", who teaches her Kinderdance twice a week.
A major accomplishment of the month was the sending of a care package to Chaoyang, Megan's orphanage. I sent a detailed photo album with lots of pictures of Megan at home and from our brief visit with the orphanage staff in China, along with captions in Chinese, some candy and a letter telling them about her progress so far. I was lucky enough to find a woman at the local Chinese school who was willing to translate the letter and captions for me into Chinese. I tried to use Babel fish, but I had no idea if the translation was accurate or not and I did not want to risk it. I wanted to send them all kinds of outgrown clothing that we had gathered up for the children, but the post office said the cheapest way to send it would be $81 dollars!!! I opted for the smallest possible box and it was still $40..... because of the candy. Next time I will just send pictures. Maybe they will send me the e-mail address and I can send them that way.
Well, I am wondering who is still reading this blog...... Is it just my mom???? Please consider leaving me a comment if you are out there, just so I know...... :) and have a very Happy and Healthy New Year.
Last week, both Matthew and Mary Alice were in the Middle School National Geographic Geography Bee. Due to the spelling of their last names, they were seated next to each other. I guess Mary Alice was bugging Matthew...... She looks sweet though, doesn't she? Unfortunately, neither one of them won the Bee, although Matthew got into the final round. Last year, he did win and went to the finals in Albany, so it was a bit of a bitter pill for him to swallow. We are proud of both though, as even getting to participate is an honor for a select few.
Megan has started dancing in a Kinderdance program at her preschool, after class. She absolutely loves it. Here she is with Miss Jackie, her teacher. A very brief (but cute) video follows.
Dad requested Spice Cake with Dark Chocolate Frosting as his birthday cake.
