Lena’s teacher definitely goes above and beyond. In addition to the two conferences a year, she also does phone calls to check in part way through the trimester. Ours was earlier this week and our conversation was mostly just chat, nothing new, but it’s always good to touch base.

Then she said, “Maybe we talked about this last time, but Lena really adores you. She’s always telling me things you’ve said, in the morning or when we have lunch together… ‘My mommy said..‘ Little bits of wisdom you’ve told her. One day, I think some kids were being mean to her and she came in, in her soft voice, and told the class, ‘My mommy says, I don’t have to listen to anything that anyone says about me.'”

Oh my goodness. I think that I melted into a big pile of goo right there. She heard me. And, my sweet, quiet girl told everyone that truth. She owned it. 

I have to admit, first, that I hadn’t realized that those conversations were really sinking in, let alone did I have an clue that she was parroting them right back to school. Second, wow. What an honor and also what a scary, scary thing to be responsible for. It was a big wake up call to me to be that role model she needs.

So, I’m working on the investment, in all of my kids, but especially this little one who seems to be soaking up my words like a sponge. Yesterday, I heard her call Gus “little man”, something I call him every once in awhile. Today, I heard her say, “I’m proud of…”, something I wrote to her yesterday in a note.

I had told her that I am so proud to be her mom. And I really am.

We were goofing off tonight, and we had a lot of fun taking these photos. (photo bombs by little brother) Sometimes, parenting feels like such a hard task and I feel so way over my head. But, on days like today, I’m reminded that it’s a great gift to be a parent to Reed, Lena, Gus, and even a parent figure to Big L, too. I whisper a prayer of thanks to God for them and for the beautiful journey that is adoption, and also to the 4 women who brought these treasures into the world.

Well, I didn’t plan to neglect my blog for the past few days, but I’ve been busy. Blogging every day isn’t a realistic expectation for me, even doing a Project 365, but a more realistic goal would be 3-4 times per week. However, this last week got away with me.

16/365: This was a gorgeous day, but I was mostly stuck inside! Working for a good part of the day and then I had a language lesson in the evening. I did sneak outside for a few minutes here or there to soak up the sunshine.

17/365: What has taken up most of my time in the last week is that Aaron built me a desk– a really awesome desk deserving its own blog post. This day, we went to Home Depot so we could buy the materials we needed.

18/365: We also finally saw the third Hunger Games movie. I heard that the reviews were mixed, that perhaps some people thought it was too dark? I thought it was well done and enjoyed it, but I could see how it would be a bit dark for the young adult crowd. Perhaps I should also mention that we rented Gone Girl on Friday night, and Mockingjay could seem light in comparison.

19/365: My camera says I actually took this on the 20th, but it is off an hour because of Daylight Savings Time. This is one of the colors used on my lovely desk. While my husband did an awesome job building it… the finishing part was left up to me, which was a rather time consuming process.

20/365: Those eyelashes.

21/365: Our weather has been warmer, so the trampoline has been getting a lot of use.

My new desk has a window that is very close to the trampoline, making it easy for me to work, while keeping an eye on and listening to the kids. These two spent a lot of time just laying on the trampoline together, looking at the clouds.

Sticking with our tradition, we also did birthday questions for Reed. He was ready to do his at the same time that I did Lena’s, about a week before his 8th birthday. This is the fourth year that we’ve done these questions with him:

• 5 years old
• 6 years old
• 7 years old

1. What is your favorite color? Orange

2. What is your favorite toy? Legos

3. What is your favorite fruit? Bananas

4. What is your favorite tv show? Ummm… (you really like Wild Kratts. You watch that all the time.) Oh, Wild Kratts!

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Quesadillas

6. What is your favorite outfit? I don’t have one.

7. What is your favorite game? Angry Bird Starwars

8. What is your favorite snack? An ice cream cone (Lena’s birthday treats from school)

9. What is your favorite animal? Josie (our dog)

10. What is your favorite song? Can it be a song in front of a movie? (yes) The Wild Kratts song (The Wild Kratts theme song?) Yup

11. What is your favorite book? I have two favorite books– my ninja books and my Spiderman books

12. Who is your best friend? Sam

13. What is your favorite special treat? Um… cupcake. (What kind of cupcake?) Vanilla cupcake with sparkly sprinkles

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Stare at squirrels

15. What is your favorite drink? Um, well… let’s see… favorite drink, favorite drink, favorite drink… water

16. What is your favorite holiday? Um… Halloween

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? I don’t take anything to bed

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Applesauce

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Um, well… I want… (this is a hard question, huh?) Chicken nuggets… chicken nuggets, french fries and lettuce

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Police officer

It was finally warm enough today to get outside. Well, get outside for long than a 10 minutes without a ton of layers.



This is a pretty common occurance when I have my camera out. Can you tell what happened? A certain little boy totally stepped right in between me and my subject.

Trying to make some baskets backwards.

It was so nice to enjoy the sunshine for a chance. Our weather is supposed to be even nicer for the next few days, so we’ll be soaking it up.