tamara b

More time would mean more well thought out posts. But, what you see if what you get here... a busy momma sharing a little about life today. A few things from the last week or so:

Rain, wind and tornados oh my. Sunday was a whirlwind of activity. Who knew that those whirlwinds would end up as a tornado. The storm came and the tornado sirens were going off in town. Our dear friends who survived the tornado that flattened Parkersburg two years earlier were out and their kids were at our house. The kids, fortunately, were oblivious to what was going on outside. So much so that when we decided to take 7 kids into a non-kid-friendly basement, the older boys thought that they had to pee first. Great. The tornado didn't hit our place. But our neighbor just one mile down the gravel lost EVERY tree in his yard. We were so thankful that their house was left standing and that their son's graduation party was the night before!

Adoption has been a great thing in our house. But not 100% wonderful. One of the great things is that Judah and Bethany are pretty much attached at the hip. Even right now, they're sitting right NEXT to each other on the couch. A not-so-wonderful moment came this week when Bethany told me that she didn't like Scott and wanted to give him away. It was so sad. She used to LOVE her Scott. Right now, she doesn't have much, if anything, to do with him. I think it's because Judah is her buddy. It might also be due to the fact that Scott is gone all day to school and Judah is with her all day.

May 24th has lots of significance in my family. On May 24th a long time ago, my mom and dad were married. On May 24th my brother was born 29 years ago. Nine years ago on May 24th I graduated from Fresno State. And then exactly one year later on May 24th, I married my Ryan. My Ryan. You'd think I'd be able to remember that date. Every one else in my family did. Ryan forgot too. Rather than celebrating our anniversary that night, we had friends and my parents over for supper. What fun!

Delayed Celebrations are still fun. Ryan suggested we go out Thursday night and since I had in my mind that we'd celebrate up in Minneapolis, I shrugged off a Thursday celebration. Since I married an amazing and thoughtful and loving guy, I realized that I should have agreed to an outting with my love. So, Thursday afternoon I arranged some friends to watch the kids. My kids love the D's. I finally got a hold of Ryan, asked him to get off the mower, shower and put a button down shirt on. We dropped off our kids and headed to a wine bar/bistro. There were 3 amazing things that night: 1. hanging out with my husband, 2. a fabulous meal and 3. our friends who took our kids home and put them to bed for us.

Usually we are able to withhold our reaction to our kids' funny, but inappropriate, attitudes. Not so much tonight. Her looks are amazing. I'm so not looking forward to that in a few years... when it's no longer cute. She had that look multiple times tonight but I was too lazy to capture it with the camera. Since we all know she's not perfect, I'm sure I'll get that look again. She's too much.

In 3 days we leave. I suppose we should converse more with our kids about it. Oh shoot, I just realized that I never finished the letters I started so they could have one each day to read. Anyway, tonight while talking to the boys about leaving for Ethiopia, Judah perked up and said "for me?!?" With a huge smile on my face, I told him that I'd already went for him and was so glad. Scott wanted to know if we were adopting again. He asks me that each time we talk about this trip. I informed Scott that we were going to "serve" others there. It took me a second to grasp why he replied with "there are no more slaves mommy". No son, there are no more slaves. But we can serve others by giving them breakfast in bed, or helping pick up toys. Boy, do we have a lot to discuss in the next 3 days.