Wednesday, March 16, 2011

The Tax Man Brings You a Baby

The other day, C was playing in his room and I was doing work in the office next to him. All of the sudden, he announces, "Look Mama! I got our taxes done!" I walked into find him sitting with paper he had scribbled on, and his Leap Frog calculator.
Now, being that he is the son of an accountant, I thought this was pretty hilarious. Our taxes were actually already done, but I assumed he must have heard us discussing them at some point and recognized there was some urgency there. So I posted the little event on Facebook and went on my way.
But then it started popping up in C's prayers: "And please bless mom and dad to get their taxes done." So then I started having some guilt--we wanted our taxes done because we wanted our return, but I didn't think we were freaking out about it or anything, so I couldn't figure out why the kid thought it was so important. So finally, after the fifth or sixth prayer, we did the logical thing and just asked him why he thought we needed to get our taxes done. And his reply was, "So then we can get a new baby!"
I assume he must have overheard one of us tell someone that we were trying to get our tax return money so we could put our adoption profile on a new website that would give us a lot more exposure. Our sweet, sweet boy just had it worked out that taxes = baby, so he was doing his best to help. Sure do love that kid.
So we explained it a little better to him, and now the taxes talk is gone. Instead he prays over every meal and at night that we can "get a new baby for our family," which seems fine and appropriate...but also that Heavenly Father will "raise up a spirit". And therein lies this week's mystery--no clue where he got that one from or what it means.

Monday, March 7, 2011

What's a Pirate's Favorite Restaurant?

Arrrrrrrby's! Here are some photos of my favorite pirate. Could he be any cuter? I don't think it's possible.
C's Aunt Katie always has awesome surprises when she comes over and this pirate gear was a big hit. Thanks, Katie! We love you!
I don't know about you, but I'm totally afraid.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Goodbye Thomas

C is about 4 1/2 now, and in watching him at church I've come to the decision that it is time we move to more gospel centered "entertainment" for sacrament meeting. I've kinda been letting the toy cars, toy story figurines, and monster coloring books slide. Don't get me wrong--I'm not judging anybody else. You do what you gotta do to make it work for your family. I just think my calm little guy is ready to make a change.
My hope is that I can make it fun enough then C will roll with the change. About 8 months ago we decided to make him wait until after the sacrament was passed to pull his stuff out, and that has been going pretty well. We have always taken his Thomas bag (a little backpack with Thomas on it that seems to entrance other children for some reason) to church with all his sacrament meeting stuff. So I decided the first step was to have a church-ier bag.
I have sort of an obsession to felt right now, so this is what I came up with.
I'm very grateful to my mother-in-law for the amazingly sharp sewing scissors she gave me, even if they do make the felt addiction possible. I think I just love felt because you can create with it without stressing how the edges will be finished.
Next step: church-centered file folder games. Anybody have any suggestions??

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

How do you spell PEACE?

In early December we got out all the Christmas decoration boxes, cranked up the holiday tunes, and started decorating the house. Adam was unpacking the stocking hangers, which usually spell out PEACE...and then few minutes into our activity, I turned around and saw this:
I laughed loudly and for quite awhile, and we actually left it for a few days. Adam, who can always make me laugh, did this on purpose because few things could describe the last year of our lives better than those three letters...for two reasons.
First of all, for about the last year Adam has been working on becoming a CPA. The test is given in four parts. People typically study for a few months for each section. Each section's test takes about four hours, and in Kentucky the pass rate for each section averages around 46%. Only 10% of people pass all four sections on their first try. Adam has now taken all four sections, has passed three of them, and we are waiting for the score on the fourth. To say his schedule has been hectic is an understatement. He typically gets up between 3-5am, studies for awhile, then goes to his full-time (+) job. He studies for about 45 minutes during his lunch at work, and then often comes home and studies for another hour. I have no doubt this is the hardest personal challenge he's ever faced, and I am completely impressed and overwhelmed by his perseverance and dedication. He says he has guilt about not spending more time with C and I, but I don't see why because he still somehow manages to spend time each day with C and take me out about every other weekend for a date. And I know with perfect surety that whole reason he is doing this all is for us.
The second reason that picture characterizes us so well comes not from the letters themselves, but from the quantity of letters. I bought that 5-letter stocking hanger set before we had any kids, in anticipation of the three children we planned to have. I figured if we decided to go on to four then I could come up with something else to do.
But they say if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. And so, though we would have had all three by now had life gone as we expected, we instead find ourselves praying every day that we will finally be able to adopt and just at least make it to two. And yet, through all the waiting we still have hope. With all the work we've put into the adoption I feel as if I've experienced the difficulties of nine months of pregnancy in a different way, and should be expecting the new baby any time now. I actually find myself occasionally referring to our "kids"...I guess because deep down inside underneath the disappointment I know it will happen when the time is right.
But no matter what our letters are, I can say that through it all we have truly been blessed with peace from our Heavenly Father who is so truly aware of what our needs are. And who knows...maybe next year it will be CAPE...because we'll have a new member of our family, and my superhero husband will be a licensed CPA!!