1st Day of School... DELAYED

Physicals... check.  

Hair cuts... check.  

New shoes... check.  

Backpacks... check.  

Lunch bags... check. 

School supplies... check.  

Well, after three years of adoption drama, job drama, moving drama, it only seems fitting that we'd be faced with more.  This time we have school drama!  Oh, can't I just have my comfortable little life back, please?

Last week, Thursday was supposed to be Meet the Teacher Night at the boys' school, the one that is 17.7 miles away from my mother-in-law's condo where we've been staying all summer.  That same afternoon I was playing phone tag with the bus company to find out where our bus stop is located and what time pick-up and drop-off would be for the school year.  My jaw dropped to the floor when I heard that my boys would be on a bus at 6:33 a.m. and would return home after 4:00 p.m.  That's nearly 10 hours away from home, 5 days a week.  The bus ride alone would be an hour and a half on the way to school and over an hour on the way home.  My husband wouldn't make a commute that long for work!  No way we're putting our kids through that for school!  I called my mom in tears over what the bus guy said and Jay thought it was ridiculous too.

Case in point, take our day in San Antonio last Friday - just 1 day after I learned of the bus schedule.  Jay's uncle was down there on business for a few days and his wife decided to go along because she loves San Antonio and she offered to treat us to a fun day.  It was a wonderful gift after a summer of staying in, spending no money on any non-necessities, going no where to save gas money with no income coming in.  We put the boys to bed at a decent hour the night before our day trip.  We got up around 7:15, showered, dressed, ate cereal and loaded up the minivan.  We were on the road by 8:30am for our hour and a half drive to San Antonio.  We picked up Aunt Patti at her hotel and we drove to a museum where the boys learned about Texas history.  We followed that with lunch at the Mexican Market and then tried to hit an IMAX movie, but that didn't work, so we just walked the mall and shopped as Patti let the kids each pick out a souvenir from the trip.  We dropped her back at the hotel and were on the road home by 4:30pm.  My 5 year old Super E was out like a light in the backseat of the van almost immediately.  And that day wasn't even as long as a full day at school would have been!

A few weeks ago, when we registered the boys for school and learned that the school servicing our county is over 17 miles away, I expressed my concern on Facebook and my friend Amy in Iowa said I could borrow her old Sonlight kindergarten curriculum should we change our mind about public school and go with home schooling.  I kept that sweet offer in my back pocket.  After the Thursday conversation with the bus company, crying to my mom on the phone and talking with Jay, I happened to text my friend Hilary in Minnesota to tell her about our last minute thoughts on home schooling.  I had no idea what Hilary used for her kids and I mentioned that Amy (a mutual friend of ours) was lending me the kindergarten set.  Hilary called me immediately and said she had most of the 4th grade Sonlight curriculum for my oldest son.  Thank you, God!  Oh, that made me so excited!  I just don't think we could have afforded to buy curriculum on our own, at least not right now after the summer we've had with no job.  Thank you, Amy and Hilary for offering to lend me your stuff!

A little help from 2 of my best friends sealed the deal -- WE'RE HOME SCHOOLING!!!!!

The plan may still be to investigate public school in October when we move into a house of our own (more details on that to come).  We hear the schools are excellent in the town that will most likely be where we set up house.  At the same time, if I love home schooling and if our kids are excelling, we may just keep it up for the rest of the year and then rethink things for the next year.  Thankfully, I don't have to make that decision until we reach those crossroads.

In both Nebraska and California I was surrounded by friends who home school.  I always thought that funny and felt like the black sheep for sending my kids to public school.  I always wondered if someday I would home school.

So, pray for me and for the boys, please.  School starts on Monday here in Texas.  We'll start home school soon, once I receive the boxes from my friends and figure out what the heck I'm doing.  Let me know if you know of any fun, free online groups I should be a part of.  Leave it to my amazing adoption community to invite me into one already.  I love you guys!!!

Here's to a great year for my Super E in kindergarten and Super C in 4th grade!!!!

PS...  You won't want to miss my next post.  I've been working on a running list of all of L's new words in her brand new English language.  I'm even trying to capture some on video.  It will be well worth your time to check back in for a few laughs.

"We're Bonding Here, Aren't We?"

Social workers and adoption experts say that if a child struggles and grieves when they are placed with their new family, that's a good sign that the child had bonded to one person/family prior to placement and that the child will very likely bond to the new family in due time.  For me, yes, L did cry on Gotcha Day but not much at all.  Once we were in the van, she was totally fine.  We had our moments like diaper changing and bathing but once those were over, she was totally fine and back to exploring and playing.  If I had to say anything was grieving, it was bedtime when she'd cry and scream and thrash in my arms before tiring herself out (or tiring mommy out).  Our first few nights were like that.

Other than those things, she really didn't grieve much.  She didn't cry for hours and hours like some families experience with their kids.  She didn't hit or bite or try to get away from me.  And when we were out in public doing some of our sightseeing with our guides, the guides would tell me to let L run and play and L never once would look over her shoulder for me or seek me out.  She was happy to be playing and seemingly didn't give a darn about me or where I was.  I immediately wondered if we really were bonding at all.

My baby boy,  Super E.

After a couple months home, one of the biggest ways I know she has bonded with me is her jealousy over her big brother E.  My 5 year old is a mama's boy.  He and I are very close, due in large part, to his struggles in infancy (which is a story for another time) and our closeness is not welcome by Miss L.  She'll swat at him, push him off my lap, cry and scream if I read a book to E, play a game with him, or spend any one-on-one time with him.  The fact that I have 2 hips to carry my 2 babies doesn't work for L.  I can't have E on one side while she is on the other.  She must have all of me and he must have none.  Oddly enough, she's more okay with my oldest boy being close to me, but not E.

Another way I know that L has bonded with me is that she simply cannot stand when I leave the room without her.  It seems like age regression for her which is very typical in adoptions.   If I so much as go upstairs for 2 minutes to choose an outfit for her to wear for the day, she cries this overly dramatic, crocodile tears cry, buries her face in the couch and is inconsolable.  Jay will often go over to her for comfort, but it only makes matters worse.  The boys and Jay can try to distract her to no avail.  I can peek down from upstairs and show her where I am and that still doesn't stop the incessant carrying on.  I have to admit that these antics drive me crazy the longer they continue!  I can deal with sibling rivalry but not being able to leave the room for 5 minutes to put away laundry, let the dogs out, or even use the restroom gets old quickly.

My title for this post may have been stolen from Father of the Bride II, but as for our daughter, we really are bonding here and it's great to see her adjusting and attaching so well to her new life.

Thought you'd enjoy her mischievous little grin.  

Our Adoption Video

Yesterday was August 6.  Two years ago yesterday, we lost our Nepal adoption.  The loss still stings, not only because we lost so much financially, but because of what the children of Nepal lost on that day - a chance for a forever family.  But I also remember our loss on August 6 because we dug deep into our hearts and continued to hold God's hand on our adoption journey and He was faithful!

Today is August 7.  We've been home from China for 2 months today with our daughter.

When we were in the paperwork phase of our Nepal adoption and then waiting on our China, watching adoption videos on YouTube really encouraged me to keep plugging away at the paperwork.  The one that really grabbed me was one from an Ethiopia adoption.  I'll include the link here because it was just so well done and really meant the world to me!  I do not know this family and they will never know just how much their story has given me hope along such a broken adoption road.  I'm sure half of the views on their YouTube video were from me alone, that's how much I watched it to keep myself going.

Now, I am not a videographer, music mixer or anything of the sort!  But I've been playing around with iMovie on Jay's laptop and have had great fun with it.

Please enjoy our video.