A gift for you

I just bought this beautiful CD, Painted Red by JJ Heller (am I the only who still does that?) and I also bought one for a friend who's world is shaking. I didn't want you to feel left out, listen below for a gift for you.

Listen to this song, listen to the words, take them in deep into your heart, where the hurts lie, believe them, the words are true, hide them in your heart, you never leave His hands, never.

Count down

Did you see my new gadget on my blog? Over there in the top left-hand corner. It's a countdown to the Winter Olympics, pretty obvious I know.

I've always loved the Olympics. When I was a girl I loved the summer Olympics and kind of liked the winter Olympics, then once I married Kyle I found myself loving both, and now, well I've become a bit of a nut about the Olympics.

Want to get together and play during the time the Olympics will be on TV, no way, not going to happen, I'm busy. Want to have a meaningful conversation about something going on in your life, fine, as long as you don't mind the olympics on in the background. Don't worry, I'm kidding...sort of.

Do you love the Olympics, too? Do you consider buying a new TV or signing up for a new cable package just for the Olympics? Do you decide that when the Olympics are on, your kids screen time is raised to 10 hours a day? If so join me in the countdown.

Stealing Kisses

Oh my dear Jackie is growing up so fast. If it were not so obvious in all the things he does I wouldn't be able to believe that he is almost two years old. Apparently another kid at school snuck him a copy of the two year old handbook, because it is so amazing how he suddenly knows exactly what a two year old does.

He got a step stool for Christmas, which he loves, because now he is truly a "big boy" and can do most anything by himself, including getting into food that was not for him or getting things off the counter that are most definitely not toys. He uses his stool to brush his teeth every morning and I often catch him re-brushing his teeth for the 5th or 6th time that day.

He has discovered an outlet for frustration, hitting, of course. If he is mad at Kylynn or me he will run towards us spitting bubbles and hit us. This is of course not acceptable and he is always disciplined, but the look of frustration on his little face followed by a swat I can barely feel is enough to make me laugh if I'm not careful. He has also discovered a way to get back at Kylynn for all the physical assaults he has endured, hair pulling, although he is not a good hitter, he is a great hair puller, don't worry he gets disciplined for this too (but I secretly think in my head, she had it coming!)

Best and worst of all, Jack has learned how to kiss. Whereas previously if you asked for a kiss he would lean towards you and offer you his forehead, he now puckers up and gives you a real kiss. Now when I say "you" don't think I mean "me", no in the two plus months he has been offering these precious kisses I am yet to receive one. His monkey, blanket, grandparents, Kylynn, Daddy, the concrete turtle outside, and frequently the toilet (don't ask) have all received kisses but not me. The first time he kissed the toilet I laughed out loud, I rank below the toilet! But really I think he knows how much I want him to give me a kiss and he also knows that he doesn't have to, so it's a fun little game and a small power trip for him, so for now I'm resigned to stealing kisses from him.

Baby, it's cold outside

I cannot begin to tell you how much I've enjoyed our fall and the beginning of winter here in Texas. In the 13 years I've lived here, I cannot remember a colder fall or winter. It has been..well normal, as in the normal I grew up with, like we have seasons! I certainly have fully adapted to Texas weather by now and so I find it very cold out there, but I love it. There is something about walking out into the cold, it jolts you awake, it reminds you that you're alive. Here are some things we've been doing for fun during this cold snap.We made peanut butter playdough and really enjoyed shapping it with cookie cutters and plastic knifes. Of course the best part is eating it.Kyle and I have started reading a book out loud together, one of our favorite things to do that had gotten pushed to the back burner. We're reading The Lost Continent : Travels in Small-Town America by Bill Bryson, it is a wonderful book and several times a night we have to stop reading because we're laughing so hard, it's not often that a book makes you laugh out loud.


Kylynn has decided that she is now an artist after receiving a marker set with about 100 markers in it. She daily sits down to color, draw, and "write" things down. It's amazing to see that she can actually draw things that I am able to tell what they are now and write letters that are correct. Jack, who wants to be Kylynn when he grows up, has too decided that he is an artist, however he prefers other surfaces (it's more modern that way you know), so he finds stray markers and draws on floors, doors, toys, rugs, people, dogs...you get the picture. Thank you mom, for buying washable markers!

I have fallen back in love with cooking (at least temporarily). My sister gave me a subscription to Food Network magazine and I'm loving it. Most of the receipes in the magazine are not something that a stay at home mom has time to cook (although some are) but just reading the articles and recipes and seeing the pictures gets me excited about cooking, it gives me an idea for an easier receipe I could make or an ingredient I want to find a way to use. This week I actual planned out a full two weeks of recipes and did all my grocery shopping to last me that long, the way I used to before Jack came along, you should see my fridge! :)

Best of all we've been getting outside, yes it's cold, but really it's better than hot, and if this weather is an excuse to keep me indoors, then I'll never find a good time to go outside. So we've been going on walks, bike rides, and trips to the park. I've got to find some way to lose this holiday weight!

Lucky

I haven't shared one of my encounters with an overly curious person upon seeing me and Jack at the store in a while, so I thought I'd share my latest one with you.

I was at the grocery store and needed some meat from the meat counter, immediately the lady taking my order (who herself was Asian, although not Korean) noticed Jack, here's the conversation that followed.

Meat Counter Lady: Is that a boy or girl?
Me: a boy
MCL: He looks like Chinese or something.
Me: He's Korean.
MCL: Oh, are you Korean or something?
Me: No, we adopted him from Korea (of course this sentence was my mistake, I should have just said no and then the conversation would have probably ended, with a weird look.)
MCL: Wow! He's very lucky, very lucky.
Me: Well, really we feel like the lucky ones.
MCL: Was it hard to adopt.
Me: Not for us, I know it sometimes can be, but it was really quite simple for us.
MCL: But you spent a lot of money though, right?
Me: (cringe)...well it does cost money but you get a tax credit...(that sounded dumb)
MCL: (As a another meat counter lady approaches and she continues to hold my meat hostage) Hey look at that little boy, they adopted him from Korea, (to me) North or South Korea?
Me: South Korea (please give me my meat so my son doesn't have to be your side show any longer)
MCL: Well he's very very lucky, it's very bad there, very bad.
Me: (Ignore previous sentence, no point in letting her know she has confused North and South, and South Korea is actually a wonderful country that I wouldn't mind living in or raising children in). Well really we're the lucky ones.
MCL: (Ignoring me, walks up to Jack) Listen to me you are very lucky, very lucky.

Really the lady was not trying to be mean or rude, she just was a little rude. That's the problem, as someone who loves the Lord I find it very hard to be rude to people in order to get them to shut up, but I have to figure something out. Imagine the scene above if Jack was 12 or 13. In the middle of it all I actually thanked God that Jack was young enough to not entirely understand and completely not care about our conversation. Unfortunately the only way to shut, overly curious and sometimes rude, people down is to give a short, curt answer to their first questions. I need a go to quote, our training recommended that, and I've yet to come up with one that feels God honoring and protecting of Jack at the same time. You can pray that God will give me one.

But really I wish I could have got the meat counter lady to hear what I was saying because I truly mean it, really, we are the lucky ones. And maybe that's why no matter how much I doubt that what I say will make a difference or the chances that they'll ever consider adoption, part of me is always willing to talk about our adoptioin. To tell people what an amazing ride it was, to tell people that I would do it again in a heart beat, and again, and again.

Coats and blankets

Here in Bryan/College Station, Twin City Mission is collecting coats and blankets, and I imagine anything good for facing cold weather, for the many people in our area who need them.

I'm sure you've all heard that beginning Thursday we're going to have lows in the teens and that will continue through the weekend. If you can find anything in your house that you don't need please take it down to Twin City Mission so they can pass it on to those in need in our community.

You can drop off your items at any of Twin City's three locations, 803 Wellborn Road, 3808 Old College Road, or 424 Main Street (in downtown Bryan), today through Saturday 9am to 6pm.

Please pray for the homeless people in our area that will have to spend at least some of their time in this very cold weather we've been having.

Time

I've decided that taking down Christmas decorations is by far the most depressing task I do repeatedly year after year. I mean think about it, you spend hours and hours undoing all the decorating that you spent hours and hours putting out just one short month ago. I imagine that people from other cultures would look at this practice and add it to the long list of why Americans are so very strange.

By the time your done, you've filled up so many boxes with stuff that, had you still lived in that apartment you lived in in college, people would think that you were about to move. But you don't move, you just put them up in the attic and look around at your suddenly bland, slightly empty, and very dusty house and realize that it is now time to return to normal life.

This depresses you at first, especially when you realize that normal life includes dusting all the surfaces that had been for the past month covered in garland and nativity sets. But then you see the new book you got for Christmas, sit down on the couch and begin to read and you realize, you now have time. With the holidays behind you, the sparkle may be gone, but so is the busyness and stress. Your mood suddenly lifts, what a precious gift you've just found.

Here's wishing you a restful and peaceful New Year, one filled with lots of what we all want this year...time.