Rigo had a banner day on Sunday! He is such a lovable little darling, but also seems to be an "accident waiting to happen"!
Yesterday, Allen called a practice for his U8 baseball team - the Angels! We had a meeting after church so we didn't get home until 1:15 or so. Rigo ran into the house, changed his clothes and ran outside again. Allen and I were on our way out of the house when he asked, "Dad, is it time to go to my practice?" "No, Rigo...it's not until 6 o'clock. That is about 4 hours from now. I'll tell you when it's time to go, OK?" "OK, Dad." Poor fella! Baseball is his game and boy, does he LOVE IT!!
Later that evening, I stopped by the practice to see how Coach Mork and Rodrigo were doing. Everything seemed fine until one of the other baseball moms asked if I had noticed the broken car window. I had a bad feeling about this and said..."Please, please don't tell me that it was MY son!" Well...yep...sure enough, Rigo had hit a foul ball and it hit the only BMW that was sitting in the parking lot! Of course, it was an accident, but everyone felt badly (especially Allen and me!) The back window was shattered. Oops.
Allen had promised Rigo a Frappe at McDonalds earlier in the week for some sort of reward. He was SO excited about this little treat. He sat and sipped his "Praffe" (he can't seem to get the right pronunciation!) while we sat together for our nighttime reading. Rigo went to bed. I went to bed and all was well.
This morning, Allen stumbled out of bed only to inform me that Rigo had been up until 4 a.m. the night before. He came upstairs around midnight and couldn't seem to settle back into sleep until several hours had gone by. Allen tried putting him into bed with us, but he kept tossing and turning. No chance for sleep. It is a wonder that I didn't wake up! He finally took Rigo down to his own bed and tried to coax him into sleep. That went on for a couple of hours and finally...the little tot finally did fall back asleep. You are wondering why my dear husband didn't wake me?? Well, first of all, he felt responsible for pumping Rigo with caffeine right before bedtime. Secondly, he is just a super-nice guy. Either way, it won't happen again and I had a great night of sleep.
Tonight when I put Rigo to bed, he said, "Mom, I can't have "Praffes" anymore, can I? Maybe when I am older?" I just smiled and said, "We'll see."
Monday, May 17, 2010
HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO ME!
Here are the pictures from last weekend. Saturday night was a celebration with the other mothers in my life. On Sunday, Allen, Romeo, Rigo and I went to the Twins Game. It was my first time at Target Field. Very cool! After the game we met the girls at Como Park for a little picnic. A beautiful day with my beautiful children!! :)
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
MOTHER'S DAY
Last weekend was great. I had the opportunity to be with my mother, my mother-in-law AND all of my children. I am a very blessed person to have all of these people in my life, but I guess I sometime take it for granted. I have had my own mother for almost 50 years and have been Rodrigo's mom for less than two! In spite of all my quirks, each of these special people manage to love me anyway. I can't imagine what life would be without any one of them. The older I get, the more I cherish these special times together. Sometimes it is hard to enjoy the moment when I'm running around doing this and that...but at the end of the day, I stop and think of how wonderful it is to have a mom and to be a mom. It is a gift. (My camera is broken, but when it is fixed, I'll post a few pics from the weekend.)
GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS!
This week was a week of appointments for me. I saw a physical therapist, eye doctor and audiologist. Of the three, my eyes and ears were of greatest concern. My children have gently (or not so gently) suggested that I am losing my hearing. I guess that is better than losing my mind! I was however beginning to wonder myself. In my own defense, I have noticed that this seems to happen primarily in my own home. If you know my family at all, you know that most of us are quite soft-spoken. That DOES NOT include Romeo and Rodrigo! I also sometimes miss things because I am so distracted or not really listening. My thing is that they (my husband and daughters) all just need to SPEAK UP a bit!! Well, I finally made the appointment because I wanted to know the truth. After all the testing, the audiologist said the my hearing is perfectly normal and I have NO hearing loss!! The words were like music to my ears! (No pun intended!) Yeah!!! That is the good news!
The bad news is that I ordered my first pair of bifocals today. Ughh! No. Wait. They are called "progressive" lenses. You know, so you can't see the line between the reading lens and the regular lens. Mostly, I am just a very vain person who doesn't want to look old. One more thing - Romeo is also getting glasses. My glasses cost twice as much as his. That is the double bad news! I really want to grow old gracefully, but I am kicking and screaming all the way. Not sure if that is good or bad!?
The bad news is that I ordered my first pair of bifocals today. Ughh! No. Wait. They are called "progressive" lenses. You know, so you can't see the line between the reading lens and the regular lens. Mostly, I am just a very vain person who doesn't want to look old. One more thing - Romeo is also getting glasses. My glasses cost twice as much as his. That is the double bad news! I really want to grow old gracefully, but I am kicking and screaming all the way. Not sure if that is good or bad!?
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
SUMMIT VI
Last week, I attended a conference in Eden Prairie called SUMMIT VI. It was put on by an organization called the Christian Alliance for Orphans. It takes place once a year in different parts of the country and I thought I should check it out while it was in the Twin Cities. Who knows where it will be next year? I might not have another chance. It was such a good decision to go. This year was the 6th consecutive year of the conference. There were 38 registrations at their first conference while this year, the number was well over 1000. (I thought I heard 1300)! It was exciting to hear that so many people are passionate and/or at least interested in the plight of the millions of orphans around the world. It is a HUGE, HUGE problem in our world and many people are making an effort to do something about it. The church should be at the forefront of this crisis and more and more, I believe that Christians are waking up to the fact that we need to do something about it. The focus of this particular conference was to ignite and equip Christians for adoption, foster care and global orphan ministry. There were many workshops of interest ranging from how kids and businesses can help the orphan, to adoption and foster care issues, to current legislation issues, etc...) I do not believe that everyone is called to adopt or take in orphaned children. But I do believe that EVERYONE should be doing something to help the 143,000,000 children who do not have a family. I believe that everything about God's love is grounded in the idea of adoption. It seems pretty clear to me that God wants us to take care of widows and orphans of the world. I simply believe the God commands us to do it.
On Thursday night, Mary Beth Chapman and Steven Curtis Chapman were the guest presenters. Steven Curtis sang and Mary Beth talked about their journey of adopting three Chinese girls and the devastation resulting from the accident that killed their youngest daughter. I was very proud of Mary Beth. She has obviously been through the fire and would no doubt rather be sitting at home away from all the attention. She is not a polished speaker by any means, but she spoke from her heart. She understands that her voice and honesty can help the cause of many, many orphans and orphan care-givers. She is a very courageous woman. It was sweet to see how supportive her husband was.
Some things that I learned...
The number of children in the world that have lost their mother or father, are parentless, or have been abandoned...now exceeds 143 million. This staggering number is almost equivalent to one-half of the total population of the United States.
Out of the 143 million orphaned children, only 1% will ever have a family.
Only 5% of children who go into foster care graduate from college. Wow!
I was introduced to Karyn B. Purvis Ph.D. an expert in the area of orphaned and wounded children. Look her up. She is excellent.
I have access to a number of great resources that I wasn't aware of. One of my favorite workshop sessions was on Supporting Families in the Post-Placement Journey. Very interesting and very helpful. These websites looked most promising to me. I plan on taking some time to look more into them...
*www.empoweredtoconnect.org
*www.tapestryministry.org
*www.kidscaring4kids.org
*www.adoptivedads.org (this one is for Allen!)
Another thing worth mentioning about this conference was the chance to connect with other adoptive parents. We are a bit of a rare breed and it was fun to have so many like-minded people together. Lots to talk about!
Lastly, the MOST EXCITING THING happened at one of my workshop sessions. As I was getting ready to leave for the next breakout session, I heard (right behind me) "Hi, I'm Mary Beth Chapman."...followed by "Hi, I'm Steven Curtis Chapman." They weren't talking to me, but they were in the row right behind me!!! I am embarrassed to say that my heart started to pound and I was paralyzed. Should I turn around and introduce myself??? or just leave them alone??? Should I even look??? Because if I look, they will know that I am gawking!!! Meanwhile, they were making small talk with the people in their row. I knew that I needed to make a move because my chance was going to be gone very soon. So...I (very naturally) picked up my stuff, put on my jacket (I don't know why, because I wasn't going outside!!) and ever so SMOOTHLY, turned around to take a little look-see. There they were! There was NO way I could say anything. I smiled and turned toward the door. My heart was still pounding! Pathetic. Without being too obvious, I must admit that I glanced their way a few times as I SLOWLY left the room. Subtle stalking at it's best. I have always wanted to meet this couple. I know that they are just regular people like Allen and me... but somehow, their fame makes them unreachable. Well, that was my moment. My most exciting moment for the week.
I will consider going to this conference next year. If you are interested at all in this ministry, or the conference, google Christian Alliance for Orphans. You'll probably find some interesting things...
On Thursday night, Mary Beth Chapman and Steven Curtis Chapman were the guest presenters. Steven Curtis sang and Mary Beth talked about their journey of adopting three Chinese girls and the devastation resulting from the accident that killed their youngest daughter. I was very proud of Mary Beth. She has obviously been through the fire and would no doubt rather be sitting at home away from all the attention. She is not a polished speaker by any means, but she spoke from her heart. She understands that her voice and honesty can help the cause of many, many orphans and orphan care-givers. She is a very courageous woman. It was sweet to see how supportive her husband was.
Some things that I learned...
The number of children in the world that have lost their mother or father, are parentless, or have been abandoned...now exceeds 143 million. This staggering number is almost equivalent to one-half of the total population of the United States.
Out of the 143 million orphaned children, only 1% will ever have a family.
Only 5% of children who go into foster care graduate from college. Wow!
I was introduced to Karyn B. Purvis Ph.D. an expert in the area of orphaned and wounded children. Look her up. She is excellent.
I have access to a number of great resources that I wasn't aware of. One of my favorite workshop sessions was on Supporting Families in the Post-Placement Journey. Very interesting and very helpful. These websites looked most promising to me. I plan on taking some time to look more into them...
*www.empoweredtoconnect.org
*www.tapestryministry.org
*www.kidscaring4kids.org
*www.adoptivedads.org (this one is for Allen!)
Another thing worth mentioning about this conference was the chance to connect with other adoptive parents. We are a bit of a rare breed and it was fun to have so many like-minded people together. Lots to talk about!
Lastly, the MOST EXCITING THING happened at one of my workshop sessions. As I was getting ready to leave for the next breakout session, I heard (right behind me) "Hi, I'm Mary Beth Chapman."...followed by "Hi, I'm Steven Curtis Chapman." They weren't talking to me, but they were in the row right behind me!!! I am embarrassed to say that my heart started to pound and I was paralyzed. Should I turn around and introduce myself??? or just leave them alone??? Should I even look??? Because if I look, they will know that I am gawking!!! Meanwhile, they were making small talk with the people in their row. I knew that I needed to make a move because my chance was going to be gone very soon. So...I (very naturally) picked up my stuff, put on my jacket (I don't know why, because I wasn't going outside!!) and ever so SMOOTHLY, turned around to take a little look-see. There they were! There was NO way I could say anything. I smiled and turned toward the door. My heart was still pounding! Pathetic. Without being too obvious, I must admit that I glanced their way a few times as I SLOWLY left the room. Subtle stalking at it's best. I have always wanted to meet this couple. I know that they are just regular people like Allen and me... but somehow, their fame makes them unreachable. Well, that was my moment. My most exciting moment for the week.
I will consider going to this conference next year. If you are interested at all in this ministry, or the conference, google Christian Alliance for Orphans. You'll probably find some interesting things...
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
RETREAT
Here I am in Rochester, MN with a day all to myself. Allen and I are on a 2-day getaway where he gets to attend some medical meetings and I get to...do whatever I want! I am sitting in a hotel room with at least 10 books, unopened mail, a small scrapbooking project, the laptop (which can eat up several hours!), several journals that I have been meaning to write in, and a list of things I want to accomplish while I am here. Oh! This hotel also has a ton of movie choices and I have hopes of getting to the mall at least once while I am here. Sounds relaxing, huh? I am grateful for some time alone...away, but I have a tendency to be overzealous in my to-do list. Not so relaxing. I have already accomplished quite a bit today...a long walk by the river, a great time of just talking with God and being still, reading (I finished a very short book!), and wasting time on Facebook.
Blogging has been on my list of things to do for quite some time. I have had a lot to say in the last few weeks, but I can't seem to find the time or the energy to sit down and write about it. I really do love writing, but I am not very good about just sitting down and...writing. I keep thinking that I will do it later - when I have more time or when it is quiet. I like to organize my thoughts, but that takes a bit more time. In the end, it does my spirit good to share my story. The longer I wait, the list of things I want to blog about gets longer and longer and finally, I am so overwhelmed with stuff I want to say that...I just don't say anything at all! Well, here is my chance to get back on track.
Last night, Allen and I went on a long walk. We talked and talked. To be more accurate, I talked and talked. He is a good listener and always has good insight on what we are discussing at that moment. We talk ALOT during the course of the day (trouble shooting, schedule planning, and trying to keep up to speed on daily happenings of our children). But this kind of talk is different. I call it TALK THERAPY. It is a time where we can evaluate our current path in life and where we might be headed. It is a time when we talk about our faith walk. As mentioned, I tend to do most of the talking. I asked Allen about something I was thinking of doing. I thought it was maybe a good idea, but I hadn't really thought of the implications. He quietly listened, and then told me that he thought it was a bad idea. Just like that. The thing is...I trust his judgement and will put it to rest. The other thing I asked him about was my blog. He encouraged me to keep blogging...and so I will. No guarantees as to how often or how good my occasional posts will be, but I have decided to continue blogging about my family, my faith and the ups and downs of adoption. The challenge is to be as honest as I can, but protect the privacy of my family. It is a fine line. It is no doubt therapeutic (and a bit self-centered!) for ME to write my thoughts down, but I truly hope that it is somehow helpful to other people in some way.
Now, back to the original focus of this post - retreat. Having a large family has had many new and different challenges. I was busy before the addition of our three children, but now (for me) it often becomes an out-of-control busy! I do pretty well most of the time, but sometimes, I am just so overwhelmed with all that has to get done. Being a person with high expectations and someone who is very relational only complicates matters for me. If things go awry in any given relationship, it sucks the life out of me. If several relationship are strained (especially within my family)....well, it just about puts me over the top! I am however working on that and am making good progress! At any rate, I have needed a personal retreat for quite some time and now that I am away, I feel my tank starting to fill up again. My goal for today and tomorrow is to regroup, look at my priorities for this season and set some goals.
Lower my expectations and walk in faith knowing that God will be there to help me do the things I need to do. THAT'S what I need to do. Be more efficient with my time and enjoy the special moments of each new day. THATS also what I need to do. Cut myself some slack and simply enjoy the journey. YEP, THAT too! I don't know if all of this is even possible, but I am going to keep working on being the best that I can be!
Whew! Writing this was exhausting! I think I am going to watch a movie now!! Thanks for reading!!
Blogging has been on my list of things to do for quite some time. I have had a lot to say in the last few weeks, but I can't seem to find the time or the energy to sit down and write about it. I really do love writing, but I am not very good about just sitting down and...writing. I keep thinking that I will do it later - when I have more time or when it is quiet. I like to organize my thoughts, but that takes a bit more time. In the end, it does my spirit good to share my story. The longer I wait, the list of things I want to blog about gets longer and longer and finally, I am so overwhelmed with stuff I want to say that...I just don't say anything at all! Well, here is my chance to get back on track.
Last night, Allen and I went on a long walk. We talked and talked. To be more accurate, I talked and talked. He is a good listener and always has good insight on what we are discussing at that moment. We talk ALOT during the course of the day (trouble shooting, schedule planning, and trying to keep up to speed on daily happenings of our children). But this kind of talk is different. I call it TALK THERAPY. It is a time where we can evaluate our current path in life and where we might be headed. It is a time when we talk about our faith walk. As mentioned, I tend to do most of the talking. I asked Allen about something I was thinking of doing. I thought it was maybe a good idea, but I hadn't really thought of the implications. He quietly listened, and then told me that he thought it was a bad idea. Just like that. The thing is...I trust his judgement and will put it to rest. The other thing I asked him about was my blog. He encouraged me to keep blogging...and so I will. No guarantees as to how often or how good my occasional posts will be, but I have decided to continue blogging about my family, my faith and the ups and downs of adoption. The challenge is to be as honest as I can, but protect the privacy of my family. It is a fine line. It is no doubt therapeutic (and a bit self-centered!) for ME to write my thoughts down, but I truly hope that it is somehow helpful to other people in some way.
Now, back to the original focus of this post - retreat. Having a large family has had many new and different challenges. I was busy before the addition of our three children, but now (for me) it often becomes an out-of-control busy! I do pretty well most of the time, but sometimes, I am just so overwhelmed with all that has to get done. Being a person with high expectations and someone who is very relational only complicates matters for me. If things go awry in any given relationship, it sucks the life out of me. If several relationship are strained (especially within my family)....well, it just about puts me over the top! I am however working on that and am making good progress! At any rate, I have needed a personal retreat for quite some time and now that I am away, I feel my tank starting to fill up again. My goal for today and tomorrow is to regroup, look at my priorities for this season and set some goals.
Lower my expectations and walk in faith knowing that God will be there to help me do the things I need to do. THAT'S what I need to do. Be more efficient with my time and enjoy the special moments of each new day. THATS also what I need to do. Cut myself some slack and simply enjoy the journey. YEP, THAT too! I don't know if all of this is even possible, but I am going to keep working on being the best that I can be!
Whew! Writing this was exhausting! I think I am going to watch a movie now!! Thanks for reading!!
Saturday, May 1, 2010
PROM
Well, it is that time again with Mork Girl #3 joining the ranks of prom-goers. I was a bit concerned that it would be raining, but we managed to avoid that. Unfortunately, the wind was pretty bad and it was rather chilly. No matter, the process started this morning at 8 o'clock with all the beautifying that happens with such a big night. Anyway, Steph looked great and it was easy to see that she and her friends were ready for a fun night together. I think that we may be in for a few more years of prom festivities. At one moment, I thought of the day when Rigo goes to the Grand March. Hard to imagine...
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