Date night, PMS explained and Opera

Jeff and I had a date tonight... our first in about 4 months! We went to this wonderful Italian restaurant and actually had adult conversation that did not involve telling anyone "NO", threatening to take anyone to the "bathroom," (ie: threatening corporal punishment), breaking up any fights about who was going to sit by who, or running for my life to get away from the spilled drink (which inevitably happens every meal with our children.)
Unfortunately for Jeff, I took this opportunity to explain to him the ins and outs of PMS and how horrible it is to feel like Holly Hunter in the movie Raising Arizona crying, "I love them SO much," one minute and Linda Blair from the Exorcist spitting green vomit the next. I am Jekyll and Hyde. Forgive me for my very random, rambling thoughts...
So where was I going with this? Oh yeah. They were playing the most wonderful opera at the restaurant where my husband had to endure my company (I mean where we went on our wonderful date night.) Opera is so soothing to me. I love it so much. It doesn't even matter what they're saying; I just love it. Insert random thought here: Listening to the opera at the restaurant made me think of something I really love ... therefore I'm going to share it with you now. I think the lesson here is: when I feel like throwing things and spitting green vomit while my head spins around, I should listen to opera because it makes me happy and soothes the beast. Aren't you glad I finally got around to the point of this post?
**Pause the music player at the bottom of this page. You will want to hear this! It always takes my breath away and makes me cry every time I watch it. Get your tissue handy.

My surrogate sister

My surrogate sister, Susan, mother to Kalkidon and Michael, our kids' cousins, went to Ethiopia recently to secure a facility for her program - Project Glow. The first time I ever talked to Susan on the phone, I felt like I knew her. We have become internet friends and support for each other. You can read about the time we got to visit with her family here. She went to visit the grandmother of all of our kids. You can read about the time we spent with grandma here.

From her email:
"I also went to visit Grandma, Sazina, and Uncle Tomas. Overall though she was so happy to get photos of the kids...brought some of yours from our zoo visit. She was so funny and obviously LOVES you. In a sense she said, "your sister Gina stayed 2 days with me when she was here so can't you spend the night"....yeah right! She also said you had "meat" with her and insisted that I at least have some bread and tea. AND if that were not enough, the girl that was with me she thought looked like you and so she had to have her photo taken with her!!! You're obviously her favorite!

Two things she said about your kids...Joshua is an angel and always has been. I said, Merkeb is doing well...a little stubborn at times...and she quickly replied, "she is like her father" with a grin. SO cute!

My friend (the one that looks like you) just got home but she took some photos and will be sending them my way. She is a professional photographer and I can't wait to see the pics. I will be sure to send them on."

We were so excited to hear about her visit and her project. She is such a wonderful Godly woman; with a wonderful family. I love to lean on her in the rough times and support her in her rough times. As I have mentioned before, adoption has made me realize how important friendship, fellowship and truly loving your neighbor really is. Please pray for Grandma. She has not been in good health for quite some time, which is why the kids were all placed in the orphanage in the first place.

Brothers

This is a story about two brothers. Two brothers with similar aspirations. Two brothers who both wanted to achieve greatness. One brother had a natural God given gift. The other brother gave it his heart and soul and time. He practiced day in and day out. He was good. He just wan't as good as the other brother. There must have been some competition between brothers. There must have been hurt feelings along the way. How does a mother allow one brother to excel exponentially and explain to the other brother that they are just as special? How does a mother shine a light on the gifts and talents of all of her children and explain that they are all as wonderful and special as the one receiving all the accolades?

Nope, I'm not talking about Romulus and Remus... although I wonder if Mama Wolf ever felt bad that Romulus was the one to found what became the Roman empire... of course he killed his brother in order to do so... OK this was a bad example. Move on.

Nope, not these famous brothers either...

How did Babs make sure brother Jeb didn't feel like a loser? I'm sure this picture didn't help...

What about these brothers? One a gorgeous hunk of a movie star...err, I mean a talented actor making history with his philantrophy. The other brother living in the same boring city as me working on computers.... (snore)
What about David Cook; this year's American Idol? His brother tried out for AI and made him try out along with him... guess who won? The one who didn't really want to try out. Go figure.

Nope, I'm not talking about any of those brothers. I'm talking about these brothers.

Jack has played soccer since the year before Kindergarten. In comes Josh, a soccer superstar. A soccer superstar that people in this city are beginning to recognize and stop and say things like, "Everyone is talking about you. You're the man. There's no one in the State who we (SSC team) can't beat with you on the team..." And on and on.

Jack is a very good natured boy. He has so many wonderful and amazing talents. They just aren't advertised on a soccer field. I can see his little face looking somewhat forlorn when people begin bragging on Josh, and while I am SO happy for Josh, I can't help but feel a little bit bad for the boy who has been practicing and playing on a team for 5 years and is now in the shadow of his new brother. So how does a mother keep the playing field level? How do you make sure brothers learn to be happy and excited for each other, but also make sure they feel secure and happy with their own accomplishments? I don't know the answer to this, but here's what we're trying to do. We are trying to let Jack excel at the things he really is good at. We want him to be proud of his accomplishments in the many different areas that he is really, really great at.... school, music, reading and yes,

guitar hero champion of this house.

We will just continue to allow all of the kids to be individuals and to let them excel at what they do best, while embracing and feeling happy for their siblings.

Springfield Soccer Club

Josh attended two soccer tryouts last week for the Springfield Soccer Club. We found out on Friday that he made the team. We have decided to let him play with some school related stipulations. He is so excited! We are really happy for him and proud of him.

We'll let you know when practice and games start. It's going to be awesome!

Photo of the day...

Am I the only one in the history of blogging to blog about dog poop? This was just too funny. My dog ate red glitter and had an accident in the kitchen. Imagine my surprise when I saw my little transvestite dog's gift looking so spectacular! Sorry... I know it's disgusting, but I just couldn't help it.

Church Update

We visited a church on the north side of town today. This is a church that I have heard a lot of good things about, and I have wanted to visit for awhile. We were really in for a surprise. As soon as we got out of the car, we were pleasantly surprised to hear outdoor speakers in the parking lot playing Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Sammy Haggar songs. LOUD. We immediately saw the one African-American friend that we have - Jeff's friend Derek. With him was the mother of a young couple from our church who are in the process of adopting from Ethiopia. How bizarre is that? Not that it matters, but there were several biracial couples, and families. There were several dark skinned kids. There was a lot of diversity!

The service was awesome. We took the kids with us to service, but they do have a completely separate sanctuary for kids for their own church service, with music and puppets. We will try that next time. I realize it's not about the building, the donuts and coffee in the sanctuary, or even the music. It's not about any of that. It's not about what you wear. It's not about the guy wearing the Dos Equis shirt in front of us who was playing an air guitar during the service. It's not about the awesome music. It's not about the fact that they played my favorite U2 song, Beautiful Day, during the service. It's not about any of that. But in a way, it's about all of that. We felt really comfortable there, and we will definitely go back and try it again.

Here's a video the church made about their modern church. It stars our very own weather man, and father to some of Jack's best buddies. It's hysterical!
**Tip: Hit the pause button on my music player on the bottom of this page to be able to hear the clip.

Happy Summer Solstice

Well today is the official first day of summer. The longest day of the year. I feel like this has been the longest year of my life. We have accomplished so much! Several months ago, I kept thinking that if I could just hold on until summer, everything would be better. Well my friends, it's summer and everything is better. The kids are doing great. We are doing great. Things are starting to come together. We had a wonderful first day of summer, which I will post about with pictures tomorrow. HAPPY SUMMER SOLSTICE!

Photo of the day...

Some creature that just crawled out of our pool...