It's been 18 months since we've been a family of four.

Sometimes, the days go by so fast, it's only when I look back at pictures

that I am reminded of how much the kids have changed,

and how far we've come as a family.

I had a friend post this video a few days ago.

I remembered this song from when we were in the waiting process

for The Princess and The Dinosaur.

I had it up and playing on my computer today at work

when The Dinosaur bounded into my lap.

I hadn't been fully paying attention to the video while I was working,

but as The Dinosaur asked me questions about the video and the song,

remembrance of longing for my children two years ago flooded back.

As The Dinosaur sat in my arms and I sang along,

I let the tears stream down my face

and onto to one of the precious heads I waited so long to meet.

Single Digits

We've entered into The Hero and I's single digit countdown to our

Ethiopia trip.

Only 9 more days.

I'm so excited I can hardly breathe.

9 more days.

And It's Only Saturday

The last few days have been crazy.

We sold our house.

The sellers accepted our offer on another one.

We threw our first LoPa Art event in OKC Thursday night.

Friends came in from out of town to help and hang out.

Ethiopia for The Hero and I is in 10 days.

Between packing for the trip,

spending time with friends,

the art event,

packing up our house,

I was looking forward to quiet afternoon at home today.

The Angel and I were almost asleep on the couch for a nap

when The Dinosaur swallowed a penny.

So this afternoon was spent at the Emergency Room,

having X-Rays done and thanking Jesus that the penny

had successfully passed through his airway.

While I am hopeful that tomorrow will be a little more relaxed,

it is only Saturday.

And life around here is nothing if not lively.

Older Child Adoption: For Me

The Hero and I were kidless when we brought home The Angel and The Dinosaur.

Our agency made us watch a lot of videos about parenting.

We had a lot of conversations with experts, adoptive parents and our family about "older" kids.

In the adoption community, "older" is defined as older than three years.

We had even more discussions about adopting two kids at a time.

The literature says that adopting a sibling set is extremely challenging.

They were right.

Many people tried to deter us from the boxes marked "older" and "sibling".

The adoption community has had some terrible stories.

And I felt at times we only heard the terrible.

We were told that our children would have to be with us as much time as we were apart to

properly attach to us.

While this is a great guidepost to follow,

it was not our story.

I believed that from the beginning of time God hand picked me to mother

The Angel and The Dinosaur.

There are days, I question His sanity.

I don't feel worthy to parent them at all.

I can truly tell you that The Angel is number 1 in the biggest heroes in my life.

Her story is tragic.

But she'll never tell you.

She's too busy smiling and breathing in life one inhale and exhale at a time.

It's why I think she's beautiful.

Not just her bouncy curls,

killer smile or curvy frame.

It's the way her driving spirit wakes her up every day.

Praying for a bigger house so that God will give us more kids.

Begging me to have a garage sale so the $ from her lemonade stand can "feed some kids".

Telling me that I'm better than coffee. (it's own blog post.)

And making us all laugh hysterically.

She will take on anything and will be ready for whatever plunge our family makes.

As long as we make it together.

(that's really she and I, holding hands and laughing our heads off.)

While I never question any one's choice of age when they are adopting.
It truly is an issue of your family's directive and spending ample time in prayer.
But all I can tell you about my "older" child,
Is that she is for me.
And while there is so much of her life that I missed,
I know He is glorified in it all.

Angel, you have the spirit of an eagle and the fight of a tiger.
Watching over you on this earth is an honor and I do not take it lightly.
Thank you Jesus for her Daddy and I are grateful~we are just not deserving.
But I am so glad that she's for me.

Shoutout Saturday

It's back to school time.

Time for new pencils,

crisp new notebooks,

and the dreaded back to school clothes shopping.

So instead of busting it to the mall,

check out these tees for your crew and help bring a family together.

And then help me spread the word for ShoutOut Saturday.

Meet the Wayman Family.

They blog here.

And you can follow their journey to Ethiopia

to their son and see some of the adorable finds

that Jennifer posts about along their journey.

She had a GREAT jewelry find in yesterday's post.

And have their own etsy store here.

So you can go straight there and buy one of these:

Check out the Crockett family's tee:

I've been following their Ethiopian adoption journey for several months.

They blog here.

Lindsey is always posting product reviews,

adorable adventures of her little family and

why adoption is on her heart.

They have also been chosen for the month of August

as the Home for Hire family of the month.

This means to click the above link,

shop the Etsy shop,

buy until your fix is over

and 25% of your sale goes to the Crockett family!

I hope you all have an amazing Saturday.

1st Time A Coincidence

I'll be 32 in September.

Within that time frame, I can't tell you that I've ever wanted a tattoo.

It's not that I have a religious restriction.

Or a hesitation about "marking my body".

I don't.

I just never wanted to be in my 80s and look down and think

"What the hell was I thinking with that?"

"Tweety bird, really?"

"That's not spelled correctly."

Or,

"I'm not sure I can tell what that was supposed to be."

A group of friends and I were actually standing in a tattoo parlor

in OKC 2 years ago waiting to get variations of Africa.

The artist was ticked there were 10 of us.

And I don't think she gave a rip about Africa.

She was so rude, we all left.

Back around Christmas, a sponsorship letter arrived from K.

At the bottom of it, he had drawn an adorable flower.

I told The Hero I had found my tattoo.

He laughed it off.

"Baby, that's probably not just for you. It's probably just a coincidence.

He probably draws that all the time."

Maybe the first time.

But imagine my surprise when I opened up the mail yesterday.

Our first letter from K since Christmas.

And at the bottom:

So don't be surprised if some time soon,

The above image is inked on my body.

Happy 32nd to me.

Two years ago, if you had asked me or The Hero

where we would be vacationing on our first vaca away from the kids,

It would have probably sounded like

Mexico

The Caribbean

Or some other place with a beach and a glass of wine.

Well, in exactly one month,

The Hero and I will take our first vacation away from our kids.

The first time we've been away in 16 months.

Where are we jetting off to you ask?

Let's face it.
The Hero and I aren't the same people we were 2 years ago.
Ethiopia,
here we come.

Have I Told You Today

When I was a kid, my dad traveled all the time.

It was not uncommon for him to leave on Sunday night until Friday afternoon.

When he was with us,

he was always giving us a hard time.

His favorite thing to ask me was

"Have I told you today that I love you?"

I always got so sick of hearing that,

but like with most parental issues,

you always end up sounding like your parents,

so it was no surprise that a few months after The Angel and The Dinosaur were home,

I channeled Dad and started asking

"Have I told you today that I love you?

The Angel now makes it a game.

She is always asking me and

then bursting into laughter as she tells me

"well, I do; give me a kiss."

My baby sister came home this weekend and we had a great visit.

The Angel always takes Aunt LaLa leaving really hard,

so tonight she and I sat at the kitchen table and had a good cry.

The Dinosaur's world was completely displaced

with his two favorite women were crying.

He had no idea what to do with himself.

I had my head buried in my hands when his little fist was punching my arm.

"Hey Mommy?"

" Yeah buddy."

" Have I told you today that I luf you?"

While I really wanted to continue crying, I couldn't keep from laughing.

Booger Eater

I need The Hero's stability.

I also need him to move me off high center.

We've been debating moving for several years now.

I've been dragging my feet.

Part of my lethargy is laziness; I'd rather have a root canal than move.

The other reason is nostalgic.

The Hero and I fell in love here.

The Hero asked me to marry him in our kitchen.

This place has held 8 years of the highs and lows of us.

After weeks of house hunting, searching and crunching the numbers,

The Hero had fallen in love and ready to place an offer on a house.

He was pushing me for an answer.

Pushing.

Pushing.

Pushing.

At dinner a few nights ago, I lost my temper.

I told him in front of The Angel that he was the boss and I didn't care.

If he was ready to move our family, even if I didn't agree,

I'd go anywhere with him.

The Angel's nose recoiled into her face and she

shot me a look.

"Mommy, Daddy is the boss?"

"Yes baby. Daddy is the boss."

"But Mommy, why?"

"Baby, the Bible says that Daddy is the head of our family."

She paused and thought about it.

She raised her finger to shake it back and forth.

"Mommy, that may be true.

But Mommy, Daddy is still a booger eater."

The Hero and I both burst into laughter.

I laughed until tears streamed down my face.

"Baby, why do you say that Daddy is a booger eater?"

She huffed.

"Mommy, Daddy is a boy.

And all boys are booger eaters."

Women Wednesday: Makeup Removal

I am most upset with my kids when they lie to me. I don't think anything irks me like knowing that they have done something only to have them turn around and lie about it. Last night The Hero confronted me about an issue that I was not ready to address; so I did the thing I despise the most; I lied and told him I didn't know what he was talking about. Eight years together and The Hero knows me and he knows when to fight, but better than that, he knows how to win. I just had no desire to have my husband believe that I didn't have every area of my life together; even though he already knew better.

He let me go to bed feeling awful about lying to him. I was up at 6:30 this morning praying over my attitude and even The Hero was already at the station, I called and apologized.

Mommy: 0

The Hero: 2 (1 for avoiding the fight last night and 1 for out lasting me.)

I think we as women want every one around us to believe that we have it all together, that our families are a carbon copy of a Nordstrom catalog (we're more of the Old Navy variety, 'cause I can't keep The Dino without Cheeto stains) and we as women are all Maybelline models.

I wonder how much more fun The Hero and I would have had by lying in bed laughing, instead of ignoring the elephant in our bed and I wonder how much deeper my female relationships will be when we start discussing the hard stuff and removing the makeup.