Just to let everyone know

I wanted to let everyone know.  Because of security reasons, I have temporally disabled our Facebook page. I do not have the ability to monitor traffic.  I am still receiving troll mail/comments and have chosen to close it.  I wish I had the ability to make it so in order to see what I posted you had to like the page, but this is not an option and because of that I feel I need to close it for now.  No worries, I am still going to post here on the blog. Thank you for continuing to read this blog.

Happy 4th of July

We dont always celebrate holidays, just not a big deal in our family (we usually only do something for Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas).  But this year, the 4th meant a little more.  We are not usually all together with deployments and all, so just being together was a new thing.  It also was the first 4th of July for our new US citizen and it made it worth celebrating.

We had bacon wrapped hot dogs...yes, you read that correctly...bacon wrapped.

Cooked on our new fire pit that the hubby put together (we had to make changes at the end but it still worked).

She got to enjoy her first smore...and let me just tell you...she really enjoyed it.

She enjoyed it so much..and it showed from ear to ear (and maybe in some hair)

So, from our family to your...may you have a wonderful 4th of July.

Always remember....

Freedom is not Free

Summer fun

June for our family is usually filled with travel and fun.  We had had an opportunity to do things we dont usually do.  We started the month out by traveling to North Carolina for a feis, which was interesting to say the least.  We had never traveled this way to so it was new for all of us. The worry for us was the only way to get there from where we live was to travel through the mountains.  Now normally, this is not an issue but in a recent short trip we found out that our daughter did not do so well on crazy roads.  So we prepared, we had ginger chews and wrist bands ready to go. We stopped at McD and got a large bag that seem to fit the small trash bags I had.  And I am glad we did.  The moment we got out of the mountains, and I thought we were in the clear...was the moment my oldest daughter screamed "MOM STOP SHE IS PUKING!!"  There was no place to pull over for a quarter of a mile...my daughter is telling me to pull over and the only thing I can say is....."just make sure it goes in the bag and I will get to a pull off".  Well, we lucked out...most of it ended up in the bag.  So, we took a small detour, cleaned up, got a new bag...and went on.

This was the start of a crazy month.  We finally arrived at the hotel, thankfully with no more incidence.  We got dinner went back to the hotel and all was well.  We got up early for the feis and our oldest did well.  That was interesting also.  Apparently in the "south", feis are different.  They tend to pack you into a hotel like sardines, which I do not do well with.  I am not a claustrophobic kinda person, I dont mind small spaces....as long as human bodies are not involved.  For example, put me in a small elevator, not a big deal....but add 5 total stranger to that space and my anxiety goes up. Which is why I dont mind being in the cockpit of a plane...but do mind being in the middle seat in the middle of a plane.

After that we headed down to Florida with a stop in Savannah. We had no problems and I was thankful for that.  I had contact my grandparent to set up a time to meet up with them on our way to my parents house so they could meet our newest member of our family.  I was nervous on how she would react to them.  She seem to do well and we had a lovely visit for a few hours at the local Stake n Shake.

We then made the final destination, my parents house.  This was something I really hoped went well but expected the worst. It was not easy on our daughter, she was not used to traveling and being away from home for so long.  She kept asking "home" and pointing in the air...and I had to keep saying, no not yet.  She did well with my family.  While she rejected any kiss (even up until the last day), she was open to a hug by the end of the three weeks.  She would not give my sister a hug and I expected that since she was a stranger.  I am thankful that my extended family was respectful and understanding of the boundaries she had and they know it is not permanent.

Our oldest had fun at Teen Missions working on the trusses and our middle daughter had a great time at Zoo day camp.  Next year we will add lego camp for our youngest since she seems to LOVE legos...and when I say love, I means LOVE.

Daddy had the opportunity to come in for the final week and we made a trip to the beach.  And this was not my highlight of the trip.  I am not a fan of the beaches, they include....sand, salt water, and lots of people.  Now, if there was no sand or salt water, I would do much better. The girls had a ton of fun since this was the first time for ALL of them to go.  We even had an opportunity to see my sister and her kids. Out youngest seem to get along much better with the younger parts of my extended family then the older ones.

Loved what she said as we come over the dun.... "wow" in a tiny whisper.

They seem to be always looking for little crabs.

Still looking.

Had to play a little.

Everyone say cheese.

All in all, we had a ton of fun.  I had not seen my extended family in a year so it was long over due of seeing everyone and had a good visit.

Getting healthy update

Things are going well in the getting healthy area of my life.  While I am not seeing drastic changes, I am seeing them.  I have more energy and I have lost some weight.  My biggest thing is..I am no longer gaining.  It is not so easy trying to stick to eating healthy when you are not home, but this system does make it a little easier.  I am happy to have found this product and I am glad to know it is making my life better in so many ways.

http://mypurium.com/bugaboo

Getting healthy

I am taking on the challenge of getting healthy.  I spent the last year focusing on the adoption.  Not really caring about anything else...other then being a mom.  I choose not to do anything because it was work...and anything outside of what I had to do was just not worth the energy...an adoption is hard work.

So, here I am ready to start my journey.  I know it will not be easy but my hope is that is will get me to where I need to be.  If you are interested in how I am going to do this, please check this out.

In the eyes of an Irish Dancer's mom

We are a class all of our own.  We don’t scream at our kids like some ‘dance moms’ and we don’t say not so nice things to the other competitor like some soccer dads (maybe moms).  We get up early…and I mean O’dark early…to help our daughters get their hair ready.  We make sure our son’s ties look just right.  We are always on the sidelines silently waiting to clap for all the competitor but secretly we are clapping just for our child.  We don’t always get a thank you, and usually have to deal with tears.  We do it not for our enjoyment but for our children. We have been known to help out in other ways, even after are children are long gone from the sport.  We are a community of friends who even when we don’t get first, we congratulate those who do.  We are proud of our children, just for getting on stage and dancing.  It is not about the win but about the confidence it gives our children.

 

I have seen older dancers mentor the younger dancers, they must have rocking moms because they are raising their children to be there for other, even when it is not going so well for them. I love this about the Irish dance community.

 

We, moms, don’t ask for much…we just want our children to have fun and fully enjoy the entire experience.  I know some kids are super competitive, I have one of those kids, but being competitive and still caring about the other competitors is an amazing quality and lessons my dancer will take with her forever.

 

From the outside, is looks scary and somewhat intimidating, but once you come into the community we are there to support each other.  If you are new, there is always a mom that could help answer the questions. 

Why not

I have written this blog post a multiple of times..changing things...added things...not sure on what to say...if I was saying it correctly.

It just pains me that I even have to write this.  Why are older children looked at in a different way?  Why are children with dwarfism in other countries looked at as unadoptable, or uneducatable? Why do they see these children as delayed or dont send them to school while they are in the orphange?  It truely breaks my heart.  Our daughter sat on a list for 8 months before we saw her picture.  I am still amazed that she was not snatched up as soon as she was put on it.  She is a healthy child, she is super smart and sharp as a tac.  She is equal to her sister who is only a few months older then her.  

Did you know that child, when they turn 14, are no longer able to be adopted from China?  Wow...to know that on your 14th birthday..if you do not have a forever family, you will not never get one.  That just breaks my heart to know that so many children, every day are passed by just because they are older then 5.  Had we focused on what we wanted, we would not have our third daughter today.  I am so glad that we folled what God wanted.

There is a young man who waits on the other side of the world.  He will age out very soon and needs a family.  The only things is, he has dwarfism...to me, a totally easy need when it comes to all those special needs.  Maybe he needs a step to brush his teeth, but really...it that a reason not to concerder him?  Please consider an older child.