1. David's company is hosting employees and families at the tonight's Whitecaps game, including free food. I was looking over my tickets and thought to myself, "Hmmm, we have 5 tickets here. I wonder why they gave us an extra one." That's another concrete example of how, after 3 yrs 3 months and 10 days, I'm still not used to the idea that Payton is gone. My first thought was that we have a family of four, not five. Isn't that crazy? Our two youngest children came to us 7 months ago from a Haitian orphanage, and I'm still not used to us being a family of 5 aka " the new normal".
2. I am happy to report that things on the home front continue to improve. Maybe it's because it's summertime, with a more relaxed schedule, maybe I'm getting better at handling things, maybe the kids are getting better at handling things. I don't know, I'm just grateful.
3. Both of my little ones have had slight scares at the pool in the last few days. J fell in while not wearing any floaties or his swim ring and I had to jump in and scoop him up. He and I were both a bit freaked out. I'm embarrassed to admit that I was right there when he fell in and I didn't even notice because I was so engrossed in my conversation with Amanda. The same thing happened today on Little Miss Sunshine's last jump into the pool. She slid right out of that swim ring and was flailing around. Thankfully I watched it happen and jumped in right away. Please, Heavenly Father, don't take any more of my kids home. Not yet.
4. We're heading to IL this weekend. David scored us two free tickets to the Chicago Cubs. Yeah boyyyyy! Our niece is watching the kids for the day while we cheer on our favorite baseball team. Cotton candy, here I come!

All for now friends. Hope you're enjoying your summer as much as we are.

Today marks the 6 month anniversary of J and S's homecoming. Wow, I can hardly believe it. It feels as if I've been in some sort of time warp over here. How can it be possible that six months has passed??? I haven't updated this blog since FEBRUARY, L has finished 4th grade (with flying colors, I might add), the little ones have perfected their English, (well, J has, S is still a bit difficult to understand at times), another gymnastics meet season is done, David Cook won American Idol, the Dems finally figured out who they're pitting agains John McCain, we won a free summer membership to our community pool,  and summer is upon us. Seriously, how did that happen? In a strange way, my life is now made up of "sameness". Does that make sense? Is that even a word? I'm sure that you other stay at home moms can relate to what I'm saying here. Each day is basically the same, you're just wearing different clothes. Meal planning, errands, playing with the kids, paying bills, going to church, chauffering, etc, etc, etc.... Life is happening, oftentimes without me realizing it. Four months have passed since my last blog entry. Four. Months. Every once in a while I would stop and think to myself, "I have GOT to update my Xanga.", but that's as far as I got with it. So, here I am, taking a moment to tell you all how things are going over here.

I won't lie or sugarcoat things - we've had our challanges on the parenting front. After a pretty difficult spring, things are slowly improving. J has had a difficult time emotionally with crying jags that are set off by inconsequential things and seem to go on FOREVER. It seems to suck the life out of me and I realize just how much I need the Lord's strength to be there for J-boy. I am grateful beyond words that he is here with us and no longer at the orphanage. We can show him love and attention and encourage this precious boy in so many ways. He is truly a treasure. The crying jags seem to be happening less and less as we continue to encourage him to TALK instead of CRY.

Little Miss Sunshine is so energetic. It's quite something. Suzann was here for a visit in March and she described S to her mom as "lively".  Uh, yeah, times 100. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I've never known or observed a child with so much energy. The girl never stops moving. All day long. The chatter never stops either. Recently she discovered the joys of asking "why". I hear that question dozens of times every day. (Confession: sometimes I just ignore her. Is that wrong?) My ears are so tired by the end of day, not to mention my body! Miss Sunshine LOVES to play games and I just taught her how to play CandyLand. Her favorite is still Pretty Pretty Princess, just like her big sister.

We've signed Little Miss Sunshine up for free preschool in the fall and we're second on the waiting list. She qualifies for free preschool based on her language deficiency and previous institutionalization. We can't get a confirmed spot right now because of our income, but the lady said that they usually take 3 or 4 families from the waiting list so we're optimistic. This little ball of energy is such a blessing to us and she's just as sweet as sugar. She just eats up each ounce of attention we give her and gives us so much love right back.

Our little L is not so little anymore, she's officially a 5th grader! She had some academic challenges this spring, but with much support and encouragement from Mom and Dad she finished strong. Gymnastics is going well, but L got moved up to the highest practice group which means she'll be practicing 23 hours every week this summer and next school year too. I just don't know how she's going to handle that and David and I are praying for God's guidance regarding her future in the sport. L is still passionate about it, but when do you put the what's best for the family above your athlete? I don't know, so we're seeking God's face. She continues to be a great big sister, but does get frustrated with Little Miss Sunshine's incessant questions and chatter. Those two seem to swing from being best friends to bitter enemies and back again every hour.  We're very excited that L will be home for supper almost every night this summer and she'll be able to go to the community pool with us almost every afternoon. Yay, yay, yay!!

David is sooo busy at work these days. He'll be doing a fair amount of travelling starting in July, right through the holidays. It makes me quake in my shoes just thinking about it. How will I survive several days every month without him? Or, maybe I should be wondering how the children will survive? He still retains the title of Best Husand Ever and Incredible Father. There were many, many days over the last six months when he walked in the door and I simply said, "Thank you for coming home." He does a great job of taking over when I'm at the end of my rope. Which, as I may have mentioned before, has happened a LOT in the last few months.

I'm thankful to have survived the long and snowy winter. My world became very small with the demise of our small group (don't ask) and the realization at how few friends I have here. That definitely contributed to my parenting challenges this late winter and spring. Thankfully I recently started going to a Bible study at my church and Sister Time with Sarah and Adi. It's amazing to me how the land of Xanga connects people. There are women in this very town that seem to know me even though we've never met. I've had a good time getting to know you in the real world - thanks for making me feel welcome at ST. I definitely will be going back in the fall!

I don't know about the rest of you, but we're really feeling the crunch of increased fuel and food costs. Ouch! We're trying to drive less to conserve gas, which will be a bit easier to do now that school is out for the summer. How did that happen anyway? Wasn't it March just last week?

 I might try to post some pics later, but don't count on it. Maybe you should check out Facebook. You'll find lots of pictures there.

Man, I just can't believe how long it's been since I posted. My life is so crazy with these two little ones running around. They're such a blessing and truthfully, there are times when I want to pull my hair out, but most of the time it's amazing.

David's in Boston until late tomorrow night so I'm on my own here. I like to schedule lots of stuff to do while he's gone, just to make the time go by faster. I was having a fine time at Sarah's this morning, when Lydia called to say that she had a headache and stomach-ache. Could I please come get her? Um, this was not in the plans for today. And L, aka "sickie"? She's just fine and playing Play-doh with J and S. She told me about an hour ago, "Uh, Mom? I guess I'm really not that sick." Yeah. That's kinda what I thought. 

We're thrilled with how the little ones are picking up English. It's incredible! J was walking around yesterday saying, "Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness, Mommy!" Apparently that's something I say quite a bit. The kids got  to talk to David on the phone this morning and after we said our goodbyes and dropped L off at school, S said, "S airplane. S airplane to Papa." J replied, "J airplane too. J airplane to Papa. Papa loves J-J." S then says, "Papa loves S too. And Mama, Mama loves S."  So. Adorable.

I gotta get going on my leftovers. Just wanted to let y'all know that we're doing well. David will be home in about 30 hours and I'm counting them down!

I put some pics in a protected post.