The Wall Bloggers

Adrianna turns four tomorrow. Obviously, I have known this was coming for a while... But it took me until last Wednesday to figure out I should probably put together a party for her! In previous years, family has come into town for the Labor Day holiday, and we have celebrated Adrianna's birthday together. The family made other plans this year, so my ready-made party was not going to be so easy this time. Gratefully, the families in our play group, Adrianna's grandparents, and even Adrianna's great aunt and uncle were able to deal with short notice, and attend Adrianna's party yesterday afternoon. Because I had babysitting duties on Thursday, left for a women's retreat on Friday morning, and didn't return until Saturday night, I had Sunday morning to pull together the party for Sunday afternoon! I was left with a mere three hours, and with Scott''s help, I did the grocery shopping, we prepared food for 13 people, and we had a birthday party! My goa...

Several friends have told me they check this blog for updates on our adoption process. Well, I have an update. It's not an update about us being told who our child is... yet. I know that day is coming, but not yet. It is an update on the wait. I want to describe what this waiting feels like, so that I can remember in five years, when my long-awaited precious child heads off to school, and I cannot remember the time so long ago before I knew him or her. I think I finally found a way to describe the emotion I feel now, waiting for our child -- to explain it to someone who has not adopted. Imagine that you have two children: ages 4 and newborn. Then imagine that a man takes the newborn, and tells you that he is heading to Mexico for the next two years with your child. He also explains to you that for the coming months, your child may go hungry. Your child may not have clothes or baths. Your child might cry and cry, without any comfort. Your child might have ear infections, w...

Last Friday, Scott took Adrianna to Phoenix for two days and one night. Since most people do not wish to be in Phoenix in August, flights, hotels, and rental cars are all extremely affordable. But there had to be a kink in Scott's well-laid plans. When Adrianna woke up Friday morning, her eye was red and crusty. Scott and I had an inclination that pink eye was forming. Scott took a list of urgent care addresses in the Phoenix area, and set out with Adrianna for a father-daughter bonding weekend. As the morning progressed, both of Adrianna's eyes became goopier and redder. She couldn't even open the window shade on the airplane (her favorite airplane pastime) more than part way, because the light was burning her eyes. Poor Scott and Adrianna spent what should have been their first day of being touristy at the urgent care, at Target getting medicine, and at the hotel, where Adrianna fell asleep at 5:15. I don't have any pictures to show for their time, because as ...

Just had a funny conversation with Adrianna... She was finishing up a fruit leather in bed before going to sleep (long story), and I stayed just until she finished. She ate a bite out of one side, and I showed her how it looked like a U. She turned to the other side to take a bite, to see what she could make. She decided that it looked like a W or an M. Then she said, "Like the trash trucks." I thought for a second... "Oh, yeah, like the trash trucks... Waste Management! They do have a WM on them." She explained, "The ones in Albuquerque or Santa Fe." I thought another second. "Oh, yeah! You're right, ours here don't have that." Pause. Adrianna thought. "Mom... What are you named after?" "What??... Oh! Do you think I'm named after a trash truck because my initials are MW?" "Yep." Cute kid.

Our nephew, Kevin, age 10, came to stay with my in-laws last week. We made sure that he and Adrianna got play time together. Kevin has a little sister and brother, so he's used to playing with younger kids. Adrianna had fun trying to keep up, and trying out bigger kid games (Sorry, Stay Alive). A few times, she would concede part way through, just so that it would end. (I can't say that I blame her... One Sorry game did go on for over 45 minutes!) Father and son... :) We don't get too many rainy days here (most rain comes in the evenings), but Friday was a drizzly day. Adrianna snatched the chance to don her rain boots and Snoopy umbrella to splash and play. Sunday afternoon proved to be a good time to build a fort. (Those are Scott's toes peeking out of the quilt.) Adrianna, Miss Imagination, said that the fort was the hotel and the kid chairs were the rental car. She is sure blessed to have a dad who is a good sport!

Two weeks ago, on Wednesday, and a week ago, on Thursday, Adrianna and I took some friends along to our hidden raspberry trail. Scott and I discovered this trail a couple of years ago with my Dad and Debbie, and came at just the right time of year to nibble the wild raspberries along the way. Gathering wild raspberries enchanted me. It was an experience I held close to my heart. Living in such dry terrain, wild raspberries seemed an impossibility to me. Yet, 20 minutes from my house, heading up towards the greener mountains, we found them, hidden amidst wild flowers and lush surroundings. And I vowed to return every year at this time. And so we returned last year. And this year, I took some friends along for the journey. Not only did we discover a few handfuls of raspberries, as we did last year, but we even filled a bag with fruit to take home to our families. There is something about being in the beauty of God's creation that makes my heart happy. I am sure it is because ...

Today, Scott and I celebrate eight blessed years of marriage. I am so grateful to get to share every day of my life with my best friend. For a number of reasons, Scott and I have never had an album of wedding pictures. We got married just as the first generation of digital cameras came into use, so we had part digital and part film photography. As we were college students when we got married, we also had no money to print pictures for an album. So I decided to make a wedding album for our anniversary. Keeping it a secret from Scott, while I worked feverishly in scanning, uploading, and editing photos over the last few weeks was not an easy task! But I am so grateful I finally have a book I can show our children, to celebrate how important our marriage is. Here are a few highlights from the book: Last, but not least, here is a picture of Scott and me right before I graduated from high school, in 1998: