The Wall Bloggers

Last weekend, one of our local elementary schools had its "Fourth Annual Pumpkin Patch." I don't quite see how placing pumpkins across the school lawn counts as a pumpkin patch, but I guess that's something you gotta do to raise money for the PTO. :) Over the years, the PTO has tried to make it more fun, too, by adding face painting, a bounce house, cupcake decorating, etc. And so, here is Adrianna, with her contribution to the local PTO, where the elementary-aged girl manning the both decided Adrianna needed her help to decorate her cupcake.

Last weekend, my dad and Debbie came for a visit. They arrived early enough on Friday afternoon that we squeezed in a hike by our ski hill to see some fall colors. We then utilized one of the cookout sites to cook some hot dogs and s'mores on a campfire. It was a wee bit cold, but it was fun to fit in one last campfire before spring. Adrianna loves getting to cookout, so it was neat to be able to give her a little treat with her grandparents. On Saturday, we headed for the "world's longest aerial tram." It was the perfect time of year to see the leaves in the canyons below us as we headed to the top of the peak. The weather was beautiful; thankfully there was not too much wind, and we ate at the restaurant, and walked around a little to take in extra views. As we went to ride the tram back down, we discovered there were "mechanical difficulties," and ended up having to wait for forty-five minutes before the tram was repaired. I think the wait was wort...

I've never thought of discouragement as a temptation... until today... when the third attempt at discouragement in the last few weeks came. Looking back on it, every time, I could almost hear Discouragement saying, "If I show you this example of how someone brought home their adopted child sooner than you did, won't you be discouraged?" And today, Discouragement tried one big blow. Through reading a blog from a friend of a friend, I learned how a family who started their adoption journey with Ethiopia at almost the exact same time we did brought home their child in June. And here we look at possibly another 8-9 months before we bring our child home. Discouragement said, "Will that hit close enough to home?! Won't you be discouraged now?!" Well, it did. I won't deny that I cried. I won't deny that I climbed up into God's lap to tell Him how sad I was. But, oh, He is so good. He is so much more gracious to me than I could imagine. God ...

For the Columbus Day holiday, Scott's dad suggested we could all take Adrianna fishing. We bought her a kid's fishing pole at a rummage sale a few weeks ago, and since then, she's been asking her grandpa to take her fishing. It's pretty difficult to refuse those deep, blue eyes and sweet, small voice. I guess Grandpa Steve couldn't resist anymore. And so, on Monday, between Scott's parents and us, we packed enough stuff for a week-long get-away, and set off into the mountains for a hatchery where Scott had gone fishing as a boy. The hatchery only allows kids 12 and under to fish, and you can look right into the little lake, and see the big fish just waiting to be caught. As you can imagine, success came pretty quickly! After the first fish got away, Adrianna and Scott successfully caught another beauty. After Adrianna experienced her success, we packed up and headed to the lake down the road, where Scott and Steve were allowed to fish. On a whim, we drove ...

We had several errands to do in the "big city" today, but before we started them, we took a detour up to the big city's ski area. Apparently, in the late 1800s, the area was all evergreen trees, but a fire opened the forest to the birth of aspens. Now the mature aspen trees sparkle in their fall splendor. We made a few picture stops, and took a little hike to gasp at the views. It was simply spectacular.

Well, I guess my child had to go through her rite of passage. Yesterday, I was at a coffee shop, meeting with a friend. We were just finishing up, when Adrianna, who had been calmly beading a necklace the whole hour we were there, started screaming. My friend looked at her, and asked, "Oh, did you put one of those beads in your nose?!" Through her screams, Adrianna nodded. I tried not to turn into terrified mom, but I know I was not in my calmest state. I looked at her nose, saw no bead, and asked her to blow. She has never been an excellent blower, and tends to suck in, rather than blow out. That's what she did, and it scared me even more. While she continued to scream, the people at the coffee shop stared, and I hurriedly gathered our belongings, told my friend that I was off to urgent care, and fled for the car. From the car, I called Scott, and asked him to call Adrianna's pediatrician, to see if they could fit her in. He called me back, telling me that th...

On Saturday, after many weeks of pleading from Adrianna, I got down my box of Barbies from the attic. This box had not been opened in many years. And these Barbies had not been played with in almost 2 decades. I came to discover how much Barbies represent the current culture, because these Barbies sure did not look modern! I even still have a few Barbies and outfits from my mom's collection she had shared with me (from the 1960's). These ones looked even more "vintage." What amazed me was how these mere toys brought to remembrance the value I had placed on them. For an instant, I even wondered if I would be able to let Adrianna play with them, knowing how I had ruined some of my mom's, when I was Adrianna's age. They also brought to mind the hours I spent playing with them, and the imagination I used to create a world for them.

(I know, it's a funny picture, but I like it better than the only other one we got!) Adrianna's gymnastics company made a float for our town's annual Homecoming Parade. Last week, we asked Adrianna if she wanted to be in the parade or just watch it. She enthusiastically declared that she wanted to be in it. So, last Friday, we opted to walk next to the float with her, as she passed out candy. She was so excited to be in it, she walked the whole way (we had been a little doubtful!), and passed out dozens of lollipops. Of course, everyone she knew was there (this is a small town, after all), and that just added to her delight. Afterward, she proudly told her grandpa, "I walked the whole way!" We were pretty proud of her.

Waiting patiently is not coming easily for me lately. I am not sure that it does for anyone, but some people seem more composed in the waiting than others do. One of my friends who has an adopted child told me something this week. Something that made my heart long all the more to bring our child home. She told me that our social worker just finished a home study for a family a couple of months ago, and that family just brought home their baby from Ethiopia. Hmm... She completed our home study exactly one year ago. My friend also told me that our social worker was amazed that we had not brought home our child yet. Our social worker told her about a great adoption agency that is working in Ethiopia. I checked out that agency's website, and sure enough, their average time line for connecting families with their children is one year from the time the family starts the process. Hmm... we started our process 14 months ago... Alas, my heart yearns to have our child home. The even...