Bowling Fun

Xandra & her best buddy C. I think they hugged at least 5 times during the party :) Too cute!!!

Xandra sent that ball flying down the ramp & got a spare!! Go Baby!!

All the girls tried to get as close to Xandra as humanly possible while she opened presents. You'll notice the only 2 boys that came (in the background) could not have cared less! :)

So, during the craziness of getting ready for Xandra's birthday party, and dealing with my illness, I forgot my camera!! AHHHH!! What kind of mom am I??? I got a few kind of crappy pics on my phone (the lighting in there sucked!). The party was an overall success, though. We even had a couple kids tell us it was the "most awesome-ist party ever!!!" I'm happy to oblige! And boy oh boy, did Xandra make out like a bandit!!! WOW! Her friends are sooo generous!! Granted, we're now buried in Barbies, but at least Xandra's happy! :) 

Sick...

Why does the illness always come on just before a HUGE event?? Everything was perfectly fine last night... then I woke up this morning with a migraine & a nasty sore throat! UGH! I'm off to the doctor in just a little bit.

I had to go to Xandra's doctor twice earlier this week, and there is apparently a strep throat epidemic going around. I'm really frustrated that I had to expose myself to that twice in a week. I begged them to just let me schedule a call with a doctor, but I was told they don't do that at her pediatrician's. Why? No idea. Seriously, I only wanted to talk to the doctor about the best way to get Xandra on the plane & make sure we weren't kicked off. She, unfortunately, has a bit of an over-reaction to small things (not like small spaces- more along the lines of circumstances that shouldn't really warrant a meltdown). It's actually becoming quite a problem. So much so, that I'm going to look into it further when we get home from China. Until then, we've been advised to try our best to get her onto the plane sans medication, but if need be, we have the "ok" to sedate her a bit (Benadryl). I hate to do that (I really hate medication when it's not necessary), but I refuse to be that far away from my girl for that long. She's never spent a night away from us, and I won't have her first experience be for an entire 2 weeks while we're in a foreign country. Plus, I honestly believe she will be an asset to our bonding with Milo.

**Update:
I got my throat swabbed for strep... I don't know the results officially, but I'm pretty sure I have it. The dr thankfully took pity on me, and went ahead & prescribed antibiotics. I sooo do not have time to be sick! My house is a disaster zone & I'm supposed to be getting ready for Xandra's birthday party tomorrow. Oh yeah.. & packing for China!! Grrrr!! All I really feel like doing is crawling back in bed & sleeping the day away. :(

Rain Rain Go Away

I guess there is a "slight" up side to this monsoon weather. The sunsets are insanely gorgeous! I just wish the daytime was this pretty.

So Loved!

Yes, I've posted this before. But I can't stress enough how very important it is to please bring these babies home!!! Please look into your heart and see if you can find even a few dollars to send to this family. Everything helps!

My Schedule Runneth Over

**Before I begin this post - please forgive me for using only stock photos. It's been crazy busy around here & the nasty weather has not allowed for many photo-ops.**

Today will be my last exam of the semester. Hallelujah!! I managed to pull a B out of my Anatomy class, even after my disaster of last week. That's a HUGE weight lifted off my shoulders... and another one has replaced it. Now I really need to decide if Sonography really is the way I want to go. I like the idea of it, but it's a crazy-competitive program. I spoke to three of my instructors yesterday to determine if I should switch my program to Radiology. It's a shorter program initially, though I could add other specialties (making myself more marketable), and it's a lot less competitive to get into. Hmmm... And I need to decide by Friday.

This, of course, is our next task. Matt asked me to write up a "To-Do" list so he could help me out (awwww!!). As much as I love the idea of this, I just don't know if I can really sit down & get out (legibly & rationally) all of the *need to do* thoughts sprinting through my head!

My incredible friends at our local FCC have been more than helpful! If I had enough time to stop & think about all of their generosity, I'm sure I'd break down in tears. We got 2 huge (I'm talking those massively large leaf bags) full of boys' clothing. These bags were so stuffed-full, we couldn't even close them! And HEAVY!! We also got an incredible baby carrier (all the bells & whistles on this thing!), space bags, money belts, and a airline child seatbelt. Wow! These families are so generous!!

One of Matt's friends also gave us a huge box full of boy's clothing! Our friends are so amazing!! I can't even put into words how grateful we are. It's amazing how many people are supporting us through this journey!

Of course, we're not content to do one thing at a time. That's so not our style! Nope- in the middle of this mad packing, we're having a birthday party for Xandra! She'll be celebrating her real birthday while we're in China (how exciting!), but we wanted to make sure she got her special time before we left. So, she will get to have her first "friend" party this weekend. She's so excited! We're going bowling. I have to admit, I'm excited too :)

Conflicted & Tangled

So, who has seen the new(ish) Disney movie Tangled? Xandra loves it. And I think it's kind of cute, too. But every time I watch it, I can't help but have conflicted feelings about it. It doesn't help that Xandra's going through a seemingly non-ending phase of asking a million and one questions about everything. If you haven't seen it (*SPOILER ALERT* -stop reading now if you haven't seen it yet & don't want the plot ruined!), this version is about Rapunzel being kidnapped by an old woman who uses R's magic hair to keep herself young.

Every single time we watch this movie (which is a LOT), she asks toward the end (when Rapunzel is reunited with her birth parents) why R wasn't with them from the beginning of the movie. Of course, that's the gist of the movie itself- if she'd been with her birth parents from the get-go, there wouldn't be a story.

In trying to explain this to Xandra, I find myself questioning how Milo will someday react to this movie (or the millions of other similar story-lines out there). This woman  has kidnapped a child. Will Milo one day feel that way about us (that we seemingly kidnapped him)? And what a wonderful, happy ending when R gets reunited with her *real* parents.

My dad adopted me when I was 7. I knew all about adoption & how it worked, and I was happy he adopted me. But I also know how I had fantasies, especially as a teen, of my *real* dad coming back for me. *He* wouldn't ground me the way my dad did... *He* would understand me so much better... If only *he* would have been there, I'd be so much happier... Oh the fantasies! (I did meet my bio-father later in life, and thank God my mom made the decision she did!!)

So what does this movie tell a little kid who has been adopted?? That life is so much better if only his or her *real* parents were around?? I know I can't change the way the media portrays adoption, but it's really upsetting me! I'm not sure yet if I'll ban this movie once Milo comes home. It seems a bit too late at this point- Xandra already loves it. And like I already said, it is kind of a cute cartoon. It does have some other messages that I like- you're stronger than you think you are, you can overcome obstacles, you are you own person, etc. But it's really hard to reconcile the other very obvious message stuck in there.

Don't even get me started on Despicable Me....

Calm After the Storm

It's been raining here for days. We had a brief reprieve yesterday, but the weather man is calling for rain every single day for the next week. There have been numerous flood warnings & watches, but thankfully we live at the top of a pretty big hill.

This is the first I've seen the sun all day. The funny thing is, even as I was taking this picture, I could hear the thunder rolling in.

It's been a crazy, stressful week. I had a few final exams Wednesday & Thursday. I had today off of school (gotta love going to a Seventh Day Adventist school!) & so did Xandra. We went to lunch with my best friend whom I don't get to see nearly enough! I missed her so much! It was so good to see her.

Now, I have to study for next week's final exams (4 left!). After that, I can get down to business getting ready to go to China!!