A Dream Come True!

1. I've been waiting years to have one.
2. I never went through that whole "it is totally not cool to own one" fad.
3. I will no longer have to think about & plan how to fit 347 boxes (totally made up #, but you get the idea) into my little car because...

I am now the proud owner & operater of a minivan!!!

Thanks to Scott's very generous parents who decided to get a car & knew that they weren't going to get much of a trade-in on their van, we became the owners of their old van as of yesterday. Yes, it has its issues-no air conditioning (will be fixed come springtime), cracked windshield, iffy back windshield wiper, etc., but it's all ours & we love it! With my 6' 1" frame, I'm so happy to have the extra room & glad to not be crawling into my car anymore. It is a very happy day indeed in our household!!! :)

Ahhhhhh, Friday!!!

Since it's Friday-I feel like relaxing, but since I haven't posted for awhile-I once again have all of these random ideas floating around in my head. So...here comes another post of random thoughts...

*Over the past 2 weeks, I've been to 3 different doctor offices for 3 different appointments. Don't worry, there is nothing wrong with me (well....I'll let you decide that on your own!) They were just some of those regularly scheduled "maintenance" type of checkups (mine & Luke's), but I've noticed that there are a few 'weird' things that go on at these places. First of all, there is always a wait. Even if you get called back quickly (like I did everytime amazingly), you still have to wait. If you don't have the loooong wait in the waiting room, you will inevitably have to wait FOREVER for the doctor to actually come into your examination room. Sometimes I think that I'd just rather wait in the actual waiting room-that at least makes sense to me. I did, however, enjoy getting to read the "How to Pee in a Cup" poster over & over again in the examination room of one of my visits-very educational! :)

*Why are people always telling me that they "admire me, they could never do it" or "I think that it's just so wonderful that there are people out there like you who can do that" or "you've done such a wonderful thing for him" when they find out that we have adopted our child? First of all, I don't know for sure, but I don't think that a lot of people walk around telling pregnant ladies these things. Maybe I need to walk around telling all of my fertile friends & relatives these same things when I'm with them & their children-they may think that I have finally fallen of my rocker! :) Also, how do these people know what his life would have been like for Luke if he wasn't adopted? We are the ones who have been blessed to have in OUR lives & although he may be better off with us in the long run-it is still at the expense of someone else's pain/grief & I NEVER forget that!

*Exercise, Exercise, Exercise-I did alot of it (for me that is) this week & that dang scale didn't even want to budge! Grrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!

*How did Thursday become Friday in my head & now that it is actually Friday-it feels like it has be 2 weeks since last Friday?

*Watching Luke walk all over our house today, I imagined that one day he would be rounding that same corner as a kid, teenager, adult, etc & that one day he will leave home-it made me feel quite sentimental & sad, but also joy that I can cherish these days now because they won't come around again. When he came back around the staircase towards me, he looked at me & smiled & I thought "I hope that he will always smile like that each time when he comes home again!"

*I hope my weekend at home this weekend will be quite relaxing-once October starts-we're booked every weekend, which makes for a loooong, but fun month! Can I get a KitKat bar anyone-I need a break?!

Enjoy your weekend!

I am a catechist!

During the school year, almost every Wednesday night you can find me up at church teaching kids about the Catholic religion. I teach the 2nd graders, so it's definitely not brain surgery by any means, but I do feel like I have actually learned quite a bit about my faith just by teaching them the basics about it. I am a "cradle" Catholic meaning I was born (baptized as an infant) & raised Catholic my entire life. My faith has always been an important part of who I am & does influence my viewpoints on things (family, politics, life in general, etc.), however, there are/were many things that I do automatically just because that is what I have always done. Becoming a catechist (PSR or Public School Religion teacher which I means I teach religious ed to kids who don't attend Catholic schools) made me actually have to THINK about those things & why I/we do them as Catholics. Besides making me think about my faith, it has also brought me much joy because of some of the things the kids do & say. So in honor of Catechist Sunday (today!), here are 2 of my favorites.

1. We were learning about the Sorrowful mysteries of the Rosary, the first of which is the "Agony in the Garden". If you are unfamiliar with it, it is about the pain/agony Jesus was feeling & the praying he was doing (this is where the "Our Father" came from) in a garden as he was awaiting the time of his betrayal & death. The question posed to the students was "What was Jesus doing in the garden?" (answer we were looking for was 'praying') One of my the students looked at me innocently & answered
"Picking vegetables?" I liked the answer, but I highly doubt that vegetables were being thought about at the time.

2. One Wednesday night, I had a student walk in with a mohawk. I could tell that he was very proud of it, so I asked him about it. He said "I've wanted one for years & mom & dad finally let me have one!" (It made me wonder how long he had actually wanted one since he was only 7 years old at the time!) :)

2-8

Happy Birthday to Me!
Today I turn 28-doesn't it just sound like a good number.
One quirky thing about me is that I am quite fond of even numbers for some reason. I don't really know why, but I do know that I have been this way for a long time. I can remember being a little girl & my sisters & I counting 1-2-3 to race or to start whatever activity we were doing. I remember thinking "Why 3? I like 4 so much better." However, counting 1-2-3-4, never really caught on no matter how much I tried. 4 & 8 are two numbers that I have just always really liked. 6 & 10 not so much, but 2 was okay too. :) Odd numbers have never really appealed to me, is that odd considering I was born on 9-19! :)
So to say the least, the prospect of turning 28 seems quite exciting to me. For some reason, I just feel like it might be a good or at least a memorable (I'm hoping in a good way) year for me. I guess I'll just have to wait & see. Am I ready for it? You bet! Ready-1...2...3...4...Go!!! (Still not so catchy-is it?)

"Who was that moron in the parking lot?"

As they were walking down the street past the doctor's office today, they heard a loud
"Thump" & "Crashunch!"
They turned & looked around for where the terrible sound came from & trying to figure out who & what was being demolished.
Then, a few seconds later, there was that sound again
"Thump"
followed by the sound of a motor running & a car moving. The car stopped & the driver got out to inspect the car. The driver looked under the car checking for damage & then upon not having seen any, got back in the car & drove away-all the while looking around hoping that no one had witnessed such a terrible blunder.
They (the passerbyers who may have witnessed this event) were probably wondering "Who was that moron in the parking lot...driving over the parking curbs?"

The answer: ME!

That's right-I had a total brain fart today & drove my car (I'm not sure if it has forgiven me yet!) over the parking curb. In my defense, I was in one of those spots where you park facing another car (most of the time there are not parking curbs in between these spots-think shopping malls, Walmart, my school parking space, etc.) so when I saw the empty parking space in front of me-I did what comes naturally & pulled forward. You can imagine the morification I felt when I heard the first terrifying sounds & had realized what I'd done & that I had to go over it again because the curb was under my car! I debated for a few seconds whether to go forward or backwards, but figured there were more things that could be damaged on the front end of the car so I went forward. Just keep your fingers crossed that my car (& tires!) are in okay condition tomorrow morning!

Warning: Procrastination ahead-Oh Wait, Not this time!

How do I cope when I'm stressed out? Well, I either choose to eat something nice & sweet (chocolate-yummy), which is great for my health-Not!-or I make a list of ALL of the things I need to get done. I then start trying to cram them all in, don't get them all done, then feel bad that I didn't & start a new list-vicious cycle isn't it. I have been doing well the past few months coping with both of these coping mechanisms. I've been trying to exercise more & eat better so that occasional piece of chocolate doesn't affect me quite so much & I've developed a few good habits & routines to help me get things done in a way where I'm not stressed out trying to get them done AND they actually get done! I plan on writing a post sometime in the future about the latter, but the reason I brought this up at all today is because I fell back into my old ways just a bit this weekend.
Last week was a fairly stressful week at work for me, between mass scheduling confusion, some poor communication & delayed planning for this week because of the two previous things (& then only a little time left to actually plan for my classes-you teachers out there will definitely get what I'm talking about here) let me just say, I was not a "happy camper" by the time I came home on Friday afternoon. So what did I do Friday night, I made a list of all of the chores I wanted to get done before we left our house today (we were gone all day & I wanted to come home to a clean house). Usually, if I'm successful, I may only get about 1/2 the list finished, since I plan WAY more things than I can actually complete in the time allotted. However, this weekend, I actually completed ALL of the things on the list-thanks to a husband who kept our son corralled & entertained & helped where/when he could. I was able to move from one task to the next & stop to play with Luke every so often. It was just what I needed on Friday evening/Saturday & it is such a good feeling to know that I finished it (I love being able to cross off that last thing!) So because of a cooperative husband & son & a little "cleaning" therapy, I am ready to head back to work feeling slightly rejuvanated & with a positive attitude. I hope your weekend was just as good! :)

Da...da...da...da...daaaa!

Luke is quite the noise maker these days! As of yet though, there isn't much variety going on. At any given moment, you may hear him making several 'sound effect noises' or saying his favorite thing to say "Dada, Dada, Dada". He gets a big grin on his face everytime he says it, especially when we repeat it back to him. Of course, I should have known that "Dada" would get all of the glory-he is the one that probably tends to be more 'fun' in our child's eyes. Scott is the one who is constantly making a goofball of himself for Luke's sake. I try to provide fun songs & funny voices, but Scott is the one who will do most of the 'rough-housing' & rolling around on the ground with Luke & for Luke's entertainment, which from a kid's point of view is usually alot better. Now I'm not saying that Scott doesn't do his fair share of "Luke work" because he definitely does, but I can say that he definitely does get to have a bit more fun too. When the time comes that worrying about household chores, picking up toys (as opposed to throwing them everywhere), laundry & basically just trying to keep your house from becoming its own landfill is actually considered fun from a child's perspective-well, then-Mom will win the 'fun-factor' hands down everytime, but until that time comes...I'll just continue to listen to the cheers of "Dada, Dada, Dada" come out of my little boy's mouth & hope that the first time he says "Mama"-it isn't a whine/cry, but a happy sound too! :)