Pallavi

What a difference a few days make!

Over the past few days I've downloaded 32 files of documents to my computer, and on Friday we'll notary sign and send back child acceptance documents.

The timeline for Pallavi's arrival has now been stepped up to before Christmas, and we'll be traveling to meet her once before then also.

I don't scrapbook, but today I made a scrapbook for Pallavi so we can send it to her to start getting familiar with our family.  The kids wrote letters which were all incredible.  Mixed in with bits of information about school, interests, and family were the following:

I am overjoyed that you are coming to our family.
  
My family is very nice, awesome, and loving.


And any guesses who this one is from?  I'm a high spirited young girl and I hope you are too!  I've been living in this family since I was 8 years old...  I love this family and I hope you do too.


And in a letter to Santa:  I don't want anything big for Christmas.  All I really care about is Pallavi getting to be in our family.  I am going to have a sister!  I have a family and my parents both have good jobs.  Christmas is going to be another Thanksgiving for me.  I don't want nothin'.


All the kids are saying similar things.  They're asking for gifts for Pallavi and very little for themselves.  I sometimes wonder how I got to be their mom!

And now...

Pallavi:

We are so excited!

Pronunciation of Pallavi

Sound Sleeper

Tim got home early this morning from a week of traveling and didn't sleep much last night.  

This proves that he can sleep through anything.  

We were getting out Christmas decorations while he was sleeping and the kids had a little fun.  Jeran said, "The stockings were hung on their father with care..."  

Now we all know who's in charge around here.

Double Big Day

 We started off the day "dying of waiting"...


We then progressed to super surprised that Joie won Reflections again!  This year her entry went in last minute, and took three different computers to download and generate...because our computer wasn't working...and Mom was busy that week being in charge of Red Ribbon Week...and Dad's work schedule was a bust that week...

But if you know Joie, you know she wasn't stopping until it was done, and all her hard work paid off.

The sad part is I was so distracted with a bad case of "dying of waiting," that I forgot to go to the awards assembly.  When Joie walked in the door after school with her trophy, I cried.  I couldn't believe I forgot.  ...It was a "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day." (from Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day)


So Tim suggested a big party for Joie.  We had banana splits for dinner.  I know you think I'm kidding, but it's true.

Joie was kind enough to duplicate the surprised look on her face when she won...since I missed the photo op at the assembly.

Joie's winning photo.  The theme is "Together We Can," and she submitted this picture of one man pushing another man during Water Walk 2010 to raise money to build wells in Kenya.  

And borrowing from Paul Harvey, you know there's got to be a "rest of the story."

We got news yesterday that our family was selected to adopt Pallavi.  The agency proposed a timeline of bringing her into our home in January.

Really?  January?

Back to dying of waiting...lots to do though now that we know.

Dying of Waiting

"Mom, I'm dying of waiting!"  

Five words.  A perfect description of how we're all feeling.

The other day a Mr. Rogers song popped into my head.  Yes, after all these years he's still got the perfect thing to say:

"Let's think of something to do while we're waiting
While we're waiting for something new to do..."


So did you think of anything yet?

Yeah.  Us either.

So we go back to waiting for the possibility of a new family member...and news on decisions that are completely out of our control.

Scout Camp--Better Late than Never

 Jeran, Nate and Tim got to go to Scout Camp last summer.  I love that the scoutmaster took pictures.  I rarely get to see them camping.  Here's a peek into the secret life of Boy Scouts:

Eating...

Lots and lots of eating...

And resting...

Fishing...

More fishing...

Wait a minute.  They said Scout Camp was hard work!

Hiking...

A view from the top

Ok.  Maybe a little hard.

More eating...

Great views...

Yes.  Hard work.  Lots and lots of hard work.

Honor Roll

We found out today that Nate made the honor roll this quarter, an even greater accomplishment if you consider the kind of year he had.

Infections.

Allergies.

Diet changes.

Problems in school.

Dropping grades.

And with a change in schools and the right medical treatments, he's doing much, much better.

As we've learned to say this year,

"He's back!"

(The picture was taken a few months ago as Nate was leaving for a school dance.)

Go Pink Dominators!

Pink, [pingk], adjective:  

1) A color varying from light crimson to pale reddish purple;  

2) of the color pink

Dominate, [dom-uh-neyt], verb

1)  to rule over, govern, control

2)  to tower above, overlook, overshadow

3)  to occupy a commanding or elevated position

This year the Pink Dominators won every game except one (and they beat that team later).  They had fun and played hard, and by the end of the season, all the other teams knew the Pink Dominators were there to play.

Go Pink Dominators!

Pretty ominous, right?

Pre-game huddle

Megan is a natural athlete, and any sport she tries comes easily to her.  When she was four years old she played on her first soccer team.  Even then she had the vision and could pick the ball out of a pack of four year olds and dribble it down the field to successfully score.  The result?  A crowd of exuberant parents yelling, "Go Megan!" as she'd run down the field.  She just wanted to play, and didn't like the attention, so after her first game, she refused to score.  

Fast forward to 2010.  Her coaches convinced her to block out the yelling from the sidelines, but there was yet another obstacle.  If you know Megan, you know how kind-hearted she can be, and her considerate nature was carrying over into soccer.  She said when she'd get close to scoring she'd stop because she didn't want to make the other person feel bad.  Coaches encouraged, and Mom and Dad bribed Megan with 3 days of no jobs if she could score a goal.  On the final game of the season she scored two goals.  

...And everyone yelled, "Go Megan!"

Fancy footwork

Proud papa hugging a rain-soaked Megan.  

The Pink Dominators finished the last half of the game in cold, torrential rain.  

They just added layers and kept playing.  

(And even though they're twelve, after game snacks still rule!)

A Day of Firsts

Today I ate at In-n-Out Burger for the first time ever.  In-n-Out has been in Draper, Utah for almost a year and I haven't eaten there until today.

This was also the first fast food meal for me in a year.  I'm kind of proud of that.  Thirteen months ago I started a nutrition journey, and 70 pounds later, I feel great and (mostly) don't miss fast food.  


Analysis:  All year I kept hearing how great their fries are...  Jeran and Megan finished mine.  A third of the way through I wondered why I was wasting calories on something that didn't really taste that good.  If I'm wasting calories on fries, I've had better.  The hamburger rocked!

Then about 20 minutes later my stomach ached.

Will I eat there again?  I might.  (Maybe next year.)

At the end of the day, nothing tastes as great as healthy feels.