Happy Home . . . Study

Whew. The home study is now just a memory.

And yes that sentence was waaaay more dramatic than the actual home study. :-)

Our case worker just wanted to see the new additions to the house and where a new baby would sleep, etc. (Don't worry, JHF, she loved the house.) Then, we set down for our interview. Essentially we talked about life with Anna, what we expected with a new baby, discipline tactics, work schedules, adoption scenarios, childcare, and so forth. All in all it was great!

In this adoption-is-moving-right-along news, we learned that our approval will likely come within two weeks. Holy moly! Thus, I will start our profile book this weekend. Yet, on the other hand, our case worker reiterated that placements of African American cuties have been few and far between in the last year. So our wait may be long.

While my head is telling my heart to be guarded and stick with "let's see what happens," my heart is already filling with joy and excitement and hope. I even let myself purchase two small baby items today (gasp!) in a gender neutral green, of course.

First Day Photos

Monday was Anna's first day of her new "big girl" two-year-old class at her school. She loved her new backpack and was still insistent on carrying her lunch bag. When we made it to class, she walked right in, easy breezy. Ms. Mindy reported that Anna did very well her first day and looks to be the class leader. **proud mama**

Giving me the big cheese before we drive to school.

She's really interested in taking pictures with her camera. She HAD to capture a shot of her new blanket (which she adores). This "blanket" is scraps from Joann's (a whole $3 investment). Mimi graciously connected the pieces and added a trim. Ta-dah, "my pink bank-ket."

And another one for good measure.

And what's better than a foot rub after a hard day? (We have the Thompsons to thank for her unending requests of "Scratch, my heet (feet)." Thanks a lot.

Four Years Without a Father

Today marks four years since my father died. Perhaps, this is old news to you, but it is still fresh to my heart.

Whether one had a close relationship with her father or not, living without a dad feels strange. Birthdays that were always celebrated are now just days. My Christmas list keeps getting shorter because death keeps stealing my loved ones. And milestones--happy and sad--contain a small sting. My dad never knew Anna Zane, and he certainly won't know about our new addition.

Brain cancer took my father, but I am reminded that sin is the main culprit. Sin is why we have death. And our lives after the death of a loved one will always carry a hint (or a huge helping) of loss because death isn't what God intended. It isn't natural, not really.

Yet, my verse-of-the-day calendar reminded me today: "God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end" (Ecclesiastes 3:11). And that's what I call comfort.

Anna-isms #5

Boy, do I have a lot to tell you.

Let's start off with a video. Nap time is getting more and more interesting as she's getting older. About once or twice a week, a nap doesn't happen. Sometimes this happens instead:

Anna Zane is a wee bit crazy about clothes, putting them on and off herself. If they are pink, it's a huge bonus. She adores pink anything. Anything. Why God didn't make more veggies pink, I'll never know.

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In July, the Thompsons visited. As usual, Anna and her cousin Gracyn took a bath together. They'd been in the big tub for about 30 minutes with me checking on them every few minutes or so. When I came in to let out the water, dry them off, etc, the girls started picking up the bath toys. Gracyn holds up something (the size of a small rock), and asks, "What's this?"

"Looks like poop," I reply.

Gracyn quickly drops it. Looks at me as serious as can be and says, "I need to wash my hands."

Obviously, the poo belonged to Anna, not Gracyn. These things happen ya know. We, the grown ups, laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed.

I wish that was the last poop story. It's not.

In our usual routine, I talk to Anna through the monitor in the morning, telling her I will be up to get here in just a few minutes . . . like five at the most. This particular morning she asks if she can get out of bed. I always let her. (She's in a toddler bed now.) Being a big girl in a big girl bed, she's really into doing big girl things (a la the clothes fiasco from above). I walk in to find she's "changed" her diaper . . . her poopy diaper. She did successfully get it in the diaper pail, along with some smeared poop all over the handle. There's poop on the dresser drawer handles because she had to get the wipes--duh. She has about 10 dirty wipes in the floor. She has on a new pull-up, which she put on while leaning against her bed, specifically her pillow. Smeared poop is all over the pillow.

Y'all.

(And I thought this poop story was bad . . . . )

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In August, she put corn up her nose during dinner. Since Bryan was there, I was free to panic. (During both the sesame incident and the eye laceration, I was sans Mr. Medicine. Of course, he was at the store for the sesame and met me at the ER; but the eye . . . .) Thankfully, Bryan got it out after a few tries. Imagine the lecture we gave her.

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When I've asked her to do something (like pick up a toy, etc), she's responded a few times with, "Mom, I'm busy.

Driving down a hill the other day, she told me, "Mom, go haster, haster" (translation: faster). The girl likes speed. We're seeing an amusement park trip in our near future. During the simulated movie at the Science and History Museum, I just knew she was going to be scared. Nope. Wanted to sit in the seat by herself and loved every minute of it.

I hear this 1 million times a day: "Let me do it by myself" or "Let me try."

Bryan wants to call her Anita because she also says this, somewhat in a stutter, over and over: "I need a. I need a."

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Speaking of our independent daredevil, she said goodbye to the baby floatie and did this all in 1 hour:



Last, please enjoy a few songs by the wonderful Anna Zane: