I just love being home. I wish I could financially afford to be home all the time. Well, actually, let me rephrase that...If I could choose my schedule, I'd work a couple of days a week. I have too much energy and my personality requires me to be around other adults. I've been told that is a trait of "A" personality types. LOL. I'm the first to admit that I have a strong personality! LOL. Anyway, I do enjoy these times off, especially unplanned where we can hang in our pj's all day. I can hear the kids downstairs watching television and I can guarantee, it's something Rachel wanted to watch! Not sure if it's good to have two "A" type women in the house! Rachel is definitely the princess and pretty much gets what she wants! If she doesn't get it, she will go on and on and on and on. I'm sure you catch my drift. LOL. Seriously, we do pick our battles and we don't let her get away with everything!
These last couple of weeks have been extremely stressful. Unfortunately, things are kind of grim for the school district I work for. So grim, that people are losing their jobs and I believe that my job is also in jeopardy. The school district has unions and our union has been in negotiations with the school board since July 1st, 2009 and the way things are going, I see no resolution in the near future. The biggest issue is about health insurance. We have a very good plan right now, but it's costing the district too much money and with state budget cuts, which affect the school districts, they have to try and cut costs somewhere. From what I can see, the new insurance plan doesn't seem all that bad. And of course, I much rather take another insurance plan than to lose my job. I can see where the union is coming from though, because if we take a lesser insurance plan, we could be jeopardizing ourselves and our family. Unfortunately, in times like this where our country is in a recession, each party has to be flexible. I can't give out too much information, but I know that I can't afford to lose my job again, which will be the third time in a year and a half. A person can only take so much!
The stress of it all has really taken a toll on me, my body, mind and spirit. A person can only handle so many changes in a short amount of time. I'm truly blessed and believe me, I thank God everyday for my blessings. I really do. I think about those who are way less fortunate and I beat myself up for complaining, but it doesn't eliminate the fact that these changes have caused me stress and worry each day. I know I need to hand it over to God, but I haven't figured out how to do that. I'm asking that you do pray for me and that you pray that I can just give it to God and what will be will be and that I will be able to get through it all. Pray that I will be able to handle it and not let it affect my body, mind and spirit.
My family is what keeps me going each day and the Lord knows, I need them. I feel utterly blessed to a wonderful husband who loves me, even though the stress has caused me to gain so much weight that I can barely stand myself. I'm blessed to have two beautiful, smart, talented kids who make me laugh when no one else can. I am blessed that I have wonderful friends in my life who love me for me and listen to me when I need them to listen. I'm blessed for two wonderful sisters who cry with me and who just let me cry when I need to cry. I'm blessed that I still have a job at the moment, even if it won't be there tomorrow. I'm blessed that God has given me talents and skills that WILL help me find another job if that is what I'm suppose to do. So, I'm blessed that I have a God who gives me the strength to keep going each day.
Basketball is keeping us busy these days. Jake is playing on two teams this year and I will tell you, he is growing so much in this sport. It is so much fun to watch him play and I love that I get to be there witness his growth. He's not just growing in skill but in character and sportsmanship. I hate to always seems like I'm bragging, but I figure this is my blog, so I'm allowed! LOL! I had a parent come up to me during his Upward Basketball game (Upward is through our church) two weeks ago and ask me if Jake was my son. When I confirmed that he was, she said you are doing an amazing job as a parent. I was so touched that I almost cried. She said that she first noticed him last fall playing Upward Flag Football and she was in awe over this "gentle giant" as she called him. This mother said that he obviously has talent and size going for him and that he could pummel any of those kids, but what she saw instead was a kid who was gentle and encouraging to the other players. She saw a kid who high fives another kid for making a good play or even a good effort. This basketball season, she sees the same thing on the court. See, her child is special needs (you wouldn't know this by looking at him) and she was so touched how Jake treats him as a player and friend. He high fives him and encourages him. She said that his character, gentleness and encouragement runs deep. As a parent, you know you have a good kid, but boy, when someone from outside who doesn't know you and comes up to you and tells you that you are doing a great job as a parent, there is no better compliment. I was so deeply touched and so grateful to hear such wonderful things, that it seriously brought tears to my eyes. So, when Jake is being a preteen and doing what preteens do, I think of this moment and cut him some slack, because, he really is a great kid and I'm truly blessed to be his mother. It is such a privilege watching him grow into a young man.
As I'm sitting here, Rachel is in her Minnie dress that was purchased for her while we were in Disney last September/October by mommom and I will have to say, she makes such cute little Minnie. She loves the dress because when she spins, it flares out and she loves that! I had to get up and do "circles" with her so that the skirt will flare. She is all girl! She is singing up a storm and she loves to dance. Last week her dance class was closed for the President's Day holiday and I didn't realize this until we drove to the class. She was a VERY unhappy little girl and she let us know all the way home with her tears! I tried everything to get her mind off it, but she kept saying "I want to go to my dance class." How do you explain to a 2 year old that the class is closed! In the future, I will pay extra attention to those calendars that are emailed to me from LeRoux each month.
Rachel is 2 1/2 years old today. Hard to believe that we will be celebrating our 2nd "Gotcha Day" in May. These last two years have flown by! But honestly, I almost can't even remember our lives without Rachel. My friend, Tina T. (TT as Rachel calls her) even said that me last week when we were talking on the phone. Rachel is our source of entertainment, because I will tell you, this girl is funny. Her sense of humor is amazing. And her wit for a two year old is even more amazing. A funny story that my mother-in-law shared with this week while I was at work...She was changing a 7 month little boy that she watches as well each day and this time she changed him on the floor vs. the table. Well, Rachel noticed the difference this time between boys and girls and she points at "him" and says what's that?! She's staring and then says "it looks like a noodle, that a noodle...that a noodle?" OMG, I was roaring when mom shared that with me. This is just a small example of the things that come out of Rachel's mouth. This week while going to work, she tells me "takes this path and watch out for snakes, Lions, Tigers and Horses." I wasn't sure where she got this from but apparently, it's from "Diego" on TV. It just goes to show you, they say and retain everything they hear and watch.
I know this is a small moment, but for me it was a happy and fun moment...I was able to put pigtails in Rachel's hair last week! They are on top of her head, but they are piggytails nonetheless! And she loves them too! They look so cute on her and she can't wait to run and tell someone "see my piggytails!" LOL. This was a special moment for me as I've been dreaming about this day since the day we decided to adopt a little girl from China. How ironic that she would be a bald baby...a very very beautiful bald baby I will add!
Two weekends ago we celebrated the Chinese New Year! It is the "Year of the Tiger" and we celebrated with family and a couple of friends on Valentine's Day following church. What a nice day it was too. I wasn't at all sad about not celebrating Valentine's Day. We had lots of Chinese food including Ling Ling Potstickers which were a huge hit! I found a cute game for the kids and we did a cute Tiger craft with the kids. My friend Andrea and I decided that this is a celebration along with the Moon Festival that we want to honor each year with our daughters. Andrea will be adopting from China, hopefully in the very near future. We decided that my family will host the Chinese New Year and she will host the Moon Festival. Hopefully as our girls grow we will find other Chinese traditions to honor. Last weekend, we celebrated the Chinese New Year with our Adoption Agency, Living Hope, where we got to see other families we have met over the years who have adopted from China. We went to the King Buffet, where I barely ate anything because I was to busy chatting! I know I know, me chat?! LOL. I just love the people who work for our adoption agency, because they truly do feel like family to me! This weekend, Rachel and I are tagging along with our friends, the Panco's, to Chinatown in Philadelphia for a Chinese New Year's lunch and activities with another adoption group. I wish Jake and Dave could go, but Jake committed to baseball conditioning training. And I figured I wouldn't torture Dave with more Chinese food!
Well, I rambled on long enough, so I will close and add some photos for your viewing pleasure. I'm glad you all stopped in to see how our family is doing. Your comments mean the world to me! So please share your thoughts and words with us! My sister shared her blog in a book with me, so we are going to start printing our blog each year. What a great treasure that will be for Jake and Rachel when they are older and have their own children and so on.
Blessings.
