HaPpY bIrThDaY MaNnY!

For Manny's 2nd Birthday we had a little party huge shindig. I accidentally invited all our close friends in town plus family from 8 hours away, & only had 2 no RSVP's. We had 41 people here which included 16 kiddos!!! I actually had a blast and had everything ready by 9:56. (Party started at 10am...you know because of nap times and everything...it seemed the perfect party time!)

I usually get all uptight when planning a party/event here at the house wanting everything to be perfect. So I gave myself a head start and got things in place early in the week and enlisted my friend Jill's help on Friday.

Anyway it was a Music themed party. I added musical note stickers to the colorful invitations. I cut out musical notes and taped them on the wall that matched the color scheme of lime green and blue. I had all of Manny's 500 musical toys/instruments in the living room for the kiddos to play with. Music, Music, Music. A few people brought musical themed cards, and musical themed gifts. Manny had a blast and blew out the two candles on his cupcake perfectly...we had practiced. (Does anyone else practice blowing out candles with their kids?)

(I delegated taking pics to my friend Angie's husband Brian and I haven't seen them yet; I will post them when I get them.)

All that to say that at the end of the party when the last few guests had gone and we were cleaning up. Daniel had a lightbulb moment. He said- That's cool that some friends brought him musical gifts, and you had musical decorations...(LIGHTBULB) OH Was this a music party?

Yeah honey- a music party. Hope you had fun. Glad you picked up on the theme.

Good thing I love him so much, cause that sure cracked me up. :)

Maintenance

Things need to be maintained.

The car has to get oil changes regularly.

The laundry doesn't take care of itself.

The dust continually settles and needs to be wiped away.

Crumbs can always be found on my kitchen floor.

Friendships never maintained tend to become acquaintances.

And Marriages that aren't being worked on become miserable heaps of messes.

I'm still learning about life and am watching some others who are learning the hard way. But I am noticing a pattern. Things left on their own fall apart. If things, relationships, homes aren't being maintained they slide down the slippery slope into that place where it takes tons of effort to get them back into working order. (Like when I neglect the laundry for 3 days then have heaps to deal with, and when I neglect my marriage for 3 months I have heaps of emotions to work through....it's all the same.)

Naturally I want relationships to flow beautifully and not need any work, but the fact is work makes them better, stronger, more full of life. Because life takes work, it doesn't come easy. We so badly want to throw up our hands and let life move along seamlessly, but it never will. We live in a sinful world and every single time things are left to run on their own they will begin that downward spiral.

I'm still learning and trying to be better at maintaining.

I've been tagged

Maybe this will help me get out of my blogging rut 0f 2011.....

I've been tagged by Kelly so I thought I'd at least answer the questions....

11 Fun Facts about ME:

1. The first conversation I had with my husband he jokingly said we would never date. :) Never say never.

2. One of my favorite books is Randy Alcorn's Safely Home.

3. I have had my two best friends for almost 20 years.

4. I lived in the same state or 30 years then moved 8 hours away.

5. The movie Bella changed my life.

6. Daniel and I were on the cover of a magazine promoting True Love Waits after we were married. (We both signed the cards as youth and followed through with our commitment.)

7. I accepted Christ as a 20 year old and immediately read a book about Grace.

8. I love to journal and have kept all my journals since 5th grade. (Last time we were home Daniel found the ones where I was boy crazy and had a good laugh.)

9. We have been a part of two church plants and have seen them both grow to at least 500 people. Watching people's lives change because of Christ gives us purpose and fuels us.

10. I am terrible at going to bed early, and get mad at myself often for staying up too late.

11. I love early mornings, but due to #10 I don't get to enjoy them often enough.

OK, and now the questions for those of us who Kelly tagged:

1. Chocolate or Vanilla? Vanilla ice cream; Chocolate kids

2. What is your profession and is it what you always wanted to do? I'm a stay at home mom. I love it and am grateful to be able to do it, but it's not something I always dreamed I'd do.

3. Where is your dream vacation locale? Iceland- someone once told me Iceland was green and Greenland was icy. I think I need to go see for myself. :)

4. Favorite food/recipe...and feel free to share the recipe! I LOVE carbs and Italian food, but am trying to not eat quite so many of that variety.

5. Favorite Scripture or quote? Job 42:2 "I know that you can do all things, no plan of yours can be thwarted." & Acts 4:12 "Salvation is found in no one else, for their is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

6. First thing that comes to mind when you hear the word "diet." BLAH. :(

7. Do you have a bucket list? If so, what's 1 thing on it? not really, but I would love to go snorkeling again and would love to learn to snow ski...but I'm generally too chicken to try.

8. What is your favorite color? turquoise right now, my whole life it's been yellow. Yellow and turquoise make a good pair I guess. I just can't not say yellow since I'm such a loyal person I feel like I'm cheating on yellow. (My poor bridesmaids had to wear yellow dresses----sorry ladies.)

9. Last movie that you saw? Swordfish, it was actually pretty good.

10. One pet peeve you have is...? Fabrics/blankets that are so soft they catch on any rough skin on your hands or feet....oh and mildewy smelling clothes. yuck.

11. One thing that makes you smile is...? My husband bringing home flowers randomly.

11 Questions if you want to answer questions.

1. What's your favorite book?

2. If you could have dinner with 6 people who would they be?

3. If you were given $200 on top of your regular budget what would you spend it on?

4. If you were given $200 that you had to give away who would you give it to and why?

5. What was your favorite Bible story or children's book when you were growing up?

6. What's your favorite blog or website?

7. What's your favorite restaurant and item off the menu?

8. What is your favorite day of the year?

9. What was your favorite celebration of 2011? (think- wedding, party, shower, etc.)

10. What is your favorite sport to participate in or watch?

11. What is your dream car---that you would really have to drive around town?

Consider yourself tagged if you are reading this and aren't a spammer. :)

It would also be fun to hear from....

Brenda

Sunny

Haley

Deborah- ok Deb you haven't posted since Manny was born...that was 2 years ago. We need some updates!

Mom---you should totally start a blog. Answer these questions as your first post. That would be fun!

{The Rules}

1. You must post the rules.

2. Post eleven fun facts about yourself on the blog post.

3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you've tagged.

4. Tag eleven people and link them on your post

5. Let them know you've tagged them!

Things I never want to forget

Manny is almost 2! I really can't believe it. He is mimicking lots of words and saying lots of fun things. I dropped the milk the other day while trying to carry the groceries in and said- oh shoot. Manny replied- oh shoot. (oops.) Glad it wasn't something worse coming out of my mouth. :)

I NEVER want to forget that when he first said banana he called it a ba-nagh-a-nah. That a pig and a drum are both called noises that he makes with his mouth closed...there's really no way to even spell it. It's like boom boom and oink oink but without any real word coming out and it sounds exactly the same.

He is so smart and so big and so awesome. He loves his magna-doodle and all of the musical instruments he got for Christmas. He will ask to watch "clue clue" and loves Blue.

He is an amazing boy and I am so blessed to be his mommy. He put on a concert for me today. Just like his daddy. He was holding his toy mic and playing the piano at the same time. I am so glad I married a wonderful man and it would be a fabulous thing if Manny turned out just like him. I never want to forget this season. This time when although Manny is starting to push limits and wonder if there are going to be any boundaries, he is exploring and enjoying life as well. We went to Ft. Worth this weekend and he loved being on the plane, riding the bus, and the tram to the airport. He is a great kiddo and I never want to forget these amazing moments.

Looking for Someone Like Me

Yesterday Manny & I went to an adoption picnic. It is an annual event hosted by the adoption agency that did our homestudy. We got an invite last year, but I think I was still in that fog of new baby world at that time, and it was a long way away to travel and hang out with people you don't know. This year however, I #1 know my way around here a little better, #2 have a much more active social little fella who needs time playing every day, & #3 was looking for someone that looked like me.

I had heard about the park and splash pad where the picnic was going to be held before, but it was still 45 minutes away. We don't do many extra things on Sundays. Daniel's day is completely committed and that is our priority. This week our church was also having a baptism service later that afternoon at Lake Michigan. So I took off on my own with Manny and we made an afternoon of it.

I'm not sure what I was looking for....maybe other white families raising black children. Maybe other moms who have one child through adoption, but long for more. Maybe someone who I don't have to explain the heartache to in waiting for your child to come home. Maybe someone who just knew what raising an adopted child was like. Maybe a success story of an older adopted child who is well adjusted and thriving. Maybe hair care tips. :) Maybe I was just looking for someone like me.

I did meet some other families & I look forward to getting to know them better. But none looked just like us. I was surprised that Manny was still the only African American at our picnic. I have been thinking about how many other families I know that have adopted and realized I do know lots of people like me. Thanks to Facebook & blogs I do have a network of adoptive moms that look like me. And for that I am very grateful.

Project Simplify

Hot Spot #5 was to do your own thing. So that was easy. This was the first time I'm joining in because I was busy reading Organized Simplicity By Tsh Oxenreider. So this was the first challenge I've actually done. I have done some of the de-cluttering/cleaning as laid out in the book so that has helped overall.

I tackled my laundry room, pictures for scrapbooking, and took a load to a local re-sale shop which seemed to take some organizational skills all in itself to get everything plus the 1 year old in the car. :)

So here's the proof:

Before (Above Washer/Dryer)



After (Above Washer/Dryer) - all my bathroom cleaners have to stay here because of a certain 1 year old. Under the sink is no longer a safe place, and on this particular cabinet under the sink there's no way to attach a lock like we have in the kitchen...



Adorable helper



Before - other side of laundry room



After - ahhhh so nice. :)




Photo Basket Before-




Photo Basket After-



Daniel asked for a specific photo and because they were nicely organized and already sorted I was able to quickly find it. Such a nice feeling. I just had to share my find. :)

The fine line between helping and being taken advantage of...

Disclaimer- If you don't know me in real life I'm not sure how this will come out. I hope it doesn't seem offensive.

When I think of my purpose in life this is what comes out- I want to be available to be used by God to help those in need. I love assisting. I do not love the lime light. I do not aspire to be on stage anywhere. :) I love behind the scenes. For example I love putting water bottles on stage for the guys before the Daniel Doss Band goes on to lead worship. Ask me to step onto the stage- no thanks. So yesterday was one of those days I got to help someone out from church and I was grateful for the free time and the opportunity.

Then today I got a phone call from the recipient of yesterday's help. She needs more help. She needs more assistance. I gladly was able to help yesterday, but I also felt the strong need to set up some healthy boundaries today so as not to get wrapped up in an endless cycle.

This is so hard for me, because unlike Jesus, we don't know people's hearts or intentions. She truly has a need. I wasn't able to offer her immediate help again, but was able to tell her when I would be able to help (it wasn't an emergency situation- so I didn't leave her out to dry by any means). I am so torn in this situation. I wanted to let her know that I care, and am able at times to help. But I also wanted to send a message that I will not be taken advantage of. This is such a fine line for me. I have a heart to serve and give, and I want to make a difference. I just struggle with how far is too far. I looked squarely at her situation (as best I could) and offered a compromise. We will see how it plays out.