May Photo-A-Day - Part 3

May Photo-A-Day
Part Three 

Day 21: Orange 

Day 22: Bugs (a VERY hungry caterpillar) 

Day 23: Chair

The chair in the office of the IAC - where H & I spend some quality time that morning! 

Day 24: Flowers 

Day 25: Quiet (H and glue sticks - quiet for about an HOUR!) 

Day 26: Flare (my new purse and bag - embracing color) 

Day 27: Mirror - that H made at church 

Day 28: Trees (on the way to the zoo, H asks "where is the zoo? and I say "behind those trees!) 

Day 29: Cheerful 

Day 30: A Man (his house is shown above) 

Day 31: From Below - after collapsing from exhaustion on the floor in the den! 


This has been fun!!  It took me a while to get May posted.  And I started doing June photos, but I just can't keep up.  It was fun to have a little monthlong snapshot of LIFE as it is now.  

What people think

I used to care what people thought.  What I wore, what I said, what I did.  Especially in high school.  I think that is the nature of being a teenager, though. And I was never one that could convince myself that everyone else was too worried about themselves to be worrying about me.  But I thought that when I became an "adult" that I would just get this self-confidence, where I would just be sure of myself and enjoy being me.  It didn't just come one day... But I kind of grew into it. And the final push of just not caring what people think happened when two preschoolers came into my life. 

I just can't care what people think - especially when we go places. Because wherever we go, it's most likely going to be a "scene."  It may be tears, screaming in anger, screaming with glee, whining, or just laughing and saying "Hi" to everyone we see.  You know we are coming by the noise...  The checkout ladies at our grocery store know that we are in the store and are looking for us to round that last corner. 

A few weeks ago, we were at Target, and the final thread of caring what people think was broken. I ended up with two little girls laying on the floor in one of the main aisles at Target, screaming and crying.  Both girls had REFUSED to get in the cart (which if they WILL do this, it usually helps save on the drama...) I had picked out a small rolling duffel to purchase that was being pushed (not pulled) by one of them and ran the other one over. So mommy took the duffel bag and then I had two girls screaming. One was "hurt" (just surprised, no actual pain). One just got something taken away. And of course, several people walked by looking at the scene. It was quite the drama caused by a little duffel bag. And that was the moment. I didn't care what people thought. I didn't care who saw. I actually couldn't care. Both of the girls were going to have to get over it before we could move on... Both of them sprawled out on the floor, screaming, crying and refusing to move. All I could do was comfort, wait and ignore the stares. It was mor pity stares and "oh I'm so glad I'm not you" stares. And after a few minutes, they did finally move. Well, one was still whimpering about wanting to push the duffel bag. And even thought it was a moment that we were all on the ground in the middle of a store, it's one of those moments I will remember. One of those moments that I have been waiting for - as I have waited so long for ALL mommy moments.  One more mommy badge. And one more memory! 

Keeping things running smoothly...

Each week I have a plan.  For getting everything done (well, most everything done).  I have an awesome to do list app on my iPad, that I refer to MANY times a day.  It's called Errands.  And it doesn't look like much when you first download it.  The beauty of it, though, is its customizability. 

I have my day to day life broken down into categories, like chores, shopping lists and errands outside the house.  And for each day, I have one or two tasks for each category.  So, for instance, my cleaning chores are broken down into one task for each day - one day is the bathroom; one day is vacuuming, etc. And the same for laundry - instead of waiting until someone is totally out of an article of clothing, each day of the week has its own load assigned to it.  

I do the same kind of thing for uploading, editing and sorting all of the many pictures that I take of my girls - all the time.  If I didn't do it weekly, they would pile up - and then never get done.  

Same with the cleaning, really.  I used to just have one day on the weekend that I would clean everything.  And I dreaded those hours.  How they took away my weekend fun time (at this time I was working outside the home and we didn't have kids).  So now, with my daily maintenance cleaning and other chores, everything stays clean.  My kitchen, my bath, my paper inbox, my photos.  That way I don't get overwhelmed. And everything stays clean - which makes the cleaning easier. 

Probably the most important thing to me that I do each day is prepare for the next day.  Getting out lists and coupons, getting out things for the next day's chore (like cleaners and such), getting the next day's laundry load on top of the washer and picking out clothes.  

This system works so well for me.  It may sound a little, well, nerdy.  But I guess that's how I liike things!  With the hyper organization of the chores and tasks that keep the house running, I don't have to think about it much - or really at all.  I know Oh, now it's time to do "this."  

Another great thing about the app that I mentioned, is that I can sort by category to see what is due each day in each area.  So I can see how my week is going to go - so that I can spread things out.  This works well in planning my errands for the week.  

Since all the planning is already done, this system saves me so much time.  And keeps me on track - something that I have a hard time doing.  Also it helps maintain my much desired level of organization and neatness.  Which helps me enjoy all the other aspects of being at home!  

Are they twins?

I am getting that bizarre question more than I ever thought that I would.  And it's mainly from people that see the girls side by side - and facing them.  I wasn't really sure how to answer when it first was being said.  But I am getting that question SO much now that I now have a standard answer, which includes the following:  No they are not twins.  They are both adoption.  They are 3 and 2 years old.  They are the same size.  One is from the US.  One is from China.  They do kind of function like twins sometimes.  

If not the "Are they twins?" question, then "are they both yours?" or "are they sisters?"  But all of these questions have pretty much the same answer... 

Soon after we got back from China and after I started feeling like I could actually function with two kids, I kind of felt like I had twins.  If one got it, the other one HAD to have it.  And about that same time, they started wanting to dress alike.  I didn't want to completely dress then like twins - I didn't want to act like they were.  But I could have - they do wear the same size clothes.  So began having two of many things - or at least two things that were comparable.  

And really, the funny thing is, I've really always wanted twins.  When we started fertility long ago, I can pretty much said that I HATED it.  Everything about it was miserable to me.  I think I knew that this wasn't the way for me, but that I needed to be there for a while to get to where I was going.  But one of the only thing that kind of excited me about fertility was the increased chance of twins!  But alas.  That didn't happen.  And when we started the journey of adoption, the mom that spoke the day that we knew God was leading us to adoption from China - she has beautiful twin girls from China.  Twins again - leading me to where I am now.  But when we began the China adoption journey, I thought we were on the road to only one child.  But God had this amazing plan.  And after not one, but two amazing, blessed miraculous adoptions, I have two great girls..  That are the same size and are like twins... But are not.  I have a little helper when I need it.  And a cuddly baby when I need it too.  But then I have two fun little ones that play so well together, wear the same size, eat the same things, want the same toys...  

So now when I answer that sweet, but odd question "Are they twins?" I no longer am surprised to hear it.  It's kind of fun to answer.  I get to tell a little bit about how adoption has blessed our lives.  And how God has given us these two wonderful gifts.  

Yes, the first few times I wanted to say - "why yes they are twins... fraternal" - haha!  It is fun to watch people's faces if they are wondering how me and my husband HAD these kids.  Our youngest, adopted from the States, looks just like daddy.  And my sweet girl from China looks a lot like me, and really she looks half Chinese.  And remember, they are about the same size.  So when you look at them, it's hard to figure out how I had these two girls - and looking like it was less than 9 months apart.  

So my sweet girls - my dark eyed, brown haired gift from China and my blond blue eyed blessing from the States - they are not twins...  But they are sisters.  They are both mine.  And they are both wonderful blessings in our family!