Here are a few videos of some very thankful people. (Tip: keep tissues close.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twmS_2kTGto
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVIhiVnQ3UY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qly3VCw1YNQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrl3XS4Bk_g&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B04B2BJ-IFo
I just checked my own blog to see if there were any updates. (Oddly, there were none:) I need sleep.
As a mother whose heart spans continents right now, I ache for this family. Please visit their website and help in any way you can. (They tell their own story much better than I can, so I'll leave the details to them...).
http://www.bringedenhome.com/
Do you know the word "nemesis"? My kids do, thanks to a 7th grade basketball legend passed on by my husband (the protagonist) at our 2 hour dinner tonight. TOOOOONYYYYYYY MUUUURRRRRRPHYYYYY (must growl and scowl for proper pronunciation) menaced Josh's middle school basketball career with his evil antics. I'm not actually sure who came out on top of the rivalry [at the final showdown, Tony's (TOOOONNNNYYYYY's) team won....on his birthday, and Tony apparently put up pretty good numbers of his own] but Josiah and Olivia appropriately rally around their Dad and his Schwartzenegery "You're mine. I have not forgotten," Jedi speech during a key play in their much-lauded last matchup. We listed all the nemeses we could think of after Daddy's story (apparently Olivia has a nemesis in her kindergarten class....his name is EEEEEAAAAAASSSSSSTTTOOONNNN -- don't forget to squint and scowl.) --- Luke and Darth (or is it the emperor?), TMNTs and Shredder (or is it really Crang). We talked over the roots of the term in Greek mythology and then moved on to my stories of a cross country nemesis in high school. You know, cross country never drew the crowd that basketball did in my high school....or in any high school, I'd venture. And my kids' forced interest in my painfully dramatized story about KKKAAAARRAAA WIILLLLHEEELLLMMM only served to salt that wound. But we will likely be scowling about TOOOONNYY MUUURRPHHYY for years to come. And, although I'm confident that Tony has evolved into a kind man, probably a caring father and productive member of the workforce...I think we'll hang onto that 7th grade snapshot because it's pretty fun to have a family nemesis!
My kids unloaded this moment on me several weeks ago, but I thought I'd mention it. We read a crazy picture book about a couple who wins three wishes in some fairyland twist of luck, and somehow the woman winds up with a sausage stuck to her nose (if I had a nickel...). We (my mom and I) asked the kids what they would use three wishes for, and here are their responses:
Olivia: "Let Josiah go first."
Josiah: "I would wish for a toy that doesn't cut you or hurt you or break." (Good luck with that one, Josiah! Have you seen the recall list lately!?)
Olivia: "Okay, I would use my first wish to wish for wisdom to know how best to use my next two wishes." (Seriously.)
"Then, I would wish for 100 more wishes." (100:Olivia, A Zillion:Amy)
"And last, I would wish to have a baby when I grow up."
There, I wrote it. Now, when I inevitably forget to remember it, I might accidentally stumble upon it during a blog day update....Whew.
This has been a big week for sweet-isms in our house. I'd call them "unforgettable," but I have been inclined to forget the most important things lately, so I thought I'd archive them here....in nowhere...the mysterious gap in the world wide web where my blog hovers. In a world where the mouth of my life puckers almost daily against somethinger-other bitter, I thought we all might do to sample a little of this sweetness.
Here goes: Yesterday, we were standing in line at the all-you-can-eat buffet/Thanksgiving Dinner with my wonderful family-by-marriage. I struck up a conversation with a woman toting a baby (one of my favorite pasttimes...), and we talked for several minutes about our kids and the general paraphernelia of our lives. At an appropriate pause in our conversation, Olivia respectfully interjected "Excuse me." Then she floored me, "I think that you are very lucky to be talking with my Mom." Brief pause while the mother of three boys smiled and responded with polite indifference. Then Olivia finished, "because she is the very best Mama in the world." I was silenced.
Number Two: The other day in the car, Olivia and I were talking about something, I don't remember what, and I told her how happy I was that she had done or said (or maybe had not done or said....can't remember) something. Olivia said, "That's what I like best." I said, "What do you like best, Olivia?" She said, "Making you happy is my favorite thing, Mom.....and King's Island."
Third Times the Charmer: Tonight, my mom asked the kids to pray for a little girl from her church who is having extreme health difficulties. Olivia prayed their nighttime prayer tonight...mostly about Grandma's being able to smell, which she prays near tears almost every night (my mom can't smell....weird but true.) Anyway, she finished, and Josh started their new nighttime book. Then Olivia interrupted (don't you love her interruptions!? I do!), "Oh no! I forgot to pray for grandma's friend!" At which point she launched into a prayer for the little girl. After she was finished, Josiah said, "Oh daown it! (He still says about a third of his "r"S as Ws....so sweet!), I fowgot to pray for hew too!" This is BIG for Josiah. He NEVER volunteers to pray. We never push prayer. We do it, and respect their opportunities to pray whenever they feel compelled, and we offer them chances to participate in our prayers whenever they're around, but it's not something that Josiah usually does out loud. In fact, the last time he volunteered to pray, he asked if he could pray a song, which each of us does from time to time. Then, he launched into a very meditative....head bowed, eyes closed....rendition of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles themesong....both verses....Amen. this time, he prayed that "Gwandma's friend would get bettew and that she would have a chance to gwow up."
I love my kids. They are two of the best people I know.
As most of you know, I have two kids. (Scroll up...there they are.....Very sweet.) During Olivia's pregnancy, I ran across the book Your Pregnancy Week by Week, which was awesome because I didn't have the patience for the month to month updates in What to Expect when You're Expecting. The downside of the week-to-week format -- I read ahead....WAY ahead....and then I convinced myself that I was further along than I actually was. I thought I was 14 weeks when I was 12 weeks.....corrected at a doctor's visit.....read ahead again....then thought I was 27 weeks at 24 weeks.....corrected at a doctor's visit......etc., etc. Instead of getting the clue and patiently enjoying my pregnancy with Josiah (or switching books), I was WORSE. I remember being crushed at 32 weeks when I had convinced myself that I was 36 weeks along and nearly ready to deliver......corrected, of course, at a doctor's visit.
Last night, I was sitting at my computer looking over the informal list on my adoption agency's forum (a few referrals this week have bumped us up a notch or two), and I looked at the column that noted "wait time for a referral." We were listed at 3 months waiting. "That can't be," I thought, amused and appalled (weird combination, I know, but you cannot believe how many days find me walking around in exactly that state of offballance emotional upheaval and mild amusement). I, of course, having been telling people for weeks now that we will arrive at our 5 month waiting mark (the magical mark, as it's the front end of our agency's projected 5-7 month wait time window) on December 3rd, having submitted our paperwork on August 3rd. HMMMMMMMmm, August 3rd, September 3rd, October 3rd, November 3rd, December 3rd......4 months....not five. I was....again.....crushed. Worse than before this time. Very hard.
By the way, the fact that the title of this post is a Britt***ny Spe$rs song is not lost on me. Although I have never heard the song in its entirety (and yes, I am bragging), I haven't been able to get it out of my head for the past 2 days. And, the title seemed, sadly, appropriate. At least my doctor didn't get to deliver the news this time! I read it on a list, in the privacy of my own living/computer/music room...so I could look as amused and appalled as I wanted without fear of mortification or medical intervention.
For the last few nights, we have been engaged in the first phase of a six night Star Wars family marathon. (Don't worry, we plan to screen Episode 3 before we share it with the kids and skip the skippable parts when advisable). Actually, before we took a two night Halloween Hiatus, we had just gotten underway with Star Wars and The Empire Strikes back. The LOVED Empire, and we spent a good deal of the morning after checking out You Tube contributions to the world of George Lucas, including this link, which features Olivia and Josiah's favorite character:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPyxstgk8oM
I was wet-eyed through my whole viewing of this video the first time I watched it. I'm not sure if my emotion stemmed from memories of Empire Strikes Back, the first movie I ever saw in the theater, or from the hours (and HOURS) David and Karen and then later Adam and I spent in our rooms rewinding and listening to (and rewinding and listening to and rewinding and listening to) every song on Dare to Be Stupid. I had forgotten how much fun it was to be kids together...simple, fun. I remember the exileration of learning all of the words (or all of OUR words....as I've grown older and begin to understand more of the jokes, I realize that some of the words we made up have nothing whatsoever to do with the actual lyrics) to any of the Weird Al songs so that we could perform them for Mom and Dad. Funny, too, that as I watched Empire Strikes Back for the first time in 20 years, I could hear my Dad's laugh in all of the places that I remember he found funny.....like when Leia declares her love for Han just before he is immersed in Carbonite and he earnestly replies "I know." So many places in the movie made me smile thinking of my Dad.
Anyway, here's another link that is absolutely not from my childhood, but as long as we're talking Yoda, I thought I'd share a laugh I had with my own kids....an new generation of Jedi laughers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpqutjeVFTc
And for Karen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAH1oEPaILw
And for Grandpa and Grandma:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoaQYL8ylms
Apparently, there's a Yoda for everyone:)
May the farce be with you!
