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Faith Forever Christmas

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Faith Forever Christmas

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Playing Dress-Up

I loved the yearly tradition of dressing up for Halloween when I was a kid.  My mom made our costumes every year - EVERY year.  We four kids not ONCE had a costume that came from a store.  Sometimes we'd be in KMart and I'd inspect the costumes they had there, but even as a child I knew that they were really poor quality.  Back then, the major feature of a costume from the store was the plastic mask.  The mask was usually accompanied by a lightweight, non-washable, most likely flammable, slip of a costume, that looked as though it was fashioned from a bag - with armholes.  But those were not for us.  Our family was lucky to have a mom who sewed!

Usually my mom made the decision as to the THEME of our costumes - we ALWAYS had a theme.  Depending upon our age, we could then choose what we wanted from there.  My brother and I were clowns one year, we were an angel & devil another year.  My sister came on the scene and we were: witch, skeleton, ghost.  There was the Star Wars theme, and the year we were all "circus folk" - the clown costumes came back out for my younger siblings.  There was the year we were all Saints - Joan of Arc was one of the few women saints who could be counted on for an exciting costume!  One year the four of us were crayons.  I don't know if we were all happy about that - but we got to choose our colors!  For a few years in one of the schools we attended, the SCHOOL had a theme.  It was a parochial school, I think they were trying to keep the scary out of Halloween.  There was a circus theme that year - so as a family we were on our third circus theme.  This time I chose Cotton Candy, and one of my brothers was one of only two boxes of popcorn in the school.  The following year we had a Cartoon theme - my mom's subtheme was Disney cartoons - so we were Cinderella, Captain Hook, Tinkerbell and Mickey Mouse.  This was probably my last year of dressing up for a while - I was in 8th grade.

I had some moments of dressing up in college - the costume parties for Halloween - and one Vernal Equinox party......which was just an odd moment in college memory.  We were told to dress as something in nature or something from the periodic table of elements.....after much work went into the costumes - I was Autumn, a friend was Gold, another friend a Wood Nymph - we arrived at the party to find a great deal of people were in regular clothes and the one guy that came with us in some sort of Roman Soldier costume (depicting what, I don't know), slipped into a bathroom with a duffel bag and quickly changed - leaving the rest of us in costume - it was an odd night.  The hostess, dressed as Coal was delighted we were in costume, but we three were only joined by some strange guy in some sort of a sho gun outfit, complete with the sandals the hostess got from her pedicure - ewww!

Our Little Ladybug

Now, I'm a mom, and I was eager to flex my creative muscle and create some great costumes for my girlie....then girlies.  My first daughter, Ballerina, came to us on Halloween.  Her first Halloween was not Halloween at all - it was Family Day- a day that would become an annual celebration for all of us.  The first Halloween my Ballerina spent in the U.S.A was a special one in that we were celebrating one year with her, and as a nod to the "good luck" symbol of China adoption, I made Ballerina a Ladybug costume.  She was beautiful and happy - and we loved that day :-)

After Ballerina zipped around like a Ladybug - she was mostly content not to dress-up during playtime.  Each year she would request a costume for me to create, and I would jump right in and work it out.  I have a sewing machine, and I've made some things on it - but making a mermaid costume with some sheer fabric was quite a challenge!  She often asked for costumes that were not on anyone else's radar - Word Girl anyone?!  There was also Kim Possible, an Astronaut and Violet from The Incredibles.


Will the real Word Girl please stand up!

And when we added Songbird to the family she would ask for costumes that showed how much Girly-Girl she really was!  She wore the Ladybug Costume the first year, and then a string of Tinkerbell, Angelina Ballerina, and Rapunzel followed.  


Renaissance JuneBug, Angelina Ballerina Songbird
and "Incredible" Ballerina

Our Astronaut and Tinkerbelle

Big Sister JuneBug was slightly bewildered about the whole Halloween dress-up, but had no problem donning a Renaissance costume her Nana found for her.  In fact, since SongBird hasn't grown in size, she wore that two years in a row.  Songbird is particularly enamored with the long brown felt and sparkly gold trim on that costume - she's tried it on every time it comes out!

This year my girls have put me to the challenge once again!  I have put together a Cake Boss costume for JuneBug - the only part I had to make was the cake - all the girls helped on that one - we made a clay two-tier cake and it was a lot of fun! 



Rapunzel, "Winter" and Kim Possible

Songbird typically comes up with some fantastical ideas before she settles on something that I might be able to concoct.  This year, after toying with the idea of being RICE, she settled on Ice Cream.  I almost had her convinced to be a Rainbow, but she had other ideas.  That costume was an improvised, figure-it-out as you go type of outfit.  The three scoops of ice cream are pretty much blended into one and its lop-sided on the side, but she's pretty darn cute, and laughs merrily each time I put it over her head.

Our Little Mermaid

My final challenge is my Ballerina.  She, typically, has chosen a costume, that most girls are not contemplating this year.  She wants to be a Pioneer Girl - not just any pioneer girl mind you, Mary Ingalls.  That's right - NOT Laura Ingalls, the central character in the Little House series.  She identifies more with Mary, Laura's older sister, who is much more of a rules girl.  This is the costume I've put off until the last since I need to consult a pattern, which strikes fear in me - I must admit.  When I made that Ariel costume when Ballerina was three, I struggled so much and had to call the pattern company so a kind lady in their headquarters could interpret the directions from "sewer speak" to regular English an amateur sewer could understand.



My Little Doctor

I have less than a week to make this costume.  Ballerina already had a Halloween party to attend and we quickly threw together a costume for her - she already has a lab coat (a birthday gift from years past) and I made her a badge.  Together with my Guy's stethoscope she was a thorasic surgeon.  She was the cutest little doctor in her get-up.  But now its serious business.  This is not a concoction out of felt or using duct tape (which, in all seriousness is AWESOME to use for costumes - I undervalued its use prior to the Astronaut costume.)  So, blogging done, costume procrastination over - on to the pattern cutting!



The Kitchen Nook....aka Book Nook

Before - Peachy/Sandy Walls - no shelves

After - Smooth/Capucchino Walls - Shelves Galore

I alluded to a kitchen "refresh" in my previous blog about my girlies' room. The kitchen project was the kick-start to a few updates around here. It was by no means a renovation - in the sense that we didn't rip out tile, flooring, cabinets or appliances to replace them with anything new. BUT, the update gave the room a fresh, new feel.

The latest version of our kitchen included a wall paint that was both glossy AND sandy - I know, I know, this sounds bizarre.....it was a well intentioned attempt at hiding some imperfections in our plaster walls. It was a couple of husbands (mine and a longtime friend) who brainstormed the issue at Home Depot and came home with my selected paint color already mixed with sand. It didn't LOOK horrible up on the wall, but it was SOOOO hard to clean. Anytime something spilled on the wall, I would end with my towel or sponge shredded to pieces. It was a wall that would snag tights and stockings and in general just started to become my enemy.

Most of our outstanding major projects were put on hold the last two years as we've coped with a new member of the family, who has come with many special needs that we're addressing. Also, my handy-man husband was working on a Masters Degree - so I didn't bug him about the gritty paint.....well not too much.

My girlie in Play Kitchen days

One of the things in our kitchen was a built in bookshelf. When Ballerina was about 2 or 3 years old she got a play kitchen for Christmas. I removed the bottom three shelves in the bookshelf and slid her kitchen into the space. Songbird happily took it over when she started to walk, and it got a lot of use over the years. We were finally nearing the end of its life in our home, and I was formulating a plan for the space. In addition to aprons, the play kitchen had become a catchall for lunchboxes and tote bags, and I would often find lunch thermoses hanging out with the toy whisks and plastic fruit.

My first job was finding a new home for the play kitchen and toy food. We kept some of the mixing bowls, the tea set and play cakes - there are still play tea parties and some pretend cooking going on - just not in the kitchen. I cleaned up the little wooden kitchen and searched every nook and cranny of the apartment for any cardboard/plastic groceries. I rounded up all the Melissa & Doug OT-friendly wooden foods. These wooden toys were attached with velcro and came with smooth wooden "knives" that were perfect for my little Songbird to practice her fine motor skills. An adoptive mom I'd met through another adoptive mom was bringing home, from China, a daughter who had Albinism, like my Songbird. She had just purchased a kitchen set for her young children and was happy to have the wooden toys that would help her daughter, who had similar needs to my girlie. The toy kitchen and rest of the toys were dropped off at the local "Take It or Leave It" shed.  I barely set the toys down at the shed when a woman whisked most of them up into her car - it looked like a grandma, happy to find a new treasure for her grandchildren.  I was glad it could continue to be used.  Before I knew it - the kitchen was already starting to look different....I pushed ahead.

Built-In Shelves in transition

Because the space had started to catch the afterschool items,and the kids backpacks lined up under their coat rack in the hallway started to intrude into the easy flow from front door to rest of the apartment - I concluded that I needed to use the space that was vacated by the play kitchen for a school/activity cubby. I started to browse through magazines and on Pinterest for some ideas. I found lots of beautiful, sleek built-ins, but I realized that some railings and hooks would work out just fine - the shelf space is narrow, and I don't want to block the flow anymore. The play kitchen jutted out a few inches and I figured I was done with that!

So, as I started sketching out a plan and browsing the Ikea catalog, I started to look at all the pins I'd pinned on pinterest that involved shelving. I really needed more shelves in our little kitchen. We have a tiny galley that has some cabinets along with ALL the appliances. The nook off the tiny galley kitchen is larger and included the built-in shelves, the Container Store Elfa shelves and a pantry closet. I had a great buffet that holds my good china and tablecloths. The wall above the buffet had artwork on it and I was ready to make it work harder.

Nook Dismantled

I started to gather my ideas and make some drawings. I shared them with my handy-man, now GRADUATED, husband. He was receptive to the change, noting that the items I'd planned to sit on the additional shelves were spilling out of the pantry too many times. Okay, so now that he was happy with the plan, I revealed one of the important elements for the whole shelves/ hooks and rails plan.......I needed the walls rid of their sandy finish. If we're going to freshen it up, we should prep the walls properly and, I reasoned, the paint should be the first to go - it had been long enough. With some resignation as to the exhaustive sanding involved, he agreed and we set off to the home depot to gather tools and paint samples.

In the weeks coming I started stalking the Ikea website for information on the shelving that I'd decided would be the exact right fit for our space. There were two pieces from the same collection that I wanted. One was as high as the other was wide and I measured the space to find that the configuration I had in mind would work perfectly. When I was at Ikea to pick up the shelves along with some railings for the "cubby" area, I discovered the shelves were not in stock. I was disappointed as the closest Ikea is about 40 minutes away, and it wasn't a quick trip to just check on stock. At the same time I discovered that the timing was not the greatest to get exactly what I needed.  The Swedish superstore was launching a new catalog within a month and would be unveiling new items and moving stock around for a bit, while renovating some showroom spaces. I started to panic - maybe they wouldn't restock MY shelves!

I went to the store's website and found that not only were the shelves out of stock, but all the other (somewhat) nearby Ikeas did NOT have my shelves in stock either! As a matter of fact, I couldn't even order them online - the situation was not looking good. When I realized that not even the Portland, OR store had these items in stock, my heart sunk. I gave myself a few weeks to figure out a new plan....which included a limited budget.  During my few weeks of figuring, I kept checking out Ikea - I was able to find one of the shelf sets online for order - it was the long shelf, which worked out just fine. If I could only have one of the two - the long shelf was the most useful - it came with two long shelves and a built-in railing with hooks for teacups or hand towels. I ordered it and crossed my fingers I could find something else to replace the tall shelves.

I returned to Ikea again for the picture ledges for my girlies' room and was a wee bit hopeful that I'd find the tall shelf.  On the website it was vague, but not negative, about the stock. I inquired about it the minute we walked into the store. The sales associate I spoke with said there was just ONE left in the store.  If I wanted it, I'd have to go to furniture pickup now. I fairly ran down to claim that shelf. Thankfully the girls begged to go to the kiddie-playland and without them I was able to quickly dodge the meandering shoppers who were pondering dining tables and carpeting. I felt like I'd somehow gotten away with something as I packed the shelf into my car! With my treasure safely packed into the car, I took my time picking out the rest of the items on my list. After I retrieved the girls and took them to lunch - free for kids on Tuesdays- and we headed down to the registers for my second time that day.

Before I got to the register, I detoured into the "As-Is" department. There I found two small wheeled cabinets that were floor models. I suddenly realized they would fit in the area under my Container Store shelves. I was considering trading my bottom "desk" shelf in for a column of narrow shelves. These two discounted cabinets would cost less than the new shelves and brackets. I tried to send a picture to my handy-man guy to see what he thought, but the reception was poor and the picture didn't go through. He said he trusted me, go ahead and get the non-returnable cabinets. Part of me was looking for a "WOW, you found those PERFECT cabinets for next to NOTHING? COOOOLLL!" - But maybe that was just asking for too much. I grabbed a bigger cart and loaded the cabinets up. My shopping was done and SUCCESSFUL!
 


The "desk" shelf fits perfectly over the cabinets

The pieces were ready - now I needed to dismantle the kichen "nook". On a day that the girls had no summer programs, I started taking all the books off the shelves - I have a small collection of cookbooks and a whole bunch of other books on the shelves in my kitchen - it is a small library. Ballerina took charge and started stacking the books in the hallway after I took the down. Songbird mostly rearranged the stacks her big sister put together and JuneBug shuttled around the wall art and tabletop items that needed to be moved.  They're so helpful my girls!

The next step was the wall sanding. Dave saved this project for a day I would be out with the girls. He had many setbacks with the sander - weak sandpaper that couldn't take the heavy duty project - but after many trips to all the hardware stores within walking distance (because I took our only car!) he replaced the poor sandpaper with good sandpaper and over two days got the walls down to a nice smooth consistency. I was LOVING it!

After living with light tan stripes for a few days - we settled on a sandy/tan Pebbled Courtyard color that was more like a cappuchino color. The color went on beautifully. The shelves were put up on another day out with the girls and it changed the whole look of the room. I immediately put books, baskets and mixing bowls in place. One picture ledge was added right above the buffet and I put some cookbooks on display. I slid the cabinets under the shelving unit and they look as if they were built to fit! The rails and hooks went up and the girls promptly installed their bookbags and lunch boxes.




Nancy Drew Books within reach of Girlies

The MUCH neater after-school drop!

It was all fitting into place and looked even better than I imagined. Its helping the girls keep their homework, bookbags, dance bag, sunscreen and hats organized. There is definitely less "Songbird, WHERE is your LUNCHBOX?" and "Ballerina....look behind all the jackets, its gotta be there somewhere!" I like walking into my kitchen and seeing a new room. When we put artwork back on the walls, we removed some old stuff and after shopping my apartment, I moved a bunch of handpainted Italian plates into that room. I took the old picture in the frame and turned it around. On the back taped a piece of art paper that I picked up for less the cost of a poster. The paper features vintage postcards of Italian cities.




My "Chef's Hat" or "Cupcake Wrapper" light

Just today my handy-man husband turned his attention to the light fixure in the nook. I had picked up a new fixture at.....any guess? Ikea. Yeah, the name of this post should read - "Kitchen by Ikea". Anyway, I was on a roll while I was there, and light fixtures aren't the least expensive thing to spruce up a kitchen, and Ikea's prices were right. I picked up two fixtures - one for the galley, one for the nook. The one for the nook grabbed my attention because it looked like a chef's hat. When I showed my mom, she said it looked like a cupcake wrapper - even BETTER! So, handy-husband worked his magic and after some additional trips to the tool box, lots of shaking the head and great effort, we now have a brand new fixture - probably the second ever fixture in that room since the building was erected.

It feels good to have some more organization and the shelving squared away. We still have some touch-ups to finish, shelves to paint, and one light fixture in the galley that needs replacing before it is all DONE - but it is so changed already, I'm sharing!

Hidden away are thermoses, Keurig pods, baking pans, mason jars....

Keeping the Faith

With three girlies who came into our family through adoption, we KNOW that we are blessed by God. It was just the two of us for a long time - lots of prayers in those 10 years. Dave and I celebrated our tenth anniversary a week after we returned home with our first sweet girlie - Ballerina.

As an aside - It was a strange anniversary celebration - we were still sleep deprived/jet lagged from our long journey home and Dave was not feeling well. For the first time ever since we embraced our sweet daughter, we were going to go out to dinner without our baby - but we were determined to celebrate such a big anniversary. The dinner didn't go too well, the chef inquired if the food was allright, since it went mostly untouched. We returned home early, and at the end of the night Dave went to the ER due to dehydration.....it was an anniversary to remember!

Back to my original point - we know we are blessed! We want our daughters to grow up knowing that they are blessed, and know who to thank for all of their blessings. We want them to know and believe in the God who loved us all before we were born. We bring the girls to church, they were baptized into our faith family and welcomed warmly by our church community. They know that faith is a part of who we are as a family, and not just a weekly commitment. It is part of being in this family - God is central to our family relationships.

Now they are growing older and starting to learn more about the practice of faith. Ballerina and JuneBug received their First Holy Communion this past spring. It was just six days after they lost their paternal grandmother. As a family, we were there on her last day, sitting with her and praying, and celebrating mass and Eucharist in her room. Our friend, a priest, came to offer the mass and very gently, and openly talked about their Nonni moving from the world of being with us, to being with God. As we had spent many weeks in advance talking to them about what was most likely going to be the outcome of Nonni's illness, they were steady, and accepted the news with tears, but gladness that Nonni didn't feel hurt anymore. They had had some experience at my Grandmother's funeral just two months previous, and they saw the importance of our faith community in the final goodbye.

Ballerina, in particular, had been preparing for her First Communion ever since she was about 4 1/2. She eagerly wanted to be more involved in mass. She longed to participate in the way that her parents participate, and when she learned more about the Eucarist, she was SURE she wanted to receive.

When we decided to enter JuneBug into our Religious Education program, it was with much hesitance. Our church does not have a special needs program. More than that, the last year children receive religious instruction is when they are the age JuneBug was - and that is the year they prepare for Confirmation. It wasn't the right time for her to pursue that. A friend, who was also a religion teacher - specifically Ballerina's new religion teacher offered to take JuneBug into her class as a special helper. This was an ideal way, in my mind, for her to get her feet wet with religious instruction outside the home.

I say outside the home, because to me, JuneBug was clearly understanding something about our faith at home. Right from the beginning, she observed and imitated our postures - and if she did not exactly understand what we were doing - she knew it was important. In China we found a Catholic church (rare) and went inside to say a prayer. She joined us on the kneelers and folded her hands like her little sisters. Before a week passed she could be seen with her hands folded at the dinner table, waiting for everyone to sit down and pray before eating. She joined us in each prayer and celebration, and was shyly joyful the day of her baptism.

After the first two classes, Ballerina reported that JuneBug was less "helper" more "student" - and I was fine with that. When a substitute who knew my girls, related to me the following story, I knew I would ask for JuneBug to receive her Communion with her younger sister. The substitute stepped in for 20 minutes to cover for the teacher who needed to talk to a student outside of the classroom. She asked the children to read a paragraph from the chapter they were studying. All the students were asked to take turns. When JuneBug's turn came, the substitute said it was okay, they could move on to Ballerina. Ballerina asked why her sister couldn't read her paragraph. The substitute knew JuneBug couldn't read, and has great difficulty with her speech and she tried to gently explain to Ballerina that she knew JuneBug couldn't do it. Ballerina said "I will help her." Ballerina read each word in the paragraph, one at a time, and JuneBug repeated each word as she went along. This must have gone on for much longer than it takes the most struggling readers to read, but apparently they read the whole paragraph like this while about 25 second graders silently listened. I was so proud of my girls when I heard this story - I teared up instantly and knew that Ballerina was truly showing God's love and compassion. She has a strong sense of justice, and this was her way to stake her sister's claim in this class. With her sister's help, we would be able to prepare her to receive Jesus.

I was so proud of these girls when they dressed in their beautiful white dresses and veils to join their classmates in receiving their first Eucharist. It was that weekend that Songbird started asking if she could go up for a blessing when her sister's received the Eucharist. She knew that this was a big deal, and all of a sudden she decided she would like to be a part of it all.

The funerals, the First Communion - they were all opportunities for us to have more thoughtful conversations about God and faith and why we believe what we believe. This went way beyond our seasonal Easter and Christmas conversations....though definitely built on both of these celebrations!

Since we live our faith at home, not just in church, the girls know their prayers. There are a standard few they know by heart, and then there are times we add petitions from our hearts. I have been thinking of expanding their prayer - and instead of litany of blessings and petitions at bedtime - I wanted them to open themselves up to new intentions and put some of them into our regular prayer vocabulary.

Finding lots of great ideas on Pinterest, has led me to searching for great faith building activities. I found something that, combined with some ideas that were brewing in my mind already, has turned into a great way to expand our prayer life.

We now have "Prayer Sticks"! What? Well, this is what I did: I purchased some large craft sicks. They are a bigger version of popsicle sticks and come in both the 'natural' color and the red/blue/green/yellow variety pack. I got 1 pack of each. On the red sticks, I wrote 5 intentions that have always been a part of our daily prayers - prayers for our family, families and children of adoption, those who are sick - you get the idea. On the Natural colored sticks I wrote a BUNCH of intentions. I wrote down anything that we have prayed for in the past, anything we SHOULD be praying for, and I left a bunch blank for intentions we haven't thought of yet. The petitions include specific names for babies on the way, godparents and godchildren, teachers, friends and classmates, prayers for our religious and political leaders, petitions to help us show each other God's love, help guide us, help us do our very best every day....etc. Finally I wrote THANKFUL prayers on the green sticks. These included prayers of Thanksgiving for the beauty of nature, for the love of family, for our health, for religious freedom and for Jesus' sacrifice. Again, I left some blank for future prayers.

Together with Ballerina, I sat down and made out a framework of how we will use the prayer sticks. For now, this is how we will use these tools to help us be more "prayer" mind-ful. In the morning we will each take a petition stick out of the container and take it as our own petition for the day. When we are going about our day, this petition will be our special prayer. We pray for the intention right then, and keep it in our hearts and on our mind all day. When we share a meal together - usually dinner, but if its breakfast or lunch we can do it then too - we will take a green THANKFUL stick out of the bucket and add it to our prayer before we eat. Around here we pray the "Bless Us Oh Lord, and These Thy Gifts......" grace before meals.

Finally, at bedtime, we each take one stick of each color and after our standard prayers, like the Our Father, we take turns adding the petitions we've drawn. The idea is that after we finish with these intentions, we put the sticks into a seperate bucket so that the other prayers get a chance to be prayed over the next two days. Since there are only one Red sticks per person, they are prayed daily. At any time, of course, we can add a prayer that is not written onto a stick. I'm also encouraging the girls to draw a stick to inspire prayer before we attend mass or pray the rosary.

This is just another way to inspire the girls as to what to say when they "dial God's phone number". We want them to recognize that there are people who need our prayers, and that their prayers are important. We also want them to offer prayers of THANKSGIVING. We want them to know that we need to ask God for guidance, we need to follow God's path, and we will often need to pray to find out what that path is!

So far, so good - I especially like that they each take a petition as their own all day - they have remembered it and pray again at dinner. This has opened a new way for them to practice their faith, and I'm happy that its been a successful tool!

A Whole "New" Room

My girlies all share a room. For those of you who don't know, we STILL live in a 2 bedroom co-op apartment. It felt HUGE when my guy and I first bought it and moved in, just the two of us.

We had been renting a 400 sq ft apartment in a house that was once a two family, turned into 3 family house. Our little apartment held a surprising number of people for our Christmas parties, but the logistics of getting our couch in and out of the living room, along with other small place problems, and desire to start a family sent us to look for a new nest. I remember sitting on the floor of our current home, with boxes stacked around me, calling for my Guy's help and realizing that he was WAAAAAYYYY far away at the other end of the apartment and it felt like such a great distance. We more than doubled the size and for two people it was pretty huge.

We had a second bedroom that, for people without children, inevitably turned into a combo of guest bedroom/office/craft room. We had a twin bed, a dresser, a wall of shelves and a desk and a drafting table and my sewing machine. The bedroom took turns hosting family and friends. We hosted a friend back from the Peace Corps for a week as he took some time visiting New York friends before heading to family in Florida. Another friend started a job in New Jersey and was moving from her home in New York and we were a half-way point between the old job/home and the new. She stayed for a month or so. The longest resident of that room was my sister, who moved to New York after she graduated from college in Maryland. She stayed with us while she looked for a job, and several months after she found work, she stayed on until she found an apartment of her own. As she left us to strike out on her own, she gave us a painting personalized with a reference to us being a "Bed & Breakfast". The room served others well, and we were ready for a tiny person to occupy the room.

In 2005, as we awaited the arrival of our first daughter from China, we readied the spare room into a nursery. In the summer, my mom came up to NY to help my sister and I paint the room. Well, my Guy actually painted first. He gave the whole room a softer yellow repaint, over the previous brighter yellow. My sis brought an old school projector from work and we used this as a tool to magnify pictures onto the wall and trace them. My mom created most of the pictures that we projected and we then painted kites all over the walls. There was a figure of a dark haired girl with a parasol and there was a wall with flowers. My mom painted cherry blossom trees, free-hand, and added Chinese lanterns. Around the top of the wall was a red painted, calligraphied,scripture verse. "I will bring you from the West and your Children from the East. I have called you by name, you are mine". I sewed blue curtains for the window and the closet. The fabric featured ladybugs climbing up vines. As ladybugs have taken on the symbol of Chinese adoption - we took ladybugs on as a subtle theme in the "new" room.

The wall of shelves was cut down to just a few shelves near the ceiling, the twin bed was traded in for a crib and the drafting table was removed to add an armoire, dresser and cedar chest. A rocking chair that my mom used, to sit with me, and my siblings, was added to the room. A surprise baby shower held a few weeks after we got word about our first daughter, helped fill the dresser and closet, and I started to pulling out the shoes and dresses, I'd sparingly bought as we waited. Books went on the shelves, bedding was laid out and items were carefully chosen to go into the suitcase for our trip to China.

The cheerful room became our favorite room in our home. The best part of it was when a little person came home into it, and made it really come alive.....both during the day and a night!

Over the years our home has taken on magical qualities - it has shrunk a little each time we had a child enter the home, or one of our girls needed a crib upgrade. In 2008 we moved our Ballerina girl from a toddler bed into a "big girl" bed and found ourselves putting the crib back together. We moved the furniture around and it was perfectly suited for two girls. We removed only the cedar chest. When Songbird outgrew the crib and the the toddler bed reappeared, we removed the rocking chair. One more element was added to the mural when we were in China in 2008. Another girl was painted on the wall, this time a blonde girlie with pigtails.

Finally in 2009, after much discussion and room measurements, we decided that we would like to adopt again while we still lived in this home....and we could physically fit another child. This is not a factor that would have come into our discussion if the child came to us through birth, but since we were putting ourselves into the adoption process deliberately, this had to be a factor. So, in 2010 we rearranged the room once again. Some hard decisions had to be made. In addition to the toddler bed being removed to make room for a bunk bed, one other piece of furniture needed to go. We talked about whose dresser would be moved, and maybe we'd shuffle who used each dresser. Ballerina offered that, if she could keep the dresser for her clothes, she would volunteer to move it to the Living Room. So, Songbird kept the armoire for her clothes and new sister, JuneBug would use the drawers in the closet for her clothes.

We only had one place the bunkbed would fit, and in placing it there, we effectively blocked most of the murals that were on those two walls. While we were in China, another mural element was added to a previously blank wall over the twin bed where JuneBug would sleep. The latest mural featured a mountain with pagoda a stream and bridge over a lake. The bridge listed the names of each of our girlies on it. As it was really the only mural you could see in full, it was nice they were all a part of it.

Over the last two years we added a small toybox to round-up the numerous dress-up clothes for our Songbird and we had boxes as catchalls for headbands, purses, tote bags, and other accessories. Ballerina and Songbird had wooden "heads" on the wall that held hairclips and necklaces. Ballerina started to tack pictures of horses up on her wall. The galloping horses joined decals of the planets that she moved often create her own orbits. Books were becoming a big mess.

The girls' books were stored in their dresser cabinets. Ballerina's books were plentiful and her shelves were bursting. She is a voracious reader and it was hard to keep up with the books she was re-reading and those she moved along to her sister's shelves. She arranged and re-arranged them often, and the sheer number of cherished books was threatening a takeover in our home. I love books - my kitchen bookshelves, my nightstand and dresser all testify to this. I've kept some beloved books from childhood for my girls, and they are ready for reading when my girls are ready. Needless to say, I approve of this particular interest and invested in a bookshelf for Ballerina's books, and I moved it into the dining room.

The only books left to tend to, were Songbird's. Her books were strewn on the floor, on her bed and anywhere else in the apartment. Sometimes she would sit behind the bedroom door and riffle through her shelf and stack them up beside her - then walk away. I would go open the door and find it blocked with books! We had many conversations about treating our books with care and not keeping SO MANY in her bed....it didn't change things. Two days after rearranging the books to suit her usage - the books were a mess again. Junebug shares books with Songbird, and her small collection of ONLY JUNEBUG books was mostly tidied away in colorful boxes near her bed. She isn't fully awakened to the treasures that books are considered in this house - but she'll get there!

The room's walls were looking cluttered with blocked murals and random posters being tacked up in all other spots. Books were exploding from every hiding spot and princess dresses were bursting from the small box that I added to keep them neat. Something needed to change.

After weeks of "pinning" ideas onto Pinterest for my kitchen - a topic for another post - I started pinning beautiful bedrooms and dreaming of changing the girls' room in some way. After the kitchen was repainted and new shelves were installed, I turned my thoughts back to the girls' room. I agonized over the last two years about the special mural that was painted in anticipation for our miracle from China. There was a lot of sentiment attached to that mural - it was special because of the love put into it personally from an expectant mom, aunt and Nana. (In fact, Nana spent two days on her own hand painting the scripture verses in careful calligraphy.) I couldn't figure out how to keep the mural. At the same time, the mural was mostly obscured and not able to be enjoyed.

It took some time, but I took a deep breath and moved some furniture to take pictures and we made a plan. The newest mural was on a wall that was painted peach a few years ago - the mural would not need to go, and we kept the whole wall and its peach color - keeping the shelves and setup exactly as before. The other walls would need priming and new paint. I gave Ballerina the choice to choose the new color. I knew if Songbird chose, it would definitely be pink, and since the bedding choices we'd made in the past would all clash with a girly pink color, I didn't want to go that route. Plus, I knew she'd have no problem with her sister being allowed to make the choice. Ballerina chose pale blue.

My Guy painted a few stripes of sample paint on the wall and we lived with the stripes for a few weeks - with the kitchen being re-done, school starting, etc, there was a lot of other things to focus on. In the meantime, I'd gathered some new shelves and rails for other ideas. Everyone chimed in on their stripe of choice - most often the second stripe "Rain Drop" ranking first or second pick - so we went with it

One day we removed everything from the room except the bunkbeds and armoire. The biggest pieces of furniture remained in the center of the room and the repaint was underway. My Guy did a LOT of priming - the mural had RED and BLACK in it, and it was quite an effort to cover it. As our weekends were busy with other activites the painting took two Saturdays to finish. While we were in mid-project the contents of the room were in the Living Room and the girls enjoyed crawling under the beds - usually storage boxes are under there!

The painting was finished and the picture ledges (from Ikea) went up.....five on the open wall and one each next to the girls beds. The wall of picture ledges now features an "open library". The books are facing out and leaning against the wall. The shelves were an instant hit with the girls. I personally love the look, and Ballerina helped me choose books for her little sister that she can reach easiest on the bottom shelves. Songbird considers herself a "librarian" and at many times, I catch her rearranging the lower two shelves - but for the most part they STAY or RETURN to the shelves. Each girl has their personal shelves close to where they sleep and the contents are mostly self chosen. Each has books, and picture frames. JuneBug has some small figurines on her shelf, along with some books and pictures. Ballerina has a mirror, a few books and pictures of horses. She keeps a nightlight handy too.

With the addition of the shelves I gave my bunkbed dwellers small clip-on lights to illuminate their smaller, darker spaces, so they have a cozy quiet reading spot. The clip on lights are adjustable and really do the trick. They are from Ikea too - and I got Ballerina's at a steep discount as it was a display that one of the kind employees took down for us - it was in Ballerina's desired BLUE color. The only ones remaining in stock, new, were black.

I opted to replace the hairclip "heads", picture frames and clock in the same spots. The last thing to go up on the wall was a short railing next to Songbird's bottom bunk. I put on it plastic hooks that hug the rail, and are perfect for lightweight items, such as small princess dresses. Out of the dress-up box came the puffiest dresses that were hard to contain, and neatly displayed, ready for playtime. Their close proximitiy to Songbird's bed make her very happy!

Everything was returned back into the room - including the ladybug curtains....though now, I think I might sew something new for the window.

It feels like a fresh, new room, and works really well for the girls. Tiny, though it is, it is once again a peaceful, special, favorite place for my girls to play and read and eventually SLEEP!

Everyday stuff & nothing

So it's Thursday. At this point in the summer I only have one girlie in a summer program. After JuneBug got on her bus, I drove Husband to work with Ballerina and Songbird in tow. We then enjoyed the "pleasure" of almost TWO hours in Target gathering supplies for the next school year. In fairness, we had to run back & forth for bathroom breaks and browsing the toy aisle for clearance stuff....so it wasn't ALL supply related time. I'm really lucky they were patient & helpful with this shopping trip!

I was glad there was still a bunch of stuff still in stock - because I usually wait too long. When that happens the very specific "red, plastic pocket folder" is unlikely to be found. Many times I've ended up with something in the "wrong" color, or material. Ballerina was taking charge by price checking supplies for me. Songbird was chilling out in the cart....at 6, she can still fit, somewhat, in the seat in the way its intended. However she has her own way to do just about everything, and she was sitting "sidesaddle" with her legs dangling out. She was mostly bored throughout the process, but had to have her say when it came to inspecting backpack/lunchbox fashion. She instantly popped out of the cart to try on some gear. She strutted her stuff up and down the rows, trying "first grade" on for size. I found almost all the supplies on he list - I only had pencil issues (is it possible the third grade team wants 80-120 pencils per child?! When you ask for 10 PACKAGES of pencils, that leads me to believe the teachers feel that they need pencils in the thousands in their classroom.)

In between loading up the cart with all the neccesities, I found myself discussing generic vs brand name with Ballerina. She was pointing out the signs that said "sale", and we inspected the other brands to see if they were truly a good deal. She also pointed out the brands with box tops....she loves finding those for her school. It was a productive outing for money talk.

We returned home via the new bakery in town. Songbird is enamored with their cupcakes and Ballerina with their brownies. The rest of the day was filled with play, dress up, friendship bracelet making, naps, reading, watching Anne of Green Gables, playing some more and learning how to juggle. This is what made me laugh. Ballerina brings me a giant kid how-to fun book that used to be mine as a kid. In it were instructions on how to juggle. I told her I cannot juggle, but I would help her follow the directions. She ran out to find balls, yelling to Songbird "Mom's gonna teach me how to juggle!". Husband just looked at me...."I don't know how to juggle" I protested.....it didn't matter - I was GOING to teach her! In the end if you count a two ball juggle (all we had was a tennis ball and a koosh ball) as juggling, I CAN juggle....and now so can Ballerina. Don't anyone hand me three, for I would surely disappoint.

After dinner we feasted on our cupcakes and, excited about the upcoming Olympics, pulled out our DVD with the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. Four years ago we'd just returned from Beijing with Songbird less than 3 months before the Olympics. The girls were fascinated with the ceremony and all the performers. Watching the news package that preceded the ceremony moved me to tears. There was a brief recap of the May 2008 earthquake and the aftermath. It occured to me that I never saw American coverage of this huge disaster. We were in China during that earthquake. I instantly felt what my family and friends must have felt when they heard the news, knowing we were in China, but not knowing how close we were to the epicenter. We were fortunate to have been very distant from the tragedy. Watching the ceremonies brought me back to those early days with Songbird. We were in China during Olympics fever, and then newly home with her as the Olympics unfolded. So much has changed in her life, and ours since then.

Is this a disjointed post? Yes, yes it is! I have my mind on a to-do list. I will be busy tomorrow taking books down, and pictures off walls in my kitchen....getting ready for Husband's big wall sanding project. I am taking my girls to Long Island on Saturday and he will be handyman without interference while we're gone.....should be fun!

Okay - enough of this nothing....good night!

Fruitless

What a day! We started off this morning with a plan: after mass we would pick up some lunch items and head out to pick some berries - blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and maybe some peaches.

At mass we ran into a friend who also has girlies from the other side of the world, and we invited her along. Flash forward to an hour later - we're all packed in our cars and stop for lunch provisions. After an unpleasant encounter with a woman who was upset by my need to use the microwave at Whole Foods.....the public microwave that is there for the customers....I can't even go into this unpleasantness as I will get rattled all over again.....we finally were on our way.

First I will tell you that our go-to farm is a place called Jones Family Farm. Its in Connecticut and we love it. We cut down our Christmas tree there most years, and they have a very organized berry picking procedure, complete with a "berry ferry" and assigned interns out in the fields directing you to fruit laden bushes of your own - PLUS they have water stations so you don't get dehydrated, due to your own forgetfulness. They have a daily recorded message on their phone line from "Farmer Jones" - he sounds like a folksy kind of a guy who is pleased as punch you're calling and wants to give you the highlights. It's corny, it's charming, and we love it.

Jones' was not open today.....bummer. Last night the Husband did the research and we narrowed down our choices between two other farms we'd patronized before for both berries and apples. Somehow the decision was made to go to Fishkill Farms in NY. We'd been there many years with friends on big apple picking trips. As we turned into the dusty driveway I glanced at the sign that listed Peaches and Nectarines....no berries of any kind....hmmm...

We unpacked our two cars and let out the "STARVING" girls who promised they wouldn't whine in the fields about being hungry if we ate lunch first. That was fine, we could easily accommodate that request and we settled down under a shady tree to eat. After cleaning up our meal, we got ourselves a map of the fields and grabbed some green cardboard pint containers and headed out. Dave snagged a person with a staff shirt who said - "no more blueberries". Apparently he was also pushing the nectarines - eh. Ok, we headed towards the marked raspberry & blackberry fields. As we tramped through a strawberry field that had a little bit of fruit, we had some wilting girls who lagged behind, and the moms walked slow with them. The energetic girls sprinted ahead, leaping over the rows to find bushes with fruit. Eventually the dads determined there was no berry we could pick. This was extremely frustrating.

So, we headed over to the peach trees. There was obviously no shortage here. The trees were heavy with the fruit. We bypassed the nectarines and the girls went to work on the peaches. We quickly realized the berry containers we had were not suitable for the large peaches. As the girls filled them up quickly, Husband ran up to the farm store to get bags. He came back and reported that the peaches were not "ripe" according to a grumpy lady up there, and we were to only pick nectarines - they were having a special on them. Not one of us was interested in nectarines. We just stopped picking peaches - though I looked at them and doubted they were NOT ripe. I wondered just how big these peaches were supposed to get if they weren't ripe yet. We adults stood there chatting and downing our water while our girls ran up and down the fields. A young staff person walked over and started talking about the peach trees. "We know, we're not supposed to pick them, we stopped" I told the young guy. He was good natured about it and said there was a peach fest next week and they were saving the peaches for that. Then he gave us the nectarine spiel. When Husband suggested they update their website to say ONLY nectarines, he was apologetic, but offered that the website is no good, and they only update their Facebook page regularly. As he ambled off, I realized that the peaches were NOT underripe, as reported, they just didn't want all the peaches scooped off the trees before the peach fest. It almost made me want to fill the bag up - why couldn't the grumpy lady just SAY that?! Also, their sign in the driveway listed peaches as a pickable fruit! Argh!!

Needless to say, we humbly returned to the store with our sad, half filled sacks of peaches wondering if we'd even be allowed to BUY them. Our cashiers were kind souls who didn't make a fuss, but I witnessed the grumpy lady in action. She asked for all potential picker's attention. She laid down the law on pickable fruit - as she eyed a family who had gathered peaches in their big floppy beach hats. I glided out of there quickly, in case they changed their mind about the "forbidden fruit" we'd already paid for. We returned to the car with girls who were happy enough, having had some outdoor running around, but adults who felt a little empty-handed.

I'm seriously wondering what to do with my peaches. My guy is not crazy about fruit baked in dessert, so peach pie is out. I don't think any of my girlies would eat peach jam....I think we'll just work on eating them fresh, and that will have to be THAT!

Our next fruit picking will most likely be Fall apples - we'll just have to see. I can tell you this, our farm choices have been made easier after today!

Long Time no Write!

Seriously.....it's been a long time since I blogged. It's been a while since I wrote in general. My "go-to" journaling was always a pen and paper journal brought out when I went on retreat, when significant events happened, or when I was traveling. I brought my journal to China the first time and kept a log of our daily happenings. That was also the first time I blogged about our trip. When we returned the next two times, I kept the travel blog a daily part of our trip....my journal not so much. I am glad I kept a daily accounting of the ups and downs of each day. It's been lovely to revisit those early days as our family grew.

It's been two years since I blogged - we were on a "every two years" adoption trip schedule. We have officially disrupted things, as we are not currently in the process of adopting. This is not to say we wouldn't want to adopt again, but our current small apartment would probably burst for sure if we added one more kiddo to the mix. Yes, I've crossed into another decade in age, but I will never rule out another treasure from God.....we'll see what the future brings :-).

But, I digress. I recently picked up my old pen and paper journal when we took our THREE girls on a camping vacation. Our other vacations were jam packed with lots of running around, and I never even packed my journal. This is not to say that we weren't planning an active camping trip, but there is something about camping that lends itself to journalling. At the end of each day, as the sun set, or after it already set, I would sit in a camp chair near the fire.

Around me were girlies roasting marshmallows, my husband keeping the fire going, and my sweet Ballerina mirroring my posture with her own journal and pen. That was a wonder to me. Sometimes over dinner I would read the girls bits from my journal. They reveled in hearing of their own antics and silly words that I documented, and even asked me to include certain things they were sure I'd missed. Ballerina once commented that I took longer to write than she did, and she wrote different things. I didn't pry, but one day she offered to read me some of her own observations. Instead of a short list of what we did that day, she wrote beautifully about the parts of the day which made impressions on her mind, that truly I didn't dwell on. She included in her description of our campsite (um....cabin...not quite tent ready!), a note about the lone daisy that grew under the steps of the porch and poked its sunny head out to the side to soak up the sun. She talked about the various treasures she admired in the antique store. I tell you the girl has a poet's eyes for sure!

All this to say, it's been a long time away!

I tentatively dip my toe back into the blogosphere. I intend to keep this up better than I have! Where have I been spending my online time in the previous two years? - Facebook and Pinterest. I have been using Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/heatherkcs/) lot lately to create new recipes and source new decorating ideas, not to mention a bunch of craft and gift ideas. I have half a thought to write about some of my forays in to Pinterest-world projects. We'll see. I have brief infatuations with finding the perfect recipe for a particular jam, or maybe a great dessert that includes nutella. When that happens I tend to talk about it, to the grown-ups in my world, way too much. I'm sure that blogging it (again, to an audience of Dave alone, I think) should save them my incessant gushing on the topic!

So enough about that. To borrow a line from The Princess Bride "Let me explain - no too much - let me sum up" the last two years.

I am now Mama to a 14 year old - JuneBug. Home from China two years. She is sweet, quiet, shy, jokey, smiley, and attached to me with a fierceness I could never have imagined. She struggles to understand our words some days, and others anticipates our unspoken question. She is not a "typical" teen on most days, and on others shows me that I assume too much, and she can be a emotional teen that has a stubborn streak. She has many services at school - though I'm gearing up to fight for more. She is slowly learning better communication, and after many long frustrating interactions with our newest girlie - we are committed to learning better to communicate better too! There is still a swirl of mystery around JuneBug - medically, historically, emotionally. We find there are some times that we peel away part of that mystery, but some we know will always remain. As Dave says about her in general - JuneBug "is happy to be here!". Every little new step for JuneBug is a major event around here. Her milestones, and breakthroughs are slow in coming and we treasure them. A dialogue with JuneBug is usually brief and she relays on gestures a lot, but she is speaking more and for a girlie who has a lot stacked against her, that she is making strides and understanding a lot of what I say to her - in ENGLISH- she is cheerful and happy to be a part of a family....our family, with meimeis (little sisters) to boot!

I have a new "middle child" girlie that I still have trouble identifying that way. Ballerina is home 6.5 years. She is 7 ("and three quarters") and I usually refer to her as my "first daughter". It is a more accurate description of my girlie who still assumes most of the big sister role among her sisters. Ballerina is smart, curious, a rules girl who loves school, loves to read, and thrives on a busy schedule....though at the same time is sensitive to disappointment....of her own making! With her perfectionist tendencies, if she doesn't achieve the high standard she holds herself to, she can crumble. My Mama job with this girlie has grown to include guiding her to set some smaller goals before getting to the bigger goals - she would rather skip right to the end result. She is learning this, she is able to reflect on achievements she has made and the work she had to put in to get there. Of course she wants to set lots more goals- she dreams big. My girl who is so patient with teaching her sister a new word, or dance move wants to be a teacher ("at 16, like Anne Shirley") a doctor ("who doesn't just sit in an office looking at reports, but helping people") an astronaut, even though "Jack says nobody goes into space anymore", a Mom, a horse-owner (who plans to ride her horse, and bicycle everywhere - she will "not own a car" but will be an excellent driver since she is "practicing now"), she will live in a solar paneled, energy efficient house, and when she takes vacation some summer, she plans to walk the Appalachian Trail. Our Ballerina is a graceful dancer who recently attended a camp where she participated in acting exercises, and learned some Broadway Show tunes - she loved it, and I can see more in her coming years!

Songbird is my baby, at 6 years old, has been home 4 years. She recently had a birthday and I felt that her babyhood was left behind when she crossed from five to six. She is vibrant, expressive, dramatic, FUNNY, loving, affectionate, musical, sympathetic, sweet, clever, princess loving, an expert at pretend play......and stubborn, and prone to messy! This little girlie is a joy and a challenge. She has a big personality and makes her presence know when she enters a room - she makes grand entrances often! She is super confident and eager to show her affection for someone she knows. She will also offer spontaneous compliments that show that she is attuned to her internal fashion sense. With albinism, our Songbird has a visual impairment. You wouldn't know it by her interest in clothing and eye for fabric. Many a fluffy princess dress, dance costume, wedding attire will gain exclamations and approval from Songbird, but she still has positive comments to spare about the long skirt another mom wears, or a pretty necklace on her teacher! If she gets her hands on a microphone she will use it to sing or monologue. She gives us endless hours of laughter at her performance antics....which we sometimes have to suppress when she is displaying naughty behavior in a particularly funny way. She has proven that her visual challenges will not define her. Though she may need services to help her in school, she is meeting every challenge that comes her way - she learned the basics of reading faster than I expected, and I delight in hearing her read a story out loud. She dances, she sings, she creates stories that she acts in and directs (I cannot come up with my own script when playing pretend.....she has it all mapped out!). A diplomat, actress, singer, dancer, counselor, fashion designer- we can see it all in her...and she would add dentist to the list - but that baffles me. I think she really likes her dentist! Songbird is the last one asleep and the first one awake - I want to figure out her secret, as this is NOT me!

Those are my girls. I am still home with them, and active in their school, PTA and with scouts. I am the driver for all after school Dance classes, Chinese lessons, Speech therapy, and scout meetings. I like those days when there is NO schedule that requires us to pile into the car and travel to another town for something extracurricular. On those days we can head to the library, or create a craft, or eat a meal that we were home to prepare at a slower pace, instead of rushing to fit it in after activity & homework & before bedtime.

I have been trying some new recipes which has been extremely satisfying as they are more old fashioned, not quick shortcut type recipes. Canning jam last year for the first time, I had new offerings for teacher gifts. I'm not using those "emergency" cake mixes as much, and I've found that cooking at our campsite, was really fun. Baking cornbread in a Dutch oven over/under coals was in itself a new adventure. I have some eager helpers in the kitchen lately. JuneBug is a good chopper, Ballerina has been choosing and executing new recipes (and WANTS to wash dishes every night!) and Songbird delights in the "chef attire" and wants to wear a matching apron and stir whatever ingredients I'm using.

Dave and I have both crossed into our fourth decades since I last wrote on this blog. He has finally finished that Masters and is working back at a company he always liked, and is happily teaching and expanding his experience through new opportunities. We've been blessed with 16 1/2 years of marriage, and definitely feel, abundantly blessed, with our three sweet girlies. They are gifts, jewels God entrusted to us, and we are grateful for the priveledge!

We have had some tough times adjusting to the new normal with our JuneBug, and have faced the death of Dave's mom just two months ago. The past two years have not always been sunny, but we have learned a lot about ourselves, each other, and what it takes to tackle the challenges of parenting. We, I think, are thriving on those challenges!

Is that enough of a sum-up?.....Dave?.....I know you are the only one reading this!