Rain, Rootbeer, Repairs, and Runneth Over...

I've been itching to post something on the blog all week, but every day there has been something that keeps getting in the way. I think it's called life.

Monday

Monday was...well, I can't remember. That feels like months ago.

Tuesday

Tuesday was my laundry/cleaning day.
Three loads of laundry: washed, dried, folded, and put away.
Furniture dusted.
Windows/mirrors Windexed.
Toilets scrubbed.
Floors mopped.
Carpets vacuumed.
I even squeezed in a trip to the grocery store.
It was one of those days that I contemplated wearing a cape.
By the time 3:30 p.m. rolled around, Aubrey was itching to get out of the house.
She had been a champ all day while I was on a cleaning frenzy so I asked her, "Aubrey, where would like to go for the rest of the afternoon?"
The ZOO!
So off to the zoo we went!

Sidenote: Is it just my munchkin, or do other people's kids prefer the non-animal attractions at the zoo? 

Anyway, after starting at the playground, we decided to make our way to the giraffes.

That's when the thunder started.

Drip...drop...drip...drop.

It started raining.

Then it started POURING.

We scurried under some big trees. 

Aubrey loved every wet second. 

Some kind-hearted zoo workers in golf-carts rescued us from the monsoon.
By the time we made it back to our vehicle, we were soaked to the bone.
We had been at the zoo approximately 28 minutes.
Oh well, at least she had fun.

Wednesday

Wednesday morning started off with quite a bang as I opened the freezer to get an ice-pack for Aubrey's MDO lunchbox and saw this aimed right at my face.

Someone {cough, Daniel, cough} forgot they put a GLASS-bottled rootbeer in the freezer the night before. I grabbed the unscathed ice pack and decided to just deal with the mess after I dropped Aubrey off at "school". Well, Aubrey wanted to see what an erupted glass bottle looked like, so I re-opened the freezer door and...

CRASH! 

The bottle fell from the top shelf all the way down to the tile floor below.

Did I mention that I had just mopped the floors YESTERDAY.
By this point, we should have already been in the car to get Aubrey to MDO on time.
Aubrey, being the sweetie that she is, was insisting on helping me clean up.
All you moms out there know how that goes: major mess, running late, toddler hands itching to "help".
After getting the majority of it cleaned up, miraculously without a single cut or band-aid needed, we jumped in the car to get to MDO.
Man, it's hot already...
{Crank up the A/C}
Man, it's STILL hot...
{Putting hand up to the A/C vents}
Oh lovely...warm air blasting out.

Thursday

Then today, Aubrey went to the potty before her "rest" time. She flushed the toilet and walked to her room. As I said a quick prayer before turning her clock "blue" for the allotted time, I noticed I could still hear the toilet running...
Yep, water all over the floor.

As I type this -- my once clean house is no-longer "clean", there are still rootbeer remnants in the freezer, our car is in the shop, and I just picked up the soggy towel from the bathroom floor.

I'm really ready for Friday.

Wait...tomorrow is the 13th?

As in Friday the 13th?!

Oh drats.

Blood, Sweat, and Tears

Blood.

Monday I had my big doctor's appointment for the adoption: physical, blood-work, urinalysis, TB skin test, HIV test, and anything else you could possibly think of! So...Little Girl or Boy Riherd: even though giving blood makes me want to pass-out, throw-up, and downright die -- I will gladly become a human pin cushion to help bring you home! I LOVE YOU!

Sweat.

The "nesting" phase seems to start early with adoption. It's a strange phenomenon.
I have this instinctual urge to get the house spic-and-span, organized, and feeling overwhelmed when it's not. Constant mopping, dusting, reorganizing the pantry, cabinets, and even things like the DVD collection getting a full overhaul.

All this sweat and hard-work actually comes in pretty handy with home studies always on the horizon!
And now that we've officially completed our first one, I can proudly announce that it went really well. PHEW. I was a total stress-ball beforehand, and I think I applied/re-applied deodorant about 4 times throughout the day.

The social worker was at our house for almost three hours. That sounds scary, but it wasn't at all. She was great and put us at ease within the first 2 minutes of our meeting. It was like the equivalent of parenting/birthing classes. They're kinda nerve-wracking at first, but by the end of it you are more knowledgeable and even more excited about how your family is going to grow and change.

And for those of you who are curious, (since I mentioned in an earlier post that this event would be taking place around Aubrey's bedtime), the munchkin did awesome. She was a little shy at first, but in no time she was informing Daniel and me that we could stay downstairs while she showed the social worker her playroom upstairs. She gave a few toy demonstrations and was in a great mood during the entire evening. She didn't even put up a fight when it came time to say "goodnight", which allowed us to have some great one-on-one conversation with our social worker.


Tears.

I think one of the hardest aspects of this entire adoption process is that I do not know one single detail about our child in China. At least, not yet.

It truly overwhelms me most days.
And nights.

So many questions swirl in my mind...
Who put our little one to bed last night?
Did they go to sleep hungry?
When's the last time they had a playful, splashy bath?
Have they ever had a playful, splashy bath?
Are they warm enough? Cool enough?
Did they smile today?
Did anyone give them a hug, a kiss, a comforting snuggle?
Did someone tell them they are loved?
That God has a magnificent plan for their life?
That He's hand-picked a family across the ocean who loves them deeply already?


So yes, there are tears.
So many sloppy, ugly cries when I think of the time we've missed with our child that we have yet to meet.

But in the midst of the sadness, the heartache, the "why"s -- we know that God works all things together for good.

So even on the hardest of days (and nights) I am so eternally thankful for Christ, Who loved ME so much that he poured out His blood, His sweat, and His tears so that I could be adopted into His family forever.

And that, to me, is why adoption is such a horribly beautiful thing.

My Lofty Idea

When you have a child, your space gets seriously infringed upon.

Right now, as I type this, I see...
An empty toddler shoebox.
A baby-doll's sippy cup.
Old magazine pages that have been ripped out.
A severely deflated balloon with scotch tape haphazardly stuck to it.
A bath toy that has somehow escaped the tub.
And a flashlight that is "on" but with no light dispensing.

I'm telling you, toddlers can ransack a house quicker than a pack of rabid raccoons (do you call a grouping of raccoons "packs"?). Actually (I just decided to look this up), a grouping of raccoons is called a nursery. How very appropriate.

Well, I reached a breaking point when our living room looked like this:

Cher: I have an idea! Lets. Do. A Makeover!
Tai: Oh … no.
Dionne: Oh, come on--let us! Cher's main thrill in life is a makeover, okay? It gives her a sense of control in world full of chaos.

Name that movie.
{Okay, I'll tell you...Clueless! And let me just say that I, like totally, LOVE that movie. K?}

Anyway, a makeover was precisely what I needed.
I craved "a sense of control in a world full of choas".

So, I came up with this rather lofty idea...(and added it to my resolution list)

Our upstairs loft, that is.

Perfect!
Toys will be out-of-sight, out-of-mind
thus making me out-of-this-world happy!

So, wanna see Aubrey's new playroom?
Come on up!

{Those bay windows are screaming for some window treatments, aren't they?}

The color scheme doesn't exactly translate "KIDS PLAYROOM!",
but considering I had $0 to spend on it, I just had to work with what we already had.

{The play kitchen is blocking the closet that stores all Aubrey's arts/crafts supplies.}

The goal is to have Aubrey pick everything up before we go back downstairs.
Some days I'm really on top of it, other days, not-so-much.
But, hey, it's a playroom...right?

Here's the living room post playroom transition:

{And yes, our coffee table just floats in the middle of the living room. It's awkward.}

Now, I am not that naive to believe our living room will stay this way. I mean, c'mon -- there is still a toddler who resides in this house. BUT, we've had the playroom upstairs now for nearly two months, and I can honestly say that it's much better than before.

So...{phew}...I feel better.
I have a living room again.
Well, for now.
You know how raccoons are...you can't keep them out of anything...

Monday always get a bad "rap"

It's a Monday.
Ain't no fun day.

Gotta clean them clothes.
And patch up them holes.

Yo, what's up now, mister laundry basket?
Looks like you'll be needin' yo casket!

Peace.

*The girl standing on the basket goes by Jammy Aubrey A Juice. Find your rapper name here. If you keep hitting the suggestion box, it will continue to provide more rapper names. Consider yourself warned.

**Don't worry...raps won't become a weekly post like Friday Funsies or Sunday Snapshots. Promise.

Friday Funsies

Yesterday was my birthday (yay!) and even Aubrey found ways to make sure I didn't have to lift a finger.

A message to all you moms out there: Start 'em early! ;)

P.S. Is she not the cutest little helper or what?!

Happy Weekend!