Tourist Time

Today my sister and I decided to take the boys and play the tourist role in San Antonio. San Antonio is a lot of fun, and there's a ton of both educational and entertaining activities (and if you ever decide to visit, I can give you quite a list). The boys each had one thing in particular they wanted to do. Anthony wanted to go to the Alamo, and Andrew wanted to visit the zoo. So we left before the sunrise this morning to beat the Spring Break crowds at the zoo, and thankfully, we missed the worst of it. By the time we left the zoo to head downtown, traffic going to the zoo was backed up for a few miles at least.

There were no zebras, but there was this. I can't remember what it was called, but it has the longest tongue known to mankind, and apparently, it's an extremely rare, endangered animal. 

After we finished at the zoo, we headed to the Riverwalk for lunch, and then visited the Alamo. Seeing as how it's Spring Break, there were tons of real tourists in San Antonio. We waited almost an hour to get into the Alamo which in all the times I've been, I've never had to do before. Thankfully, the weather was perfect and we neither sweated nor froze which is highly unusual for Texas. We rarely have such perfect temperatures.

After the Alamo, we grabbed some ice cream (because the day wouldn't be complete without ice cream), and then we headed home. Andrew said it was, "The best day ever!". So I guess I can safely say today was quite a success.

Lessons Learned in Parenting

Andrew, like most kids his age, has a knack for making messes. And like most kids his age, he also has a knack for not wanting to clean them up. So the other night, after making quite a large mess, he was having a small meltdown about picking up. He was insisting he couldn't clean it up by himself, and he needed help. Like most parents my response was, "I told you not to get all this stuff out. You didn't need help making this mess. Why do you need help cleaning it up?".

In the midst of the fit and the crying and all the drama, it occurred to me that we as adults often act this way. We make a mess of something. We say something rude. We hurt someone. We do something selfish and stupid. We act like a five year old. And when our mess is pretty much unfixable, and there is no way we can clean it up, we run to God. We run to Him, like a five year whose mess is ridiculously out of control. And He never leaves us alone to clean up our messes. I'm not saying He takes away any and all earthly consequences. Sure, He may ask us to take some responsibility, to apologize or say we're sorry, but He never in all my years has left me alone in any of my messes. He has always helped me clean them up even though He had absolutely no part in making the mess, even though He warned me not to make it in the first place.

So I decided to have a little compassion. I decided to help Andrew clean up his mess. Not to clean it up for him, but to help him, to guide him, and quite frankly, to make it a little easier for him. After all, it's the least I can do when God has done so much for me.

And Then There Was Spring Break . . . And Everyone Said Hallelujah

Spring Break has officially begun, and honestly, it wasn't a moment too soon. It was time for a break. Everyone needed a break. Okay, I don't know about everyone, but I definitely needed a break.

Patrick was sick with some sort of upper respiratory mess complete with fever and the works all of last week. The house was shown three times for which I'm very thankful, but geeze, selling a house whilst living in it with a kid is a pain in the behind. To top it off, I had to coach soccer practice because we decided that no one really wanted Pat to breathe on their kids while he was running a temp of 102. Ahem . . . can anyone say "stress"? I can. But thankfully Patrick's on the mend, and things have calmed down a bit.

We're closing on our construction loan in the morning, and as soon as the city gives us the go ahead, we'll start the house. So yeah, we're definitely behind schedule, but it's not as if we have to be out of here by a certain date. Now if the house sells . . .

We've also reached the time of year when we have to start gathering documents and thinking about updating our adoption info. Our home study expires in May. Our fingerprints don't expire until November, but that means that we'll have to apply to renew in August. The first time around with all the paperwork was one the most intimidating experiences of my life. I remember looking at all the documents and thinking, "I'll never figure this out or get it all done in time." But I did . . . we did. And now we're on our third go around. I'm hoping we won't have to do all this too many more times, but that all depends on Bulgaria. Our agency did receive three referrals in the past couple weeks. So that's great news, but things are really creeping along. I've heard that there have been some political issues in Bulgaria as of late (not really sure on all the details), and while it shouldn't directly affect adoption, we all know how governments work. When there is a problem in one area, it has a tendency to cause a bit of a snowball effect. Needless to say, we're still waiting, but also praying and knowing that God is always in control.

And honestly, that seems to be my life's theme . . . learning that God is in control, and He really does have good plans for us. If only I'll let go of my controlling tendencies and let Him do what He does best, love us, guide us, lead us, and change us. It's a lesson I'll learn at some point. Hopefully, before I'm 80.

Have a great Spring Break all!!!

Our Weekend

Two posts in three days . . . try not to get too excited.

On Friday I called in Andrew's prescription for Nasonex. Then I got the email from the pharmacy saying it would be $138. Say what?!? Nasonex is a tiny, and by tiny I mean miniscule bottle of nosespray used to treat severe allergies. Ridiculous! Absolutely ridiculous. I will be calling his doctor tomorrow to see if he can be switched to Flonase which has a generic because I refuse to pay that much for an allergy med.

We've been really busy this weekend. We attended a wedding Friday night, Andrew had a soccer game (in freezing temps and 20 mph winds) Saturday morning, we went and watched go-kart races yesterday afternoon, and had two family birthdays (one last night and one today). Plus there were all the usual weekend things . . . laundry, church, working out, baking a pie, housework, etc. Needless to say I'm wiped out tonight.

Speaking of go-kart races, our little town of Lockhart hosted one of the largest kart racing competitions in the nation this weekend second only to Vegas. These things go upwards of 70 mph, and the age range of the participants ranges from seven to 70. They raced around the town square and through the surrounding blocks. It was pretty wild to watch, and Andrew hated every minute of it. He said they were too "woud" (translation loud), and when one of the volunteers working commented to him that they were "pretty awesome", Andrew responded, "To me they were horrible". Yep, that's my son.

Last night we went with all of Patrick's family to celebrate my father-in-law's 25th birthday. ;) As always, I ate entirely too much, but it was fun regardless. After church this morning, we celebrated my sister's and my nephew's birthdays at my parents. Patrick was on camera duty so there were lots of strange pics and a few normal ones.

Andrew and my niece Chloe this morning at church. See what I mean by strange.

Me looking old and exhausted.

Anthony opening presents.

Andrew opening presents. Wait! Why is Andrew opening presents? Because this is what happens when you have a Great Aunt Karen who spoils you rotten. 

Anthony getting money. Andrew giving a thumbs up.

It was a fun weekend, and now I'm off to get ready for another week. One week until spring break. Three months until summer. Woohoo!!!

My Once a Week Post

So it seems like I may have accidentally turned into a once a week blogger. I don't mean to be, but by the time I have a minute it's 10:30 at night, and all I care to do is go to bed. Can I get an amen from all you mamas out there?

I think that we will actually be closing on our construction loan next week. Which means we should start building soon. Hallelujah! We're two months behind schedule, but "que sera sera" right? At least were moving forward.

Last weekend I dyed my hair closer to it's natural color (minus the grey) and cut bangs. My ultimate goal is something like this.

So obviously my hair isn't this long, and I don't have a professional stylist following me around, but I still think I can achieve something close to this at some point.

We ended up doing this.

Please excuse the scary iPhone pic. It emphasizes how seriously massive my head is. And it's just downright frightening, but you get the gist. I haven't had bangs this thick for years. When I was a little girl half my head was bangs. I kid you not when I say they started in the middle of my head. I guess it was my mom's way of dealing with my insanely thick hair, but I now have a deep fear of bangs that are too thick. So this was a big step for me, and I love it. Yes, I realize that it doesn't exactly (or at all) look like the picture above. I'm not delusional . . . yet. But if I don't go to bed soon, I will be. 

Good night all!