Ebbs and Flows...

So, to temper the good news that we get to bring our daughter home, Michael got laid off yesterday. It came as a big out of nowhere punch in the stomach. It turns our that his company laid off 10% of their staff. It would have been nice if they had put some rumors in the wind first, but what can you do?

This has only happened to us once before, and we got through it with a better outcome on the other side. Hopefully, the same will happen here.

Please keep us in your prayers. We pray that Michael will be back to work soon.

Utah or Bust!

So, this Thursday, Michael and I will head to IL to bring our sweet Frankie home for keeps!!! We can't wait - it feels like we're adopting a baby from some foreign land. We can't wait to be together again. We couldn't be more excited! We'll be back on Sunday.

We expect the next month to be a huge period of adjustment for all of us, and anticipate that it will be a tough transition. Please keep us in your prayers - you have no idea how much we need them!

We so value your support, our dear friends and family. We have weathered many tough times, yet there are more to come before the sky does finally clear. Thank you for seeing us through our storm thus far!

Until next time (when our daughter will be home!!!!)...

Frankie's moving home!!!

Frankie's moving ho-ome!
Frankie's moving ho-ome!
Frankie's moving ho-ome!


Stay tuned...

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Tag (my turn, sigh)

I am: perpetually exhausted
I want: mo' money
I have: a great family
I dislike: when my husband's sick
I miss: living in NY
I fear: spiders and snakes and losing my husband
I feel: sleepy
I hear: my daughter playing LIFE
I smell: the chicken we ate for dinner
I crave: massages
I cry: at sappy stuff
I usually: need more sleep than I get
I search: for old friends on the Internet
I wonder: if I should sell my house
I regret: not getting more edumacation
I love: my honey and my kiddos
I care: about society as a whole
I always: breathe
I worry: way too much
I am not: ever going to be as skinny as I wish I could be
I remember: when Adam was born.
I believe: that God loves us
I dance: once in a while
I sing: decently and record it and harmonize with myself (how dorky)!
I don’t always: recycle
I argue: very well, thank you
I write: on my blog and on Facebook
I win: most arguments, I mean debates.
I lose: weight, then gain weight, then lose weight. I sense a pattern here.
I wish: I were stronger about self-discipline
I listen: and then want to fix things.
I don’t understand: why so many people want to interfere with the rights of my friends who are gay.
I can usually be found: at home with my baby
I need: to know there's something bigger than me
I forget: to charge my cell phone
I am happy: most of the time
I tag: Aliyah (Sorry, but I've got to get this out of our little Utah circle here).
So now, Aliyah (you lucky woman you), you get to copy and paste and fill this out on your very own blog.
I post-posting tag: Shannon!

Let them be little...

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One of these things is not like the others...

We've made some dear new friends - the Bray family. The family has four members - Bob - the dad, (who shares the same bday with Michael and works with him and shares all of his interests in electronics), Kara - the mom(who is awesome and bright and is so much fun to sing with), Conner - the five year old (who is easily smart enough to be six and gets along fabulously with Adam), and Emma - the three year old (who is a princess and beautiful and much to Adam's chagrin, is in love with him).

We've been spending a lot of time with them lately and genuinely love their company. The only person who is struggling with this a little is Adam. Adam loves Conner and Bob - they all play video games together and have a grand ol' time. Emma loves Adam. Adam is somewhat annoyed by this. He doesn't always remember that Emma's little and gets irritated when she doesn't behave like a big kid. He doesn't understand that she can't, so he gets frustrated. Also, Adam still loves Bella. Remember Bella? If you don't, see here:

http://thehootenfamily.blogspot.com/2008/07/land-of-make-believe.html

or here:

http://thehootenfamily.blogspot.com/2008/02/ive-got-crush-on-you-sweetie-pie-or-in.html

He's concerned that Emma wants to marry him when clearly he only has eyes for Bella. He doesn't understand that those kinds of feelings aren't anywhere close to Emma's radar. She's just a little girl who thinks another kid is fun.

So we've been working with Adam, trying to teach him that he still has to be kind and patient with Emma, even when he doesn't feel like it. The Brays were over yesterday, and as usual, we were spending a little time redirecting Adam's attitude toward Emma. So we were really touched when last night, he brought us a piece of paper on which he had written the following statements:

I like playing video games.
I like doing stuff.
I love Emma.

He proudly read his statements to us, and the adults gave a collective "Awwwwww" and I was so proud that we had finally gotten through to the Adam on the importance of kindness and empathy. Until he said this:

"No, one of these things isn't true."

You see, there's a great get to know you game called "Guess the lie." We have played it before. You come up with two things that are true and one that's not and the people you're playing with have to guess which one isn't true. Let's just say I'll keep working with Adam.

Until next time...