Thanks for being so sweet to me

I always like to give Major's teachers a small appreciation gift at the end of the semester. For Christmas and for the end of the year I always do a nice gift, but because it was summer school I just wanted to do a small, but thoughtful, yet inexpensive gift. So on one of my favorite blogs I ran across these....

I loved them and thought they were perfect. Of course mine didn't turn out as cute, but they were delicious and I think his teacher's appreciated them.

UH OH

I was mowing the front yard the other day and Major was riding his tractor in the back and after about 5 minutes I noticed I hadn't seen him riding around so I went to check on him and wouldn't ya know the kid was in the garden, in the middle of the corn, with ALL THE TOMATOES pulled off the vines, corn shucked having himself a nice little treat! Well, I had to keep myself from laughing because he was covered in dirt, eating a raw piece of corn, but because of his little shenanigans we haven't had one red tomato all season :( I wish I had my camera when I caught him, but this is a picture of the tomatoes that he deemed good enough to put in his tractor.

I can't think of a good title for this blog :)

I'm grateful for those unexpected times/moments when people take the time to say nice and encouraging things. I have a family member/blog reader that really made me feel special this weekend. I appreciated her thoughtfulness so much. So "special blog reader" thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to say what you did to me. It meant the world to me and I've been thinking about it since the weekend. There are people that always make you feel bad or not good enough or look down on you for whatever the reason, so when I had a moment of unexpected encouragement, I felt........happy. I was able to set aside some of that blah energy that seems to creep into my life and think about the nice things that were said and how much that meant to me. I'm a lucky girl and I count my blessings every day.

Drive-In Date Night

I took Major to the drive in to see toys story last night. We were getting a little restless with Josh being gone all week and I was feeling a little guilty for feeling so dumpy and tired, so I decided on a date night. Well just before we left Major threw a huge tantrum because he couldn't understand why he had to put on jammies to get in the car...anyway...30 minutes later, he was so so so HAPPY!!!!! We had a blast seeing toy story on the big screen!

Heather Fish...

I had promised Major that once he was in big boy underwear that he could have a fish of his own. Well he seemed to forget about it until last Tuesday but on the way home from school he asked if we could go look at the fishies so I said sure....anyway, we ended up getting a very easy to care for (male) beta fish who he named Heather. :)
Once we got home, he kept putting his hands in the fish's water, so I told him that the fish and (her) water were nasty and that the fish was just for looking at. Well, the other day I got out of the shower and Major was in his bathroom so I went in there to see what he was doing and he had poured an ENTIRE BOTTLE of handsoap in the fish tank. When I asked him why he did that, he said "she was nasty". At least he listened to that part! Needless to say Heather didn't make it. I realized she was belly side up last night, so today she went bye bye in the potty.
Now I need to decide to tell him about fish heaven or just replace her. Oh darn hand soap :(

Major's Adoption Day

Today, June 18th was Major's official Adoption Day. Two years ago today we were officially finalized in court and our names were placed on his birth certificate. This day is a very special day for the three of us. For Josh and I, it is a reminder of the big deep breath we took 2 years ago on this day. It is a reminder of God's faithfulness to us and our family. It is a reminder that we became a family on his birthday, but 'officially' he was ours on this day. To Major, I hope this day will be special because it is the culmination of many years worth of praying for him. It is the finalization of one chapter but the complete beginning of another. I pray daily that he knows there are two families who united to give him the best life that we could. An angel, as we call her, who loved him so much and was so selfless that she made the decision to find a family that could meet all his needs and more. A teenage boy, who looked at Josh and thanked him for being the father to Major that he couldn't be and for an army of people that made Josh, Major and I a family, ultimately that is what this day represents for the three of us.  So far in his short little life, we acknowledged this day, but have not made too big a deal out of it, but as he grows I think we will start to make a BIG DEAL out of June 18th. It is on the opposite side of the calendar from his birthday so a celebration may be in order each year, or maybe we will do something special, just the three of us. We may just let Major decide what he wants to do on his special day. I think as he gets older, and especially because he has no interaction with his birth family, that this may be the perfect day to acknowledge what blessing he is to us and to reaffirm to him that we have him because of another family that loved him so deeply. It is hard to put into words the emotional roller coaster we were on while trying to have him, waiting for him, praying for him, but God is so faithful and through it all we knew that He would bring a very special child into our lives and boy did he ever! Major is a spitting image of his daddy with a little bit of me thrown in for good measure! People often ask how he is so much like us or how he looks so much like us and my reply is always that God is the perfect matchmaker. He knew that we were destined to be Major's parents, just the way by which he came was different than Josh and I thought. Major is more than we could have hoped and dreamed for. My love for him is boundless and each day that I look into those beautiful blue eyes I am so so so thankful that I serve a Lord that knows my heart better than I do.  Here is one of my favorite poems that I read to Major sometimes:

Not Flesh of My Flesh

Not flesh of my flesh
Nor bone of my bone,
But still miraculously my own.
Never forget for a single minute,
You didn't grow under my heart,
But in it.

--- Unknown

And here are the pictures of his 3 Adoption Days so far!

 June 18, 2008

June 18, 2009

June 18, 2010

The best of friends

Major and Leo are the best of friends. They are so cute together, and just through the past year and a half or so, it has been so much fun watching them grow together. Major asks for Leo all the time and they always have fun when they play! It helps, too, that Josh and I love his parents. It is always tons of fun when we all get together! Here are a few pics of Major and his very best little friend!

Sweet, funny, mischievous little boys!