My Overthinking

Philly Area mom, Life forever changed by adoption

Archives for 2012

New Year’s Eve Prayers

It’s a big year, Lord. He’s the oldest in the school. I can’t believe it. Thank you, Lord, for whoever it was who decided to ask Evan to be on the safety patrol this year. Use that experience to grow his confidence and give him something to be excited about. Give him friendships in his class this year as his two buddies are in different classes. Give him success, and protect his gentle spirit.

Lord, this girl loves learning; I know she’s going to do well in third grade this year. While she’s mastering academics, continue to give her an increased sensitivity to eternal things as well. And, give me discernment as her mother to know how to shepherd her. Give Ashlyn friendships this year that she can enjoy. And, use Ashlyn as a blessing to her teacher and her classmates.

Oh, Lord, it’s Drew’s first year gone from home for a full school day. He’s excited, and I guess I’m excited for him. But, I’m a little sad too. Give me confirmation that he’s where he should be. As he eats lunch away from home for the first time, give him confidence and calm any anxiety he may feel. Give him compassion for the kids in his class who don’t know the school like he does and may feel sad over the next couple weeks, and use him to show them your love even in a first-grader sort of way. Give him success as he learns how to read more and more, and help me to know how to encourage him and make sure he knows how loved he is. 

Thank you, Lord, that Lydia and I will have so much time together as the kids are at school. I pray that that time blesses her and me both individually and corporately and that she doesn’t miss her brothers and sister too much or feel left behind. Grow my patience as I mother her everyday. Grow my skills and strategies to mother her the way she needs me to. Help her to know that she is a treasure and that we don’t want to rush her “growing bigger and bigger and bigger.” 
Lord, be with us this new year. Make your presence ever known. Help us to see you more clearly and increase our desire to know you–not know about you but know you. 

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A Shower A Long Time Comin’

It’s true what they say about the glow of a mama expecting.

And, that glow may actually seem a bit brighter when the mama has been waiting a long time to hold the title “mama” and hold a child of her own in her arms.

After years of “always the shower attendee, never the mama showered,” she finally had her moment today. 

Showered she was. Complete with games (it is her first, ya’ll. Don’t even think of skipping the games) courtesy of the Overthinker (that be me)–a fun Chinese trivia game, a matching game for Chinese characters with their corresponding English words, and a “sweet messages for the mom” game where ladies wrote little messages of advice or thoughts (we even had some lengthy letters) using the names of all these candy bars.

Hope her friends didn’t think I was the game nazi. There was pretty much no escaping my games.

Lots of ladies there to celebrate with the expectant mama, mama-to-be, mama waiting to hold her son in her arms. Lots of loot, and lots of love. And some special love from a few other mamas who have gone before her to bring their little ones home to China.

The journey of waiting you have been on for so long is almost over, Melissa. Soon, the real adventure begins.

________________________
Click HERE to download my Show What You Know About China game.
Click HERE to download the key to it.
Click HERE to download my matching game–a bit harder but fun nonetheless.
Click HERE to download the key (you’ll need it).

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O Captain, My Captain

The child who usually has no interest at all in back-to-school related mail perked up a bit at the invitation with his name on it to become a safety. You would have thought an owl delivered it.

Official training was yesterday. And, though he was slightly disappointed that it wasn’t exactly what he was picturing (he had imagined training on fighting an evil robot by jumping over desks and pushing the teacher aside to safety), he was pretty pumped to already get put to work at new student orientation yesterday.

Check this man, out, ya’ll.

And, given how things seem to roll around here, we may just need a member of the safety squad in our own home.
He’s so proud. I’m so proud. I will curse anyone who reminds me that he is starting his last year of elementary school. Just want to make that clear.

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My seedlings

Some of my favorite mom moments happen without me even being a part of the moment. You know, listening to the kids playing together nicely in another room (which always seems to happen when I need to be ushering them to bed), overhearing one of their conversations, watching as my husband makes them all laugh.

Yesterday was one of those moments for me.

Soaking in the last days of freedom this week, we spent the afternoon at a local park. Evan found some sort of seed that he got all excited about planting in the dirt where we were sitting under a big ole tree. All three of the big kids got right on into it with him, using sticks and little rocks to carve out a very shallow little hole in the dry dirt where they were convinced this little seed would thrive. They buried it under dusty dirt and used shovels to bring water up to get it off to a good start.

They hunted and found one or two more of the same seeds. More digging, more burying, more watering.
“They can be a family.” – Ashlyn
“Yeah, the big tree is the mama and all the little trees are the babies.” – Evan 

I’m sitting there, just smiling to myself, looking all deep in thought in my reading. 
Then, their hunt turned up some different kinds of seeds. Who know what they were from really. They may have been rocks. Whatever they were, they looked different.
Then, I heard:
“I know, let’s plant all different kinds of seeds. Then, they can be adopted!” – Evan
“Yeah!” – Ashlyn
Digging, burying, watering. Repeat. Until a handful were seemingly safe and sound in the dirt, and it was over. 
Nothing extraordinary. Just my children playing. But, my smile to myself got a little bigger and my heart swelled a bit as I was reminded how comfortable they are with how our family has grown. 
Our adopting our fourth child hasn’t been an issue for our biological children one bit. In their eyes, it’s just how their sister came home. 

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