Road Trip

 Around this time of the summer, I get that feeling like I haven't done it all yet.  School will be starting soon and it will be time to get my teacher game face on.  So I want to pack as much as I can into this last month.  No regrets, no "I wish", just leavin caution to the wind.

Yesterday morning,  I received a text from Imogen around 8:45am as I was taking Sarah to her ENT appointment.  "My planning skills are in top form this morning...Would you be interested in going to The Works in Newark?  Around 9:45ish?"

Heck, yeah.  So I called her and we made plans to leave as soon as our appointment was over.  My text looked liked this when I pulled into our driveway..."I'm home. Give me 20 minutes..."

 Enough time to change clothes, pack some snacks, diaper bags, and tell Andy we're off!!  Don't know what time I'll be back.  I told the kids we were going on an adventure, and they kept guessing the entire way.  Until we rode into the city, "Mama, are we in Lima?"  "No, Baby.  But it looks like it."  A quick lunch, and then we walked into this perfect, hands-on museum for our kids.

We all stepped in front of the heat-seeking machine and could see ourselves on the tv.

Some exercise and physical fitness booths, along with a Wii Fit exhibit to "try" out.

A "tear apart" a computer place, complete with safety goggles and real tools.

But their most favorite place was the Farmer's Market and dress-up pretend place.

 I sat on the bench, listening to them weave their make-believe tales, and ad-libbing as they went along.  The magic of make-believe and pretend, the fairy-tale land.   A wonderful place for all ages.  I foresee us making more trips over there in the future.  (Fortune Telling is my next career:)

We're trying to stay cool in this "Can't believe how hot it is" week our country is in now.  Pool, library, and more inside adventures on the horizon. 

Happy Wednesday:)

True North

From the the south, east, and west, my family followed their compass to my hometown this weekend, true north to my grandparents home for the annual summer event.

 Sarah walked up the sidewalk, inside the house, and swan-dived into my family who prayed for her these last ten months, anxiously awaiting for the moment she would join our circle.

Over 50 attended this summer event, and while others were unable to make it, their spirit was felt amongst us.  We ate delicious food, caught up on the family happenings, and watched the kids playing volleyball, corn-hole, and swimming in the kiddie pool.

 Sitting around the kiddie pool with my aunts, cousins, and grandmother, Sarah said,"Nana" for the first time.  And we all cheered in wide-eyed wonder.  In eight short weeks, my little girl is saying some words. 

Then, my aunt gave me a card from the entire clan for Sarah.  As I read the words, then passed it around to be read, all of us became teary-eyed.  They knew of our trek to bring her home.  The celebrations, the hurdles, and the trials.

           "Isn't it wonderful how one tiny girl can move right in and change your life forever?

She is changing lives, for anyone who learned of her story, and has watched her life unfold before our very eyes.  When she does something remarkable and I'm not around, her cheering section
 roots her on.  Celebrating new words, new firsts, celebrating Sarah.

She's teaching us all to stop, enjoy the moment, and spread love and joy all around.

"Isn't it wonderful how one tiny girl can move right in 

and change your life forever?" 

Filled with gratitude for my family...

Our Big Canvas

Life is a great big canvas, 

and you should throw all the paint on it you can. 

-Danny Kaye

I live with a sense of gratitude and appreciation for living and for loving.  Every day, I see wonder and amazement through my little girl's eyes, and I think to myself,"What a gift I've been given."

The day Sarah stood tall, wearing her Statue of Liberty hat and raising her torch high, the symbolism was not lost on me.  I researched the poem on the Statue of Liberty:

            "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
               the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
              Send these the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
              I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

 She's one of those and when I share this moment, I choke up.  To know from where she came to where she is now, what an unbelievable, indescribable, spectacular miracle.

We had more painting, more dancing, and our own preschool version of Stomp!

She has thrown herself into every moment with gusto and reckless abandonment, and my friends have embraced her as well.  The other day, I was frustrated with trying to get her to sit during the story around 11:30am.  That afternoon, I realized that I was not using the tools in my toolbox that I've learned as a teacher.  She was done, and needed to move.  So the next day, we went for a "run" down the hallway, she came back, and finished the art project.  It's those moments that I sit back and realize that she knows her limits, and I can help her be successful when I "listen" to her.

Then, it was Family Night, with a carnival atmosphere.  Sidewalk chalk, hula hoops, face-painting, and Bubbles.  She stood in amazement, wondering what she should do.

The bubbles captured her fascination.  She tasted, licked, and drank the water.  Towards the end, it looked like a bathtub, so in she jumped with clothes and all.  And I laughed, my friends laughed, and we all celebrated Sarah.  My friends love my child like their own.  She is loved.
My friend, Imogen, told me while I was gone, Sarah said "Water."  I was in awe.  She's learning every day.  

What a wonderful, wild, fantastic, beautiful week we had.  She's finding her place, her crayon box, and is throwing paint on her life canvas, fabulatizing it with gusto.  My girl.

Tomorrow, we head to my hometown for our annual cookout.  The first time my extended family will meet her.  Where she'll be included in the circle of love.  Her family:)

What a wonderful, wild, precious life I'm living! Painting my canvas with every color of the rainbow.

Embracing my journey of love.

A Beautiful World

One week every summer has been devoted to Vacation Bible School from the time I was a little girl.  When Andy and I began our family, the tradition continued.  Our family participates and I teach in a classroom.

After our first morning of VBS, I've got Tim Myers "A Beautiful World" playing in the background, and front row seats to watch my little girl's Beautiful World evolve before my very eyes. She blossomed and loved the first times she experienced today.

The theme is Visiting New York, and each child used glue sticks to make "windows" for the buildings in New York City.  Glue Sticks are a new commodity for Sarah, and she felt the urge to see how delicious they tasted:(

Sitting in the circle for Story Time.

Next was recreation and SNACK!!  This girl knows her snack and my friend created taxi cabs out of twinkies.  Absolutely Adorable!!!

Jodi spent a couple hours Sunday making 60 cabs.  Way to Go, Jodi!!

Of course, Ukraine most likely doesn't have twinkies, and it's typically not a staple on my grocery list, so another first for figuring out how to eat the twinkie.  She dipped her head and bit straight down the middle, covering her face in tootsie roll, twinkie cake, and frosting.

Sarah is not a quick eater, so she was still sitting at the table, while her friends were playing.

But, the craziness came when I tried to clean her up.  Our rotation time was over, and she ran around the room, clutching her twinkie for dear life.  They had these "play tunnels" in the room, so she whisked her twinkie inside to hide from me.  Picture a frantic 3 year old, grasping her twinkie, being pulled out of the tunnel by her legs.  My friends were enjoying the comic relief on my behalf!!

Next was the painting project.  Miss Patty demonstrated how they would be making Statue of Liberty hats, but we need to PAINT them green first.  So, Sarah put on her smock, dabbed some green paint on her brush, slid it on the hat, and proceeded to paint her tongue.  Surely, it must taste good?

Once she was finished, she put her hat on her head.  No problem, but the paint was still wet.  So, she had green streaks in her hair, and was not happy that I took her hat away to dry.

We had more gluing with a glue stick, more tasting.  Finally, the end was near so we got out play dough for the kids.  And more tasting by Sarah.  If you've counted, she tasted glue sticks, twinkies, paint, and playdough...all within a three hour window.  I'm excited for the possibilities tomorrow.

Seeing my little girl follow her friends in line, dance to the music, paint, glue, play, and SMILE...

what a beautiful world I see.

The possibilities are endless for her.

***************************************************************

I found my friend, Amy's blog, while surfing last year.  I was drawn to the quotes on her sidebar, and began following her.  Her youngest has Down syndrome, she's crafty, and celebrates togetherness with her family.  Her family is adopting a little boy with Down syndrome from a different country than Sarah.  She's doing a giveaway with some fabulous Etsy prizes.  Check it out.

One Day At a Time

********************************************************

In dreams and in love, there are no impossibilities.

janos arany

A beautiful world, my friends...