November Ramblings

Here are some pictures of the Limmers from Halloween and the last few weeks. We did finally see some lovely fall weather and the kids had a blast jumping in leaves. Halloween brought the collection of massive loads of candy and a fun party at the church. Two of our friends came as hippies, and Moses stole his fro wig. Hilarious! We were also invited to speak at my mom's church on Orphan Sunday about adoption. Justin preached a message called "Room for the Lonely" (you can hear it on our church website, www.wyrchurch.com. He preached it here in Casper the week before so it got uploaded to our website). Moses was the charming celebrity, as always and won everyone's hearts.

I have been duly reprimanded by my mother for not posting anything whatsoever in the month of November on my blog. I must admit that the entire world of blogging still seems strange to me, mostly because it's hard to imagine anybody being all that interested in my life. And then there's the dilema of what to say; should I write about all the funny things that happen with my three kids or stick strictly to adoption stuff since the majority of my "followers" are fellow adoptive families (although I don't know about all you "blog lurkers" who are sitting off in the shadows of the internet)? What I have noticed about blogging is that there is a certain sense of surrealness to it. People can present life in whatever way they want and no one would know any better. For all you know, I have an absolutely idyllic life, complete with "happily ever after" endings every day. 'Tis not always so. Even with adoption, I often get the feeling that others look at us and expect everything to have magically fallen into place now that we have Mr. Moses here with us. What they don't see is disaster moments when Moses throws up at dinner (a fairly regular occurence. He has the fastest gag reflex in the West!), Trina throws a huge wad of toilet paper in a full bathtub and effectively plugs the drain, Asia has a bloody nose, and Moses pees on the floor, all in the span of 1/2 an hour (yes, that really was our night on Monday. Oh, I forgot the part about the blow-out diaper. That was in there too. I'm not sure I've ever seen so many bodily fluids in such a short span of time). Life is not always a fairytale. My son bites people, my daughter screams and throws fits when I tell her she can't have candy for the fifteenth time today, and I sometimes get frustrated and want to turn in my resignation and sign myself up for mommy rehab. So much for blogs being idealistic and one-sided! :) Now you know all my secrets!

The other side to all of this is that I have a really swell husband (who knows all my quirks and loves me in spite, and maybe even because of them) and three terrific, heart-stoppingly beautiful children that I would not trade the world for. How can you compare any trauma of parenthood to those moments when my 17 month old son, who I have only known for two months, grabs my face and kisses me over and over? Or when my 2 year tells me every time I give her any kind of meal, "Thank you for this dinner, Mom" without ever being prompted? Or when my almost 5 year old tells me that she "loves me in the whole wide world?" I am overwhelmed with emotion even as I write this. I am such a lucky gal! Who'd a thunk I'd ever be so privileged?

The other day we were driving in our van, listening to the radio and the Newsboys song "Wherever we go, that's where the party's at" came on. Keep in mind that the Newsboys are from Australia. From the back seat, I hear Asia say, "Why are they singing about a potty, Mom? That's gross!" and she proceeded to laugh hysterically and say "Gross!" every time they sang the chorus. What a treasure! Yesterday, Trina wanted to go outside after lunch but couldn't find her sock. She discards them in very random places throughout the house, and I thought I'd try the Love and Logic approach. I said, "Trina, you need to find your sock to go outside, or if you don't want to find it, you can just go take a nap." She half-heartedly looked for it for a few minutes and then looked at me in all seriousness and said, "Swiper took my sock, Mom. He's playing with it at Dora's house." Since the offensive Swiper would not return her sock, Miss Trina took a nap (Asia later found it stuffed between the couch cushions. Big sister to the rescue!). What a nut! Moses is not to be outdone by his sisters. He is rapidly learning the art of comic relief. He recently figured out how to blow "raspberries" and will rush to do so on anyone who is laying down and will hold still long enough for him to get his lips on their tummy. So funny!

Thanks for listening to my ramblings and sharing all my "treasures" with me. I plan to write my next post on readoption, so all you adoption people stay tuned. Best wishes from this slightly off-kilter home to yours!