NaBloPoMo

Community is what you make it

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It’s been a little over a year since we moved into our new home.  The leap of faith we took to change homes, neighborhoods and schools has been a good thing for us.

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That was most evident for me when I had an injury accident that kept me off my feet for 3 weeks back in March.  We were not in our house more than 8 months and our neighbors/friends jumped in to help.  Help that was much appreciated and much-needed.  How did they help? They helped get our kids from school, they helped if I needed an errand when my husband was at work.  They checked in on me home alone laid up trying to heal.  It was their automatic offer of help that made me feel so good.  I didn’t have to ask they offered and that to me sealed my feelings of the community we fell into when we bought the home we currently live in.  The friends we were making were true friends and I know we would be able to reciprocate whenever needed for them as well.

Our girls transitioned better than we could have ever hoped.  How did that happen after their sharing that they were upset to leave the only home they ever knew?  It was finding out there are children in our new neighborhood their age that attend the school they would be attending.  We moved in July which was part of my plan to be settled before the new school year would start. On the day we were moving in three girls dressed up as princesses ages 7 and 5 were all we needed to know that this was going to be good!  The friendships have only blossomed from there both for our girls and for us.

Our new community extends to the school community as well.  Me being nervous believe it or not as the new mom to a community at a new school.  I found the parents very open and helpful making my transition easier than I had expected.  Of course now I’m fully ALL the way in too LOL!  And our girls found new friends to help them put roots into their school community as well.  We joined girl scout troops, they play soccer in the local area league and now we live closer to their ballet school and some of the other activities they were already involved in.

It was a leap of faith moving ourselves but it was a leap that has paid us back over and over again.  It has only been a year and 4 months but I cannot believe our fortune in finding ourselves within this new community and the friends we have made that feel like we’ve known each other for much longer than we have.  For that I am thankful!

There are many other bloggers participating in BlogHer’s National Blog Posting Month! Click here #NaBloPoMo to read more, Enjoy!

Thankful for family

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thanks·giv·ing (thngks-gvng)
noun
1. An act of giving thanks; an expression of gratitude, especially to God: a hymn of thanksgiving.
2. Thanksgiving – Thanksgiving Day.

grati·tude (grat′i tood′)
noun
1. a feeling of thankful appreciation for favors or benefits received
2. thankfulness.

fate (fāt)
noun
1. the power or agency supposed to determine the outcome of events before they occur; destiny
2. a. something inevitable, supposedly determined by this power
b. what happens or has happened to a person or entity; lot;

family photo collage adoption

November and Thanksgiving especially brings out many emotions…thankfulness, gratefulness, love, happiness and gratitude. Have we always felt like this at the holidays? Does everyone feel the way we do now? I can think back to holidays when we were trying to have children and I am pretty sure we were not feeling much happiness and gratitude but what changed for us?

Back in 2005 we had come to a place of unknowns knowing that the one thing we wanted most was to be parents. After trying on our own and subsequently fertility treatments with no success it became for us about being “mom” & “dad” and not needing to be pregnant to get to there and realized adoption was the path we needed to take to become a family.

Our journey to parenthood was not the original one we planned but we see that this is how it was meant to be. Now here we are the proud parents of two beautiful girls! and now have a very large extended family that combined from each of our girl’s families!

All the twists and turns were made easier with the guidance of the wonderful professional, Ellen Roseman,  we worked with who helped to prepare us for the relationships we share with each of our girl’s birth mothers, birth father’s and their extended families. We know that our children cannot have too many people in their lives who love them and it has been our blessing to have our family expanded so seamlessly.

So most especially at this time of year, we feel enormous LOVE and GRATITUDE for those who chose us to be parents. We realize their decisions demonstrate the true meaning of unconditional love and we will always share an important and unending bond with them.

We LOVE our girls unconditionally and are raising them to appreciate the selfless gift of adoption as much as we do.

There are many other bloggers participating in BlogHer’s National Blog Posting Month.  Click here #NaBloPoMo to read more, Enjoy!

Thankful for childhood traditions

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Today the excitement to see what the Switch Witch brought them had our girls up early! And with fall back on our clocks it was even earlier ~5:30 AM it’s going to be a long day.

But it is this family childhood tradition that I love that woke our girls up at that hour.  I sit here wondering now that they are 8 and 6 years old, how much longer will their beliefs in these childhood traditions be?

switch witch 2014

At Halloween, we have the Switch Witch, who comes the night after Halloween and takes your candy and leaves a present in its place.  Our girls are allowed to select a piece of candy for their ages and the rest is taken by the Switch Witch. Which is great for my waistline!

balloon fairy

At their birthdays, we have the Birthday Fairy.  This began when our oldest was turning 3 years old in an effort to have her sleep in her big girl bed all night,  The birthday fairy started by coming on the night before your birthday for you to wake up to a room full of balloons on your birthday!  Each of our girls look forward to this for their birthdays every year!

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We added our “Earl” the Elf on the Shelf about 4 years ago.  Adding to the excitement of the Holidays our Elf, Earl, arrives the day after Thanksgiving.  From the first year our girls have enjoyed waking to comb our home to see where the mischievous Elf has landed to watch them and report back to Santa.  There have been one or two occasions where we the Elf movers have forgotten to give Earl a new place to sit.  But we have THE BEST cover story!  Earl didn’t want to report to Santa that night giving you a chance to correct your behavior another day!

Our girls also love the more traditional childhood traditions of Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. The excitement that each of these traditions brings to our girls lives is amazing.  I hope for their beliefs to continue for many more years.  I realize it’s just a matter of a classmate or someone to dash the spirit and belief for our bubble of these traditions to break.  For doubt to creep into their minds and for the spirit of these traditions to change.

As I sit here today I hope for more time, more time for the excitement to continue with true belief of these childhood traditions.  I know we will be able to continue on in the spirit of the tradition but I don’t think it will be quite the same!

There are many other bloggers participating in BlogHer’s National Blog Posting Month.  Click here #NaBloPoMo to read more, Enjoy!

November = 30 days of Thankfulness and BlogHer NaBloPoMo

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November is a month of thankfulness.  I look at this time of year as a way to look back on what the year has brought us and what the last two months of the year can have in store for us.  I want to write my gratitude out so I can remember it all.  I like to share it as I hope it will help others to think what they have to be thankful for.  I will be posting something for the next 30 days for which I am thankful and I wonder will others who read my blog  join in?

2011 tim and lisa

And I will start close to my heart … I am very thankful and grateful for the man I can call my husband and best friend and who is the father to our daughters.  His love for his family and his girls are amazing.  For me, I may try his patience, push his buttons, and he is always there for me (and I him) I am so lucky.  Our lives are crazy sometimes not for the good, but I know we are there for each other.  We have weathered through a lot in the 19 years we know and love each other and that has given me a lot to be thankful for.

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I am also challenging myself and joining the BlogHer roll for NaBloPoMo this year’s National Blog Posting Month to give me a boost for writing and sharing on my blog.  I figured after attending this year’s BlogHer14 it’s only fitting that I participate.  I will be challenging myself to write and post daily in the month of November …. here goes ….

There are many other bloggers participating in BlogHer’s National Blog Posting Month.  Click here #NaBloPoMo to read more, Enjoy!