Mouse Obsessed!

Upon moving to Florida, my number one priority was to establish Florida residency in order to obtain a Disney annual pass. Hahaha! Seriously, I am addicted to Disney World. I have a problem. Step one is admitting you have a problem, so there. I have a problem. I knew it I had passed my problem onto Jack because whenever we get into the car he would start shouting "MOUSE! MOUSE!" Imagine the confusion this causes in the middle of the grocery store or the post office. "Ohhh.he's so cute, what is he shouting??" And Charlie? We not longer need a map at any of the parks. He grabs one for good measure as he marches through the crowd acting as our official tour guide. His standard line? "Ok, what are we going to do next?"

I try to go out there with my parents, my in-laws or my friend at least twice a week. Once I got so desperate for a fix I went out alone. I never saw another single person with a stroller, an 18 month and a five year old the whole time I was there. And now I know there is a reason for that. People don't really care that you're holding a baby the size of a frozen jumbo turkey and the hand of a hyper 5 year old while trying to make your way through the crowd. They will run you down and kick you out of the way just to get one row in front of you for the show.

So, this summer, we are enjoying the tourist scene and we know these days are coming to a close sooner rather than later :( I've started to apply for jobs in our new hometown and I guess the real world is quickly approaching. And that makes me want to throw up. But for now we are going to Disney World!

Charlie scratching Pluto's nose, making him thump his foot. So cute! 

Jack meets the Mouse for the first time

Dumbo!

In the shark's belly at the Living Seas

Charlie with his pals Cypress and Bliss! I love these girls!

Brushing the pig at Animal Kingdom

Three little pigs!

Happy Father's Day!

Lets set this up. I've been sooo sick this week with what appeared to be the blublonick plague. (Just kidding, but it sure felt that way...) I had resigned to the fact that there was no way I was going to be able to drag my sorry sick butt to Jacksonville this weekend for Father's Day and hear Chad preach on Sunday. But then my parents came to the rescue, got a hotel room on the beach and drug it for me! Yipppeeee. So today has been a great day! Church, beach, dinner with family and extended family. The works. Just a perfect day.
This morning Chad preached from John 3:16. The most basic building block of the Christian faith, but with a personal application. The amazing story of Charlie's adoption from Russia. Of course we talked about the trials and tribulations of our journey and the year long battle after we had met him to get him home. But, all that aside, a personal glimpse of a story inside a story- When we arrived we expected a little 2 year old boy (and later a 3 year old boy) to drop everything and run into our arms the second we met. For him to instantly know that we would have gone to the ends of the earth (and literally did....) to save him. To hold him. To love him forever. But, Charlie, being the strong willed, frightened and obstinate little boy wanted nothing to do with us. He cried. He pitched a fit. He rocked himself in the corner. For goodness sake- he peed on me not once, but twice to get away from me and go back to the only family he has ever known. He rejected us, over and over again.
You see when God sent his son into the world to save us, we rejected him. We spit in his face. We mocked him and still do. We run from him. And all he wants to do is love us. And save us. He has set us apart and adopted us into his family. And he loves us so much he would go beyond the ends of the earth to show his never ending love. Adoption is redemption. Heavenly, earthly or otherwise, our lives have been made meaningful by our adoption story. I was so honored to be there today to hear our story again, with fresh ears and fresh tears.
I am so thankful for Chad and the father he is to our boys. I don't take for granted for one second that other families are not as fortunate as we are to have a Godly, kind, understanding man as the head of the family. I am thankful for my daddy who has been a example of hard work and dedication to our family for so long. I am thankful for my father-in-law, JR who is an amazing man of God and loves my boys so much. I am blessed to have a bonus dad, Rick who is kind, compassionate and thoughtful beyond measure.
I hope you had a wonderful day remembering or honoring your dads and those that are like a dad to you! Toodles till next Sunday!

Saying Cheeese at the Rainforest Cafe 

Riding Cinderella's Horse at Ft. Wilderness, Disney

Oh yeah....

So I guess I still have a blog. Funny, I use to panic if I missed a day of writing. Now it seems the days are filled with swimming, baby catching, bike riding, Mickey visiting and the such. I can't tell you the last time I even had my laptop on.....I suppose we've settled into a new state of normal with the wild five year old (!) and the 19 (!) month old. Charlie has decided to start swimming without his swimmies and ride his bike without training wheels. In other news, I have taken the child lock off his side of the car door, I am now "trusting him" to make good decisions and let himself out of the car. Oh boy. Jack is saying every single word I say like a parrot all of a sudden, which as you can imagine has made for interesting conversation. My favorite new word is "Shock-o-lot" for chocolate, a word screamed at every pass through the kitchen. Some pictures for my loyal fans, waiting and checking everyday to see what we've been up to? A friend of mine who has a photograph biz, captured some wonderful pictures of the boys. You can check Justina out here. She specializes in no pressure photo shoots. Basically, we met by the lake and she just followed the boys around snapping away.

I must say, I have two of the world's most beautiful boys....and I'm not just saying that as part of my motherly duty.
In other news...
We had a "offer" on the house, but notice I use the word "offer" in parenthesis. It was an odd request for owner financing and just sounded too risky. Then we had to other emails stating "Expect offer" yet...no offers flooding the inbox as of Sunday, June 9th at 11:25pm. Yes, I had a nap today, can you tell? Burning the midnight oil.
I am dreaming again of writing a book, and come up with the BEST ideas around midnight only to discover in the morning that it was the stupidest idea on the planet. I wish someone could pitch a plot to me and just have me connect the dots. (It's a story about a vulnerable tomato, no a peach, no an asparagus that felt self conscious about the way it's pee smelled...)
We had the privilege of meeting a fellow adoptive mom a few weeks ago in St. Augustine. It was surreal watching our kiddos from across the sea play together. At some point on the playground a group of kids were playing war and were screaming "The Russians are coming!!!" You can imagine what a kick we got out of that. And the Russians ARE coming. We are greatly looking forward to our Russian reunion day at Disney with some friends from all around in July. How cool will it be to see everyone that we "know" through the process of adoption? I can't wait. I only wish we were also going on the Disney Cruise following the day at the parks. Sigh....
I am struggling quite a bit with missing my old life. I miss my house, our friends, my job, the church....I am so sad that Charlie won't be going to his school next year. I miss South Carolina pace and our annual trip to the beach. I just miss everything about it. This transition hasn't been an easy one for me. But, I am hoping once the house sells and we can fully settle in life will feel better. Right now it's just been hard on me. Ok, enough boo-hooing.
I could go on and on about the 10 million other little things that have happened since May the whatever, but I guess that's the price I pay for not keeping up with the blog. Too much information turns into a scattered mess. So, how about a promise? Meet me back here on Sunday night. I can at least vow to write the 4 people still reading the blog that I will be more consistent on updates. You.Me.Next Sunday. Peace out.