Happy New Year

Maddie and Friends celebrating the New Year at our local 'First Night' event.

Happy New Year one and all! I hope everyone is as excited about the New Year as I am! We had a wonderful Christmas - shared with my parents who surprised us with a last minute visit. We had been asking them to come to Virginia for the holiday, but they didn't think they could for a number of reasons. I got a call from my Mom on the morning of Dec. 23rd asking if the invitation was still open. Of course it was! She asked me to keep their arrival a secret - they wanted to surprise the girls. Well, all I can say is you should have seen Josie's face later that afternoon, when she woke up from her nap and her Grandmom was there waiting for her! Pure Joy! Here are some photos from our Christmas:

PopPop and Josie hand out presents:


Maddie loves her new iPhone!


Josie 'rock out' on her new Princess Guitar:


Josie is a total Grandmom's girl! That goes for both her grandmothers. In my family, the kids all go for PopPop - he's big fun. He teases, plays, jokes and basically acts just like one of them! Grandmom is quieter, more patient and all about kisses & hugs. Josie is much more quiet and shy than her sister or cousins. She prefers her Grandmom hands down above all of us. She tells her all the time that she needs to come Virginia and live with us. They play 'puppets' together - with Grandmom donning her tiara to play the Queen (Josie is a princess). They cook together, read together and cuddle. Needless to say, they are both in heaven when they are together.

Josie's MaMa (James' Mom) is also very close to her heart. MaMa is an active player and participant when Josie is around. She's also one of the few people that Josie will talk to on the phone. If you listen closely when Josie talks, you can see how she puts things together in her head... California equals MaMa and GungGung, Disneyland and Dave (James' dear friend for over 20 years) She is such a smart and loving child, I can't imagine what our lives would be like without her.

Maddie has also been such a source of pride these past few months. Her first semester of High School has been a combination of joy, worry, and maturity. The curriculum at her school is intense. She has been learning how to organize her work and time to achieve her goals. She has 8 classes: The Sacred Scriptures (religion); Algebra; English; Physics; World History; French; The Human Person (bioethics) and Dance. Her grades are good but she has trouble balancing her effort... straight A's in one course, and C's in another. When she focuses her energy on bringing up the 'C', her grades in the other classes start to falter. I worry constantly. But, I also remind myself (and James!) that it's all on her now. We can't sit in her classes for her or take her tests - all we can do is offer our help and hope for the best. It's hard letting go...

Maddie has made some wonderful friends at school. She has also begun dating! This is a strange and new world for James & me. We have a policy of 'no car dates' until she is 16. Meaning, she is free to have group outings or dates where we know where she going, how long she will be there, who will be present and we drop her off and pick her up. This is working out well. The young man she is currently 'dating' is a nice guy. They meet at one of our local coffee shops, attend teen concerts together and find other activities in our small downtown. He is respectful of Maddie and our rules. I won't go into any more detail because Maddie has been rather 'sensitive' about 'everyone knowing her business'. (Those of you with teenagers will understand this...)

Which brings me to explain that I am planning some changes for this site...

We've been going through a lot of changes here. I had given a lot of thought to continuing this blog. In all honesty, I really love having this blog to share photos of the girls with friends and family. Lately, however, all I've been doing is reporting and not really sharing any thoughts.

I started this blog back in 2005 while waiting for our referral for Josie. Back then, it was all about paperwork, preparation, anxiety over the wait and finally- getting our referral. It's been 3 years since we got 'The Call'. I received so much support from the adoption community - I've come to know some of those parents on a personal level and that has really enriched all of our lives.

It's always been about the kids. James and I have just been the background players to the true stars in our lives, Our Girls. But, now Josie is in pre-school and Maddie is in High School... and quite honestly, there isn't really that much to report when you take into consideration how routine our lives have become. Also, it's sometimes difficult to try to put a positive spin on teenage angst and toddler drama. I have always been afraid that if I shared my true thoughts or observations that I would end up offending someone. In trying to be somewhat diplomatic and impartial - I've neglected sharing a huge part of our lives.

James & I have made so many new friends this year. At this point in my life, I didn't expect to make any 'true, real friends'. I always felt that those friends whom I have know for a long time would understand me better, accept me and my thoughts more readily. I no longer feel that way. James and I have made friends who have become like family to us - and over the course of the past few years I've neglected to share details about these wonderful folks. I hope to remedy that with the changes I make with this blog - starting now. I hope to introduce all of you to the people who have brought us so much love and joy.

So, with that long winded explanation given, I'll tell you all that our blog will no longer be just about the girls. Though we are only a family of four, our extended family is huge! I can't wait to get started with the introductions and to share with you the whole canvas of our lives. I will be blogging much more frequently, so to those of you who check in regularly - Thanks for sticking with us.

Until next time....