Brooke's 14th Birthday

I'm pre-posting this because on Brooke's birthday I will be off to enjoy a day of shopping and pampering and a hotel stay with Brooke, Kenzie and Robin for Brooke and Kenzie's birthdays! Brooke and Kenzie decided again this year to forego a party with friends for a weekend of just moms and girls...I'm SO blessed to have a daughter that would rather spend time with me!!!

Dear Brooke,

Could it really be true that you are already 14 years old??? We hear it said all the time but the time REALLY DOES go by way too fast!

I want to thank you for letting me get the full experience of having a teenage daughter this year...from the drama, the hormones, the mood swings to the sweet loving moments where you give me a glimpse into your mind and life and show me what a wonderful woman you are growing up to be!

I love that you still talk to me about your crushes, friends, dreams and drama. I'm so thankful that we have a close relationship where you feel comfortable talking to me about anything and everything. I hope that as your life gets busier with high school that we can still share that close bond!

You are creative, focused, determined, loyal, assertive and loving. You still say you want to be a fashion designer (or something in that field) and you will be great at it! When you love someone (family, friends) you are one of the most supportive and loyal people in that persons life, you would do anything for them. When you want something you don't give up, you are the hardest working most determined girl I know...I'm so proud of your good grades and you making high school cheerleading because of your hard work! I love that you are confident and assertive when you want your thoughts, ideas or opinion known, you don't back down from anyone! And most of all I love that you love your family and want to spend time with us!

I love you more than you could ever know! It has been my pleasure to watch you grow from a teeny tiny baby into the beautiful young woman that you are today. I love being your mom and feel blessed everyday that you are my daughter.

Love,

Mom

Kenzie's b-day

Journey of Peace

My act of self-kindness for day 6 was...

Spending time with family and friends while celebrating our "3rd daughter" Kenzie's 14th b-day at Dairy Queen. So really the act of self-kindness was me not having to cook dinner :-)

Brooke & Kenzie...

day 5

Jouney of Peace

My act of self-kindness for day 5 was...

Mike and I sat out on the porch after dark last night and talked. I love those quiet moments with my husband. I'm thankful that after almost 20 years together that we still want to spend time together :-)



STILL no adoption homestudy news :(

Day 4

Journey of Peace

My act of self-kindness for Day 4 was...

After picking the girls up from school I treated all of us to a drink from Sonic and a fun afternoon at the park! Afterwards we came home to a yummy dinner almost ready thanks to the crockpot!

Peace and No News

Journey of Peace

My act of self-kindness for Day 3 was...

Lexy has been asking me to go to the basement and find all of Brooke's old Junie B. Jones books. Yesterday I took the time to find those books and then read an entire book to Lexy. We had so much fun giggling at Junie B's goofyness!!


In other news...

There is none :( Still waiting to hear from the adoption worker on our homestudy update. Last week she said "early next week"...hmmm wonder what she constitutes as "early". I'm just SO ready to move forward and start looking at profiles!! On the way to school this morning Lexy asked if you could play on a teetor totter by yourself. When I told her no that I think it would be much more fun with someone else she said "I hope I get a little sister soon then".

Day 2

Journey of Peace

For Day 2 my act of self-kindness was...

I let myself be quiet when my oldest was struggling with nervousness about going to a meeting. Quiet is hard for me when it comes to my kids, I want to take their nervousness away or help them in some way. But I chose to keep quiet and let her work it out in her head. I even drove away from the meeting place and then turned around and went back when she asked me to. Eventually she did make it into the meeting and she and I were both proud that she had conquered her fears. I was proud of myself for stepping back and allowing her to grow up just a little bit more!

31 day Journey of Peace

On another blog, I read how she is using the month of May to focus on and do something special for herself each day. To remember to show herself the same kindness she shows to others everyday. I think this is a great idea...

I am SO blessed but between marriage, motherhood and especially the stress of the adoption process sometimes I can forget that to be truly at peace I must take care of myself . Some days that means I need to just remember and acknowledge what has spontaneously brought me joy that day, other days that means that I need to mentally focus on doing something nice for myself :-)

For the next 31 days I will:

Commit one act of self-kindness that brings me peace/joy.
Write about that self-kindness.
Not allow anyone or any situation to rob me of my peace.

One of my goals for 2010 is to work on being a more loving, kind, patient, happy and peaceful wife, mother, and friend, I think this fits right in!

For Day 1 my act of self-kindness is...

I (and the family) went garage sale hopping. As a child this activity brought me great displeasure (not sure why?) but now I enjoy it very much. I love finding new-to-us treasures for my family. I even found a couple of things that I was looking for to make a new craft :-)