Madi's Halloween costume

Madi has had her heart set on being Barbie Rapunzel for months now. I ordered her costume back in August through an online retailer at a price I just knew was too good to be true. Periodically, I checked with the company just knowing inside that this costume would be a no-show.

Several weeks ago, some friends were kind to pass us down some beautiful clothing. Among the clothes, were two absolutely perfect dress-up costumes for Madi. One was Ariel, the other Jasmine.

When I broke the news to Madi last week that Rapunzel was probably not going to happen, she handled it so amazingly well. Wouldn't most kids totally freak out? Well, at least some would. Madi accepted it without question and went with her two choices of Jasmine or Ariel as our "Plan B". We will venture out to find her a red wig tomorrow and then she can use both costumes to celebrate the four costume occasions of this weekend.

Here is a sneak peek of Madi as Jasmine. She is well aware that her skin tone and hair coloring just make this costume work!

Today is not our day

Came home from school with Madi and had a call on the answering machine from Holt. Turns out that our "perfect match" is not in this group of referrals so far. We're okay with that. We appreciate that Holt is being cautious on our behalf and really taking our referral seriously. She explained that things can happen at anytime, so we'd best be ready.

We truly know in our hearts that this is all in God's time and according to His plan. The reward is in feeling His plan in your heart. Today was not our day. Knowing that makes it easy to wait. Okay, maybe not so easy, but it sure helps!

Saint Daniel

I am so proud to have been chosen by my nephew, Myles, to be his sponsor for his Catholic rite of confirmation. Last night, his mother, Sheila, emailed me the paper Myles wrote about choosing his Saint's name. She prepared us well by saying, "Better get the Kleenex". Here is what we read:

Saints Name Paper

The name I have chosen for my confirmation is Daniel, in memory of my little cousin and God brother Daniel. In February, my aunt (who is my sponsor) and uncle adopted a two year old boy who they named Daniel. He had a heart condition and needed surgery to correct it. The surgery was a complete success but there were complications during his recovery. After being in the hospital for almost a month, he passed away.

St. Daniel was known for his ability to interpret dreams. Daniel and his three friends were taken to Babylon. He was given the name Belteshazzar. Daniel was the first of the three presidents of the empire under the reign of Darius the Mede. His ministry began late in his life. His date and time of death were not recorded. His feast day is December 17^th.

I have chosen to take Daniel as my confirmation name, in memory of my cousin who I miss very much. This is one way I can think of to keep him in my heart.

Madi's wish

Madi went out to dinner with Grandpa and Miss Suzanne on Saturday. As they approached a bridge, Suzanne told Madi to close her eyes and make a wish when they drove under.

Madi was insistent about sharing her wish with them even when told that it might not come true if she told anyone. Madi replied that it was okay to share this wish and was confident that it would still come true.

And her wish was (drum roll please)..."to deliver us from evil"

Logged in

So Friday night, I was in Orlando for the Juice Plus conference, and I accidentally left my cell phone in the hotel room. I called Jimmy from Lisa's phone around 7pm and told him to call her phone if he needed me for anything. Both of us knew that chances of that were slim but he appreciated the information.

Halfway through dinner, Lisa pulls her phone out of her purse and notices that Jimmy has left two messages and he sent two emails asking me to call the house. Hmmmm.

Apparently, Holt called the house at around 8:00 (it was the end of the work day in Oregon) to report that our dossier has been logged in! When the phone rang, Jimmy was half asleep so Madi answered the phone. When asked if her Mommy was home, she replied, "No, my Mommy's not home." The Holt representative then asked if Daddy was there, to which Madi also replied, "No". Luckily Jimmy could hear what was happening and quickly grabbed the phone to speak with them and receive the news that our dossier has been logged in. Holt is supposed to receive a group of referrals early this week. If our child is in that group, then we will be matched together.

Today, Jimmy and I celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary. We are blessed to have so much to celebrate.

Safety Rules

This month is safety month at Madi's preschool. Yesterday, the firemen came to visit and the kids were able to climb aboard a fire engine and look around. Madi came home totally pumped up about safety. She rolled around on the floor practicing her 'Stop, drop, and roll'. Then, she put on her new fire hat, goggles, and a face mask and rolled around in the backyard practicing more. She would climb up into her fort and Daddy would have to be the fireman and come save her from the fire, so she was practicing her exit strategy. Then she would be the 'firegirl' and she would practice running as fast as she could to save a pretend baby.

When she went to bed last night, she requested that we talk instead of reading a book. She was very inquisitive about our exit plan in event of a fire. We had to review each scenario and go over our escape route for each scenario. She made each of us take turns to say something important about safety. She was hilarious, but it was amazing to see how seriously she is taking safety. She plans to make a safety book with Bubba when they get back to Florida.

I am leaving today for the Juice Plus conference in Orlando. Daddy promised Madi that part of Friday will be dedicated to teaching Madi how to open and jump out of her bedroom window in the event of an emergency. Crazy to teach a five year old this? We have cautioned her that this is something only to be done in case of a true emergency. Something tells me that she 'gets it'!

Our Little Brainiac

We are discovering that Madi is really flourishing in Math and Science. She's always expressed an interest in numbers, and she was counting to 100 before the age of 5 (maybe that's not as impressive as I think it is?), but her Pre-K teacher mentioned to me that she knows basic Math concepts and knows her units already. She seemed really impressed.

Today when I picked her up from school, she was so excited they had started working on "experients". When we got home, she started milling around the kitchen trying to make her own "experients". It started with timing a piece of ice to see how long it would take to melt. Then all of a sudden she was in the kitchen asking Jimmy to put some dishwasher gel into a cup for her. She was trying to replicate the "goo" that they made at school with Borax. Jimmy explained to her that dishwasher gel is dangerous and some things can be poisonous when mixed together. Moments later, she was asking if it was okay to mix glue and milk together! She is a determined one...