The Strawberry Patch

Last weekend we took the kids to the strawberry patch,
a local country store with much to see. 

The berries aren't in season for picking yet,
but it is still a really neat place for kids.

They house swans, donkeys, tortoises, and a plethora
of wild birds that have been rescued. 

Charlie was totally fascinated by all of it. Especially the ice cream.

 

 

King of the Hill

Look at that smile.
You'd think he climbed Mt. Everest!

Chasing dust

I love how children are drawn to the simplest things. Bubbles, of course, are a continued "big hit" in our household.

And we've made two new discoveries: 

Much like a kitten, Charlie is mesmerized by the beam of light produced by a flashlight. I think he could chase it for hours. He had a ball with the neighbor kids on Halloween running around our driveway and chasing the light.

This morning, he's discovered dust. Yes, dust. And there is plenty to be found in this house. But he is particularly drawn to the dust particles that float in the air and are only visible in a certain light. I caught him turning himself in circles pretending to be a speck of dust himself.

Hopefully he won't land on a piece of our furniture;)

A beautiful morning

Most mornings are pretty crazy 'round here. Dropping Madi off at school. Hustling to the YMCA for Mommy and Me class or a scheduled playdate. Or just running errands in our "spare" time. Added to my (self-inflicted) distractions of modern technology, it hasn't given us much down time.

Class was cancelled today for renovations in the kiddie room at the Y.  What a blessing.

After drop-off, Charlie and I came home and ate breakfast (quietly) together. I made a bowl of grits for each of us. He insisted on pulling up his chair to the table, like a "big boy." Then, after I fed him a bite--he returned the favor. As we took feeding each other bites, I saw a familiar gleam in his eye. It  reminded me so much of Daniel.  And it brought back moments with Daniel that I'd forgotten. Lo and behold, we'd done the same thing together.

After breakfast, Charlie and I took a stroll around the neighborhood. The weather here today is simply amazing. Cool (high seventies, maybe?)  and breezy. Just a taste of what we should soon feel on a more regular basis.

When we came home, we went out in the backyard to play. We started rolling a ball to each other, but then Charlie wasn't thrilled with the feel of the grass on his legs (again...much like Daniel), so he ambled over and plopped on my lap.

As I sat criss-cross applesauce, and he was perched in the middle (facing me), I held him against my chest and we hugged each other. For about five minutes--in total silence--we held each other tightly and listened to the beautiful sounds around us. We watched butterflies flutter, and large birds soar in the blue sky.

It was perfect.

Then, of course, Charlie became squirmy, so I picked him up and carried him over to see Daniel's plaque. He proceeded to kiss his hand probably ten times and touch Daniel's face. It still amazes me how connected those two boys seem to be...

Trick and Treat

So I procrastinated just a tad this year with a Halloween costume for Charlie. We've been so busy, and quite frankly...I don't know what I was thinking. Apparently, I wasn't....

Yesterday afternoon, I dragged Madi around to six stores, and absolutely nothing struck us. Nothing. Everything was either the wrong size, looked cheap, too expensive, or just plain ugly.

In a desperate state, I called our friend Emily, and she bailed us out with a cute little construction worker vest and hard hat. It was perfect, though I knew he likely wouldn't wear the hat, and it saved the day for Charlie's Halloween party at Mommy & Me this morning.

My first school party

I think I like these things called cupcakes.

And I love my first Teacher, Miss Lora

Then Mommy got the ultimate "trick" for Halloween.  I returned from working with my editor this afternoon to hear from Diane (our friend, neighbor, and sitter) that Charlie was stirring. He was "stirring" alright. Those of you with weak stomachs might want to sign off here...

When I walked into his room, shortly before it was time to pick up Madi from school, I was blown over. Little Stinker (literally) had gone number two, and it was everywhere. And I mean everywhere. On every blanket (five of 'em), both of his musical toys, his bedding, his clothes, his feet, and it didn't stop there. He had finger-painted all over the crib rails.

Sorry for being so graphic, but if I gotta live it, you gotta read about it. That's part of the deal here. And why would I share such disgusting information? Because someday I want Charlie to read about all the crap (pun intended) he put me through;)

Realizing that there was no quick fix to the situation, I immediately speed-dialed Emily to pick up Madi from school.

Seriously folks--I was paralyzed. This has never happened with Madi or Daniel, at least like this. I tore his clothes off, scooped him up from underneath his armpits (holding him out at a safe distance) and ran him into the bath to get cleaned up.  It took me a good half-hour to get him and his crib squeaky clean, and I didn't even gag once. Now that's true love. Oh--and I should credit Charlie with this: Not once did he cry or show any sign of trauma. That was all me...

The "treat" of my day was that on my way home from meeting with Marilyn, I made a quick pit-stop at Toys R Us as a last resort and lucked out totally. I found the cutest, softest Tigger costume HALF PRICE! Best $8.00 I've ever spent. And Charlie absolutely LOVES wearing it!

Good thing he's so darn cute...

 

 

 

Our Angel Madi

One of the challenges of Kindergarten (for me, anyway) is the abundance of projects. The kids had to come up with their own Halloween costume idea and make their costume for a grade. No store-bought costumes allowed.

Madi came up with the idea of an angel. The costume came out great after a few weeks of stressful planning. Actually, I stressed about it, and she really didn't.

Her project also required a written component, and when I asked her to write why she wanted to be an angel, she wrote, "Because my little brother Daniel is an angel." God love her.

We used a pillowcase for the dress, and Madi hand-painted hearts, peace signs and crosses on it.  We made wings out of foam board, which she also painted, we strung them together with elastic. We used pipe cleaners for her halo. We propped a little white peace dove on her shoulder and added some sparkles to her face. She looked beautiful.
 
Before we left for school, I remembered (thankfully) to snap a couple pictures. When I asked where we should take them, she replied with excitement, "Out in the backyard with Daniel and Schroeder!"

Jimmy and I had the honor of attending a fun little Halloween performance in her classroom Friday. The kids all looked great in their homemade costumes, and they were so excited about their big show. 

Madi loves her costume so much, that she decided to wear it for all of our Halloween events over the weekend, so the effort paid off on our wallets, too:)

 

Thank you, Faith

Our first picture of Charlie. He looks good in pink.

This time last year, we had just received a call from our agency about Charlie's file. We were reeling.  It was so hard to process such a joyful beginning on top of such a difficult ending.

It still amazes me how we found Charlie--or how he found us--I should say, by the Grace of God. 

Let me put it to you this way...I was looking for Faith and Faith led us to Charlie.

A friend of mine (Carmen) had sent me a Facebook link to a wonderful well-known organization called Love Without Boundaries last Fall. I had been perusing their postings regularly and fell in love with countless faces on their website. I inquired about several children who I believed could be ours.

Then I saw Faith. I fell in love with her instantly. Faith was from the same province as Daniel. She was the same age. She even had the same heart condition.  Our agency felt it was "too close" for us. I didn't. I wanted to find that little girl, so I called our agency again and again hoping that they would locate her. But they couldn't.

On the morning of October 23rd, 2010, our Holt agent, Beth, signed on to her computer and began looking for Faith's file, once again. But then up popped a photo-listing she had not seen before. It was Charlie.

Beth said she knew instantly that he was "The Murphy's baby."  He seemed the perfect fit for our family, but where did his file come from?  He'd entered the Shanghai orphanage in December, 2009 and babies in China become adoptable after six months, which would have been June, 2010, just after Daniel had passed away. So why did his file just pop up in October?

Perhaps our guardian angels shuffled some papers around and kept his file--which must've been locked by another agency--under the radar until we were ready. 

Or perhaps there is another family out there--who we need to thank--for releasing Charlie's file after four months of contemplation about him.  

Either way, God found a way to get his file in our hands when He was ready, and when we were ready.

So, now we have Charlie. And we still have faith:)