Tuesday, May 27, 2008

no more vacations for the merrymans

well...lest anyone think that our lives are wine and roses, here's what happened to our family on memorial day.

jon took our son to pick up his sister in brentwood, and then to a movie. my idea of a great vacation is neurotically organizing everything in sight, so i stayed home. i murphy-oiled my front porch rockers, stacked my tupperware by size and color, alphabetized my teas, and filed all the adoption papers i had been leaving out "in case we should need them." (like some moldovan judge was going to call and ask questions or something).

i had volunteered our home and our son's oil paints to anastasia's family for the afternoon. she's trying to get into an art school for college, and one of her portfolio requirements is an oil painting, and her family doesn't have the goods on hand. so, it only made sense, since dennis is so well-outfitted in the paint department, that we should let them bond over blank canvases and turpentine.

so everyone invaded my space around 3:30 p.m. jon and i settled in to watch a movie and left the kids upstairs to paint. when jon went upstairs around 5 to check progress, he noticed a large green splotch on my spotless linen lampshade. he came downstairs and told me about said spot, and said, "you probably shouldn't go up there." and so i went upstairs. well, friends, it appeared that jackson pollock had made a stop at our house. there was blue paint on my custom sofa, black paint on the Berber, and green paint on the walls. i have never been so furious.

well, my brilliant husband herded the kids to the car and made dennis grab his wallet. one trip to pottery barn later, and we had a brand new lampshade, sponsored by my son. he was a little appalled at the price, though not nearly as appalled as i was by the mayhem that had ensued and the fact that his sister did not have a painting to show for all of that trouble.

while my boys were in cool springs, i began noticing that a spot i had earlier thought was where one of my precious, well-house-trained puppies had pottied had grown to a 2' x 6' puddle on my bedroom carpet. knowing there was no way that the dogs had drunk three gallons of water during the day, we had to call state farm - especially when we noticed that the hardwoods were buckling.

so...at 10:30 last night, the nice plumber came and tightened a valve. at 11:30 last night, the water extracters came and set up giant spaceship looking devices to suck all the water out of the house. around 1 a.m., jon and i settled in to the soothing sounds of an airplane taking off. these sounds will continue for 5 days, when the floors "should" be dry and the nice floor repairmen will come and rip out my hardwoods to replace them with new ones.

i couldn't really sit dennis down and have a chat about the oil paint disaster in the middle of that. what i can't figure out is how God knew that a flood would be one of the few things that would take my mind off my anger!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

reflections on motherhood



this is a little late in coming, but i wanted to post about my first mother's day as a mom. my little family is so sweet. after a friday of deliveries at the office (one of which was a cookie bouquet with little jon, emily and dennis cookies in it), i was pampered beyond belief. my new son wrote me a card...and while it wasn't eloquent, it called me mom, and that was enough for me. this picture is part of my gift. jon hired a fabulous photographer, hannah westphall, to take family pictures at our home. she's amazing...click here to see her work.

this long, strange journey has taught me so much about being a woman. how strange that God would give us such wisdom and insight...and then wrap it up in an emotional package. i can handle the biggest things, but the little things can undo me.

last night, we heard a sad story about a teenager who accidentally ran over his adopted little sister. my heart is weeping today about this. i know God has an incredible plan for our little boy, but today, i was reminded that "His ways are higher than our ways."

it might not be that my son paints a picture that will hang in the MoMA. do you remember the way you felt the day you graduated high school? when someone gave you the "Oh, the Places you will Go" book and sent you on your way? when you thought the world was your oyster? that's how i felt about my son until this morning. that the world was so big a place and that by him coming to america, things were a little more attainable for him. that he could cure cancer or at least evangelize a small third-world country.

i am reminded that our wildest dreams sometimes fall short...because they're just that...ours. i pray that the plans God has for my "little" one are ones that i can handle...and if i can't, i pray i turn to God for strength.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

the end is nigh


well...we've conquered almost three months of american public school. and we think we've done pretty well. i mean, big D made the honor roll last nine weeks and is tracking to repeat this nine-weeks. WHAT?! i have a kid that is old enough to make honor roll.

tonight is a bit traumatic because of the following:
1. i forgot that monday was cinco de mayo and had to throw together an impromptu potluck salad for work which (a) depleted my side supply for dinners this week, but (b) reminded me that i CAN COOK even though i'm a mother of a teenager. after tonight's supperthyme meal, we are plum out of anything to eat, which sends me into a panic that i MIGHT have to grocery shop in the middle of the week (CRISIS in my book, for sure).

2. dennis is studying for his gateway algebra I exam. yup, you read that right.

3. dennis has his very last soccer game tomorrow. it will be the city championships, and it looks like they might WIN!

4. both 2 and 3 add up to one grumpy kid. we have no idea why our precious one is a bit on the moody side, but we assume it's because (although he's not our biological son) he has a tendency to internalize things and get stressed out. and also, he equates the end of soccer season to the "end of life as he knows it." yikes.

i'm sure we'll make it through all the drama. we have so far, anyway.