October in Paris

Hopefully you love a good Dennis story as much as I do, cause this one made me smile.

So Dennis has been in Disney World since last Thursday with his Mass Media class from his arts magnet. I realize this is way cooler than anything my high school every did and I'm pretty sure that goes for you, too. :)

When I left for Dallas last Sunday to tell childrens ministers about orphans, Dennis reminded me this would be the longest we have been apart since he came home from Moldova. I didn't think much about it, but I miss him... And I love that this is home for me and for him.

So I called him today, because I miss him, and wanted to make sure he wasn't doing drugs in Disney World with those hooligans he goes to school with. I know if my dad would have called on a school trip I would have been mortified - no news is good news, right?

Here's what transpired.

"Hello?" He says in a muffled, slurred voice. "Jon?"

"Yes - it's me."

"Jon, is that you?"

"Yes! It's me!" I say loudly to my foreign child. "Where are you?"

"I'm in Paris!" He says... (I giggle to myself)

"In Paris, huh - you must be in Epcot?"

"Yes, I loooove Dis-uh-ney Whirrrled!" (I'm positive that is how you phonetically say how he says Disney World.) "It is so amazing - everything they do visually is amazing - I'm watching painters paint on the street! Like in Paris! And today I went to Ireland and heard Irish music and they have a CD of all the music from all the countries and I will buy that one for sure!" (He's had this crazy obsession with celtic music - I think I mentioned that before. He calls is - Sell-tic and I make him say Kel-tic.) He listens to it as I teach him to drive... Kind of makes me crazy... :)

My next question, since his speech is fast and slurred is, "You haven't been doing any drugs, have you?"

He says: "No, that part of the park is closed." :) (He gets that sarcasm from me - it's hereditary.) :)

"Oh - for renovations, right?" I jest - and he agrees. :)

I hear kids in the background... "So, what are you doing now?"

"We are walking to the pastry! It is amazing!" he says.

I don't correct him with patisserie -- because I picture him walking towards a huge pastry and it makes me laugh. I ask, "So are you overwhelmed?"

"Yes." He says. "But in a good way. I love Dis-uh-ney Whirrrled. But I miss you. How are you? How is home? How is Emily? How is Max?"

After answering his questions, I let him go - to enjoy his last night in Disney World with his friends because, as he told me, he'll be home tomorrow, well not really tomorrow, but he leaves tomorrow and then he will see me. (He gets home Thursday afternoon.) :)

I can't wait to hear the stories, see the pictures, and hear about his trip. It's almost his birthday and in these past almost 2 years he's seen more and done more than I know he could have ever imagined. The memories that would have been heartache and struggle are instead memories of mickey mouse shaped ice cream bars and october in paris - in Dis-uh-hey Whirrled.

Parenting an adopted teenager is a wild ride but one I recommend. It can't be any worse that the Tower of Terror - and when it resembles that, I need to remind myself that if it wasn't for us, for God calling us to adopt Dennis, and for this sweet boy that came into our lives - we'd never have Paris.

driving miss emily

so, jon's travelling this week. i hate it when he travels. sometimes when he leaves, i have this feeling of "ahhh. alone time," for about 3 seconds and then i remember that it's lonely being alone.

jon is the point person for getting dennis to school. i'm not sure how i wiggled out of it, but that's one duty that he just took. with that, he's pretty much taken on the job of teaching dennis to drive.

when jon left on sunday morning, i thought, "hey, let's see how well dennis is progressing. i'll let him take me to church." and that did not go so well. i got to thinking that big d is a little nervous driving me around. he kind of drifts into other lanes when he's driving. he's not so good with the lane changes. and he doesn't really multi-task that well. like he can't turn on the wipers without riding the brake.

anyway, so yesterday, he's driving home from school and i notice that he's holding his hands in front of the a/c. hmmm. he does it just about every time he's at a stop light.

and a big tahoe-suburban thing pulled right in front of us. without even thinking, d just swoops into the next lane, avoiding a collision. my first words were, "good job." and then: "did you check behind you before you switched lanes?" and dennis says..."no." at this point, i feel my heart get real big inside my chest. and my breathing was pretty shallow.

and then he stops at the light and holds his hands up in front of the vent. and he says:

"my hands get sweaty when i'm nervous."

and i almost wet my pants as i suppressed my laughter.

today, after school, i'm going to take him somewhere to teach him not to turn so wide. seriously, it's like he's parking an El Camino. only he drives a toyota.

nervous energy

i have had this perpetual sense of nervousness for the past couple of weeks. do you know the feeling? my stomach feels like it has a balloon inside it that keeps inflating and deflating. my heart won't settle down. my palms are sweaty. i kind of want to cry. all the time.

i'm not sure what it is.

over the past couple of years i've gotten really good at managing stress. i suppose it has to do with the adoption and new job and working through the family cancer. but for some reason, i've lost that levelheadedness.

there were a couple of years when jon and i first got married that i recognized this inability to deal with stress, and promptly took pills to relieve it. they worked. sort of. they made me gain tons of weight, along with some other fun side effects, and jon and i decided that it might be a good idea to lay off the pills.

and i was fine! without the meds, i could handle what life threw at me and generally be pretty fun to be around.

but i feel it coming on again. maybe it's because dennis will be driving alone in 2 short weeks. maybe it's because i feel marginally overwhelmed at work. maybe its because i miss my family.

i know this post is out of character, but i just needed to get it off my chest.

thanks for letting me vent.

isn't he lovely? isn't he wonderful?

i just wanted to take a moment and brag on my husband.

1. when i came home yesterday, he had picked up the house.

2. after a particularly rough morning this week, he drove home, picked up my phone that i had forgotten and brought it to me along with fresh flowers at work. he even made sure the flowers had eucalyptus to calm me down.

3. he heard on the radio (i think) that unplugging things saves money and ran around the house "saving money." except that i couldn't get anything to come on...but i admire his responsibility.

4. he made the bed yesterday without me asking him.

5. he helped me give max a bath last night at 7.30. didn't even question it.

6. he refuses to watch tv shows that i like until i come home. even if there's nothing else on.

7. without asking, he got an estimate on having someone clean the house and then offered to rearrange our budget to make it happen.

isn't he wonderful? i truly don't deserve him.