Getting creative…

Our adoption agency put out a request on Facebook asking if anyone might be interested in making handmade cards for them.  They send the cards to expectant mothers, birth mothers, waiting couples, and families.  My mom, sisters, and cousins are very into making cards, so they offered to help, too. 

I don’t know what our final count was but I would guess between 40-50? I officially dropped them all in the mailbox today and they are on their way to the agency.  It’s something that we’re going to do every couple of months.  It’s nice to continue to be involved.  We have a big event coming up next month, too – our agency is having a fundraising dinner.  We’re really looking forward to it! 

An early birthday gift

My parents’ birthdays are coming up this week.  I had seen a neat idea on Pinterest where a daughter wrote to her father’s family members and friends and asked them to send letters, cards, and pictures for her father’s birthday.  Everyone wrote about their favorite memories or special things  they remembered about her father.  I wanted to do this for my parents and my sisters were both on board to help.  We sent a letter out to a lot of their family members and friends and waited.  The cards started to come in a few weeks later.  Eventually we started organizing them into a scrapbook.  One of my sisters who lives out of state was in town this past week, so we used that as an opportunity to give the book to my parents. 

 

 

 

 

I think they really liked it, and I think we managed to surprise them, too!

We’ve had a busy weekend, filled with errands, shopping, a neighbor’s soccer game, a visit with my parents, and something new…a dance class for Zoe.  She started taking a beginner tap class on Saturday.  We were allowed to watch and take pictures through the class.  She had so much fun and even got to see one of her classmates from preschool there. 

 

Old photos and memories

Ever have those days (weeks?) where you think a lot about the past?  I’ve been doing a lot of that lately.  I think it’s a combination of reasons why.  A couple of weeks ago, I spent some time looking at old pictures and it brought back a lot of memories…of my grandparents, my aunt and uncle, of what is was like for us growing up…

My parents taught us to be kind, they taught us to be curious, and  they taught us to love each other.  They showed us how important family is by including our grandparents in our daily lives and our special events.   The picture above was taken on our front porch right before our gymnastics show (check out those sequins!)  I love the look on my grandma’s face.  Even now it feels like she was proud of us. 

They showed us how important family is by organizing birthday parties and holiday parties.  Everyone would hang out, have dinner, play board games like Trivial Pursuit, and just spend time together. 

They showed us how important family is by telling us family stories, saving family photos, and by making time for each other.  Sure, I have some not-so-great memories from my childhood (don’t we all?)  but overall, I have really positive memories of growing up.

I hope that we are doing that for Zoe, too:  creating traditions, showing her how important family is, and creating lasting memories for her.  It seems like she went from that baby/toddler stage to this little lady in front of us overnight.  Traditions (like putting reindeer food out for Rudolph), family dinners (at our house or Grandma and Grandpa’s), trips to the park or the pool, visits with her birth mom and her family, dance lessons, learning how to ride a bike for the first time…it’s pretty exciting to think that she’ll have her own “old photos'” to look at someday of all of those childhood  memories.  And I’m so grateful that we get to help her make them.