Saturday, August 14, 2004
A Slow Moving River
Okay... I'll go ahead and acknowledge it again... Steve and I are going to be older parents. When I am exhausted at the end of the school day, I think about how I don't even know what level of tired I am capable of experiencing... when I come home next semester and I have at least one little one to consume my last few ounces of energy and patience.
But on the flip side, Steve and I are also very relaxed about life in general. It's the little things we love - a rainy day, a great meal of spaghetti, reading aloud to each other... We'll still have rainy days albeit louder ones, messier meals of spaghetti, and plenty of opportunities for reading aloud. We know we love a simple life and have passed the stage of urgently trying to discover ourselves.
I began a parenting class this week - "Parenting with Love and Logic". I thoroughly enjoyed it, because it rings true in relation to my elementary classroom experience. I was in the parenting class with young parents, "streams that still run, jump, and sparkle" and I was reminded of this great quote from Pooh...
By the time it came to the edge of the Forest, the stream had grown up, so that it was almost a river, and, being grown-up, it did not run and jump and sparkle along as it used to do when it was younger, but moved more slowly. For it knew now where it was going, and it said to itself, “There is no hurry. We shall get there some day.” But all the little streams higher up in the Forest went this way and that, quickly, eagerly, having so much to find out before it was too late.
p. 92, The House at Pooh Corner
Our "brown envelope" from the US Consulate came today. There are papers in Chinese, making the whole experience feel even more real. I keep thinking about enjoying the wait time... "There is no hurry. We will get there someday."
But on the flip side, Steve and I are also very relaxed about life in general. It's the little things we love - a rainy day, a great meal of spaghetti, reading aloud to each other... We'll still have rainy days albeit louder ones, messier meals of spaghetti, and plenty of opportunities for reading aloud. We know we love a simple life and have passed the stage of urgently trying to discover ourselves.
I began a parenting class this week - "Parenting with Love and Logic". I thoroughly enjoyed it, because it rings true in relation to my elementary classroom experience. I was in the parenting class with young parents, "streams that still run, jump, and sparkle" and I was reminded of this great quote from Pooh...
By the time it came to the edge of the Forest, the stream had grown up, so that it was almost a river, and, being grown-up, it did not run and jump and sparkle along as it used to do when it was younger, but moved more slowly. For it knew now where it was going, and it said to itself, “There is no hurry. We shall get there some day.” But all the little streams higher up in the Forest went this way and that, quickly, eagerly, having so much to find out before it was too late.
p. 92, The House at Pooh Corner
Our "brown envelope" from the US Consulate came today. There are papers in Chinese, making the whole experience feel even more real. I keep thinking about enjoying the wait time... "There is no hurry. We will get there someday."
Sunday, August 01, 2004
A Tigger-like Flurry of Bouncy Activity
During this summer, I have been reading the Pooh books. Yes! As an adult! They are absolutely wonderful - so great that I wonder how children grasp the author's real giftedness. I have felt like Tigger this week, with a flurry of activity going on around me. I will need to go back to work so that Eeyore (Steve) can have some relief from the bounciness around him!
Well we have a nursery. It is no longer "Alexa's room". Since Alexa, Steve's middle daughter has now graduated from college and owns her own home in Charleston, she has given us permission to take her 7th grade ownership sign off the bedroom door and rename it. The room is freshly painted in creamy white and clary sage, with a goldenrod fabric for curtains, pillows, and lampshade.
I have an old-fashioned white chenille bedspread to use for the rest of the baby bedding and the rocking chair cover. The bedspread is a gift from a dear friend, Granny Sluder, who is watching this whole process from heaven. "Granny and Grandaddy" were my neighbors when I first moved to Asheville and opened their home to me every day that I needed a mature voice in my life. I miss them very much and will love knowing the fabric I use for the baby will be a daily reminder of their love, including me in their family as one of their own.
There is exciting news in the China adoption world! Referrals are coming fast and furiously from the China government offices. There are referrals, pictures of babies and detailed information, being handed to parents all over the United States, England, Spain, Canada, and Australia this week. The referrals are for those families who had dossiers registered in China through February, 2004. We are only four months behind this latest announcement. At the rate CCAA is pumping out the referrals, we may not have as long to wait as we once thought. There is a slight possibility we could have a picture by Thanksgiving. Some of the families in this last batch, only waited five months for their assigned baby. When we began the process, we were told it would be nine months from the DTC date to our referral.
If you have a chance, read the Pooh books! As I was spending time in the nursery this week, the room was taking shape but the baby's absence was more real. I thought of the passage in Pooh Corner....
One day when Pooh Bear had nothing else to do, he thought he would do something, so he went round to Piglet’s house to see what Piglet was doing. It was still snowing as he stumped over the white forest track, and he expected to find Piglet warming his toes in front of his fire, but to his surprise he saw that the door was open, and the more he looked inside the more Piglet wasn’t there. p. 3, The House at Pooh Corner
And the more I work in the nursery, the more I look for Joely... and the more she isn't there!
[crib image missing]
Well we have a nursery. It is no longer "Alexa's room". Since Alexa, Steve's middle daughter has now graduated from college and owns her own home in Charleston, she has given us permission to take her 7th grade ownership sign off the bedroom door and rename it. The room is freshly painted in creamy white and clary sage, with a goldenrod fabric for curtains, pillows, and lampshade.
I have an old-fashioned white chenille bedspread to use for the rest of the baby bedding and the rocking chair cover. The bedspread is a gift from a dear friend, Granny Sluder, who is watching this whole process from heaven. "Granny and Grandaddy" were my neighbors when I first moved to Asheville and opened their home to me every day that I needed a mature voice in my life. I miss them very much and will love knowing the fabric I use for the baby will be a daily reminder of their love, including me in their family as one of their own.
There is exciting news in the China adoption world! Referrals are coming fast and furiously from the China government offices. There are referrals, pictures of babies and detailed information, being handed to parents all over the United States, England, Spain, Canada, and Australia this week. The referrals are for those families who had dossiers registered in China through February, 2004. We are only four months behind this latest announcement. At the rate CCAA is pumping out the referrals, we may not have as long to wait as we once thought. There is a slight possibility we could have a picture by Thanksgiving. Some of the families in this last batch, only waited five months for their assigned baby. When we began the process, we were told it would be nine months from the DTC date to our referral.
If you have a chance, read the Pooh books! As I was spending time in the nursery this week, the room was taking shape but the baby's absence was more real. I thought of the passage in Pooh Corner....
One day when Pooh Bear had nothing else to do, he thought he would do something, so he went round to Piglet’s house to see what Piglet was doing. It was still snowing as he stumped over the white forest track, and he expected to find Piglet warming his toes in front of his fire, but to his surprise he saw that the door was open, and the more he looked inside the more Piglet wasn’t there. p. 3, The House at Pooh Corner
And the more I work in the nursery, the more I look for Joely... and the more she isn't there!
[crib image missing]
