Olivia's 3rd birthday party!!!

As you can see from the pictures, Olivia had a great 1st/3rd birthday party! It's peculiar that she's 3 but just celebrating with her first birthday party. It was a strange day for me. I was filled with thoughts about Olivia's first 2 1/2 years in the orphanage, thoughts about her birth and her birth parents, thoughts about how I had spent those 2 1/2 years while we waited for her... lots and lots of thoughts. It's a very strange feeling to finally be able to give this sweet angel everything she has always deserved. Mind you, she isn't getting EVERYTHING a 3 year old might like to have, but she's got the main stuff - Jesus Christ, Mommy, Daddy, big brother, huge extended family, great church and lots of friends. On top of all that, she was the center of attention at her 1st of many fun birthday parties to come. I don't usually dwell too much on what Olivia hasn't had for the last couple of years, but I sure did on her birthday.

I'm not an overly emotional person. I don't tend to cry about sentimental things or get all worked up about events. I was too busy cooking all day for Livi's party to be terribly sentimental anyway. At the party one of my new friends from our new church asked me if I had cried yet. "About what?" I asked, confused. "About everything!" she said. Meaning of course the party, Olivia's 1st birthday with us, etc. No, I hadn't cried and I would be surprised if I did. After the party was over and most of the guests were gone, I came in the door and saw Olivia standing on a chair looking over the table with all of her gifts and I was absolutely overcome with emotion. Here stood this precious child who never owned a single solitary thing - not even the clothes on her back - and she had a table full of brand new things just for HER! She and I were both a bit overwhelmed. On her 2nd birthday she was no doubt moved from the safety of the baby area of the orphanage to the big kid section placed in a room with 10+ other children that were all older than her except for one other little girl named Kennedy who was Olivia's best friend. There was no party, no gifts, no singing, and no kisses from Mommy. Here she was though just one year later, standing on a chair looking at a pile of gifts that she could never have imagined while her Mommy looked on. I'm not sure I could have imagined the happiness I would feel watching Olivia on her birthday before that moment. I have tears in my eyes right now thinking about how she looked that night. I can't believe I get to be a part of her life. God must really love me a lot to let me be Olivia's Mommy. She is such a precious child. I love her more than I ever dreamed I could. I am the luckiest Mommy in the world to have these two precious children. Thank you God for Jake and Olivia. Their Daddy and I can't imagine life without them.

I can't pass by this opportunity to ask you to remember all of those children left behind. There are 1000's of little children still in orphanages in Vietnam and across the world that may never have a birthday party with a Mommy and Daddy. It is not just a request from me, but a commandment from God to PRAY for these children. It is our responsibility to take care of orphans. Please remember to pray for them and if you have an extra dollar or two (or two hundred) it would be an amazing gift to honor Olivia by making a donation in her name to Dillon International's orphanCare International program that helps take care of the children left behind. You can go to http://www.dillonadopt.com/ to find out how to make a donation. If you want to help Olivia's friends, make the donation for the Ninh Thuan orphanage where Olivia spent the first 2 1/2 years of her life.

Happy 3rd Birthday Olivia!!!

It's hard to believe that my precious girl is 3 years old today! She is having a Dora the Explorer party and she is SUPER excited!! I think Olivia's Dora fascination is pretty amusing because Olivia thinks she IS Dora. If you think about it, they actually look just alike! Olivia hasn't started saying vamanos constantly yet, but she does love to sing the Dora's backpack song. She only has one Dora video so we don't have much to go on, but she likes that there are lots of dolls and things at Wal-Mart that look just like her.

It's really surreal to be planning this huge party for Olivia. I dreamed of her for so long that part of me thought our adoption dream would never come to fruition. This day is bringing up lots of emotions for me. It would be impossible not to think of her birth mom today. I know she is on the other side of the world today thinking about the little girl she gave birth to 3 years ago. She must wonder what she looks like, where she is and whether or not she's happy. I pray for God to give her peace about Olivia. I pray especially for salvation for Olivia's birthparents. I hope that one day he'll give us the opportunity to find them again in Vietnam. I can't imagine a more perfect way for her birth mom and dad to hear about the love of Jesus Christ than from Olivia herself. Of course, I hope they're saved long before Olivia is old enough to witness to them, but if not, I pray that our family will have a chance to share that love with them.

As you think of my baby girl today please send up a prayer that she will always put God first in her life and that she will lead a life that brings Him great honor and glory. Pray also for a mommy and daddy across the world that are no doubt hurting today and wondering about the most beautiful little girl ever born. I can tell you that my prayers today will be filled with thanks to God for one of the greatest blessings of my life - my sweet Olivia. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!

Birthday pictures will be coming soon!

popsicle lips

and the prettiest blue eyes in the whole wide world

Wasn't I posting about dieting???

I meant to post about dieting but lost myself in a post about sort of bad words. Good grief! So, I've decided that I need to lose a little bit of weight. My jeans don't fit anymore. I can get them on, but can't breath. Breathing is sort of mandatory for life, so I it's either lose a few pounds or buy a new wardrobe. I can't afford the latter, so I suppose I'll have to show the door to the fat cells hanging around my hips (and belly button.) I'm a happy eater. I'm in the routing of eating all day long and into the night. Since I'm a night owl, I'm often eating something at midnight then going to bed at 1 a.m. Apparently this isn't good for you!

So, I like to eat. I eat when I'm happy, so apprarently I've been pretty happy lately! How much I weight is actually completely irrelevent to me. I just want my clothes to fit. I'm not interested in looking hot in a bikini anymore. I just want to look nice in the clothes I presently own. So I bought some Slim Fast shakes a week ago and started having a shake for breakfast. To lose weight you should have two a day, good snacks and one meal. I can't just cut two meals a day cold turkey. My poor body that's used to eating 24 hours a day would go into shock!! So, yesterday I cut the second meal. So I'm having a shake for breakfast, a shake for lunch and then a sensible meal. HA! That sounds like a commercial. Honestly though that's what I'm doing. Those shakes really are quite filling. Not filling like a huge plate of cheese fries with ranch dressing, but filling nonetheless. I'm also eating fruit between shakes and my meal, but no food after supper. NONE. Ugh. This is the hard part. I love to sit at my computer at night and eat raw almonds or strawberries. These foods are of course good for me, but not in the amounts I'm used to eating. So two shakes a day, one meal, fruit and I'm allowing myself 24 raw almonds per day. Those are good for you.

How do I feel? I'm hungry. Not REALLY hungry, but still hungry. It's all in my head though. My eating had become an addiction and I didn't realize it until I tried to quit eating. It sounds like I'm reading a self help book and getting all this grand information from it, but I'm coming up with it all by my little self. My eating is habitual. I enjoy eating my snacks at night. I wasn't hungry, I was just eating to be eating. Why was I doing that? After I don't do it for a few weeks will the desire to do it go away? I sure hope so.

I have another post coming about why my daughter is so incredibly MESSY. Dear me.

Dieting sucks (can a pastor's wife say that word??)

The pastor at the church we were members of when Mike surrendered to preach wasn't fond of me saying that something "sucks." Apparently the word had a different connotation when he was growing up than it does for us gen-xers. To me it just means that something isn't good. I LOVED (still love) Bro. Danny, who coincidentally is the father to my very good friend Jennifer living in Beirut, Lebanon who often leaves comments on this blog. He of course loves me, too, but he wasn't crazy about some of the words I used. Along with sucks, I also had an affinity for using such words as flippin', freaking, and crap. I think there were others, but apparently I've quit using them to the point that now I don't even remember them! It's amazing how God can start working on those sorts of things. To be honest, I still don't think sucks is a bad word but I don't use it very often anymore. I try not to use words that I wouldn't allow my children to use and I can say with some certainty that I wouldn't be happy to hear "sucks" coming out of Jake's or Olivia's mouths. So, what about freaking or flippin'? Freaking doesn't sound very nice so I'm going to have to leave it back in the late 90's where it belongs. Flippin' should probably be left there as well along with sucks. Ok. CRAP. That's the word I have a problem with. I know lots of people who say the word crap but they don't allow their children to say it. I tend to say it somewhat often since I've banished the rest of my extensive repertoire of "sort of bad" words into 90's exile. I don't have anything left! I'm NOT going to be one of those women who say gee whiz. I'm really not a gee whiz kind of woman. Pastor's wife or not, I don't want to say ANY words that God doesn't like. I really can't picture God sitting up in heaven worrying about me saying the word crap though. Surely that word is ok? If it is though, why don't people let their children say it? Would I let my children say it?? Hmmm...

I can't believe that anyone still reads this blog since I only write once in a blue moon, but I know lots of you still do. I vow to do better about posting. What words are "bad" at your house and what words are borderline? What's a good word to replace my ever present - crap - with? I also say flibberdagibbit. That's a favorite and I'm quite sure God is ok with it. It's also really super cute when Jake and Livi say it :<)

Pulling my hair out

It’s been one of those days. I could literally pull my hair out of course, but I have instead chosen to eat chocolate despite the fact that I’m on a diet. (Chocolate is much less painful and so much sweeter.) In my defense, I ate one of those Hershey sticks that’s only 60 calories. Surely I can be forgiven that.