The Break is Over. Sniff Sniff.

Well, today was the last day of my week off before summer school. I report for duty tomorrow at 8 a.m. I had a great week off, got to spend a lot of time with Connor, and take lots of naps. I love naps!

Here's what I did on my week off:

Friday- Went out to eat with the guys and took Connor to the very run down, Zuma Fun Center. He had fun anyways! I think we'll stick with Chuck E. Cheese from now on! We ended our Friday with hot Krispy Kremes!

Saturday- Did absolutely nothing until late afternoon. Took Connor to Nana's and Greg and I had a date night. It was a relaxing day.

Sunday- Spent time at my parent's house. Ate a delicious dinner (My mom makes the best fried chicken in the world!), took Dad's convertible for a spin, and ate some awesome ice cream. Another relaxing day!

Monday- Greg and I took Connor to open playtime at the Bounce House. He had a blast. I will admit, I had fun too! Those slides are fun! I did come out with two injuries on my elbows....only me! If you are a mom, you must take your kids! It is so worth $5.50! After a nap, I suffered through grocery shopping (I HATE GROCERY SHOPPING!), and then we all went on a picnic at the Sequoyah Hills park. After a long walk, we headed home. Another relaxing day!

Tuesday- I took Connor to Dollywood and Splash Country. The kid loves some Dollywood! He loves to get wet and made me ride that River Rampage ride. Of course, we both got soaked. He giggled all the way through it! After Dollywood, we headed over to Splash Country. This summer he is tall enough to ride a lot of the big water slides. I was a little nervous about taking him on them, but he loved them! He even thought the one that is completely in the dark was fun. He is so brave...maybe a little too brave! He laughed all the way through every slide! It was a fun day, but exhausting!

Wednesday- After an exhausting Tuesday, I decided to just lay low and hang out around the house. I did boring stuff like laundry and cleaning....exciting, I know. The day ended with an unsuccessful trip to Wal-Mart to buy play sand for Connor's sandbox. They were out, so I'll have to drag myself over there again....YUCK! There is nothing worse than having to go to Wal-Mart for just ONE thing!

Thursday- I woke up at 5:45 with the intention of running, but then I thought, this is my last day to sleep in until July. What am I thinking? I went back to sleep, and all day have been reminding myself how lazy I am! After I did get out of bed, I headed to the dentist and I HATE THE DENTIST! I hate the sounds, I hate all the instruments they stick in your mouth, I hate the taste....ugggh! I had to have a cavity filled and it was just as awful as I remembered it! That was at 11:30 a.m., and finally, at 7 p.m., I could feel the right side of my face again. I picked up Connor from school after his nap and we ran around for a little while. He loves to shop with his mom! The guilt of missing my morning run kicked in and I managed to make it out tonight and do yoga...not feeling as lazy now....still not feeling ready for shorts and bathing suits.

Tomorrow night we are planning on taking Connor to the drive-in to see Shrek 3 and Spiderman. Saturday afternoon, we're going to a Kids Reading Festival at the World's Fair Park and then that evening some friends are coming in town for a visit. Sunday, I'm hosting a tea with my friend Mandy. We've got a busy weekend!

Connor starts swim lessons next Tuesday, so be looking for some pictures! I am so excited to see how much he learns this summer. Tuesday at Splash Country, he was doing such a great job swimming! He loves the water...he is definitely my son!

Just Finished

This weekend I finished, "The Strength of Mercy" and "A Treasury of Adoption Miracles". They have taken me forever to read because the end of the school year was so busy! They were both extremely inspirational! I kept thinking as I was reading them, these women are amazing! Why in the world am I supposed to be an adoptive mother?

I just got "Lost Daughters of China" in the mail yesterday and plan on starting it tonight. (And by the way, I know book titles are underlined, but this program won't let me keep the font underlined, even when I cut and paste from Word -- I didn't want anyone who knew I had a degree in writing to be diappointed in me!)

Last night Greg and I watched the "China's Lost Girls" documentary. I cried all the way through it. It was so good! It took viewers through the whole process of the Americans who arrive over there to pick up their girls. It also had a lot of candid interviews with locals.

I am off for a week before teaching summer school. I am planning on doing lots of fun stuff with Connor, so be watching for extra cute pictures of my little man!

China

People have asked us a lot of questions about China. Why are we adopting from there? What's the deal with their one child policy? What goes on over there?

Below is a link to an article in the Washington Post this week. I cried every time that I read the article.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18812874/

Everything has settled down around here lately, and a lot of the excitement has faded a little as we wait until February to begin our paperwork. This week, I have felt a little numb to it all, and I have been praying God would keep me going and respark some of that passion that I felt when we began this journey. I stumbled upon this article, and it was just what I needed. I needed to remember why we are doing all of this.

I have always wanted a little girl, a little sister for my Connor, and the fact that in a couple of years, our little girl will be born and given away, just blows by mind. A mother who had an 8 year old girl, but really wanted a boy, was asked about the fact that she had to pay a fine in order to have another child. She said, "It's worth it, I finally got a son. In our area, if you don't have a son, you haven't made it. In the countryside, if we don't have a son, who will take care of us when we are old?"

I just found this so sad! And then I began to think about the pain of the mothers who have always dreamed about having a precious little girl, but have to give up their daughters because they need a son. One of the next books I'm reading is "Wanting a Daughter, Needing a Son."

I also have ordered, "Lost Daughters of China" and am planning on beginning it as soon as it arrives. We are planning on watching Lisa Ling's documentary (which has the same name) tonight.

Please read the article! Hopefully it will give our friends and family a little more insight into what goes on over in China and why we're doing this.

What a Day!

Today was one of those days that you just have to laugh at to keep from crying after you actually can sit down! I just have to share:

6:25 a.m. Wake up VERY late!
7:10 a.m. Rush out the door to work, wearing the first outfit that I found that didn’t need ironing.
7:30 a.m. Miraculously arrive at work on time!
7:40 a.m. Pull my classroom together and try to figure out what I’m doing since I was out on Friday.
7:55 a.m. Realize that in my rushing, I forgot a bag full of important papers that I have to have today.
7:56 a.m. Start trying to call Greg and BEG him to bring them to me…promising anything that he wants!
8:15 a.m. Greg finally calls me back and SO NICELY agrees to bring them to me (what a nice guy he is!)
8:15- 9:15 a.m. Try to teach and convince a bunch of third graders that I REALLY am taking grades these last four days of school and that this year is not over (Yeah, right!) while on the phone trying to find a place to enroll Connor in swim lessons. Everyone is booked! I finally find an opening!
9:15 a.m. Greg arrives with papers…my hero!
9:30 a.m. After finishing a book study, I realize some of my kids have never even had hot chocolate (the characters celebrated with hot chocolate in the last chapter of the book), so I remember that I have a bunch of hot chocolate from a staff luncheon and give a bunch of third graders their first taste of hot chocolate (Can you imagine? What do I ever have to complain about?)
9:45 a.m. My awesome mother arrives with Panera coffee and bagels and helps me get all of my end of the year paperwork done.
9:45-2:30 p.m. Continue to try to convince my kids to be good!
2:30-3:10 p.m. Bus duty
3:10-3:40 p.m. Meeting
3:40-4:40 p.m. Work on end of the year paperwork
5:00 p.m. Pick up Connor WAY LATER THAN USUAL from school- he’s in a terrible mood!
5:15 p.m. Connor busts out crying in the car and tells me “I had a terrible day!”
5:20 p.m. Finally figure out Connor’s terrible day is because one of his friends pushed him while they were playing and
it “really hurt my feelings.”
5:20-5:30 p.m. Pick up stuff from the store, three year old throws tantrum while I'm trying to pay...entire store stares at me
like they're about to present me the "Worst Mother of the Year Award"
5:30-6:30 p.m. Cook dinner, eat dinner, clean up
6:30-7:00 p.m. Try to convince a three year old who hasn’t used the bathroom since Friday, that pooping really isn’t scary!
7:00-7:15 p.m. Lay in the hall with my three year old where he has collapsed crying and upset and just hold him. He says he
just wants to go to bed! My heart breaks because at three, he is NOT supposed to be having these kinds of days yet!
7:15 p.m. Decide to fix his bad day with ice cream!
7:20 p.m. Arrive at Mc Donald's to find there is no "Shrek Ice Cream"..their machine is broken...try to avoid
meltdown...head to Bruster's!
8:00 p.m. Pooping success and then bubble bath
8:30 p.m. Floss and brush three year old’s teeth while trying to convince him that the “big girl” at school was wrong and his heart really is in his chest and not in his shoulder. “Are you sure, mom? The big girl at school says it’s right here!”
8:45 p.m. Prayers, kisses, hugs, bed
9:00 p.m. “I’m thirsty!”
9:15 p.m. Aaaaaahhhhhhh! Finally!

And shortly after posting this blog......Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Ooops! Has it really been two weeks?

I realized Friday night that I haven't posted anything in two weeks! I can't believe it has been that long! We have been so busy! The school year is wrapping up and we have had a million other things going on.

Friday is our last day of school for this year! It has flown by! I have a week off and then I am teaching summer school for the month of June. Yes, I know it's stupid to give up a month of vacation, when I'm getting paid to do nothing, but the extra summer school money is great! Plus, it will pay for both our beach vacation in July and some of Disney in October.

Mimi is visiting right now, and we're having a blast! Of course Connor is being spoiled beyond belief. He told me on Friday that Daddy and I should leave and go on vacation. I don't think he likes sharing Mimi with anyone. Next weekend we're heading to Indianapolis to visit our friends, the next weekend we're having friends in town, and then after that hopefully things can slow down for a couple of weeks at least. But we wouldn't be the Adkins family if we weren't always crazy busy, now would we? I don't think we'd know what to do with ourselves if we didn't have something going on. I'm so glad I share my life with two boys as equally restless as me!

I haven't posted a funny Connor story in a while, so here's one for you! We have been planning on seeing the new Shrek movie today for a few days now. Well, this morning, we changed our minds at the last minute, and ended up going to see "Meet the Robinsons" in 3D. It was really fun! Connor sat through the whole movie and seemed to love it. As we were walking out of the theatre, we asked him how he liked it, and he said, "I thought we were seeing Shrek!" with a really confused look on his face. It was so funny that he didn't say a word until it was over.

Tomorrow Greg is leading worship at church and I am singing as well. Connor is also doing something for Awanas during the service, so all three of us are involved. Hopefully we'll all get a good night's sleep and have a great morning.

I'll try to post again soon with some actual pictures. I haven't had the camera on in a couple of weeks and need to take some pictures! If anything, this blog has made me be better about taking pictures!

I must go. Greg bought the Planet Earth documentary series tonight, and if you know me well, you know I LOVE documentaries. I have to watch now! Yes, I am a dork.

New Haircuts and Other Stuff

This week has been exhausting!

Connor and I both got a lot of hair cut off! Greg says mine is still long, but mine hasn't been this short in a couple of years, so it's short to me! Connor is glad to have his spikes back!

I have been so tired this week and we've had something going on every night! Today I didn't even leave the house until we went downtown to eat dinner late this evening. We had planned on going to the Rossini festival today, but it rained. I can't say that I was disappointed because I totally enjoyed relaxing! Connor got to do this bungee trampoline thing that was set up in Market Square before we ate dinner and totally loved it!

This week at work has been so long! The kids totally have spring fever and I'm getting worn out keeping them under control. One of my favorite student's mother got arrested in our parking lot this week, not to mention all other kinds of drama that happens daily in the life of an inner city school. My intern is coming back on Monday....thank goodness!

I completely overhauled my MySpace page today, so take a look. I hadn't changed much other than pictures in the past year, so it was time for a new page!