The Best Bits

I haven’t written in awhile but the best bit about adoption for us has been the community of support.  How great is that no matter where in the world we live we are united by a common thread. It doesn't mean our stories are the same or that our adoptions are anything but unique unto themselves but we all benefit from others experience.

We are still waiting to adopt and because of the community I am more able to have more positive days than not.  Sure I still have those moments of frustration and anxiety but the community rallies round and lifts my spirits. It will happen for us and I hope to one day be that support and guidance from the other side of adoption just as many are to me now.

I will leave you with a picture of us having a blast with friend's in New York.

The theme this weekend is walking for #WASO so I grabbed some photos of where we walk.

In our neighborhood there are a ton of parks, about 10 in a 3 mile radius.  This includes kid parks and dog parks as well as combo adult/kid parks.  We live on a lake (not literally its 2 blocks away from the road we live on but we have a private access dock for boats plus swimming, etc.). However most of our parks include a portion of the lake in which to swim plus play grounds and even skate parks or tennis courts.  Our local dog park is all fenced in Lake Front so your canine companions can swim and run, along with picnic tables for the family to hang out. . Our Lake is actually man made and generates some of our power.  They fill it in the spring from glacial run off from Mt. Rainier and then in the fall/winter it is slowly drained for power.  So the picture you see is the lake beginning to refill for late spring/summer boating/fishing season after a full draining this past winter (which is unusual they usually only drain it by 2/3rds)

The boat loading dock

Last summer with our friend's son swimming in the lake

Today was a beautifully warm day and I had to update our fingerprints for our adoption clearances.  Once done and mailed though I took the boys for a walk in the larger park on our way home.  It is across from the lake with a large double baseball field, Skate Park, Infant Park, kid play equipment, snack bar, and trails for the dogs.  With school still in session and a work day it wasn't packed like normal so it was a nice walk without distraction for them.

 baseball field looking towards the kid play ground

 It's grass and we love to roll in it

 the skater park

 On the trail today

Playing at one of the local neighborhood parks

We walked the baseball fields then headed down one of the trails on the opposite side of the park. It was so much fun for them and a picturesque view for me. The best part of living just outside the city is the closeness of community, parks, our Doctors and schools.  We are very lucky to have the Montessori about 6 lots down from us, our Doctor at most a ¼ mile, along with the elementary school next door and our coffee shop, gas station, Dentist, and dry cleaners exactly 1 mile from home.  What I love is its all walk able.  I don’t have to have a car to get where we need to be. The bonus is in the summer you can also pick blackberries along the main routes of the neighborhood.  We love fresh wild blackberries.  The dogs will get right in and pick and eat their own berries as we pick some for ourselves.

I truly love where we live and can’t wait to share it with a child as a family, yet we’re close to both Tacoma and Seattle (30 and 45 mins.) to give them all the museums, fresh market, and city experience. I miss living in Seattle but at the same time I wouldn't trade what we have here.  I think it’s a fairly unique but fading life for a child.

Chocolate Indulgence for the weekend

It’s the weekend and it should be a great one around here. This isn't really adoption related this week, except to say we hope to enjoy these types of weekends with our own child soon.

Our new flooring for downstairs and the stairs has arrived at the store this week and we’ll be going to pick it up tonight.  I’m so happy to finally rid myself of the carpeting soon.  It is going to be so much easier to clean, bye-bye daily vacuuming and weekly carpet cleaning and hello sweeper and mop. I’m looking forward to it being done but am not excited to move everything from room to room as we lay it. There is always a downside to DIY home improvement.  We won’t be able to begin working on it right away since the flooring must acclimate at least three days. The soonest we can start is next week and I’m not sure he’ll want to be laying flooring after work but we’ll see.

As for the rest of the weekend we’ll be going up to a friend’s place for the night. Our other friends we’re also going to come over but they've gotten sick so they had to cancel.  We usually bring food to share while we play games and I’m thinking I might make a Flourless Chocolate Cake this time.  It’s one of my favorite chocolate recipes and so simple with 4 ingredients.  It’s extremely rich so this small “cake” goes a long way. It’s from my Test Kitchen cookbook. If you're in the mood for chocolate give this a try.

 I use this instead of double brewed coffee for the recipe.  It's a nice compliment to the chocolate.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Waiting to adopt and keeping positive

Staying positive and looking on the bright side during the wait can be a great challenge some days.  Most of the time we plug along with everyday tasks, always with a positive energy that today could be the day. So a few ways we keep upbeat:

1. Always wake with hope.  Hope to dream what the day can be. I always wake with the thought that maybe we got a message, email, or call and that today could be the day that changes our life.
2. Stay busy but don’t lose focus on your goals.
3. For me personally blogging has helped a great deal with processing the everyday ups and downs. I also am inspired by the vast community who share their stories. 
4. We play games – card games, board games, or games with the dogs and it ensures we spend quality time with each other and our pets.
5. Smile! Even if alone I smile.  It’s amazing how it can uplift your mood.
6. Listen to uplifting music
7. Laughing.  Whether reading something funny, laughing with friends or family to watching funny movies and TV shows. Laughter helps ease tension.
8. Travel.  When we travel I’m not glued to adoption related social media and it’s a get-away from the adoption mind set. Plus we get to enjoy new experiences.
9. Sleep.  I can be a much more positive influence on myself and others with the right amount of sleep.
10. Exercise.  Just walking the dogs around the neighborhood helps give me hope that one day I’ll be walking with our child and our dogs. Also exercise relieves stress and tension.
11. Our positive reinforcement plaque