Quick Update

School is great. I am taking six classes and have all A's. Yay for me. Grace is doing wonderful. Getting more and more spoiled every day. I am looking into child care centers. I think part time would be great for her. She spends so little time with children her own age. We live in a rural area so there are no Mother's Day Out kind of things. She sees her friends at church once a week. I am hoping to get her into the child care center where I am doing my child care practicum. I work there four hours on Wednesday and do activities, lesson planning, etc. The director is the instructor of a couple of my classes.

This weekend I got together with old friends. We had the best time. These four are true friends. My friend Sandra has a daughter, Kennady, who is a couple of months older than Grace. I wish we could get together more often. Even though we live 5 minutes apart, it is tough with work, school, etc. I am going to make sure I do better about getting these two together more.

Grace almost seemed like she didn't know what to do with someone her size. She was much more interested in playing with my friend Melissa's daughter Claire, who is quite grown up and in school now. Here are a few pictures.

Kennady and Grace were playing nicely. Until they both discovered a keyboard. They were trying to push each other off the ottoman.

Isn't Claire beautiful?

The Smile Award

Thank you, thank you, thank you to my dear friend Melissa for giving me the Smile Award. There is no way I can convey adequately my great respect for her and the fact that she thought of me just makes me smile.

The award was created by Laura. Here is the low down on the award:
Characteristics for the Smile Award:
1. Must display a cheerful attitude.
2. Must love one another.
3. Must make mistakes.
4. Must learn from others.
5. Must be a positive contributor to blog world.
6. Must love life.
7. Must love kids.

These are the rules for The Smile Award.
1. The recipient must link back the the award’s creator.
2. You must post these rules if you receive the award.
3. You must chose 5 people to receive the award after receiving it yourself.
4. You must fit the characteristics of the recipient of the award.
5. You must post the characteristics of a recipient.
6. You must create a post sharing your win with others.
7. You must thank your giver.

People I’d like to give the award to:

I could never have gotten through Grace's adoption without Susan. She and I talked on the phone every night. She listened to my obsessing and my ranting. I am so thankful that we are able to visit each other and that our girls will grow up knowing each other.

Melanie is one of the strongest, Christ-centered people I have ever met. She has handled great adversity with grace and optimism. This woman is already a mom and her Kaylee will be blessed with a great mom.

I have always been very touched by Kelly O and her family. I was most touched by Kelly's boys. I, along with lots of other people, prayed that the boys would both join her family. I love seeing them on her blog. God is good.

Traci called me shortly after I brought Grace home. She was researching my agency. This lady has been through alot for her two kids. She loves her family. Her son was adopted from the same orphanage as Grace.

I first got to know Jonathan when we were both waiting for referrals. Then I had the privilege of meeting Jonathan's son Parker when he was just a few days old. He was left at the orphanage just before I arrived to meet Grace. He continually amazes me at the lengths he goes to to insure that Parker keeps in touch with his culture. He is a great dad.

Celebrity Crush

In response to Kelly's post, here's my crush. Justin.

It's been soooo long.

I have been a terrible blogger. Things have been so crazy and most of my free time is spent studying. School is great. I am having so much fun. All my classes are education and are interesting. Now I am going to pat myself on the back a little. I passed all my licensing tests. These are the test normally taken after you have completed classes and are ready to graduate. I took them on the front end, when I was hoping to get alternative licensure so I coiuld go to school while teaching. These tests are what they stress in all my classes and I have them behind me. I attribute my good fortune not to my amazing brain, but to the fact that I have spent my career writing grants for children's programs.

Gracie is doing fantastic. She had a hard day this week. She was whiney and nothing satisfied her. She was back to her old self the next day. Even little people have an off day sometimes. We are still working on potty training. I am happy to say she has not regressed. I was afraid that might happen when I started back to school and was not right there with her.

She is staying with Nanny while I am at school. She is getting so, so, so spoiled staying there four days a week(shocker huh). A recent conversation I had with my mother - "Mother don't pick her up every time she asks you to, she is a big girl and can walk on her own two feet." She replied "I am going to pick her up as long as I am able, I am not telling that baby no." Now who do you think is in charge while I am at school?

I am really, really wanting to get her into childcare part time. However I am having a hard time gathering my courage. Last time was terrible for both of us. She went for three days and I was called to come and get her by 10am each morning. Now you might think I am exaggerating when I say my daughter can scream lounder and for longer than any other child I have ever seen. Hey all kids are loud right? Not like Grace. And she has amazing staying power. But I need to ease her into this very, very, very slowly. At a snail's pace kind of slow.