Catch Up Part 2

It seems that life continues to get busier and busier. Just when I think I can't fit anything more in my life something or things come up. I'm not complaining. Our life is filled with good things but even good things take time. The miracle of it all is that we seem to be staying on top of most things and getting more accomplished than expected. I take no credit for the ability to get more done. I know we are experiencing miracles and receiving help in our efforts. God is so good and when he asks us to do things he always gives us the ability to accomplish His work.

Doug and I felt prompted last fall to reduce and simplify our lives. Funny that the act of reducing and simplifying actually complicates life for a while but it is so freeing to let go of things of this world. I got a small start cleaning out the house and sorting through things when our schedule for practices and performances for the production Savior of the World combined with the holidays took my extra time. When Savior of the World was over we then had adoption paperwork, planning and travel to get Simon. So here I am still cleaning things out. I am so close to being done that I now look at the rooms that I did first and want to go back through and let go of more things. I seem to always need boxes nowadays.

In the midst of everything else we had the privileged of having our local news station KSL, do a story for Mothers Day on our family.  They came to the house 3 times to film. I was warned that they wanted to take video of the family doing normal things like laundry, breakfast, making bread etc. The night before they came we did a good clean on the house and got the laundry room cleaned up. 8:00 am the next morning the crew showed up bright and early. This was the second filming so we knew the drill. The story came together a little differently than I had thought. There is a reporter that does all the leg work and most of the interviewing. I love this woman. She is so kind and organized and completely understands that we are normal. She had the camera man stay a little longer the first day to film the laundry party so I didn't have to worry about cleaning the laundry room again. The anchor woman then came for a short time to get some questions on film. During the question and answer with the anchor woman she commented 3 times on how clean the house was. The first time she made  a comment I told her the house wasn't always that way. On her second and third comments I just let it slide. I just wonder how many people wouldn't clean their house knowing that a news crew was going to be there.

Celebrating birthdays has also kept me pretty busy. In the Spring we have 6 birthdays in 7 weeks. That is a lot of shopping and going out to dinner. Because Simon had never witnessed a birthday celebration he was standoffish for the first one. Each consecutive birthday he became more excited and animated. On Casey's birthday Simon wanted a present. Because Simon has never had to watch several other children be honored and he has never had that opportunity we decided he needed a birthday party. His estimated birthday is in October but that was too long to wait. We decided on a day the next week and we ordered some gifts. Simon had so much fun. He was embarassed and didn't know quite how to act but soon he got the hang of it and loved everything about his celebration. The next couple of days after his party were hard. He became more angry and struggled emotionally. That is normal and he is now doing well. I'm glad he has another birthday coming up. There are so many things I would like him to have and experience. He is so full of gratitude that it's hard not to give in to him all the time.

I would love to add pictures but taking and transferring pictures isn't getting done very well right now. :) I'll add some later.