MY WEEK

I have had a somewhat busy week. First let me just say that Madison had a GREAT first week of school. She loved going and since Anne is her teacher I get pictures sent to my phone throughout the day which is awesome! And, boy has it come in handy to be BFF's with her teacher because almost every afternoon Madison has been telling me things that I just could not decode so Anne has been filling in the gap for me:)

This afternoon Madison was trying to tell me something and was getting frustrated because I had no clue what she was saying so I decided to video her & send it to Anne. The only words I could understand was: sock, fireworks & emergency but after speaking with Anne I found out they had a fire drill at school thus the word "fireworks" and "emergency" although we're still not sure about the socks!!

In addition to it being the first week of school, Tuesday was also our 1 year gotcha day (one year anniversary of the day we got Madison).  I don't even know how to explain it, but there has been something different about Madison ever since Tuesday...She is more happy, calm, laid back...I have really been enjoying her every afternoon and she has started asking me to snuggle with her all the time:) which I am happy to oblige. I thought maybe this "change" I had noticed in her was just my imagination but David even mentioned it to me at lunch today. I feel like I am beginning to see the rainbow at the end of the storm! It's like once the 1 year mark came those walls that she had been putting up has finally come down.

We're praying Madison truly is beginning to understand that we love her & she will never be left or sent back to China again. I'm not sure if I have mentioned this on the blog before but for about the last 5 months or so Madison says to me at least once a day, sometimes multiple times a day, "no got back to China, mommy" which breaks my heart.  During these times Madison will get the book I made for her with all the pictures from her adoption & then she will turn to the pictures of the orphanage & say, "no go back there, people mean!" I have no words....it's been a year and in a lot of ways I'm still processing all I saw & experienced in China.

As I mentioned at the beginning this has been a busy week. David spoke 4 times this week at a church in Clearwater which is an hour  away so he left every morning at 7 which meant I got all 3 girls up, dressed & packed lunches and left the house by 7:40...Then Tuesday night I had McKinley's parent night at school, Wednesday night I had Awana training from 6:30-8:30 & since David was speaking in Clearwater I had to take the two Little's with me &  they played in childcare.  Since we didn't get home till 9 this is what I had to deal with Thursday morning:

I told them to go to their rooms and get dressed for school and when I came back 5 minutes later this is what I found:

Bless their hearts! then Thursday night I had another parents night for Morgan's class. Which leads me to today, Friday...Oh how I love Fridays, My hubby is off on Fridays and since all 3 girls are now in school we have declared Fridays our "date day" and I am just giddy about it.. Although today I had a hair cut at 9 then we went to the DMV because I had to renew my drivers licence (in cert huge sigh). I hate going to the DMV. I always feel like I should go home & bathe with antibacterial gel after leaving there. Anyway, we got there and I had my drivers license, passport & SS card but that wasn't good enough they wanted some sort of proof of address like a bill receipt....I am biting my tongue here....I mean I have given you a stinkin passport that lets me leave the country, I am a US citizen, I'm holding my old license which has all the correct information on it and yet your telling me you need a bill of some sort? Lady if you only knew how long a week I have had you'd let this slide! But after an hour and half of waiting I had my new license and got my height changed from 5'3 to 5'4 because yes, that 1inch means ALOT to me! Don't judge! My hair also looked great because I got it cut and fixed this morning...yes I also went to the DVM today because I knew it would be a great hair day.  Again, don't judge, I've got live with this picture for the next 10 years!!

I hope your week was a little less stressful and that you have a happy Labor day weekend!

Melissa