Sophia's 6th Birthday

Birthday Girl 2009

Birthday 2008

Birthday 2007

First trip to Disneyland - April of 2007

It's hard to believe that this is only Sophia's 3rd birthday celebration since she's been home! It seems like she has been here for all 6 years of her precious life. I mean, I can't even remember what life was like without her. It was a little quieter, but I don't miss that silence at all. She's such a precious person full of sugar and spice!!!

Sophia's 5th year of life has been filled with many surprises! She enjoyed her kindergarten year of school and made tons of friends! She especially liked Guillermo! I'm not sure she'll ever forget him! She played her first season of softball and enjoyed hitting the ball and running around the bases. And, she even learned how to read!

It is so crazy to see how fast she is growing up. Her personality is so magnetic, and her drive is contagious. I really have fallen head over heels in love with this little person! I can't wait to see what this year holds!

Happy Birthday Sophia Joy!

I'm not feeling well at all tonight so I'm going to post Sophia's birthday blog tomorrow. :) I love that little girl so much! Six years old - how did that happen? Stay tuned for details of her special day. :)

First Day of School 2009

The Last Day of Summer 2009

Surf Fun

Zack has been having fun learning to surf this summer.  I hope that someday I can afford to get him some private lessons but until then, he's on his own out there.  I caught this pic today.  I am not commenting on his form or exactly where he caught this wave, but I am pretty impressed that he caught it, and he rode it all the way in without falling off the board.  

I have been thinking a lot lately about childhood.  It really can be full of such wonderful memories or full of a lot of junk that we as adults need to get over.  I would be remiss to say that I think my kids won't have any of junk, but I'm hoping that I can make a greater effort at encouraging and complimenting them.  

I tend to be the type of mom who is always pushing them harder.  If a B is achieved, I rejoice and encourage an A.  I think I need to get better at rejoicing over the B and leave it at that. Surfing is truly the first sport in which I've just let Zack do as he will.  I have pushed him in skateboarding, and he does thank me for it.  But, I think it about time that he enjoy something and just take it as it comes.  It is cool to watch him out there floating on the board...just him, the board, and the great big ocean.  It seems so peaceful.

I hope that when both of the kids look back on their childhoods they will remember a mom who loved them unconditionally even through their weaknesses.  I think raising children who were not born of my womb makes their weaknesses more apparent because they are not like my own.  It is likely that if I had kids who carried my genes, their weaknesses would include severe shyness and fear of silly stuff.  My kids suffer from neither of these weaknesses.  As a matter of fact both of these areas are strengths for them.Heck even their taste buds are different than mine.  This is fine though because I love passing my tomatoes over to them at each meal! :)  

I guess what I'm trying to communicate in this blog is this.  It is often easy to overlook weaknesses in biological child because they are flesh of your flesh and that in and of itself causes you to have a certain level of unconditional love and understanding of who they are. With kids who are adopted, sometimes they are just so different from us that their weaknesses are hard to understand.  I think what is important is that I try to be as much like their bio mom as possible dishing out mercy and grace in heaping spoonfuls knowing that this may be just the elixir they need to succeed.

Kit's First Day Home