“Watch and Learn”

This is the new one liner our little Colombian princess is repeating… and repeating … and repeating.  “Watch and learn!”  We’re not sure where it came from? (Austin?)

Just another few factoids of folly from her today as well:  We have friends who are Anglo-Saxon (do they still call us white folk Anglo-Saxon?), with 2 bio kids and four adopted kids, one of whom is from Korea.  Nora asked me today if their family does “Gotchya Day”.  “I’m not sure if they do, but they would have a lot if they did!” and I named the four adopted kids.  Nora was astonished that the 13-year-old from Korea (in the family of 7 other white people) was adopted.  She amazes me sometimes.

Later this afternoon, I witnessed her parade to and from the bathroom and her bedroom…. a few too many times for normal wear and tear.  The following conversation followed.

Me:  “Nora, what are you doing?”

N:  “Playing”

Me: “What are you playing?”

N:  “I made some food for my dolls.”  Carrying a little sauce pan to the bathroom again.

Me:  “What did you make for them?”

N:  “Soup.”

Me:  “What is in the soup?”

N:  “Water.”

I looked into the pot…. it was a milky white substance with chunks.

Me:  “What else did you put in the soup?”

N:  “Paper and glue.”

Me:  “Where in the world did you get that idea?”

N:  “From George.”

Me:  “Who is George?”

N:  “That little monkey.”

(Curious George!!!!)

Me:  “Don’t EVER do anything that George does!”

:o)

 

After ALL These Years….

After all these years, I have finally figured something out.  Please don’t hold your breath too long waiting in anticipation for this monumental, earth-shattering news.  The back-story first.

With two bathrooms upstairs and a newly acquired princess from Colombia in December 2010, I decided that she could brush her teeth and bathe in the master bathroom, so as to leave more room for her three siblings.  How nice of me.  I’m the nice mom, remember?  I figured it wouldn’t be that much of a hassle due to her usually preening at different hours than her father and me.  Fast-forward four months to me being completely grossed out by the blobby toothpaste all over the cap and drawer where the Crest is kept.

The gross-out feeling is mutual between my new daughter and me.  She is grossed out that hair is stuck in my hairbrush.  I am grossed out by dried, globby toothpaste on the cap and in the drawer.  Deciding not to mention the blue blobs, I got myself a brand spankin’ new tube of Crest ONLY for personal use, and cleared a spot in my medicine cabinet for MY toothpaste where it would remain clean and blob-free.

NOTHING gets past her big brown eyes!  NOTHING!  She asked me THE NEXT DAY, “Why do you have toothpaste up there on the shelf now?”

In a sweet voice (because I’m the nice mom) I replied, “It’s because someone left toothpaste on that tube in the drawer and I don’t want to touch it.”

Her response made me burst out laughing, “Maybe DAD left the toothpaste all over the cap!”  Hahahaha!

Her father and I have been sharing the same tube of toothpaste for 23 years.  If you are a germaphobe, I’m sorry that you now look down your sanitized nose at us.  We are what we are.  So, YES there were new clumps of toothpaste.  YES, the Colombian princess was the culprit…. but not the culprit willing to admit to the messiness.

So what did I figure out after all these years?  My husband is a very neat toothpaste user, for which I am thankful.   I would not be harboring these thankful thoughts if it weren’t for our Colombian Princess joining the family.  :o)  One more blessing of adoption.

 

GOTCHA Day!

November 25th was Nora’s Gotcha Day.  We have had our little Colombian princess for one year now!  Hard to believe!  We celebrated in style…. purple style…. and ate Domino’s pizza… because that is where we ate in Cali the night we received Nora. 

We spent time going through her Colombian box that contains all the items and clothing she brought with her from her homeland.  We gave her a beautiful handmade dress from Cali, as well as a few American gifts… that were purple!

For two years I have been working on my third book…. Nora’s Story… her lifebook.  I was impatiently waiting for all the info during the first year… and then trying to find time to put it in the book this last year.  It tells the story of her life from the day she was born.  I’m once again so thankful that we took a day to go up to LaCumbre, the sleepy little town where she was born.  We were able to get a copy of the hospital report from that precious day… and it had priceless details on it that we would have never been able to give to her! Also included in her lifebook are copies of her birth certificates, her citizenship certificate and pictures of her foster family. 

After reading the lifebook, we watched the videos that were taken in Colombia.  It made us miss our sweet friends that we met in Colombia.  We all cried again as we watched ourselves crying tears of joy when we got her.  Awesomeness, for sure!  It was interesting for her to watch, because she only spoke Spanish then.  She was quite shocked at her behavior, which is a good sign!!!  She said, “I wasn’t a very good example then!” and “I talked a LOT!” and “I wasn’t very nice, was I?”  What do you say to that?!?  No, Honey, you weren’t, but we loved you anyway! 

We ended the evening by lighting sparklers and running around the backyard screaming like little girls.  Great fun!  Nora made us a darling card that said, “Thank you for adopting me!” and lots of other terms of endearment.  She is such a thoughtful little girl!  I told my husband later that night that I didn’t expect to hear her say thank you for adopting her until she was 35.  :o)  It’s been a year of blessing!  Thank God for our little girl!

Feeding the Colombian Princess

When I read the report of Nora’s eating habits and favorite foods I had to look up the names on google to find out what they were!  One was arepa… it’s a thick corn bread pancake that sometimes has soft white cheese in the center.  We had them for breakfast at the first hotel and they were quite tasty, if I do say so myself!  Then we found them in the grocery store yesterday and I bought them…. but I need to translate the cooking instructions.  We’ll get there, sweetheart!

Nora loves many foods that are “normal” to us: fried chicken, popcorn (those two were her first mommy-cooked meal!), banana, pineapple, chicken noodle soup, cheese balls (totally a Crosby deal right there!), milk, oranges, pasta and ice cream. But there are some habits that seem strange to us Americans: cold coffee, warm milk, dipping crackers in warm milk, eating pizza upside down from the crust forward, putting salt on limes and sucking the living day lights out of them, and (trying… asking everyone) to put sugar on sliced oranges.  “No, honey, that ain’t happening anymore!”  She likes sugar in coffee, milk, juice, strawberry juice, on oranges, bananas and pineapple.  That is one habit that will die-hard at our house.  And lime juice on bananas.  It’s not bad, but not my favorite.  She has tried but didn’t fully appreciate: Sprite, spaghetti sauce, toast, maple/brown sugar oatmeal and cheese.

Big Daddy bought ice cream for all of us today.  Well, except me.  I was busy trying to buy foods that I wasn’t recognizing.  Anyway, Nora talked about getting strawberry ice cream all the way to the shop.  She chose the strawberry ice cream cone, satisfied with her choice, until she saw this other white mystery popsicle.  We could not understand the Spanish description, but in her little mind it obviously outranked the strawberry cone.  We sat outside the shop in patio chairs thoroughly relishing the warm 82 degree weather and cloudy skies, eating our ice cream. Well, except me.  I did get a bite of Austin’s and finally Nora’s after much pleading.  Nora’s had these weird white squiggle things sticking out of the ice cream…. that grew longer with each lick.  Austin was grossed out by this… totally!  I finally inspected it and pulled one out.  Coconut!  That is when I asked if I could taste it.  Oh my word.  THE best ice cream I’ve ever tasted.  Next time, I’m getting the white mystery ice cream!

Top 13 Reasons Adoption is for You

Another Colombian beauty.

This list is shamelessly bloglifted (and edited) from a blogger I do not know.  But as my sister-in-law believes, when you steal at least give credit.  Rumor has it he stole it from someone else; nonetheless, here is where I found it:  www.chadholtz.wordpress.com Thanks, Chad.

1. The fact that there are 143 million children without a parent to kiss them goodnight has made you lose sleep.

2. You realize DNA has nothing to do with love and family.

3. You can’t watch Adoption Stories on TLC without sobbing.

4. The fact that, if 7% of Christians adopted 1 child there would be no orphans in the world, is convicting to you.

5. You spend free time surfing blogs about families who have experienced the blessing of adoption.

6. It drives you crazy when people ask you about adopted child’s “real” parents.

7. You have ever been “pregnant” with your adoptive child longer than it takes an elephant to give birth.(2 years!)

8. You had no idea how you would afford to adopt but stepped out in faith anyway, knowing where God calls you He will provide.

9. You have ever taken an airplane ride half-way around the world with a child you just met.

10. You believe God’s heart is for adoption.

11. You realize that welcoming a child into your heart and family is one of the most important legacies you could ever leave on this earth.

12. You know what the word “Dossier” means, and you can actually pronounce it!

13. You shudder when people say your child is so lucky that you adopted them, knowing full well you are the blessed one to have him or her in your life.

Well, said.

www.bagsforzaza.blogspot.com

June THIRTIETH….

Today is the half-way mark for 2008….  makes me sit and wonder how I’m doing in 2008… and WHAT I’m doing…. and what I’m NOT doing. 

A song came on the car radio this morning that talked about “It’s not who you are.  It’s not what you’ve done.  It’s how you lived.”  After a moment of contemplation, I pronounced, “I don’t agree with that.”  My daughter, always up for a good debate, said, “I do.”  We went back and forth about if what you are doing IS how you are living.  Does how YOU live only include yourself?  Does what you’re doing include others?  We both tried on each other’s side of the argument for size…  we never came to a conclusion, but I still don’t agree with the lyrics.

I was anticipating 2008 like I’ve never anticipated any year previously.  That being said, I was never pregnant over a New Years…. that I was aware of.  So babies don’t count here.  I always anticipated new children with great joy.  But this year began with a bang as my parents celebrated 50 years of matrimonial bliss and took me and my siblings (and spouses) on an eight day cruise.  We have never gone anywhere for more than four hours together without our nine children.  It was fabulous.  Words don’t describe how relaxed we were.

Next, my first solo writing project was published.  Wow.  I still can’t believe it sometimes.  I survived my first book signings…. but not without nightmares.  (For graphic nightmare details, please see: https://mysistersjar.wordpress.com/2008/05/03/pre-book-signing-nightmare/ ) Which reminds me, I need to send the next proposal for Laughing in the Midst of Marriage.  Truck loads of material for this book are stored in my memory banks.  You may have read several of the stories on this blog already…. so you know what I mean.  (golf carts, acupuncture, photo radar tickets….)

And our adoption of Zaza…. is still pending.  We started the journey in Nov. 2006 and so I’ve passed through two new years with the anticipation of gathering our new girl in our arms.  But it seemed closer as 2008 arrived.  We pray every night that God’s will be done in the timing of bringing her home, but I always add…. “and please make it soon!” 

Never would I have imagined sewing bags and bags and bags to help bring Zaza home.  Thanks again, Jennie, for this amazing idea as well as the fortitude to execute it brilliantly!  I’m rather enjoying the sewing journey.  With every bag I make, I have a new favorite.  Tonight’s bag almost didn’t hit the auction block.  I love it.  But I can always make another like it… or different to become my new favorite.  Here it is “Ten Thousand Charms”: (the green is lime… not sage.)

Five new bags go up for auction each Monday… for five days at www.bagsforzaza.blogspot.com. Please help bring Zaza home and check it out.  Tell others.  Link the site.  Make posters and put them up at work.  Buy one and show it to every stranger you meet.  :o)  Thanks, from the bottom of my heart.

And not to forget blogging.  I didn’t know what it was in 2007, so I’ve come a long way, baby.

www.LindaCrosby.com