Happy 17th birthday, M!

M.'s birthday was last Thursday, the day we left to head home. Since we were spending her birthday in the car, we celebrated the day before. She had requested Vietnamese food for her birthday dinner, so my parents treated us to a great meal at a Vietnamese restaurant they found in south Tempe. Everyone enjoyed themselves and ate either huge amounts of noodles or huge bowls of pho. We then had cake back at home, though many people opted not to eat any being so full of noodles and soup.

My first baby is nearly grown up. I remember her babyhood so vividly it seems unreal that it was 17 years ago. She has turned into a charming young lady whom I love spending time with. She is smart, funny, and interesting. And quite patient with her mother when trying to explain all things technological. (She loves that kind of stuff and I only like it when it does exactly what I want it to.) I will miss her greatly this summer while she is in Samoa. Sometimes I am filled with panic that we are quickly reaching a point where all my children will not routinely by living with me. Can't I keep them all little for just a bit longer? But I am also thrilled she is turning into a responsible adult who wants to accomplish things with her life. I am so excited to see what she is going to do.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Making bias tape... otherwise known as the Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway

Image
( Sorry, the contest is now closed .... though you're welcome to leave a comment if you like.) [This picture has absolutely nothing to do with this post, but is here solely to give Blogger a different photo to post in the thumbnail.] It's Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway time again.  I love bias tape.  It is so useful and so easy to use... finishing edges ... finishing seams ...  And while the pre-packaged stuff has it's place and I use it often, I really like to have patterned bias tape as well.  Enter one of my favorite little tools: the bias tape maker.  This one make 3/4 inch bias tape and I will be giving one away at the end of this post.  But first, I thought some of you might like to see what it does if you've never used one before. I don't have a rotary cutter, nice cutting mats, or even a proper cutting table (I cut-out things on my floor), so if I can do this, so can you.  Here is my admittedly quirky method. Step 1:  Lay out the fabric an...
Read more

Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway

Image
Sew, Mama, Sew! is hosting another giveaway day , the day where many bloggers giveaway things they have made or supplies to make things or both.  It is great fun to visit a lot of blogs and try to win cool stuff.  So fun that I thought I would participate this year. I had great hopes of making a set of coordinating mother/daughter aprons.  But reality reared its ugly head and I came to terms with the fact that my time is not limitless.Instead of aprons,  I must continue to spend quality time with yards and yards of red plaid flannel.  What am I making?  Well, as I tell my children, it is the season not to ask questions... I will be able to let you know sometime after the 25th. Instead of making something, I went to my favorite thrift store and found some supplies in the form of sheets and pillowcases (some of my favorite raw material).  I'm giving away three pillowcases and one twin flat sheet. I decided to go with bright, springy colors...
Read more

A little adoption history and pontificating

A little distance is always good before writing on a tough subject. I think I can tackle this rationally now, though I may step on a few toes. We'll see. As some of you may know, yesterday the State department issued a notice saying that China, as of the end of August, has closed their intercountry adoption program. This is across the board and regardless of whether a family has been matched with a child or not. This has been exceedingly hard news for the Chinese adoption community.  I think I need to fill you in on some background before I continue because I realize not everyone lives in this world. (This is an extremely cursory and very simplified history.) China began allowing intercounty adoptions in 1992. Since that time, more than 160,000 children (most were girls) were adopted around the world; ~82,000 of those children came to the US. The process was centralized and a fairly predictable process. Once a family assembled their dossier and had it logged-in, they could usually ...
Read more