Devin and I are now in the Sunbeams, which is always adventurous, as you can imagine. Today, the person conducting in Primary announced that she was sending around a sheet for all the teachers to sign up to help clean the church for the upcoming Saturdays. Then, this cute little 4 year old, who has something to say about everything, pipes up:
"Yeah, my parents can help, but I will be tired that day."
She's got the idea: see the need, but volunteer someone else!
(You know I am kidding; I am all for service. Of course Devin and I signed on up.)
Here's to a happy year in the Primary!
January 31, 2010
January 25, 2010
I did it
Ladies and Gentleman:
Copying my dear co-worker Paige, I have created a new blog specifically for my adoption stories and tales. I have made this blog private so that I don't have to feel as guarded with what I share. If you would like an invitation, please leave me a comment or email me at strobelite@gmail.com.
Oh yeah, a post is already up there so happy reading! :)
The url is http://www.kimsadoptiontales.blogspot.com/.
NEW ADDED INFO: I have a little icon on my right sidebar for the new blog (I know my art is incredible, right? You don't have to tell me, I already know). I will add the latest date for the adoption blog posts on there each time I update. That way, you won't have to continually check it for updates.
Copying my dear co-worker Paige, I have created a new blog specifically for my adoption stories and tales. I have made this blog private so that I don't have to feel as guarded with what I share. If you would like an invitation, please leave me a comment or email me at strobelite@gmail.com.
Oh yeah, a post is already up there so happy reading! :)
The url is http://www.kimsadoptiontales.blogspot.com/.
NEW ADDED INFO: I have a little icon on my right sidebar for the new blog (I know my art is incredible, right? You don't have to tell me, I already know). I will add the latest date for the adoption blog posts on there each time I update. That way, you won't have to continually check it for updates.
January 19, 2010
My new sweet baby - Hallie!
January 15, 2010
Talking
Remember this little girl? I barely do! So sad. One thing that has not changed is that she is still a talker! Hallie's favorite "toy" is a cell phone. My last phone just died and my mom has already given Hals a phone of her own, so now she has two. But that doesn't matter, she only wants to play with the ones that we actually use. Go figure. Most of the time I don't allow her to get to my phone (especially my work phone), but sometime she is just sneaky. She will pace the floor and "chat". It's pretty cute. I haven't been able to get a video of that, though. The other two videos are of her talking. She knows quite a few words now and also has her own language. In the first one, she says, "cookie" and then "meow" which is more like "oooowwww". That's my favorite. In the second video, she is saying "ewwwweee" over and over, which is what she says to alert us that she has pooped and smells.
And of course, a bonus picture. Hallie has taken notice of what Devin and I wear. She likes to put on these gloves of her daddy's and roam around the house. She also likes to put on my shoes, although they don't fit too well. Now that she knows how to wear gloves, I think she is ready to help with snow shoveling and stuff, right?
January 11, 2010
WELCOME HOME!
Devin's parents returned from their 2 year mission to Samara, Russia this past weekend. We were very excited to see them and most excited for them to meet Hallie for the first time. Although the weekend didn't go exactly as planned (they missed their flight from Denver to SLC on Friday night, so came in 2 hours later than planned. We thought they wouldn't be in until the next morning so Hallie had already gone to bed. Devin ended up going to the airport last minute with all of his siblings and their kids except Mesha's family. So, I don't have any pictures of the airport scene!)
We spent a lot of the day Saturday down in Fairview with them and most of Dev's siblings. Sunday, they reported their mission in Sacrament meeting. I again missed that due to the fact that one of my birth moms had her baby over the weekend and her placement was at the exact same time. It was a good excuse to be missing church, at least. I did, however, make it down for the food afterward. Clearly, I would not miss that! :)
Below are quite a few pictures from the weekend. Before I even married Devin, I thought his family was so beautiful. They are just a good looking family! I kinda detract from that a bit, but Hallie adds to it at least, so we are even. I love the large family feel, too. Different from my little fam. Anyway, enough rambling, enjoy some pictures. This is classic Hallie right here. She and Ryder are the same age. Kirston had them both on her lap and each had their own wafer thing. Hallie finished hers right off and Ryder decided he was done with his too, so he took the safe route and fed the rest to Hals. So funny.
We spent a lot of the day Saturday down in Fairview with them and most of Dev's siblings. Sunday, they reported their mission in Sacrament meeting. I again missed that due to the fact that one of my birth moms had her baby over the weekend and her placement was at the exact same time. It was a good excuse to be missing church, at least. I did, however, make it down for the food afterward. Clearly, I would not miss that! :)
Below are quite a few pictures from the weekend. Before I even married Devin, I thought his family was so beautiful. They are just a good looking family! I kinda detract from that a bit, but Hallie adds to it at least, so we are even. I love the large family feel, too. Different from my little fam. Anyway, enough rambling, enjoy some pictures. This is classic Hallie right here. She and Ryder are the same age. Kirston had them both on her lap and each had their own wafer thing. Hallie finished hers right off and Ryder decided he was done with his too, so he took the safe route and fed the rest to Hals. So funny.
16 grandchildren, missing 1, little Ky, who would actually be 10 now I think. He passed away when he was 16 months old. I never got to meet him, but he is an important part of the family. The numbers are getting right up there! Oh, yeah, there are also four more on the way...(one of which is NOT ours, just cause I know someone will ask!) *Check out Hallie's face. I know I am biased, but that is a dang cute little face!*
And finally, a picture of Hallie with the grandparents she is finally getting to meet! That is a classic Hallie face and it was past naptime, so that is the best we could get. Although it doesn't look like it, she was happy to see Grandma and Grandpa!
The new additions to the family during the mission. Not the best picture ever. There was a lineup of cameras so no one knew where to look! Grandpa with Megan, Ren who married Alisa holding Hals, and Grandma with Ryder.
Great Grandma and Grandpa Maughan were able to come from St. George. Here they are with their great grandchildren from this one branch of the family.
Devin and his parents and siblings. Top is Travis, Shane, Kirston, Devin. Bottom is Mesha, Jana, Mom, Dad, Alisa, and Shawna.
Great Grandma and Grandpa Maughan were able to come from St. George. Here they are with their great grandchildren from this one branch of the family.
The whole family. Getting big! Yes Hallie is eating a cookie. She just can't stop!Have to have a crazy face picture. My favorites are Mesha and Aaron (the kissers) and Slava (the top row, third from the right.) The first family picture I was in after I joined the family, we did a funny face one that is TERRIBLE of me. I hope that never resurfaces. I decided to tone it down this time! :)
I know I talk about my family a lot on here, but I am extremely grateful to be part of Devin's family too. They are wonderful and I feel lucky to have such great influences in my life and in the life of my child (and future children). We are proud of the service that Devin's parents gave on their mission, but we are happy to have them home too!
January 8, 2010
A Decade Of...
Growth?
I guess that is what I would like to think! As we enter this new decade, I have thought back to the turn of the last one, which doesn't seem all that long ago to me. I really remember the Y2K hype so maybe that is why it stands out. However. I went back and read part of my journal from around the 1999-2000 turn and whoa, I was a tad bit crazy back then. (Maybe I still am?). Let's be honest, I was 14 years old then, so that might explain a lot of it. Following are a few examples of my ten years younger self:
*I was an out of control Savage Garden, NSYNC, and Atlanta Braves freak. My journal is covered in every magazine picture that I could get my hands on of the bands and at the time I was also a proud subscriber to the Choptalk Magazine (the official Braves publication), so I had plenty of photos of the Braves pasted in as well.
*The bane of my existance was my orchestra teacher, who continually made me write sentances 100 times, such as "I will not talk while in the tuning line." I never failed to mention how much she bugged me, nearly every day, in my trusty journal. Perhaps I was a bit hard to deal with??
*My four best friends and I had started a club that we called the "YWIA" club. I can't hardly type this without laughing, it is so funny to me now. The YWIA stood for "Young Women in Action". We basically took it upon ourselves to find service projects to do, which included making Valentines for people and visiting nursing homes. We met each week and contributed dues that were put into a wrapped box. After that, we had a lesson, which was always like a Family Home Evening lesson basically. Each of us was given an assignment, such as President, Treasurer, Historian, etc. I noted in my journal that as Haylee was the club counselor, I turned to her when I was having a particularly rough time with life and she always solved my problems. We took this club VERY seriously. Man, we were awesome. But, we were definitely good girls and for that I am grateful.
*My friends and I also took it upon ourselves to be missionaries, which we were. After taking the discussions with one of our friends, she was baptized.
*My sister and two cousins and I had our annual Christmas program at my Grandma's house. That generally consisted of us wearing whatever costumes we could scrounge up (red longjohns anyone?) and singing (yeah, I don't sing) Christmas songs on the top of our lungs. Oh, this might have been the year that I played Cortney's trumpet to accompany everyone (although I had never picked up a trumpet in my life until that day, so that tells you how beautiful it was!) Everyone in the family dreaded this blessed event except our dear Grandma and Uncle Charlie, who pretended it was the best thing they had ever heard.
*I used phrases like "he is so fine." Enough said.
*I made sure to mention when the first person ever on "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire" won a million dollars. By mention I mean it took up the 2 page entry. No, I didn't know the person, I was just excited, okay?
*I mastered the manipulation tactic with my piano teacher. Whenever she told me to improve (and she was very very nice about it), I would cry and tell her that I was doing my best. Then she would feel bad and pass the songs off for me anyway. This is why I am such an excellent piano player today (sarcasm). On the other hand, I got along excellently with my violin teacher, who yelled at me constantly and told me how awful my playing was. I guess she was just more my style.
*I had several very serious crushes. I am sure that not one boy that I liked every really paid attention to me because I noted things like "he touched my binder today!" Yikes. I also memorized and wrote down each of their schedules so I knew exactly where they were at all times.
*Overalls were my outfit of choice. Yes, please!
Alright, I think that is enough embarrassing confessions.
Now, for the next ten years, here is what I hope for myself:
*I want first and foremost, to be a good wife and mother. I have an amazing husband who makes my life so much better and who makes me so happy. I hope that our marriage just continues to grow stronger and that we continue to love each other more as time passes. (I really should give him a big fat THANK YOU for even marrying me. For why this is necessary, see above.) I also want to be the kind of mother who is involved in her children's lives. I want my kids to know that I love them and that they are important to me. I want to be patient with them and help them learn to make good choices on their own.
*I want to grow stronger in the Gospel. I need to make scripture study, prayer, and temple attendance a constant priority. I know that my life is better and my marriage is better when I do and when we also do the simple things as a couple.
*I want to expand my skills and abilities in my professional life. I don't know that I will always be working, but even if I am not, I want to seek out opportunities to use the things that I have learned to better other people's lives. I have a passion for social work and I hope that it can continue to grow.
*I want to make memories with my family. Whether that is home, traveling, around where we live, or whatever. I have very fond memories of my growing up years and I want my children to have the same.
*I want to be a good friend. This has always been important to me, but as I get older, I hope that I can continue the relationships with friends that I have had for years. I want to be there to celebrate happy times with them, be there for them through hard times (and vice versa) and just make sure that they know I care about them.
*I want to be charitable. This is something that is important to me. I don't foresee Devin and I ever being really wealthy, but I want to make sure that helping is a priority for us.
Perhaps in 10 years if this blog is still up and running I can come back and check to see how I did. I think I have grown up a bit in the past 10 years (I don't know, you be the judge!) and I hope that I can continue to grow in the next 10!
January 4, 2010
250th and OSSO
What better way to celebrate my 250th post than to talk about something that is near and dear to my heart. As you all know, I went to Ecuador with a program called OSSO 4 whole years ago, from December 2005 through March 2006. I loved it so much that I went back 5 months after getting home to spend two weeks there, visiting the kids that I grew to love so much. My friend Kylee was able to go back with me and see a little bit of what I had experienced for three months.
When I arrived in Ecuador the first time, I knew nobody. But over the course of the next three months, my life was forever changed as I grew to love the children. I have a bond with the volunteers that I served with that is also beyond my capacity to describe accurately. Although it has been four years and we have all gone on with our lives, I still count them as some of my dearest friends.
The city I served in, Quito, serves four main orphanages. There is a Girl's house for girls from the street, a family style orphanage with children divided into families and assigned a "mother", two special kids orphanages, and the main orphanage we worked at, that serves mainly children under 2 years old. This orphanage is staffed by OSSO volunteers 22 out of 24 hours per day (Yes that means night shifts! Fabulous times had by all during those...). The children in this orphanage are divided into three salas, or rooms. Sala Uno is for new babies up to about age 6 months. Sala Dos is for 6 months to a year or so. And Sala Tres is for a year to two years. When I was there, there were about 35 kids at one time. This orphanage also has the family style housing for the older children, but only two volunteers from each group worked there. I happened to be one of them and it was a challenging, but huge growing experience for me.
Ask any volunteer who has been done this program and they will tell you that it has changed their life. Leaving the babies was heart-wrenching. I still remember very vividly saying goodbye to them and watching the other volunteers with me do the same. Let's just say the tears flowed. I also grew attached to quite a few of the workers at the orphanage and particularly a 16 year old girl who had grown up there and now worked there. She was a challenge sometimes too, but I cried when I left her.
I can honestly say now that the closeness I felt to the Savior during that time was by far the closest I have felt in my life. I know it was because I was doing what He would do, serving as He would. I wish the experience could have lasted my whole lifetime and every day I wish there was someway that I could bring Devin and Hallie back to serve there too. Hallie would fit right in. We could throw her in a cloth diaper and she could eat the same soup every day just like the rest of the kids! It would be so good for her.
Anyway, the reason that I am writing this post is because OSSO needs volunteers. Because of the down economy, less people are choosing to go because you pay your own way to serve there. All past volunteers receive updates from OSSO on a regular basis and the last one asked that we facebook, blog, twitter, or whatever about OSSO to get the word out. I missed the days they were doing it (the 28th and 29th), but I thought now is good too. I know most of you, like me, have families or are in school, or have other reasons why you can't do this. However, if you know anyone, siblings, friends, relatives, who would like an opportunity like this, pass the word on to them.
OSSO's website is http://www.orphanagesupport.org/.
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