I have been told that triathlons are addictive. And I do have to admit I would like to do another and hate to wait until next year when the one I did rolls around again. My friend sent me a link for some triathlons around California. Here is a description of one:
Swimming from Alcatraz Island was once thought to be impossible. This year, 1,800 athletes make the treacherous swim, fighting the strong currents and ever looming fear of what lies below the water's surface.This is certainly not a race for the faint of heart as the swim is just phase one of your Tri-California San Francisco Triathlon at Alcatraz journey.
Next, jump on your bike and head up and down the hills of San Francisco's sharp turns, fast descents and agonizing climbs.
Putting the bike leg behind you is merely conquering 2/3 of the race. Now you get to take in the scenic views of the San Francisco Bay, Golden Gate Bridge and as you weave your way back to the finish line the shadows of Alcatraz Island loom as a reminder of your epic race. Throw in a beach run with a 400 step sand ladder and you have one of the most difficult triathlons in the world.Come prepared both physically and mentally to challenge yourself as only a triathlete can.
What do you think? Ha! I think that I might be a little too faint of heart for this one! I don't think this is one that my friend had in mind for me.
I have been waiting to type this post for a long, long time. So here it goes...
Drum roll, please...
We have been matched with a little girl!!!
Because we are working with the foster system, I cannot post too much identifying information. That will be the case until the adoption is finalized. But what I will tell you is that she is 5 years old. She is actually 6 months older than Drew, so we are mixing up the birth order a little bit, but that is the way it goes. I will refer to her as "M" since I cannot share her name online and unfortunately I cannot post any pictures of her either. However if you come out to visit us, you would be able to see her in person!
Anyway here is the scoop. We learned about a possible little girl on Friday the 16th. We met with her social worker last Thursday and arranged to meet her today. The whole family went to her foster home met her and took her to the park for an hour play date. The next step is for her to come to our house on Tuesday and have a dinner with us. A few days after that on Friday we will get her for an overnight. Then the next weekend if everything goes as planned we will get her for the entire weekend and possibly have placement then. So that is the plan anyway. The play date went well, the kids all got a long well and she wants to be with us again, that is a good sign. I think she is adorable, I wish I could show pictures, but you will just have to take my word for it. Please pray for the transition to go as smooth as possible. And pray that there will be no kinks in the legal process.
What a day it has been. I tend to get very nervous about things like this. I remember the morning I was going to meet Drew for the first time. I felt nauseous. I thought that I was holding up pretty well today despite my nerves. I got up at a decent time and went for a run, I wanted to get school started well, so decided to take a shower during the kids morning break. I have to admit I was pretty sweaty and gross, but wanted to get school off to a good start. So we do our morning devotions, then start our next subject, the morning was relaxed and moving smoothly. Then at 10 after 9, the phone rings, I look at the caller ID and it has my dentists name on it. Oh No!!!! I had a dentist appointment at 9 I suddenly remembered. I picked up the phone and before the receptionist could say anything, I said I totally forgot I am so sorry! She asked if I could still make it in. I said yes, but I haven't even showered. She said that is ok. (she hadn't smelled me though!) So I yell to the kids, get your shoes on and get in the car. I go and brush my teeth, because I wasn't sure if I done that yet, so I wanted to at least have that covered since the rest of me was in no way presentable. We rush to the dentist, on the way get behind a car going 20 mph in a 35 zone, I am dying, but we finally make it. We run in and my hygienist was waiting for me. I started apologizing for being late, for being gross, over and over again. I told her I know that this is not an excuse, but we are adopting and we are meeting our little girl today. She said "well of course your mind is on other things, that is great" I think it got me off the hook. She said she didn't care what I looked like as long as my teeth were clean (thank goodness I did brush my teeth) I had jogged in a baseball cap and still had it on but she made me take it off. My hair was still wet and matted to my head. I cannot believe that I went out like that in public and subjected someone to myself! The kids were great, crammed into the exam room with nothing to read or play with, I was in such a hurry, I didn't grab anything!!! I had thought about this appointment all last week. They called and reminded me on Monday, I knew it was today. When I was running I saw a kid brushing his teeth while walking to school, you would have thought that would jog my memory. (I did think it was bizarre, but it didn't spark me to remember my appointment. Oh what a morning!
It will be a day I will always remember. The day I met my daughter.
Monday has been designated as family night for our family. It is the perfect night for us because it comes right after a busy day of ministry for Jathan and it adds something to look forward to on the first day back of school after the weekend. There isn't any set thing that we do on family night, just something together as a family. We have gone to the park, played games, swimming, etc. This past Monday, we went to play miniature golf. Another nice thing about family night being on Monday is that miniature golf is free Monday evenings! A very big bonus because what would normally cost our family about $25 ends up costing nothing!
Here are some pics from Monday night:
(I love the tongue hanging out, she does this when she is trying to concentrate.)
One thing I love about homeschool is that I get to learn and discover right along with my kids daily. Right now, one of our science studies is the butterfly. On Paige's birthday, two weeks ago today, our larva arrived in the mail. After crawling around in their little jar and growing lots, they started looking more and more like what we think of as a caterpillar.
The kids loved watching them crawl around and change size almost literally right before their eyes. Then, starting on Saturday, they began crawling to the lid of the jar and hanging upside down. We had been waiting for this to happen. This, we knew, was what to expect when they were about to harden into chrysalids. Later that day one hardened. Then by Sunday morning, they were all in the chrysalid stage.
Now it is time to move them into their butterfly habitat. We will wait, and Lord willing, in 7-9 days a beautiful butterfly will emerge.
(There they are pinned to the side of the habitat.)
When we moved into our home here in CA and our kids discovered the snails all around, they were pretty excited. Now that we see snails everywhere (on the sidewalk, crawling up the house, and all over the flowers), the novelty of them isn't quite as much as it use to be. And for me, seeing them eat my plants actually makes them my enemy. And I know that two of my friends are not particularly found of them after finding their toddlers with them in their mouths when they weren't looking.
Ewwww Groooooosss!!!!!!!
This morning I was reminded of just how many we have in this town when I went for my morning jog and they were literally all over the sidewalk. They added a bit more challenge to my workout when I tried to dodge them all on the narrow sidewalk. Nothing yuckier than to step on a snail even with shoes on and see them splattered on the pavement.
Well, actually, seeing one of my children with it in their mouth would be yuckier!
Just some rambling this Monday morning. :)
Edit: Ok, it is Monday afternoon and the snail theme has continued. Drew earlier today captured about 5 snails in his bug container. This afternoon, he and his little friend, decided that snails in a container aren't very fun. So they thought they might take them out and smash them on the garage floor. Disgusting!!! The two boys cleaned that up as soon as I saw it and heard one saying "it smells like fish".
We got to be dog-sitters this past week and will get to again this weekend. The kids are dying for a dog, I am just not ready quite yet. Clay has been the one that has been most diligent to ask, so the deal is when he turns 8 we start the process. To get ready, he has checked out books at the library on dog care, made a list of names, and begged for about every dog toy he sees at the store that way we will be ready for his dog. (he won't be 8 for another year and a half.)
At least, we have this opportunity from time to time to take care of a friend's dog, hopefully to tide the kids over for a bit. Yoga, as our little furry friend is named, stayed with us 3 nights, which meant each kid got a turn to sleep with him. I think he was worn out by the time his family got back from their trip. But we had fun and look forward to having him again this next weekend.
Hi, my name is Melissa. My husband, Jathan, and I have 4 beautiful children, 2 by birth and 2 by adoption. Jathan is a pastor and I am a stay at home, homeschooling mom.
You will find me writing about my kids, my husband, God, adoption, homeschooling, our travels, life events and everything in between.
