sunshine is good for a mama's soul

If you don't know this by now, we live in a mountain ski town, which is awesome.  We trade the luxury of many outdoor activities for a very long winter.  In fact, our school district has the latest spring break that I know of.

Road trip!!! The big guys are hiding in the back seat.

Knowing how brutal the season of Spring is on our mental state, we have been looking forward to a trip south over spring break where the heat can permeate our pores and give us enough hope to last us until mid June, which is when we can safely count on the end of snow until Autumn arrives in September.

One of the perks of my husband's dizzying travel schedule for work is that he is platinum or diamond status when it comes to airline and hotel points.  Let's just say we fully dipped into that pool of points and are enjoying a beautiful villa for the week.

Lake Meade prior to crossing the Hoover Dam at sunset

We have cherished our week together.  I have particularly enjoyed the breakfast buffet every morning.  Our kiddos are getting used to filling their bellies with delicious food, and I immediately enjoyed the break from making it, serving it, and cleaning it up. ;-)

Free breakfast is one of the biggest values we get from a hotel stay.

Each of our children is so unique from the others.  Our eldest has always had his own streak of creativity.  When he was little, we lovingly called him "Dumpster Diver" because he was often found recycling trash into new inventions.  This morning he transformed his folded breakfast napkin into a boat.  A friend referred to this as "Napkingami" - sounds about as unique as my boy is.

Napkingami

If I've noticed anything on this trip it is the fact that WE are noticeable.  We have not gone anywhere together without someone approaching us or making a passing comment about our family.  Just a few examples:

• An 80 year old grandfather from New Jersey practically sat down with us at breakfast one morning to tell us how wonderful our family is and inquire more about us.  He told us all about his children and grandchildren and the part we loved was how he called them all "my (name)" when referring to them.  "My Logan, he is a great lacrosse player.  We go to all his games."  It was precious and we decided to mirror that when we are blessed to be grandparents.
• A man seated at the table next to us finished his breakfast and got up to leave, but not before coming over to tell me how he could tell how much we have invested in our children's training.  He noticed their good behavior immediately (phew!) and briefly told me his qualifications of being an educator for 37 years.  I took his compliments and put them in my "encouragement for the bad days" mental box.
• The hotel manager, a finely dressed African-American man who is just as charming as the day is long, sought us out as we were walking through the lobby.  He struck up a conversation and generously interacted with our children throughout the conversation.  He then showered all five of them with full sized Kit Kat candybars.  Now he is surely never to be forgotten!
• The head valet noticed by the boys' clothing choices that we are a traveling Chicago Bears fan club. He likes the Monsters of the Midway too and was over the top impressed that Lucas loves Robbie Gould the best.  He also noticed their Kit Kats and has a daily game of stopping them and begging them to gift him with their candy.
• A middle aged mom from D.C., away on her own for a "mental health" weekend, noticed our brood and struck up a conversation about adoption.  She was so charmed by Joya that she asked about everything from the paperwork process, to the emotional adjustment of our daughter.  She finished by saying that she is going home to talk to her husband about it.  Who knows, maybe another orphan will have a forever family just from that poolside conversation.

"I wike da fwim fwim!"

Beyond building us up as parents, these conversations have really made me pay closer attention to who we are representing as a family.  If our very presence makes people wonder what makes us so "generous and selfless" that we would adopt a orphan with medical needs, or purposefully train our children to be a blessing to others then I want to carry that conversation to point to God who is so generous and loving towards us.  I want our children to know the reason we put others first is because Jesus did that for us.  I want our constant picture to be one of gratitude.

"Mom!  Watch me!"

My Vacation Loves:

Poolside snuggle time.

• I love the freedom to throw bedtimes out the window.
• I love piling up in one bed to read a chapter book aloud to my big kiddos.
• I love that the big boys can be so helpful to carry the pool bag and push the stroller.
• I love that my husband pushed me out the door to get a pedicure.
• I love that our eight year old son loves to make us all laugh with things like, "Hey Dad, nice muscles.  Where did you buy them?"
• I love that we can start drinking margaritas any time of the day that we want to.
• I love that my husband likes to do most of the driving.
• I love the free breakfast buffet.
• I love croissants with jam (so do my thighs).
• I love that my husband brings me coffee before my feet hit the floor in the morning.
• I love that my twelve year old son likes to spend two hours at the thrift store with me looking for treasures.
• I love stocking up on cheap wine from Costco (no liquor in Utah Costco)
• I love that the wonderful housekeeping staff insist on washing our dirty dishes in addition to cleaning our room.
• I love that one particular waitress at the restaurant requested to serve our table because she loved our kiddos so much.
• I love that our kids enjoy playing with each other.

reality

I owe an update to my brother and sister in-law because they rebel against don't have facebook accounts.

Reality is hitting me tonight that in 14 days I am leaving for a foreign land to embrace a two year old child that I've never met.  I will bring her home to the boys I have known from my womb and we will be a family.  She will be their sister, and they will be her brothers.  We will be her mom and dad.

Forever.

I am looking in the face of mothering five children, living in the busiest and most demanding season of my life.  I am looking in the face of 15 years of marriage.

But honestly, when I'm buying a bottle of wine, I really feel like the twenty-something who needs to whip out her ID to prove she is old enough to drink.

Why don't I get carded anymore?

We are scheduled to depart for China on March 14th.  All of the airline tickets are booked.  My sister, mom, and favorite aunt are all taking time off from their jobs (some of it even unpaid) and away from their commitments at home to come out west and keep our precious boys feeling at home while we are away for the longest duration since any one of my little men were born.

It has been an eventful few weeks.

We received official Travel Approval from the Chinese government to come and adopt our daughter.  And for that we are excited and grateful.

We asked our agency weeks ago for a "safe" projected date that we could count on to travel.  Our agency sends parents in groups to travel to China every two weeks.  So, if your paperwork doesn't meet requirements for one group, you join the next group.

We asked for a projection because we wanted to use our frequent flier miles that were painfully earned by my Beloved's many nights away from our family working like a crazy man.

Long story short, we booked our tickets based on safe recommendations and after our paperwork caught up with us, our daughter's visa appointment at the US Consulate wound up being scheduled one day too late for us to be able to make our flight home.  Without any frequent flier seats left, it leaves us having to pay thousands of dollars for new tickets.

When our agency was telling me that there was no possible way to change this Consulate appointment, I refused to take no for an answer.  I announced our problem on facebook and was encouraged to seek help from my senator.  I promptly went to his web page, then dialed the local office.  A wonderful grandmotherly type woman answered my call, and after hearing an abbreviated version of our problem, she told me that there were staff members who handle these issues and could she have my name and number for one of them to call me back.

The dam broke and all the stress turned into emotion.  I could barely choke out my name and phone number through my tears.  But I did.

My call was returned by a very helpful woman, who said that she was hopeful that she could help.  She gave me instructions for what information to send in an email to her...

... and then she finished the conversation by telling me that she and her husband had just completed their second adoption from China just six months ago.

Thanks God.  I needed that one.

So now we are waiting to see if we need new tickets or if all systems are a go for Operation Bring Nesbit Home.

Reality is setting in.  My mind is reeling with my packing list and the adventure ahead of us.  So when I'm done writing this post, I have to order my daughter some shoes and socks!

tips from a cheapskate

Dear Garage Sellers,

I'm writing to give you some helpful tips to make your garage sale a profitable success.

People like me who shop garage sales are cheap.  They are looking for a deal, or a steal, you could say.  The reason they get out of their warm beds early on Saturday mornings is because of the deals to be found.

Charging five dollars for a Hardy Boys book is just guaranteeing that I will laugh at you the buyer will put the book back.  It matters not that you paid over ten dollars for the book.  You are selling it at a garage sale, and buyers expect to pay under a dollar for a book.

Make deals!  If I'm holding an armful of stuff someone is interested in several items of clothing and you've marked them as two dollars a piece, cut a deal.  Motivate the buyer by throwing one in for free or coming down to a dollar or a dollar fifty.  If you stick to your price, I will only buy my very favorite pieces the buyer will most likely only buy what she cannot walk away without.

If you have less than 20 items to sell, and eight of them are miniature Christmas ornaments, don't bother advertising for or even holding a garage sale.  You'll most likely spend your morning getting a lot of drive by's.

If your goal is to get rid of your stuff, then get rid of it.  If you think your stuff is worth more than anyone else's junk retail prices, then maybe you should just open a store.

Good luck.  I'll see you next Saturday.
A Local Cheapskate

new morning!

Ok, I'm still alive, awake, and have a much better attitude.

But still an aching back!

Right after I published my last post, my sweetie called me and said that he waved his white flag at the deer for the weekend and was coming home!

We went to church as a family on Sunday and guess what he did after we made lunch...

He cleaned and re-organized the garage (#26). I think that might be the fourth or fifth time in this calendar year that he has done so.

We invited our friends Rob and Christa Anderson and their son Sawyer to join us for dinner - and the kids were thrilled that they got to see their favorite superhero.

I think I started to get my energy back when Christa and I made plans to meet today (without kids!) and get a Starbucks and meander through TJMaxx.

I mentioned that I might feel the need to look for a new purse. My husband retorted sweetly with some comparison of needing new purse to a hole in my head.

Now I think I might need a new purse and some shoes to match!