Shhhhh! It's a "secret"!*

Announcements, Announcements, An ow unce ments! Shhhhhhh! (Totally sang that as a throw back to Junior church 8,000 years ago, or "back in the olden days" as Zoe would say.)

There's a big change coming here in the Land of 2 Zs. We're going to be making it 3 Zs.

At least that's the plan anyway.

Z3 should be joining our family sometime in very early October. It's still a risky pregnancy, due to too many issues to go into right about now. We're at 14 1/2 weeks, and other than my uterus basically being directly on top of my sciatic nerve all is good.

The bigger Zs are very happy. The big one has put in her request for a brother, and the little one would prefer a sister but is okay with the idea of a brother. Daddy doesn't care, and Mommy wants a boy. Pink may be my favorite color, but there's ENOUGH of that in my house!!

*For personal reasons, I ask that any comments be left here, or emailed. I'd like to keep this off of Facebook for the most part. 

When you have brought up kids, there are memories you store directly in your tear ducts.  ~Robert Brault

Why Vonage's Transcribed Voicemail Service Is My Favorite...

"Hey babe girl it's me Morrison you've been trying to call. I didn't know  he's been trying to call. I'm sorry I missed call from Germany. Alright. I'm still in Marian. We will be we got of be in Allied the 30th. But Tina should retarded and we don't really know any airplane date. So at least Monday, shadow, I will be here if you're going to be able to find who you know freaking Mary awesome I love you Christine. I but I made by now if I go ahead and I so if he does not if I don't answer I don't have my charger. So I'm going to put it on better receiver mode because my treasure the hospital where I was because I guess she hadn't had a big boy but I love you very much. If I do not answer and okay sorry I haven't tried her about tomorrow bro which means that you called. I'll be booking I check my voicemail so I love you very much. Cheers then. Bye"


*****************************************************


This is the exact email the husband received from Vonage after my baby sister Bimley left a voicemail. Clearly, this is not what she said. Or maybe it is. 


For 1, Her name is Bimley Louise, so she didn't say "it's me Morrison". Her lies are way more creative and elaborate than that. 


Translation key:


Marian = Maryland
Allied = Hawaii
Tina = TMO
Christine = Sissy
and my second favorite:


Cheers then = see you soon

It Was Easier Last Time

The last time their daddy went anywhere, the big one wasn't even 3 yet.

And the little one hadn't turned 2. 

This time, they're big.

And they understand that Daddy is leaving.

The big one is mad. I can only tell her I understand.
The little one keeps making me reassure her he is not going to the place with the war. Thankfully, I can do this.

And the mommy is starting to feel horrible that her amazing kids were born into this life. They didn't choose it. I did. Daddy did.

I can't stop thinking about all military children. We ask so much of people who are so little.

For Joe-Joe!

We will ALWAYS remember you baby boy!

Day 15: My Dreams

I can't decide how to interpret this topic.

Are we talking my dreams as in what pictures are in my head when I sleep?

Are we talking my dreams as in, what I want to be when I grow up?

I'm just not sure.

The dreams I have when I am sleeping? I usually don't remember them. Unless, in the dream I get really mad at someone. When that happens, I usually wake up mad at the person for whatever they did in dream land. And then I look like an ass because they didn't ACTUALLY do anything.

As far as what I'm going to do with the rest of my life, I have so many things I am passionate about, that I may never decide on just one.

I want to work with children with special needs. While I say right now I want to do that in the form of being a teacher, that's not my only option. There are tons of things that could fill this part of me. It's not a decision that only has one "right" outcome.

I want to be a photographer of some kind. And really, taking amazing pictures for myself and my family will fill that, so I don't HAVE to become some kind of professional to do it. I just love to click a shutter button and capture life as it's happening. I'm not one for posed portraits. I'd take an enlarged photo of my children laughing over something one of them said over one taken in a portrait studio where they are wearing forced smiles any day. It's life that is beautiful. Not matching white polo shirts and awkward poses.

I want to be "that" mom, that my daughters and their friends can come to me for advice. I want that slew of adopted children who come over and eat all the snack food in my house because they feel safe and loved in my home.

I want to be so many things. My dreams are not lofty ambitions. They aren't things that I cannot obtain. But just because they are my dreams, doesn't mean that if they come true I will happy.

You never know until you reach the top if it was worth the uphill climb...

Day 8: A Moment

Because I stole this idea from Heather, AND we live the exact same (and yet totally different) life, I thought I'd share the same "moment" in her life that she did. The moment she knew she wanted to be a teacher when she grew up.

My decision to go into education actually came over two separate moments.

The most recent one (by recent I mean I decided two years ago) was made when I started reading Melody's blog. And Trina's. And then 5 Minutes For Special Needs launched. And I knew. I knew what I was supposed to be doing with my life. I really feel like it's a calling for me. I'm sure the 800 Special Olympics events I attended, and 6 million Challenger Division softball games I attended in my youth has something to do with it too.

When you've witnessed one person, who by all medical definitions is mentally retarded, look at someone (who also by all medical definitions is mentally retarded) and exclaim: "Are you RETARDED?!" in that "I can't believe you just did something that stupid" way that "normal" people do, it's hard to deny that those individuals are anything other than full of awesome.

The other moment, that made me change my mind from going into music education to elementary education happened my Senior year of high school. I was a cadet teacher in a 3rd grade classroom, and witnessed what can only be the described as the greatest argument ever presented by an 8 year old.

I was overseeing a table of kids, as they did a coloring activity. I don't remember exactly what it was they were doing, but I DO know that the palest kid in the class looked at another little boy and said:

If I colored you with my gray crayon, it wouldn't show up because your mommy is white, and your daddy is black, and white plus black equals gray.

The response he got back was NOT one he (nor I) was expecting. The other child said, with a completely serious face:

Oh yeah? Well if I colored you with my carnation pink crayon, it wouldn't show up because YOU are carnation PINK!!

 And that was when I decided I didn't want to teach kids over the age of 8.