Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Putting it all together


One of my biggest concerns about sending Lindy to preschool was lunch. She's a pretty good eater but S-L-O-W and easily distracted. As presumed, our little social butterfly spends too much time chatting and not enough time chowing. As a result, she often comes home from school hungry or with a lot of her lunch left in her box. I've tried various approaches to get her to eat at school but I haven't found the one that works yet. While I'd like for her to eat it all, I more importantly want her to eat the healthiest things first and then move on to the snack type foods. I know her appetite will vary depending on what she ate for breakfast that morning and other factors.

Last Monday prior to school, Don joined my efforts and strongly emphasized that she needed to eat her lunch...Lindy must've taken the talk with Daddy to heart because she announced to her teacher that she needed to eat ALL her lunch or she was going to be in big trouble. Unfortunately, this did not keep her from talking up a storm during lunch. So when it came time to go to the playground, Lindy was in a panic because she hadn't finished all her lunch. Lindy's teacher let her take her carrots to finish up outside but said she was pretty sure her mommy and daddy wouldn't mind if she left a few pretzels. At that moment, Lindy looked at her teacher and said, "Ms. Theresa, you are the devil."

I was a bit mortified when her teacher told me that Lindy had called her the devil but then when I heard the story it all made sense. A few weeks ago, Lindy asked me what temptation is and what it means to be tempted. I gave her some examples and told her how the devil will put people around us to tell us it is okay to do or not something, even when we know better. We've also talked a lot about making good choices that will please God or bad choices that don't please God. Well, in her little mind she thought Ms. Theresa was tempting her to go against us.

So, on the way home from school that day we talked about how Ms. Theresa wasn't the devil and wasn't trying to tempt her to do something wrong and that we trust Ms. Theresa to help Lindy do the right thing and make wise decisions. It is fascinating to watch her trying to put all these challenging life concepts together and make sense of them. I pray this sweet child will continue to have wisdom and discernment and strive to make good choices and while I'm at it, I pray she'll have a little more tact, too.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

March madness and April showers


Well, once again it has been ages since I've posted to our blogs or ventured to blogland. Before I get too much more behind, I'm going to attempt to catch up and write about some of what our girl was up to in March and so far this April... The last couple of posts showed Lindy's goofy side and we continue to marvel at all her crazy antics, her ever-growing vocabulary, and zest for life.

Here's some of the March madness:

On the 14th, Lindy attended a super fun cooking birthday party for one of her classmates. She loves being in the kitchen at home and really had a blast making homemade pizzas and sugar cookies. She also loved the fun little personalized apron she received. It was great fun and I tip my hat to the host parents for being so brave and organized to pull this off without incident.




After Valentine's Day, we told her the next "holiday" would be St. Patrick's Day and the importance of wearing green so she wouldn't get pinched. Well, Lindy proceeded to dwell on St. Patrick's Day for the entire month. She even dreamed that I didn't dress her in green for St. "Packnship" Day and that she got "poked" as a result. The night before St. Patrick's Day, her dad assured her I wouldn't forget.

When the important day arrived, she ended up being disgruntled that she didn't have a green shirt on, even though she had green bottoms, shamrock socks, and a green and white bow...That kid...

Moving to April:

Lindy loved welcoming April by trying her hand at April Fool's jokes. She got a big laugh from them but, between you and me, her delivery needs a bit of work, as do the knock knock jokes she's taken a liking to.


April 3rd was the third anniversary of us being a family. How can it be that three years ago this little creature was placed into my arms? Lindy continues to delight us daily and astound us with all she knows and has become. We are blessed beyond measure and praise God that He chose this very special girl to be our daughter.
Fittingly, we spent the evening with other families who have been blessed by adoption or are waiting to adopt.

On April 5th, we attended our friend Ashley's bridal shower. Lindy is going to be Ashley's flower girl and she couldn't wait to attend this mysterious thing called a shower.


She behaved like a sweet little lady and had lots of fun! Thankfully, our friend Emily entertained her with her pink iPh*ne, too! The shower was during her naptime, so she missed some sleep but it didn't take long for her to zonk out in the car...

On April 8th, Lindy spent the day with her Auntie 'Sisa and what a full day it was. They colored eggs together and also baked the most adorable bunny cake you've ever seen and boy was it delish! Since our kitchen was torn up and being worked on, I wasn't able to do any special Easter activities with Lindy. I was glad she had this opportunity to do this with Denisa.



On April 9th, Lindy had her Easter party at school. She had fun doing crafts, listening to stories, and competing in the egg hunt. When there is candy at stake, the girl boogies.



As if there hadn't been enough fun that day, it was also Grandpa Osborn's birthday. Since he was in town laboring very hard in our kitchen (thank you SO much), we gave him the night off and took him out to celebrate his special day at the Cheescake Fact*ry. Lindy loves parties and was happy to be able to sing to her grandpa and celebrate with him.


On April 10th, we were invited to a barbeque at the home of our friends, Daryl and Lori. They were especially excited to have Lindy meet their neighbors' alpacas. I was expecting the alpacas to live in a field and figured we'd see them through a fence. To my surprise, we met Barnum, Bailey, and Barney up close and personal and Lindy got to feed them. We were told alpacas are kind of shy and Lindy quickly learned to be fairly quiet and not run after them. She was very brave and got right in there and fed them without hesitation.

This Easter, it was so wonderful hearing Lindy tell the story of Jesus' death and resurrection. She easily spoke of the empty tomb, the women who came to the cave with spices and found it empty, and the angel who told them to not be afraid. I'm so thankful for all the wonderful teachers she has at church and school who've helped her grasp the greatest story in the Bible. While we celebrate His death and resurrection every week and don't just view Easter Sunday as the one day to dwell on its significance, we welcome the opportunity to think about it more during this time of year. We also look forward to the arrival of the Easter Bunny and a small basket of goodies. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Caples for the adorable dress she wore for Easter!


While her Grandma and Grandpa Osborn were in town, Lindy learned to share the TV with Grandma so she could watch her favorite--F*x News. Truthfully, Lindy doesn't watch a lot of TV, so we are teasing about having to share. Anyway, somewhere along the way, Lindy must've caught the buzz about the tea parties on April 15th because when I turned it on to view the one held in San Antonio, within minutes I saw Lindy had set up her own tea party. Just another reminder to be careful about what we're saying, viewing, and listening to as this little girl has already voiced her political views at preschool!


Wow! I'm exhausted from trying to recall so many things that have been happening. Maybe that will be incentive not to wait so long to write. The days are busy, as well as the nights and sometimes they just spill into one another and before I know it, a month is gone. There are many milestones, moments, and memories I haven't written about that I hope I can hang onto, as well, but I hope you've enjoyed just a few of them.