April 29, 2011

A letter

I wrote a letter to my donor's family last week.  Man, what a tough letter to write!  Sometimes words don't do emotions and feelings justice.  Seth and Julie both liked it, so I think I will send it out.  We'll see what happens...

April 28, 2011

The Candy Lady


On Easter day while hanging out with my grandparents I was reminded of my great grandma.  She died a few years ago at the first-rate age of 102 years old.

I used to go visit her while I was a teenager.  My mom would drag me and my sister away from church on Sunday afternoons on occasion to go visit.  We sat in her living room to chat about what was new.  How was school going?  We would look though album upon photo album as we sat in a living room that had been frozen in time.  Her trip to China, photographs of my dad as a little boy...

As we sat there, my grandma's doorbell was sure to ring several times within the few hours while we visited.  My great grandma was the 'candy lady', you see.  Kids from far and wide would show up on her doorstep, because they knew they were sure to get a treat.  Everyone knew her house.
So when the doorbell rang, this 100 year old grandma of mine would get up, walk across the room, grab a glass bowl full of an assortment of candy and then walk back to open the door.  Sometimes it was small groups of children, sometimes a kid all by himself.  She would let them pick a piece and she would make sure they said "thank you".

One of the visits we took her out to lunch to get a salad at Applebees.  The waitress, an adult woman, instantly recognized her as the candy lady.  She went on to say that she had gotten candy from her when she was a little girl, and now her kids did too.  My great grandma had been the candy lady to several generations now.

And as the city of Hayward got more run down, seedy, gangs appearing - my great grandmother who had very poor eyesight in her older age did not notice.  She continued to open the door.  My family got a little concerned as the city deteriorated but the more they thought about it, the more they realized that nobody was going to hurt the candy lady.

What an awesome lady she was, and I hope to be more like her.  Maybe I can carry on the tradition and become the candy lady myself someday.  Maybe not, times have changed.  But her generous spirit I can emulate.  I think it is pretty cool that I got to be the candy lady's granddaughter.

April 25, 2011

Easter

Had such a nice Easter with Seth, the boys, my mom & dad, grandpa & grandma and friend Julie.  Low key and chill, but still fun.  Oh how I love Easter.






April 11, 2011

Aiden

Aiden.  Yep - that is what is new in our family's life.  He did move in with us, as scheduled, on January 13th.  It has been such a blessing, hard at times, but overall very good!  He is a very sweet little guy, he is adventurous and athletic.  He is quiet, yet comfortable.  He loves to climb and he can balance on a moving skateboard.  Aiden is friendly when meeting new people but also quiet and reserved.  He is silly, he is loving, he is stubborn and full of happiness.  He is doing so well considering all that he has been through.  The transition has gone very smoothly, as smooth as I could hope for.  The first night he was with us things kind of felt like a sleepover.  The kids were excited.  Aiden's old foster family was great to him, but he just jumped right in without too much sadness.

Levi has had a lot of adjusting to do as well.  Aiden plays with his toys sometimes, breaks stuff, and they share a room, etc.  At first there was much fighting and crying ... and there still is to some degree, but they are becoming very close.  Aiden adores Levi and likes to follow him around and copy him.  I love it when they giggle and play together as brothers, it melts my heart.
If you have known me well in the past, you may have known how it bothered me that Levi was growing up as an only child.  I like having a sister, so of course I wanted the same for him.  I think siblings are good for so many reasons ... to have a buddy and someone to play with; learning to share and learning to live with someone in a close relationship.  When I see the two of them interact, and my dream of having more than one kid is coming true, I am thankful.

Even with a two year old as mellow as Aiden life has changed much.  We don't quite go out to eat as much, more dishes, laundry etc.  But the level of craziness and excitement around this place has quadrupled.  It's not so quiet here between all four of us.  I mostly enjoy that though, and appreciate the lack of dull and boring.  I am also aware that having small children is just a short season in life overall ... so I am embracing the loudness and activity and crazy as much as I can.

Aiden is our foster son currently, but of course we are moving in the direction to adopt him.  His biological mom's rights are going to be terminated this week.  I really like her as a person, the several times I have met with her, and we plan to keep this an open adoption with Aiden growing up knowing who is biological mother is.  After the court date this week we begin the official adoption process.  We are looking at the finalization to take place around late July.  Then he will be legally recognized as ours, forever.

Not to get all sappy on you or anything, but people say how lucky Aiden is to have ended up in our family.  Really I feel like we are the lucky ones.  He is an awesome little guy.  He is a gift, and I feel privileged to raise him and have him call me mama.

bathtime2

bathtime

aiden&levi

April 05, 2011