This Past Weekend

By the time I got to work today I think we drove my car over 1,000 miles this weekend. We started out going to a wedding Friday night and it didn't end until yesterday afternoon at 4:30. We had a training session with our adoption agency Saturday morning. It was good. There was a family there that had adopted a girl from China and they spoke about their experience. Even though we aren't doing international adoption it was still interesting to me to hear about what they experienced. The most interesting part of Saturday was listening to the person who counsels the birthmothers. She says the best part of her job is meeting these strong women who face a hard decision and then sitting back and watching God make these matches. She compared these ladies to Jacob wresting with God. They will always have a limp from their struggle. I think this part was good for J because he developed a different point of view on birthmothers. I think we tend to stereotype birthmothers into being teenagers or druggies or they are too selfish to care for a child, etc. This just isn't true. I've always thought that maybe part of why we are going through this is to redefine what we call "family". I think for both of us our definition of family has been two parents, one sibling, four grandparents, 8 great-grandparents. We may have a chance to open our lives to another person who may not have had all of the great influence that J and I had growing up. Maybe we are supposed to be an example for this birthmother and become somewhat of an extended family. Right now we don't have any plans on making this a completely open adoption. I don't know that I want to have them over for every major holiday, but maybe some day... When this child is old enough to want to know more about his past I want to be open to it. I don't want to miss out on something that could be a great opportunity for all of us because we are too scared to step outside the box and possibly redefine our definition of family.

Also on Saturday we decided to go to a Cardinals game because we were so close. It was so HOT that day. We spent part of the game in the outfield with the sun beating down on us. I don't know how we managed to not get burnt but we didn't. Another funny story about Saturday is that you all know how I feel about sports. The game lasted 2 1/2 hours and looking back on it I have no idea what I did with my time. I hardly even looked at the players. I guess maybe I stared at the people around me more than I realized? I wasn't ever bored, I'm just not sure what I did during the game. I did get up and walk around in the shade some. I don't know anything about baseball but Rick Ankiel hit two home runs on Saturday. This is significant because he had been a pitcher and then he went back to the minors for several years and now he's back and is a much better player. J could give you more details, but I think that is the jest of the story. Anyway these two home runs have been replayed on ESPN several times and it made the list of the biggest events this week (or something like that). I was at the game where this happened and I missed BOTH of them. I was wandering around the concession stand area (which I think the first one I was buying J a hotdog). J keeps bringing it up that I missed both of them, but I think I'll survive!

We ended the week yesterday by going to the state fair. The last time I had gone was three years ago when C was 2 and J was showing two heifers. I remembered yesteday why it had been three years since I had been there. It will probably take me another 3 to forget why I don't like to go. I think C pretty much had the same feelings as me. It didn't take much to convince him to leave and J had already been there last week and will be making another trip on Sunday so he was ready. I don't know if C has quite the love of fairs that J has. Once C starts showing things could get interesting.