Orphans

Let's face it, we have all seen the shows where there are orphans waiting to be adopted. Have you ever wondered what it was like to be in an orphan's shoes? Think about this for a moment.


You live in an area with very little personal belongings. What you own is in a box or a suitcase. When there is word that someone is coming to the orphanage, you scramble around gathering your things in case they want to take you home. You brush your hair and teeth, shine your shoes and put your best foot forward when you meet them. There is an energy that fills you up. The "what ifs" start happening. What if this is thee family? What if they don't like me? Maybe I should have changed clothes.

Once the family finally comes and goes, you wait to hear your fate. Did they like you? Are they going to discuss it. How long will they talk? You wait to hear the feedback.
Nope, it's not your turn today. CRUSHING your spirit, until the next visitor comes along. You go to bed wishing for Daddy Warbucks' bald head to come in and take you away.

Selling a house is like an orphanage. All of our personal belongings are gone. We don't really "live" here anymore. Our items are in storage containers and boxes. When we finally get a showing, we scramble to fix up the house just right. The anticipation that this might be thee family to buy our house races through my mind. After they leave, we hope for feedback. We wonder are they going to come look again? We pray that Daddy Warbucks will walk through our door and adopt our house; it needs a good family.

She Did It!

Last night were the junior high awards and I don't think I could be prouder of Madison. Back in March she was nominated for the Moore Service League's Outstanding Youth Award. Three 7th graders from the five junior highs were nominated. Here were the requirements:

• 
  Individually nominated by a teacher, counselor and the principal.


• 
  Three letters of recommendation (one school official, one community leader, one by anyone who knew her).


• 
  Resume listing her awards and community service.


• 
  An interview with three school officials


• 
  A written essay the day of the interview

This award was the first award of the evening and she WON! I was sitting in the third row of the auditorium and I swear people in Alaska could see me smiling. She won a $5o US Savings Bond for being a nominee and a $100 US Savings Bond for winning.

Waiting to see if she won.

She also brought won awards for:

• Oklahoma Junior Honor Society


• President's Education Award (yep, signed by the President - pretty darn cool, even though it is mass produced)


• Medal for having 4.0 or higher (you can actually have a 5.0 because of AP classes)


• Medal for having straight A's

Out of the above awards I was most impressed with her having straight A's. There were many kids that had 4.0 or higher, but there was only a handful that had straight A's. Madison is in all Pre-AP classes, so she earned A's in all of those. Such a smart cookie!

I am sighing now, thinking about what a great daughter she is. She is smart (no doubt on that one), but she is a great leader and role model.

Student Council Elections

Madison has decided to run for Student Council President. This weekend will be spent designing posters and writing a speech. I am proud of her for making such a difficult decision. I was definately not brave enough to standup and speak to a crowd of people at her age.

Good luck!

Easter

We had a good Easter.

Changes

There are so many changes going on in our household it has been crazy. One of which things has been taking the crib rails off and transitioning to a toddler bed (in Feb). The transition has NOT been an easy one. Most nights end very late and after 3-7 attempts of getting up out of bed and the most excessive whining of wanting mom or dad to stay in the room. Spencer constantly opens his door or turns on his light and this goes on for hours. Frustration levels have run very high. We bought a turtle that glows and shows constellations when it is in dark in hopes that he would want to stay in bed where it is dark in order to watch them. It didn't have the huge impact that I thought it would. One thing Spencer likes, is getting into mommy and daddy's bed and covering up with the covers. We had not transitioned any of his crib bedding out because we wanted to wait until we were in the new house. So as an option to try, we bought new bedding for his room in hopes he would "like" his new bed. Here is the old bedding. Bye, bye to the bi-planes and airplanes that hung in his room. Hello to his (awwww, wait, guess...) BALLS

As you can see, he can hardly contain his excitement! He loves jumping into the pile of covers it creates on his bed. He also climbs into bed and tells us to "cover me up."

This hasn't been a huge impact on him going to sleep at night either, but he enjoys the different balls (which I am sure he is dreaming of throwing).

Eat Your Heart Out Tom Cruise

We all have seen Tom Cruise dancing in his whitey tighties to "Old Time Rock and Roll." Well, Spencer has just topped Tom Cruise. He is dancing in his SUPER GROVER underware to Kris Kross' "Jump Jump." The hilarious thing about this is that he can actually do the dance. The concentration on his face is priceless.

Here is a portion of his dance and make sure to turn up the volume and listen at the end when he sings along with the song.

Outstanding Youth Award

Madison had her interview for the Moore Service League's Outstanding Youth Award on Sunday. She looked so AMAZING and confident. Her interview went well and the essay topic they had to write about was, Who You Admire Most and Why. Madison chose to write about her dad. This picture was taken before the interview and upon coming home, she chose to play a little Guitar Hero, still in her skirt.

For those of you that know Madi, she doesn't wear dresses or skirts (seriously, at all). I absolutely love this picture because it is totally her. We are so proud of her accomplishments this year, now we have to wait until May 6th to see if she won.