Table for Eight

Tomorrow is our sweet Papaya's 15th BIRTHDAY! We are so excited to celebrate! And I know I say this a lot (and it sounded so cheesy when I heard adults say it when I was a kid), but "TIME IS FLYING." I truly remember every single detail of her adoption as if it were yesterday.  Every detail: --The weather the day we got the phone call from our dear friends at church, telling us they had a family member who was considering adoption for her beautiful bambina. --The movie and scene that were playing on tv when I answered the phone to find out that their family member wanted to meet us ... tomorrow! (PS: It was "You've Got Mail" and the Meg Ryan character was getting a drink of some kind at Starbucks in the fall. She'd yet to begin emailing the Tom Hanks character.) --I remember how nervous I was and that I didn't sleep at all for the whole night. I remember how Dave was able to sleep like a baby the whole night. (Which have become pretty co...

Zu in October this year.    Our second-to-youngest daughter turns 11 this week. And she is so excited! Birthdays are awesome: they literally celebrate the miracle of our birth and lives. But because our children were born for us, and not through us , I feel like the miracle of their births/lives is even more miraculous- er . (PS: If you are new to the blog, we were able to adopt all 6 of our bambinos.) Anyway, my main point!   Zu loves to ask me to "tell stories about when we were able to adopt her." And to be honest, I love to tell our kids their adoption stories--because adopting each one of them has been a pretty incredible process and experience. Probably the most spiritual experiences of my life--outside of meeting and marrying Dave.  And since I don't think I've ever shared this here on the blog before, I thought today would be the perfect day to share Zu's adoption ...

Bam as Alice In Wonderland. (PS: Thank you Marthe--her church youth group leader--for MAKING this dress!) First of all, I just have to say this: our daughter Bam is hands-down the most peaceful person I know. Just thinking of her calms ME. She finds happiness in every new day. It's incredible. And this photo is a super-amazing reminder/example of that for me. (Plus, I've may have said this before? But I think adopting our children has given me an extra helping of gratitude for their personalities and traits. They are sometimes like Dave and I, but others times so SO different. I'm really grateful for that/this.) Okay now: it's Halloween week and I have 2.8 million things on my To Do List. And while I could write the list here, and give you a serious laugh-attack, I thought I'd just share the 2.8 millionth thing on the list. It pretty much sums up how I'm approaching life right now:  DAWN's TO DO LIST # 2...

Our oldest two daughters: Bam and Papapa. (I think that's paint on Papaya's hands?)   Well, cellphones totally change camp for ME ... because thanks to Bam and Papaya's leaders, I was able to SEE how they are doing after just their first day of camp. Woo hoo! Thank you, Caisa, for hiking up the mountain to find cell service. It was so cool to hear the kids were there safe and having a ton of fun! (Funny, after Survivor--where we are completely sequestered from communication/media for basically 2 months--I can barely go a few days without getting an update on our kids. I mean, I will wait if I have to, like with Elder Meehan's mission updates, but overall, I just like knowing where/how all the bambinos are doing. Yanno?) Papaya and a friend hula. Our ward/congregation Young Women. PS: Oh, how I LOVE the funky socks. Camping is way more fun when you have funky socks!   Shalom!   Bam and her ju-jitsu friend hula. Young Wom...

Adoption Day: Jr and LuLu, 2009. The Survivor Caramoan finale falls on Mother's Day , so I wanted to write my Mother's Day post today . Oh, and before I begin : Feliz Cin co de May o ! I know there will be thousands of cards and blogposts dedicated to Mothers. And I know to some people it's kind of cliche' to add the "Mother's Day Blog post" to the mix . But I love my mom so much, I'm no different: I want her to know how grateful I am to be her daughter --even if it is in a very public way. Mommy-O, I love you. I love everything I've learned from you (life lessons, cooking, laughter, parenting, mindfulness .. .). I love spending time with you. And I feel sincerely fortunate to have you as my mentor, friend, and tour guide here on Planet E. I think you are a phenomenal mom, wife, grandm a, friend--an incredible person. And I can't wait to see you next week! Happy early Mother's Day. My mom and dad. B) And as some ...