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...

Our nephew, my beautiful mom, my neice, and my daddy-o at his Birthday Dinner (and Panda Inn in Pasadena). Yesterday was my daddy-o's bday, and I failed to post!  What kinda daughter am I? [Don't answer that.] I love my dad so much. He's an incredible dad and grandpa (and husband to my mom). So I thought in honor of his birthday I would post  some of the things I've learned from, and love, about him: --He likes to read (and, like me, spends time in the Self Help section more than other sections of the virtual bookstore). --He and my mom have been married a ton of years and yet they still write notes to each other most mornings. --He is a hard-worker. He worked for the same organization from the time he was 16 until he retired. A job that required him to be at work typically at 5am every day, six days a week. --He is a great father, despite not really having his own dad as a role model growing up (My Grandpa Woody passed away from a sudden heart attack w...

Elder Meehan's bday carepackage. (A "candy cake," an old man's beard, bday candles, a motivational church talk, and a set of pens.) Today is Elder Meehan's first birthday in the mission field! Yehoo! And even though we aren't able to celebrate this birthday WITH HIM, we are definitely celebrating HIS BIRTH ... because he is one amazing (and joyful) missionary, son, brother, cousin, grandson, friend, engineer, dog-owner, and bicyclist. We love you Elder Meehan!  PS: It's snowing a TON today where he is serving ... so guess what ? CHURCH WAS CANCELLED! Yup, Elder Meehan got SNOW for his bday.  So fun! A close-up of the "candy cake." It's really a hat box that we got at Hobby Lobby. The kids all glued his favorite candies to it to make it look like a birthday cake. We added a photo of his missionary tag and sent candles with it for him to blow out.  I really like this idea, but can't remember when we firs...

Happy Birthday Dave. (I was going to write a long post and then I thought it would be best to tell you the things I want to say in person.) The main thing: I love you. And I'm so grateful it's your bday and we can celebrate another year together.

We hope you both have a great day. Love you!  PS: I've added a new recipe to Recipe of the Week : Elder Meehan's Taco Soup (It's been too long since I've update that page.)  

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 ...

Lu and Zu made the bday cupcakes--all by themselves. And they were really good. Like, really! Jr. had a great bday--even though he had to go to school! He said he had 4 different classes sing to him. Then he opened some fun gifts, had a special dinner, and spent lots of time trying to figure out the code to his iTunes account (blasted memory!) so he could get Minecraft for his phone. LOL! We love you Jr. Can't believe in just two years you'll be driving. What the what? *** In other news, Bam and another student had their bikes stolen at church yesterday. Awesome sauce.  Not. Both bikes were just a week old.  Dangit. I hate stolen bikes. I guess it's part of life though. A crappy part of it. Bam and her BFF ... back when she had a bike.