A Year Ago Today,

We woke up as a family of two with a little girl who didn't fully belong to us.
We were anxious, nervous, excited, scared.
We filled up a hallway and watched prisoners be escorted past us.We entered a chamber and tried to make small talk.
We attempted to set up a video camera, but missed the opportunity.
We watched as a Judge scribbled his name on a sheet of paper that would alter a little girls life forever.We smiled, giggled, and let out a huge sigh of relief.
We took pictures and we tried to contain our joy.We were handed papers with a brand new name on them.We couldn't believe it was real.We walked out of the courthouse as a family of three.We finally all had the same last name.We realized that our God is a whole lot bigger then we give him credit for and we thanked Him for answering our prayers in His timing instead of ours.Then we went home and began a new life.She was born on February 11th, 2007, but March 27th, 2008 was the day she became Josie Kathryn Pope.

And I became a Mommy.

Not flesh of my flesh

Nor bone of my bone,

But still miraculously my own.

Never forget for one single minute,

That you didn't grow under my heart

But in it.

Riding the Roller Coaster

It's been another strange and emotional 24 hours.
I can't go into details since they aren't my emotions, but I will say that I completely believe that everything he is feeling is absolutely normal.
Meeting a biological parent is life changing.
And learning details of how you were created and the direction that each life took from there is the definition of an emotional roller coaster.
But Andrew is dealing with it all incredibly. I am so amazed by him.

On a completely different note, and on something that I am more then permitted to talk about, the consignment sale was crazy exciting!
Since I am selling a ton of items and volunteered, I got to shop at the preview sale.
I got there almost an hour early and there were already about 2o people ahead of me!
I told Andrew that there was a good chance that I might end up pushing women over when the opened the doors! Then I made sure Tiffany knew that if she fainted (she's been dealing with a new condition), I would come back for her after I got the things I had on my list!
I'm a great friend, huh?!?!
I did score some amazing deals! I spent $72 and got all of Josie's Spring and Summer clothes, a Radio Flier trike, a Leapfrog Alphabet train, a play table, a play vacuum, a bowling set, and about 4 other smaller toys!
The train retailed at $225 and I got it for $15. Josie loves it. And all the clothes are Baby Gap or Gymboree!
I get the biggest rush off of getting a good deal.
And since there's no way I can afford to dress her in those clothes at full price, I was pretty excited!
Plus I won a free photo session with a girl that Andrew and I went to high school with! I am super excited about that too!

So over all it's been a great 24 hours for me. I feel closer to my husband then I ever have, and as close as we have always been, I didn't even know that was possible. And my daughter is going to have her most stylish summer yet!

Tomorrow is our first cookout of the season! It's supposed to be kind of crappy out, but I have missed having everyone together so much that I doubt I'll even notice the rain!

Meeting His Roots

We have had a very surreal past 24 hours.
It started with an email and ending with Andrew meeting his birth mother.

Let me rewind.
Andrew was adopted by his awesome parents when he was a month old. His birth mother had been a 12 year old little girl.
Yes, I said 12 years old.
If you've ever spent time with a 12 year old, you would know that the possiblity of her being able to raise Andrew were slim to none.
But she tried. She wanted it to work. But there was just no way.
So she went to her sister's youth pastor, who was having a hard time becoming a Dad, and asked if he was interested in adopting a baby boy.
That baby boy was Andrew.

Since I have known Andrew, about 9 years, he has gone through random periods of wanting to know more about his mom. When we got Josie he decided he wanted to find her.
All he had was her name. He got a few leads, but they all were dead ends.
Nobody had seen her since high school.
So he gave up. He thought that if they were ever going to meet, she would have to find him.

On Monday I decided to check my much neglected MySpace page. I had only one message, from a lady wondering if my husband was Andrew Pope and if he had been adopted.
I wasn't sure what Andrew's current thoughts were on meeting his birth mother so I decided to let him reply.
The email was from his birth mother's best friend. She told him that she had been searching for him for a very long time and wanted to meet him someday if he was open to it.
He was and they met today.

He was calm and collected, unphased by the fact that he was about to meet 1/2 of his DNA.
That's Andrew for you.
When he got home from meeting her he gave me more facts about the situation surrounding his conception and adoption.
As you can imagine, it's very sad.
But he said she was a very cool person and that they share a lot of personality traits, something he has always wondered about.

I could tell that he felt like a weight was lifted off. I can't imagine spending your life wondering what your birth mother would be like, if she wanted you, why she left you, if you were like her.

Him meeting her has brought up a whirl of emotion for me.
As an adoptive mom myself, I find it strange to be reminded that there is a woman out there who gave my daughter life.
It's easy to let myself forget.
Not that I have any chance of having her birth mother try to contact her. But it is a reminder that she is out there somewhere.

I am totally excited for Andrew. I know this means a lot to him and I am doing my best to be supportive and cautious at the same time.

But I also feel for Darlene, Andrew's Mom.
It can't be easy. It must be strange.
It must feel a little like a violation. That this woman could come in and claim any part of your child after you raised him.
Then again, Darlene is a strong woman who has no doubt in her heart that Andrew is fully hers. That she has his heart.

I hope that all parts of this strange new dynamic can coexist in whatever comes next. Which by the way, we are totally clueless about.
I also hope that this will be a bridge to help explain adoption and birth moms and all that goes with it to Josie.

And I won't lie, I am a little relieved that Josie's birth mom won't ever be interested in contacting her. Or even knows she exists.
But if by some strange turn of events she were to, I hope and pray that I would be able to handle it as graciously as Darlene is.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

I introduced Josie to one of the greatest joys of Easter... Reese's Eggs!

A New Dog.

Josie and I were hard at play when I looked up and saw this... That's Andrew carrying our 75 pound Australian Shepherd/Malamute, Boomer!

Apparently he wanted Andrew to carry him.

Spring is here and that means it's time to give Boomer a haircut. And since we are too cheap to spend $90 to have it done professionally, he ends up looking like a scene kid.I think we could make another dog from all that!

Handsome Devil.Here's the newest improvment to our yard.I love it! And Terry used all plants from up at Maw Maw's house so that makes it even better!

Today we're getting a huge pile of busted up rocks that I'm told will be a huge parking pad by the end of the week.

Right now it is just seriously messy and my type A personality is not handling it too well.

And because it just isn't a blog worthy entry without a picture of Josie Kat...

And my sunshine she really is.

Meal Plan and a Recipe!

I am selling a ton of Josie's old stuff at a huge consignment sale this week. I had every intention of having everything organized and tagged last week, but that didn't happen.
We have something going on every night this week.
Sunday night we're going to look at a building Andrew wants to use for ministry, Monday I am babysitting all day, Tuesday night I have to drop everything off at the sale, Wednesday I am babysitting and then we have our Small Group at church, Thursday night I get to shop the sale(!!!), Friday I work at the sale, and Saturday we're going to try to get everyone together for a cookout at our house.
So needless to say, this week is going to be a little insane!
Here is what I will be attempting to fit into my day for dinner.

But I'm not promising that one (or four) of these days won't be replaced by good ole' Waffle House. (If my husband cooks it, it's just like eating at home right?!?!)

Sunday - Silver Turtles (meat and veggies cooked in foil on the grill)
Monday - Darlene's Home Cooking!
Tuesday - Lasagna, Broccoli, and Salad
Wednesday - Chicken Enchiladas
Thursday - Mac and Cheese (Babysitter)
Friday - Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts and Baked Potatoes
Saturday - Cookout!

Yikes!

Chicken Broccoli Braid Recipe

And if any of you are looking for something new to try, this recipe is a staple in our house.
I started making it about four years ago and Andrew and I have literally fought over the leftovers!
I once caught him up at about 3 AM eating the piece that was put aside for my lunch that day!
It's pretty easy and you get a good serving of veggies and protein.
It is a Pampered Chef recipe, but I never use the actual recipe anymore. This is how I do it...

2 rolls of Crescent Rolls **(use the Pillsbury, they do taste different!)
1 Big Crown of Broccoli
1/2 a Red Pepper
1 Tsp Dill
2 Chicken Breasts (cooked and Chopped)
1/2 Cup Mayo
1 Cup Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese

**if you don't want to have to seal the seams of the Crescent Rolls, Pillsbury just started making sheets of the stuff. I think they are called Recipe Creations or something like that.
*** You can't use too much chicken, broccoli, red pepper or cheese. The more the merrier! You can however use too much dill, so don't go all willy nilly with that!

Mix your cut up broccoli, red peppers, shredded cheese, mayo, chicken, and dill in a big bowl. Then roll out your 2 packages of Crescent Rolls to make one big sheet with no seams. Scoop all the mixture down the middle of the sheet.

Then take a knife and cut the edges on each side into one inch (or so) strips. Then just pull them up to make a braid looking thing on the top. When we have people over I take time and try to make this part all pretty. When it's just us, I just flop them every which way just to hold the mixture in place.

Throw it in the oven at 375 degrees for about 28 minutes. Sometimes it takes a little longer to make the Crescent Roll undoughy.

Then enjoy! And hide the leftovers from your husband!

Pope Park

The swing set is up and ready for action!
After 4 days of having wood pieces scattered all over the driveway, I was starting to wonder if we had gotten in over our heads with this project.
Not that Andrew or I were of any help during the construction!
Our neighbor/landscaper/renter offered to put it together and work it into his master plan for the yard. I'm pretty sure he had no idea what he was getting himself into either!
We got an amazing deal on this thing. We looked them up online and they go for $1000 more then what we paid.
Andrew and I both agreed that we would have been pretty upset if we had paid that much money and then had to put it all together.

So here is our yard before the swing set was done.
I wish I had taken some pictures from before Terry built the rock wall, but I don't.

It took 4 guys to build and then 6 guys to get it into place. Josie better play on this for a really long time!Josie tried so hard to be patient. We spent the day over at the Glover's on Friday and when we got home, the swing set was in it's rightful place!
It looked so good!I thought that Terry was going to put 2x4's around it to give it it's own little area. I should have known better! He made a form for it out of rocks and gave it a really cool shape.That's Mr. Terry showing Josie how it all works. I'm pretty sure he earned his way into a special spot in her heart now!And the look on Josie's face made it all worth while!It's pretty much done now. He has just a few more safety features to put on and then it's ready for business. We decided to leave off a few things. It's supposed to have a door and a mailbox and a door bell for the fort, but it closed it in so much that we told him not to bother. And it's supposed to have a little picnic table but that was in the way of the swings.
And then we flipped the slide so that we could see her from the porch. Not to mention the end of the slide was a little too close to the rock wall on the other side!Tomorrow we will fill the sand box under the fort with rocks and put up her baby swing. It really is gorgeous. I think I like it just as much as Josie does!

The rest of the landscaping should be in by the end of the month. Terry went over it all with us and it is going to be pretty amazing. We're getting flower bed islands, a coy pond, a stone stairway up the hill and sod!

I'm pretty sure this guy was sent straight from Heaven!

Meet Our New Neighbors...

We have known for a few weeks that we were going to get a few new neighbors.
Yesterday afternoon, while JK and I were playing outside, we heard them starting to move in.
We didn't want to be nosey neighbors, but they were talking so loud we couldn't help but ease drop.
After much discussion, we decided to wait a few hours before we brought them a "Welcome To The Neighborhood" basket.
So as soon as Josie woke up from her nap, we hiked up the hill to introduce ourselves.
Everyone, meet our new neighbors...Yup! Goats!
Three, fuzzy, adorable, grass eating goats!
They are the so funny to watch! Josie loved them and was pretty sad when we had to pack it up to head out for church. We've already made a few visits today to say "Hello!"
And a slightly louder addition? Chickens!Our little girl? No way is she a city girl!All she needs are some overalls and a straw hat and she'll be set!
I can't wait for all the little kiddos to come over and see all the animals! We now have cows (and lots of baby cows right now!), horses, chickens, and goats all on our driveway! And we don't have to clean up after any of them!

Mr. Terry is out putting together the awesome swingset and playhouse right now. It's way bigger then it looked at the store!
And it came in about 3 million little pieces and no pictures!
Mr. Terry deserves a Sainthood for this one!

I'll post pictures as soon as they are done!

Babies Don't Keep

Song For a Fifth Child

by Ruth Hulbert Hamilton

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,

Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,

Hang out the washing, make up the bed,

Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,

Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due

Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew

And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo

But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo

Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?

Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow

But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

This poem has been making the rounds on the blogs and I find it simply divine.

I was just talking to a close friend about how I feel more busy now that I'm staying home then I was when I was out working.

This poem helps me remember how precious each day with my Josie Kat is.

And that while the dishes can wait until tomorrow

And the laundry may be knee deep,

Right now my baby's a baby,

And babies just don't keep.

Local Celebrity

Look who's famous in our small town!!

Makes me wish I would've dressed her a little cuter!

And for all you Georgians, I have two new finds that you MUST check out!

Andrew decided that he was going to be all manly with David and go golf. Turns out he is no Tiger Woods! Oh well, a little practice and maybe he can play with the big boys! I'm starting to think David is a scammer. Everytime he says he is "starting" a new hobby, he rocks at it!
Anyways, while Andrew was out "golfing", Josie and I did what we do best... Shopped!
Now shopping has taken on a new meaning now that our budget is a bit tighter. Shopping used to mean buying whatever caught our eye that was a reasonable price.
Now it pretty much is just window shopping.
But we did stumble into a little place called Wilson's Warehouse in Griffin.
Darlene buys Josie diapers there for about 1/4 of what they cost at the normal stores and since Josie is protesting potty training, we need some diapers.
I had been in the store once with Darlene, but I must not have paid much attention since I haven't been back. This place is a-m-a-z-i-n-g!!
Check out what we got...

Our total? $11!!!!

At Kroger, just the cereal and YoBaby Yogurt would have been close to $11!
It's all name brand stuff that would have cost us at least $30 at Walmart!
I had already done our grocery shopping for the week so this was all that I thought I could use right now. But you can bet your budgeted dollar that this will be my first stop next week!
It is basically a scratch and dent store for food and other house hold supplies.
ANd I personally have no issue with my normally $5 box of cereal that Andrew insists on eating being a little dented up. Especially if it means that it will only cost $1.49!
They get different stuff every week so you never know exactly what will be there, but the place is huge so you should have no problem marking at least a few things off your grocery list for way cheap!

Andrew is on his way up there right now to buy Josie her first swingset. It's a big wooden one and it is an unbelievable price!
So I already have Amy signed up to come with next week, who else is in?!?!

After that we moseied on in to Simply Southern Children's Boutique. I love to support small businesses run by mom's, but handmade dresses, cute as they are, are not in my budget. So I will support her by letting all you know about her and hope that some day I can own some of her super cute dresses.
And since pretty much all of my lady friends are, just was, or is trying to become a new mom I will be coming back to this shop.
Not to mention that it is inspiring to see women using their talents in such a bold way.
I loved the owner. We talked for a long time while Josie played in the children's area.
She ended up giving me 2 pairs of handmade PJ's for free!

(I have no idea why this is sideways!)
If I hadn't seen an ad for this shop in Scoops I never would have found it. It's on 6th Street right in Griffin if you want to check this one out!

We may not be Irish...

But we sure are lucky!And now for some much needed little leprechaun overload!
And here's a kiss, even if you're not Irish!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Manicures by Mae Mae

One of the perks of my mom's job as a flight attendant (or are you a stewardess now? I can't keep all the PC rules straight!) is that she gets layovers in Atlanta every now and then.
She had a 15 hour one on Sunday so Josie and I went and kidnapped her and held her captive in our house!
I love having my parents at my house.
There is something kind of odd about it though. I feel like I'm not old enough to own a house, or have a child for that matter, when they are around!
I made Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Shells (recipe at the bottom of the post!) that was super yummy and my mom brought me a bottle of wine!
Which I'm glad she did since our friends that used to always bring wine over are expecting Baby Mabes!
While I cooked, Josie and Mae Mae played; AKA - Josie drug my mom all over the house showing her everything!

And of course, what is a visit with Mae Mae without a manicure!?!? 15 hours is not nearly a long enough visit though. So hurry back Mae Mae!

Spinach Stuffed Shells

1 Bag Frozen Spinach (thawed and drained)
2 Eggs (lightly whipped)
1 Cup Ricotta Cheese (I use Cottage Cheese)
2 Cups Parm Cheese (divided)
1 Jar Spaghetti Sauce
12 Jumbo Shells (cooked) (and I used about 15)

Cook Jumbo Shells according to package. Mix spinach, eggs, ricotta cheese, and 1 1/2 cups parm cheese together. Scoop 2 Tablespoons of the cheese mixture into each shell and arrange in a baking dish. Cover with Spaghetti Sauce (I mixed some garlic and oregano into my sauce since we really like garlic!).

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Sprinkle remaining parm cheese on top and let it melt for a couple minutes.

This recipe took about 15 minutes to whip up, feed 4 people with some left over, and gave us a good helping of spinach!

Enjoy!

25 Months Old!

I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to stop counting her age in months now, but I'm just not ready for that, so you'll just have to do the math!

Our sweet Baby Boo is 25 months old now!

With all the vacationing and life change this past month, I didn't even get a chance to really enjoy her at this age! Or maybe I got to enjoy her more then ever?!?

Here are a few tidbits from her 25th Month!

• She is still a tiny peanut! Weighing in at 21.8 pounds and measuring right at 34 inches.
• While she is on the small side, her head measured in the top %!
• Playdoh is a part of her daily life! She will sit at her table and roll for about an hour before she moves on to something else. Her favorite creations: Boys (oh Lord help us!), snakes, and fish.
• She also loves to paint. Finger Paint, Watercolors, you name it. She is her Grandpa's Granddaughter all the way!
• She says a lot of stuff backwards; "Thank you, No" (No Thank You), Boxed Juice (Juice Box). I think it is adorable!
• Speaking of saying things, the kid doesn't stop saying things! She talks from the moment she wakes up until she falls asleep! Most people don't understand a lot of it, I can interpret pretty much all of it. And watch what you say around her, she has turned into a parrot!
• She has forgotten all her colors. I'm not really working on it with her though.
• She knows and can recognize A, B, and C. We are adding a letter every week. But she honestly isn't interested in it right now so I am not pushing it. There's plenty of time to learn colors, numbers, and letters!
• She is really athletic (unlike her mommy or daddy!). She jumps, twirls, and rolls constantly! She also can kick a ball right to a goal and throw directly into our hands!
• The question of the month: "Wasss Tha??" And she asks it about EVERYTHING repeatedly!
• She also wants to know "Whos Tha??" but she waits to ask that one until the person leaves!
• We love the way she says, "YEA" instead of "Yes". So cute!
• She is totally possessive of Andrew. She says he is "Her Man!" and "Her Daddy!" I tried to tell her that he was my man first, but she isn't buying it! Andrew tells her she has to share him with me, but I think he is secretly hoping she never outgrows this stage!
• She loves to put her babies in time out.
• She would live outside if I let her! Throwing rocks, digging weeds, driving her car. Oh, and playing with Everett's outside toys?!?! Heaven!
• We just went down to one nap a day and she's doing pretty good with it. I try to get her down by 1 and she'll sleep for about and hour and a half. She is more then ready for bed when 8 rolls around!
• She is also eating a little better. The doctor told me not to worry about it and just let her eat what she wants. I am partially following this. If I let her eat just what she wanted to I'd have to buy stock in M&M's!
• Speaking of M&M's, potty training is good then bad, good then bad. Sometimes she can't wait to sit on the potty, other times she screams bloody murder when we mention the dreaded potty. She has been going at least once a day on the toilet and she pooped in her potty again on Friday night! Tomorrow we start "Potty Training Boot Camp." If she doesn't get more interested after my master plan, we're going to lay off for a month.
• She can't lie. When she does something she's not supposed to she comes right up to us and shows us. I hope this lasts forever!
• Lastly, she has become quite the manipulator. If Mommy says no, she'll go ask Daddy (or Nanny or Amy or whoever else she thinks is most likely to give her what she wants). And when she finishes her reward M&M for trying to go potty, she will frantically yell "Potty!" like she has to go in an attempt to get another M&M. While it's cute, we are seriously working on getting rid of this behavior.

We love you baby girl! I can't wait to see who you become over the next month!