06/17/2013
After Buzz’s long nap on Friday afternoon, I took him and Ali for a swim at my parents’ house and then we ate pizza and my parents treated us an exhibit at Cheekwood Botanical Gardens called Night Lights by Bruce Munro. I got so many great photos of Buzz, but of course I can’t share them here.
Saturday morning our original plan for a visit with his mom had to change last minute because the splash park we were going to meet at was closed. Like Ali’s post-pigtails bed head?
I told her I needed to go to Target and we ended up meeting there and doing our shopping together. It felt like hanging out with a friend. She was so sweet and got Ali and Buzz matching outfits at Old Navy before we met.
I am so thankful for her kindness and patience, for how much she loves her son and for how hard she is fighting to get him back. He’s one blessed little dude to have his mama working so hard to get him back.
And then, of course, we went swimming again.
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Art, Art: God's creation, Art: modern design, Family, Family: Buzz, Family: Precious/Ali | Tagged: Ali, Art, buzz, Family, garden, grandma, grandpa, lights, swim, weekend | 
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Posted by mahlbrandt
06/06/2013
Jason and I took the kids to a craft fair at an out-of-use airport in our neighborhood on Saturday. It was cloudy and breezy which made it perfectly tolerable to hang outside in June. Ali’s best buddy Jaron was there with his parents. (He’s the little guy in the blue shirt…remember I’m not showing any pictures of Buzz’s face or sharing his real name online.) Ali and Jaron have the sweetest friendship. They get along really well and seriously, all it takes is a mention of a kiss and they’re smooching. They love each other.
I had to share the adorableness. But this post is not about that. Jaron’s daddy brought a new kite to try out. Saturday was the perfect kite flying day and an old runway was the perfect location. As the kite bit into the wind and launched up higher and higher toward the clouds, a curious thing happened. Buzz started running after it and jumping up to try to reach it. That kite had to have been at least 30 feet above him but he just kept running and jumping. Soon Ali was doing the same. She can’t jump but she stood on one foot and stretched her arms up.
What in the world?! Do you kids really think you can reach that kite?
I had an epiphany on that beautiful afternoon. They have no concept of their limitations.
Another example came a few days later. I was playing with the kids in the driveway when a jet flew over lower than usual. Buzz eagerly jumped and reached for it, flapping both arms. “Up!” he begged. I picked him up. “Jump!’ he cried as I held him up as high as I could and jumped toward the airplane while he swung his arms.
Darn. Maybe we’ll catch it next time, Buzz.
1 Comment | Family, Family: Buzz, Family: Extended Family and Friends, Family: Precious/Ali | Tagged: Ali, buzz, Family, friends, kiss, kites | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
06/05/2013
a two pizza family. We were pushing it with one pizza when it was just the three of us. Ali is hard to predict; sometimes she’s a one-slicer, sometimes she’s a three-slicer. Now with Buzz joining us, we are most definitely a two pizza family.
Also, I made a new family rule. You can mutilate your pizza as much as you want but you have to actually eat it before you get another piece. We have one kid who likes to eat holes in her pizza like swiss cheese and another kid who likes to eat all the cheese and toppings off the top.
If anyone is curious where Buzz’s foster care board payment goes, I can tell you that so far it has gone mostly to food. Some clothing, some other daily essentials (sippy cup, pull ups, lotions, etc.) and purchases for his room, but mostly to food.
2 Comments | Art, Art: eating out, Family, Family: Foster Parenting | Tagged: Family, pizza | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
05/23/2013
I woke up yesterday in a fog with my alarm clock and my back up alarm clock both going off. I (attempt to) get up at least an hour before everyone else so that I have time to shower, take the dog out, have a cup of tea, spend some time with the Lord…not necessarily in that order. However, because of sleeping through my alarms I was greeted bright and early by a little boy holding an empty sippy cup that he had just retrieved from the kitchen cabinet. I fumbled around and filled it up for him and told him a needed a few more minutes to rest. Five minutes later he returned to my doorway holding an oatmeal packet. Ok ok. I’m up. Jason is out on tour for a few days so it’s just me and the two kiddos. I managed to get them both up and ready and we got out of the house on time. I only forgot 5 things. I remembered 2 of the 5 before we were too far away so I swung back home for Buzz’s afternoon snack and the flowers I bought for his day care teacher.* (The other 3 things I forgot to do were: turn down the temperature on the thermostat, start the dishwasher and take a sweater to work… in case anyone cares.) My mom was watching Ali and texted me in the early afternoon that my baby girl had a fever of 103 in addition to her really snotty nose.
It was definitely an off day.
I realized as I was scrambling out of work early to pick up Buzz from day care so I could get home to my sick little girl that I have so much to be thankful for. Ali was in good hands—wonderful hands—with my mom who is not just an experience mom and grandma, but also a nurse. I’m thankful for Buzz’s day care—it’s been so good for all of us and I really appreciate that the state helps to provide this service for foster families. I’m thankful for my dad who picks me up every Wednesday and takes me out to lunch. I’m thankful for my husband who is encouraging and supportive even when we’re states apart for a few days. I’m thankful for an encouraging card that came in the mail from a friend I don’t see often enough. I’m thankful for the senior art director at my office who was willing to help me out of a sticky situation with a logo design at work—I really value her advice, skills and gracious encouragement. I’m thankful for my neighborhood MOMS club and for the sweet ladies who have been taking time out of their busy schedules to bring us meals three days a week. It has helped tremendously!
This morning, Ali and I took a short walk in the park after dropping Buzz off at day care. She was feeling pretty yucky but by the time we got home, she started acting like her usual spunky self again. I’m hoping it was just a short-lived virus and we’re at the end of it now. I’m really thankful that I am able to work at home a couple days a week so I could be home with my sweet little bug today.
*I bought flowers for Buzz’s day care teacher because… SHE DID HIS HAIR!!! I had jokingly asked her last week while she was fixing a little girl’s hair, “Oh! Can you do his hair too?” She said she would. On Monday she noticed that his hair hadn’t been braided over the weekend (as we had planned with two different appointments that didn’t work out.) She did it! I am over the moon grateful. We were at the point of 2-year-old vs. adult power struggle and he would not even let me touch it. I think she’s going to agree to style it for me on a regular basis and I’ll gladly pay her.
1 Comment | Art, Art: God's creation, Family, Family: Buzz, Family: Me, Family: Precious/Ali | Tagged: Ali, buzz, Family, kids, parenting, sick, toddlers | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
04/08/2013
I love to cry over a good adoption story. What can I say. I get adoption and it gets me. Every time. So I was thrilled to discover the Archibald Project. It’s produced by a couple that documents families’ adoption stories with video and photography. Great quality photos and videos to go along with great adoption stories? I’m there. One story in particular has really been wrecking me lately.
The Via family.
When I started watching their documentary, it sounded like many other adoption stories. They felt called to adoption and decided to add to their family of 5 by adopting a fourth child from Uganda. They were matched with a precious little girl named Chloe. But then their story takes an unusual twist.
Check out the video for yourself. You won’t be sorry.
Through a turn of events that I don’t know enough about to explain, the US government repeatedly denied Chloe access to come home to her new family in the United States. What would you do if your child was stranded somewhere…halfway across the world? To what great lengths would you go to get her, to bring her home? How hard would you fight? What would you be willing to sacrifice, to give up in order to have your whole family together?
The Vias were forced to ask themselves that question.
Their resolution: If they could not bring Chloe home, they would bring home to Chloe. They decided to pack up their lives in Raleigh, NC and move their family of 5 to Uganda so they could finally be together as a family of 6. Read their story and see lots of photos here.
This is the most beautiful picture of adoption I have ever seen. It blows all of the ill-minded pre-conceived notions about adoption out of the water. This was not about a family who just wanted a baby or a child. It was not about achieving a goal. It was not about a token piece for their family or making a statement about international adoption or transracial families. There was not one once of selfish motive. It was all about this: there once was a little girl who didn’t have a family. But she is an orphan no-more.
The Vias made it to Uganda and were united with Chloe. Go here to see the pictures of their airport send off, their travels across the globe and the beautiful moments their family of six was finally all together.
Oooh! And just posted: Adjusting to life in Jinja, Uganda.
(In case it’s not obvious, the video below is an advertisement. Click on the links above to watch and read this adoption story at The Archibald Project website.)
3 Comments | Faith, Family, Family: Adoption | Tagged: adoption, adoption story, Family, life change, sacrifice, uganda | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
03/31/2013
We started off our Easter Sunday early since Jason was playing in the band at church.
We enjoyed hearing the choir warm up.
Ali got the whole nursery to herself for a while. She loves the slide, of course.
Mmm…
Later, my parents and in-laws came over for Easter dinner. Grandpa let Ali decorate his face with stickers. What a good sport!
Oh, these two melt me!
Hey look, a good family photo! Thanks for taking this Mom! And thanks for putting shoes on, Jason!
And one outtake: Uh oh…someone has learned how to cheese for the camera.
Leave a Comment » | Faith, Family, Family: Extended Family and Friends, Family: Jason, Family: Me, Family: Precious/Ali | Tagged: church, easter, Family, holiday, resurrection sunday | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
02/20/2013
If you recall, last week I explained that the reason we were unexpectedly watching our friend’s son is because the friends who were planning to babysit him had to suddenly up and go to Kansas to pick up their new one month old baby boy. They had been matched with a birth mom and had less than 24 hours notice to decide and go. They filed their adoption papers on Valentine’s Day and are currently still waiting in Kansas for the Interstate Transfer documents to come back so they can leave the state. Here are a couple photos of their little sweetheart:
They’re still in need of funds for their adoption if you’re interested in helping out. More information on their blog site.
1 Comment | Family, Family: Adoption, Family: Extended Family and Friends | Tagged: adoption, baby, Family, friends, marcus | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
02/19/2013
I’m really thankful I had President’s Day off because I’ve had a very full weekend. It started on Tuesday night when we started watching our friend’s 15 month old son Jaron for 2 nights and 2 days. When he left to spend the weekend with his aunt and uncle, Jason was already gone to Orlando and I got hit with a cold. Ali and I had a couple low-key days and then Jason and Jaron came back on Sunday. Little J is heading home this morning with his parents. Yay for him, and for them…and for us! We joked about how it was a trial run with having 2 kids (since we’ll be reopening our home as foster parents soon) but, boy, we really did learn a lot.
I’ll be back soon to reflect on what I learned, as well as share a ton of cute pictures of these two little buddies. I also have a bunch of photos to share of our house that I was finally able to upload but haven’t edited yet. I need a little time to play catch-up and today I’m back to work. Bear with me. I’ll be back soon!
I leave you with this one picture for now. One of the few times we braved leaving the house with two kids was to go to Lowes to get mulch. They did awesome! Having two adults helped a lot! I pushed the car cart with the munchkins while Jason pushed the big flat cart with the mulch.
2 Comments | Family, Family: Extended Family and Friends | Tagged: catch up, Family, friends | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
02/13/2013
By the way, if you have a heart for adoption and would like to donate to this sweet family (mentioned in my previous post), they’re in major need of funds. They drove through the night until they needed to stop for rest and to wait out a snow storm in Missouri. They’re just a few hours away from picking up their baby boy!
Visit their blog for info about their family and to donate.
Leave a Comment » | Family, Family: Adoption, Family: Extended Family and Friends | Tagged: adoption, Family, friends | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
myMCMlife.com 