Dear Teacher~

My child is special to me…She came to me at just the right time and filled a void that only she could fill in my heart. She is not perfect…none of us are. But, she is mine and here on the first day of school I offer her to you for a huge part of our day, to be yours as well.

Yours is a big job and I am trusting you. Trusting you to lead my child, teach them truth. Yours is a high calling and one just under mine in authority and I am trusting you. Some days you will be tired, or hurt, or sad…and some days so will my child. Some days will be joy filled and full…you will spend them together.

My child will hopefully bring you joy as you teach, but on those days that she doesn’t, I hope you can see her thru my eyes and be tenderhearted. Your days are numbered together but you will hold a place in her heart forever for you are her Teacher.

Remember….my child is special to me and my prayer for you is that wehn the school year draws to an end she will be special to you as well…

Sincerely~ your students mom

today is my birthday…i feel good..the sun is shining and it is hot, hot like the birthdays i remember as a child…my brother and sister and i would wake up and turn on the water hose and spray each other all day…make arches and run thru it…waiting on my parents to get home from work…always cake, always ice cream and always presents and MOST always, baseball. i grew up in a baseball family so end of july is tournament time, we were usually on our way to one or at one on my big day, but looking back, i never really minded, it was always fun…a hotel at some far off place (like nashville!) a bus full of guys that seemed like 20 of my big brothers and my whole family…it was fun…i was born in the summer of hope 1969…just four days after man walked on the moon…maybe that is why i always looked for adventure, loved life, looked for “once in a lifetime opportunities” i am excited, it is hot today.

today i am still in my 30’s and it feels great.  i am loving it, i have had a great day…i have enjoyed my youth…a little toenail pampering always makes a girl feel better…when i wake up tomorrow i will be a different age but not today…today i am young, vibrant, cool..at least i think so

it is coming and it is big…i have known it was on the horizon for a few years now and just pushed it away from my mind, it is just another number i would tell myself, just another birthday, no big deal…but here it is breathing down my neck, it causes pause, it causes reflection….i have gone thru a series of emotions regarding this number and i have come to this conclusion, that it is not that i am so sad over being this age it is that 40 years have gone and they have been great…mostly i think of the last 10 years, they were the absolute best. my sweet Writer had a party for me on my 30th, i was so very sad…we had tried for several years to get pregnant and had no luck, i was feeling “old” (which is laughable to me now, i hope I feel that same way in 10 more years about this event in my life) anyway, I was turning 30 and the worst part, i was not a mother…my darling did the best he could to cheer me up…then the Maker gave us the biggest surprise…just a few four months later we were at the hospital waiting on the arrival of our oldest son…the next 10 years have flown by…four miracles…travels, awards….life…we have had a blast…that is what i realized has made me sad…that the last 10 years went by so fast….so as i am standing on the cusp of a new decade i want to slow it all down, soak it in…live in the moment…and like my oldest (and so wise son) told me the other day “mom, don’t worry about turning 40…now people will just respect you more” that made me laugh, but seriously…don’t ask me if i would choose youth or respect…i will just take what i can get!

when I was about 16 we got new neighbors across the street…when you are 16 and live in the country it is a big deal to get new neighbors especially when they have a daughter is only two years younger…we should have been friends, hanging out, talking about boys..but Lisa was not that kind of friend….she was about the size of a small child and her mom carried her everywhere…litterally carried her…see Lisa was not like me…she was not healthy, she had a severe form of CP and could not communicate (well, not like I understood…her mom had a way of knowing what she needed and thought) but her mom was always happy, always glad to see us…would walk the long rows of our corn in the garden, Lisa on her shoulder and talk…talk about everything and smile and she would pat Lisa on the back as she walked and swayed. Her mom enjoyed my mom, they would hang out and chat in the garden and Lisa just layed there, on her moms shoulder as I grew…I graduated high school and went to college, her mom would come over and talk to me when I came home on the weekends and ask about my life, always smiling, always interested and always Lisa on her shoulder. Over the years she watched as I went on with life, doing the things that Lisa should have been doing, falling in love, getting married, having children. I would bring my kids home to visit the grandparents and here her mom would come over…always excited to see the kids and always carrying Lisa…for Lisa it was if time stood still, her little body still the size of a child…Thru the smiles I had to imagine that her mom dreamed as she watched me…dreamed of what Lisa should have been doing…what it would be like if Lisa wasn’t on her shoulder, but instead was coming thru the door carrying a baby to see grandma….today my own momma called and said Lisa had died last night, peacefully on her bed, probably moments after being carried on her moms shoulder…her parents had chosen to keep her body at home last night and drove her to her final resting place on earth in their own car…she had never been away from them and they didn’t want her in a hearse by herself. Today as her Moms shoulders are suddenly lighter, I imagine they feel heavier than they have in years…their grief new. but today Praise God, Lisa is no longer that woman trapped in a little girls body on her moms shoulders, but a woman dancing, whole at the feet of Jesus…she was 37 and her life has just began…..

oh how I love to read…it really is one of the greatest joys, hopefully I am passing that on to the monsters…so far so good…why is it that is even better reading in the summer..this evening I sat in the redneck chair in the yard (if you live close to me you understand) and read while the kiddos played…I usually have a couple books going at once, right now what is occupying my mind is my new find…”It Happened in Italy” it is an awesome true story about how the Jewish people were treated kindly in camps in Italy during WWII it is an amazing book and I highly recommend it..by Elizabeth Bettina…so tell me…what are you reading???

as parents we are always getting stuff wrong…do I hear an amen out there? so when our kids do something and we know we got it right, we should celebrate…right?

Well…here are my boys…awesome men they will be one daythey are not only brothers but best friends…everyday after school they stand together in the car line waiting for me to pick them up…last week they pile in the car like every other day and the oldest says “mom, the kindergarten kids said we can’t be brothers because we don’t look anything alike” well…I wondered when this would happen and honestly I was surprised it took till the end of the school year…I said “well, what did you say” and the oldest said very non-challantly “I just said ‘well, you are all obviously just very ignorant about adoption’ ” I LOVED that answer. How cool is that! Then yesterday while we were all sitting at dinner having a typical LOUD dinner out with four children…the oldest looks over at me and said “mom, wouldn’t it be weird and sad if you had only HAD a baby and not adopted the three of us” WOW, that came out of nowhere..I looked over at the “biological” one and then looked at the three “adopted” ones and my heart melted…”Yes, I said, VERY sad and VERY weird” “we were all just meant to be together weren’t we”…”yeah” he said and shook his head smiling…the moment was over and the chaos continued..but it is OUR chaos and I love it. Adoption really is just THAT beautiful.

hands in the air people…do a little dance..who cares if anyone sees ya…can you feel it…ITS SUMMER BREAK!!! Kids are home, pool is calling…my favorite time of year…hope you have a blessed and wonderful summer basking in the SUN and the SON.

Hi bloggy world friends…well…it is almost May 21rst and I wanted to ask anyone who reads my blog to please lift up Steven, MaryBeth, Caleb, Julia, Will Franklin, Emily, Tanner, Shaoey and Stevie Joy (and the rest of the Chapman extended family and friends) in prayer today. It is hard to imagine that it has been a year since the terrible tragedy that took their precious Maria to heaven happened. I thought about and prayed for them yesterday as my own little beautiful asian baby graduated preschool…They have shown grace and pointed others to the Jesus that they love and cling to over the past year. I know that their hearts continue to break…body of Christ…lets lift them up. and I for one will hug my four babies tighter and know that one day I too will SEE Him.