Today's the Day

Last night, the whole family packed up and went to Nashville for a Target trip. I know it doesn't sound like a big deal, but as Brian informed me, he hasn't been anywhere but school and church in weeks. Sad, isn't it? We're sponsoring this little guy from New Day Foster Home in China and we were Christmas shopping. I really wanted the kids to have a good time with it, and they did. Well, Camden did anyway. Rory pretty much pouted the whole time because she had to ride in the cart. (You have no idea how many times she asked me throughout the day to not ride in the cart at Target. On a busy night in Target, 3 year olds are required to ride in the cart in our family.) Part of our Christmas tradition is to sponsor a child or do something else for another family. It's important to us that our children know that Christmas is about a whole lot more than giving gifts. It's why we keep Christmas and presents for them very simple (and we're making an even more concerted effort this year), but that's a whole other blog post. This is the first time we've sponsored a child in an orphanage, and I've struggled with the right way to explain to them that Ethan lives in an orphanage and doesn't have a mommy and daddy. Because the reality is, they were that child at one point and while I know they'll recognize that fact eventually, I want to protect them. Camden seems to not really make the connection, but Rory already is so aware that she waited for us and that we were not always there for her. It's a fine line between explaining things on a developmentally age-appropriate level and still being honest about their adoptions.

On a lighter note, my camera is going to arrive today so I will be settling in at home and waiting for the doorbell to ring. Today is usually library story-time day, and I'm feeling slightly guilty about not taking Rory, but she's three and doesn't know it's Wednesday! If I'm not here to sign for it, they won't leave the camera, and we can't have that.

We survived the grocery shopping yesterday, and I now have more food in the house than ever before! There were lots of good deals on basics like butter, chicken broth, cheese, etc. so I did a little bit of stocking up. I also picked up an 18 pound turkey. I'm assuming that's big enough for Thanksgiving dinner!

I actually scrapped yesterday, but it's with a Dani kit that hasn't been released yet so I can't show it. Maybe I'll have pictures from my new camera to share tomorrow.