Busy, Busy, Busy

This month has been a little crazy for us. We've had a lot going on. It's all been good stuff, but I hate looking at my calendar and seeing too many things happening. I get a little stressed out when things just look so overwhelming...even though they are good things! As you know, we celebrated Lily's one year anniversary with us along with my mom's birthday. We also went to a Mercy Me concert with our friends Sean and Michele which was a fantastic night of worship! Last week was VBS at our church. The theme this year was "Go for the Gold", chosen as the Olympics are being held this year. The mission country was China, for obvious reasons. Our pastor's wife contacted me several weeks ago and asked if I would do a short presentation about our adoption experience. I was honored to be asked and while my presentation was only a few short minutes, a lot of time and thought went into it. Sometimes it's harder to prepare a shorter speech as you have to try to squeeze a lot of information into a little bit of time. Anyway, it went very well and I pray that we were able to be an encouragement for others to adopt. Let's see...Saturday Lily was invited to 3, count them, 3(!) birthday parties. We RSVP'd with a maybe to the 3rd party as we wanted to see how Lily was holding up. Well, we ended up making it to all 3 and she had a fantastic time! She is quite a trooper. Robert and I were exhausted, but Lily held up just fine! Tomorrow we are going to see James Taylor with our friends, James and Allison. We've been looking forward to that for a long time. We'll be getting home quite late, no earlier than midnight I'm sure, and then 4 hours later my best friend Jenny and her dad will be picking me up to go to the airport. Jenny and I will be heading out to Salt Lake City, Utah for the Stampin' Up convention. We are very excited and can't wait to see the new catalog! We'll be there for 4 days. 4 days away from Lily. I know she will be in good hands while I'm gone, but a mom can't help but worry! If you think about it, please pray for both Lily and I...that we will get through this long separation unscathed. I've had some Stampin' Up events and have been working on planning Lily's 2nd birthday party as well. We'll be having her party a little late this year. A week and a half after I come back from Utah, we will drive up to Oregon to visit family and we'll be there over her birthday. During that week and a half between trips I'll be doing all of the last minute planning as we will have her party 2 days after we get home from Oregon. We also had our final home study for Lily's post-placement this month. Mixed in with playdates, many visits with friends and family and the usual busyness of keeping a home, this month has been quite the marathon! I don't know how working moms manage. Mind you, I'm not complaining. Believe me, I've got nothing to complain about, but being this busy really helps me appreciate the down time and long for it even more. I don't want to be one of those people who is so busy there is no time to accept a spontaneous invitation, or to just rest and "be" with my family. Right now I feel like I am trying to learn to juggle, when all I really want to do is just roll one little ball around. Balance is something I am still working on and I'm sure I will find it eventually. Today was yet another reminder of how fast time flies as I went through Lily's clothes and got rid of many things Lily has already outgrown. Note to self: Slow down, relax and enjoy every precious moment.