The Real World of Z

I'm not going to shine-up this post and glamorize our new normal. I'm not going to sift through reams of photos and pick only the Gap-ad worthy ones (frankly there are not many to choose from this week). I promise not to highlight my 1 1/2 minute of having-it-all-together this week. I'm going to give it to you straight. Short and sweet style. I can sum up our week in one four letter word ( and I really really wish I had a photo for this, and you will be glad I don't) and that word is:
S•N•O•T
Ugh! Sticky, gooey, salty(tasted plenty...not mine...), greenish, cement encrusting, never ending SNOT.
That's the reality of toddlers in fall. Sure sure, there are people who are adept at harmonizing wipe snot/snap perfect photo of there little ones, but I know they are drowning in snot just as much as we are. I'm the whistle blower, I'm the mole. We parents of little ones, and in particular the parents of new-to-this-germy-America little ones, we are all DROWNING!! Dont be fooled! And there's little to be done. Sure, visions of taking the vacuum to the little one's nose and lungs are ever present, especially in the wee suffocating hours of the night. And why hasn't anyone invented a safe vacuum like this?? And don't tell me to use those worthless 'bulb syringes'! They are torture and produce nothing valuable at the end of the writhing struggle. I am a seasoned veteran I like to think, in this parenting thing. Zinny is our fourth child. I include in my inner circle many mothers of countless children, I have a plethora of wisdom and experience at my fingertips. This is the elusive Holy Grail. I hear what you're thinking, but an antibiotic is only for the bacterial cases, and honestly, the doctors office was where I am certain we picked this bug up(even though I am that crazy mama who slathers her daughters bare feet with anti bacterial gel after walking around the office bare foot.)
So please please, someone fix this epidemic so we can sleep, I mean so THEY can sleep...
Let's talk about something else...



This last week I took Zinny to meet my Korean friend. They have a new puppy "Snowball". Zinny's cuter!





Aunt Sarah sent Z bitty baby from American girl!



(this is not a Gap worthy outfit!!)




My yummy girl!



Mmm, orange (vitamin C for darn cold!!)
That's all for now, outta time!

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Popcorn & Malt Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! Today marked our very first Popcorn & Malt Thanksgiving Day. Most of the family has travelled to the east coast to spend Tday at my sister's house. In fact all of my siblings and their kids are all there. That leaves the Opitz's and Grandma & Grandpa here. Neither Jill or I was up to making the big dinner, and frankly, my kids have never been into all the food, so we proposed making popcorn and malts and watching a movie:







I provided the popcorn, Grandpa made the malts! What a great tradition! So relaxed and easy!

This is post-feast:



Some things that we did this week:
Played beauty shop with Aggie (that would be Neil's idea)


Celebrated Oscars birthday! This is his breakfast of choice served in bed (this year: Captain Crunch)


Epic Bionicle Battle



Here is Neil and Zinny playing guitar.



And after Zinny went down for her nap, it was Manny's turn for some carrier/bonding time.



Seriously, I am so very blessed and so very grateful for the life God has given me. What a gift it is. Neil is my most valuable treasure, I can't imagine life w/o him and will hopefully not have to ever. Each of my beautiful children bless me every day with their laughter and even their tears. This is what makes my life so rich and fascinating and many times exotic, like living in a foreign country! (I consider myself somewhat multi lingual, I can speak Pokemonese, Bioniclish, legoean and am just starting to use my new teenage girlese with some success)
I love it all, even the hard, smelly, exhausted, and so so very busy parts.


It is literally true, as the thankless say, that they have nothing to be thankful for. He who sits by the fire, thankless for the fire, is just as if he had no fire. Nothing is possessed save in appreciation, of which thankfulness is the indispensable ingredient. But a thankful heart hath a continual feast.” ~W.J. Cameron




And I am so very thankful Zinny is home at last!

Praise be to God for His blessings on our family. And may He richly bless you.


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Week in Review

As we keep our world small, for Zinny's sake, it becomes increasingly difficult to drum up a snazzy blog post. There are certain things I include for my family scattered all over the country, and there are things I include for all the amazing adoptive families I have met on this incredible journey. So this week we will again be visiting the Opitz's Small World.
Here we are cleaning up Gandpas driveway. This was a big trip! A gorgeous day! We did grocery shopping too, oh and this was all after Z had her echocardiogram. OK, I get Mother of the Year Award (yep, 4years running). I thought Z had been doing so well transition wise that in my delusional mind we could handle a Normal Opitz Day. All you seasoned adopters are shaking your heads, I know. We were 2 weeks home! What's wrong with me? Rookie! Sooo, we had a rough night and took a couple days to recover. But look at how cute my 2 girls are raking!




Here our girl is modeling a new gift outfit:



After learning our "Keep it Small, Duh" lesson, we stuck to the backyard for our big outings.






Yes, we harvested green peppers!

And seriously, is this Swiss chard absolutely gorgeous!?



I love Swiss chard, I grow it well! I sauté it with big hunks of garlic (from my garden...gotta brag when I can!) and olive oil. I ate the WHOLE thing for dinner, ok, Neil had his obligatory 2 bites, the kids, even Addie, scoffed, and I ate every last garlicky salty bite!( Keeping one's world small allows one to indulge in massive amounts of garlic! )



And I never thought I could pull off wearing hats...(please don't ruin it for me, a girl needs to dream)




This is Zinny calling up the (gated) stairs to Papa (she is smitten with him, the feeling is mutual!)



And he came running!


So in other news, and my time runs very very short... Dr said a)she is NOT allergic to wheat YIPPEE!!!! No more challenging gluten free diet!!!! We Opitz's eat tons of bready things!
And more importantly b)her heart looks good and Dr is optimistic that NO surgery will be necessary!!!!!!!!! Praise You Jesus! (I was very worried about this during our wait, and God sent me a dream and told me that this part would be OK. At the time the reports coming from Korea looked grim, they even had her on meds(!) but I just kept that dream in my mind, I just had to trust Him, and I did. All love and glory to Him!!!)

In my next post I want to keep it real. For those adoptive families reading this, I want to post the reality of our journey. I adore women who don't paint a rosy picture, who tell the hard gritty REAL parts of life. And that is my intention for my next post, no I am not this perfect, witty, gorgeous, put-together gal you all think I am (haha), I believe in showing my weaknesses and not perpetuating the 'magazine' standard of mothering. We all should allow our weaknesses to show, the reality and truth of our lives binds us, strengthens us.
(to my family: I know I know, you have had plenty of my weaknesses...haha)
And finally


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Why Zinnia is an Opitz

Zinnia has been with us for 2 weeks today! It has been such fun learning who she is, discovering her personality, her interests, listening to her little chitter chatter, laughing with her, crying with her, playing with her. We have discovered remarkable things about Zinny that prove she is without a doubt an Opitz. For instance, she and Neil have a birthmark that is the same shape and in the same place! She and I share the uncontainable talent for dancing to the radio. I mean we can GROOVE! Zinny and Addie share the passion for singing loudly! Oscar and Zinny both have a passion for drawing, and Finn and Zinny have the same mischievous sense if humor, and Zinny may well be a south paw like Finn!











Oscar is the best tentmaker !






Oh these orange shoes... Zinny work me up very very early one day last week with these shoes in her hand and her feet thrust toward me, demanding for them to be put on. The girl loves a good shoe:






And so does Mommy:






(yep, trying on swanky heels in sweat socks, trying to class up the joint)

And she loves a good handbag...but Addies lunch bag will do.






In other news, I'd like to brag about Addie. She finished an amazing round in the semi finals of mock trial (she even cried on the witness stand, winning a $10 bet and had the judge offering her a tissue!!) and then performed in the Homeschool production "Hello Broadway", taking a lead solo on the spur of the moment when a kid was out sick!






Addie I think you are so talented, courageous, smart, funny, so loving, and you have heaps of integrity and moxie!

This is my replacement blog. Much shorter, but better than nothing, which was very tempting for me, haha.
And now back to our regularly scheduled blog....

(please God let me not delete this one amen)

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Darnit!!!

Although that is not what I was REALLY saying... I had a long beautiful post, lots of photos, cute stories, aha moments, tears, laughter, star appearances (not really) and more. I worked hours on it. Yep, instead of post it, I deleted it. No saved copy, arrgghhh! Sorry.
I am currently trying to recreate something similar, but I used up my precious 'free' time this week, and am now behind in everything, so I am slow in getting it posted. So frustrated! Soon!
This should be my arm scripture (which I fully intend to get back to as soon as I can breathe...) ECCL 3:1 (i think) There is a time for everything under heaven... Ha! Sure doesn't fell like that when you have a baby, am I right?!

1 Week Update

Well, darling Zinny and I have been home one week. What a week! Of course it seems like 6 weeks. Getting to know Zinny has been such a beautiful journey so far. The first few nights home were filled with some intense grieving, both she and I. It is so so hard to watch your child scream out in pure and undistilled anguish at the powerlessness of her situation. Nothing is the same or even vaguely familiar. The sounds, the smells, the air, the size, the time, the sights, everything familiar gone. Where are the people she loves and who are these strange people who look weird? And sound weird and don't understand anything I say.

But during the days, things were going a bit better, she was letting her personality start to emerge, which is so funny! And mischievous.












Well, ONE of them is happy with this idea.

Each night has gotten better.
Tuesday was gong to be in the 70's and then the high for Wednesday was going to be 44. So we headed to Neale Woods, taking the nature walk I envisioned all summer taking with Zinny.




















Isn't life so lovely? Doesn't God's beautiful nature just take your breath away? Isn't His love all we need?

Last night Zinny slept through the night, what peace, what joy! Today was the best day so far. We went to meet Grandma and Grandpa and Great Grandma Juliet this morning. It was short but very sweet visit! I neglected to get a photo....next time.
This afternoon the boys went to Sam and Annie's (yay!) and Addie had a dress rehearsal, so Papa and Zinny and I were alone for several hours this afternoon/evening. We just played in the living room for a long time, till nap and dinner. And it happened.....Zinny gave us each the most sweet, gentle, pure kiss. It brought tears to my eyes. So beautiful, so longed for.

I learned this week that my sisters were trying to orchestrate a special homecoming for Zinny. Sarah in FL, and Lisa in MA made desperate calls to fly in huge bouquets of zinnias for her arrival. They knew my zinnia garden had perished with the late season, and they wanted to shower her with the beautiful summer blooms that are her namesake. There's not a zinnia to be found in the country! All but one, and she is so very loved by us all!



And to end this post, Finn said just now, as I write this,
"I think Zinny really likes me because I'm funny."
Finn, we ALL really like you because you're funny!









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