don't wake the sleeping bear

Have you ever tried waking up a bear from winter hibernation? yeah, me either. The closest I have come is waking Makenzie up in the morning. To put it in mild terms, waking her up earlier than 9am is like trying to get a mule to walk further than they want to. She is not a morning person in any way, except Christmas morning. Every other morning is a struggle. So much so that I end up doing everything, she gets in the shower and stands looking dazed. Everything she does is in super slow motion, I wonder if a cup of coffee would help her get going? Anyways, she goes to bed at 8pm so its not like she isn't getting enough sleep when I go in at 7:54am to wake her up. That's not a typo, 7:54am. I have a weird thing about times, if I ever have to pick you up there is a good chance I will pick you up not on the 5 min mark of any time. I will never pick you up at quarter after, 7:14, 8:19 those are more likely to be the times i say to you. Back to story. At 7:54 every morning I go in to wake her up and pulling teeth at the dentists office may actually be easier, never tried it but I have an image that it is. You have to stay right next to her reminding her what she is doing, "brush your teeth, keep moving the toothbrush" "put your shoes on, on the right foot... tie them" "eat your breakfast, you have to chew" Every single step has to be said about 5 times. It's borderline torturous, for both of us. We get to the bus stop and usually she begins to perk up, praise God! Her poor teacher would have her hands full if she had to continue with our morning routine. Why am I telling you all this? What had happened was...

Last night she went to bed, like any other night. This morning I went into her room at 7:54 and she was not there! Her bed was made, radio and light turned off, and her towel was hanging. I didn't panic because what stranger would steal her and then make the bed? I walked down the stairs though, slightly nervous as to what I might find her doing. Having flashbacks of photos my sister had sent of her sitting in the corner hiding, with 10 juice boxes and a jar of pickles. No crazy snacking going on in here this morning. There she was at the kitchen table completely dressed all the way to her jacket and teeth brushed, doing some extra homework?

She wanted me to have time to make her pancakes (with white chocolate chips) for breakfast. I told her I would make her whatever she wanted! Today was the the most stress free morning we have had in this house, ever. Her words on the way to the bus stop were "I would like to make this a regular habit, so I can have pancakes every morning"

I would love to only have to worry about just making pancakes every morning. I wonder what Monday morning will bring us? I could go for another stack of pancakes.

Disney "World of acceptance"

Where we live in the northeast is not what you would call the "mecca" of diversity. A christian singer Nicole C. Mullins has a song with lyrics "mama looks like coffee, daddy looks like cream, baby is a mocha drop American dream". That is what I consider my niece, a Mocha Drop American dream.

There are times though that Drew and I have experienced rudeness from strangers that DO NOT feel the same way we do about her, or us. The most surprising thing is they make it well known and say things. When did it become normal to state your opinion on something you know nothing about? We have had people from every race and color say things to us about our "child", the first few times I was literally aw struck that someone could actually say things like that out loud. I have opinions (and trust me I'm no saint when it comes to keeping them to myself) but some of these things left me utterly stunned without response.

I am not sure why, but the local Home Depot is where most of comments come from. Not the workers but the customers. Same with the local Chinese buffet (I'm pregnant and I love Chinese, don't judge). We get strange looks and comments from every color of the rainbow at least in our own hometown.

One lady at the Chinese Buffet said to me with Makenzie within earshot "Why don't you stick to your own kind, you have to go around stealing our men?" My initial response was (because I had food on the brain) "Your eating here too? I like Chinese food" It clicked as she gave me a strange look she was talking about My niece not the food. I then grabbed my niece, covered her ears and let the lady know a thing or two about her attitude. I know it was not at all a response of grace or kindness, but to think that in 2011 there are still people that feel this way was a disgrace.

Another time a lady walked straight up to me and Drew, looks at me and says "I hope he doesn't believe that "that's" (pointing to Makenzie) his!" JAW HIT FLOOR!!! what in the world? She is referring to a little girl as a "that"... hello, she is a little human being! And this lady has NO IDEA that Drew has devoted his entire life to this little girl, that he loves her. Oh, can we mention that little girl is living without her mom for an entire year to defend this country and the freedom to have any family she wants! There was/is so much I wanted to yell and explain to her. This time we just stood there jaws dropped. The worst is that the "that" heard the whole thing and is old enough to realize what was going on.

There are probably ten more examples I can share here, but I want to get into the something that has restored my hope in our situation. Disney World.

Disney World brought all stares and rude comments to a complete halt. Everyone in Disney World is part of the great rainbow we call the earth. There were so many "different" families, we were left alone. Not one side glance or comment. It was beautiful. There were people of every race, religion, and ability. We had one lady ask us when we adopted our little girl, we explained the whole story to her and her eyes were not filled with judgement they were filled with compassion. She then told us about some families in her church who were trying to adopt from other countries and the things they were going through. Families can come in any shape, size, and color and the Disney atmosphere embraces that, now the rest of the world needs to catch up.

My brother said it right... "wait a minute, lets not be judgmental! Isn't that Gods job?... life gets awfully difficult when we put each other down."

put your feet down

Driving on long trips (more than 5 minutes) with Makenzie is well, interesting. She likes to talk and she loves to put her feet up. I have to tell her at least 30 times, on a good day... "put your feet down." I think I was on time number 362 for the day, when Makenzie asked me "Why do I have to put my feet down?" I took my time in deciding how to respond, knowing that however I respond she will give it 3 minutes before she puts them right back up there. Several things ran through my my mind, from the "because I said so, I am the adult" to "It's unsafe" to "you are ruining my seats". Ruining my seats is not exactly believable, I drive a car that's 12 years old, the seats are beyond help.
I finally decided on "You know Makenzie I would prefer if you didn't put your feet on the seats because its unsafe, if we get in an accident you could be injured or killed"
Her response- "that wouldn't be so bad"
Me- "yes it would, if you something happened to you I would be very sad and so would your mom"
And would you believe the girl gives me an answer I was not expecting, nor asking for, big surprise in Makenzie world.
"Honestly, Aunt Mandy it wouldn't be that bad... I can just hang out with God until Grammy gets up there to heaven. The Man's been taking care of me since I got here, you think he's not gonna help me get friends up there until everyone else comes?"

Exactly how do you respond? You don't.

Time between conversation and the next feet on seat incident... how about she never put them down.