Blom Family Annoucement

In honor of Orphan Sunday and National Adoption month- the Bloms have an announcement. We are officially adopting! This may not be a surprise for many of you, since I have wanted to adopt since before I even met Josh and I've spent years gathering information about different countries, programs, grants, etc. Adoption has been close to our hearts for awhile, and after some recent medical issues, it moved from a long-term goal to a bit shorter term.

We are excited for the process and preparing our home for a new child. I know that there will be obstacles and things might not always go as planned, which seems to be a theme around here lately, but we are excited to embark on this journey. With a lot of patience, prayer and love, God-willing, we will be adding to our family soon!

I am sure this will be the first of many posts about our journey. Stay tuned :)

We have a 4 year old!

We have a four year old! Well, as of tomorrow morning we will. Like I’ve said before, my “years” seem to begin and end with August, not January. J & I have a wedding anniversary coming up, A will be 4 tomorrow and before I know it I will be starting my 7^th year of teaching. All of my new beginnings seem to center around this time of year.

These years keep getting better and better and this one was no exception. I haven’t updated in a while, because to be honest, the Blom Bunch has just been having a wonderful time with everyday life. We have just been finding joy in the ordinary, everyday activities this summer! For our anniversary J & I took a much needed trip without the little one to Vegas. As much as I dreaded leaving her (like, I cried several times on the plane), we needed it for the sake of our marriage. We owed it to ourselves to make our marriage a priority. We loved it, A had a blast staying with my wonderful cousin and super-sweet aunt.

A has been growing and evolving so much. I love watching her little spirit develop and her grow into the little girl that she is becoming. She is definitely growing up. She still loves to cuddle, but has a strong independent streak (hmm...wonder where that came from)  now get called "Mom" more frequently than "Mama" or "Mommy".  She finished her first year of preschool and loved it! I cannot believe at this time next year she will be in Kindergarten. Does this ever slow down? I wish it would.

 She was a flowergirl recently in Uncle Joe’s wedding and of course, my fearless, outgoing girl had no problem going down the aisle and smiling at the crowd. Shocker – she loved the attention. Then, Little Miss danced the night away and was convinced the next day that she had to have a wedding. Disappointed when I told her she had to be older, her reply was, “Ok, so maybe when I am five I can get married. I’m going to marry Uncle Jay because he is a good dancer.” Hopefully I can convince her to stay my little girl for a little longer than that J

She is a little social butterfly and so far has enjoyed every activity that we have put her in. Well, almost everything. T-ball has been the exception for this girl. She literally ran off the field when she was playing 3^rd base and told me, “Can you hold my glove? I don’t really need it.” The attention is not there yet. We have been at the pool every day it is warm and she can swim short distances without her floatie. She still prefers to be slightly lazy and have it on, but it makes Mama feel better that she can swim if she has to. She loved soccer, which naturally delighted J, the soccer player. Her team was the Gold Gophers. Weird mascot and not very pretty colored uniform, but she didn’t seem to mind. She loved practicing dribbling and scored two goals her last game. Daddy was very proud (I was too, but soccer is just J’s thing more than mine).

Her favorite? Dance! We started lessons and I found a wonderful studio that I feel in love with. Teachers are great, very impressive choreography and technique is good. Her first recital was “Build Me Up Buttercup” and she did a great job! Afterwards she told me she’s ready to dance all by herself like the big girls! Her confidence made me laugh, but my heart got a little sad knowing that her senior recital will be here before I know it.

The best thing about this year for A is how her heart has grown. She continues to be caring about others and compassionate. A couple of months ago at church we had Compassion Sunday and talked/prayed about orphans. When I explained that an orphan was a child without a mommy and daddy, her response was priceless. “Well, I have a mommy and daddy. Why can’t you guys be their mommy and daddy too? I can share.” This, in combination to how seriously we are considering adoption, made me tear up. She said it like it was no big deal. Her little mind clearly knew what to do about that problem. Since then she has been praying for orphans occasionally, but the last couple of weeks she has really had them on her heart. This was her prayer today “Dear God, I thank you for this wonderful day that we had. I bless you to bless all the children who don’t have mommies and daddies. Keep them safe and make them your children and make them part of your family and keep them out of darkness. Amen.”

That was it. No other prayers for herself. Sweet girl has been spending all of her time in prayers like this. We have started doing devotionals with her and she’s working on memorizing A-Z Bible verses. I think we spend so much time when they are toddlers  wondering who they will become and I love being in the midst of this age where I can see talents and gifts and picture who she is becoming! I love to see how God is working to develop her gifts. These moments have me constantly remembering that she is His, not mine. I am just the blessed one who gets to be her mama.

And….that’s it. That is what the last months of A’s three years has had in store for her. Swimming, Dance, Soccer and concern for orphans. Cannot wait to see what this next year has in store for our family. 

You should write that down...

I know, this hasn't been updated in awhile. There isn't much new with my family, so I didn't think I needed to. Then I got all of these sweet Christmas cards in the mail with family updates and totally felt guilty that I didn't do one. So, here is my Christmas letter, via blog post :) 

I continue to love my job. Every day I get to work with some of my best friends and I have the best classes this year. I am taking some interventionist classes, which are great and I love trying out all the new things in my classroom.  We had a fabulous Christmas break together. J had two weeks off as well so we had lots of time together as a family! Which is particularly fantastic since it seems like we never seem him lately. This is his third year working at Caterpillar and he continues to have his woodworking business, Morton Woodworks. This year had brought great things for his business and holiday orders boomed! We are looking forward to seeing what 2015 brings for both of us. 

 A is loving preschool, her sitter, dance and tumbling! Tumbling and cheer is where she shines though. She got a Hawkeyes cheer outfit for Christmas and immediately stood J with one leg up and hit a pose. The girl know what she wants and she wants to cheer! I have never been one to be pushy with her, but I can see her light up when we go to the gym. And we all know she has the voice for it!  She watches the older girls with such intensity and the 4 year old coach has talked me about letting her join next year. So, that may be on the horizon for this little one! 

Since the beginning A has had quite the personality, but it seems that we've hit the peak of funny things she says. She makes up songs about everything and has become quite the story teller. I am constantly being told "You should write that down", so here it goes! I am sure I will continue adding to the list over the last couple months. 

Daddy: I just love cuddling with you.

A: I love....grapes

In church, talking about how our Bibles look different, but they are all the same. 

A: I have a Bible, but it's all about tiaras. 

9:30pm - she had been in bed for over an hour and J and I were sure she was sleeping.  Suddenly we hear- "Mommmm!!! Mom!! - Do birds eat worms?"

Picking up Aubrey from daycare: 

Sitter: Aubrey told me the family secret! 

Me: What secret? 

Sitter (whispering): She told me the big news.

Me: (whispering): What's the big news?

Sitter: She told me about the baby in your belly. 

Me: There's no baby in my belly.

Sitter: Oh, well I was confused because then she said it was brown. 

Me: What do you want Santa to bring you?

A: A brown baby. Like a real one, from your belly. 

Me: Oh, honey Santa can't bring that.

A: Ok, then I'll just take a cat named Sasha. 

Me: I don't think Santa can bring live gifts on his sled. 

A: Hmm...can I just have some new lipstick then? 

We also had A's first church Christmas program, in which she itched her bottom under her dress and when I tried to get her to stop she lifted her dress clear up to show me where it itched! Yikes. Then when I corrected her (as subtly as I could in front of the whole congregation) she covered her mouth, like Betty Boop and said "Oops". 

Now, for her preschool program. She did great. Singing loudly, paying attention. I was proud. Until they got out the bells...They clearly were supposed to be ringing them to accompany the song. About halfway through, I see Aubrey start glancing down at her dress. She does this two or three times and next thing I know....there they are, down the dress. Yup. that's my daughter, with the bells down her chest.

Barbies have taken over our house. They dance together and sing "Once Upon a Dream" A LOT. 

We also play "teacher", which consists of her reading a book and asking me questions. I love this particularly because I can tell exactly  what happens at preschool.

Her prayers are really sweet. On orphan Sunday we sat in what will hopefully one day be a nursery in the house and prayed, J and I explained that orphans are little boys and girls that don't have mommies or daddies. Her response? 

"Hey! You guys (pointing to J and I) are mommies and daddies. Maybe you can be their mommy and daddy. I can share you guys." 

Each stage is getting better and better! I continue to fall more in love with the person that she is becoming.