PART 1: RAIN, RAIN, AND MORE RAIN OUR "POND" OUT FRONT
 My garden is sure growing, but some of it is taking a real beating!  Another pic of the front yard.  It has been raining in our area for 16 straight days. We've received more rain in a consecutive period than ever before for our area in history. We are on the verge of hitting our average ANNUAL rainfall total in the next couple of days. Over the last few years, Oklahoma has experienced great drought in the summertime, going tons of days without any moisture. Now, when we are used to 90s/100s and dry, we're in the 70s with no end in sight to the rain. Swimming pools are closed, lakes and rivers are out of their banks. All we hear on the news is about flooding, crazy people who risk driving into high water, and the forecast of more rain. Our yard is beginning to look like a pond. We're a little worried about our septic system. Some people's trees are even being uprooted and toppled over because the ground is so saturated. Today, Z asked me when it was going to stop raining. It was a good object lesson on Noah and the Ark. We tried to imagine how it must have been back then and were grateful that God will never flood the earth again. I know our sunny days will be coming soon. PART 2: GOTCHA DAY ?S Our first "Gotcha Day" is coming up soon. We were officially declared L and El's parent on the 4th of July. We didn't actually get them until July 14, that's the date on all of the paperwork. Therefore, I have some questions: 1. Is July 4 or July 14 our Gotcha Day? (We think July 4. ) 2. How do you/will you celebrate your Gotcha Day, especially the first one? I wanted to do it up big and thought it would be easy because it was a day everyone gets together with friends and family. However, the problem is...everyone gets together with friends and family. Any ideas? I know it will be a fun day no matter what. I know they will think the fireworks are for them. I did find out today that I think my parents might come down to help us celebrate! |
We celebrate the day we actually got our son in our arms as Gotcha Day. For our daughter, it will be the day we brought her home because we visited several times before she was really ours. For now, our tradition is to have a special family dinner. For some children, "Gotcha Day" isn't really a happy day and they tend to be miserable the whole day, not even knowing why. That's why I keep it low-key, with family only, so they'll never feel like they have to live up to any expectations. Gotcha day is a time to celebrate new life and a time to greive what is missed. You might want to keep this in mind over the years. If it seems like every 4th of July is miserable for the kids, you might want to switch to the later date so that every can enjoy Independance Day.
Happy Early Gotcha Day! (Just incase I forget.)