Good Things

We had our last visit with our social worker yesterday. Our six month visit, a little late. It was a nice visit, but a little odd. Sort of like going to the doctor’s office when your child isn’t sick and doesn’t need any vaccinations or anything. Everything is so fine, so completely normal that it didn’t feel like we had anything to talk about. Which made me realize how far we’ve come in the last seven months. No more language barrier issues. No more crying in the night. No more concerns about whether Zeeb loves his foster family more than us and would get upset if he saw a picture of them. I know that our love is still growing every day and our bond will continue to deepen, but it really does feel like we are through the adjustment period and have moved on to being a happy family.

Zeeb went to school with me today to help out in R~ and A~’s classrooms. Usually he stays home with daddy but Hubby had a meeting today and I didn’t want to blow off my responsibilities at the last minute. Amazingly, it went pretty well. Zeeb was very comfortable in R~’s K/1 class and told me that every child who spoke to him was his friend. The only problem was that R~ was so distracted by her little brother that she was having a very hard time staying on task. But she was clearly proud to have him there, and that was cool. In A~’s class I grade papers and the kids are in and out going to recess, doing math lessons etc, so Zeeb had to entertain himself. After coloring a little he got bored so he packed up his backpack and told me he was ready to go. I told him sorry, I still had more work to do and set him up with his Leapster. A~’s teacher said he was adorable and such a character and then she said it amazed her how all of my kids, both bio and adopted, have such distinct personalities that are also so much like me. I think that’s the neatest compliment I’ve ever gotten. And I love that after only 7 months Zeeb is so clearly my kid.

Only 10 days of school left. Thank God. K~ needs this school year to be over like nobody’s business. It really is just stunning to me how mean sixth graders can be to one another. And we all know what I think of her teachers. Anyway, all of it is really wearing on K~ and I’ll be so glad to see this year of middle school end.

Okay, this is a weird item on my “Good Thing” list but it made me smile so… My latest post on VVAI was highlighted on Google Alerts (for the search category “Vietnam Adoption“). I know, it’s basically a random word-search but hey, I’ll take what I can get. And of course I think the more people who know about VVAI the better.

The last Good Thing on my list today is the dessert I’m making for our small group BBQ tonight:
Chocolate Peanut Buddy Bars

1 cup peanut butter
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter or margarine, softened
1-1/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
One package (2 cups) chocolate morsels, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large mixing bowl, beat peanut butter and butter until smooth, about 1 minute. Add sugar, eggs and vanilla extract; beat until creamy. Blend in flour and salt. Stir in 1 cup milk chocolate morsels. Spread in (ungreased) 13×9 inch baking pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes until edges begin to brown. Immediately sprinkle remaining morsels over cookie layer. Let stand 5 minutes or until morsels become shiny and soft. Spread morsels evenly over top. Cool completely. Cut into 1-1/2 bars. Makes 48 bars.

Very easy and very yummy.

Hope you all have a Good weekend!