1. I swear, if it weren’t for Friday Quick Takes, I’d never get anything up on my blog. It’s so weird, I think of all kinds of things to write about but then I sit down in front of my computer and suddenly my mind is a blank. Which is a rather bad thing to happen especially if you dream of being a writer and your laptop is your primary vehicle for writing.
2. Speaking of writing… I haven’t done any. BUT! I’m reading ABOUT writing. Does that count for points? I took Jennifer’s advice and ordered Writing The Breakout Novel from Amazon. She was right, it’s very good. This coming from someone has had read exactly zero other books about writing. (Because I’m just that committed to my craft.) The author, Donald Maass, besides having a bonus “a” in his name is also a literary agent and knows of that which he speaks. His advice is good, but also very daunting. I’m highlighting and nodding my head as I read, thinking of all the great books I’ve read that fit his requirements for a breakout novel. (And then Self Doubt smacks me on the back of the head and says “And you think *YOU* could write such a book?”) (Luckily Self Doubt looks nothing like Mark Harmon, so I don’t listen to him – much.)
3. The other reason for my bloggity absence this week is that it’s the end of first quarter. Which shouldn’t matter given that I haven’t taken a class in approximately 16 years (EGADS, I AM OLD) … but parenting four kids who are all in school means I get the fun of helping K~ work on her giant quarterly project for history class that she put off until 2 days before it was due and then had a total meltdown when she realized it wasn’t as good as she wanted it to be and there was no time to improve it; and help R~ study for her big test in social studies where she had to memorize answers to questions like “What is a Democracy?” and “What is the Difference Between Rules And Laws?” ; and then I had to help Zeeb find a costume and a corresponding book for “Storybook Character Day” which is this year’s teacher’s way of letting the kids dress up for Halloween without actually calling it that. Ay yi yi, what a week it has been.
4. Also there was my brief stint as a Fundraiser. THANK YOU to my friends who stepped up and made donations to Bykota House on Tuesday as we feebly attempted to win the Daily Prize in the Giving Challenge. We came ever so close. Only about 400 donations behind the first place winner. 
But! We raised over $600 and that is no chump change when it comes to helping the kids in Cambodia and so I am very very thankful to everyone who donated. If by chance you wish you had donated but didn’t get around to it in time, don’t let that silly Daily Challenge deadline stop you… feel free to contribute right now! No pressure… just felt like it ought to be said. 
5. On top of all those things, today is a Significant Day around these parts. It’s exactly three years since we adopted Zeeb. We don’t really celebrate adoption days, for any number of reasons not the least of which is that birthdays stress me out so much I don’t need to add anymore personal holidays to our calendar. But also because it seems odd to make a huge celebration out of the day that Zeeb was taken from everything he’d ever known and the foster family he loved. It’s a special day, it was a big momentous day that I waited insanely long to see and I’ll never forget it. But mostly it’s an important day because of all the non-momentous days that have come after it.
6. I’d say I can’t believe it’s been three years, but that would be a lie. In many ways, that day seems like a lifetime ago. We’ve gone through a lot as a family since then. A lot of hard stuff, much of it not adoption-related, and yet probably greatly influenced by the adoption too, you know? I look back and I’m like “Dang, how did we get through all that?” (Answer? God’s grace alone. Pure and simple.) Not that it was all bad, but it was a pretty rough three years. But things are really good now. Not perfect, but really good. And I am so thankful.
7. I really wanted to make a video for Zeeb of his adoption day and our time in Vietnam. He has a photo book of all that, but he’s been asking to see video too. Unfortunately, I can’t find the videos. They’re on miniDV tapes and I’ve searched all over and I found tapes of Christmas 2004, and R playing soccer in first grade, and all kinds of other things (including very long school band concerts – why do I always feel the need to tape the ENTIRE concert? It’s boring watching it the first time, why would I think I’d want to watch the whole thing again?!)… but I can’t find the tape from Vietnam. I am bummed. And almost to the point of panicking. I’ll save panicked for after Hubby looks. Because I have a feeling he stashed the tape somewhere “safe”. BUT! The good news is, we did take some short videos with our camera. I’ve been getting all misty-eyed watching those. Even better news – I took one from behind, so I can share it with you! Check this out… Hubby and Zeeb reading a children’s Vietnamese-English dictionary book together just a few days after we adopted him:
What an amazing, sweet, adorable kid! And the Husband’s not bad either. LOL. Yep, I am blessed.
More Quick Takes Here.
Oh my word that video. To hear him speaking that perfect, tonal, Vietnamese (Zeeb, I mean. Sorry, hubby wasn’t cuttin’ it..:) breaks my heart just a little. It makes me think of how I won’t be hearing my son speak Vietnamese like that, most likely.
I didn’t know you when Zeeb came home, so I’m not sure how old he was, but he was doing a great job! Does he remember anything now?
Char,
It kind of breaks my heart a little too. He was just shy of 3 1/2 when we adopted him, and talking a ton – all Vietnamese, of course. He took a loooooong time to switch over to English, but now, at 6, he doesn’t remember any of it. Saddest part is when he asks *us* how to say something. Clearly from the video of Hubby you can see we’re not the best people to ask! But, I have hope that if he ever really wanted to relearn Vietnamese he might have a better chance of speaking with the proper accent because his brain was wired that way to begin with.
I love that video. Didn’t you post it when you were in Vietnam? Or shortly after you came home? It seems familiar to me. Zeeb has the cutest little voice.
I did! I wasn’t sure anyone would remember it!