Ok, ok, I get the hint

it's been awhile. but it's been a good while. the other night joy slept through the entire night - didn't wake up once. maple was exhausted from being at the kennel all weekend (she just barks non stop the entire time, doesn't even stop to eat) so she only woke me up once. isaac slept well. amy, as always, slept soundly. i actually got nearly 8 hours of sleep! amazing. that hasn't happened in months.

of course, i'm home now with a sick isaac - fever and coughs. but he's napping, joy is at the sitter's, and thus, i have time to blog. i think isaac will be fine.

we went to grandma and grandpa's house this weekend and joy is really starting to come out of her shell. she's letting grandma hold her. not for too long, but still, that's something. she's laughing more, trying to get into stuff more. and holds her own against big brother a bit more. and, they have more fun playing together - chasing up and down the hall way. trying to tackle the dog. joy isn't really talking much yet but she's a fine communicator. her grunt is more polysillabic now and rises and falls. so it almost sounds like she's talking.

i've been working on taxes and actually having fun. the adoption tax credit is a great thing. it's been somewhat of a trip down memory lane for me going through the reciepts of the last year or so and the process we had to go through to bring joy home. on top of that there are a new batch of folks heading to china to bring home girls from the same orphanage in yuanling that joy is from. we met online in a yahoo group. that adds to the memory lane trip. and then i get a couple emails. there was a young girl, pregnant, we had been praying for because she was considering abortion. we hadn't anything for several days and found out today that she went through with it. and then another email. fourteen year old girl in the same boat thinking the same thing. and i look at me boy, red cheeked from his fever, batman pj's practically standing on their own from use. and i find myself on this trip of bringing joy into our family and think of those young girls. those tiny lives they've been put charge over. and the pain, the grief, the worry. it makes me cry. this isn't what life is supposed to be like. it was designed to be more than we find it as now. and i feel bad, sorry, that this is so. it's a bitter sweet world we live in, no?

more sweet than bitter.