Painting

Ryan has gotten into painting lately, and today while he was painting he asked me to take his picture. I have been writing thank you cards, so he's painting pictures to send along with them.

Mommy's Little Helper

This little vaccuum is probably one of the best gifts Gramie ever gave us! Ryan has been a little obsessed with vaccuums for over two years now, and about two years ago Gramie bought him this real working vaccuum. It was a little hard for him to push then (though he tried!), but now he can push it easily. He often helps me by vaccuuming, and he loves it! Today he vaccuumed the kitchen, the dining room, the entry and part of the living room. I had so many other tasks today that I probably wouldn't have got to the vaccuuming myself, so it's so nice to have such a great helper!

Mr. Observant

It is no exaggeration to say that Ryan notices everything! From the time he was a couple weeks old, everyone would say to us, "He's so alert!" Being first-time parents, we had no idea what they were talking about. Isn't every baby just like this? After a while, we began to understand what they meant. He is just so interested in the world around him, and nothing escapes his notice.

Ever since we got our new van, Ryan would point out every Kia he saw. The funny thing is that he didn't recognize them so much their bodyshape as he did by what kind of taillights they had. He got a small toy van in his stocking for Christmas, and he said to Daddy, "This has taillights just like the Millers' van." Daddy asked me what kind of van the Millers have, and I told him it was a Dodge Caravan. Guess what kind of van his toy was? Yep, it's a replica of a Caravan!

Christmas Day

Because we're in the middle of packing and moving, we decided to wait and do our main Christmas celebration after we move to our new house in a couple weeks. Our gift to the children is a little big and bulky, so we wanted to wait till we move to put it together, and Gramie will be here in a few weeks too and we can celebrate with some other family.

We did give the kids their stockings, and Ryan got some fun things in his. He was particularly happy with his Buzz Lightyear "cell phone." We also let him open his gifts from Granpa and Grama Garner, and he got a huge Tonka dumptruck, among other books and things.

Little Helper

We moved Nonna's belongings from a storage facility into her new apartment on Friday, and Ryan was such a fabulous helper! Anything that he could wrap his arms around or push or drag, he willingly moved for us. Even after we hooked up the television, he still prefered to help us move things than to watch PBS Kids. He even started crying at one point late in the day because we didn't have anything small enough for him to help move (he was pretty tired by that time). It was an exhausting day, but he really made us proud with his helpful spirit.

Adoption Legislation

Would you really like to promote adoption and support adoptive families? Here's your chance! This year some adoption legislation was introduced that would make it financially easier to adopt. If you have adopted, are thinking of adopting, or are an adoption advocate, please write your representatives to urge them to vote for these bills! It's really easy. Just click on this link, locate your congressmen and senators (it's all automated and very easy), and then write your own letter or copy and paste the sample letter provided. The link also has a description of the legislation.

The current Adoption Tax Credit provides a tax credit (not a deduction!) to adoptive families of up $10,000 (actually it goes up slightly every year, but it's still less than $11,000) and allows you to carryover any unused portion for an additional five years. Our family has benefitted from the current tax credit, but only a little. As the law reads now, only adoptive families with a yearly tax liability of $1,667 or more will reap all the benefits from the credit. If your income is lower, hence your liability is lower, the carryover expires before you use up all the credit (seems counterintuitive to me), though every little bit helps. This new bill would not change anything for higher income earners, but would extend the same relief (maybe more) to those who need it most.

In our case we adopted two years in a row, so we in fact lose four years of our carryover since the five years run concurrently and not consecutively (we get six years instead of ten). We currently have $17,000+ of adoption tax credit to carryover for the next four tax years. I think our tax liability last year was less than $900, so unless my husband receives a substantial pay increase, there is no way we will even use up Ryan's tax credit and Abby's will remain wholly unused. If this new legislation is passed, we would be allowed to carryforward our tax credit until it is used up!

Also, they are proposing making it a refundable credit for people with lower incomes (I don't know if we would qualify or not), and that is the best possible fiscal news I can think of for people who are adopting! That means that at tax time adopting families would get an actual refund of up to $10,000 ($15,000 if the new bill is passed) of their adoption expenses instead of a credit against tax liability. Really fantastic!

One last note, this legislation is being proposed by Congressman Harold Ford Jr. of Tennessee. We lived in Memphis for six years, and he came into office while we were there (I didn't vote for him). I was frequently sending him emails to encourage him to vote pro-life only to be disappointed. I am so pleased to see he's doing something positive and pro-life! (For those of you who know my famous "Jesse Jackson Story," he was the congressman up on stage with Jesse who was running for his father's congress seat!)

Happy Tears

Though he doesn't yet understand all the implications, Ryan knows he was adopted. We've talked about it ever since he was born, and I made him a small album about his birth story including pictures of his birthfamily. He will ask periodically, "Mom, did you know I was adopted?" which always makes me smile.

This afternoon we were watching an episode of Little House on the Prairie. It was about a birthmother who had no choice but to leave her little girl at an orphanage. She was sad and very upset when she remembered back to that incident. Ryan wanted to know why she was sad, so I paused the show and tried to explain it to him by relating it to his own birthmother. I told him again about how his birthmother loved him very much and was so sad she couldn't raise him, but that because of that, Mommy and Daddy were very happy because we got to adopt him and raise him for our very own.

After another question about him growing in her tummy, Ryan pointed at me with a big smile and said, "I'm glad I'm with you!" Oh, that touched both Mommy and Daddy's heart so much! We even "cried happy tears," to quote one of our favorite adoption books!

Fun, Fun, Fun!

After our hike with Daddy's class, we took the kids to the Tillamook Creamery for some cheese and ice cream. I don't think Ryan could much closer to heaven on earth than eating ice cream and cheese while seeing how they make and package it all! He loved his chocolate ice cream, and he loved the cheese samples (just one more piece of white cheese, please!), but I think his favorite part was watching that huge factory at work making and packaging cheese. He asked a lot of questions and he even figured out a few things on his own.

Field Trip

Daddy had a field trip with his Life Sciences class on Friday, so we all went with him to the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology for a hike. While Daddy learned about the trees and wildlife, Ryan, Abby and I walked the trails, threw rocks in the estuary, and played on the boat dock. Ryan made a game out of destroying every mole (or gopher?) hill that he could find, and Abby quickly joined in.

Ryan is much more mechanically minded than wilderness minded, so when a truck with a boat trailer backed up to the dock and put a boat into the estuary, Ryan was thrilled! He asked a million questions about the whole process, and was very excited to tell Daddy all about it later. It was gorgeous weather, and despite the length of the hike (three hours), we all had a great time.

Stage Debut

Ryan had his first presentation last Wednesday. My Bible study, CBS, has a fabulous children's program, and Ryan LOVES to go every week! He can always tell me what he learned, which is rarely true for Sunday school. The adults take turns at helping out in the kids' classes, and ever since I helped out in Abby's class in October, Ryan has been dying for me to come to his class. Since we are moving, this will probably be our last week to attend, so I asked to be put in his class on Wednesday. I am so impressed with the teachers! They do a fantastic job. It's very clear that this is a ministry for them that they love.

Since this was the last week before Christmas break, all the children did a presentation for the parents (Daddies and other family members were invited as well). This was Ryan's first time up in front of a group of people, and though he didn't seem nervous, he really didn't "perform" very much. I think he was too distracted trying to find Daddy in the crowd. He did sing a little and do a few hand motions, but most of the time he just stood there. Even though neither of our darlings seem to be stage material, Mommy and Daddy still enjoyed watching them be part of this program.

After the program, Daddy came back to visit Ryan's class. They had a "Happy Birthday, Jesus" party, with cookies and a present for each child. Ryan was really happy to have his Daddy with him in class!

Smarty Pants

Every once in a while when Daddy is working on a Saturday, I take the kids to a coffee shop or donut shop for a muffin or donut for breakfast. Last Saturday we went to our local donut shop called Donut Day, and of course the kids loved it. While we were eating breakfast today, Ryan said he wanted to eat donuts every day. I told him it wasn't good for us to eat donuts every day, that it's just for a treat once in a while, blah, blah, blah. After I finished my little speech Ryan looked at me and said, "But the sign at the donut store says, "Every Day is a Donut Day!'" Of course I cracked up, but aside from being amused, I was amazed that he not only had read the sign, but he remembered it and knew what it meant. I guess I need to let the owner know that his advertising is working!

Tender Heart

In the day-to-day experience of life sometimes it's hard to see results from the training and discipline we give our children, but tonight I got a glimpse of a seed planted that is taking root in Ryan (maybe a little too much). Both Ryan and Abby spent several hours at a church event today while the parents were given a morning to do shopping or spend time together or whatever.

Apparently Ryan had been playing with some Hot Wheels during that time and had put one of them in his pocket and forgotten about it (he often puts his own cars in his pockets). Hours later after dinner Ryan got a panicked look on his face and said earnestly, "We have to go back to church NOW!" We asked him why and he produced the car saying it had been in his pocket all this time. We told him it was okay and we would take it back when we go to church tomorrow, but he insisted we had to do it NOW! We assured him it was not a big deal and we knew it was an accident. Still, he burst into tears!

Poor little guy. We did finally console him and convince him it wasn't stealing. I was a little alarmed to see how upset he was, but I was inwardly rejoicing that he immediately came to us with his problem and also glad that he knows stealing is wrong. Now if we can only teach him to relax a little in this journey called life!

Singing Christmas Tree

Daddy won tickets to go see The Singing Christmas Tree, and so we had a family outing last night. We couldn't take pictures at the event, but I took some pictures of the kids all dressed up for the show. Ryan looked very handsome! We had to leave about 10 minutes before the end of the show because the kids were getting pretty restless, but it was nice to have a free night of entertainment for the whole family. Daddy even found $10 on the way back to the car!

Way to Go, Ryan!

We have suspected for a while now that Ryan has completely stopped sucking his thumb. It's hard to know for sure because he only does it at night or naptime, but we have only seen it in his mouth once since we started encouraging him to stop. We stopped putting Band-Aids on after a couple of days because he said he didn't need them anymore, and this morning as Ryan and I were snuggling on the couch, I looked at his thumb. He used to have a huge callous on it, and I noticed that it's almost completely gone! It looks like Ryan will be picking out a new, green bicycle for his birthday. We thought it would take months for him to break this habit, but it hasn't even been three weeks yet. We're so proud of him!