Now I am ready for summer to begin!

Many have been asking for an update on Cameron or simply how things are going. My answer this week is "Now I am ready for summer to begin!" I have always loved September, the real "new year" where resolutions are easy to come by and crossing off to-do lists with brand new colored markers is always the most fun. But since becoming a mama, summer has moved to the top of my list of favorite seasons. Somewhere between hand-picked bouquets of dandylions by chubby toddler hands and sand in every crevice of bodies from head to toe, I have fallen in love with this season. Last year, Gretchen, Madelyn and I were beach bums. I was starting to get pretty darn good at packing us up and heading to the beach most days.

The beginning of this summer was FRANTIC. Adoption paperwork, arguing with my bank over crisp, new bills to take to China, 16 days away from my daughters in order to pick up my son- their brother. Stress. Cameron came home 2 months ago. Seems like yesterday and seems like a lifetime ago simultaneously.

Coming home is hard. Really hard. And the issues that you deal with while being jetlagged and sleep deprived are much more complicated than dealing with a newborn coming home from the hospital. Instead of nursing my newborn in a rocking chair, I am trying to get my toddler to not rock his head violently when he is trying to fall asleep. Instead of trying to figure out if my one month old will accept breastmilk from a bottle, I am trying to get my toddler who was home for a month to stop using a bottle to prepare him for his cleft palate surgery. Instead of trying to get big sister toddler to give more gentle hugs and kisses to the baby, I am trying to get all toddlers to stop hitting each other and use words. Except he doesn't have any. And won't. For a LONG time.

Last year, the memory-making moments flowed from one day to the next. This summer has been memorable for sure, but the photo opportunities of fun in the summer sun had to be thoughtfully planned out and acted upon. Cameron has been home for 8 weeks and has been to see 11 different specialists at Children's Hospital Boston. The administrators at the front desk who graciously stamp my parking tickets every visit recognize me and recognize Cameron.

In between trying to get a handle on everything that is going on with Cameron medically and prepping things for his upcoming palate repair and ear surgery, we managed to squeeze in some playground time, a few visits to the beach, and lots of time on the mechanical carousel at Market Basket which is my new favorite activity and only costs a quarter!





This week Facebook posts have been filled with adorable cherubs in backpacks waiting for school buses and first days of school. I love seeing the toothless grins proudly displaying their new outfits. But, I am really not ready for Fall yet and it's here nonetheless. Before I lament too long about my not enough beach time summer, I have to keep focused on one thing and one thing only- God's plan for our lives. His word says in Eccelesiastes 3 that "there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens."

After many years of waiting for our adoption, the final months were filled with prayers that went something like "make this happen in your perfect timing, Lord." God knew the day that Cameron would meet his forever family and He knew that the best time for that to happen for the Murrays would be the summer.

So now it's time for me to do what I have been working so hard to teach my children- make good choices. I can choose to be grumpy that I schlepped into Boston all summer to go to doctor appointments or I can be thankful that I have a son now and that I live in the country (and city) that has the best doctors in the world. I can choose to be sad that we never went to the wading pool once during the month of July because we had to wait for giardia stool tests to be negative 3 times, or I can be thankful that it is cleared up and we went a couple times in August. I can choose to have my prayers be "please God, let there be a parking space on the first or second floor of the garage so I don't have to wait for the annoyingly long elevator" or they can be "please God, heal the child whose Dad is weeping in the elevator and carrying a duffle bag with his clothes for another week while his son is in treatment at CHB."

Our blow-up kiddie pool is looking pretty dingy and sadly deflated leaning against the carport wall. I keep hoping that after this cold and rainy weather ends, it will be replaced with 80 degree days that will give me a reason to fill it back up again. If not, I think I will take a hayride and pick some apples or pumpkins with an adorable little boy who will finally have the holes in his palate fixed and won't have to cough and sneeze and have food dripping out of his nose when he eats because "there is a season for every activity under the heavens."