Dodge Ball

Mark and I have our 2nd dodge ball practice tonight. I know…really we need to practice dodge ball, how hard can it be?!. Someone throws a ball at you and you move out of the way so you don’t get hit. Well I assure you it was much easier in grade school (which was the last time I played) when the balls are coming at you much slower and you are not as afraid of getting hurt.
Somehow as adults the balls seem harder, they come at you faster, and my body does not jump out of the way as easily as it did when I was a kid. Plus I am really sore the next day. I don’t remember being sore back in grade school!

Despite the injury potential we decided to join a dodge ball league with some of our friends. It’s a great opportunity to spend time with friends sans kids, and well act like kids ourselves. Tonight we are working on strategy and throwing and dodging drills. Can you believe there is an actual dodge ball association and 10 pages of rules! We have a lot to brush up on tonight!

Today – I am thankful that Mark fixed the toilet in my bathroom. Since it is also the guest bathroom, and we are having his Birthday Party Saturday night, I am thankful that our friends will not have to reach into the tank to flush it!

I am also thankful that I have much more personal time than I have had the last 4 years. I finished another book this morning, and it reminded me that when I was on the Leadership Team for Relay and Chairing the event that it would take a month or longer to read a book. Now I’m back to two or three books a month. It’s not just the reading either. It is being home with Mark in the evenings, and cooking dinner almost every night, going to the gym regularly, getting enough sleep, not missing out on plans with friends and family because of meetings. While I would never trade my Relay experience, and my intent was not to completely walk away from being part of the Leadership Team, I am thankful that it has worked out that way.

Adoption – I read an article that talked about the importance of keeping some aspects of the adoption private. The adoption and the circumstances surrounding why someone makes the decision not to parent are part of Sky’s personal history and as she gets older she may not be comfortable with everyone knowing why her birthparents chose adoption. This article was a good reminder that even if Mark and I are the perfect parents (we know we won’t be), and everything is easy and smooth, Sky may (ok will) have some issues to work through regarding being adopted, and it won’t help her if everyone around her knows every little detail of her personal history.

There are things in my life that I choose not to share and Sky has that same right.

So, please don’t be offended if Mark and I choose not to share every detail about her birth parents and the situation surrounding why they chose adoption. Some things will have to be left up to her to tell those she is close to when and if she is ready to do so.

Side note on Sky – it is just a nickname. Her name will be Shannon (Mark’s middle name) Kailey (a name Mark really likes) Yeatman. Her initials are going to be SKY, so we have been calling her Sky ever since we started the adoption process.