Hello all, if you are out there....a comment would go a long way in making me feel like this isn't some lunatic ramblings with no point.....whatever. I feel better doing it so, who cares if Harvey the Imaginary Rabbit is my only audience. Okay....so....

The CEO of my Adoption agency issued the following challenge, 7 days, 7 blog posts, 7 topics..

and to that I say CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

DAY 1:

1.     MY ACCOMPLISHMENTS

What did you accomplish today? An accomplishment can be as simple as picking up the house or as complex as finishing a big project!

Today, I made dinner for my daughter and me.  A steak dinner nonetheless. I am in the beginning of my 2nd week as a single mom (while my husband is at training in Arizona) and all i wanted to do today was work my hardest even though I only worked a 9 hour work day, give it my all check off a few things on my to do list at work, and make a nice steak dinner. My almost 2 year old ate most of my steak dinner, but that's okay, because it was good. It was healthy, it was PROTEIN! Do you know how hard it is to get a child to eat protein sometimes???? Ridiculously hard! I mean, who doesn't like steak? Well, my daughter likes steak. And peas. I got her to eat that too. Then she had cheese, apple, cereal, and cranberries and finished up with a Drumstick ice cream cone. She then proceeded to play for an hour, politely get into her night gown and within five seconds of holding her in a dark room she ASKED and pointed to go into her bed "Bed go".  I am woman hear me roar! I accomplished enough today. 

It feels really good to know that I accomplished enough. I never NEVER accomplish everything, but enough is oddly rewarding. It's enough for me to have a sound nights sleep without an anxiety attack about what I didn't accomplish. It's enough that I laid in bed and watch a movie that my husband would have NEVER watched with me. I did enough that I don't feel bad about not vacuuming the living room, or taking the trash out. I did enough. I even got a blog post drafted. So there!

You know, sometimes I think I don't focus on my accomplishments enough. Sometimes I focus so much on what I still want, or what I haven't accomplished, or what I will never accomplish that I totally forget that what I have done.

I am a lawyer. I survived 3 miserable years of law school with a class full of awful classmates and I passed the Bar the first time. Despite my Law School advisor telling me that I was likely to fail out cause I wasn't in the top half of my class.

I'm a good lawyer and a good person. You don't see those things so often. I still have a very strong moral code that despite my bosses attempts to beat out of me is still there, guiding me.

I'm a Mom. I didn't just have a roll in the hay one night to become a mom. Who knew there would be paperwork to be a Mom! There was paperwork,  home visits (Cleaning before hand always sucked!), a legal hearing, emotions so powerful they can make you scream, or laugh, or cry, or tear your hair out. I am a MOM, by far my best accomplishment. And she has survived for almost 2 years! I'm not the best mom in the world, but I'm pretty damn good. I have patience with her. I have never been patient in my life but with her, I have it. 

I have a nice home, it's not as clean as it could be, but it's certainly not filthy. I am a good daughter, granddaughter, sister. I am a good dog parent, not so much to the fish but he's still alive so it counts. I'm a wife. A pretty good wife at that. I have mad cooking skills and despite being a klutz, I still have a first aid kit that is MOSTLY intact. 

Some days I come home and I feel like I have spun my wheel but got no where. Okay, MOST days I come home feeling like that. But today, I feel like I got somewhere. I got to my pillow with a clear conscience and a peaceful mind. That is an amazing realization and an awesome feeling.  I can now go to sleep with nothing holding me back from my sweet dreams......

Crap, I forgot to take something out for dinner tomorrow night. Well, there goes that.

Good Luck

M.S. Simons

THE NEXT TOPICS....

2.     RISKS

Risks are things that might make us feel fearful, but we go ahead and do them anyway.  You become stronger when you realize you can handle fearful or risky situations without becoming overwhelmed.  A risk may include telling someone how you feel about them or calling the adoptive family you have an open adoption with.  Did you take any risks today? How did you feel when you took them?  How did things turn out?

3.     ARTICLES, ADS, CARTOONS

The media has a lot to do with the way we feel about our society and ourselves in general.  Did you see an article, a cartoon or an advertisement that had either a positive or negative impact on you today?  Describe this impact!

 4.     WRITE A LETTER TO YOUR CHILD

Write a letter to your child whether or not you have adopted/given birth.  Explain in this letter how you feel about your current situation-both the positives and the negatives- and what changes you would like to see occur – short time and long term.  Remember to read this letter sometime in the future as it will be a nice reference for you and you can measure how much you have changed and grown.  You may be able to one day share this letter with your child as well.

 5.     WRITE A LETTER TO THE BIRTH PARENT(S)/ADOPTIVE PARENT(S) 

Write a letter to your child’s birth/adoptive parents.  Either keep this letter private because this is a personal activity or after the activity if you feel it is appropriate, consider sharing it with who it was intended for.

6.     LIFE CHANGES 

In what way do you feel you have changed as a result of your experiences with birth and adoption? In what way do you feel like your life has changed? In what way do you feel like your relationships have changed? Do you feel these changes have affected you positively or negatively or both? Do you feel comfortable in your role?

7.     OPEN ADOPTION 

Are you content with the amount of open adoption contact you have? If not, what do you think you can do to change things?  Does adoption come up comfortably in conversations? Do you feel like family and friends accept your open relations?  If not, how have you handled this?  If you are parenting other children, do you feel like you’ve been able to explain open adoption to them?