Go easy on me... there is a lot going on in my head!

Okay, I am one who likes to take those tests that try to figure you out. I don't do it often but I happened across this one on brain dominance and after answering 20 short questions it spit out the following description of me which verifies that there is conflict in my noggin... just reading it made me tired (or maybe it is because it is almost midnight?) Anyway, I got a kick out of it... those that know me well- does it sound like me? What does it say about you?

Jen, you are one of those rare individuals who are perfectly "balanced" in both your hemispheric tendencies and your sensory learning preferences. However, there is both good news and bad news.

A problem with hemispheric balance is that you will tend to feel more conflict than someone who has a clearly established dominance. At times the conflict will be between what you feel and what you think but will also involve how you attack problems and how you perceive information. Details which will seem important to the right hemisphere will be discounted by the left and vice versa, which can present a hindrance to learning efficiently.

In the same vein, you may have a problem with organization. You might organize your time and/or space only to feel the need to reorganize five to ten weeks later.

On the positive side, you bring resources to problem-solving that others may not have. You can perceive the "big picture" and the essential details simultaneously and maintain the cognitive perspective required. You possess sufficient verbal skills to translate your intuition into a form which can be understood by others while still being able to access ideas and concepts which do not lend themselves to language.

Your balanced nature might lead you to second-guess yourself in artistic endeavors, losing some of the fluidity, spontaneity and creativity that otherwise would be yours.

With your balanced sensory styles, you process data alternately, at times visually and other times auditorially. This usage of separate memories may cause you to require more time to integrate information or re-access it. When presented with situations which force purely visual or purely auditory learning, increased anxiety is likely and your learning efficiency will decrease.

Your greatest benefit is that you can succeed in multiple fields due to the great plasticity and flexibility you possess.

I think this is reassuring news for me that I am not crazy- it is just that my perfect balance leads to mini battles in my head for dominance. As the owner of my head, I have to try to mediate these inner battles in addition to the ones that go on outside my head between real people. It is a busy life I lead!!!!

PS- COMMENTS: I have adjusted my comments so basically anyone on the planet can randomly leave a comment. Basically it is an invitation for random crazy people to say something anonymously... Actually, I know that I have a lot of family and some friends that don't have google accounts and don't want to, so I will try this for a bit to give them an opportunity to comment if they choose to. We will see how it goes!

Today's the day?

Albert is supposed to be taken to the orthopedic center today to receive his new arm. He will live there alone for about a month as he learns to use it. I pray that it works out that he gets to go there today and start this new chapter in his life...

I will keep you updated...

So So Tired...

Happy B-day Kman!!

Kman had a soccer tournament last weekend and a photo company caught some great shots so I thought I would share some pics of my little soccer stud!






Kman's team did awesome and he played particularly well. In one game as goalie all game, he didn't allow any goals in shutting the other team out and in a second game, he played goalie half and the field half and in the field he scored four goals in a game they won 5 to 1! They went on to the championship game but lost in sudden death in overtime. In case you are newer to my blog, last year I did a post on my thoughts of Kman playing goalie here, sharing the anxiety I silently deal with on the sideline! I am doing a little better with Kman playing goalie this year even though we are now playing club teams only and not rec teams like last year. Having a two year old running around and wanting to run on the field with her Dora ball helps keep me occupied!

Anywho, I love you my little man who is growing up much too fast! Thank you for being an awesome son and big brother to your two sisters and for always looking out for them. I am so proud of you! :-)
Love, Mom

PT: EZ come EZ go...

When Selina arrived here this summer, I knew she was behind developmentally. With medicals indicating she had central nervous system disorder, aphasia, weak legs, etc. Edited to add: I knew she did not have CNS or any of the things her medicals indicated. It just showed how far behind she was when she entered the home. I knew she would qualify for something though as she was definitely delayed. Being employed in the special education field, I knew the importance of getting her help as soon as possible as early intervention is so incredibly important.

I had Selina evaluated very soon after we arrived home. She basically has at least a 25% delay in all areas tested. As part of the evaluation, I requested a consult from a physical therapist as Selina learned to walk on such weak legs. I wanted to make sure that her walking was progressing as it should and the she bears weight on her legs appropriately and such. Also with my experience, motor development is the area that I don't know as much about so it was important to have this area looked at.

A physical therapist came out and evaluated Selina. She said at the time that she was borderline for qualifying but because of her situation, she decided that she would qualify her. She went over the areas that she wanted to target for goals. This included Selina doing the following: catching a ball, jumping and improving her balance on uneven surfaces.

Well a month later, the PT came for her first therapy session. She started working on the goals but as she did, she realized Selina could do each thing. I sat there saying to myself, "wow, yea, we worked on that too this month but I didn't think she could do it this well!"

So about 45 minutes into the session, the PT says, "Well, her motor skills are age appropriate now"

EZ come, EZ go. It looks like she will be seen one more time and then dismissed. The obstacle courses the kids made to work on jumping with her this month along with them playing ball with her almost daily, really went far.

Selina just amazes me every day. She has such a desire to interact with people and to learn. I see it with our family and friends as well as her classmates at school. It is fun and exciting to see a child that you give birth to achieve each milestone such as walking, first word, etc BUT... to see a child that was so disadvantaged but that is really a bright and capable child catch up from all they missed- it is truly incredible. The rate at which she is learning is astonishing. She still has services from a Speech Therapist and Developmental Specialist but she is making huge progress in these areas also.

Selina learns so much every single day- she has come so far since the day she arrived at the adoption center in January....


I just had to share this exciting news as I am so proud of her. She is such a determined and strong girl that I can't wait to see what her future holds and what other accomplishments she will make. All I know is that whatever it is, I am so grateful that she is our daughter and that I am so blessed to share in her journey...

Friendship Award

Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person; having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but to pour them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then, with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away.
Dinah Maria (Mulock) Craik (often attributed to George Eliot)

Laurel over at I'm Ghana Adopt gave me a friendship award on her blog. I love Laurel! I feel I have gotten to know Laurel better the last few months- and I wished she lived close by as I would love to hang out with her (especially now that I know she is a scrapper!:-))

I thought this was a fun award as it gives the opportunity to talk about friendship. I love and appreciate my friends so much. I couldn't get by without them. The instructions for this blogging award are to answer the following questions about friendship, before passing it along.

1. Do you have the same friends since childhood?
I still keep in touch with a handful of friends I have had over the years. I have remained in the same area which helps although several of those I keep in touch with have moved away. I got married much earlier than my closest friends (like at least a decade earlier) so we were always at different points in our lives. That made it fun though to live a little through them and their experiences and adventures! Some I don't talk to as often as I would like but once we connect again, it is like time never passed- which is one of the greatest gifts of a wonderful friendship.

2. What do you value most about your friends?
I value most my friends that share the same views of what friendship is and isn't. Some of my most hurtful experience over the years were things said to me or about me by people I considered close friends. While hard at the time, these experiences really helped me to understand women better and help me determine the kind of friend I want to have and be.
I think that is when I truely learned that a good friend is not necessarily someone that I am most compatible with but is someone that is the kind of friend I am most compatible with. If you view friendship very similarly, even though you may be different, there are less conflicts because you understand each other and treat each other the way you want to be treated.
It is interesting as I have many friends that are very different from me, that others can't understand how we can be friends. In reality, I really enjoy my friendships with these women as I appreciate our differences and love hearing their perspective on life.

3. Are your friends your sounding boards?
Definitely. I love the quote above as it is so true to me. Sometimes you just need someone to talk to and it is so comforting to have a friend who you can just talk to and know they will listen and gleam the most important parts. I talk a lot so statistically I have a high chance of saying something that can be taken the wrong way- my best friends know to just take the gyst of what I am saying! LOL

4. What is your favorite activity to share with your friends?
Hanging out no matter what we do. With how busy our lives our nothing is better than time with just the girls. I will do whatever to get that. It was such a big perk of doing the 3 Day Walk for the past two years. Just the girls and I got to have a slumber party for two evenings and as we liked to say, "We only had to walk 20 miles that day to get it!".

Other favorite activities include a scrapbook or movie night, lunch to celebrate a birthday, pedicures or even the more simple spontaneous things like enjoying a margarita or glass of wine on the driveway as the kids play, running to a local sale together, meeting up for a coffee or a friend that will just take a drive on a long errand so you don't have to go alone (or alone with your kids!)

Now ... I get to pass the award along to some of my blogging friends. These are women that from what I know about them from chatting or reading their blogs, would be a fabulous friend...

Chalene- okay, I know Chalene super well and would not have made it through the past year nearly as well as I have without her!

And now other women who I have come to know and love...
Robin, Kristin Heather A and Ginny

One of my Fall Break projects...

I learned how to do digital scrapbooking! Yea! I have done traditional scrapbooking for about 14 years not but had not tried digital scrapping.

Earlier this year, I bought a program and have not had the time to sit and figure it out. I always take a long time at first to figure out technical stuff.

So over break, I made the goal of getting myself set up and this is my first page so far... I am still playing with it some. I plan to do a book with digital pages for Selina from the time she went to the adoption center to the time she came home, documenting some of her history and showing pictures of her stay at the adoption center and her time there.

I have to say that digital scrapbooking is so easy to do because I don't have to bring out all my supplies and put them away, I just sit at the computer and work on it for five minutes or an hour- however long I have. That has been the hard part about doing the traditional scrapbooking with young kids. I can't bring out my stuff and leave it out as I don't have a separate place to work on it.

This was so much fun to do and allows me to do something I enjoy whenever I can catch a few minutes. So are there any other scrappers or digital scrappers out there????