Little Things

441. A thought provoking message at church this morning
442. Seeing the length and intensity of Sunny's tantrums really decreasing, now that she has figured out that Daddy and Mommy do not appear to be provoked by tantrums, and that Mommy and Daddy can be trusted not to get angry and smack her around.
443. Understanding Sunday School teachers who didn't mind that Sunny came to church with no shoes today

For the record, she was given 10 minutes in which to put on her velcro strap shoes, with the consequence for disobedience being not getting to wear shoes to church. She spent 10 minutes whining and fussing about wanting her boots, which weren't an option because she has lost one of them. Therefore, she went to church in her socks, and she was good and mad about it. She had a tantrum in the car for about 10 minutes, and then it was done. When she was placed with us 6 months ago, her tantrums could last for 3 hours or longer! A 10-minute tantrum is huge progress!

444. Four kids playing together without a fuss for two hours while Sunny napped
445. A back yard filled with laughter and happy squeals as the kids wore their bathing suits and chased each other around with ice cubes.
446. Five kids who willingly and cheerfully pitched in to get our house whipped into shape before dinner
447. Five packed suitcases awaiting our Tuesday trip to go finalize this adoption!
448. Dinner with our friends Jay and Traci
449. Encouraging emails from a few of my closest friends who are helping me process my pre-adoption jitters
450. The very soft blanket that is on my bed right now. It makes going to be extremely pleasurable. I think I'll head that way now...