A Week With Friends

Over this past weekend, I have been grudgingly trekking down my very own Mount Everest.

I had a good reason.

I had spent the week before with some other fellow adoptive moms who have or are in the process of adopting children from Ind*a.

We stayed up way past curfew, ate dozens of cookies, skipped the carrots, and drank a few too many Diet Cokes. I don't even like Diet Coke.

We talked about adoption, adoption, and adoption, and nobody cared.

Because it's important to us.

We also talked about food.

Because we like food too.

Lest anyone think that we only talked about adoption and food, ate cookies, and drank aspartame, I should clarify... We also ate pizza.

I kid, I kid. We had a very well-rounded group of women. I hope to post pictures later.

Many of us had never met before, and by the end of the week, I felt like I had known them all for years.

The kids that were carted along on the weekend did pretty stinkin' good too. They stayed up into the middle of the night with us, and were as happy as clams.

There were two special little girls that graced us with their presence. Lauren and Munni. Lauren came home from Ind*a 6 months ago, and Munni came home just a short month ago. It was really good for my heart to meet these little girls, and to see that ...YES!... Ind*a adoptions actually do happen even though the passing months without any news sometimes makes it feel like it is never going to happen.

Lauren's Mommy's Blog: http://bringinglaurenhome.blogspot.com/

Munni's Mommy's Blog: http://mynepalibaby.blogspot.com/           (pictures of Munni if you scroll down)

These two little girls renewed the love and call of adoption in my spirit. These children are more than just pictures. They are real, precious souls. Now they have real love. They have real families to love them. It was awesome to see the girls with their mommy's, and observe how they craved being loved and nurtured like God designed. Praising God that He made it possible for these much-prayed-for little girls to come home to their families!

I hope everyone is doing well! This week my heart is with two special families who just lost very dear loved ones.  He gives, and takes away. Blessed be His name.

Standing Still in the Spinning

It has been fourteen months now. A whole fourteen months since we started waiting on baby girl to come home.

Wow.

Life just keeps moving on, and doesn't wait.

Life doesn't wait for families to be together... or children to be with their daddies and mommies.

I watch the world spin around me, and see babies being born, and families growing. Newborns growing into babies that are crawling, walking, and talking.

I wonder what I have missed in A's life in the last 14 months?

What does she think is funny?

What makes her smile?

What makes her cry?

Her favorite activity?

Does she want a daddy and mummy?

Is she happy?

Does her ayah(caregiver) get sad when she thinks of A going to a forever family?

We're waiting here for you, baby girl.

We are missing you big time.

XOXO,
Daddy and Mummy

I Married the Man of My Seams

 

The picture speaks for itself. If you need further clarification: Daddy is making Miss A a beanie hat. He only has a couple more rows before he is done. Isn't that sweet? He enjoys it, and is rather unashamed of his new found skill.

Last week we spent the week in Florida with Mr. Fly's parents at their condo. We were very happy to get away, and enjoy the gorgeous sunshine. Florida was unseasonably warm this January, and that was perfectly fine with us.

Mr. Fly took up crocheting one night before we left for Florida via YouTube tutorials. Once we got to Florida, his sister helped him with a few more basics, and he was quickly well on his way. 

Would you care to know the extent of my crochet skills? Okay. I worked on a single very basic chain all week, and could never manage to get any further. I think my "chain" is stuffed somewhere inside a small pocket in my backpack. It really is nothing more than a few knots in a mess of yarn. With that said, I guess I better start making a list of "Honey-knits", since it doesn't yet appear that I am going to be successful in this endeavor.

 If he keeps up this crochet thing, we may end up as the little old people that have mismatched crocheted afghans thrown all over clashing furniture alongside mismatched crocheted pillows.

We may have to get some mothballs to start preserving his work. 

Oh my, maybe I am getting ahead of myself.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

2012 Rundown

2012 was full.

Full of blessings from so many people who came alongside us on this journey. Full of God's goodness showering down on our family. Full of overflowing love for a little gal called, "A".

In January of last year, we were working on finishing our homestudy, and then for the next few months after that we prepared our dossier. We had the mad rush of 2012 at the beginning of May when we received word that our dossier need to be completed and at our agency's office by the end of that week. I get tears in my eyes thinking of that week, and God's faithfulness.

It was nuts, and we got everything done--barely.

In April, May, June, and July, we were collecting items for the fundraiser garage sale. I proved to Mr. Fly that I could be strong if I wanted to as we lifted all kinds of items in and out of a trailer and truck. I think we could start a new business venture in moving items... "A Husband, Wife, and a Truck".

July was the garage sale. The mega garage sale.

July was hot. I am not sure how to describe the garage sale prep other than it was the kind of hot where sweat is rolling down everyone's faces and legs.

Lots of good memories, and some funny ones too.

God made himself very evident to us through the garage sale time.

In August, our friends hosted the adoption cook-out dinner---a great evening with great people, and once again God provided.

At the end of August, we received our A*ticle 5, and started the waiting for our approval from  In*ia---which we are still waiting on.

In July, August, and September, we spent many hours filling out multiple grant applications, and some of our family, friends and elder got lots of letter writing experience through this as well as they graciously provided reference letters for Mr. Fly and I. THANK YOU!

In September, I went to an adoption parenting conference in Nashville. Mr. Fly had to work, but I was super glad I got to go, and soak up lots of information with some other couples and friends.

Later on in September, I held another garage sale at our house.

This fall we attended an adoption support group going through the Empowered to Connect book every Sunday night for about 11 weeks. It was a fun, fun group, and we learned a lot.

That is our year of adoption activities in a nutshell. I left out about a million things.

Oh, and we have also been attending some various sign language classes, but we really need to start cracking down on sign because we have much room for improvement.

We have seen God put people and organizations in our life to make this journey possible, and to also be    part of the journey with us as we wait.

Thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts to everyone who lifts "A" up in prayer, gave their time, thoughts, listening ear, those who volunteered for our garage sale and benefit dinner, and those who gave generous and sacrificial financial support to help bring "A" home... from the garage sale to the benefit dinner to checks in the mail. We are very blessed. Thank you to each of you are there for us, and care about our little girl. It means big stuff to us. We so appreciate each one of you, and we have quite the story to tell this special little girl when she comes home. We can't really convey our gratefulness to you in words, but please just know we are so thankful.

We have and are experiencing the body of Christ.

Prospective Adoptive Families: As far as grants, we would highly highly encourage you if you are adopting and could use financial assistance that you take the time and effort to apply for adoption grants. There are people out there who WANT to help you.
Please contact me if you want a list of grants that I would recommend, and I can help walk you through the process. We have been very blessed spiritually and financially by several grant agencies.

2012 went so quick. We hope 2013 goes that quick too if it means we get to see "A" sooner.

As for what we are doing now as we have faced a stall in the process...we wait, and pray for news.

I have made some awesome new friends who are also adopting from A's country, and we are able to stay in close touch in the long process. One of my friends posted last night about how long another friend had been waiting on their approval from In*ia, and I realized that I don't even know exactly long long we have been waiting now. So I counted. We are going on 6 months of wait, and in the beginning of the wait, we thought MAYBE we would have to wait a month. I don't really like to keep count...I guess I'm in denial that maybe we are one of "those" people who have to wait what seems like "forever" to bring their child into their family.  Although, believe me, we have not waited near as long as many others.

I need to start blogging about other things besides our adoption process because frankly, there is not much to say, and I am finding less and less humor to write about in the process.

We just want her home.

An encouraging verse to me this week:

Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 
***Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. 

I want to renew my mind with thoughts of His faithfulness, His goodness, His grace, and His perfect plan.

Blessings to all of you in the New Year.

A |BIG| Birthday Party for a |BIG| Girl

A couple weeks ago, we celebrated A's birthday.

At first, we weren't sure what to do to celebrate her life since she isn't home yet, but decided to go ahead and have a party in her honor. I am so glad we did. We took lots of pictures so we can show her someday how loved she was and is.

In typical God fashion, we received a rare picture update of A the morning of her birthday. Isn't that cool? I wish I could share the pictures with you all on here.

We would have really, really loved to hear news of our approval on her birthday, or even by Christmas, but we're very thankful that we were blessed with the pictures.

She is getting BIG. So tall, and losing that baby look. Still as adorable as ever.  

We had lots of fun at her birthday celebration, ate lots of pizza, and also ensured that all the kids were sent home on a sugar high by topping the evening off with cupcakes and ice cream.

It was so fun getting ready for her party. We celebrated in "Princess" style. I never thought I would  get into all the chintzy kid party stuff, but after being in Dollar Tree for a few minutes, I realized I could learn to like all the dime-a-dozen party decorations----if it makes her happy. 

 

We have all of her presents back in their packages, and put them in a tote for her when she gets home.

 

Party preparations...

Can someone tell me that their kitchen turns into this kind of disaster with simple baking? Pretty good chance that this is the reason I never baked much before I got married. Or maybe I was just lazy. Sorry, mom.

Have you ever used a hot glue gun when decorating a birthday cake? No? Then next time you should make a fake styrofoam cake.  I wasn't about to try to ice a "real" cake. What I love most about this "fake cake" is that we still have the cake sitting on top of our refrigerator, and it reminds me of A as I walk by it.

I am counting on celebrating her next birthday WITH HER.

Just Hanging Out

We are just hanging out here, and of course, still waiting. We're not totally sure which person we are waiting on exactly, but you can bet your boots if I knew, I would give them a friendly, "Hello, how can I help you?".

We have been staying busy joining in on the usual Christmas festivities, and normal life things like ...baby-sitting, working, eating, brushing teeth, etc. I actually cleaned part of my house last week too; yes, that is worth noting.

I am an all or nothing kind of person. If I have a project going on, our house gets the brunt of my preoccupation. But, by golly, when I decide to clean it, I will do it right---when I can't think of anything better to do. Oh, but heaven forbid that I put up our Christmas decorations if my house isn't clean. In fact, tonight, I will decorate the mantle after I finish cleaning the rest of the house. Because the house needs to be totally clean first. I know some of you get what I am saying. Lest a small percentage of you start thinking I keep my house meticulous, I dare you to come unannounced and walk across my kitchen floor barefoot, and try not to stick. I have given my mom instructions to keep her shoes on before; true story. 

Okay, so it's not always that bad. I wouldn't want you to think that I am THAT bad of a housekeeper. I just happen to have my moments. Often.

You know I am running out of things to talk about because I have been talking about Christmas decor and sticky floors for about three paragraphs.

We are really, really missing A this holiday season. We can't wait to have her here to celebrate with, and enjoy special moments together. In HIS time, we know.

When the time is right (after we get our approval), we are going to send this picture of us to A in one of her books we made for her. We are trying to get some more recent pictures together again--I am thinking A will see this picture and start comparing it with the ones we are sending her from last year of us, and get a kick out of how much we've aged since we've started this adoption journey. Har.

Last weekend, we celebrated Christmas with Mr. Fly's side of the family. It was nice and relaxing...

We received some super sweet gifts for A. We opened them on her behalf, but will keep them in their packaging until she comes home. We know that she has very few toys right now, so she will most likely be in awe with any kind of gift or toy. We have friends that adopted a son from her orphanage. At around the age of 7, their son did not know how to open a present when he joined their family, but he was such a happy child with what he had. A few months after he joined their family, this same sweet boy was asked via sign language (he has a hearing impairment), what gift he would like for his birthday?

He replied back to his father by signing that he wanted a picture of his adoptive family. {{pass the Kleenex, please}}

This is a good reminder for Mr. Fly and I that no "thing" or "toy" can replace the love the of a family who loves you, and wants you.

 --opening A's gifts.

---Mr. Fly opening another gift for A. He got a fancy new camo handkerchief in his stocking ---if you couldn't tell. He found alternative uses for it as a wanna-be motorcyclist, but decided it was a little itchy on the head. ::bald spots, perhaps::


















Please remember A's adoption process in your prayers, and pray that we receive a word of approval for us to be A's family very soon. The wait is getting long, and we really desire her to be with us so we can be her family, and show her how special and loved she is to her Daddy and Mommy. Aside from the obvious love we have for her, it is also very important for her to be home soon to receive the medical care she really needs.

Thank you so much.

If you are an Amazon shopper, we are now approved to be Amazon associates. Basically, this means we get a 4% kickback if you shop Amazon by coming to our blog first, and clicking their link on the blog homepage that takes you to the Amazon.com website. The 4% kickback will go towards adoption costs, and will also help us purchase therapy equipment and specialized educational tools for A. Anyway, so if you remember, maybe you can keep in mind to come to our blog first prior to shopping Amazon. :) We appreciate it--

A Little Chat and then a Good Cry Recipe

I came home from running errands tonight, and probably not to your surprise, little miss is on my mind. Like normal.

Thinking about her, and just feeling so thankful that A has grown in our hearts over the past year, and rocked our little world upside...no. Right side up.

Yes, I've noticed I talk mainly about A on this blog. This is kind of her small space in my life where she can be present...I haven't blogged much lately because I guess I've lacked writing inspiration in the wait. I'm a fair-weather blogger, you could say. Kind of a sore loser, huh?

It has officially been a year now since we started the "process". Last year on November 16, we were notified that A was still in need of a forever family.

A has been so good for me. So good for us...and she doesn't even know we've been rocked. What a beautiful person God is using to slowly open our eyes. ((clarification: I think the slow part is our fault.))

I'm so thankful that God brought her into our hearts, and we can't wait to love her to pieces. Her daddy loves her so much, and I have a big feeling she is going to like him pretty good too. I love that he has chosen her to be his daughter. He is a special kind of person who loves much, and has a heart full of goodness.  For instance, he has this little saying that you may hear if you hang around him long enough... "Give grace until you're blue in the face"-- Mr. Fly. I need to ask him what happens after my face turns blue; we haven't gotten to that part yet. I am thankful for him.

Sadly, I haven't always shown thankfulness for God's hand in our lives that has taken us on some roads that at times I selfishly think really hurt, but I have always been thankful for parts of those hurts that brought A into our life. She belongs. Not for a minute am I not thankful for her. She is very much wanted.

Next up: These comfortable and blingy girly shoes made their way into our house tonight. $2. Goodwill. Need I say more?

I also had a little fettish about how they had the "Native American Ind*an" look combined with the sparkly "South Asian Ind*an" look. :) They belonged.

The poem I tacked onto this post  is what I deem a "Good Cry Recipe", because it certainly has the potential to produce some healthy tears. It is written from the perspective of a child waiting for their forever family to find them.

"THE WAITING CHILD”
A Poem by Debbie Bodie

I saw you meet your child today
You kissed your baby joyfully
And as you walked away with her
I played pretend you’d chosen me.

I’m happy for the baby, yet
Inside I’m aching miserably
I want to plead as you go by,
“Does no-one want a child of three?”

I saw you meet your child today
In love with her before you met
And as I watched you take her out
I knew it wasn’t my turn yet.

I recognized you from last year!
I knew I’d seen your face before!
But you came for a second babe.
Does no-one want a child of four?

I saw you meet your child today
But this time there was something new
A nurse came in and took my hand
And then she gave my hand to you.

Can this be true? I’m almost six!
And there are infants here you see?
But then you kissed me and I knew
The child you chose this time was me.