The last few days since finding out our big news have been great. Three days of bliss. I am most usually sitting or walking around with a big goofy grin on my face and making up hums about my baby boy. Or staring at his picture -- I've probably done that for eight or ten hours, give or take.
It has been wonderful to share the news in person, and to show his photo! Absolutely the best! And of course, everyone agrees with me that he is a total cutie pie! He just is! So if you are local, and want to see his picture, let's do it.
But I am also so happy to have this blog to keep in the loop those of you who have been praying and hoping and anticipating with us, but whom I haven't seen yet. Unfortunately, I can't post his photo up here, but once he is home, we can definitely do that.
We've also spent several hours in the basement going through our stuff and planning a big garage sale. We have been storing all sorts of baby clothes, toys, and equipment since Mario and Erik outgrew it in the anticipation of possibly needing it again, but with not knowing the age or sex or whether it would be one more child or two, we have been storing a lot a lot a lot of stuff that it turns out we aren't going to need for our new boy. So we are going to have a huge sale on Saturday July 21st, and if you are local, or know someone that is who needs baby stuff, come on by. We've got a crib, a million strollers, high chairs, one of those exersaucer things, a jumper, all sorts of boy clothes age 18 months and younger, board books, and tons of baby toys. Plus I am in one of those big purge moods, so we are also slimming down on a number of things, nonbaby-related, that we just aren't using and are taking up space and we might as well get rid of because who knows when we will ever get to again. On all this stuff, we'll give you a great deal, and it will help us with our travel expenses which we will really really appreciate.
Well it's time to run now and take advantage of the early morning "coolness" and get some biking in before swimming lessons. Man, I love summer!
Thank you again everyone that has sent well-wishes! It means so much to me, and I thank you tremendously for sharing in our joy.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Hurray!!! It's a boy!!!!!!!
We are so excited to say that we have accepted the referral of a 19 month old little boy!!
Yay!! Yay!! Yay!! Yay!! Yay!! Yay!! Yay!! Yay!! Yay!! Yay!! Yay!! Yay!! Yay!!
He is beautiful and perfect and wonderful and precious and we are so in love with him!!
It all went down on Thursday afternoon, two days ago. The boys and I had been to the zoo all day, having a great time. It started to get pretty hot in the afternoon, so we stopped off to get sno cones on the way home. We love sno cones!! We drove home, the boys still had some of theirs left, which happened to be cherry, so I carried the sno cones inside and set them down on the kitchen counter. Then I went out the front door to grab the mail out of the mail box, and in the 4.8 seconds that it took to do that, Erik had picked up his sno cone, taken it into the playroom, and dropped it all over the carpet in the playroom! Ugh! Bright red cherry sno cone splashed all over on berber carpet! So after a few choice grumbles, I grabbed a little scrub brush and a wash cloth and set to work trying to clean it up before it dried.
The phone rang.
I came so close to not answering it.
Seriously, seriously close to not answering it.
But for some reason I got up off my knees, walked into the kitchen, and picked it up.
It was Irina from our adoption agency.
Even though it is such a total rarity for her to call, the bells did not go off in my head at all that this could be THE CALL. I was still distracted with the carpet and all, so I chatted with her a bit before she finally said something like, "Is this a good time to talk?" "Oh sure," I said. "I'm just trying to clean red sno cone out of the carpet, (grumble, grumble, grumble)." Can you believe I was so fixated on that goofy carpet?!! So she laughed a little and said, "Can I ask you to sit down?"
Well at that point, the lights went on, the bells rang, and angels started singing, I started gasping and shrieking and laughing, and of course I sat down!
Somewhat coherently, I just started saying, "Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!!!"
She tells me she has a referral for us. A little boy!! She tells me his birthday: December 13, 2010!! And she asks if I want to hear more.
"YES!!!!" I shout.
We talk for a while longer, and she sends me a long email with lots of attachments, including a photo of the little guy. Oh my goodness, is he a cutie! I'm not able to post his picture, but take my word for it, he is a honey pie.
I called Jerry at work and tell him the big news! Then we told the boys! They were super excited too and wanted to go get their little brother right away!
Jerry and I talk to Irina more the next afternoon, Friday. We officially accepted the referral (yippee!!!!!!)and talked about next steps as well.
I am just totally on cloud nine with this little honey. I can't wait to see him! We don't know when our travel dates will be: maybe in a month, maybe less, maybe more. Right now, I am just so excited that we have our referral. Praise God!!!
Yay!! Yay!! Yay!! Yay!! Yay!! Yay!! Yay!! Yay!! Yay!! Yay!! Yay!! Yay!! Yay!!
He is beautiful and perfect and wonderful and precious and we are so in love with him!!
It all went down on Thursday afternoon, two days ago. The boys and I had been to the zoo all day, having a great time. It started to get pretty hot in the afternoon, so we stopped off to get sno cones on the way home. We love sno cones!! We drove home, the boys still had some of theirs left, which happened to be cherry, so I carried the sno cones inside and set them down on the kitchen counter. Then I went out the front door to grab the mail out of the mail box, and in the 4.8 seconds that it took to do that, Erik had picked up his sno cone, taken it into the playroom, and dropped it all over the carpet in the playroom! Ugh! Bright red cherry sno cone splashed all over on berber carpet! So after a few choice grumbles, I grabbed a little scrub brush and a wash cloth and set to work trying to clean it up before it dried.
The phone rang.
I came so close to not answering it.
Seriously, seriously close to not answering it.
But for some reason I got up off my knees, walked into the kitchen, and picked it up.
It was Irina from our adoption agency.
Even though it is such a total rarity for her to call, the bells did not go off in my head at all that this could be THE CALL. I was still distracted with the carpet and all, so I chatted with her a bit before she finally said something like, "Is this a good time to talk?" "Oh sure," I said. "I'm just trying to clean red sno cone out of the carpet, (grumble, grumble, grumble)." Can you believe I was so fixated on that goofy carpet?!! So she laughed a little and said, "Can I ask you to sit down?"
Well at that point, the lights went on, the bells rang, and angels started singing, I started gasping and shrieking and laughing, and of course I sat down!
Somewhat coherently, I just started saying, "Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!!!"
She tells me she has a referral for us. A little boy!! She tells me his birthday: December 13, 2010!! And she asks if I want to hear more.
"YES!!!!" I shout.
We talk for a while longer, and she sends me a long email with lots of attachments, including a photo of the little guy. Oh my goodness, is he a cutie! I'm not able to post his picture, but take my word for it, he is a honey pie.
I called Jerry at work and tell him the big news! Then we told the boys! They were super excited too and wanted to go get their little brother right away!
Jerry and I talk to Irina more the next afternoon, Friday. We officially accepted the referral (yippee!!!!!!)and talked about next steps as well.
I am just totally on cloud nine with this little honey. I can't wait to see him! We don't know when our travel dates will be: maybe in a month, maybe less, maybe more. Right now, I am just so excited that we have our referral. Praise God!!!
Sunday, July 01, 2012
Vigorous
It has been seriously hard to find time to write on this blog. With the boys being out of school for the summer (and all the fun that involves) and me taking two courses (and all the work that involves), there is much less time to be able to devote to writing. I am not complaining whatsoever -- I love having more time with the boys: going places with them, being more relaxed and kicking back at home, reading, doing crafts, and I also am enjoying both of my courses very much. But the long and short of it is that there is less free-time available to think through a post and then actually to write it.
Nothing new to share on the adoption front, not directly that is, but I did want to share a sweet story of God's faithfulness. As I mentioned before, I was on the team that hosted the most recent women's ACTS retreat at our parish. As part of the preparation period, we were each given a word. The leadership team had selected words from the Mass readings for the Sunday that our retreat would end. They put them in a bowl, prayed over them, and we each picked a word. When I have done this in the past, I have really felt that the Holy Spirit has spoken to be through the word that I chose, words such as "humility," "surrender," "tenderness," "patience," (I think I got that one twice actually!!). Words I really needed to pay attention to at that time and that have had special meaning for me. So this time I was really looking forward to picking my word! And what did I get? "Vigorous."
Huh?
Huh?
Like Miracle Gro, or something?
I really did not know what to think of that word.
Ok, I said to myself, I guess I'll be healthy during team formation!! I can lift things and move things around with all my vigorous strength! Maybe I'll be very productive at the tasks I am called to do. It's not a bad word. It's good to be vigorous! If given the choice, would I rather be vigorous or not, I can't think of any reason why I would not want to be vigorous. Ok then. Vigorous.
Just kinda....
Odd.
I just didn't feel like it had any special meaning for me, at least it didn't at the time that I selected it. Well, that's still ok, maybe something will come to me later. It will make sense at some point during team formation or at some point on the retreat. I took it to prayer at various points and then just let it go, satisfied that it would certainly come to me later.
At no point during team formation did I get any kind of epiphany about "vigorous." Formation was fine -- just no understanding of my word.
At no point during the retreat did I get any glimpse of an epiphany about "vigorous." The retreat was wonderful -- just no understanding of my word.
Nothing at all.
Until we got back to our parish. I was on schedule to be the cantor for the 11:00 Mass, which is the Mass that the team and retreatants and families all attend together. Normally, and I mean every Mass when I am the cantor or even in the choir, I will review the music about a week in advance and at various times during the week to prepare as well as I can. Just because of busyness of having the boys home, and my coursework, and preparing for the retreat, yada yada yada, I did not look at the music at all, and I mean at all, until twenty minutes before Mass was scheduled to begin. So I went in the back with our music director and pulled out the music. We looked at the processional hymn, the offertory hymn, the communion hymn, the recessional hymn, the various pieces of service music, and it is all familiar. Then we look at the psalm.
And when I got to the third verse, I just about lost it.
Here's the psalm I practiced real quick and then sang, solo, in front of the entire congregation.
Do you see "vigorous" in there?
Man oh man.
That God!
Only God could have done that.
Granted, I'm not Sarah or Elizabeth, but I am much more of an old mother than I am a young one. And even though my children (the ones in our home and the ones we anticipate) are not actually fruit of my own body, they are my fruit in every other way. Getting that word "vigorous" was such a beautiful wink from God that He will continue to be faithful to us as we grow our family in His sight. It felt so comforting and so confirming that we are on the right path pursuing number 3 and number 4, and that God will continue to be right with us.
I feel vigorous!!!
Nothing new to share on the adoption front, not directly that is, but I did want to share a sweet story of God's faithfulness. As I mentioned before, I was on the team that hosted the most recent women's ACTS retreat at our parish. As part of the preparation period, we were each given a word. The leadership team had selected words from the Mass readings for the Sunday that our retreat would end. They put them in a bowl, prayed over them, and we each picked a word. When I have done this in the past, I have really felt that the Holy Spirit has spoken to be through the word that I chose, words such as "humility," "surrender," "tenderness," "patience," (I think I got that one twice actually!!). Words I really needed to pay attention to at that time and that have had special meaning for me. So this time I was really looking forward to picking my word! And what did I get? "Vigorous."
Huh?
Huh?
Like Miracle Gro, or something?
I really did not know what to think of that word.
Ok, I said to myself, I guess I'll be healthy during team formation!! I can lift things and move things around with all my vigorous strength! Maybe I'll be very productive at the tasks I am called to do. It's not a bad word. It's good to be vigorous! If given the choice, would I rather be vigorous or not, I can't think of any reason why I would not want to be vigorous. Ok then. Vigorous.
Just kinda....
Odd.
I just didn't feel like it had any special meaning for me, at least it didn't at the time that I selected it. Well, that's still ok, maybe something will come to me later. It will make sense at some point during team formation or at some point on the retreat. I took it to prayer at various points and then just let it go, satisfied that it would certainly come to me later.
At no point during team formation did I get any kind of epiphany about "vigorous." Formation was fine -- just no understanding of my word.
At no point during the retreat did I get any glimpse of an epiphany about "vigorous." The retreat was wonderful -- just no understanding of my word.
Nothing at all.
Until we got back to our parish. I was on schedule to be the cantor for the 11:00 Mass, which is the Mass that the team and retreatants and families all attend together. Normally, and I mean every Mass when I am the cantor or even in the choir, I will review the music about a week in advance and at various times during the week to prepare as well as I can. Just because of busyness of having the boys home, and my coursework, and preparing for the retreat, yada yada yada, I did not look at the music at all, and I mean at all, until twenty minutes before Mass was scheduled to begin. So I went in the back with our music director and pulled out the music. We looked at the processional hymn, the offertory hymn, the communion hymn, the recessional hymn, the various pieces of service music, and it is all familiar. Then we look at the psalm.
And when I got to the third verse, I just about lost it.
Here's the psalm I practiced real quick and then sang, solo, in front of the entire congregation.
R. (cf. 2a) Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.
It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
to sing praise to your name, Most High,
To proclaim your kindness at dawn
and your faithfulness throughout the night.
R. Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.
The just one shall flourish like the palm tree,
like a cedar of Lebanon shall he grow.
They that are planted in the house of the LORD
shall flourish in the courts of our God.
R. Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.
They shall bear fruit even in old age;
vigorous and sturdy shall they be,
Declaring how just is the LORD,
my rock, in whom there is no wrong.
R. Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.
It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
to sing praise to your name, Most High,
To proclaim your kindness at dawn
and your faithfulness throughout the night.
R. Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.
The just one shall flourish like the palm tree,
like a cedar of Lebanon shall he grow.
They that are planted in the house of the LORD
shall flourish in the courts of our God.
R. Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.
They shall bear fruit even in old age;
vigorous and sturdy shall they be,
Declaring how just is the LORD,
my rock, in whom there is no wrong.
R. Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.
Do you see "vigorous" in there?
Man oh man.
That God!
Only God could have done that.
Granted, I'm not Sarah or Elizabeth, but I am much more of an old mother than I am a young one. And even though my children (the ones in our home and the ones we anticipate) are not actually fruit of my own body, they are my fruit in every other way. Getting that word "vigorous" was such a beautiful wink from God that He will continue to be faithful to us as we grow our family in His sight. It felt so comforting and so confirming that we are on the right path pursuing number 3 and number 4, and that God will continue to be right with us.
I feel vigorous!!!
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Number Three!!
We got an update from our agency this afternoon -- we are at number 3 on the wait list!!!!
We are seriously close to the top of the list!
I haven't heard a confirmation on when the next committee meeting will be, but right now, I am just flying high -- so excited to be number 3!!!
We are seriously close to the top of the list!
I haven't heard a confirmation on when the next committee meeting will be, but right now, I am just flying high -- so excited to be number 3!!!
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Our God is awesome!!
What an incredible week we had at Vacation Bible School! I think I am still on a high from it! It was an excellent time of Bible stories, games, crafts, snacks, and of course song and dance. I don't know who had more fun: me or the kids. Seriously, I loved it.
Our theme was Babylon: Daniel's Courage in Captivity. We studied what Daniel and the other Israelites that were carted off to Babylon went through: different place, different language, different food, different everything. But: when things change, or when you are afraid, or when you are lonely, etc., God is always with you. It was a great lesson for the exiles, and it was a great lesson for the kids to remember. No matter what, God is always with them.
The music was outstanding. The songs were great, and really complemented the lessons all week. I had some very dear teenage girls to assist me, and we had a great time teaching the kids the songs and dances. I had the music running through my head all week, and in fact it is still there. All the songs were wonderful, and those kids rocked the house singing Amazing Grace, Our God is an Awesome God, and all the new ones too. I was really amazed at how into it the kids were: the little ones definitely but even the older boys. It really brought a joy to my heart seeing them belting out a tune and doing the little moves. So totally adorable.
The tune that is especially in my head, and the one that I think was the predominant favorite for everyone, was Stand Firm. The lyrics were so great: "Stand firm when life changes, stand firm through the ups and downs, stand firm for you know that God is in control. The storms of life may push and pull, but we are standing on the Rock that never rolls." Another camp favorite: God is Watching Over You: "When you're jumping, jumping up and down, when you're spinning, spinning all around, God is seeing everything you do, 'Cause He is watching, watching over you. God is watching, watching over you, 24/7 watching over you. Your life is in His hands, He's got great big plans, 'Cause He's watching over you." My prayer for all those little kiddos, and the big ones too, that they would always remember that: no matter what: God is in control, and He is watching over us with tender care.
As we get closer to the top of the list, and hopefully closer to receiving our referral, is it comforting having the reminder that God is so totally in charge of everything. Nothing, not even the smallest detail, escapes His notice. That's the awesome God that we have!!
Our theme was Babylon: Daniel's Courage in Captivity. We studied what Daniel and the other Israelites that were carted off to Babylon went through: different place, different language, different food, different everything. But: when things change, or when you are afraid, or when you are lonely, etc., God is always with you. It was a great lesson for the exiles, and it was a great lesson for the kids to remember. No matter what, God is always with them.
The music was outstanding. The songs were great, and really complemented the lessons all week. I had some very dear teenage girls to assist me, and we had a great time teaching the kids the songs and dances. I had the music running through my head all week, and in fact it is still there. All the songs were wonderful, and those kids rocked the house singing Amazing Grace, Our God is an Awesome God, and all the new ones too. I was really amazed at how into it the kids were: the little ones definitely but even the older boys. It really brought a joy to my heart seeing them belting out a tune and doing the little moves. So totally adorable.
The tune that is especially in my head, and the one that I think was the predominant favorite for everyone, was Stand Firm. The lyrics were so great: "Stand firm when life changes, stand firm through the ups and downs, stand firm for you know that God is in control. The storms of life may push and pull, but we are standing on the Rock that never rolls." Another camp favorite: God is Watching Over You: "When you're jumping, jumping up and down, when you're spinning, spinning all around, God is seeing everything you do, 'Cause He is watching, watching over you. God is watching, watching over you, 24/7 watching over you. Your life is in His hands, He's got great big plans, 'Cause He's watching over you." My prayer for all those little kiddos, and the big ones too, that they would always remember that: no matter what: God is in control, and He is watching over us with tender care.
As we get closer to the top of the list, and hopefully closer to receiving our referral, is it comforting having the reminder that God is so totally in charge of everything. Nothing, not even the smallest detail, escapes His notice. That's the awesome God that we have!!
Friday, June 01, 2012
We've GOT to be close now!
I learned yesterday that the committee at IHNFA met last Friday May 25th (yay!!!) and made I think seven referrals! I don't know any of the details as to whether they were boys or girls or what ages the children were or if any of them were siblings or if any had special needs or anything else (though I think that about covers all the options). But wow: seven referrals!! The procedure as I understand it is that the wait list is updated after all the families have accepted their referrals, which is probably in another week from now. But holy cow: we have GOT to be close now! Best case scenario is that we will be #1 on the wait list at that point (worse case scenario is that we won't move at all -- don't even want to think about that! Not sure how we would even calculate reasonable worst case scenario [yes, there really is such a thing as reasonable worst case scenario!] so I won't worry about that either!) It would be amazing to be #1 on the list, but even if we are something like 2 or 3 or 4 or 5, we are seriously close to the top, and it is quite possible that we could receive our referral at the next committee, which is absolutely incredible to think about. Of course, it may not happen: all the children available at that point could be outside our parameters, but it is way possible that we could be one of the lucky ones!! So, May brought some wonderful news, even if it didn't bring the best possible news for our family.
Oh, by the way, it doesn't look like we will be making any change to our parameters at this point, like I had referenced in my last post. We were considering increasing the age parameter a little bit, but it was recommended to us to just sit tight, since we are so close to the top, and we don't want to do anything that that would slow down a referral. Like I said, I felt like it was in God's hands whether we made the change or not, and I am comfortable leaving things as they are and would have been comfortable making the change too.
So hopefully we will hear our big news from the next committee meeting, hopefully in June. I tell you: it is SO much easier in this wait now that school is out. My days are completely full with swimming and reading and biking and scootering and all the other fun summer stuff. And to sweeten the deal even more, next week is my favorite week of the whole summer: Vacation Bible School!! I really love it. I am the music lady again this year, and the songs are great. I am really looking forward to doing them with the kids. Our theme is Daniel: Captivity in Babylon. It is our first time doing an historical VBS, and it has been so much fun so far: learning the songs and their motions and decorating the school gym to look like ancient Babylon. It is amazing what you can do with a bunch of cardboard boxes, crepe paper, paint, and a bunch of duct tape! I'm going to wear an outfit that I got in Morocco ages ago, and even though Morocco isn't exactly ancient Babylon, I have a feeling none of the kids will mind too much. Can't wait!!
Oh, by the way, it doesn't look like we will be making any change to our parameters at this point, like I had referenced in my last post. We were considering increasing the age parameter a little bit, but it was recommended to us to just sit tight, since we are so close to the top, and we don't want to do anything that that would slow down a referral. Like I said, I felt like it was in God's hands whether we made the change or not, and I am comfortable leaving things as they are and would have been comfortable making the change too.
So hopefully we will hear our big news from the next committee meeting, hopefully in June. I tell you: it is SO much easier in this wait now that school is out. My days are completely full with swimming and reading and biking and scootering and all the other fun summer stuff. And to sweeten the deal even more, next week is my favorite week of the whole summer: Vacation Bible School!! I really love it. I am the music lady again this year, and the songs are great. I am really looking forward to doing them with the kids. Our theme is Daniel: Captivity in Babylon. It is our first time doing an historical VBS, and it has been so much fun so far: learning the songs and their motions and decorating the school gym to look like ancient Babylon. It is amazing what you can do with a bunch of cardboard boxes, crepe paper, paint, and a bunch of duct tape! I'm going to wear an outfit that I got in Morocco ages ago, and even though Morocco isn't exactly ancient Babylon, I have a feeling none of the kids will mind too much. Can't wait!!
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