So things have been moving along slow. Or so that's what it seems to me. So slow. My heart aches at times. I get angry....having been hit so hard financially when the economy feel. I try to remember that everything happens for a reason. But things are looking up. Joe passed the PE exam and that was huge for him professionally. He is going to be promoted this spring and his income will also grow substantially. My Arbonne business is super busy, 3 new people on my team, on track for earning Puerto Rico, and my checks being very substantial savings for this journey.
Fundraising is going well. We are in the middle of a raffle that so far has raised $1k, and we are pushing for $2k. I was able to email our agency today and get the package we need to really get the ball rolling. We've already done a bunch of paper work, so we are well on our way. Our plan is home study ASAP. We are also doing a few other fundraisers so keep posted!
A friend is traveling to China to adopt a second daughter (clickHERE to see blog) and their travel plan is to go to The foster home that Sweet Pea is at. When I heard that, I closed my eyes, and could feel what it felt like to hold her, I could smell her, I could feel her heart beating. I'm hoping Tammy can hold her for me......and whisper in her ear that we love her very much and that we are coming to get her.
I was looking through pictures today on New Day South Facebook page. (Click ND South). Many pictures of my Sweet Pea. I noticed in one that she has a dimple in the same place as my boys and Joe....another sign :). Melted my heart!
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Fall update
Time goes by so fast! We had a wonderful rest of the summer, and crazy fall sports. The boys are very busy, as am I! We had our first fundraiser, as yard sale, at the end of August that net about $2600!! It was a crazy day. People were so supportive, with donations, baked goods. I love people, so to chat with people I don't know and find out about them is just cool. Unfortunately, I had my first negative reactions as well. "Why don't you adopt from THIS country, we have so many needy kids here", or "don't you want a white baby to match your boys", or my favorite, "we'll china owns the USA now so why not". Grrrr. I am happy to explain to people why we chose this route. I should just have made up a pamphlet with "Commonly Asked Questions". My sister, who has a daughter from Guatemala, warned me. "Not everyone will support you or gets this is a great thing!" I already sense that my inner circle again is changing. Why does it matter how I become a mother? Sure, we could have more bio kids, but I feel very strongly about giving the gift of a family to an orphan.
So enough on that! So Parker (13) was really busy running XC, until he in injured his calf at a Boy Scout camp out. So he sat on the sidelines. He was really disappointed. Cian (11) and Sam (9) both play football. Cian plays nose guard typically and Sam defensive end. So fun to watch them play!! All three boys are Boy Scouts. Sam is a Beat this year and really excited to move on to Weblows, mainly because at camp he can do better activities!! Cian is new to Boy Scouts this year and earned 2 merit badges this summer, as did Parker, who is almost tenderfoot. We were fortunate to be able to attend Camp Carpenter, a Boy Scout camp about an hour a way from us. I was hired as a camp nurse for a few weeks. It was really fun. Aside from having the life completely sucked out of me by 250 boys. We had fun!!
My goal is to fundraise enough in the next few weeks to complete our home study. I have to say I've been very nervous about the financial commitment. All those things run into my head......what if we
run out of money? What if it takes longer than anticipated. What if we get out hearts broken. So
many what's ifs. I know that God has a plan, and everything works out for a reason. I have always told my kids this. My grandmother taught me this ( and actually Sam reminded me of this the other day, I guess he does listen). We are having a second, smaller yard sale Sunday, which my goal is about $1000, and also launching a raffle with 3 big prizes, that my goal is $10k. Then we have some other things planned for after the first of the year, like a wine raffle and a gold party. Also several
people have offered to help like a friend who sells tastefully simple and green coffee. We are so blessed. You defiantly learn who your real support people are through this process.
People have asked if we have an actual referral. We don't yet. But we have found a baby on a website for a foster home for medically fragile orphans, that we would like to adopt. She has some correctable needs (mostly heart). She was born March 23, 2012, which is also my husbands birthday. I have pictures of her on my iPad and every time I turn it on, I see her smiling face. I have to be careful though, it's kind of like loving dangerously. It's falling in love with someone you may never get the chance to meet. But when I look at her little face, I am pushed to love her, and fight to have
her as part of our family. You're so vulnerable through this process. It's raw, and beautiful. And
scary.
So enough on that! So Parker (13) was really busy running XC, until he in injured his calf at a Boy Scout camp out. So he sat on the sidelines. He was really disappointed. Cian (11) and Sam (9) both play football. Cian plays nose guard typically and Sam defensive end. So fun to watch them play!! All three boys are Boy Scouts. Sam is a Beat this year and really excited to move on to Weblows, mainly because at camp he can do better activities!! Cian is new to Boy Scouts this year and earned 2 merit badges this summer, as did Parker, who is almost tenderfoot. We were fortunate to be able to attend Camp Carpenter, a Boy Scout camp about an hour a way from us. I was hired as a camp nurse for a few weeks. It was really fun. Aside from having the life completely sucked out of me by 250 boys. We had fun!!
My goal is to fundraise enough in the next few weeks to complete our home study. I have to say I've been very nervous about the financial commitment. All those things run into my head......what if we
run out of money? What if it takes longer than anticipated. What if we get out hearts broken. So
many what's ifs. I know that God has a plan, and everything works out for a reason. I have always told my kids this. My grandmother taught me this ( and actually Sam reminded me of this the other day, I guess he does listen). We are having a second, smaller yard sale Sunday, which my goal is about $1000, and also launching a raffle with 3 big prizes, that my goal is $10k. Then we have some other things planned for after the first of the year, like a wine raffle and a gold party. Also several
people have offered to help like a friend who sells tastefully simple and green coffee. We are so blessed. You defiantly learn who your real support people are through this process.
People have asked if we have an actual referral. We don't yet. But we have found a baby on a website for a foster home for medically fragile orphans, that we would like to adopt. She has some correctable needs (mostly heart). She was born March 23, 2012, which is also my husbands birthday. I have pictures of her on my iPad and every time I turn it on, I see her smiling face. I have to be careful though, it's kind of like loving dangerously. It's falling in love with someone you may never get the chance to meet. But when I look at her little face, I am pushed to love her, and fight to have
her as part of our family. You're so vulnerable through this process. It's raw, and beautiful. And
scary.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Divine Intervention
Well, here it goes, my first attempt at blogging! I've wanted to do a blog of some sort and why not about our adoption journey!
So for those of you who don't know, I have wanted to adopt for years. I was initially inspired by my sisters journey to her daughter Tali, who is now 7. I was so utterly impressed by her selfishness of not needing to bear another child, and pursue giving a child in need a home (she has a bio daughter Addie who is 12). I LOVE these girlies!!! I have always been so humbled looking into Tali's eyes, and knowing what a life she would have had in Guatemala, as a Mayan child, born into severe poverty. What a blessing for all of us!! Through my sister I have met many other adoptive families who has shown me the love and selfishness of adopting. We have friends with domestically adoptive children, and other countries such as Russia, China, Korea, and many other countries. I have been inspired by all there journeys.
My husband and I have been blessed with 3 amazing boys. I have been lucky enough to be home with them full time to part time. Parker is 13years. He is tall, dark, and handsome!! He is a kind and gentle sole. He is a great runner and biker, and is working on Eagle scout. He is very mature for his age, extremely smart, and also loves to read, especially his Car and Driver magazine. He by age 1 loved MatchBox cars, that has turned into a love of learning about engines, and the engineering of cars. He has moved onto loving real live cars that cost 100K-a million. Cian is 11years. He is my sensitive one!! He has the best smile with a left sided dimple (same as my dads!), and big brown eyes. He loves art, drawing (like his other Grampy) and loves to destroy and take things apart. He has dismantled every Nerf gun in the house, and then successfully put them back together. He is very funny, always giggling in the corner. He is mildly shy, hates to be the center of attention, but usually is the culprit behind what he and the #3 son have come up with. He LOVEs duct tape, and makes all kinds of cool stuff out of it. He has covered our Cedarworks play set with it, along with the blue painters tape and black electrical tape. Sam is 8 years and he is our commedian. as I type this he is in the back yard playing a bucket drum singing at the top of his lungs. Thats Sam. He has always been so funny and smiling!! We just (when he's getting his own way) love his spirit!! He lives life at full throddle, playing hard and crashing hard. He will sure to get everything he wants in life. What I love about him is that when he wants to learn something new, he practice about 300 times in a row. Recently we were at the beach and I think he rode about 100 waves. And the other day at my mom's, Addie brought her skate board, and he went flying by the house about 100 times. He was out in the yard the other day swinging a golf club, another 100 times. He is so goofy and from the time he could dress himself would find a dress of my nieces and dance for us. With heels...and a boa...and lipstick. hehe. But he playes lacrosse, football, skis. List goes on. Anyway I just love the ages of my kids now. We have so much fun. They crack me up!!!
So the adoption. For those of you who are blessed to know me, (oh and I'm going to warn you now that I write with dry humour) know how much I NEED a girl. This comes from deep within. I just dont know. Maybe it was being raised with 4 girls under one roof (plus mom) who all have daughters. I am a feminist for sure, so maybe that's it? My fem friends have always said how lucky my boys are to have me!! I have read a lot of other blogs, mainly Christan based one, and they all say God lead them down this path. Now I would probably call myself agnostic, I am very spiritual, pray all the time, daily, but I'm not big on organized religion. Now don't get me wrong, if you know me you also know how much of a Geek I am. I have taken comparative religion course as an undergrad and have take courses on Judaism and Islam, and was raised Methodist. So I get it all. I have read the WHOLE Bible. And I have come to believe that our path is to adopt. I'm sure God and my spiritualism has so much to do with it. I believe in kindness of the human spirit, charity toward others, and love. I believe that we have a gift that we can give to a child in need. Simply that. So I'm sorry If I don't know all the bible verses to put with this, but I do believe God has a plan for all of us.
Ok, having said all that I DO believe in divine intervention. I have discussed (pleaded, tormented, bugged whatever you want to call it) my great husband Joe for years about adopting. When Sam turned 3, we hit a breaking point. His was the most lovely, spirited, baby for sure. He was so determined to get what he wanted and let us know what he didn't like, that he screamed....alot. All the time actually. SO Joe very willingly made the Uro apt and that was that. I didn't give it a second thought, until Sam went into kindergarden, then those Mama hormones kicked in. I thought about it cocnstanlty. What if I didn't ever have a daughter? Would I regret it when I'm 80? I have such a great relationship with my Mother, and Grandmother, I selfishly wanted that for myself. Who was going to take care of me when I'm old an gray (and please again I'm writing this with a little btw). Who was I going to shop with? But in all seriousness I yearned for a daughter for whatever reason. I always wanted a big family, and put together the fact that I really wanted to adopt, I wanted a daughter!
A few months ago I was walking through my kids school, really in tears regarding this topic (long story short). As I was trying to wipe away the tears, someone tugged on my shirt. It was Sophie, a dear friends daughter, adopted at age 4 from China. She knew me more I think because I have been the school nurse at times, and her knee down prosthesis was needing some adjustment, so she stopped and asked me to help, and I did. Yes, I believe God was trying to send me a message. And so the story goes.....
So for those of you who don't know, I have wanted to adopt for years. I was initially inspired by my sisters journey to her daughter Tali, who is now 7. I was so utterly impressed by her selfishness of not needing to bear another child, and pursue giving a child in need a home (she has a bio daughter Addie who is 12). I LOVE these girlies!!! I have always been so humbled looking into Tali's eyes, and knowing what a life she would have had in Guatemala, as a Mayan child, born into severe poverty. What a blessing for all of us!! Through my sister I have met many other adoptive families who has shown me the love and selfishness of adopting. We have friends with domestically adoptive children, and other countries such as Russia, China, Korea, and many other countries. I have been inspired by all there journeys.
My husband and I have been blessed with 3 amazing boys. I have been lucky enough to be home with them full time to part time. Parker is 13years. He is tall, dark, and handsome!! He is a kind and gentle sole. He is a great runner and biker, and is working on Eagle scout. He is very mature for his age, extremely smart, and also loves to read, especially his Car and Driver magazine. He by age 1 loved MatchBox cars, that has turned into a love of learning about engines, and the engineering of cars. He has moved onto loving real live cars that cost 100K-a million. Cian is 11years. He is my sensitive one!! He has the best smile with a left sided dimple (same as my dads!), and big brown eyes. He loves art, drawing (like his other Grampy) and loves to destroy and take things apart. He has dismantled every Nerf gun in the house, and then successfully put them back together. He is very funny, always giggling in the corner. He is mildly shy, hates to be the center of attention, but usually is the culprit behind what he and the #3 son have come up with. He LOVEs duct tape, and makes all kinds of cool stuff out of it. He has covered our Cedarworks play set with it, along with the blue painters tape and black electrical tape. Sam is 8 years and he is our commedian. as I type this he is in the back yard playing a bucket drum singing at the top of his lungs. Thats Sam. He has always been so funny and smiling!! We just (when he's getting his own way) love his spirit!! He lives life at full throddle, playing hard and crashing hard. He will sure to get everything he wants in life. What I love about him is that when he wants to learn something new, he practice about 300 times in a row. Recently we were at the beach and I think he rode about 100 waves. And the other day at my mom's, Addie brought her skate board, and he went flying by the house about 100 times. He was out in the yard the other day swinging a golf club, another 100 times. He is so goofy and from the time he could dress himself would find a dress of my nieces and dance for us. With heels...and a boa...and lipstick. hehe. But he playes lacrosse, football, skis. List goes on. Anyway I just love the ages of my kids now. We have so much fun. They crack me up!!!
So the adoption. For those of you who are blessed to know me, (oh and I'm going to warn you now that I write with dry humour) know how much I NEED a girl. This comes from deep within. I just dont know. Maybe it was being raised with 4 girls under one roof (plus mom) who all have daughters. I am a feminist for sure, so maybe that's it? My fem friends have always said how lucky my boys are to have me!! I have read a lot of other blogs, mainly Christan based one, and they all say God lead them down this path. Now I would probably call myself agnostic, I am very spiritual, pray all the time, daily, but I'm not big on organized religion. Now don't get me wrong, if you know me you also know how much of a Geek I am. I have taken comparative religion course as an undergrad and have take courses on Judaism and Islam, and was raised Methodist. So I get it all. I have read the WHOLE Bible. And I have come to believe that our path is to adopt. I'm sure God and my spiritualism has so much to do with it. I believe in kindness of the human spirit, charity toward others, and love. I believe that we have a gift that we can give to a child in need. Simply that. So I'm sorry If I don't know all the bible verses to put with this, but I do believe God has a plan for all of us.
Ok, having said all that I DO believe in divine intervention. I have discussed (pleaded, tormented, bugged whatever you want to call it) my great husband Joe for years about adopting. When Sam turned 3, we hit a breaking point. His was the most lovely, spirited, baby for sure. He was so determined to get what he wanted and let us know what he didn't like, that he screamed....alot. All the time actually. SO Joe very willingly made the Uro apt and that was that. I didn't give it a second thought, until Sam went into kindergarden, then those Mama hormones kicked in. I thought about it cocnstanlty. What if I didn't ever have a daughter? Would I regret it when I'm 80? I have such a great relationship with my Mother, and Grandmother, I selfishly wanted that for myself. Who was going to take care of me when I'm old an gray (and please again I'm writing this with a little btw). Who was I going to shop with? But in all seriousness I yearned for a daughter for whatever reason. I always wanted a big family, and put together the fact that I really wanted to adopt, I wanted a daughter!
A few months ago I was walking through my kids school, really in tears regarding this topic (long story short). As I was trying to wipe away the tears, someone tugged on my shirt. It was Sophie, a dear friends daughter, adopted at age 4 from China. She knew me more I think because I have been the school nurse at times, and her knee down prosthesis was needing some adjustment, so she stopped and asked me to help, and I did. Yes, I believe God was trying to send me a message. And so the story goes.....
the boys the other day overlooking Bear Notch
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