Whatnont Wednesday

Hi! Welcome to another edition of Whatnot Wednesday and don't forget to check out Elizabeth's blog to see the originator of Whatnot Wednesdays and link to others or link up yourself and join in the fun. :)


* I have a 7 year old boy. That means that I should really learn to sew or buy stock in pants because my boy puts so many wholes in his pants it's ridiculous. First of all, he is this skinny kid who needs 8 SLIM with the adjustable waistband pulled all the way to the last button. If I don't buy slim then the adjustable waistband by itself isn't enough. This said, it's not easy to find pants that fit him (and that he is willing to wear). So when he goes through them like water it's enough to make Mama want to pull her hair out! We are on a budget here darling boy, trying to save for an adoption. But, I want my kids to run and play and be kids. So I bite my tongue and buy more pants with a joyful and thankful heart. I love my active boy and wouldn't trade him for the world. So I count my blessings and look for good sales!

*"I'm still learning" Any time my angelic little girl does something...er...less than angelic she first bursts into tears when my voice is anything but pleased with her (she is quite sensitive, takes after me so I can't fault her here). Once she has calmed down, we've discussed it, and she's been repentant she will look at my with her BIG brown eyes and say "You know Mommy, I'm still learning". Yes baby girl, and you will be your entire life (these conversations always end with big hugs).

*At B's school one of the centers they have is letter writing. So B and his friend L have written back and forth in class. They also wrote letters in class to someone who lives out of town and B wrote to his friend C in Indiana (S - did you get it yet?). He was so excited to send out the letter. During spring break I had the kids draw pictures for my parents (we had to mail something back to them so I stuck them in with it) and B spontaneously decided to write my parents a note on the back. You have to understand that the one thing B has always hated doing is writing. This was pretty exciting! Thank you Ms. M for getting my child excited about writing!!!

*Did you all have a wonderful Easter? I hope so. We enjoyed our service at church more than expected. We had a family service (meaning no child care, kids are with you in service) which I was personally dreading. B goes with us to the beginning of each service and he's pretty miserable for the 15ish minutes he's in there so an entire service did not sound like fun. We've been talking with him for the past few weeks about this and Easter went surprisingly well. We realized once we got there that E could have gone to class, it was only the older classes that were canceled, but since we'd set the expectation we didn't tell her and kept both kids with us. They were fantastic! Thank you God! Here's hoping we're turning a corner on that front with B.

*I've decided to give up Diet Coke. I have a bit of an addiction. I'm only doing 2 weeks, but it could be a long 2 weeks. The past 2 days I've had quite a headache by 7, here's hoping we can do a bit better today. Here's hoping I don't go postal if I don't get a referral next week and have also gone a week w/o Diet Coke.... :)

Whatnot Wednesday: Spring Break edition

OK, I missed last week but I'm determined to do today (even if there's only an hour and a half left of today and I should be asleep). B and E are on spring break this week so we're enjoying a fun week at home. Usually I travel any chance I get but we didn't plan anything this year and I'm enjoying the (relatively) calm week at home.

* Friday was E's Easter party at preschool. They had a parade at the end where they wore their Easter bonnets (made out of paper plates and plastic flowers) or Easter ties (made out of paper and stickers/flowers/etc). It was very cute. All week E could not wait! She loves Fancy Nancy and kept telling us she was excited for her Easter Gala (Gala is a fancy word for party) BUT she would say her Easter Gallup! At first I thought that's b/c it's a parade but I did figure out that she was mispronouncing Gala. I didn't really want to correct her b/c it was cute as can be. Do you have any words/phrases that your kids use that you just don't want to correct?

* The weather tonight was beautiful! It's my goal to get the kids out walking more. We took a 3 mile walk this evening. They did extremely well! The first mile and a half they loved (it included climbing on rocks in the creek and stopping to throw rocks in water) and the hard core whining didn't hit until the last half mile. We got home and B was walking around like he had just run a marathon. It was cute as can be!

* My kids think Spring Break should mean they don't have to sleep any more. E asks to skip her nap daily and B is still up at crazy hours at night (reading). I have to take his books away. Don't get me wrong - I am THRILLED that my son loves to read. But seriously! If I forget to take the books out of his bed and specifically tell him he's done, he'll still be reading at 11 pm by the light of his night light (child - your eyes are going to suffer!). I want to be mad but he takes after his Mommy so much I have to laugh. :)

My brain isn't working and I haven't thought to keep track of my thoughts lately so this is it for now. But I did talk to S at our agency today. The update is that there are a couple of people ahead of us, but things are not necessarily going in chronological order. We were told any time from April to June and that hasn't changed. Her best guess is about a month. I guess we'll see.

Quite a while ago I chose a date I thought (at the time) was far out - further than would be necessary - to kind of let go until then. OK, my grammar in that sentence is horrible - it's late - I'm not fixing it. This date kept coming to mind starting in about November and finally I embraced it (it took a lot longer than it should have for me to let go). Anyway, that date is now in less than 2 weeks. Still possible, but now I have to face the definite possibility that we may go past that date. But I know it will happen in God's perfect timing. I'm thankful for our lives and I know that I will be so thankful one day that this long wait brought us to the specific child that will join our family! :)

17 months...

OK! It's a milestone and we've GOT to be close, right?!?! Trying hard to stay positive. We started this process 17 months ago and to be quite honest I don't think I ever really imagined it would be this long before we saw a picture, but I know we're close. I know that there is a child that our family is just right for, and we will be fully ready to welcome that child home.

Today I'm focusing on today. We're starting spring break! The kids are thrilled! I ran this morning (always helpful for my sanity!), and....I get to go have my hair done! I know that sounds silly but often this is something I squeeze in when I have a chance, wherever they take walk-ins. For my birthday this year I wanted to go to a salon where they can help me find a style, color, etc. and it's all scheduled! I'm so excited! I know that's silly and it's hard for me to spend this kind of money but I'm looking forward to it too. :)

Have a great day!

9 months..overdue?!

OK, it's been 9 months. No referral. Looks like I'm overdue! Wish I had a good picture of me on the computer 9 months pregnant but I think I avoided cameras like the plague at that point!

The non-waiting is going pretty well. I'm still hopeful, and at times I just REALLY want to know, but I'm not getting anxious like I was so that is a blessing! Thanking God that He has given me peace! But definitely praying for news soon!

Also, please check out this fundraiser and heartbreaking story. See if you can help make an impact! http://www.nogreaterjoymom.com/2011/04/dream-come-true-giveaway.html

Whatnot Wednesdays with Elizabeth

OK, I'm attempting to join my friend Elizabeth over at Every Day the Wonderful Happens with Whatnont Wednesdays. I'm not always the most technologically advanced but I'll give it a try (the linking part is the area I'm not sure about).

- I subbed in E's school today. It's the first time I've "taught" in a LONG time. Every time E saw me she'd yell out "Mommy!" Not surprising, but the kids in her class were confused to see me in the class next door too and kept asking me about it. Apparently I was a side show and I felt bad for how distracting I was to the other class. Too bad the class I was in didn't find me quite so interesting and were happy to let their attention drift anywhere and everywhere else!

- There's a little boy in E's class who is from South Korea. He's adorable, sweet, and incredibly smart! Korean is his first language. I greet him in Korean and he laughs and yells "that's Korean!". Then I say "The Weather is Nice" in Korean and he looks at me like I have 3 heads. Yes folks, apparently my Korean is THAT bad!
I also asked him to tell me how to say dinosaur in Korean. He wouldn't do it. He wanted to teach me colors, not dinosaurs. So - any help? How do you say dinosaur in Korean?

- Sometimes when I'm on the phone with someone I feel like I'm speaking another language. I've had to make several phone calls to make appointments, etc. lately and I always feel like they don't understand what I'm asking? Am I that hard to follow? Does this happen to anyone else?

- I've found one of the best ways to get telemarketers off the phone right now is honesty! I'm sorry, I can't give you money, every cent I have is being saved towards our adoption. Most people say, thanks, good luck and hang up! It's a miracle! :) However, I still can't get those automated places to stop calling. :( Apparently a few people who had our number before us had some financial problems b/c there are about 3 people that we STILL get phone calls about. We've had this number for over 2 years!

- We are really enjoying the fact that B can now play more advanced games. Apples to Apples Jr. is a favorite of both kids (hurray - so much better than Candy Land!) and B's new favorite is Risk. It's a long game and we're not likely to finish one with him for quite a while, but it's fun to see him learn, strategize (?), and get better at this game over time! It's so neat to see him as he is growing up!

- My cousin was coming for dinner. His name is Adam. E kept asking when Alex was coming. I kept correcting her and telling her Adam. Finally I said that we do have a cousin Alex, but this is Adam and she must have given herself a mnemonic device to remember it because a little while later she came upstairs and asked "Mommy, when is Eve coming?"

I bust out laughing and she corrects herself quickly.

OK, so if you really want to laugh - check out Elizabeth's blog and see her Whatnot Wednesday. Woo-hoo! The button worked! Click the button at the top of the post! :) Hurray!

Revelation: Timing

OK, last time I said I had a revelation recently that I wanted to share. It has to do with timing. It may seem like common sense but apparently I needed the sense knocked into me!

I've been looking at our adoption timeline and I've had in mind how it should work. The best (in my opinion) timing for our family for the immediate future. There are things going on this summer that would make my timing much better than than other timing. At least I think so. Then a funny thing happened....I realized....the IMMEDIATE future is so much smaller than our WHOLE lives as a family! (Duh! Common Sense!!!)

I started thinking about more than just the next few months and realized that exact timing may or may not be a bit of a hassle but in the long run it won't matter.

I also realized that God's perfect timing in the past didn't always seem perfect at the time. A BIG example of this just dawned on my husband and I this weekend:

I don't think, if I had known the future and had control over it, I would have chosen to be pregnant, have a baby and enjoy my child's first 4 months with my husband in Iraq. This timing seems slightly absurd! Afterwards we always have said that a LOT of good came out of that, which is true. I could go on and on about how close we grew as a couple and what an AMAZING Daddy Brian is (which may not have anything to do with the deployment but the way he dove right in to Daddy-hood the moment he stepped off that plane was amazing!).

BUT we realized something much bigger. We were talking about his deployment and pregnancy and suddenly it hit me - I said "Honey, if you had been home during my pregnancy with B....would we have E?

Silence. Then "No, probably not."

I was ready to move to adoption with B's pregnancy but Brian wanted to experience it (did he ever regret that while I was pregnant, but he was thrilled to have his little girl).

WOW! Does God know what He's doing or what? It wasn't my timing but His perfect timing. He knew not to have Brian home, He knew we'd move to adoption but He wanted us to wait. He brought E into our lives first. Now it's time. Soon we will know the child that He has prepared our family for. Not just for the past 16 1/2 months, but for years! His timing isn't only concerning the next few months and how convenient that will be, but for the life of our family! So much bigger than how I was thinking.

This was quite the revelation!

Check out this post about Russian judges not allowing the adoption of a child because the child has Down's Syndrome:

http://aplacecalledsimplicity.blogspot.com/2011/03/will-you-join-us.html

Absolutely absurd and heartbreaking!

My Kids' Future Careers

E's preschool is currently doing Community Helpers week and with that they're discussing careers (and having people come in to talk about their careers - but I didn't think they needed someone to come tell them what a teacher does so I'm not one of the volunteers). The kids often tell me what they want to be when the grow up (and it frequently changes) but I also have ideas of what I think they'll be (also changes, but a bit more consistent) based on their strengths.

B is very strong at math and spacial awareness (except awareness of his own body - but that's a completely different skill). He won an award in the 1st grade for his math skills, and he's always been great at puzzles. He's amazing at building things. Give that child Legos or some such thing and he can build it! He follows the directions very well, but after the first time he likes to change things up and create a bit differently. My in-laws have TONS of Legos and he will sit in the middle of a bunch of Legos and create all kinds of things. When my FIL or BIL or husband are helping he makes the coolest castles and creations! I'm so impressed (he did not inherit this skill from me!). So I think he'll be an architect or engineer!

Of course he's mentioned construction worker, fire fighter, NFL player (sorry honey- NOT happening), and soldier (like Daddy). So maybe the Army Corps of Engineers is in his future?
Of course my boy is also an avid reader and would probably do well taking after his Paika with writing stories, but right now he doesn't love writing (too much work) so we'll have to wait and see.

E is a people person. She is my social butterfly with a HUGE heart! Her preschool teacher told me at the parent-teacher conference that E is very compassionate towards the other children - more so than most 4 year olds (my blog, I get to brag a bit) so I know this is a huge strength of hers. This morning she was (yet again) singing one of her songs and I realized her calling - she's going to write lyrics for Christian artists! She makes up adorable songs and they always include God and Jesus loving everyone. Now they definitely ramble a bit, but for 4, I'm impressed (yes, yes, I'm a TAD bit biased about my child's brilliance). OK, she's not as easy to nail down as B, to be honest. But I'm sure it will involve that huge heart of hers!

Her current desire is to be a veterinarian. She loves animals. She really enjoyed our current trip to the zoo and I think it inspired her. Brian is excited because he used to want to be a vet when he was young. Her Aunt S would also be proud since she is a vet!

Just wanted to share where my kids are at and some of my random thoughts. No adoption news to share. Gave up waiting so we're just hanging out and will let you know if there's news. Feel hopeful but not anticipatory which is fairly amazing! Thank you God! I'll share my revelation on this soon.

Greater than Hope and 16 months

Hope continues. I will hope until that hope is fulfilled. But even greater than hope, is love.

The love I have for our child even though I don't know who this child is.

There's also the love from family and friends that is sometimes so wonderful and overwhelming that it brings tears to my eyes.

The love I have for these wonderful people in our lives.

Love is a gift and I am so thankful for that! "And now these three remain, faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love." 1 Cor 13:13

It's been 16 months since we started this crazy journey and the wait was really starting to get to me. So yesterday, after an emotional roller coaster of a day, I decided to give up waiting for lent (yes, I'm a week late, I'm not Catholic so it's not something I feel compelled to do unless I have a good thing to give up). I think it will be healthy for me and good for our family. ;)

I'm not giving up hope, just the anxiety of waiting. Hopefully in that time we'll get a referral and that would be fantastic! If not, then we'll be much closer by the time Easter is here. My anxiety isn't going to make it happen any faster. I have no control, so I'm putting my faith in the One who does, and trusting His perfect timing!

Is there such a thing as too much hope?

I'm starting to anticipate Monday and Tuesday. Knowing that referrals only come in on two days is different. There is a lot of pressure on two days now. I put a lot of hope in two days. Honestly, I think I do better the rest of the week not spending each day waiting! But it definitely makes for 2 days where I am distracted, unable to focus on anything else, frustrated, dreaming, wondering why the phone isn't ringing, and majorly disappointed Tuesday afternoon. I'm trying to stop anticipating it so much. I'm trying to prepare myself for no news.

But then again - what is life without hope?

The Joy of 8 months...

OK, I've hit 8 months. That means we're close! Right?!?!
Some happy things to share today:

1. Ella is helping me clean the house, singing "I love cleaning, I love cleaning! I'm a cleaning Princess!" Sure- you can be a cleaning princess if you're willing to help me clean!

2. On the way to bring B to school (today - at the 8 month mark which they know nothing about) we were listening to music and all of a sudden E sighed and said "When is our baby coming?!?" "Next week?" - ah, no. We discussed the timeline just enough for me to say that it could be a couple of weeks after our trip in May or a couple of months, we don't know. Then B piped up "I hope it's just a couple of weeks!" (me too, Buddy, me too) - his excitement to have his brother or sister home was apparent in his voice. He doesn't talk about it much but when he does it warms my soul! Hearing my two angels talk about their brother or sister is music to my ears! They are (almost) as excited as I am!

3. I have a sense of peace today that I didn't expect. Praise God! I am hopeful but not anxious. Hurray! Ask me in a week and I can't guarantee the same response...