One more

I'm looking forward to 2011. I feel like life will finally be able to move on, like we'll be able to make plans in advance without worrying about being needed somewhere else. 2010 has been all about sitting still and waiting. I don't like it and I'm bad at it. 2011 is just around the corner and I can't wait! I think it's going to be a great year.

Blah...

I don't really have anything specific to write about, just many, many thoughts in my brain and I think it might help to get them out here. If you don't want to read this one, I don't blame you!

We leave in 22 days...that's 3 weeks from tomorrow. This is exciting, but truth be told, my head hurts just thinking about it. There's too much to do and too much to remember and I just don't feel like it. The only thing I want to do is hold my baby girl and just fall in love with her.

Work is kicking my butt. I have known that I would have to cut back once our little girl comes home, but trying to figure out what all that looks like makes my head hurt, too.

Hmmm...maybe some Ibuprofen is in my near future as I will have to deal with both of these things very, very soon.

I keep reading blog posts from other writers about all the things that bug them. I would LOVE to write my own top 20 list, but I think I'd get myself into trouble. So, for now I'll just mention #1...people who just DON'T GET IT!

I'm sick of my kids fighting with each other. I tried to take them to a park for dinner and the drive there was so miserable that we turned around and come home. They're mad that I didn't take them to the park and I feel like they just ruined my night. It was such great weather, but rewarding horrible behavior is just not something I like to do. So, home we are. Thank GOD for finished basement space that's full of toys. I know, that sounds like a reward too, but trust me, they'd rather be at the park.

Apparently, Metamucil turns into really thick sludge if you don't drink it really, really fast. Yuck. I hear it helps lower cholesterol, guess I'll have to chug.

Chris has picked up a lot of shifts lately. Money=good, less time together=not so good. He asked if he could pick up shifts in October and I said "no". Normally, I'd jump at the chance, but with our trip and all the shifts he picked up in September, I need him home more. Don't tell him, but I kind of miss him. :)

Reily's birthday is coming up. I can't wait. It's hard to believe that he's going to be 4, but I'm ready for 4. I don't like 3--AT ALL! We're going to have a little family party and Reily's cousin, Kacey, who was born on the same day (and her mommy) are going to be able to come. I'm excited about that! We always try to get them together to celebrate around their birthdays. How many cousins have the exact same birthday? It's worth celebrating.

Kayla's birthday is the very next weekend. I am not excited about that. There is no way we'll be over there to get her that quickly, so we won't be celebrating her 1st birthday with her. I don't think I need to say much more about that. Any mommy should understand why I'm not excited about that. Here's hoping she's home for Christmas. Fingers crossed.

Um, I think that's all. I feel better.

Why?

Why are we adopting? This is why...

One Less by Matthew West (The Story Behind The Song) from emicmg on Vimeo.

We firmly believe that God calls all Christians to care for the orphans. It is so very clear, all through scripture, that God cares deeply for the orphans and that He wants those who love Him to take on this cause. This in no way means that every family has been called to adopt--it is not an easy thing to do and it's not for every family--but it is how our family has been called to care for the orphans (well, at least one...for now). If you ever wondered why, now you know.

By the way, we leave in 23 days!

Twenty five

25...that's all.

Happy Day!

Well, besides today just being an overall great day, we also got some potentially wonderful news. When we travel to Ethiopia we will arrive late Saturday night and were not slated to meet our baby until Monday. Where does that leave us for ALL day Sunday? We'll be right across the street from her--close enough to hear the babies crying through the windows according to another family that was recently there--but not able to meet her. Yuck. Double yuck.

Well, today I heard from my friend who is there right now that our agency set it up for them to meet their daughter today! I don't know if the same will hold true for us in another few weeks or not, but one can hope. And, trust me, I'm hoping! That would make it a VERY happy day.

Four weeks from today, I should be able to say that I have met my daughter and spent a few hours with her--not four weeks from tomorrow. Trust me, in this process one day is a very BIG deal.

Sewing fool

So, what does a mommy (whose baby is 1/2 way across the world) do when she's missing her baby? She becomes a sewing fool!

I've spent a few hours tonight and last night making baby slings to take to Ethiopia for the nannies to carry the babies around in--maybe my baby!

I'm also making headbands because I'm not going to mess with my hair while I'm there, but I don't want to look like I just crawled out of bed either. (Heather, get used to this look, cuz it's the one I'll be sportin'.)

Then, I found the CUTEST pattern at Walmart for a little brown ragdoll that I just need to cut out and sew. Thank goodness I have a couple of months before it needs to be completed. I think I'm retiring the sewing machine for the next few nights. I have a sermon to write!

My Girl

I am missing my girl tonight. It's been several weeks since I've had one of these days. I'm sure part of it is that a friend of mine is on a plane, heading to meet her daughter for the first time--4 weeks before me, even though she got her referral 5 weeks after me. That's a 9 week difference. I have absolutely NO ill feelings towards her, it is not her fault, it's just an unfair system and it is what it is. I wish I were traveling tonight, too, but I'm not, so I'm sitting here looking at her pictures and missing my girl.

The good news? We leave in 4 weeks! That will fly by and I will finally get to see her with my own two eyes and touch her with my own two hands. That will be a day to remember and then, I will go back to missing my girl even more as I wait for our second trip where we can finally bring her home. That will be an even better day to remember! Here's hoping she's home by Christmas...

Um, yummy!

So, the other day I made this unbelievable cake. I love cooking, but baking--not so much. This cake just sounded too good to pass up, though, and we were having friends over for dinner which requires dessert, of course. It's called Luscious Four-Layer Pumpkin Cake and it totally lived up to the name AND looked good. Move over pumpkin pie, I think I'll make another...

FYI...I've placed the web address for the recipe under the comments section since people were asking. Enjoy!

God

So, sometimes in life, God makes it very clear that He wants you to lean on Him rather than do it all yourself. Well, I'm a do-it-myselfer. I know this. I've been this way since I was born. When we headed into this adoption, I was all about doing it myself. Of course we prayed and asked God for clear direction on whether or not now was the time, we asked for guidance in selecting the country our child would come from, etc...the one thing we didn't ask for help with was the finances. We felt that God had blessed us enough through the years (and boy, has He!) and we just decided to take it upon ourselves to make the finances happen.

Well, then the whole process changed on us and we were required to travel twice--this was an expense we had not planned for. Suddenly, we HAD to rely on God to provide. Let me tell you, I have not been disappointed AT ALL! Not only has God made sure that our 2nd trip costs are completely covered, but I honestly don't think we're going to have to pay more than $2500 out of pocket for the whole thing (so far...). I.am.blown.away. We're talking jaw dropping (literally) response to this blessing.

Of course, when God provides I am always pleasantly surprised. I don't know why. He's made sure we have enough over and over and over again as we've continued to be faithful to Him in the ways that He's asked and as we continue to seek Him and His plan for our lives and try our best to stick to the path He's laid out before us. Maybe it's because I don't want to expect anything. I have always tried to live a life of planning for the worst and hoping for the best. This way, I'm rarely disappointed. But, I think my attitude is shifting. When God asks me to lean on Him, I no longer want to plan for the worst, I hope to sit back and relax and leave it up to God. He does amazing things when we stop trying to do it ourselves and just let Him have it. So, if God is asking you to lean on Him, DO IT!!! He's not joking around.

Also, if you think you can't afford to adopt, you're wrong. Let's talk...

Buying stuff

I've been really in to buying stuff lately. Stuff for our baby girl and stuff for our trip. I've surprised myself with the girlie things I've purchased, but I love it all! I bought her blankies that have pink in them--though they're not mainly pink. I bought her loads of headbands with flower clips. She has no hair, so I need something to make her look like a girl and she will. I bought her some shoes--little Robeez--for when we bring her home. I don't know what size shoes she'll need, so Robeez seemed like a good way to go.

Earlier this week, Chris and I also made a trip to Target to pick up all the toiletries, snacks and meds we'll need for our little trip. We didn't need much, I want to take as little as possible so that we can pack everything needed in our carry-ons and leave the big suitcases for donations, but we needed a few things. Now, I feel like I can get packing.

We leave in 5 weeks! 5 weeks from today, we'll be headed to the airport where we will get on our first of 3 airplanes that will deliver us to Ethiopia where we will finally meet our baby girl after 6 1/2 months of knowing who she is and staring at her beautiful face in photos. I don't know how I will find the strength to get on the plane heading home--leaving her behind--but knowing that Gavin and Reily are home waiting for me will make it a little easier. Still, in between those two trips (3-12 weeks) I am certain I will be sad and cranky--this is your fair warning. Please just choose to have grace for me. I've already had to leave one baby behind and I know I didn't do well with that. Having Gavin in the NICU for his first 17 days of life was awful. I'm expecting this to feel similar, but to last much longer. I hope we fall somewhere in between the 3-12 week projected range for our return trip (like 5-7 weeks would be great!). But, who knows?!? We could be bringing her home in December, could be January. Lord, help me if it's later than that due to more paperwork glitches. I'm tired of those.

But, the best part of all of this--we leave in 5 weeks! We will meet our daughter in 38 days. This is all finally going to happen. If you're the praying sort, please pray that this trip happens, as planned. Please pray that we have safe travels and that Gavin and Reily do well without us around. We're excited, nervous and remain cautiously optimistic.

Paper Chain

We are doing a paper chain countdown for our trip to Ethiopia. We leave in 41 days and will be gone for 6 days (the orange links). I thought this would be a fun way for the boys to participate in the countdown as we get closer and closer. Remembering to rip one off each day will NOT be a problem. I am so ready to just get there.

Dells

I had a conference in the Dells this week. Chris decided to come along and bring the boys. The boys had a great time in the water park, as always.

Gavin wanted to climb across these so badly. Thanks to Preston's muscles, he was able to.

Gavin loves baby Paxton. He really enjoyed pushing him in the stroller--until he saw the shuttle bus and just left the stroller to roll off on its own! Good thing Paxton's mommy was nearby.

Another First Day!

FINALLY, Reily gets to go to school! He was really excited about this, until the morning he had to get up early and get ready to go at a non-Reily set pace. This face pretty much describes his demeanor for the morning. After a few pictures, he was ready to go. He had a great first day and is looking forward to going again tomorrow.

Reily chose breakfast out. I don't think we'll be doing this anymore. My boys (all 3 of them) just don't do well when they have to get up early and rush.

Flashback

We decided to move our desktop computer downstairs recently. We don't ever use it anymore--it's old and slow, but perfect for computer games for the kiddos. So, downstairs it went. All of our old pictures are stored on it and I wanted them somewhere safer before the kids ruin that computer. Last night, I moved them all to a flash drive and had fun looking through them. Thought I'd give all of you a little flashback, too.Our first family of four photo. Gavin was 17 months old and Reily was just a couple of weeks old.

Reily as a newborn. What a face!

Roth and Dera, shortly after joining our family. Man, seeing this and knowing what Roth looks like now sure is strange. He's gone from a little boy to a full fledged teenager. Someday, that will be Gavin...scary!

Gavin as a newborn. He's so tiny!

Good grief! I never thought my boys looked anything alike, but Gavin in this picture and Reily in the 2nd one down are very similar looking. That's about where it ended though, if you ask me.

First day of school!

Breakfast of champions! Normally, we take our boys out to eat for their first day of school. This year, with Chris working nights and Gavin having to be at school 1/2 an hour earlier and the boys having different start days, we decided to give Gavin the choice--out to eat or donuts at home. He chose donuts. We were happy and enjoyed them together.

We had previously decided to send Gavin for a 3rd year of preschool at our church--even though he's 5, we felt waiting another year for kindergarten was a good idea. At the last minute, we changed our minds and put him in 4K at the private school he will attend for kindergarten. He is loving it!

He has his own locker and, despite the look on his face, he loves it. He figured out that he fits inside of it on open house night...

Reily starts preschool (for the first time) on Tuesday. He is so very ready.

August

August was a full month.

Some great friends from Rice Lake visited and our boys had a great time with their son. We visited the zoo and, as always, feeding the geese was the favorite activity (yuck)!
My boy loves to climb.

We took a trip to MN to see friends and Chris' family. The boys enjoyed the zoo.

Cousin Kacey was there, too.

We were able to see the butterfly exhibit for the first time. It was great! Gavin tried to catch one the entire time we were there. At the very end, this beauty landed on his hat.

Part of the new polar bear exhibit. Chris had to drag Reily out of this one--kicking and screaming. It was WAY past naptime and time to leave.

He was even too tired to walk all the way to the car. Thank goodness he has such a nice daddy.

Of course, there was some swimming. Uncle Scott got to be the "jet ski".

And, one final trip to the beach before school started.

The boys figured out they could eat in the water. Apparently, this was the most fun two kids could have--until Reily forgot he had a cookie in his hand and fully submerged it.

Here we go...

Well, posting about my own feeling of laziness got me going. I HATE feeling lazy. I have one hour to sit here and just watch TV (sadly, a favorite pasttime). I have decided to not be completely lazy and update my blog, as well as enjoy some mind numbing TV.

Lazy, but busy mama

Well, I feel lazy. I have great pictures to post of the boys, but just can't seem to get around to it. It takes time to move them from camera to computer and the part I need is downstairs--I'm just lazy. I'll get to it and then the world will have plenty of cute photos to look at! Maybe next week...

The good news is that this week has been so busy, that it hasn't nearly been the bummer I thought it would be. The next 2 1/2 weeks are going to be equally busy. Maybe after that I'll have time to breathe, but probably not because then I'll have to get started on preparing for our trip! 7 weeks to go. We can't wait!