About Me

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Married twenty-five years to my wonderful husband and best friend. We have 3 "home-grown" kids and 1 hand-picked by God from Africa. Our life is blessed. We are a close knit family with strong Christian beliefs. Come along with us on our journey…you might have a great laugh or two.

Sunday, February 28, 2010

I just can't quite see it yet...

O.k., it must have been a fluke that night, because we are back down to just a few hours in a row sleeping again for me. Since our new little one is so small and we are trying very hard to put some weight on him, he eats about every three to four hours. Meaning, I'm up a whole lot at night.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that lack of sleep really can have an affect on a person...you know when you just get a little loopy. You might find yourself putting the milk in the cupboard instead of the fridge. Or you might forget to put in the washer detergent into the load of towels. Or you forget your child's name when you go to call them (o.k., that could qualify a whole bunch of people who still get more sleep than me). Whatever the case may be, I'm sure that someday there will be a day where we sleep all the time through the night (kind of like a light at the end of our tunnel somewhere).

I just can't quite see it yet...

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Let me hear ya say "YEAH!"...

It might be the fact that he had six immunization shots yesterday. Or maybe it was the exhaustion from all the times they tried to take blood from him. Or possibly the fact he was just totally wiped out....but he slept ALL NIGHT for the first time since we've been home with him. For me that was seven hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Let me hear ya say "YEAH!"....

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

A morning of numbers...

1 hour to get ready
20 minute drive to get there
1 dreaded doctor's appointment...

4 kids in tow
1 worried mom already
9 in the morning

1 kid in the waiting room
3 kids in the examination room
3 nurses
1 pediatrician

1 hour appointment turned into
2 and a half hours
5 pokes (or tries) to get blood
0 ever gotten at all
1 screaming little boy and
2 kids begging to go back to the waiting room

6 immunizations later in
1 screaming little boy
1 pediatrician realized
3 other kids needed
1 more immunization to make their chart complete

3 kids come back from the waiting room
3 more immunizations done
3 more crying children

1 exhausted mom

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Reasons and excuses...

It's very late as I post this blog, so please forgive me...but this is something that has been upon my heart. Many thanks to my friend for the inspiration for this post...

It's only been just a short amount of time since we've been home with our new little one and I cannot tell you the number of people who have asked us about our adoption. Then it's seems to be always followed by...I wish I could do that...or I just don't think I could afford it...or I'm not sure we could make it work...or I'd be scared to start again. There are all sorts of reasons not to do things...but be careful...those could very well be excuses.

Did you know that it is estimated that about 30% of Americans consider adoption at some point while only about 3% actually do it? So there are 27% of people out there who have maybe had this laid on their heart, then either brush it off or watch that dream float away as the years pass...then they look back and think, "Man, that was something I really wanted to do."

So...are these "reasons" or just "excuses"?...

Can't afford it
What will we drive?
Our house is too small
What if there is some scary unknown disease that this child brings home?
How is this going to affect our bio kids?
They will resent us!
People will think we are crazy
All this paperwork for a baby? Let's just get pregnant!
Where do you even start?
What if the plane crashes when we travel...we leave our three kids as orphans for crying out loud!
Is this really God's will for us?
How am I going to do that hair?
This is most definitely not the right time.
How are we going to pay for this?
It costs what? Where are we going to find the money for that?
All the kids are potty-trained. I deserve a break.

BUT...have you really thought about it? In reality, it's not really about US at all. It's not about ME. Much as we'd like to think, and much as our heart breaks, it's not even about the kids. It's about HIM. About the One who wants us to follow His lead. He wants to be the answer to every question. He is the answer.

I read a quote from a blog that said "We limit God with our excuses. We limit God with our fears. By doing this, we are actually robbing ourselves of the blessings, robbing ourselves of the true joy, robbing ourselves of truly living." Are we robbing God with our "excuses"?

Please, please, please know that I fully realize that adoption is not for everyone. I would never try to push it on anyone. But for those who have considered it, even felt called to it, but maybe looked at that list and said, NOPE, NOT FOR ME, please, let God soften your heart. God can overcome so many of those barriers...those "excuses". It will open up a world of blessings that you would've never imagined.

TRUST HIM...and your life will never be the same.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Bring on the Winter Olympics...




Today it is snowing...again. Buckets upon buckets of the "white stuff" are falling...again. Tonight my husband will try and find our driveway...again. The kids will drag in all wet, cold and covered in snow...again. And I will make my umpteenth cup of hot chocolate...again.

With this much snow...why didn't our city bid for the Winter Olympics?




Tuesday, February 16, 2010

You'll be out of there in no time...

Yesterday was the "dentist day" for our family. Crazy as it may sound, it's sometimes easier if I schedule all the kids and myself to have appointments all at the same time. Of course I should mention that I also scheduled this appointment six months ago...before I had one, two, three, oh that's right...four kids. As I was driving there I really had no idea how this was going to work out. Our little boy is incredibly active and busy right now that I was wondering how in the world I was going to contain him much less entertain him while they cleaned my teeth. Needless to say, it was interesting.

When we arrived at the office the dentist, first called...me (of course...my plan of action still not in place). So I took my oldest son back with me to hold the baby and entertain when he could. I got onto the couch/seat (whatever they call that long thing you get your teeth cleaned on) and they were just starting to clean my teeth when my son was called back for his turn.

O.k., on to plan B. Next in line was my oldest girl. She played for a whooping 2 minutes with the baby before she was called back for her turn. O.k., I didn't think about using plan C but here goes. Last in line was our smallest. She barely walked into the room to play with the baby before she was called for her turn. Oh, of all the days for the dentist to play "catch-up on their appointments".

So there I was with an active one year old sitting on my lap while I lay reclining back, mouth wide open trying to keep him happy and the dentist asking me how I'm doing. Hmmm...did I look like I was doing o.k.? But here's what I found out real fast. If you want to make your dentist hurry the cleaning process up, put a drooling, spitting baby on your lap while you lay reclining back with your mouth wide open filled with toothpaste and unable to calm or play with him...all the while all your other kids are asking you questions from the other rooms.

Yep, you'll be out of there in no time...

Friday, February 12, 2010

Maybe Daddy's got the day off...

This past Wednesday we took our newest little one to get his hearing checked. (The same hearing test that is done on all newborn infants) Our doctor wanted him to have this baseline test done for his records. He was such a little trooper during the entire thing.

During the test it was discovered that he had an ear infection in one ear and fluid in the other ear. So the next day we were off to the regular doctor to get his ears checked and the medicine he needed to get better. The good news is that at the doctor's office they weighed him and he's now gained two pounds...a whole two pounds (almost three). He is now weighing in at 16 pounds. YEAH!!

Now, I know that this doesn't seem like much, but to a child that has been malnourished and is in desperate need of gaining weight (any weight) we are ecstatic. We go back in a couple of weeks for his next round of immunizations, blood work and tests...oh boy, that should be a really fun visit...

maybe Daddy's got the day off...

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Learning as we go along...



Ask any one of my good friends and they will all tell you what I'm most scared about lately with my new little son...o.k., actually it petrifies me...his hair. Now, I fully believe that God made everyone of us special and unique. For example, I have two very different girls - one with wild curly hair and one with very straight hair. For each head of hair you must comb, wash and treat it differently. But our newest little one's hair (African hair), now that's something completely new to me. I mean his head is covered in thousands of these tight little curls which are incredibly soft and oh so cute...but really, let's face it...I have no clue what to do to take care of them.

The other day when I was shopping for shampoo and conditioner, I realized I had no idea what a neutralizer and a relaxer even were. I had to go home and google it...funny if you really think about it. I am so afraid that I will mess his beautiful hair up and it will end up looking much like a tumbleweed.


And don't even get me started on cutting his hair...I don't even know where to begin on that one...comb, scissors, clippers...who knows. My husband says that we'll just call him "Mr. Fro" but I don't really think big hair is back in style yet. So until we can bring back an entire hair movement, I guess we'll just learn as we go along...

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

All for the love of an oven mitt...


My son brought in the mail yesterday and here's how the conversation went..."Mom, you've got a package in the mail today and it says you've got some FREE gifts inside - aren't you curious about the free stuff?" "Thanks sweetie, but nothing in this life is free", I said. "That's not true", my oldest girl standing nearby said. "You told me that you got that oven mitt for free". I smiled. Ahh, yes, the oven mitt...I haven't thought about that story in a long time.

You see, my husband and I have been married for 17 years. We were very young when we got married and had little to no money. One day my husband noticed on the back of one of those Martha White muffin mixes a "get an oven mitt for free" offer. Of course in the fine print was the fact that you had to send in 24 proof of purchases from the back. "We can do this", he said. "Honey, it's 24 packages...24. That's an awful lot of muffins." Still he was undeterred.

Weeks and weeks went by and we ate muffins..lots and lots of muffins. All for the love of an oven mitt. By the time we hit the 15 mark, I thought I'd turn into a muffin. "We're too far into it to stop now", my husband claimed. So the muffin eating continued. By golly, we ate so many muffin mixes I started to think that oven mitt better be something great - because by now, I was hating muffins...Martha White in particular.

On the day of the last package I think I heard the Hallelujah chorus of angels singing. That day we finally sent off all 24 proof of purchases (probably the only people on the planet to do so) and waited for the "gold plated diamond encrusted"(whatever kind of) oven mitt to arrive. Weeks went by and finally it came. My husband had never been so proud. "See, don't ever say I don't get you anything", he said with a smile. I am crazy about my husband...but I was never again going to eat another muffin mix.