Apparently I'm losing the war against allowing the puppy on the couch. Notice my husband is not pushing said puppy off the couch in this picture but rather cuddling with the puppy on the couch!
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And as a bonus nudging our puppy towards the "Best Pet Ever" status, I caught her drinking out of the toilet tonight. "Really?" was all I could think to ask her when I saw it.
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Years ago, before I had children, I ran a marathon. 26.2 miles! There was great crowd support with people cheering, entertaining, and handing out goodies all along the route. As I approached mile 23 the crowd began yelling, "You're almost there! The end is so close! Keep going!!" They were chanting those words to all the runners, trying to be encouraging. But, not having run the marathon course before, I believed them, like literally thought just around the next curve was going to be the finish line!
For 3.2 miles!
3.2 miles that included some hills, I might add!
I was able to finish strong, but looking back the last few miles were way harder than they'd have been if I hadn't thought the finish line was closer than it was.
The past 2 weeks waiting on our adoption referral has felt like that last 3.2 miles. Each day thinking, "Surely today!" and each day ending without "The Call". But, we're pressing on, just not carrying our phones absolutely everywhere with quite the same excitement and gusto we had days ago!
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Today my 3 year old used the term "LED light" appropriately in a sentence, so now I have to record some of the funny things he says before he grows out of them and I forget!
the dining room = "diving room"
scuba diver = "scooper diver"
restaurant = "restronk"
and this week there was Open House at his preschool, only I don't think he understood "Open House" being at his school because he kept referring to it as "Open School". Like, "We'll have dinner and then go to my Open School."
I'm sure I'll be thinking of many others to add to this list!
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Have a wonderful weekend!
In honor of the fact that our adoption documents are expiring and we have appointments to be re-fingerprinted next week, I thought I'd re-run the Unclassifiable post from last year.
But, this year? I'm prepared, thanks to Kathleen who generously shared her tricks and products!! Seriously, you can imagine my glee the day I got these babies in the mail!
Bring on the fingerprinting!! And for the record, just what exactly did I know about adoption hurdles a year ago? My 2011 self could definitely tell my 2010 self a thing or two about hurdles!
**The following was originally published by me here on this blog March 25, 2010.**Unclassifiable! Yes, unclassifiable! As in not able to be classified.
That's what U.S. Citizenship and Immigration (CIS) finally deemed my fingerprints after I went in 2 different times to let them take my prints.
These fingerprints are crucial for our I-600A, which is the approval to be able to bring the child we adopt from Ethiopia into the U.S.
It sounds kinda cool to have unclassifiable prints, but in reality?
Not so cool.
Especially if you are not trying to live a life of crime, but rather trying to adopt a child from a foreign country!
So, after gathering police clearances (which was a whole adventure in and of itself) from 2 different police departments representing the 2 cities I've lived in during the past 5 years that stated I was not a criminal, I headed in today for my appointment with CIS (which falls under the Dept. of Homeland Security).
At 9:30 this morning I got to see my 3rd Department of Homeland Security office in my city. I had no idea we even had one before beginning this adoption journey and now I've been in three in less than three months.
And I'm here to tell you, the Dept. of Homeland Security? Doesn't mess around! You would probably be glad to know that such an important office to the welfare of our country has tight security and elaborate, specific procedures around their offices. But, should you actually have to go to one (or three), all the security and elaborate, specific procedures just serve to stress you out!
There are tons of signs posted everywhere, which are just printed out on white pieces of paper and taped up, explaining the various rules and procedures. They say things like, "Place bags here to be x-ray scanned, even sunglasses must be sent through the scanner." "Turn off your cell phone." "Turn in your appointment form here." "Stand here and wait to be called. Do not approach the window until you are called." "Have your picture idea ready." "Fill out only the highlighted areas" "Exit this door."
I graduated from a university with a degree, but somehow I am still not smart enough for these offices. I did tons of things wrong each time.
Today, there was a no food rule (which I don't think the other 2 offices had) and because I had my toddler with me, I had packed several snacks in my purse, all of which were confiscated at the security checkpoint by the scanner guy! Sorry, I must have missed that sign!
But, praise God, the actual appointment didn't take very long. And after swearing under oath that I am not a criminal and providing police department proof that I am not a criminal, I think they may actually believe I am not a criminal. And hopefully we'll be getting the final approval in the mail soon -- the last document we are waiting on before we can be on the wait list for a child!
At least I don't have to gain 30 lbs for this child, but if these hurdles keep multiplying I am gonna need an epidural!
Saturday morning after breakfast, all 3 kids headed upstairs and were happy and content for a while. I went up to put away some laundry and found them like this:
All 3 in the single bottom bunk, my daughter in the middle reading aloud to a brother tucked on each side of her.Priceless, precious moments!Wordful
Wednesday,
Wordless Wednesday, &
Not So Wordless Wednesday.
***We got some more good news from our adoption agency on Friday and are currently in any-day-now mode for getting our referral, but no call today! Actually that's not true, there were 2 calls to my cell phone today, both of which made my heart beat out of my chest when I heard the ringing, but they were not THE call! And the call from a relative of mine who lives in the same 817 area code as our adoption agency from a new cell number that my phone didn't recognize -- so not funny! I really, really thought that one was THE CALL! So, in an attempt to gain just a bit of sanity for myself, here's a post about shopping and sewing!!!****
Several months ago when my daughter turned 5 years old and outgrew the toddler section at Target, I wrote the following letter to the Target store in my head:
Dear Target,
I must first say that I love your store and shop there quite often. I've even been known to make a trip to a Target store 3 times in 1 week! Over the past 5 years I've loved shopping your baby/toddler girl section. I've been amazed at the cute, quality dresses and other adorable things I've been able to get for my daughter at such reasonable prices!
However, my daughter is now five and has outgrown your toddler section. I've looked in your "Little Girl's" section, but seeing as how I do not want my 5 year old to look like Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus, I'm afraid I cannot find many clothes there I'd buy for my little girl. Please consider carrying over some of the same cute, sweet styles from your toddler department into the little girl's section, and save the black lace and cropped t-shirts for your lingerie department.
Sincerely,
Almost your biggest fan
I have no idea why I never actually wrote and mailed that letter. Instead, for the last several months I've walked by the toddler girl section and just sighed at all the cute things that I couldn't buy and snarled at the mostly tacky selection in the little girl's section. But recently, I realized I could buy a toddler dress for my daughter and then just add a bit of my own length with an extra ruffle of coordinating fabric!
I bought this dress minus the bottom ruffle for about $10, and then just added the ruffle.
I even made some coordinating ruffle pants!
A custom-looking outfit that was super easy and cheap!
And the best part? I now again have a reason to shop in the Target toddler girl section!Find more
Gratituesday,
Tackle it Tuesday, and
Works for Me Wednesday
We've had tremendous beautiful, warm weather here for several weeks, but there was one day this week that turned chilly, so for afternoon snack we had homemade hot chocolate with whipped cream and sprinkles. One last hurrah for winter!And remember what I said last Friday about you guys getting a front row seat to enjoy all the chaos without having to clean up from it?Well, the hot chocolate fun ended as pretty much all good things do around here, with a mess!
But, enjoying hot chocolate with my 3 most favorite little people at 3:30pm on an April day? Was so worth the mess!!______________This next story is just to illustrate the level of tolerance my husband and I have developed for the chaos. The kids have a police motorcycle ride-on toy in our playroom. It has buttons to push and it spews out messages, and at random points over the last 7 years we've had the toy, it will start broadcasting the messages even though nobody is pushing the buttons. The first few times it happened it was spooky because it always seemed to happen late at night when all the kids were asleep and we'd go investigate the noise expecting to find a child out of their bed but there wouldn't be one! We finally figured out the toy was just malfunctioning and taking the batteries out and putting them back in would fix the problem for several months. But, the other night around 10pm while my husband and I were downstairs, the toy was shouting out, "Calling officer! Report to headquarters!" over and over again. And we both just ignored it, didn't even comment about it, worry that it would wake up the sleeping children, fight over who was going to go remove the batteries, just no acknowledgement at all! I don't think either of us even flinched. Finally after about 45 minutes of the crazy, I looked at my husband and said, "I can't believe that thing has been going off for a while now and neither of us has done anything about it!" And then I sent him upstairs with the screw driver!______________I made these homemade granola bars this week and they were super easy and super yummy, endorsed by our entire family!______________If you're an Ikea lover or a dog person, this YouTube video is hilarious!Too bad it's a joke, because our puppy Madeline would really like a highchair!______________Happy Friday!
I don't need to whine again that our adoption wait has gone on way longer than expected. You all know!
What I've found myself asking God the last few months is, "Did we hear you right?" "Is this your plan for us?" "Are we totally on the wrong path here?"
Because we didn't choose adoption. God led us to it in tons of clear and specific ways that spans years of time. The last year leading up to our signing on with an agency was so full of obvious God speaking moments that it truly became comical, the "coincidences" piled up and were happening to both my husband and me. And even through the first few months of our adoption paperwork, God's presence was really felt.
But, the past few months, as the wait has drug on and the bad news has rolled in, it feels like God has gotten quiet on the adoption front. We've felt Him lead in other areas of our lives, though.
And just this morning I was asking God, "Do all these delays mean this is not your will for us?"
Then early afternoon during my 3 year old's nap, I started working on my homework for my Thursday Bible study group, we're going through Colossians, but the first question I came to today had us reference Gen. 17 which features Abraham and God again promising to make him a great nation although Abraham had not one son yet.
I've heard the stories of Abraham and Sarah many times, but today the math struck a different chord in me. Abraham was 75 years old when God first promised to make him a great nation (Gen. 12:4) and he was 100 years old when his first son, Isaac, was born (Gen 21:5).
That equals 25 years of waiting!!
Kinda makes our 1 year adoption wait seem like a cake-walk!
And did the long years of waiting mean Isaac wasn't God's will for Abraham and Sarah? Of course not! Their delays didn't mean God wanted them on a different path (remember the Ishmael debacle!).
The years of waiting just meant God wanted them to wait!
And so we wait.
(Some days more patiently than others. Yesterday was an impatient day, today was better. Praying already for tomorrow.)Find more
Thankful Thursday here.
In addition to Madeline the puppy's exuberant love for the bathtub and kiddie pool, this week we discovered her love of the sand table!
The fact that it is an elevated sandbox didn't stop Madeline, no problem jumping right in and doing some wild digging!
Wanna know what her nose looks like when she gets out?
Don't let her sweet face fool you, she's worse than a 2 year old child, this dog!
Wordful
Wednesday,
Wordless Wednesday, &
Not So Wordless Wednesday.
Apparently I'm losing the war against allowing the puppy on the couch. Notice my husband is not pushing said puppy off the couch in this picture but rather cuddling with the puppy on the couch!
