Expecting......

I was standing in my bedroom when Malia informed me, "Mom, you're 'preganet'." I immediately looked at myself in the mirror and responded, "Ummm....thanks. Do I really look pregnant?" To which she replied, "No. But you're 'preganet' in your heart because you're adopting!" So true, Mimi. And I think that pregnant hearts have way longer gestation periods than pregnant tummies do.......

One?.......Or Two Less Orphans?

or

During our adoption paperwork stage, Chris and I talked several times about whether or not we should adopt siblings. We knew the orphan crisis was so great, and I always wondered if we could help just a little bit more by taking another child into our home as well. We prayed about it, but always felt like we were only supposed to adopt one child. We didn't feel that God had shown us otherwise. However, on April 16, 2010, that all changed in an instant. Chris had already gotten up and was getting ready for work. I was still sleeping, soundly, when I heard a voice say, clearly, “Adoption is no longer one, but two.” I immediately woke up, startled, and repeated back to myself what I had just heard. Slightly panicked, I went to tell Chris, and when I came back into the bedroom, I picked up the Bible and opened to Romans 8, where it talks all about adoption. “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father…….And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption…….But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it…….And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose….What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?”

All morning, I thought about what I had heard. I was a bit confused. I felt that God was trying to tell me something, but what exactly did it mean? Did it mean we were supposed to adopt two children this time? Or adopt one now, and go back sometime in the future to get another? I talked to my sister about it, who encouraged me to contact our social worker who was preparing our home study and ask her if she could extend our parameters to include siblings. That way, God was still in control of what happened: if we were supposed to get only one child, we would get a referral for one. If God wanted us to adopt siblings, our referral would be for two. Maybe our social worker already had our home study complete; we had already been waiting awhile. Maybe she was finished and it was too late to make changes. But as we were talking, I was filled with a sense of peace.

I called Gina, our social worker, and left her a message. When I hung up, I prayed that if this was really something we should consider, then God would show me. I then opened the Bible randomly to the book of Daniel and read, “Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision……He (God) revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee…….But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known…what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these; As for thee.....thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass.”

I had been in bed. I had been sleeping. Had I been dreaming when I heard the voice? Was it a vision? Later that evening, I received an e-mail back from Gina. Our home study was next on her list of things to be completed, and she would certainly approve us for siblings.

At this point, we don’t know for sure whether we’ll be bringing home one child or two. (Although we have a feeling it will be two!) Will we get a boy? A girl? Two boys? Two girls? One of each? Twins? Only God knows what is in store for us, but I have learned that it is best to trust Him no matter what. He knows exactly who we need and who needs us. And He’s right every time.

All Kinds of Stuff......

Whoa. It's been awhile since I've been on here. And I didn't even post the good news yet! Last Thursday we got an e-mail from our agency saying that Ethiopian adoptions are NOT going to be reduced by 90%! The Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA) is going to continue to work to full capacity to process adoptions! Yay! Our case worker told us that we may still experience a delay, but things will continue to move forward. The U.S. Department of state and several other agencies are stepping in to help the Ethiopian government keep things progressing.

I've been busy this week collecting some awesome items that our Sunday School kids donated for Hannah's Hope (more on that later), babysitting for friends' children and even hosting my sister and her little boy who came to visit me for a couple of days! We spent most of our time in my scrapbooking room, and I got lots of pages done! Yay! I am now officially caught up to December of 2009........(uh-oh.....I'd better continue cranking out pages as I'm afraid that I'll have even less time in the near future......)

In other news......what would you say if someone offered to send you and your spouse on this

 to here

and here

and here

for an entire week? And what if they told you it would be totally free?

And what if the date that you were supposed to leave just happened to coincide with the date of your 11th wedding anniversary?

Would you go? 

Well....that's exactly what someone offered Chris and me. The company Chris works for is sending us on a week-long, all-expense paid cruise to the Mexican Riviera at the end of April. And we leave on our anniversary! So.....while I'm really excited!......I'm also worried about leaving my children behind. Especially since we'll have to leave them for 2 more weeks at some point in the near future when we travel to Ethiopia. I always feel extremely guilty leaving my kids with someone else for that length of time. Does anyone else ever feel this way? Part of me can't wait to go and says that this will most likely be the last time that we ever get to do something like this (because it will be much harder to leave 6 kids at home!).....and the other part of me is all filled with

(Granted, that is a really bad picture of me, and I don't usually wear ties.) But I am a HUGE worrywart when it comes to things like this. What if my kids act out the whole time I'm away? What if they're all sick the whole week I'm gone? What if I'm being a horrible mother by leaving them for that length of time? What if the family members who are watching them get so tired that they will never speak to me again? What if purple elephants start falling from the sky? What if they decide to close all of the highways because an army of polka-dotted platypuses is marching through? What if...........? WHAT IF?? (Anyway, you get the point.) But then I think of laying in the sun for a week and my worries start to fade. A little. And then I take a deep breath and start counting the days until April 30th. What better way to spend my anniversary? Ahhhh..........

One more little tidbit before I sign off.......Malia has a tiny wart starting on the bottom of her foot. She informed me quite seriously the other day that "Grammy told me not to pick at my wart 'cause I might get affection." She was so serious, but I had to laugh at the thought of someone showering her with hugs and kisses simply because she picked at her wart. :-)

Have a great weekend, everyone!