Deadline declared!

After fetching the mail today, my oldest daughter came to me and let me know that she had declared a deadline for receiving a baby referral.  What prompted her declaration?  It was the flyer we received from Gymboree.  You see, I've told her all along that we would not purchase Brother Baby's clothes until we received a referral.  Apparently, Gymboree's semi-annual baby sale ends on September 14th and she says we MUST receive our referral before the baby sale ends.  Ah, the power of mass marketing to a 10 year old.  So, my friendly Gladney caseworker, if you're reading this,  September 14th it is!

Sisters

There were many dreams I had as a little girl.  Most of them have either come to pass or I have abandoned them for a more realistic take on life.  For example,  I have come to terms with the fact that I will never be President of the United States- I have even let my mother get rid of the boxes full of childhood mementos I insisted that she save for my presidential museum.  I know now that I will never be an archaeologist.  I no longer sit through every solo wishing God had given me the gift of a beautiful voice like I did through all of my elementary and junior high years.

But, there is one dream that I really wish I could have experienced, and that was having a sister. I have always wanted a sister.  A few months ago, we were sitting in a restaurant and I was facing a table that was obviously two grown sisters and their mother along with their children. They were so affectionate towards one another's children and so obviously happy in their familial bliss that I couldn't help watching them.  Then, they ordered an entree to share and I found myself doing the stupidest thing- I started crying!  My husband looked at me as if I had 7 heads and asked me why in the world I was crying.  My response was, "I always wanted a sister!" followed by a series of reasons why.  He just shook his head like any confused male would as I turned to my daughters and said, "Girls, you are so lucky to have each other- don't you ever forget that!" 

Now, those of you reading this post who have sisters are probably thinking I'm nuts.  I even had a good friend (the youngest of 4 girls) tell me that it's not all it's cracked up to be.  She explained that sisters can be complicated and sometimes they bring more frustration than joy. But let me tell you- her sisters were there when her babies were born, her sisters are faithful to remember her birthday, her sisters are helping her care for her aging parents, and her sisters most certainly "remember when."  

God has blessed me with lots of wonderful girlfriends along the way.  I have friends from the East Coast to the West Coast and on several continents as well.  However, I've had 16 addresses in my 13 years of marriage, and the constancy of a sister through all of those moves would have been welcomed.  Let's face it, you never have to reconnect with a sister- they just are!

But, the bottom line is, I don't have a sister.  I'll never have a sister.  Yet, I take great joy in the fact that I'm raising three sisters.  They consider one another their best friends.  I delight in the fact that they'll have the opportunity to share all their major life events.  They'll have each other's backs when it comes to boys, bridesmaid dresses, babies, and bad days.  It makes me smile when I help settle their disputes and I am careful to remind them that their sister is their friend forever.  

Uninspired

Okay, so it's been a month since I've posted on the blog.  Window day has come and gone, and there's really nothing to say.  I have been waiting for some fabulous post to come my way, and I've given up.  I'm uninspired.  So, I've decided that I will give a quick update on the last month, and that will have to be that!

Obviously, there is NO NEWS on the adoption front.  We are at the any day point in the wait.  We are carrying our cell phones faithfully and checking messages frequently knowing it could be any day.  But, realistically looking at where we are on the unofficial list, we don't think it will happen in the next few weeks.  The referrals seem to be coming very slowly, and so the wait goes on.  We still think and pray about it often, but it often seems so unreal and I have to admit I sometimes get discouraged.  God is faithful to remind me of his goodness and his faithfulness when I am willing to listen.

The summer is coming to a busy end for our family.  This is Ryan's busiest season at work. Being a children's pastor who has to oversee the Sunday School promotion of 600 children  and the recruiting and training of 200+ volunteers can make August and September pretty demanding.  I have a good friend whose husband is an accountant and I often refer to this period at our house as our "tax season."  

His busyness this month has been compounded by the fact that he spent two weeks in Asia teaching English classes.  He had a fabulous time and is excited that he should get to return next year.  Of course, he was enamored by the children and would have brought many of them home if he could have.  He certainly favored the children over the pig ear and liver he ate while in the mountains.

One of the many faces that captivated Ryan

Ryan eating some swine part with one of his students

One of Ryan's biggest thrills was being in Beijing on the day of the opening ceremonies for the Olympics.  He got to see the Water Cube and the Bird's Nest

The kids and I have started full force back into our school routine.  This year we are studying history from the Medieval Period up to the American Revolution.  Lizzy just wants to know when we're going to get to the castles and princesses.  She's tired of hearing about the Goths and the monasteries.  We meet every Friday with about 15 other families who use the same curriculum and that started back today.  It's such a great way for us to keep working at a good pace and for the kids to have age appropriate activities to reinforce all of our reading and work at home.

I am going to try to post more regularly.  The period we're in right now reminds me of when you're pregnant and you hit those last few weeks when people call to see if anything is happening.  They say things like "Are you feeling ANYTHING?"  or "When's your next doctor's appointment?"  or "How long are they going to let you go before they induce?"  That part was always a chore for me and I feel like this is the same thing except it could go on for months.  It's gonna be okay though.  I know that on the timeline of eternity, these few months are but a blink of the eye and that it will happen in God's perfect timing.  In the mean time, please pray that my heart will remember what my head already knows.  

Time goes by

It's hard to believe, but tomorrow marks 10 weeks of waiting for our referral.  Time is flying by and we know that we probably have already waited longer than we have left to wait.  Of course, we realize that anything can happen in the world of international adoption, but we're hopeful that our referral will come during the "normal" window of time, which is 3-5 months.  

The kids are having one massive playdate today.  They each invited a friend over and so I'm currently preparing bagel bites for 8 children.  I had to honor playdate promises I'd been putting off all summer and since we start back to school next week- it was time!  It's so funny to see how the different ages and genders play together.

One of the fun purchases we made this summer was one of those water slides with the blowers. The kids have had lots of fun keeping cool while playing outside- and I love mopping up the puddles from the door to the potty.  It makes for fun days.

Last weekend we decided to finally try the free Science and History museums in downtown Raleigh.  They were so fun- especially the Science one.  I can't believe that we hadn't been there before- they were so nice, and so free!  The biggest hit for our family was definitely the butterfly room- Lizzy had a massive butterfly land on her dress, and we all enjoyed watching her facial expressions.  Lily announced that she wants a seahorse for her birthday after I drug her away from the seahorse tank crying.






 

We continue to covet your prayers as we wait and pray.  

Good News!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow,

Praise him all creatures here below,

Praise him above ye heavenly hosts,

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

Amen

When I was young, I attended a very old school baptist church.  Every single Sunday, just before the preaching began, I remember we would sing the words of the song above.  According to the bulletin the man at the door of the church handed me each week, it was called the "Doxology." It meant very little to me then except that the "boring" part of the church service was about to begin.  

That's not true anymore.  It has been the song that has resonated in my heart through many steps of this adoption journey.  The words of the doxology have become very precious to me as I've watched His hand weave our story.  Yesterday, when I opened my e-mail and saw the good news that Gladney was beginning to issue referrals again, the words once again played through my mind as the tears sprang to my eyes.  

We are delighted because even though this doesn't mean anything specifically for our family- today- it means things are happening.  Praise God, children are once again being matched and very soon, people will begin traveling to complete this "forever family" process.

We have continued faithfully praying through these 40+ days of delays, but we have also found ourselves very guarded about the future.  I have discussed it less and invested less time into daydreaming and planning- simply as a means of protecting myself from the what-ifs of a permanent delay.  Now I am once again awakening to the reality that it is going to happen.  And now, we are at the two month mark.  That means it could happen soon!  Like in the next couple of months soon!  What a joy!  What a responsibility!  How exciting!

Summer Madness

It's hard to believe that tomorrow will make 7 weeks of waiting! We are passing the days with great disorganization and a minimal amount of structure. I don't like that. Most people love summer and look forward to the lazy days where anything goes. Not me. I love structure-too much structure. I know, however, that my children need some sort of break, so we slow the pace in the summer and I try hard to pretend like I like it. This week looks to be especially unstructured as we have 3 doctor's appointments, the in-laws are coming, and of course, the customary July 4th festivities.
Today was doctor's appointment #1. We got Isaac's fracture re-checked and he's got the all clear to bike and scooter again. He was forbidden from performing any stunts for another 4 weeks.
I will be returning to the dermatologist on Thursday to have a suture removed from my cheek. I went in last week to have a little spot on my face looked at, and they decided to do a biopsy- we're hoping of course that it's nothing, but we'll find out this week.
However, the highlight of last week was not my surprise biopsy, but our road trip to see the African Children's Choir perform. Ryan and I had seen them years ago, in college, and I thought it would be fun for the kids to see them. So, Friday afternoon we loaded up and headed to Fayetteville. Everyone enjoyed the favorite Campbell road trip meal- Cracker Barrel. Then we attended the performance- which was wonderful. Let me tell you, those kids need to make an exercise DVD. Their dance moves would kick tail on any cardio workout I've purchased from Amazon! They were amazing! Fun was had by all!
We seem to have passed the inspection hurdle on selling our house. We think we've agreed on all of the necessary details, and the financing appears to be solid, so we are just praying for everything to go smoothly for that July 31st closing. I need to start practicing my happy dance now! Hey, maybe I can use some of the moves I saw on Friday night!
Things continue to be stalled with our agency, although hope of a resolution appears to be on the horizon and they have done a phenomenal job of working through it. I simply cannot say enough good things about Gladney at this point! We continue to pray for those families who were further along in the process than we were when the slow-downs began. We are anxious to see someone, anyone, get some action with their case. However, we continue to trust in what we know to be true- and I personally have been spending a lot of time belting out Chris Tomlin songs at the top of my lungs. I'm especially hooked on the ones that remind me of how big and awesome and trustworthy God is. It's a great coping tool!

Taking the plunge

Well, we've officially taken what I consider to be a major plunge.  Okay, maybe it's not so major, but it was still a step of faith.  Are you ready?  We bought THE bedding- the CRIB bedding. 

First of all, I should explain that Ryan and I are house people.  We don't own a boat or go snow skiing or golfing, but we do spend time doing house stuff.  We both have strong decorating opinions and we've spent more than our share of time watching HGTV.  We get gazillions of home decorating catalogs, and I have to sneak them into the trash when the pile gets too high because Ryan likes to keep them all for "ideas."  

So, as soon as we decided to adopt, we began keeping our eyes open for bedding that we would use for the baby.  Now, this isn't as easy as just finding a crib bedding we like-that would be easier.  The baby will be sharing a room with Isaac, so we had to find a bedding that we liked for the baby that had coordinating twin bedding that we liked for Isaac.  This meant Ryan, Isaac, and I all had to agree AND it had to be something that would be appropriate for a baby and a bigger boy.  Isaac will probably be 9 or so before we replace this bedding, so it obviously couldn't be too preschool-ish.  So, after a few months of scoping the Land of Nod, Pottery Barn Kids, Company Kids, and a few of our other favorites, we all agreed on one.  

I thought I would wait until we got a referral to actually purchase the bedding.  But, the corporate giant that is Pottery Barn decided to discontinue our chosen bedding and we decided we better go ahead and take the plunge lest it all be gone before referral day comes.  The positive side of this is that we got all of it for 50% off- which made it almost reasonably priced. 

So, we've made our purchase and the bedding is safely tucked away in a closet waiting for referral day when we bust out the green paint and start looking for the sailboat model Isaac is expecting to have in his "new room."

It's a little thing, but it's SOMEthing.  Something that reminds me that despite the current stalls and the continued wait,  we are going to have a baby, and he is going to be sleeping in our house, and I do need to make preparations- maybe not just the fabric kind, but the kind that come with the prayers and petitions of a loving mom who can't wait for the chance to delight in another soul entrusted in her care.