Forever Young

AHOPE - Have you heard of it?

2010-01-04T21:37:00.000+09:00

We leave in 31 days for Addis Ababa. The major mission of our trip is to meet our daughter, Little Miss B! We are flying on Emirates from Seoul. There are many great things about Emirates but one of the best things is we each get 30kg of checked luggage and 7kg of carry-ons. Myra gets 10kg of check luggage and 5kgs for her carry on. If you are counting that's 89kg or 196lbs...WOW!!

EVERYTIME we go to Ethiopia we all get scabies, so I've decided to stop bringing so many changes of clothes and just embrace the scabies. And now that I have three kids I've given up on looking hot so I can pack way less hot looking stuff. Needless to say there will be a lot of extra space in our luggage...we are thinking almost 150 lbs. Nice or as Noah would say "Peeerfect"!!!!

AHOPE has a special place in our hearts, and we are excited to give our space to meet their needs. The thing is that we can do this thing in such a bigger, better way if we come together...if we do this TOGETHER.

Isn't that the best part of blogging? I love that I can share my passion and be connected with all you wonderful people in an instant.

AHOPE has several needs. We have a connection to the medical community in Korea, and we are able to purchase medical supplies at wholesale prices. It is awesome to think what our $$ will do with the favorable exchange rate, lower health care costs and wholesale discounts. It's going to be amazing.

If you are interested, you can donate via the CHIP IN button on my side bar. $5 will REALLY go a long way in making a huge impact. Maybe if we all go without our Starbucks for a week I will only be able to take one change of clothes :)...wouldn't that be AWESOME!

In summary - SHOW ME THE MONEY and BRING ON THE SCABIES :)

From now until forever

2010-01-04T09:10:00.000+09:00

December 17, 2009 was Eden Jiwon Young's forever family day. Jiwon means beautiful. We gave her the name Eden because we saw what heaven will be like when we open our hearts to her. She is our beautiful garden. A place to be near God and see a reflection of how God defines beauty.

Our lawyer is the main reason "the process" only took 26 days. When we first met I was not all that impressed but I can tell you that he goes the extra mile to bring children home. He waited hours at court to make sure paperwork was signed. He drove back and forth between the orphanage and court to get papers signed. Things that normally take weeks he made happen in one week. Eden needed to be home, like all children, and he made it happen in a BIG way.

Eden's entrustment ceremony was in the afternoon. We arrived a few minutes early to take pictures and thanks to my sweet brother we captures some amazing memories of the day. For Noah and Myra's ceremonies other people did the organizing, script writing, people gathering. Since Eden's orphanage is not an adoption agency they let us do all the planning. It was meaningful for Brian and I to write the ceremony script and carefully plan the details of that afternoon.

(Myra was very sick and opted to take a 4 hour afternoon nap missing the ceremony completely. Oh well.)

Our family pastor open the ceremony with a prayer. He prayed for Eden Jiwon's physical and spiritual healing. He thanked God for the staff at Love and Hope and their boldness in providing for Eden and all the children with an unrestrainted love.

The ceremony was simple but meaningful. We shared a few thoughts and prayers for each of the 5 candles representing Christ, Jiwon's Birth Family, Love and Hope Orphanage, Our Family and Jiwon.

Brian and I made these promises to Eden -

*We promise to love you, cherish you, and claim you as our precious child as long as we live. We forever embrace you into our family, to love and care for you, always and forever.

*We promise to provide you a Christian home of love and peace, to raise you in the truth of our Lord's instruction and discipline, and to encourage you to one day trust Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

The ceremony was read in both Korean and English which added to its loveliness. Eden was scared and employed all her signature coping moves (head scratching, lip sucking, frown making). We, of course, sported color coordinated outfits.

Eden's special nanny cried the entire ceremony. She told us through a translator that they were tears of joy. She also gave us a small picture album of Eden's first months in the orphanage. And matching sweatshirts for the kids...a woman after my own heart. It is a blessing to know that she had someone love her in a special way during the first 10 months of her life. I am glad that there will be someone to visit and cling to as she grows. Someone connecting her to Korea.

The ceremony ended with the Love and Hope director praying over little Eden Jiwon.

And then we went home ... forever!

Preparing for Forever

2010-01-03T00:27:00.009+09:00

A few days before we found out about Jiwon I donated ALL of our baby stuff because I was sure that God was calling us to older child adoption from here on out. I was SURE that I would no longer need those toys, chairs, mats, spoons, and bottles. Funny how things work out.

My theory is that God wanted Brian and I to be totally and completely dependent on him. Some amazing things happened during the next three weeks...

*Brian received received an unexpected bonus that covered the lawyer expenses.

*Our sweet friends let us borrow their mini-van indefinitely so we can all travel together. I never thought I would be thrilled to have a late model mini-van but I'M SO HAPPY!!!!

(don't worry our kids mostly ride in car-seats)

*Many, many people in the community GAVE us all the baby stuff we could ever want or dream of (seriously more than we can even use)

*Both of our parents greeting the news with open hearts and willing spirits (AWESOME)!

*My mom agreed to come to Korea two weeks early to help us with the transition

*My brother decided to visit us during his Christmas holiday

The provision from God has been so dramatic and amazing that we are humbled by His love for us.

And so our new routine became visiting Jiwon everyday for a few hours. Sometimes we all would go and sometime I would get alone time with her.

She was scared and very distant at first but slowly she started to trust us and even sort of smiled once. My friend helped translate and I got to ask her primary care givers all the questions my little heart desired (this is one things I've learned after three adoptions...ask all your questions NOW b/c once the adoption is final the door closes). I learned how she liked to take her milk, how she liked to fall asleep, how she was used to take a bath. It was a textbook perfect transition. And you know how that made me (adoption book reading mama) so happy...I think it also helped Jiwon with her transition ;).

We met with the lawyer a few days later to sign some more paperwork. As we were leaving I asked, in a very caution way as to not offend, how long he thought it would take to complete the adoption. When he said that all the paperwork should be finished in 7 days I struggled to find words. 7 days?!?! WHAT!?!? So this thing is really happening...

Yes, No, Yes, No

2010-01-02T01:22:00.003+09:00

Then the director of Love and Hope asked, "would you be interested in adopting Jiwon?" WHAT?!?!?! This was not part of my plan for this meeting. You know when you rehearse a meeting in your head before the meeting. "Uhhh, Yes" was what I said but what I was thinking was something more like, "you're supposed to say no and we leave to go collect more donations. We already have a baby and our daughter is waiting for us in Ethiopia. We can't have 4 kids. Can we?"

A nanny brought Jiwon down for us to say hello or ahn nyeong ha se yo. She was so small...smaller than I remembered. And sad.

The director and the onsite nurse reviewed her intake paperwork and medical history with me while Noah and Myra bounced off the walls. I didn't even bring a pen and paper with me to the meeting. It's funny how sometimes you can see a life changing moment from miles away and others come out of nowhere...and you can't even take notes.

Brian laughed when I told him the news over the phone that afternoon. I think his exact words were, "are you crazy?" Although he had been praying for Jiwon for over 6 month, they had never met in person. She was just a picture to him. The first few months he kept calling Jiwon a "him" instead of a "her."

Brian is an awesome father. He is 100% committed to our children and invested in our family. He has a passion for our family that I rarely see in other men.

He is just not that into "the process" of growing our family. He was less than thrilled with "the process" to bring our first child home. "The process" to bring our second child home almost ended our marriage. Miss B's "process" was TOTALLY different but then Brian is a different man these days. Last week, he shared his vision for our family of 7...he thinks we are going to add more boys from India??!!? Yesterday, he was talking about creating a foster home for children. Who is this man?

Back to this story...we could not get a consistent answer to the question. Brian was a no and then a yes and then a "no, but I will go to Love and Hope to be with Jiwon when I get back." I was a yes then a "no we can't do this" and then a yes again. I would be a no and then go visit Jiwon and be a "yes this little girl is my daughter. " It was hopeless.

Brian was a yes when I was a no. I was a yes when Brian was a no. We begged God to give us a consistent answer for at least 24 hours but that never came.

I had a vision for our first day as a family with Jiwon at Love and Hope. We would arrive on time in matching outfits. Play joyfully with a smiling Jiwon. Noah and Myra would show the love to Jiwon and the other children. Brian and I would leave unified in our decision. The kids would fall asleep on the way home. Peace would come tumbling out of our car.

The reality was the complete opposite of my vision. Noah and Myra were disobedient, loud and down-right mean. Jiwon was terrified. I cried most of the day. Brian left in a mad daze and refused to talk to us for the next couple of hours. There was nothing to make for lunch when we got home. It was horrible. Then something happened.

Brian has been listening to this guy for about four or five years now on iTunes. Over the last couple of years, God had been using these sermons to draw Brian closer to Him.

It was through this news that God opened his heart. "God's calling us to do this. Our excuses are silly -- how could we say no?" Brian emerged from his alone-time in tears, God had completely blown him up and he left struck by the awesomeness of God's grace and after that moment, was a YES. The gospel is our hope and Christ is our strength. We were ready to take a step of faith.

The Friday after Thanksgiving we met with the attorney to make our petition official. We had no idea how long "the process" would take or what it would look like be we were ready to be Jiwon's family...

Brian was in San Diego

2010-01-01T10:06:00.004+09:00

We made an appointment to drop off the mobiles at Love and Hope. I had two appointments that week. Monday the furniture guy was coming to bring some stuff for Meme's room, and Friday we were going to Love and Hope. Only on Monday ("our day" for Love and Hope), I got the kids dressed super cute and headed off to Love and Hope. It was funny to see our family get out of the car, settle into the office, only to be told via a phone interpreter that our appointment was on Friday. We looked great for the furniture guy.

On Friday, the kids looked cute again and we arrived 15 minutes early only to wait an hour for the coordinator/interpreter to arrive. I used all the toys, food, drinks and special games that I could think of to keep Myra and Noah going. By the time the meeting actually started they were bouncing off the walls. Really a comedy act.

They LOVED the mobiles and were thrilled to receive such an out-pouring of love. Thank you again Wonderland Studio for being so generous to the children at Love and Hope.

There is another part of this story that I have not shared yet. There was this one little girl, Jiwon, that we had a burden to serve in a greater way.

When Noah was born he had a heart condition called VSD. He spent several weeks in the ESWS baby home and then was transferred to Severance Hospital in Seoul for open heart surgery.

(isn't he a cute baby?)

He was assigned a foster mother at this point but had not moved to her home yet. She shared with us at our meeting this May that it was too hard for her to be with him in the hospital. She opted to start caring for him when he was discharged.Noah was all alone. I can only imagine how scared my sweet little boy was during that time. Maybe I'm overly emotional about the whole thing and projecting my emotions on him but it is still not the best way to endure open heart surgery.

We, Brian and I, wanted to make Jiwon's time in the hospital better. Maybe in some way pay it forward or make it better for someone in Noah's same situation. Our motivation was something like that. ...So I shared with the director of Love and Hope our burden for little Jiwon. The idea was that we would visit her in the hospital during her recovery from heart surgery. We were even willing to come to Love and Hope after her discharge to provide more one-on-one care during the months that followed. It was a great plan and we were sure that they would say just say no thank you. Brian did not even come to this meeting because we were so sure that Love and Hope would not want our help. He was not even in Korea but away on business. Funny how you have a vision for how things will go and God has a TOTALLY different plan...

H1N1 and what to do with Monday

2009-12-31T09:50:00.000+09:00

Korea is a bit crazy about H1N1, but from what I can gather about the "crisis" in the States so is the US. There was a conference training thing in August that caused many Americans to come to Daegu. Two of those people brought H1N1 with them from the States. Needless to say, all Americans became suspect. We were banned from Love and Hope until all children could get the vaccination. Knowing that we could not get the vaccination even with our fancy health insurance I knew it would be a long banishment.

So - what to do with our Monday mornings became the question. I liked the idea of a community outreach/service project but nothing seemed to fit like serving at Love and Hope. Finally, I decided to put our new found free time to use for Love and Hope even if we could not visit in person. We collected gently used baby clothes, diapers and toys every week and just dropped them off on Mondays. Noah saved his money and purchased toys for the kids. We prayed for the kids during our time on Mondays. We made art projects for them. I contacted a few artists on Etsy. Told them our story about nothing to do on Mondays. Shared our vision for lovely things at Love and Hope. It was fun just to see what would happen. This wonderfully talented woman created 14 mobiles for the baby room for free.

If you need a mobile please buy it from this woman just to say thank you for not knowing me, not knowing the kids at Love and Hope, but giving of her time, resources and talents to make life better for these kids.

Amazing love. That's the thing...when you ask other people for help you never know what God is going to do when people come together. I could maybe afford one mobile but together several rooms at Love and Hope now have loveliness! I like to think I had a part in it but really it was this woman...maybe if you have a minute go thank her...and spend some money at her store. The mobiles took a few months to get to Korea, we took a trip to Hawaii, and life just happened. The three days before Thanksgiving the mobiles arrived....

In the beginning

2009-12-30T21:45:00.001+09:00

Instead of doing a long story short I thought I would give you the long version for a change. So here we go...

Back in June, right after Myra came home, we started visiting Love and Hope Orphanage on Monday mornings. Love and Hope is an home for disabled or otherwise non-adoptable Korean children. Some of the children have significant disabilities while some children have mild CP. I'm still not quite sure how social welfare works in Korea, but I can tell you that the staff and children at Love and Hope are on the front line for Christ. Truly inspirational service for/of Christ.

The three of us would spend three hours each Monday loving on the kids in the baby room and the later in the big kid room. At first it was pretty horrible. Noah would complain and act out. Mrya was super needy. But after a few weeks things starting turning around. We established a routine. We started to remember everyone's name and invest in specific children. Noah starting "showing his love" and was excited for Monday to come around. We put the pictures of all the kids in the baby room up in the kitchen to help us remember to pray for them specifically, by name. The whole thing was transformational for me and Noah. We had our special little ones - Handsome, Spikey Hair Man, Little One ...

We started planning ahead for our time with the kids and making it a special time for both our new friends and Noah. Noah's favorite time was the day we took pirate costumes for everyone. We took everyone's picture...raced home...made a book...raced back to Love and Hope with the book to share.

The kids loved it and I think they even learned something about pirates. It really was fun and considering my family's issues with pirates I think it was perfect!

Then came H1N1...

I can do this

2009-12-29T10:32:00.000+09:00

Still working on the update...but wanted to share this for some accountability...thirty days of nothing. Cathy posted the challenge and I think it's a great way to make sure ALL my available money finds its way into my extra luggage space in the form of hydrocortisone cream and sterile gloves. We leave February 5th for Ethiopia so I will have 4 days to do all my donations shopping with all the money I've saved by not shopping in January. I'm going to spend no money for thirty days starting January 1st. I will of course still buy groceries and gas/train tickets... but that's it. No etsy, no fabric market, no amazon, no nothing.

Should be interesting.

Update in progress....

2009-12-27T21:28:00.001+09:00

Please be patient :)

Uncle Andrew's in Town

2009-12-14T21:04:00.000+09:00

Guess who's happy?

Flash Back Friday

2009-12-11T13:50:00.000+09:00

ahhhh....Christmas!!!

SIgned, Sealed and Delivered

2009-12-06T07:10:00.000+09:00

Miss B's official referral packet arrived last week in the mail. We sign it and mailed on the same day! It had a new picture of her smiling. All of the other pictures we have she is so serious so it was great to see this reported but never witnessed by us part of her personality. We learned that her favorite color is red. Hopefully, she will love my hair ;)

We are hard at work on her care package. We ordered a little t-shirt with our family picture on it. I totally copied this family's idea....but to their credit it is a REALLY good idea. We made a picture book about us on Shutterfly...it will be a few days before that gets here. After reading this post, we are working on our recording including some Gigi. And finally, I got this special treasure for her and had the tag inscribed with "Little Miss."

We decided on our travel dates to Ethiopia for our first trip - February 14 - 20!!!! Brian, Myra and I will travel to Addis. Noah gets to stay home with Meme (my Mom). He's excited for some special alone time. I'm excited to meet little B. It is so different falling in love with a 6 year old from afar. I keep trying to make decisions on her room, clothes, middle name etc but come up short because she will clearly have an opinion on all these things. It will be wonderful to hear that opinion! I'm also excited to see Myra's birth mom again and show her what an amazing little girl Myra is becoming. So - let the count down to travel begin!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving with SO much to be thankful for!

2009-11-27T11:17:00.000+09:00

Here is a shot (by Noah) of me cutting the material. I know I should invest in some tools of the trade but why when you have tools from another trade?

This finished product was amazing! I was so excited all day to be dressed the same in outfits I made with my own two hands - not outsourced!!!! I think we look adorable.

Dinner at the Ayer's house was wonderful...of course. The table spread was tasty and beautiful. There are special candles on the table for all the new and soon to be new members of our three families - Ben, Evie, Riah, Myra, Miss B.

The kiddie table....to much fun.

Just because...

2009-11-26T22:07:00.000+09:00

Stay tuned for our Thanksgiving recap and pictures of our matching outfits!!!

Ceremony, Traditions, Family

2009-11-24T19:11:00.000+09:00

My birthday celebration posts created the desire for more information on how we celebration birthdays exactly. Truthfully, it looks different each year as we add more to the ceremony of it all but the core idea is still the same. All of this got me thinking more about our family and the importance of ceremony in our everyday lives....

I guess my strong desire to create ceremony is an inborn tenancy that was nurtured during my 11 years in uniform. Is it just me or is there something magical about a flag slowing waving in the air or the flicker of a candle?

One of the favorite “make fun of Leah” stories told by my sweet sister and brother involves my uber-creative tea ceremonies. The tea ceremonies were popular afternoon entertainment during the time before middle school but after the first tooth was wiggled loose. Costumes, fancy food, tea and some creative dancing made for hours of entertainment and the entertainment just keeps on coming each time the story is retold.

West Point is ripe with ceremony and tradition. “The Core has” but despite that the Point is still a training ground for all things ceremonious. Weekend parades are at the top of my list. The green grass, marching music, plebe trivia, and itchy uniforms. Ah the memories....they just keep on giving. Another favorite are the rite of passage traditions at West Point. My Mother used to say “no sense in doing college aged activities when you are in high school.” The military has memorized this mantra and turned it into a way of life. Hair cuts, the type of socks you can wear, the speed at which you have to walk, the doors you can use, the hours that you can have trash in your trash can are all tied into your grade, rank, status etc. Nothing makes you feel accomplished that trash in your trash can whenever you want :). Seriously, rite of passage is a big deal to cultivating unity of purpose, team and in some ways family.

Ring Night 1999

Rite of passage in a family looks a bit different than at West Point (or at least it does in our family). Trash CAN be in the trash can at any time of the day. However, the idea is still the same. Big boys help little girls. Mommy helps the children. We all help those with needs around us. All things point to the message that "we belong together...no matter what."

The Army has some great ceremonies/ traditions too. I think the real reason I joined the Army was the uniforms. Have I mentioned that redheads look really good in green. Uniforms go a long way in saying "we belong together."

Mosel, Iraq 2004

This is often very important for a transracial, transcultural family. We use uniforms during many times of the year (especially those times prone to lead to questions of who belongs with who). Matching t-shirts, coordinating colors, same hats etc. This drives Brian crazy but Noah LOVES it!! Guess who wins??!!?

That is just it – ceremony helps bring people together.

Tools of the trade:

Candles - The lighting and blowing out of a candle is magical. We use this during Advent, Easter, Birthdays both on the cake and during our birth family prayer time, waiting for new family members (as in we light a candle for them at dinner while we wait etc).

Flags - This is often too nationalistic for me but the flag business has been a big deal for centuries. Who am I to stop it?? We use flags on birthdays, family days, national holidays and family parties. The birthday flag ceremony is the most special. We make a VERY big deal about the birth country. We sing the national anthem. We review cultural topics. It's fun.

Music - Everyone has a waiting song as in waiting to come home song. We have a few family songs. We have cultural songs that we LOVE. Music is the icing on the cake!

Matching Outfits (ie uniforms or as some like to say costumes)!!

Resources -
Treasuring God in Our Traditions by Noel Piper is an excellent resource.

Many of my wonderful blog friends have helped me cultivate tradition in my family -
Mayhem and Magic
Third Mom
Heart, Mind and Seoul

Happy Birthday Baby Myra

2009-11-14T14:51:00.000+09:00

She greeted the day with her trademark smile. This is the way that she greets everyday, but she was especially bright as the entire family sang the happy birthday song first thing morning.

Myra really enjoyed the flag ceremony. The birth family ceremony was very personal for both Brian and I this year. We remember, vividly, Myra's Ethiopian Mother. We are trying to get a meeting with her this February when we travel back to Ethiopia. I'm curious to see how the CHSFS PAS system works for Ethiopian Adoptees. It seems that there might be the possibility of a good system. We'll see.

Myra picked cupcakes for breakfast with some help from Noah. We think she really, really like them!

Our baby is a baby no more! Happy 1st Birthday little girl!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-11-11T18:34:00.000+09:00

It's a Girl!

2009-11-06T14:38:00.002+09:00

We saw her picture a week ago but today it's official. AAI email this morning with the good word that we can give our entire hearts away to her. She is the sweetest little 5 to 7 year old girl with the most adorable big, brown eyes and pink lips. We are hopelessly in love.

Some fun facts about little Miss B -

She is a slightly shy little girl with a very sweet spirit.

She is super cute.

She is in excellent health and is described as happy and social.

She loves to help with the younger kids and babies and play with her

friends.

She loves to practice letters and numbers.

She wants to be a nurse when she grows up.

She's wearing a size 4T.

Her waiting animal is the bumble bee (get it...Miss B!)

Last night Noah's prayer went like this -

"Jesus, thank you for the awesome, awesome, awesome new sister...Mom what's her name again...Oh ya B... what an amazing blessing Jesus." I love that boy, and I love that he is so ready to be a brother again! He did make it clear that he does not want her sleeping in his bed, and that we do not have room in our KIA for her so we need to get a new, must faster car.

My check list is trying to come out of the drawer but I'm working hard to leave it alone. But maybe, God willing, by summer our family of 5 will be together. And maybe we can go to Ethiopia this winter to give Miss B a kiss and tell her that we choose her forever to be ours. And maybe she will feel like she has a place to belong.

Happy Birthday Ichi Ban

2009-11-06T09:43:00.000+09:00

Four years old and so sweet, funny and joyful. What a dream baby boy! The morning started off with a little chocolate milk in bed followed by the flag flying ceremony. Noah is starting to understand the difference between Korean and American but he still does not quite get the whole flag thing. Still I think it is a cool tradition and we will keep it up.

Some seriously fun birthday booty. I set everything up last night so Noah would pass by it on his way to our bedroom in the morning. Unfortunately a midnight poop ruined the surprise. While on the potty Noah stated, "I've been asleep a long time so...." Very funny but no dice. Back to bed for 6 more hours :)

After the flag ceremony we light a candle and pray for Noah's birth family. In my imagination this is a hard day for Noah's first mom and dad. We shared memories from our recent trip to the birthing center where Noah was born and talk about the memories that his doctor shared with us. I'm glad we have actual facts to talk about this year instead of just things that we imagine happened. We love Noah's first family and pray for their loss today.

The birthday breakfast by Noah's request was sausage rolls, soda and cheetos. Gross.

We also celebrated Noah's birth a bit in the mountains this past weekend. Ms. Julie made the absolute best cake and we are still talking about it at least 7 times a day here at the Young house.

Art Co-Op

2009-10-31T14:03:00.000+09:00

Nothing says Halloween like a mask. The second installation of this year's Art Co-Op was a huge success. We had a ton of fun and we are more than ready for Halloween!

Flash Back Friday

2009-10-30T14:06:00.000+09:00

Dossier - Check!

2009-10-29T20:18:00.000+09:00

Our Ethiopian Dossier is finished. AAI makes it VERY easy, and with a little help from our friends and family in the states the paper chase took almost no time at all. Everything is in the mail and should be in Washington in a week or two. For the moment, it feels great to be finished with signature collecting. I will say that dossier #3 did not produce the same amount of drama and crisis that dossier #1 created. It was more along the lines of GITRDONE.

With the race to the paper finish line crossed, we can now begin the prepare for a new family member stage. Oh how I LOVE this stage. The best part is the opening of our hearts to another child, sister, brother, friend, son, daughter. It is just fun to dream and long and wait for the one that is to come. This stage was HARD with Noah but now we have learned to treasure it. Bring on the wait!!!

So who are we waiting for? We decided to switch agencies from CHSFS and AAI after many months of research and soul searching. What a big decision. So far we are happy with AAI and glad to be where we are. AAI serves a different kind of children. We think this is the way things should be more often. Back to who we are waiting for...we are waiting for a child or siblings ages 0 to 7 years old. We are open to either a boy or a girl or both. With both our children we knew their gender before we knew them. It's been fun to not know and just wait and dream about both possibilities.

Waiting might be the wrong word to use because there really is no wait for us. This whole thing has happened so fast. We are certain that the bump in the road is just around the corner but so far no bumps. Brian and I are like minded in our decisions. Paper work, money, health care are all coming together. So awesome to feel so together as we move forward. I'm glad that adding children to our family looks so different each time. I checked the CHSFS waiting children list for months until our home study was complete and then emailed Peg the same day for more information about Noah. 20 minutes later we had our referral. With Myra the wait was long, ever changing and hard on my spirit. So many time lines, check lists and unmet expectations (all created by me). But we needed that time to get our relationship with Christ, marriage, family, jobs in a better place. Myra came home at the best time. This time I'm letting go of the time lines, checklist and expectations, and having so much more fun. Umut is the waiting name we've given this child (Noah's was Enoc, Myra's was Baby O). Umut is Turkish for Hope. Our child, Umut, is on AAI's waiting list waiting to belong to someone, some place, some how. We just can't wait to meet!

Home Study

2009-10-25T07:46:00.000+09:00

Check!

Domestication

2009-10-22T19:58:00.001+09:00

After spending my teens and twenties more concerned with improving the accuracy of my assault rifle, I find it widely amusing (as does my family) that I now take great pleasure in all things domestic. I had my first lesson in sewing today and it was wonderful. Almost as satifying as leading men into battle.

I finished the shell of this super cute dress and will put the finishing touches on next week during my lesson. I might even get to start on my next project! I will admit the seams are not straight and the overall quality of the dress is not great... but whatever Myra is only one and no one really cares! I mean it's not like I have to hit the bulls eye every time...

Wordless Wednesday

2009-10-21T19:19:00.001+09:00