TX tamales for adopion

I must say I am continually blown away by the generosity of people that I don’t even know stepping up to help us out financially on our journey to our son.

Some friends of ours Deb & Ernest (whom I have never met), have been so supportive of us during this time. I have actually talked to Deb once on the phone and that was fantastic, but other then that it is through the blog world and emails that we communicate.

They have said they wanted to do something to help and last week I received an email stating that they were going to make tamales and sell them for us. WOW! They are not just sending us a check, but working all weekend to send us money. People that I have never met and going out of there way to help us out.

Today I visited her blog and found this post about their weekend tamale fest and honestly could not keep the tears from coming. The pictures made me cry. Her funny thoughts on tamales made me laugh and cry at the same time. The whole idea of people helping so much made me cry.

Deb & Ernest we are humbled, grateful, gracious and honored that you guys would do this for us. THANK YOU!

our little boy’s mommy

Tonight as my mom and I were driving with the boys, Big Boy yelled for me from the back seat. Out of nowhere, he said, “mommy, are you going to be D’s mommy?”. I said yes I will and you’ll be his brother, and then he said “okay”. That was it. End of conversation.

It showed me that he was thinking about it while we were driving. The other day we had a talk about adoption with him. You never know how difficult a concept that is until you try to explain it to a 3 year old. We told him that D did not have a mommy and a daddy to love him and take care of him, so we were going to be that to him. He was going to live with us and be in our family. He acted like he understood and I didn’t think he did, but tonight proves that he is thinking about D and his need for a family.

I like having these talks with our kids, because adoption is a part of our life. We support many organizations that deal with adoptions, we have a son who is adopted domestically and now we have son that will be adopted internationally when he comes home eventually. We want adoption to be a good word, and not a hush-hush word. We want all three of our boys (and any other children in our future) to know that they are loved equally and passionatly by their mommy and daddy, no matter how they joined our family.

People sometimes ask how we’re going to tell Little Boy he is adopted, and I hope that he just knows. That he is comfortable with all of our discussions that we have always had about it. Yes, we’ll have to tell him his story little by little as he gets older, but to tell him he was adopted, he’ll always know, because we will always be talking about it.

We have 2 pictures up in the boys room that includes our family and Little Boy’s birth mother. I love these two pictures, and Little Boy knows everyone’s name in that picture, even his first mom. The mom that sheltered him for the first 9 months of his life. He doesn’t know the situation, but he knows her by name and that brings a BIG SMILE to my face.

So, yes I’ll be D’s mom.

A-moose

I got a great email from Licia tonight about our little boy’s new name – Amos. I’m going to just copy what she said because it is so funny and so wonderful. Funny how the ladies are saying his name, and wonderful with how she tells us once again that he is changing in his day to day life since we have chosen to adopt him. Here is her email …..

Yes we did see his new name. Its great! I have been having the ladies practice saying it but its hard to say how we “americans” would say it. When they see it written and then say it in their “tounge” it sould like a-moose. THe ladies laughed like crazy trying to repeat it after me. They are doing much better today and we are all driving him (Amos) crazy as we keep calling him by that name. I know he is thinking these people are nuts. But he is already begining to look at the person that is calling him by his name. I tell you guys that the change in him is amazing. God is so great. It really does just seem like he has a reason to live and a dream he is going after. God ways are always perfect and I know He is in control of this whole situation. IT is just awsome to see HIm moving in this way when you all have never met face to face.

So, there you have it. I love this boy. I love his care givers. I love Licia. I love how God is working in his life.

his name is ….

After much discussion we have come to the conclusion about D’s name. We have a few that we love and a few that everyone else loves too. The winner for the survey was Jax followed by Grayson and Ryland. Funny thing about that is that we always knew that the name would not be Grayson or Ryland, but everyone loved it so it kept making the survey’s. Thanks for all the votes and for playing the game!

Our favorites were either Jax, Amos or Theo. I LOVE Theo, but Aaron and everyone else for that matter always mentions the Cosby Show when they hear that name. I didn’t care, but Aaron did care. We both liked Jax, but it never really looked like D to us. The one that we both really liked and that seemed to “fit” D is Amos.

So, without further delay I would like to announce that D’s name will be AMOS.

Amos Ivey.

I LOVE IT!

A couple of things about Amos  from this past week are:
* I sent a package to him via Zach (Licia and Lori’s dad) who is flying to Haiti next Tuesday, we bought him a shirt and bought about 5 pair of shorts for him and some more boys in the RC, we also bought two onesies for girls (Target had a huge sale on summer clothes – the onesies were 98 cents and we got the last two!), we got two boxes of jelly beans for him and his friends, some bath toys (although I know they don’t actually get in a bath tub, but they do bathe in tubs and can play with them in other creative ways), some cars for him and his buddies, a stuffed tiger for him to love on and think of us when he sees it, a few pictures of us, and two of Aaron’s cd’s for them to play for the kids in the rescue center. I can’t wait to see pics of him with his stuff, and to hear how they like the music.

* I talked with Licia this week and she said that she thinks that he has changed since we decided to adopt him. She said that it is as if he knows that something good will happen to him. She said that he has changed and is even gaining weight now. You have no idea how that makes me feel. I teared up when I heard that. God is working in his life and providing love and hope for him. My prayers are being answered. He is in great hands down there.

* We had our first home study meeting yesterday with Lisa. It went great. I have only a few more things to send her and then we’ll be done with that! I have about 7 documents already for our dossier and after the home study is done I can dive into that 100%. I want to get everything done so quickly.

So, that is an update on our adoption ….

Keep praying!

my boy and his buddies

Go check out Licia’s blog again to see pictures of my boy and his buddies Clebert and Jacob. I love him!

side walk chalk

Tonight I went for a run.

Finally.

If you remember, I have a half marathon this Saturday. Yeap in five days I’ll be running 13 miles. Oh my goodness. The thought of that makes my legs hurt! I have run a 5k and 10k in the past two months, and ran my first half this past April, BUT I am not ready for this one. The last time I ran before today was the 10k on labor day. That was 14 days ago. Before that race I had not run in 8 days. My only excuse is that we started an international adoption recently, Aaron has been home lots (I hate to leave family time when he is home to go and run), and I hurt my neck in there and was not very mobile for a few days. Okay I hate making excuses, but when I report to you on Sunday how badly I did I need yout to know why.

So, today I went and ran and I ran for 38 minutes and walked in there for four mintues. I think I might die on Saturday. I had decided to just not ran on Saturday but my friend Katie is doing it and she has not been running much either. So we’ll suffer together, have fun and encourage each other to just get to the finish line!

My parents are coming in town this weekend and I’m super excited. We have LOTS going on this weekend and I hate that I’m going to give them such a poor performance at the race. Oh well!

When I got home today from my run this is what was waiting on me …

Did you notice an extra kid in there? Yeap, that is our little boy in Haiti! Aaron photo shopped him right in there with the boys. I LOVE IT! I can’t wait to get my boys together. We are praying that he is home by next Christmas!

So, no matter how badly I run on Saturday I know that there are two boys here that love me and think the world of me, and one boy in Haiti that will be a GREAT addition to our family, and one daddy that makes sure his boys learn how to love their mommy in all the right ways.

I600-A

Today we sent off two important pieces of paper concerning our adoption.

Paper #1 was our I600-A form. This is a petition to the US Citizenship and Immigration services. The form is an application for advance processing of orphan petition. All that to say that this form qualifies us as an adoptive family after it is approved. From what I understand, they will then send us appointments for our fingerprints.

Paper #2 was our formal application for our facilitator. This is our facilitator in Haiti. I’m excited to be working with her.

So, we are moving right along. We’re having our first meeting for our home study next Monday. I have recieved 2 out of 4 birth certificates and have about half of the documents notarized and signed for our dossier. Soon we will start sending all of our documents to a translator so that they can be translated to French! Fun!

A HUGE thanks to everyone that has given stuff to our garage sale, had their car washed, or just sent us a donation. We are humbled by each donation and thankful for everyone that is taking part of helping us bring our son home from Haiti.

Just a reminder – we’ll be having our second car wash this weekend from 11-3. It’ll be in front of Sports Comm on Memorial. Come out and have your car washed!

Thank you.

Thank you to everyone who has donated to the ladies in Haiti. Steven and Clay will be driving the stuff for them up to Anderson, IN tomorrow. I am so thankful that Steven put this together and is taking a day out of his life at home to do this. Thanks to you, Steven! If you want to help with gas, he would greatly appreciate that.

Our church asked people to bring stuff and I know that they had lots at the office for Steven to take to them. It is fabulous to see everyone come together and do stuff for other people.

Aaron and I are extremely thankful because this stuff will benefit our son who is living at the rescue center that Licia runs.

Tonight I had a moment in my garage. I save all the boys clothes in bins in the garage. This has come in very handy with Little Boy since he is wearing all of Big Boy’s old clothes. I have hardly bought Little Boy anything and he has gotten great wear out of all the clothes that I saved. Now that Little Boy is out of all the little baby clothes they are still in my garage in bins. Tonight I went to the 6-9 months bin and looked at all the clothes that both my boys looked so cute in; I was torn. I wanted to keep the “good” ones for myself. I mean, what if we have another baby? What if I need these? Then I began to wonder how long they might have to sit in those bins before we have another baby, since that is NO WHERE on the radar around our house. Then I thought about all the kids in Haiti that could wear these clothes. BUT my mind told myself … they are GAP, The Children’s Place, and even POLO …. I should keep them! They are nice. But in all reality, the children that wear these clothes will have NO IDEA what the GAP is or anything else. To them, they will just be a shirt, or a pair of pants. They will love them, and they will be grateful for them. They will be much more used in Haiti then in a bin in my garage.

That was my moment for the night.

August Favorite pictures

August was a great month. We had LOTS of family time since Aaron was home for about 4 weeks from July to August. We loved every minute of it and are such family oriented people, especially if daddy is home to hang out!

So, here they are …..

Daddy and Little Boy – LOVE this picture!

First day of School – How cute are they? Little Boy now has a new backpack and I’ll have to get a pic of that soon and show you. It is a cow from PotteryBarn Kids!

Aaron holding baby Norah and my boys loving on her. I love to see Aaron hold babies. I think I maybe saw him hold one baby before we had our own. He is not a big baby man, so when I see him holding them I know he must really like them!

This is not even that good of a picture of my boys, but I love this picture because of how Big Boy is holding Little Boy. They truly do love each other and I think this picture captures that.

getting uncomfortable

Tonight I had a fabulous conversation with a friend of mine. This friend and I have been friends since our 9th grade basketball season! We have been through many ups and downs and she is to this day one of my best friends. I can talk to her about anything and we have so much in common these days that we can both be an encouragment to each other and understand each others trials and burdens. We both have two kids and both of our husbands travel quite frequently for their jobs.

Tonight we talked about Haiti. She wants to go and I want her to go. BUT there is fear there. Fear of the unknown. You see when you become a mom things change. You can’t just jump at the chance to go to a third world country and serve. You have other people to think about. You have children. They need you. You need them. You are their provider, comforter, and security. It is hard to fathom leaving them for a week, when you aren’t going to a safe, comfortable vacation spot. It is easy to leave them when you are vacationing in Florida. Not so easy to leave them when you are serving in a sometimes unsafe country.

This is something that I too went through last year. After Aaron and I had children I had come to the conclusion that my days of serving God in a hands on approach in another country were done for a while. I submited to these demands on my life as a new mom and was okay with being a mom and dreaming of my next mission trip fifteen years later. Last summer, God started to bring me down a personal voyage to discover a freedom to serve him in other countries even if I had to leave my little ones behind for a week at a time. I was scared beyond belief at even the thought. What if something happened to me? What if I contracted some disease? What if …. What if …. What if…. My mind was full of fear of the unknowns. God finally brought me to a place of peace. A place where I realized that in all reality I was NOT their provider. I was NOT their security. I was NOT their comforter. God is all those to me and he is all those to my boys as well.

I began to realize that if my day to go on to heaven comes I will go no matter where I am. If I’m in TN or Haiti, it doesn’t matter. Another major thing started happening in my life. I started to think about how I wanted to view my life when it is all said and done. Do I want to look back and wish that I had served him more? Do I want to look back and wish that I had started doing mission work sooner? I started to think about my desire to travel and serve him internationally at least once a year and how many more trips I could get in if I started at 28 instead of 38.

When it was all said and done, it really came down to this for me – did I really want to be the person that just lived a “safe” life and never did anything out of the box for God. Did I really want to be just a “normal” person that follows Christ? No. I want to serve him big. For me to serve him big means for me to get out of my comfort box (which is my safe house with my kids in my lap so no one can get them or hurt them) and serve him in a way that makes me uncomfortable. You see he uses me most when it is not me. When it is only him through me. Leaving your baby boys for a week and not being able to talk to them, demands that you trust only in God.

Does this mean that leaving my boys and my favorite boy, Aaron, last November to go to Haiti was easy. H-E-double-hockey-sticks-NO! I cried the entire way down the terminal to meet the other travelers. It was even the UGLY CRY! The one that you don’t really want anyone to see. Yeap I cried and I cried and I cried. Fear was there. BUT peace was more there. God had granted me peace in him and I had to cling to that for the other alternative was not fun and not rewarding and would make me miserable. There were many times on that trip that fear ruled my life. I had terrible dreams and thoughts, BUT I had to battle them and in the end I was filled with peace and couldn’t wait to get back.

In no way have I figured out how to live a life of complete abondonment of your self and 100% servanthood towards GOD, BUT for me God has moved me towards a different thinking about these things. I no longer want to be safe. I want to serve him. I want to get to the end of my life, whether I am 78 or 38, and know that I lived it well. I want my kids to see parents that live a life that is sometimes uncomfortable. A life that gets you dirty and bent out of shape, BUT is constantly evolving towards HIM – the creator of us and the sustainer of us.

Psalm 118:8 “It is better to put trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.”

Proverbs 16:20 “Whoever trusts in the LORD, happy is he.”

Psalm 34: 8-9 “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who trusts in HIM! Oh, fear the LORD you his saints! There is no want to those who fear him.”

So, to you my friend and to anyone else contmplating these thoughts, I encourage you. Keep pursuing what God wants for you and not man. This is a personal journey between you and God. Allow him to mold you and shape you into the woman that he intends for you to be. Trust him. Follow him. Pursue him. Through this journey that you are on you will become a better person, whether you go now, or go later …. God is moving you.