Meanwhile...on the opposite couch...

OK, I just went upstairs to clean up after my last post (see below,) and this is what I found. The story I just mentioned that Josie was writing on the couch while Ellie was texting. Here it is in its entirety and with all of the original spellings and punctuations... (and this was not for an assignment, she just was writing for fun.)

"The Pet Vampire"
2nd grade - Mrs. H

1 Once there was a guinea pig and her friends, a dragon, dog, and a pet vampire. One day the vampire escaped from his cage! The dog, guinea pig and dragen were very scared. They searched high and low.
2 Then all the sudden they heard a cry in the mountains! It said: HELP HELP A little VAMPIRE!!!! Now they knew he was near. They ran and ran. But there was a huge line of fier in the way!
3 There was only one thing to put out fire in that land: Mushrooms! So they went searching in the forest for mushrooms. They got lots of mushrooms. They went back in the mountains to put the fier out. Every time they through a mushroom a little line of fier blew out. They had to do it quickly because the fier grew very fast.
4 Soon they made a path so they could get across, then they finaly got to the vampire. Then they went home and put more duck tape and less holes, plus shaved the tips of the vampire's teeth off.

THE END

:)

My Texting Tween

Tonight as I was reading to Maggie and Miles before bed, Josie was writing a story on the opposite couch and Ellie was playing with my cell phone on the chair. This is the ensuing experiment with texting that I discovered....

Ellie (to her aunt Molly - my 20-yr. old sister in Chicago): "Hellooo!"

Molly (thinking it's me texting her): "Hi! I really miss you! I'm sorry I missed your call earlier this week. I tried calling back. I love you so much."

Ellie: "It is I, Ellie, who sent that message! I have no clue what that meant, but Mom already knows about it (your message!)"

Molly: "Hi El! Tell your mom you need your own cell phone so we can text :) I miss you guys so much. How is everyone?"

Ellie: "I appreciate your feelings-why don't you tell her that in person?"

Molly: "Ha ha! You speak like you're 30 years old. I'm impressed. I will. You could have my old one, I still have it. Hmm, Ill speak with your mom. :) What are you up 2?"

Ellie: "You spelled I'll wrong."

Molly: "I know its easier not to add in small commas or apostrophies but you are right. Sorry miss W."

Oh my, this is gonna be QUITE a ride...

I'm totally freaking out that I have a tween and I'm absolutely loving it at the same time. After she and I had a huge laugh about this texting tonight, we went upstairs to say our prayers. (A little background first - last night we took our small group and Ellie and Josie to a local food bank for a service project and Ellie was having a fit that she had to go and Maggie and Miles got to stay with Grandpa and Grandma...) But tonight she prayed, "...and Lord, please help (a friend) to go to Midwest Foodbank like I did last night, because it really changed my life." :)

Oh, the drama, the hilarity, the moments I want to pull my hair out, the moments my heart's so full it could burst...I'll take all of it. It's actually pretty awesome.

Officially Waiting

Well, I'm so excited to report we are officially on the waiting list for our little boy! Our dossier was reviewed yesterday and in the words of our adoption specialist, "Everything looks wonderful!" YES!!! Music to our ears.

She told us referrals for infants under 12 mo. are taking about 7-9 months. (Referrals are kids - for those not familiar with adoption lingo.) Since we are open to a little boy up to 24 mo., we could in theory receive a referral much sooner. She asked if we would be open to accepting a referral during the court-closing time in Ethiopia which is from August through the end of September and we said YES! Of course we don't know that we'd even get a referral in the next few months but it could happen! Our agency is telling us that at this point approaching court closing...

"There are two options: receive a referral and wait for the court to reopen in the fall and potentially travel by the end of the year; OR wait for referral until court reopens, process in the late fall to travel most likely in the early part of 2009."

Our understanding is that during the open court season, once a family accepts a referral, the time it takes for verbal court approval is about 6-8 wks. And then the time of verbal court approval to travel time is about 6 wks. Wow. This could really fly!

Time for immunizations, lots of reading, and waiting. God, all in Your time. I don't want this to happen one second before or one second later than Your appointed time.

Here we go!

My baby boy

I'm a couple of weeks behind, but my baby boy turned 4 this month!!! I was looking through his baby pictures, and just can't believe how big he's getting. Look at that tiny body - and the dark hair!





He's been such an awesome little buddy and addition to our family. Happy Birthday little man! I love you.

One more thing -

For all of you PAP's out there (prospective adoptive parents):), listen up -

Yesterday when I was at the state department, I was joking around with the lady who certified my papers and said, "I was the lady crying in your waiting room yesterday - I'm sure that doesn't happen very often...." To which she replied, "Actually, you'd be surprised, we get that quite often...the notaries order their own stamps and sometimes mistakes are made on the commission expiration date or signature, so it's always a good idea to call about your notaries before you come down here to check if everything is correct."

Good advice, wish I would've known that - that's why I'm passing on the info to you guys. Hopefully it'll make for speedy, efficient, correct paperwork for all of you!

Just a quick update (with lots of thanks and praise!):

We dropped our medical forms off this afternoon and got them back...this afternoon!!! Seriously, Jill and Joni, you guys are awesome!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I was able to drive down to Springfield again today (and so thankful for the beautiful day and weather for driving). They certified my 4 POA's within 15 minutes. Yes!!! And I was able to drive down with my sister-in-law and little niece (and Miles) and we had a great time just to talk, laugh, have lunch together...thanks so much Sarah and Carys!!!

We just have a few more papers to reprint and notarize and copies to make, and Lord willing, we can send it off next week.

Interestingly, May 24, 2007 was the day God spoke to my heart concerning our adoption - and that's one year ago next week. Exactly a year later we'll be sending our final paperwork off! What a way to end the past year...I think that's kinda cool.

And thank you from my heart for the encouraging comments today...you guys are so right on - God's timing is perfect, I need to be thankful in EVERYTHING, and again it's all about HIM!!! (And I'm learning not to fight this sanctification process...ugh, growing pains!!!) :)

Love you guys.

Paper woes

Yesterday we received our home study - our last piece of the dossier puzzle! Yeah!!! Today I went to the state capital to certify the home study along with a few other documents for our dossier. It was my third trip there in the past year. Not a quick trip, either. But I was so excited. I drove an hour there, I gave them my papers, paid my money, and sat in the waiting room all smiles. They called me back a few minutes later and said, "There's something wrong with the notary you used...her stamp does not match the name she is registered under." I guess the stamp was supposed to have her middle initial, but because it doesn't, all 13 papers that she notarized need to be redone (and it's totally not her fault - just a random weird mistake.) Not a big deal in the huge scheme of things, but at the moment I was so mentally, emotionally, and even physically drained by this whole year-long paper chase, that I actually started bawling in the state index department's waiting room. I felt like such an idiot. Anyway, I drove back home, was able to redo about 6 of the papers which I'm thankful for, and now just need to see if my wonderful doctor can redo our medical forms just one more time (I feel like I've said that at least the past 3 times...Jill and Joni I am SOOOO SORRY!).

I know God is in control and there's a reason for everything, but right now, I just wanna go watch "Lost" and forget about stinky paperwork.

Learning to Listen

Ok, I've been a mom for 10 1/2 yrs. now and I've gotten pretty good at "fixing" things. Hungry? Snack. Tired? Nap. Ouchy? Bandaid. But the last couple of days I've sensed my mom-role morphing a little bit. (Ok, it's in a constant state of flux and growth, I'm just a little slow and change-resistant...) In fact, the last couple of days, I feel like I've completely crashed and burned as a mom and that's how God's totally gotten my attention.

I'm realizing I spend so much time trying to "fix" things just so I can move on to the next issue/thing on my list, that I'm just not listening.

I'm realizing that as my kids grow, I need to listen and be a gentle encourager, instead of a quick-fix control freak. I'm seeing that trying to deal with the conflict for my kids doesn't really teach them strategies or give them the confidence to begin to deal with conflict personally. And in fact, my type A "fix-it" nature adds to their anxiety! It's so hard to see my two oldest kids begin to struggle with friend issues or beginnings of "self-awareness" (who am I?). Oh, as a mom I do just want to "fix" it all! I want to wrap them in my arms, cover them in their favorite blankies and shield them from everything less than ideal! But I'm realizing that's just not real - that's not fair - and that exposes a kink in my armor of trust in God.

Reflecting upon my past couple of days as a mom, I was reminded about last week when I was by myself for the afternoon. It was so incredibly quiet. Too quiet. Uncannily quiet. I almost felt a bit uncomfortable. And then I realized I fill so much of my life with noise - actual audible noise and also figurative noise that I create for myself, such as continuing to "do, fix, and cross off my list," that I really don't spend near enough time just simply listening...it's that still, small voice. Hmmm...what's He telling us that we're just not hearing because we're "afraid of the quiet?" Really makes me think.

Anyway, don't know if this makes any sense...I guess it just all boils down to just listening. Really, really listening. Not just hearing, not just solving, but being still, trusting, and vulnerable. And knowing He's got us wrapped in HIS arms.

Here we go!

Our homestudy has been approved by our international agency and it's time to dig in to the remainder of our dossier (a bunch of legal paperwork required for an international adoption)!!!

Wow. It's really feeling like it's going to happen! I'm going to be a mommy again!

Thank you Lord - and please just keep taking the wheel!