At the Airport

We are currently at the airport sitting at our gate waiting for our flight to Frankfurt, and then on to our little girl's country . I will now be using the private blog for updates, so if you wanted to keep updated on our adoption process and don't have an invite to that blog, let me know. I might not have a chance to add you right away, but will do it as soon as I can.

Talk to you all soon!

Another Thing We Do For Fun...

We wear diapers on our head instead of...well, you know.




Okay, so we don't all do that. Just this little guy does =). And though it may look as though he ran around for an hour like that, it was just a minute or two. This kid moves fast!

What Do We Do For Fun?

Well, it all started with this little shirt.

While I was getting Curly in her pajamas, Handsome decided to put this shirt of hers on her brother for a little laugh. (I did not buy this shirt. It was part of a box of hand me downs. We liked a lot of the things...but this isn't quite our normal style =D.)

Then Handsome thought he would give it a try. It actually fit. (Well, fit isn't the right word, but he got it to go on his body. And that was surprising.)

And Curly got to go next. There is her special "camera" smile. Can't get good pictures of that girl right now. She always gives me the "camera" smile, or a frown...or some goofy thing that has no name yet.

Lily is up next. Notice that she smiles with the same smile that Curly does? Cute. (note the sarcasm) Thanks for teaching Lily your smile babe.

And finally HIM. He got to try the shirt on too =).


Yes, that's the end. This Mommy has a growing belly that is at the stage where I know it's baby in there, but it looks like flabby gut at this point. I am not going to put an extremely tight shirt on thank you. You're just going to have to deal with it.

And that, my friends, is how our family has fun.

...some of the time.

On Our Way

It's been a little while since I updated you all on the progress of our adoption. Part of that is because of some delays that weren't expected. We thought we would get a travel date a little over a week ago, but then the country that we are traveling to had some closures of most of the public facilities due to that special illness that is going around. We weren't expecting to get a date for travel until after things opened back up in three weeks.

But...today, we got a surprise e-mail from our lovely facilitator that gave us a date for our appointment with the State Department of Adoptions. That is the appointment where we will get a referral for our little girl and from there we get to go and meet her and begin the process of bringing her home!

We will be traveling out the day after Thanksgiving and will have our appointment that Monday. It's getting closer! Ana, here we come =).

Now, a few of you might be wondering the status of our funds. We have been able to get a loan (through Handsome's 401K) that got us what we need to travel, after some other people blessed us with donations too. This loan is higher than what we can afford each month, but is the only option we had and I know that God will work it out one way or another. At first I was frustrated with a few things about that option, but then I realized that God was giving us an opportunity to continue growing our faith in His ability to make sure we have the things we need even after we bring Ana home. And really, that is a blessing. It's just hard to see that when you are frustrated with the first view of numbers that don't work.

November Third.

Today is November 3rd.

I wanted to remind those of you that have been around awhile, and share with those of you that have started following recently of some special people.

November third of last year I got an instant message in the morning from a good friend's husband. It was not a good message. It was a panic stricken message asking for immediate prayer on behalf of his wife and daughters. November third was the day that Allison Anne and Emily Nicole were born. November third was the day that Allison left the arms of her earthly father for the arms of her Heavenly Father. November third is a day for difficult memories. Especially for this Mommy. Emily Nicole shared a short 8 days with her parents before joining her sister. My thoughts are heavy with Brie today. Not only must she face this day, but also the 11th. Two girls. Two days to live through. But really, there are all the other days that come before and after these days to live through as well.

I wanted to share today so that Allison and Emily will not be forgotten. A short life does not mean one that has to go unknown.

Allison will always be a strong little girl in my mind. The things that happened could have gone so much differently. At 18 weeks into the pregnancy, Allison's amniotic sac broke. This is not a good thing and it was surprising that she didn't loose the babies at that time. Allison had a rough time in the womb, but she stuck it out from 18 weeks, to 26 1/2 weeks. I like to think that she was able to make it that long so that her sister could make it to the point of viability as well. Emily gave her parents 8 days. 8 days to love her, to see her with their eyes 8 days that I hope were somewhat of a comfort. 8 days that were rough for her little body as well. What a strong baby girl!

In times like this it is easy to blame tragic circumstances on God. Really He is not to blame. We live in a world where men gave up their right to reign. WE gave Satan rule, not God. While He is able to step in and stop whatever He chooses, it is not He who makes the bad things happen. It is hard for us to understand (actually impossible) why He chooses to "fix" the things He chooses to "fix" and why He chooses to leave other things as they would heart-breakingly be.

I wish that He had given life on Earth with their parents for many years to these two girls, but can still see the gift that He did give even if it wasn't the one that was desired. It was miraculous that they lived from 18 weeks (when they wouldn't have lasted moments outside the womb), to 26 1/2 weeks where they were able to spend time with their parents and be held and touched. I can't know the feelings of their parents by any scope of the imagination, but believe that those moments were better than none at all. That those moments are still memories of their daughters that they are able to have. Sad moments that hurt the heart and stain this day, but pictures that they have to look at when they think about their girls. Moments that are probably flooding their minds today.

Please say a prayer for this sweet Mama today. And if you have a moment, please head over to Brie's blog and leave a note telling her that her girls are not forgotten. Perhaps just a word saying that you are praying for her today might be a small comfort.

If you would like to read the full story of Brie's baby girls from last year, click here.