What about the money?

Surprisingly one of the most common questions I am asked about our adoption is "How much does it cost!?" This is surprising to me because one, I was raised to not discuss money, and two, it never occurred to me that the money made any difference. This is not because I was born a millionaire :) but because of what God has taught me, time and time again, like today when He gave me a kitchen...

You see some wonderful friends had loaned us a play kitchen for the past year for Kylynn to play with and it become one of her favorite toys. Our friends' daughter is now old enough to enjoy her kitchen so it was time to return it. So online I went to see how much would it cost to buy one of these kitchens, a little more than I had available in the budget, so over to Craig's list I went, but there were none for sale. Then I remembered a story I read in our Crown bible study about a little boy who needed some shirts and his parents encourage him to pray and ask God for the shirts. So every night they prayed until out of the blue a friend called who worked at a clothing store and brought over 10 new shirts in the boy's size that the store needed to get rid of. The lesson was to not be so quick to buy everything but give God a chance to provide for us. So I prayed for a kitchen for Kylynn.

Then this morning Kyle called and told me he saw a toy kitchen out for the trash on his way to work and left a note to the owner asking if we could have it. They called him and were happy to have someone use the kitchen, instead of going to the trash. I just picked it up and it is a wonderful kitchen, even more than what I had asked for.

So here's the point, if God can provide me with a kitchen when I ask for it, He can provide me with how ever many thousand of dollars it takes to adopt a child. I know someone is thinking, Jenny, God giving you an old toy from someone's trash is not the same as God giving you thousands of dollars. But indeed it is the same, do you think it's any harder for God to give me a "small" item than a "big" item, they are all small to God. He created all things and all things belong to Him, He can do with them what He chooses and provide for His people as He sees fit. If God asks you to adopt a child He's not going to ask you to do it alone, and He doesn't want you to do it alone. Just be obedient He will take care of the rest, He will provide all the resources you need, He promises us so in His word. God wants to provide good gifts to His children I encourage you to let Him, it will be such a blessing to watch Him work, it has for me.

"So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them." Mark 11: 22-24

"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" Matthew 7:9-11

the midde place

I have just finished reading a beautiful book titled, the middle place, by Kelly Corrigan. It is a memoir beginning when she is diagnosed with breast cancer, but mainly it is a love letter to her family. It will make you remember that just because your a mom doesn't mean aren't someone's baby girl. I wanted to put an excerpt here because her writing is so much fun to read, it was hard to choose because I loved every word she wrote, but the following made me laugh, as I too want to be the mother of four children. Enjoy

The way I see it, if you have four kids, you don't really have to do anything else, ever. Three kids is a handful, but one that many people manage to hold. If you're a mother of four, you definitely don't have to have a career or volunteer for the school fund-raiser or even bring an appetizer to the dinner party. In fact people give you a lot of credit for wearing both earrings and knowing how to spell chaos and antidepressant. Four kids gives you a pass for every forgotten birthday, overlooked appointment, and missing form. Plus, you can be late for everything the rest of your life and never return phone calls. Who's gonna blame you?...
It could be that I just want to make it clear that I really love motherhood and I still like having sex with my husband and that I am generally an optimist. You know, the plucky gal who hums along, no matter what, wearing children on her hip in the same casual way other women wear low belts or handbags. Deliberately having four kids implies that you've got the three-kid-thing sussed out, like there are big check marks next to each name, and so what the hell, let's add another one. It's AP Parenting...
Maybe it's because I want to raise a boy, who will love me all out, like I love my dad, who will love me even when my girls, in pitiless unison, turn their reprobate teenage hearts against me....
Probably, though, more than all of that, it's because I am a Corrigan and want to feel like one every day. Corrigans don't stop until they are told to. Corrigans don't sweat the details like college tuition. Corrigans don't measure first, they don't read manuals, they don't buy insurance. Corrigans believe.

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter weekend. The weather was perfect and it was a great time to relax and spend time with friends. Since we weren't able to see our family this easter I will make this a blog full of updates, pictures, and videos. Hopefully I can figure this all out...

On Good Friday, we had an egg hunt with our dearest friends Heather and Audrey, at "Oma's" house. We had a wonderful! time


On Saturday we made resurrection rolls (which is what I'm talking about in the video), bunny bread, chocolate sheath cake, and dyed easter eggs. We also found time to spend as much time outside as possible (farmer's market, cooking on the grill, and playing) it was a perfect day.


This is how the rolls turned out, see it's empty where Jesus (the marshmallow) used to be!


Then on Easter Sunday, we went to church and spent the afternoon with great friends, who so wonderfully hosted us with food, a kid's egg hunt, an adult egg hunt (with money!!), and wonderful fellowship.


I hope all of you had as great of a weekend as we did. It was so nice to remember and celebrate what Easter is, that Jesus Christ overcame death when He arose from the dead. You see there is no point in celebrating Easter, no point in participating in any act of Christianity if Christ did not rise from the dead. For it was in His resurrection that He proved who He was, our God and Savior. It is because of that moment that we can trust that He has conquered our sins. He proved that all He spoke was truth and that we as believers will also be resurrected to live for eternity with Him. Nothing else brings me as much joy as that!
"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." C.S. Lewis

And we wait...

Today I got a call from one of the case workers at our agency. I knew that it was impossible to have a child assigned so quickly, but still it made my heart speed up when she said who was calling. It turns out, she was just checking in to see if there are any questions. I was quite delighted to be called even for a check in, it reminded me, I am a real person who will someday be given a real child, this is not a dream or something I have created in my head.

She was able to give me the "not good" news that unfortunately the wait times (to be assigned a child) are going back up and up some more. Of course this wait time is in constant flux so it means nothing regarding when are assignment will come, still hearing they're getting longer makes me a little sad.

I'm actually pretty good at the waiting, something about raising a two year old has given me patience I didn't know was possible :). But the older Kylynn gets the harder it is, you see she has this love (obsession really) of babies. Every time I watch her run over to a baby and gently talk to it, give them their dropped paci, or touch their little fingers, I feel I'm failing her. She wants a baby, she wants to be the big sister (she loves bossing :) and while I watch her I know that won't be happening for probably another year. I can only pray that when the time comes that I bring her home a little brother/sister she hasn't lost that excitement and will take great pride in being the big sister.

But when I'm still as God has asked us to do, He tells me, "Trust me, I am in control of when you will have your baby. The waiting is important for all of you, it is part of the process of becoming more like Me". So I try to busy myself less and take time to be still and know He is God and not ignore the process even when it hurts, but to dive in and trust Him that this process is for His and my ultimate good.

To Mary

This weekend my youngest sister, Mary, got married. I was blessed to be a part of the wedding, and wanted to tell her what I couldn't tell her during my toast, because I'm a crier! and it would have been too long! :)

Mary, you have been one of the most important people in my life for as far back as my memory goes. I have always admired the way you lived your life. You have always been the more talented, nicer, more beautiful sister and yet I cannot ever remember feeling jealous of you. You lived your life with such grace and humility that I always knew that you did not consider yourself those things and even found a way to look up to me. I have yet to meet another person who has this quality.

I know that right now is a time of change in your life, a new career, a new husband, and all kinds of new decisions to make. I pray that you would trust in this process of becoming one flesh with your husband. You will both me new people in 1, 5, 10, and 50 years, if you allow the process to work. You will each become less and less your old self and more and more a new creation. It really is a miracle and it brings God glory.

If I could give you one piece of advice for marriage it is this: Fight for your marriage. Marriage is hard, and you must commit every day to do the hard work. When you are going through a rough patch do whatever it takes to get through it, fight it out, and find the resolution that brings you closer and your marriage that much stronger. When the world around you tries to tear you apart, fight against it, fight for what God has given the two of you.

James, I have been praying for you before I knew your name. Know that I continue to pray for you and Mary. I look forward to getting to know my new brother, and Kylynn getting to know her Uncle James. You are now a party of our family as well and we may be a little weird :) but we Really love our family!

I love you both,
Jenny

Why Adopt?

Although we are currently 9 months into this adoption process I will start at beginning with probably the most common question I am asked on this topic, "Why are you adopting?"

While trying to get pregnant with our daughter it took us a little while and I being emotional asked, what if it never happens. So we had a conversation and decided if that if we didn't get pregnant then we would love to adopt, we knew that we would love any child that God chose for us to raise. So when wanting to add to our family our previous conversation came back to us and we knew that we wanted to adopt, no longer as a back up plan but as the main plan. When I read God's word I see His heart for orphans, so I prayed about my role in taking care of them, I asked whether God would have us adopt. He said yes.

Secondly, I think the question of why I want to adopt has the same answer as why I want to be a mother. I was sure I would love the baby that grew in my belly even though I had never met them or seen them, I was sure that I was to be their mother. I feel no different about my chosen child. I can only see a very small piece of the puzzle from where I stand but I know that God has a reason that my baby is to be the unique mix of someone born from another woman, in another country, but raised in our family. Of this I am sure, over the next years of my life I will praise Him as He reveals bits and pieces of the puzzle and I see His hand and His goodness in this plan.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Rodeo

Today we took Kylynn to her first Rodeo. We all had a great! time. Kyle said: "I never noticed before how many of the people here have children", ditto. It's amazing the things you notice depending on who you are. So we enjoyed, a milking demonstration, a petting zoo, shopping, fried foods, and Kylynn's favorite, very large trucks! (which she calls "beep beeps").

Why Blog?

Those of you who know me, know that I am not technologically inclined (I still use my VCR, have a tape player in my car, and own a cell phone for only complete emergencies). So why would I of all people start a blog?

I wanted to share with you all this journey God has placed me on of adopting a child. As my dear friend S pointed out tonight I am the only person our age she knows that is/has adopted. And although I have met others, it is true that it is not the norm. I was praying about the idea of this blog the other day and it came to me that I should call it A Chosen Child. First, I am God's chosen child, He adopted me into His family. Second, I am in the process of adding to our family a chosen child. So with this blog I will share with you the ups and downs of this process. Along the way I hope to share my love for the God who chose me.

And since the adoption process involves a lot of waiting I will also blog about my life and the child God has already blessed me with including pictures for those who miss Kylynn.