What's happening with the adoption?

I get this question a lot and I feel bad because I never have anything new to share. I want to have news, sometimes I kind of even make something up to tell them (not that I'm lying but it's not really "news" that I'm telling them).

But, today we got an email from our agency with real news so I actually have something to say. Jack's emigration permit has been approved. This doesn't mean much more to me than it does to you, but I know it's good! In our guidebook it gives all the steps that need to be completed before we can pick him up and as far as paperwork goes that doesn't originate with us this is the first one, but there are several more.

My social worker that I've worked with locally (and is part of a different agency) had this to say, " It looks like your little one will be coming home in the not all too distant future!". This is probably one of those things that social workers shouldn't say, but so what, I loved hearing it!

Now don't start worrying about me, I've been involved in the waiting of adoption for 16 months now, so although I enjoy the good news and praise God for it. I'm not getting anxious thinking maybe I'll be going any day now. They said to expect to wait 3 to 5 months and it's been 1. On the other side of that I have everyone praying for this adoption and one of the things people are praying is that we will shock the agency and get Jack home even before 3 months. So I'm trying to balance the hope and the paitence and prepare things while not expecting him here before Christmas.

Another update I am feeling much better, I feel like I've come out of the fog of worry and fear and depression about getting Jack home. I feel much more joyful and trusting that God is taking care of him and He will continue to do that once Jack gets home. Thank you to anyone out there who was praying for me. The other night for the first time I dreamt about Jack and it was so wonderful (and real!) . In my dream, I was trying to make him a bottle but I didn't know how to mix the formula because I've never done it, then Kylynn had a poopy diaper, then Jack needed his diaper changed and I only had big sizes. I know it sounds like an anxious dream but really during it I was so happy, I was loving my crazy, hetic life, and thanking God for blessing me with my children. Then I woke up to Kylynn crawling on my bed to wake me up for breakfast that her and Daddy had made. From one dream to another.

Ike

Here in College Station we were blessed to be protected from Ike's wrath and even more blessed to have thousands of evacuees here that we can help. As I go about my days and deal with one little "crisis" and then another, it is a good reminder that I don't begin to know what a crisis is and I can thank God for that.

We actually had a wonderful experience due to Ike. A dear friend of mine that moved to Sugarland a couple of years ago came up to stay with us with her family. They actually evacuated after the hurricane ,she is an Aggie by association after working for A&M for years, so maybe she didn't understand how it was supposed to work :). Anyways, they got here Saturday evening and stayed with us through Monday. Now there were five extra people in my house and I have to tell you that it was a lot of fun. This is a major God thing, someone was praying for us, because 1) my house is relatively small and 2) I like my space and time to myself. Their oldest daughter who's 10 practically took care of Kylynn the whole time while she played with the 2 and 4 year old. The adults were tons of fun and did my dishes before I could blink. I have never had better company and we were all sad when they left (I'm promise!!). And then they thanked us by taking us out to eat (twice!) and giving us a gift certificate to Christophers because my friend remembered that I've never eaten there (which is true). What a blessing they were to my family, it wasn't fair, here I was wanting to help them out and it only went the other way around. It's funny the way God has set up His world to work.

On top of that, Ike got me the door prize today at Bible study. It was who had the most Ike evacuees staying at your house, I won with 5. This is not fair really, they should have said who had the hardest time keeping Ike evacuees in their house and I would have been the first to sit down.

So all in all it was a good weekend for some of us but a horrible weekend for so many more. Please pray for all those people who lost homes and the thousands who are without power. Pray specifically for them that power would be restored, they would be able to get ice, water, and gas as needed. I'm praying that God would use this horrible tragedy to do some amazing things in the Texas coast.

My "big boy"

No not Jack. Kylynn, she tells me several times a day, "Mommy I'm a big boy". To which I always say, no sweetheart you're a big Girl! Then she says no Mommy I'm a little girl...Ok that is technically true as well. Here is what my Big Boy/little girl is up to these days.

She's a BIG helper, it is amazing how much she loves to help with chores and she's actually even helpful at some of them. She now has a chore chart on the fridge that includes (throughout the week): help cook, take out recycling, fill up bird feeder, water plants, help put away dishes, feed dog, clean up toys, help with laundry, help make mommy's bed. She really loves to be my helper she would rather help me cook or put away the dishes than watch Elmo or eat cookies, so I hope it can become a routine now so she'll always be a part of all that it takes to keep a family and house running smoothly.

She loves to tell me about Jesus (which is my favorite thing to hear about, it really blesses me). Some of my favorite things she's said about Jesus lately. "Mommy, I want to see Jesus, I want to see Him". I explained that I want to see Him too and that we will someday and then something way over her head about how people can see Jesus in us when we do kind things. "Daddy Jesus have no crib" Really? Where did He sleep? "With the animals". "Mommy, Jesus ate a goldfish" Did, He? "MmmHmm, Jesus hungry, Jesus thirsty, Jesus cries" This one made me really excited I told her yes and then went into a long explanation about how wonderful it was that Jesus is God and yet he loves us so much he left heaven to save us and experienced all the same things we experience, I think her eyes glazed over :) Another of my favorites, "Mommy Jesus take care of Kylynn"

She is semi-potty training herself. That's right, I'm apparently not very good at this potty training business and have gone back and forth with her and made I'm sure a million mistakes. So currently when at church for Bible study, church, school, she tells the teachers when she needs to go potty, they put her on the potty and she goes. At home she either says "no unders, wear diaper" or she'll wear "unders" and then have an accident. Apparently though she'll include me in her loop of people she tells when she needs to go potty when she's good and ready to :).

She is so excited about Jack, she talks about him and asks to pray for him more often than I do. The other day she took her photo album opened it up to Jack's picture and showed "him" her ballerina jelwery box, telling him all about it. She understands (as much as she can)that she grew in Mommy's belly but God had a different plan for Jack so he didn't grow in my belly and that her baby brother lives far away right now and will come home soon. She tells me that her crib is baby Jack's crib and once told me her special blanket was Jack's blanket, which blew me away since it's her favorite thing in the world, I quickly explained that she didn't have to give Jack her blanket he'll have one of his own.

I'm very proud of her (can you tell :) and know she's going to be such a great help when Jack gets home. She has made such great progress on being "kind" (a word I say 50 times a day) and has become very good with manners. It's quite fun going out in public with her because she will make 10 new friends a day with adults and kids alike.





This was a picture from when Kylynn
played in the sprinkler naked.

Some updates

I just wanted to let you all know that we have gotten a letter from our agency letting us know that the paperwork to complete this part of the adoption process has been mailed to the adoption country. They say we can now expect to wait 3 to 5 months to bring Jack home (from 8/28).

Thank you all for your prayers for the paperwork mess to be taken care of, it took 1 full month and should have taken 1 week...I know God's timing is perfect. Please pray that we would have Jack home in the 3 months (or less!) time frame.

I have begun reading all I need to accomplish in order to prepare to travel to pick up Jack and it is very overwhelming! Pray that we get all the steps completed correctly and are not overwhelmed by all the to-dos.

A dear friend of mine wants to throw me a baby shower so that is a really fun thing to look forward to. It means so much to me to have everyone doing things exactly the same as if I was pregnant with Jack, that is very much what I hoped for.

I'm having a hard time emotionally with the waiting. I am doing okay, but just feel down and am coping by eating (one of my many flaws) it has not been good for my waistline :) It is beyond stressful to me to see a month go by on the calendar due to paperwork and a nutty social worker and realize that was a month of my son's life without me, a month where nothing moved forward and the countdown clock was not clicking.

But 3 to 5 months will be here before I know it and all of this will be forgotten as we're caught up in our new life with Jack.