Kylynn quotes

"Mommy, I wish we had a vehichle." To which I replied, "honey we do, we have two, our van is a vehicle and so is our truck." "No they're not," she infomed me, "they have tops on them." "Oh, I said, a convertible, you wish we had a convertible."

"Mommy, look, I have nipples just like Daddy." Laughing, "no honey you have freckles just like Daddy, those spots are called freckles, not nipples."

In a very serious tone, "Mommy, if you drive your car and you need gas, and you don't get gas, and you keep on driving your car...you'll get a flat tire."

Summer, come soon

I'm sitting here longing for summer, for days that are filled with nothing but trips to the pool, drinking lemonade, and reading a good book. Of course that sounds like I'm longing for a summer where I am not a mom to a soon to be 4 year old and realizing he's 2 year old, but it's my fantasy, darn it, and I'll think of summer however I want.

I want to open up my planner and see nothing!! Nothing, not on a single day in the week, I want to get bored, I want to say hey kids lets go to the movies in the middle of the day (even though Jack wouldn't do well and it would be a disaster). I want to drive down to the beach and spend the days by the ocean reading about celebrities and their messed up lives and then going out to eat in a sun dress with an ever so slight sun burn and eating the best salad, steak, baked potato combo I've ever had, with ice tea of course (unsweet with lots of lemon, if you care). I want the sand to be stuck on my shoes, my clothes, and my car for weeks to come. To feel the weight lift off my shoulders, breathe deep, and fully relax.

I want to be so hot that I eat less and therefore lose 15 pounds, hey stranger things have happened. Then I want to get things done. To catch up on my paperwork to bring my next baby home, to file the papers that have been stacking up for 18 months, to knit for a few minutes, to make lemonade from scratch, to make my yard look pretty, to get the to-dos done that have been following me around for 4 years now. I want to read approximately 23 books, all of them for pleasure, none for self-improvement. I want to discover new parts of my town I love, new restaurants, new streets, new parks. I want to ride my bike until I think my legs are going to really fall off this time.

Summer come soon. We are weary around here, we have been busy, everyday busy, and we need a break, a long hot summer filled with rest and slow days.

A fact about me

Have I ever told you I'm afraid of snakes? No, well I am. And I know what you're saying, so am I, so is everybody. But everybody is not scared of snakes the way I am, I have a really inappropriately large fear of snakes, as in I think about them every day, every time I go outside which is several times a day, every time I see a stick...even if it really doesn't look that much like a snake at all.

When I was a little girl, my dad played a very innocent trick on me, he made me think there was a snake in the outhouse I was using and it scared me half to death. This I don't think was actually the beginning of my fear, I think it just gave me an unusual fear of toilets for the next 8 years or so...but that's another story :). Apparently fear has been a big part of my life for most of it.

But back to the snakes. Every time we go out on a walk in anything wooded or play in the yard for that matter I think about snakes being somewhere unseen and have to pray for God to protect us and that I won't be afraid. This works relatively well, when I let God help me with my fear. What stinks is I absolutely love being outdoors and going on walks in wooded areas and my constant worry about the snakes steals so much of my joy away.

The other day the usual Christian radio station I listen to was not working so I switched it over to a country station and it was on the morning talk part, which I really enjoy, until suddenly they were talking to a woman with the local animal shelter about the fact that snakes have been unusually active this spring and they're seeing several pets get bitten. Why, oh why, did I have to hear that, it does me no good, and only gives me a new vengeance to my snake worries as I go out each day.

But heres the thing, I go out each day. I'm scared, but I do it anyway, that has been my motto for some years now and although I find the fears haven't necessarily gone away, I am able to not let them stop me from doing something that I enjoy or even just something I need to do.

How about you, what scares you? What could you resolve to do, even though it scares you?

*Can I tell you how much my skin is crawling right now, after going to find a picture of a snake for my blog, I can't even look at pictures of them without freaking out!*

Happy Earth Day!

I love this day. I think it's a day that helps more people stop and consider their role in caring for our world and all of creation.

When I read God's word, I think it's pretty clear that God created the world and all that is in it, and that He loves all of His creation, not just us humans. We see in the gospels, that Jesus says that God clothes the flowers of the fields and feeds the birds. We also learn that all of creation is longing for Jesus' return and they wait with groaning for that day. It is clear to me that God has a special relationship with His creation, even though we cannot see it and that as with the other gifts He entrusts to us we are to be good stewards on this earth.

It is important to me to be a good steward of all God has given me, I often fail miserably at this, in many different areas, but especially in caring for His creation. However there are some things I've learned to do to better reduce my impact on this physical world. Below I listed some of the things we do that I hope are a little unique, I know these days we are overwhelmed with articles on living green and most of them say the same ideas over and over. Bonus, they'll all save you money too!

*I use dryer sheets two times, they work just as well the second time around, cutting down the number of dryer sheets I use by half.

*I use less detergent than recommended by the manufacture, it will clean just as well. And of course use concentrated detergent and never use more than recommended, it will NOT help clean your clothes any better.

*I got this idea from my friend Shannon, stop buying envelopes, instead use the ones that come in the mail with your bills. This of course only works if you pay your bills online, which I hope by now you are doing, it not only saves paper but about .50 per bill payed, that adds up! You get so many free envelopes in the mail, you could never use them all.

*I use cloth napkins, keep the same one assigned to the same family member and you can use them for up to a week before washing.

*I use washcloths to clean off Jack after eating, not wipes. Saving about 3650 wipes a year.

*We print on scrap printer paper from Kyle's office, just turn it over and print on it, this works for 99% of things we print. We also choose the "use black cartridge only" feature when printing, so as to not use up the more expensive color ink cartridge.

*We don't buy new printer cartridges, but instead have them refilled.

*We think before we shop, what is it I actually need or even want from the store, make a list, check to make sure I don't already have apples or a white shirt, and then put it off a day, maybe by tomorrow you'll have found a good replacement or decide you don't need/want it.

*Use freecyle.org to give and get free items people no longer want. Or pick up things people put out for the trash, we have so many items in our house that we got from people's trash, you would be shocked! I'm not kidding you, people put out great stuff by the curb just because they got something better and are too lazy to call Salvation Army to pick it up.

*Share. Not everybody needs to own a baby swing or a punch bowl or a yogurt maker or maternity clothes. I am a part of a great community where we are always sharing and there are so many things that I don't need to buy because I can borrow it during the times I need it.

Need a cute shirt?

I just saw this website on the Journey's blog, such a wonderful ministry and really great gear to show your love for adoption and orphans around the world.

Check it out here: 147 million orphans.

Surgery, check, Lawn mowed, check!

Jack's ear surgery went well, the doctor said that he had trouble with one of the ears due to the build up of pressure in it and that tube might not stay in as long as we expect the tubes to stay in, so you can prayer it would move into the correct position and stay in just as long, so we don't have to go back there any sooner than planned.

Thank you for all your prayers, I was relatively calm, but it was hard to hear that they had some problems with one of his ears, I was glad Kyle was with me because after those words I didn't really hear what he was saying.

He took a couple of hours to stop being loopy and nauseous, but he just finished eating a big Chick-Fil-A breakfast and seems to be keeping it down fine, and is now mowing my front lawn over and over again, in blue camo jamas, cowboy boots, oh and the lawn mower is pink! Oh he is the cutest little boy I've ever seen.

Surgery

Would you pray for Jack? He is having his surgery tomorrow morning at 7, to put in a new set of ear tubes. Please pray for the doctors, Jack, his ears, and us.

We know it's a routine surgery and we've been through much bigger ones, but it's still hard to watch them take away your baby to be put under anesthesia.

I will let you all know how he does and blog more soon, I'm sorry I've been lax lately, life has gotten crazy busy and I have a stack of papers staring at me that I need to fill out to bring home our next baby.

A great read

What a great post from Its almost naptime today. I highly recommend it.

The good and the gooder

Good news: I got an email from my agency and our application has been approved, our file has been sent over to Korea and we now begin a bunch of steps to prepare a file on who we are and then wait for our baby. I spoke with the agency doing our home study and we should be able to get that going really soon. So away we go!

Gooder news: (Yes I know gooder is not a word and typically I hate when I hear grown adults use it, but today it is the right word for this post) Jack does not need any work done by the plastic surgeon at this time. He felt like the holes in Jack's mouth are getting smaller and it would not be worth the risk to do another repair at this time. WooHoo! So Jack is now only having a surgery to put ear tubes in and although he will need general anesthesia, it should be very quick and painless. My stress level has gone down considerably.

Thank you for all your prayers, they really mean the world to me, and help me to be a much calmer person :).

Deep Breath

We had to wait in the dentist's office for 35 minutes before Jack got called back. The longer we waited the more anxious I became, I don't like dentist appointments, I especially don't like dentist appointments for my two year old, I really really don't like dentist appointments for my two year old to check on that spot that I just know is a cavity.

I was wrong, it was a stain, not a cavity. He told me the news and I skipped from the dentist's office as happy as can be. I drove home on a high, I took Jack out of his car seat and we played happily. I went inside to make lunch and suddenly I realized, there's another doctor's appointment today about another surgery. The lightness was replaced with a heaviness, and I started to fear again.

I let it linger for a moment, then rearranged my thinking. Remembered the beautiful day, the great doctors that have done such wonderful things for our son, the fact that this next surgery should be much more minor than the first and remembered to breathe deep. Breathe in, 1,2,3 hold, 1,2,3, breathe out, 1,2,3. Then I ate a quesadilla and felt much better. God will be handling all of my and Jack's problems and He doesn't need my help. Deep breath, Jenny, and don't forget about that chocolate you've got in the kitchen.

A day as supermom

I have five children right now. Yes, you heard me correctly, five! children. We walked outside this morning and my neighbor said, wow! y'all sure to multiply quickly! It's true, we've multiplied and it was quick. But not to worry, I haven't taken you out of the loop of news in my life, it's only temporary. My sweet friends are taking a weekend for themselves and we are keeping their three children for them.

I decided to just go for it and see what it'd be like to be a supermom for a few hours and go out and enjoy this beautiful day. So off to the ChickFilA we went, I did some math in my head to see the cheapest way to feed these kids and still get enough food, ordered it all, and drove over to a local park to eat and play.

That was when it got fun, half the kids ran off to play on the playground and half sat down to eat. And since it was such a beautiful day the playground was crawling with kiddos. So I began to divide up the food and began the counting, 1, 2, 3,...4,...where's number 5, has anyone seen Kylynn, oh there she is, 5. And soon I'd be counting again. But after a few minutes things seem to get easier, OK, it actually only got easier because several friends were there and they helped me despite there own children that needed taking care of.

It was actually really fun and it did make me feel like one of those super-organized moms that can have 7 kids and still find time to make their own granola and sew matching shirts for everyone. You know the ones always smiling, who never yell at their kids. That was me today, I mean more than half these kids are not actually mine, so I was able to keep my smile on and avoid yelling, of course there was no granola or sewing going on, not even in cooking for that matter.

We have more adventure planned for the weekend and so far these kids are great, I'm thinking of swapping out some of mine for some of theirs when their parents return...think they'll notice?

A conversation with Kylynn

"Mommy, can we bring home a baby girl this time," Kylynn asked me the other day. "Honey, I'm sorry it's probably going to be another little boy," I told her.

Tears, real tears, fell down, "but I want a sister." What can I say to that, it broke my heart, I consider my sisters to be the most important relationship I'll ever have, I want her to have a sister too. "I know honey, I'm sorry, but they just need more families for boys than girls. But you know what, God can do anything, so if you want a sister you pray for a sister but, I'll pray for God to bring us our perfect child."

"Ok, but I'm going to just pray for a sister."

And we did that day. The agency tells us that we don't qualify for requesting a little girl, so we are officially in the "either" category, but that category is actually the equivalent to a "boy" category, but I know that God can answer big prayers in whatever way He wants, and I'm excited to see what happens.

This morning on the way to school, "mommy, can we adopt a baby with blonde hair?" I smiled, "Kylynn we're adopting a baby from Korea, what do babies in Korea look like?" "I don't know," she said. Bigger smile, "Honey, Jack is from Korea, what color hair does he have?" "Black," she said. "That's right, black, so our baby will have black hair, because people from Korea have black hair," I told her. "OK," she sighed.

It's really neat doing this again, when Kylynn is so much older, she really understands what's going on and really wants her say in what happens :).

Prayer request for Jack

Would y'all say a quick prayer for Jack. He is going to have tubes put into his ears again, and I'm praying that God would work out the details for him to be able to have some work done on his mouth at the same time.

Pray that his plastic surgeon is available for a surgery date, soon! The ENT doesn't want Jack to have to wait for tubes because of the negative effect his ears are having on his hearing and speech. Also pray that the audiologist would be available that same day for a hearing test that can only be done when under anesthesia. In summary, that God would work out all the details for the surgeries to coincide and He would guide these doctors as they operate on him again.

Thank you for your prayers. My Jack would not be who he is today were not for all of you praying on his behalf.

Let's add a baby...

We have come to a decision, and we've decided to add a new baby to our family through....... adoption! Something tells me not many of you are surprised. We began our paperwork and are working with Holt International again, we really enjoyed our experience with them last time, so we really feel comfortable starting another adoption through them. We are also going to adopt from South Korea again, at least that's the plan for now, we are always open to God shaking up our nice little plan and putting His in place instead.

It's funny that it took us a few weeks to make up our mind, when in reality, I think both of us always knew what we wanted in the end. In our final discussion about it, I said to Kyle, can you see yourself not adopting again, because I don't think it's possible for me not to do this again, he said he felt the same and away we went.

Making this decision, reminds of some prayers I prayed throughout our last adoption and I think it is through His answer that I am able to be so excited to be on this path again, so I'll share some of that with you.

Right after we had begun Jack's adoption process, I had several friends who were pregnant and I noticed that I felt a sense of longing for what they had and that really upset me. I too was going to have a baby, just through a different path, so I began to pray about it. I prayed for months that God would match the desires of my heart to His desires, that I would not experience any desires (specifically a desire to be pregnant) if that is not what He had for me.

God answered those prayers and time went on with Jack's adoption. Then once we had Jack home, I again would start to think about wanting to be pregnant again someday, but was conflicted because I knew that adoption was something I had loved so deeply and wanted to do again. So I again began to pray that God would only give me the desire to add children to our family in the way that He had for us. I also began to pray that He would remove any desire to be pregnant, if that was never to be in my future again. God answered those prayers and it made it so much easier to know what path to take, I knew if I never was pregnant again that was fine with me, but it was not okay with me to never adopt again.

We are on step one of a hundred, so there's not too much to tell, but I will keep everyone posted and you can always comment and ask me questions, if you want to email me and don't have my personal email you can also reach me at achosenchildblog@gmail.com.

We would love your prayers for God to build our family into the one He desires it to be and that He would bring home the perfect child for our family.

Happy Easter

I hope you all had a joy filled Easter. That you were able to celebrate life, the new life we have in Jesus Christ, remembering that on that day, death was defeated. The battle was won and that makes me want to celebrate.

*Speaking of new life...we have an announcement, but I'll save it for tomorrow..see you then :)