The birth mom changed her mind...wow...what can be said... we are back to waiting...but God had His hand in there, and saved us from a harder journey if we had gotten down there...we were heading out of town to go get a flight and had to mail some stuff to the agency, the postee said they didn't think they could courier it there, so I better check with them, so I called the US agency, and they were, "Don't send it,the birth mom just changed her mind"...
Wow, stunned, deflated, scratching our heads...it wasn't the day...but that day will come...
Monday, September 22, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
We are matched in the US!!!!
We just got the call that a birthmother in the US has matched us with their soon to be born child. We do not know the gender. Delivery due date was Oct 19, but she is having early labor pains, so they are hoping for her to hold on another week and then deliver.
We have paper trail to wrap up, the suitcase has been packed for months, book flights, get the bird and fish looked after...and within a couple weeks, we suspect, we will have our little bean!
I am seriously numb, and in the deepest part of my spirit it feels filled in with a missing piece, in the shape of our little bean!
We have paper trail to wrap up, the suitcase has been packed for months, book flights, get the bird and fish looked after...and within a couple weeks, we suspect, we will have our little bean!
I am seriously numb, and in the deepest part of my spirit it feels filled in with a missing piece, in the shape of our little bean!
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Feb 9 2006 matched
In China news it appears at least up to Feb 9 is matched making it a 9 day match cycle this time. Congrats to all who made it!
I am not even going to start wrapping my brain around how long until May 19 comes up. In December we will look at it, see how it fits with ensuring we keep a year between adoptions (if we aren't matched in the US before then), and then go from there.
I have joked(starting years ago) that I hope I am a father before I am 40... well only 365 days to get that taken care of, can we move this along a little please?!
Not doing much of anything for my Bday this year, just taking it easy. I painted our bedroom over the weekend, got some outdoor stuff done before the snow falls, repotted a few of my bonsai and ordered some magic from Bday cash.
Dealing with some gaps and changes in Fall church stuff and trying to get things going for the Fall. Been feeling pretty relaxed about it until middle of last week, time I thought I had got gobbled up with unexpected stuff, and people I thought I had in place, had stuff chance for a few which opens up more work for me to do, again, no fault of theirs, just life stuff.
39 and feeling fine...
Wife making me stirfry in which to dine.
Bought a fish tank and a fish named Buckwheat...
He's swimming and darting and is kinda neat.
I know this poem sucks, but you don't have to whine!
sigh... it has come down to this...LOL...if i can't start reporting about baby stuff soon no knowing what will end up on this blog next!
:)
I am not even going to start wrapping my brain around how long until May 19 comes up. In December we will look at it, see how it fits with ensuring we keep a year between adoptions (if we aren't matched in the US before then), and then go from there.
I have joked(starting years ago) that I hope I am a father before I am 40... well only 365 days to get that taken care of, can we move this along a little please?!
Not doing much of anything for my Bday this year, just taking it easy. I painted our bedroom over the weekend, got some outdoor stuff done before the snow falls, repotted a few of my bonsai and ordered some magic from Bday cash.
Dealing with some gaps and changes in Fall church stuff and trying to get things going for the Fall. Been feeling pretty relaxed about it until middle of last week, time I thought I had got gobbled up with unexpected stuff, and people I thought I had in place, had stuff chance for a few which opens up more work for me to do, again, no fault of theirs, just life stuff.
39 and feeling fine...
Wife making me stirfry in which to dine.
Bought a fish tank and a fish named Buckwheat...
He's swimming and darting and is kinda neat.
I know this poem sucks, but you don't have to whine!
sigh... it has come down to this...LOL...if i can't start reporting about baby stuff soon no knowing what will end up on this blog next!
:)
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Thoughts on our US adoption
First off, I want to be VERY clear, I will be delighted with whatever gender of child we get from the US.
Since I was like 16 or 17 I always desired to be a parent and a dad, but it was always a dad of a daughter, I never really gave thought to being the dad of a little boy, but the last few months that is where my head has been. I still entertain thoughts of a little black girl curling up on my lap, looking into my eyes and saying "daddy", but I have started entertaining thoughts of a little boy, and that has been fun. The toys I can buy for myself...err for him ;)...no seriously, the thought of having a boy around, someone to eventually be able to buddy around with, have to help with doing things in the house and yard together, being able to model(or at least trying) to model how to be a godly man for him to learn from, seeing him grow strong, having someone to wrestle around with, laugh when he does typical boy stuff that will make his mom's eyes roll and freak her out are thoughts that are keeping my mind occupied(when I am not neck deep in camp stuff-still one week to go)!
One of the roller coaster things about this journey is that there is no guarantee we will get matched, now we obviously think we will, but it is one of those x factors that make planning life so hard...with Julia, we will have time to plan travel, plan to get ready, make transitions in home and job etc. whereas for little bean it will be a wait followed by an intense volley of info and talking, a decision and bang, flying into a new adventure...
Ahh the joys of adoption journey...life has been so full with camp ministry...that there isn't a lot of brain space for adoption stuff, which isn't so bad since it makes the wait go faster :)
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Summer brings camp
Summer = minimal blog posts. I am neck deep(and loving it) with camp ministry so that is keeping me outdoors and away from the computer. China just finished 5 days of files, taking them to January 25 2006. We have our Us coordinator looking for agencies that work more with us than just the birth mom. We were not too impressed with the demands of the one agency we were getting info from. They would send a 5 line description of a situation and ask if we wanted our profile shown to the mom. If the mom picked us, we would be legally bound to pay half at that point. i was like "WHOA" I don't think so, We still need to have some say in this. So we are no longer connected with that agency.
We know that our profile is being shown at times, so now we just wait for a phone call to start step 2.
Cara has actually made up a packing list(when she actually gets to list making, it is serious stuff in our house...she is hardcore ready for something to happen :) ).
We have had quite hot weather...my lawn is taking a few hits, me sad :( .
We got word that our good friends Tim and Kristy are starting their long process of adopting from Ethiopia. We are sooooo jazzed about that!
It is too hot to do anything, so I am off to try to make a slurpee from this "bullet" thing that Cara bought from Costco. It has worked well to make smoothies, but has been hit and miss working with ice...Grab a stack of comics and hopefully end up falling asleep:).
I still have 1 week to finish off the last bits of teachings for my elementary camps, can't wait to be at camp 24/7.
We know that our profile is being shown at times, so now we just wait for a phone call to start step 2.
Cara has actually made up a packing list(when she actually gets to list making, it is serious stuff in our house...she is hardcore ready for something to happen :) ).
We have had quite hot weather...my lawn is taking a few hits, me sad :( .
We got word that our good friends Tim and Kristy are starting their long process of adopting from Ethiopia. We are sooooo jazzed about that!
It is too hot to do anything, so I am off to try to make a slurpee from this "bullet" thing that Cara bought from Costco. It has worked well to make smoothies, but has been hit and miss working with ice...Grab a stack of comics and hopefully end up falling asleep:).
I still have 1 week to finish off the last bits of teachings for my elementary camps, can't wait to be at camp 24/7.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Long awaited baby room pictures
On the May long weekend I took a couple days off work to get this project completed
This will end up over the closet door, it is the only thing incomplete, but it looks cool against the window also.
Really enjoy painting, it was a refreshing project, although painting the closet and door white was TIME CONSUMING...
Corner of the bed, very cute flower!
Doesn't go with the room ,but we are keeping a bed in there, this way if baby is unsettled there is the chance for Cara to feed them and sleep and still allow me to have a decent night sleep(I am planning on helping with evening stuff, but Cara will be shouldering more of that time).
This bed will go when baby 2(we assume Julia) comes into our family and we will replace it with another crib.
We are going with a bug theme and the clouds, sun, flowers and dragonflies are a start,we have some butterfly mobiles to put up and some wall stickers of bugs, once the kids get older.
Storage is going to be tight, but we will make it work!
Sun light on the ceiling. It looks cool, but really washes the green out of the room and makes it more yellowy. :)
We are really happy about how it turned out and can't wait for it to be complete...just add one baby!
This will end up over the closet door, it is the only thing incomplete, but it looks cool against the window also.
Really enjoy painting, it was a refreshing project, although painting the closet and door white was TIME CONSUMING...
Corner of the bed, very cute flower!
Doesn't go with the room ,but we are keeping a bed in there, this way if baby is unsettled there is the chance for Cara to feed them and sleep and still allow me to have a decent night sleep(I am planning on helping with evening stuff, but Cara will be shouldering more of that time).
This bed will go when baby 2(we assume Julia) comes into our family and we will replace it with another crib.
We are going with a bug theme and the clouds, sun, flowers and dragonflies are a start,we have some butterfly mobiles to put up and some wall stickers of bugs, once the kids get older.
Storage is going to be tight, but we will make it work!
Sun light on the ceiling. It looks cool, but really washes the green out of the room and makes it more yellowy. :)
We are really happy about how it turned out and can't wait for it to be complete...just add one baby!
Garage sale fun
We went garage saling last Saturday, and got some great deals. Above is a couple of outfits and 3 dvd's that are mint condition.
More fun stuff, this whole stash we got for under $30!!!
Cara has a deep desire to put every child in tights, and has finally been given some room to pick some up for our own.
We got a bottle sterilizer, a baby mat mobile thing, 10 or so receiving blankets(not pictured)...
We got a couple small buckets of little peoples stuff and the farm set. We got animals for the Noah ark set, but now are hunting for the boat...very stoked about these toys!
I am not big on garage sales, but this has warmed me up to it, clean stuff, great price, it was fun!
Thursday, June 12, 2008
We are out there
Got a call last night about some potential matching situations in the US.There were 5 birth moms looking to match and our adviser there called us to see if she could show them our profile.
What this means is that in the next few days these moms will be looking at our "storybook"(our profile of who we are, where we live, why we want to adopt etc.)and deciding whether to pursue an interview with us to see if a match could happen.
It is exciting to be in the potential category, makes this seem more "real". I have been anticipating the reality of having a little African American baby to call my child, but it just hasn't seemed real until now. Now we are out there and we could be matched...that is unreal...it is a real test in trust. Once you do your paper work, you can't do anything else to control the outcome...that is a challenge for someone like me who likes to be hands on during any process and help get the results I want.
So we wait, but with a bit of a butterfly in our stomachs anticipating some hopeful news :).
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
What I did on Monday
Monday was a good day,so I thought, "HEY, let's post about it!"
Had a good night of sleep, woke up without an alarm and in time for some morning cuddles with Cara, then it was off to work.
Staff meeting included our 2 Assistant directors of camp, who are awesome folks, and fun to be around. I appreciate, with the interim pastor, his focus on prayer. We actually spend time praying for needs in our church, and seeing answers.Brief time of comparing notes from Sunday and what is ahead this week, then I was off to work on camp messages...time is closing fast and much needs to get done...
Detour(welcome to my world), end up cleaning up classrooms and the gym so they are usable, so it is around 11:00 before I get out of office. Hung out at Wendy's for lunch and got a BUNCH of ideas, 3 out of 4 messages now have a theme. I am STOKED!
Going to follow and Indiana Jones type idea and have puzzles and challenges to open the message and the conclusion of those points to a key word and teaching point in the message which will direct us to the Bible to discover what truth the kids can apply to their lives.I found a hat that is close, but need to find the whip...not sure that advertising in the church bulletin would be a good thing..."wanted for kids camp 1 bullwhip." :) :)
Back to the office to do phone calls and interview a camp staff person. Seems like another gooder, so our staffing is coming along good.
Cara calls me and tells me she has mowed the lawn, man was that a blessing! Figured I would have to do it at 9 at night when I got home as there wouldn't be time this week for it. I really feel loved when she does stuff like that. Acts of service is definitely my love language(if you don't know what I mean you need to read Gary Chapman's book The 5 love languages, a great read to help you know how to best love ANYone you are in a relationship with.)
Then it was off to Kung Fu. In a couple weeks I test for my first sash, which will be good, but I am hitting a wall in that there is some stuff I have done and know, but tweaking it to be just right is making my brain block so I am stalling on stuff. Stalling is deadly, you don't go with the flow of it, you end up getting socked in the head or ribs or something when you do the technique with a partner. Fortunately we don't do that much partner stuff at this level, it is just annoying as I want it to be smooth come the testing. Otherwise it is still really enjoyable and a good way to start the week off.
After that a quick shower and then watching a show I am currently addicted to-Jon and Kate plus 8
It is the daily adventures of a family who, through fertility treatments, ended up with twins, and then later sextuplets. The kids are soooooo cute, and they are quite entertaining. He is laid back, calm, faithful dad. She is,at times a high strung, ultra organized, sometimes controlling-but hey wouldn't you need to be with 8 kids- personality. Not sure if it is the cute kids, the fact it is reassuring to see another family deal with daily chaos to make my world feel better, or what, but what a fun show!
Went to bed waaaay too late but it was a fun, productive, positive day, a day worth making note of!
Had a good night of sleep, woke up without an alarm and in time for some morning cuddles with Cara, then it was off to work.
Staff meeting included our 2 Assistant directors of camp, who are awesome folks, and fun to be around. I appreciate, with the interim pastor, his focus on prayer. We actually spend time praying for needs in our church, and seeing answers.Brief time of comparing notes from Sunday and what is ahead this week, then I was off to work on camp messages...time is closing fast and much needs to get done...
Detour(welcome to my world), end up cleaning up classrooms and the gym so they are usable, so it is around 11:00 before I get out of office. Hung out at Wendy's for lunch and got a BUNCH of ideas, 3 out of 4 messages now have a theme. I am STOKED!
Going to follow and Indiana Jones type idea and have puzzles and challenges to open the message and the conclusion of those points to a key word and teaching point in the message which will direct us to the Bible to discover what truth the kids can apply to their lives.I found a hat that is close, but need to find the whip...not sure that advertising in the church bulletin would be a good thing..."wanted for kids camp 1 bullwhip." :) :)
Back to the office to do phone calls and interview a camp staff person. Seems like another gooder, so our staffing is coming along good.
Cara calls me and tells me she has mowed the lawn, man was that a blessing! Figured I would have to do it at 9 at night when I got home as there wouldn't be time this week for it. I really feel loved when she does stuff like that. Acts of service is definitely my love language(if you don't know what I mean you need to read Gary Chapman's book The 5 love languages, a great read to help you know how to best love ANYone you are in a relationship with.)
Then it was off to Kung Fu. In a couple weeks I test for my first sash, which will be good, but I am hitting a wall in that there is some stuff I have done and know, but tweaking it to be just right is making my brain block so I am stalling on stuff. Stalling is deadly, you don't go with the flow of it, you end up getting socked in the head or ribs or something when you do the technique with a partner. Fortunately we don't do that much partner stuff at this level, it is just annoying as I want it to be smooth come the testing. Otherwise it is still really enjoyable and a good way to start the week off.
After that a quick shower and then watching a show I am currently addicted to-Jon and Kate plus 8
It is the daily adventures of a family who, through fertility treatments, ended up with twins, and then later sextuplets. The kids are soooooo cute, and they are quite entertaining. He is laid back, calm, faithful dad. She is,at times a high strung, ultra organized, sometimes controlling-but hey wouldn't you need to be with 8 kids- personality. Not sure if it is the cute kids, the fact it is reassuring to see another family deal with daily chaos to make my world feel better, or what, but what a fun show!
Went to bed waaaay too late but it was a fun, productive, positive day, a day worth making note of!
Friday, May 23, 2008
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