5 days until we leave for the trip of a lifetime...

And I am still blogging about rodents!! Oh my, have we had fun with these little critters this weekend. But boy am I glad they are going back home tomorrow! Note to self....If I ever buy guinea pigs, buy one per child. John almost got the chainsaw out this afternoon to do an object lesson similar to King Solomon's from the Bible.

We have a rodent problem

Four kids and only two guinea pigs. Now THAT is a problem.
This is Shiloh and Guinea, the 4th grade class pets that we get to keep for the weekend. They are very cute and very sweet but they make the funniest noises..all night long. (And there are not enough of them to go around.) I'm glad they are just "weekend pets".

Hope's special photo album

On the night of August 15, 2001, I went into labor with my third child. I remember when the contractions started, I went into Liesel's bedroom and picked her up from her sleep, and I just rocked her and rocked her. And I cried and cried. She was only 16 months old. Still such a baby, and surely not ready to be the "big sister", I thought. Would she feel like she missed out? Will I be able to give her all the love and attention she needed with all the demands of a newborn too?

Liesel and Jude are 6 and 7 now. I laugh now when I think back to the emotions of that night. Right now as I type they are playing catch with stuffed animals. They are more like friends than brother and sister. She was fine. She didn't suffer a bit. We survived.

Once again, I am having those feelings, this time about Hope. Will she miss us terribly while we're gone? Will she wonder if we abandoned her? Will she feel jealous that she won't be the "baby" anymore, and how will she feel when we get off the airplane with this strange little girl who now gets ALL the attention?

Hope and I spent some time making a photo album last week. I put in pictures from her birth, infancy, pictures of mom and dad, brothers and sisters, including Ava, cousins, grandparents, fun times we've had. When we finished, she got very upset that there were some blank sleeves and not enough pictures to fill them. So we got creative and made our own photos.


Here is daddy and his famous towel swing. Ava is looking over his shoulder waiting for her turn.


We all got a big laugh out of this one: Daddy with long painted fingernails. She also showed me how daddy danced the ballet in her dream. I'll save that one for another blog post. (And look how sweet Ava is. Soon she'll be riding in daddy's back pack carrier and not laying in that crib all day).


And no laughing at my drawings!!

One week and counting down

Someone asked me if I was nervous about traveling so soon, and how I'm handling the anticipation of the fact that our lives may change drastically. If I was to be honest, Yes. I am nervous. I am nervous about how much I will miss my kids, I'm nervous about how will I stay warm in below zero temperatures, about how will we communicate? What if I inadvertantly say a russian curse word, or do something that is completely culturely inappropriate?

And of course...just how drastically will our content little lives change one month from now?

At the very beginning of our adoption journey, after God confirmed in our hearts what we were to do, we were on top of the world, and excited to share our news with everyone, the first two responses we got were: "Oh, my goodness, do you realize what kind of a commitment you are making?" And, "Are you sure you heard from God?"

We have been so thankful for the support we HAVE had from so many friends and family members who truly are DELIGHTED with us in our step of faith to care for one of His little sheep. It means so much to know others are behind us. Yes, we know it is a big commitment, but nothing compared to His commitment to us. Yes, there will be some sacrifices, but how much did HE sacrifice for ME? And yes, we heard from God. It is evident throughout the Scripture that He requires us to lay down our lives for our brothers, lay up treasures in heaven and not on earth, rejoice in our sufferings, give thanks in all things, be obedient to His calling, and care for the helpless and suffering. No offense to the person who asked the question, but I imagine all the prayers going up every night from the orphans crying out to God for a family to love them. And here we are... one family, eager to share the abundant love God has given us, eager to share our lives and our home, willing to be the answer to just ONE of those little prayers. WHY would God say 'no' to that?

The Lord gave this scripture to us at the beginning of our adoption journey, and this is what we have held fast to: I Pet 3:13-15 "Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened. But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give and answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander."

So in answer to my friend's question. Yes, we are a little nervous. I wish I could take a survey of parents who are one week away from adopting their child. I would imagine we all have our share of the jitters. But we believe with all of our hearts that God is with us, He hears our prayers, He will supply our needs, He is pleased with our obedience, and He will get us through hard times that may come. We also believe that having a little girl with Down Syndrome will be more of a joy than a burden, and that our love won't be divided, it will be multiplied. We are ALL very, very excited!

Ava's suitcase

Won't she look adorable in this hat, handmade by her Oma!


Here is a little orphan girl's first possessions...a book, a pink coat (Thanks Aunt Sharon!), pink socks, 3 pink and white outfits,a pink handknit hat (thanks Oma) and a pink and white teddy bear that sings (with her family's voices singing). I hope she likes pink!

We know she weighs 18 pounds, so I guessed her size to be about 18mo. I have been thinking how strange it will feel to be carrying a 4 year old girl who is half the size of Hope, and actually the size of a one-year old. As far as Hope is concerned, she is getting a baby sister, and for now I'm not going to tell her otherwise. Eventually Hope will understand that she gets to be the big sister and the little sister all at the same time.

Fun Morning Routine

Once again, a great idea stolen from somebody else: The kids' morning routine set to music. I got this idea from Family Fun Magazine, and to be honest, I probably never would have taken the time to do it had it not been for the fact that we will be away for several weeks, and we wanted to make the children's routine as easy and consistent as possible for our children's caretakers.

John starts the music CD at 7:40am. It starts with Sonny and Cher's "I Got You Babe" (If you've ever seen Groundhog Day, you'll understand why we picked this for the wake-up song). Each song represents a morning activity. Here's how it goes:

I Got You Babe- wake up, use bathroom
Good Morning Beautiful- make bed, straighten room
Changes- change clothes and put away PJs
Move It Move It (Madagascar)- "move it" to the breakfast table
Jesus What a Saviour You Are- Breakfast and family devotions
How Great is Our God- Breakfast and family devotions
Saint Behind the Glass- Morning chores- trash, table, feed dog
Brushin' Your teeth (found it on itunes)- teeth, face and hair
Walkin' on Sunshine- grab backpacks and lunchboxes and to the bus

I can't believe how well this is working! No more yelling and repeating myself again, and again, and again, and again, day after day...after day. We all love it and I highly recommend anybody with kids try it!

Father's Kids

My Dad, my Mom, and my mom's best friend from college, Sharon. They just reunited after 40 years thanks again to the wonders of internet technology


Mom and Dad have been missionaries since before I was born. They have lived in Guatemala, Mexico, and have recently returned from a several month trip ministering in several countries. These are AIDS orphans in Kenya, Africa. I was recently moved to tears as my mother shared the experiences she encountered with the African women and children. There are so many false ideas from past generations that have kept women and children suffering and in bondage.

One of the stories she told, and I am already in tears again as I write this, is about a group home for orphaned girls. The mission there feeds the girls every day, and meets their basic needs. My parents took the orphans to a zoo, or african wildlife park, I guess it would be called there. They had never seen anything like this, of course, and they were overjoyed! They had many opportunities to love on and minister to these children, even teaching them on issues such as AIDS prevention, and guarding their bodies and their hearts for God and their husbands.

My mom said that the workers at the group home would call the children for their meals, "Orphans! Come eat!" Mom had an opportunity to talk to the kids and their workers. She said, "From now on, you are not orphans. You are 'Father's Children'. You all may not have earthly mothers or fathers, but you do have a Father in heaven and He loves you dearly." These little girls just lit up. They LOVED their new name...Father's Child.



Look at the necklace Liesel is wearing. Oma, as we call her, who had taken the time in Africa to find out and write down the names of each girl in the orphanage, along with her favorite color, came for Christmas, and she and the girl cousins made these necklaces. Each bead (each child's favorite color) represents a child, a "Father's Child". The girls wear these to remember these little girls and we pray for them.

I was reminded of the song by Avalon, There are No Orphans of God.

And a bear for Ava too!

We also decided we needed to make a bear for Ava with our voices on it. I got smarter the second time, and went to Hobby Lobby for the cheaper version, saved about $15! We couldn't decide what to say, but Jude thought Ava would really love to hear our family singing. When we couldn't decide on a song, Jude made one up for us. It's something like "Jesus Loves Me" to the tune of "Rock A Bye Baby". It turned out very sweet, and I'm sure she will love it. I wish I would have bought the smaller one, though, since our suitcase space is limited. Again, I didn't think it all through. Story of my life!

P.S. Simeon is not grumpy about making a Build A Bear for his sister-to-be, he is grumpy because he was up past 1 a.m. the night before at a friend's house.

Last Trip to the Zoo as a Family of Six

From John's cell phone camera, I LOVE THIS PHOTO! He titled it "Zoo Alien" with Hope on his shoulders


Hope's favorite..the elephants


Aztec princess


Boys...being boys


Look! Somebody is missing! Won't Ava look cute there?

Singing Mommy Bunny

My friend Shelley, who I met through the amazing world of online technology, had this great idea. In an effort to help their 2 yr. old daughter cope with their absence while they were overseas adopting their son, Shelley took her child to Build A Bear and made a "mommy bear" containing Shelley's voice. Shelley and her husband adopted Xander (who also has Down Syndrome) from the same orphanage where we will be in just a little over two weeks. Xander and Ava were best friends, in fact, so that makes Shelley pretty special to me. So I stole Shelley's idea and took Hope to Build a Bear on Friday.



I am not sure what Shelley's mommy bear said exactly, but for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to record myself singing Hope's nightly bedtime lullaby. I pictured her laying in her bed at night as she misses me, pressing the bunny's paw and hearing her mother's awful, yet familiar singing voice. I pictured her being comforted by this, and repeating it night after night in the privacy of her bedroom.

What I didn't think about, was the fact that Hope would be walking around the house with Mommy bunny, taking her on car rides, public places, and friends' houses, pressing the paw again and again and again...and again...for everyone in earshot to hear MY terrible singing! I now know why I never attempted to make a career out of singing, and I now know that if I ever attempt Build A Bear again I will leave my voice out of it altogether! (I still love the idea Shelley, I'm just a little embarrassed as that thing is now sewn in there permanantly).

And by the way she named her bunny Tika (I don't have a clue why). She didn't want to call her Mommy Bunny like I suggested, because she said, "Mommy, she's NOT your bunny, she's MY bunny!")

Afterwards, we ate lunch with Dad. Tika sat in a booster chair and the waitress brought Tika her very own meal. (In case anyone is wondering, NO we did order a salad for a stuffed rabbit, although I found it very cute, and we got a lot of chuckles from our neighbors).

The big question

Will you be able to bring your daughter home after the first trip?

I have been surprised at the number of my friends who were surprised to find out that our adoption will require two trips. I was surprised because I thought I had done a lot of moaning and groaning about it over the past several months. Evidently my groaning was more inward than outward.

Yes, we have to make two trips, and yes, that does make it expensive! Our first SDA appointment is on Jan 22nd, and we expect to be there for three weeks. We return to the U.S. for a mandatory 10 day waiting period (or we could stay there for that time), then return to pick up our daughter. We expect to have her home for good by the end of February. The 10 day wait, or the appeals period, gives birth relatives a last chance to contest the adoption and resume custody of the child. It kind of stinks to think that this might be an option, after we have fallen head over heels in love with this little girl, and cannot imagine our lives without her, but this is just how it works, although we have been told it seldom happens.

I can certainly appreciate any efforts to reunite orphaned children with their birth families, but in our case, for very selfish reasons, we hope that is not how it plays out.

My husband has a blog!

John tells me I blog too many insignificant details while leaving out the REAL important stuff that people want to know about our adoption. Like what the weather is like, and what kind of aircraft we'll be flying. (Boring!)

He started a blog for his guy friends, I guess I'm too mushy: urbansworldjohn.blogspot.com

For those who care about those details, HERE are the airplanes we will be flying. We have booked our tickets. I have no clue where we are connecting, or what airline we will be flying, but John will be happy to provide those details for my faithful blog readers who feel they are missing out.

Our next romantic getaway

Our last romantic getaway...

We never got to really celebrate our 10th anniversary in the big way that I would have wanted to, since at the time we had a nursing infant, and what is romantic about a little leach tagging along on your anniversary celebration.

So here are some photos of our 2 year anniversary of our 10th anniversary (that would be our 12th anniversary). We celebrated last May in Jamaica. This is where our adoption plans began. Before this trip, adoption was something in the distant future that we would do to ease our loneliness after Empty Nest Syndrome set in. Little did we know, on this trip, that we won't have to experience Empty Nest Syndrome. We get to experience Down Syndrome instead! Hooray!

Maybe we went through a period of insanity, maybe we were so relaxed we just forgot how busy it really is at our house, or maybe God was using this quiet time to speak to our hearts about His plan to use our family to answer the little prayers of a little orphan girl in Eastern Europe. It was here at this resort that we began to get excited about adding another child into our lives.

How would I look....

Wearing these boots?

Or this hat?

Anyone have any better ideas?

Or something better...

Who cares about Guitar Hero when there is a puppy to play with?

Rock Band

We got to spend time with older cousins and what a time we had! James got this PlayStation Game, called Rock Band. I couldn't believe how addicting this was. Of course, nobody took MY picture playing Guitar Hero, but here are a couple pics of the boys. For some reason you play better when your tongue is sticking out.... (?)





Oh, and Jude has a plan. If we adopt...like...TEN orphans, WE CAN HAVE A REALLY COOL BAND SOMEDAY!

Somebody is 40!!!

It really stinks having a Christmas birthday. John is very familiar with the phrases:
-"This is your Christmas AND birthday present".
-"Oh, it's your birthday? I guess with all the busy-ness of the holidays..I plum forgot!"

And, the one he heard tonight: "Well, since nobody really felt like eating cake, we just made you a 'bean dip cake'...But you still get to blow out candles!"

Lists

I am a procrastinator. When I pack for a trip, I usually do it the day of or the night before, and I just envision each day of our vacation, and what we will need, and I pack as I think about it. If we can't do without, or buy it at Walmart later, then we didn't need it very badly. The trouble is, I'm not sure there are Walmarts in Ukraine.

I am not a big "list" person, per se. However, being that I will be leaving my children for 3 weeks, going to foreign territory with frigid temperatures and unknown customs, I am realizing I need some lists, and I am panicking a bit. Am I panicking about the idea that I'm going to be the mother of 5 children, or that we are about to become the parents of a disabled child?

No..... I am panicking that I'm going to be in a foreign country, a very COLD foreign country, in February at that, away from my children, for 3 entire weeks.

If any of my faithful blog readers happen to be list people, or if you have traveled to Ukraine, or any other foreign country for that matter, with a small child who has been understimulated her whole life....PLEASE leave me some packing tips under comments. Specifically I want to know:
1. How do we keep warm?
2. How do we keep our child entertained on a long, long, very long flight back?
3. What must we know about Ukrainian culture? Anything we should never say or never do?
4. Anyone have some DVD's we can borrow? :)
5. How can we help make life easier for our children's caretakers while we are gone for 3 weeks?
6. What gifts can we take to give to people we meet along the way?
7. Any other thing I am forgetting....

Last but not least....my Christmas present, and the best one by far.....

We got an SDA appointment!!! January 22. That means we will meet our little girl on January 23 I suppose. What a beautiful day that will be.

I also got, for Christmas, from my dear friend Valerie, the video she promised me of our sweet girl. I won't tell you how many times I watched it today. She is an absolute cutie pie, and makes the cutest squeals and giggles. As we watched it today (again, and again), we all agreed that she is going to fit like a glove in this family.

Lord God, I thank you. Despite all my fears, complaining, worrying, failing to trust you, coveting the others who had their children home for Christmas, and being consumed with trying to make things happen on my own, instead of putting it into your hands, you came through. I thank you for being with us every step of the way, and the love you have put in our hearts for all of our children, adopted or not. Prepare our hearts for her and hers for us. I trust you to carry us safely overseas and back home, and to be with our children and their caretakers. And most of all, thank you for the gift of a Saviour this Christmas season, the greatest gift of all, and the reason all of this is happening in the first place.