Friday, January 28, 2011

Radical Craziness

What I didn't disclose in my last post, as to why I haven't been posting much, is that right after Joye's finalization we felt called to adopt again. We rationalized, prayed and tried to talk ourselves right out of it. We just brought Joye home and were dealing with bonding, tantrums, boundary setting, tantrums, sleeping issues, tantrums. You get the idea, and the place we found ourselves.

Since November, I have been in contact with our agency. For various reasons. Stuff to get Joye's Birth Certificate, and loose ends to close her case. Among those conversations, we asked how long the wait was for another little girl. We were told to expect 2.5-3 years. Ok. Well, if we got on the list now, then once our other little bundle arrived, we would be nice and prepared. So we got on the list.

Wait . . . there's more. Hang with me.

We (our agency and I) have had subsequent conversations since then. One in particular referenced a little girl that had some background information that could invoke some potential problems later on. (You catch my drift)

When God placed adoption on our hearts again, he also mentioned that minor special needs is something that we need to be open to. Really? So we filled out our little sheet of what we would accept, leaving it all open. (i know, crazy. right?)

So back to this little girl. We inquired about her from an email, and there was a list of families wanting to view her file. So I thought "oh, well, she will be placed. She's not meant for our family." Or so I thought.

A couple weeks later, our agency called asking if we wanted our post-placement retainage to be cut to us, or to just minus it off the fees due for the next adoption. We chose just to have it go towards the next adoption. She then mentioned that the little girl we had inquired about still hadn't been placed. My heart sank. My stomach flipped over. "Are you still interested in taking a look at her file?" she asked.

After a weekend of prayer, and much peace, we are adding this adorable little girl to our family. That's right. You might want to read it again, to let it sink in. Radical. Craziness.

We have not. one. dime. saved. All the assignment fees are due NOW. Our homestudy has to updated, fingerprints re-done, paperwork galore. I can't share her picture, tell much about her, because we haven't sent our acceptance to Korea yet. All the above HAS to be done before that. I just wanted to keep you all updated and ask for your prayers. The girls (oh ,wow, that sounds weird - GIRLS) will be 14 months apart. Yikes!

Like I said, we have total peace about this. We know He will provide the money. We know His timing is perfect. We know that He is in all of this. It makes absolutely NO sense. But what does when you are following Him? Right? Everything points to this being right for our family.

Radical.


Craziness.

So if you find yourself thinking of us. Would you do us a favor? PRAY. Pray that all the balls that are now in the air, will fall into place, so we can get this little precious peanut home to her forever family.

Thank you. We appreciate every one.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Where'd you go?

I totally forgot I had a blog! I had a feeling that something vital was missing, but just couldn't quite put my finger on it! (Just kidding)

I have had every intention of updating, but just couldn't find the time.

Wow, what a break!

Many things have happened since we last chatted.

Abram turned 6. We spent the day (Dec. 1) out and about just doing everything he wanted to do on his special day.

Kaleb turned 9. I know, I can't believe he's going to be a decade-old next year. I have to purposely block out that he's more than half-way to his drivers license. Yikes. *Blocking it OUT!* We spent the day (Dec. 27) out and about doing what he wanted to do for his special day which was watching the new Narnia. FAVORITE! It's my favorite-by far. It's going to be hard to top that one!

Tootsie had her first Christmas. She LOVED it all. Loved the presents. Loved the attention. Loved the busyness of it all.

We went through puppy training . . . with Tootsie. She had a bad habit of throwing temper tantrums at the drop of a dime. So we had a couple rough months, being consistent with her on what was allowed and what wasn't. Did I mention it was rough? Well it was. Really. Rough. Whew. But the cloud has lifted (for the most part) and we are back on track.

We've gone back and forth with the sleeping thing. Have good weeks, bad days. She's still learning to trust. Getting more comfortable. Laughing more. Talking a bit more. Communicating more.

We had our last post-placement visit. It was really good to get that done and to answer some lingering questions. Get some positive feedback. I want to reiterate - I LOVE OUR SOCIAL WORKER. She's awesome.

Joye's Birth Certificate is on it's way. Like blogging I slacked MAJORLY on that, and now I'm scrambling to get it here so I can get her SS card so we can get our taxes done. That's a mouth-full.

Well, I better start on supper. I am going to try my hardest to keep up and get back to blogging. Be patient with me, it's on the bottom of my long list of to-do's. I'm sure there are many that can relate. :)