You may have wondered why my site includes the word '
lads,' when in fact we only have one lad in our family right now. Well i am very excited to announce that we are well under way to adding another young man to our family! I can't even begin to express the excitement that i feel. For many years i have been praying for this child, and i can't believe that he will be here before we know it. But in the meantime....we have lots of work to do. We are going through an agency called Lilliput. They have an office locally, and they work with foster-adopt children in the state of California. We have been to orientation, have had an initial interview, which seemed to go well, (despite the slight hesitation on Rob's part when they asked if we had ever been accused or convicted of any sexual crimes....which he followed up with 'we'd both be out of a job if that was the case.'). Next on the list is to get fingerprinted, write an autobiography and complete a questionnaire packet, and then the dreaded 9 week coarse...yuck.
Some cool benefits to this type of 'expectancy,' is that i can maintain my figure, tie my own shoes, keep running/riding a bike/hiking/whatever, i won't loose my hair after he comes (well, then again i might:) and my uterus gets an extra year of recovery before i put it to work again.
So Isaiah will be getting a brother and a room-mate soon. I thought this site would be a great way to keep everyone updated on the foreign and confusing process of adoption.
I also liked the idea of a blog because it gives us moms a way of connecting with our friends even if we can't spend hours at the coffee shop or out to dinner like we used to. I like the transparency that blogs tend to foster. I enjoyed these nuggets from an article i read recently titled "Friendships among Women," by Jenny Schroedel.
'The more deeply we know another person's secret hopes and anguishes — and the more we can identify with their struggles — the less inclined we are to envy them, the more eager we are to see them succeed....According to a saying from the Talmud, "Every blade of grass has an angel that bends over it, whispering, 'grow, grow.'" And this is what friends do best — they see us, fragile as we are, and whisper "grow, grow" as we push our way up through the soil.'
What an astounding difficult journey we embark on, those of us brave enough to be in the midst of raising children. I thought that i might include this on my first entry, it's a little something i wrote to some girl friends recently after i attended the funeral after the tragic death of a 2 year old, and a few other tragedies i witnessed at work that particular week.
I can't express to you all enough the importance of appreciating each moment you have with your children and the ones you love. it has made even the crying/whining minutes feel special...because i have been privileged to be Isaiah's mom, right here, right now. When you get tired, and you feel like you can't listen to one more scream, please remember that those screams are more precious than gold to a mother who no longer gets to hear them. When you feel exhausted and feel like you can't pick up one more toy or fight through one more meal, please know that it's all in our attitude; i would rather be joyfully exhausted than the exhaustion i would feel if i suddenly didn't have those small burdens. Love this time in your life, cherish every minute, saturate yourself with the joy that your children are getting out of learning new things every day, don't pawn off those moments on others...jealously try to keep them all to yourself. Death is closer to us all than we realize, and if it's not death that takes away these little ones, it is time...it goes so fast. So please, if i can inspire you all through what has inspired me recently, COUNT IT ALL JOY and enjoy every moment with your precious little ones as a blessing from God.
