Daddy Adoption Blog

Hey everyone! While there are PLLLLLLLENTY of Mommy Adoption Blogs, there just aren't many Daddy ones to be found. So my stud of a hubs has decided to remedy that! Check out his new blog at HERE. It is going to be primarily in video format, because...well...you know how long your man's attention span is. I mean FO' REAL!!! So tell your studs to check it out!

Dancin' the Night Away

Last night Jason took the girls to a local "Daddy - Daughter Dance". He took Hannah last year and she vividly remembers how much fun it was. So she's been literally counting down the days until Friday night. After work last night Jason came home presenting each girl with a tiny wrist corsage. They helped Daddy pick out his suit and tie (notice:pink), I got everyone prissied up, took pics, and off our little princesses went with their prince.
Hours later when they returned Hannah ran in and at the top of her voice screamed, "MOMMA, I ATE STRAWBERRIES AND I DANCED LIKE A CHICKEN". Thus, telling me they had her favorite food and did the Chicken Dance. Apparently, this combination of activities made her night.
It was especially sweet to see Macy all excited about spending the evening with her Daddy. He's the first Daddy she's ever had, and OH HOW SHE ADORES HIM! A far cry from how scared she was of him just five months ago.
Everyone had fun. But GOOD GRIEF is there not such a thing as a "Mommy-Son Dance". Because I know a certain five year old (oh, and ummm...me!) that would REALLY like to go to one.

Showing off their corsages.

Oh, my heart just skipped a beat.

How I LOVE my MAN! Yes, I love my precious kiddos and all, but I'd be nothin' without this guy - and he's SUCH an incredible Daddy. And seeing him praying with our sweet Macy, makes my heart go KABOOM. Yep, in these days of Mommy-hood, these are the things that make my heart skip a beat. (And I mean skipping a beat in a good way. Not in the "OH MY GOSH Houston is falling down the stairs AGAIN!" way.)

Just had to share the sweet pic!

Oh, and go on over to my friends The Schells website and order a cookbook they have compiled to fundraise to bring home their sweet boy from Korea. I can't wait to get mine! I've found these are the BEST kind of cookbooks - ones that everyone submits their BEST recipes. I can't wait to get mine! And if you are out of town, she will ship it to you. So go getcha some.

gulp....

This past Saturday evening my darlin' hubs and I went out for a "kid free" dinner. No high chairs, bibs, wiggly toddlers or cutting food up into microscopic pieces. Just me, Jason, and four other adoptive couples. Clay and Tracy came home with their precious baby boy last year, and the rest of us are all in the process of adopting from Ethiopia. (It is SOOO awesome knowing that Miss Macy is gonna have some friends to play with!) Anyway....where was I?....Okay, eating with no kids. So for our group date night we decided to go eat at a local Ethiopian restaurant . I was REALLY excited about doing this. The problem is that I am a VERY picky eater. I mean seriously - it would be hard to find someone pickier than I am. (Except for you, Sundy!) I don't like anything green, no beans or peas, okay - no veggies at all really, and I am super funny about textures. With all this in mind Jason said, "Yeah, you better eat ya a sandwich before we go or you are gonna starve". Well, I didn't eat a sandwich and I didn't starve. (Although I did indulge in a big ole' bowl of cereal yummy goodness when we got home.)

The first thing you notice when eating at an authentic Ethiopian restaurant is that there's not a lick of silverware. You use your HANDS to eat. So not only am I a picky eater, but I am a bit of a germ-a-phobe as well. So I promptly pulled out my sanitizing wipes and disinfected my hands. The menu was in English, but I honestly had no idea what any of the stuff was. It was pretty weird. I picked the "tibs" (plain steak meat) which seemed to be the safest thing on the menu, and of course Jason ordered this giant combo platter thing. Ugh. When your food comes you get this big tray of injera bread. Now I am a bread lover, but Injera tastes like a bitter, soggy pancake. But not yummy like a pancake at all....just, blick! You use the injera as your utensil to scoop up your food. Or in my case, I totally chose to roll up my meat in the injera like a soft taco. (This is NOT how it is supposed to be done!) I think if I'd had some shredded cheese and sour cream I would've been alright. But I choked it down, and it was alright. But OH the stuff that came out on Jason's combo platter. There were all kinds of weird sauces and pasty lookin' stuff. And in the midst of it was a random chicken leg and a boiled egg. Those are the only things I could identify. But he LOVED it (remember, the boy ate fried goat for dinner in Haiti last month!) and we had a great time visiting with new friends.

So the Bad News: I wasn't a huge fan of Ethiopian food.

The Good News: I am gonna lose all KINDS of weight when we travel to Africa!

Manic Monday...and BOY, is it MANIC today!

First of all, if I EVER EVER EVER decide to have another yard sale, will someone PLEASE punch me in the face? I am being serious here. If you could just SEE how much stuff we have, you would have pity on me. Our two car garage is completely full, as is my Mom's three car garage - and STUFF IS STILL COMING! Just today we got FOUR truck loads of stuff. Just in clothes, we have 15 large plastic tubs and about 25 garbage bags full of clothes. PLUS three rounders of them on hangers. The toys and movies and books....oh...I can't even describe. I have now spent 4 days pricing stuff, and will continue to do so every day this week until the sale opens Friday morning. So my Manic Monday is actually just the start - it's going to be a rather Manic week. )(And OF COURSE it is supposed to thunderstorm on Saturday. So prayers are needed for the weekend forecast!)
But for super happy news - Jason got home from his mission trip to Haiti on Saturday. It was a lonnnnnnng 8 days with him gone, and the kiddos and I were THRILLED to see him Saturday evening. He had an amazing time, and I can truly say that he came back a changed man. (I loved the old-Jason just fine, but this new-Jason is rather spectacular!) He spent over a week building an orphanage and loving on sweet orphans in Port au Prince. Hearing his stories and seeing his pictures makes me want to get Macy home even faster. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, as Ethiopia is the poorest one in the Eastern Hemisphere. Similarly sad places for little children to live.
I am off to bed - this momma is pooped! Hope you all have an incredible week!

Lots of stuff

Okay, I have a couple of things to cover in this blog post. I will try to keep it as short as possible.

1. Jason leaves tomorrow for an 8 day mission trip to Haiti. He will be there with a group from our church that is building an orphanage in the city of Jeremie. Our church has been working on this project for several months. Orphans are due to arrive at the orphanage at the beginning of May, and the fellas are going to help get the orphanage and surrounding support buildings finished up. I am SO proud of my husband for going. He truly has a heart for orphan care. (Remember, HE was the one that came to me about adopting.) He is excited about this trip, and I know it is going to change is life forever. However, I am scared to death! He and I have never traveled without each other, ESPECIALLY for 8 days! To a third world country! (And "thank you" (insert sarcasm here) to the several folks who have told me that Americans are being killed in Haiti. I seriously could have handled NOT knowing that tid-bit of information.) So yes, I need you to pray for Jason to have safe travels, a productive trip, and to come home safely to me and our three precious babes. (Oh, and a prayer or two for me to remain half-way sane being a single mom for a week would be greatly appreciated.)

2. ADOPTION NEWS!!!! WAHOOO!!!! Okay, I got an email from our case worker late last night just checking in to see how we are doing, and to tell us we had moved up "the list" a bit. So OF COURSE I wanted to know exactly how much "a bit" is. She responded saying that there are now about 30 families with overlapping requests in front of us. (When we got on the list 2 and a half months ago their were 45 in front of us.) Now, remember that since we have such a broad range for our age request (9 months to 3 years), this gets kinda tricky. About 20 of the people in front of us are requesting 0 to 12 month olds. (So, if a 9 to 12 mo. old came through, they would get their referral. But they could also be contacted about a child younger, which would bump us up faster.) Only 10 people in front of us are requesting up to age 2. And there are only a COUPLE of people in front of us requesting up to age 3!!! WHOA! Her exact words were "This absolutely gives you the potential for faster process". So that's exciting!!! What's not-so-exciting is that the new law declaring Ethiopia to become a two-trip adoption country has been set in stone. Starting mid-May any family who has not been scheduled a court date (meaning they have received their referral and are awaiting the courts to declare the child theirs) will have to travel to be present for court, and then return 4 to 8 weeks later for their embassy appointment and to pick up their child. So looks like we will be making two trips to Africa to get our Macy. But it is what it is, and we aren't going to sulk about it. But we ARE going to have do some more fundraising. This second trip will add up to $5,000 (UGH!) to our expenses.

3. Which leads me to our third and last topic: YARD SALE!!!!!! Our yard sale is going to be Friday April 23rd and Saturday April 24th. WE NEED YOUR JUNK!!!!! We have ALL KINDS of stuff donated so far. Seriously, you name it, we've got it! But the more stuff means more $$$, so keep the donations coming! We can even come pick up your items if you need us to. Also, I am going to be doing another BAKE SALE along with this yard sale. Suprisingly, this was a HUGE SUCCESS last time. People made cookies, breads, pies, cakes - all kinds of yummy stuff. And people bought EVERY single bit of it. Seriously, there was nothing left over for me to take home and munch on. So if you would like to help us but don't know what you can do, BAKE US SOMETHING!!!

Hope you all have a great week! The kids and I have been outside everyday playing and enjoying their spring break from Mother's Day Out. It's hard to believe that this time next year I will have another one to chase around. I CANNOT WAIT!!!!