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!

Aidan drew this picture today of our family. He said he wanted to make Macy a picture to let her know that she's part of a family. Isn't that the sweetest? Now granted, Macy is the only one that is "skin tone appropriate". The rest of us are a nice shade of aqua blue. But what can I say? He's kinda different like that.

Macy Update: I got an email from our case worker today saying that there hadn't been much movement on "the list". Two weeks ago they got 13 referrals in one week. Last week, none. So it's just really unpredictable how quickly we are going to make it to the top of that illusive list. HOWEVER, she did inform me that we are the ONLY family open to a child over 24 months. So if a sweet two-and-a-half year old comes into their care, she's ours! Pretty cool stuff, huh? Although there is still a chance we could receive a referral and make it to court before the courts close down for August/September, there's a bigger chance that we will get our match over the summer and then travel to court as soon as they reopen in October.

Tutoring for some extra ca$h: This summer I am going to start back with tutoring. I did this several years ago, and made some nice extra $$$, and I am hoping it's successful again. PLEASE share the info with your friends! I am a licensed/certified elementary school teacher. I will tutor kindergarten prep through elementary grades. I am charging $20 per 1 hour session, which is a lot cheaper than the "going rate". If your child needs some extra help in math, reading or language arts before school starts back in the fall, give me a call! Contact me on my cell phone 308-8793 or via email amanda_humphrey@comcast.net. Thanks for spreading the word!

I am still scheduling photo shoots!: For a flat $80 donation to our adoption account, you get a photo session with unlimited amount of people, one to two hundred edited images, and a cd with all the images and the copyright privileges! This is a STEAL if you have looked at having this done by other photographers! I have some great locations we can meet up at or we can meet at a location of your choice! I do families, children, high school seniors, special events, bridal portraits - whatever you need! Contact me today to book your sitting!

Car for sale!: Jason has decided to sell his prized Cadillac and "downgrade" to a different, cheaper car. If you are interested, check out our ad on Craigslist: http://nashville.craigslist.org/cto/1746334478.html

Hope you all have a great week!!
Amanda

The bestest job in the whole wide world

For some reason these pictures posted backwards -

from soonest to latest, instead of in order. Oh well, you get the idea.

This morning with my crew - Mothers Day 2010

Aidan 4 yrs, Hannah 3 yrs, Houston 17 months

Our Miracle Baby - Sweet Houston James - Dec. 2, 2008

Our Tiny Early Bird - Hannah Lee - Dec. 11, 2006

(Born 2 months early. And if any ladies out there are thinking about doing a "natural childbirth" look long and hard at this picture. It was NOT fun. (And was NOT the plan!)

My Aidan at 15 months old. One month from delivering his baby sister.



The baby that made me a Mommy - Aidan Scott.

Born August 4, 2005

I have the best job in the whole wide world. It's one that I "aspired" toward for many, many years. It doesn't pay (at least in $). It's caused weight gain. It leaves me exhausted and the house a disaster. And I swear I have lost about a zillion brain cells, because I am not nearly as smart as I once thought I was. But I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Because I am a Mommy. Or Momma. Or Mamamamamaaaaaa. And it's all I have ever wanted to be.

Growing up I didn't have big plans to be an astronaut or movie star or anything else kids dream of doing. I was going to be a Mommy. I decided to be a teacher because that's a good "Mommy Job". I was going to have sweet perfect little kids that never gave me any grief. I was a babysitter and nanny before I got married, and I learned a lot from those kids and parents, and often said, "Oh, my kids will NEVER do that". (Insert roaring laughter here.) Boy, did God have one up His sleeve for me!

Aidan was the worst baby ever. Seriously. Ever. And the fact that we got pregnant 2 nights after we got married, well it made for a very "interesting" first year of marriage. We had a screamin' demon 4 month old by our first anniversary. That first year was filled with lots of tears (from ME and the baby), dirty looks (between Jason and I), and the realization that if we could survive what this gassy little screamin' kid could throw at us, we could survive anything. And we did. Hannah was born the week after our second anniversary. God was good as He brought us through what we THOUGHT was going to be the hardest thing we ever had to do as parents - leave her in the NICU. But she was healthy and strong, and came home in a few weeks. I think God was gradually preparing me to be a strong Momma. Because then, came Houston. Houston is our miracle baby. After my water broke at 16 weeks, we were told there was 0% chance of him surviving. After I told the doctors I wouldn't "terminate the pregnancy" (!!!) I was told to go home and "wait for it to happen". I stayed in bed for a very long 2 and a half months. Those 10 weeks were even longer for my precious husband who had a 1 year old and a two year old to care for. And low and behold, through the power of prayer, Houston James was born at 36 weeks weighing 8 healthy pounds. 0% chance of surviving - yeah right!!!

All this to say, I am living my "American Dream". I am a Mommy, just like I always wanted to be. Has it been a tough road? Sure. Is it gonna get tougher? Oh, certainly. But this morning I had three precious faces run into my room and wish me Happy Mother's Day. And it was the best feeling ever. Except, as they climbed up in my bed and cuddled under the covers, I couldn't help but think of a certain little girl. A little girl living 7,715 miles from here. A little girl that didn't have a Momma this morning to cuddle with. A little girl who is just WAITING on her Momma to come pick her up. At first this made me sad, knowing that Macy probably wasn't getting that special Momma lovin' this morning. And then I smiled. Because next Mother's Day, I am going to wake up to FOUR little faces smiling at me. And ohhhhhhh, I can't wait!

Hope all you Mommas out there had a blessed day!

Macy update!!!

I was sitting around the house today all down in the mouth about stupid junk. So I thought I would email our case worker to see if we had moved up the waiting list any in the past 13 days. (I know...13 days...I'm impatient.) And I was SHOCKED with the response I got back from her! In 13 days...JUST 13 DAYS!...we have moved up the list from #1o on the toddler list to #5!!!!! IN THIRTEEN DAYS!!!! She said there is a good possibility of us getting our "magic phone call" this summer or sooner! OH MY GOSH! Now keep in mind that we were originally told it would probably be November before we got a referral. So this is HUGE!

So a couple of people have asked me some questions regarding the adoption. Here's some answers:
1. What is a referral?
A referral is when we get "matched" with a child. We will be given her name, photos, medical info, and any known background information about her. (Status of her birth parents, circumstances surrounding how she arrived at the orphanage, etc.)
2. Are you required to accept the referral?
No. We are completely able to decline the referral of a child if we are not sure about the information we are provided about her. However, since we have requested a child with no special needs, we are not expecting anything to happen to make us decline a referral. But, of course, you never know. Once we get the medical information we will take the records to a pediatrician who has history with international adoptions to have the info looked over. If for some reason we did decline a referral, we would be "next in line" for a little girl with our age request. (In other words, our wait would not start all back over.) But again, we don't expect this to be an issue.
3. What happens next? Once we receive and review our referral information, we will formally accept the referral. We are then issued a court date. It may take a while to receive a court date, so this could take several weeks. We will then travel to Ethiopia for court. We will stay there for 4 to 5 days, and then return home (without our Macy!). Once final paperwork is finished, approx. 3 to 8 weeks later, we will return to Ethiopia for 5 to 7 days, pick our girl up and bring her home forever!
One problem we will probably run into is that the Ethiopian courts close down for August and September. So if we receive a referral this summer but can't get a court date, then we will have to wait until October to go to court. Total bummer. However, our case worker says that there is a chance that we could get our referral and travel for court before the end of July. So that's what we are hoping for! Either way there is a good chance that we will have another Humphrey in the house for Christmas this year! (I am already imagining our Christmas card! Ha!)
4. Will you meet her before she becomes legally yours?
Yes. With the new two-trip rule, we are now required visit Ethiopia to meet with our child and spend time with her before attending the court hearing making her officially a Humphrey. Once we pass court, she is legally ours.

If you have any questions about the process, feel free to leave a comment! I'd be happy to answer anything you are wondering about!

Wahooo!!!! Number FIVE!
Amanda

Waiting for the ark!

We survived the Great Flood of 2010! These past few days have been both crazy and scary. I am still glued to the tv watching the new coverage of the flooding in our area. For those of you "outsiders" of Hendersonville/Nashville, we received 14 inches of rain in two days over the weekend. This caused flooding of epic proportions. Very. Scary. Stuff. Lives have been lost, as well as MANY homes and livestock. So sad for so many people. The small creek across the street from us grew from 5 feet in width to about the size of a football field. Crazy! The rivers still haven't crested and authorities are "on guard" in downtown Nashville in case the levies break. Gulp! Prayers are needed for our area!
All was well during the storm until our electricity went out. And stayed out. For 12 hours. SO NOT COOL WITH THREE KIDS. Hannah and Aidan went from room to room checking to see if ANY of the lights would work. And they kept bringing us different movies asking, "Will THIS one work?". It took some explainin' for them to get exactly what was going on. Then the windows started leaking (ultimately ruining the hardwood in our guest bathroom). After a while we were getting sticky with no air in the house, tensions were running high, and I decided it was time for us to leave the house (since the rain had slowed down). We were going to head to Jason's folks house down the street because they had power (air and tv!). I packed up all the lunchmeat, cheese, yogurt, etc. that we could eat for dinner since it was going to go bad in a couple of more hours. We bundled up all three kids and made a mad dash for the van. Then Hannah fell down the deck stairs. She fell reallllly hard. I scooped her up, applied kisses, and continued to the van. Jason turns around and says, "God's got a really good sense of humor today". Our front tire was flat as a pancake. UGH! So not only now was it pouring down on us, we were hungry and stir crazy in a humid, dark house - but we WERE STUCK HERE! Jason changed the flat only to discover that the spare was also low on air. After a huge loop in our plans, we finally were able to head to the in-laws for a few hours. Power was restored while we were gone, and cable was restored this morning. And except for the fact that a lot of local roads are closed, life is pretty much back to normal for the Humphrey Family. We are still praying for those that are stranded from their homes.
So that is the story of how the Humphrey Gang survived the history-making flood of 2010!

On a totally different note: The response to my previous post - the one with the starving African girl - has brought a TON of comments and discussion! People were posting the blog as their status on Facebook, and I have even had total strangers emailing about it. One of my readers was reading the blog at work and a co-worker saw the picture over her shoulder. The amazing thing is that it prompted that co-worker to start sponsoring a child in need - how incredible is that!?!?! Please understand I am not taking any credit here - I just think it is totally awesome that God will use a photo to stir hearts and call people to act on behalf of his children.

Hope you all have a great week!
Amanda