Our Journey

We've been on this adoption journey for some time....through the paperwork and waiting and praying and paperwork and waiting and fingerprints and waiting and immunizations and waiting. 

Do you see a common theme here? 

The waiting.
And the waiting is hard...probably the hardest part of the journey.

Waiting takes hope.
And friends.
And faith.
Mixed in with love.
And family support.
To not go crazy.
Or get disheartened.

I joked with a couple of my friends that I think my pregnancies were easier.  At least then I had a "date" when the waiting would be over.  But with this, there is no such date. 

There.
Is.
Just.
The.
Waiting.

And as far as waiting goes, we haven't had to wait so long compared to some.  A friend of ours waited 8 months to travel.  I read this week of families who had been waiting since 2008. 

And boy...does that put things in perspective.

So we'll wait. 

And through the waiting, I'm learning to not check e-mail every minute.  (My e-mail doesn't know what to think.)  :)

And through it all, my little boy waits for us...

And knowing that makes the waiting a little easier.

So here's to waiting...at least one more day.

Lauren

Musings from Momma

Musings....I like that word.  I don't know why...but I like it. 

Musings.
Musings.
Musings.

And that is what I've been doing lately....lots of musing.  And given that we are back in the waiting stage again, I've had lots of time to think...and perhaps doing too much musing (that is six musings already and I'm just getting started...did I mention I like that word?).

My latest thoughts about baby brother are as follows:

• We'll never have baby photos to show him.
• We won't know his first word or when he took his first step.
• We'll not be able to tell him the story behind any of his scars.
• We'll not be able to tell him who his birth mother is...or why she left.

And when I start thinking like that, I have to remind myself of all of the "sunny side up" thoughts such as:

• We'll have photos to share with him from the day we accepted his referral...and we'll take more than enough photos to detail every moment from the day he came home.
• We can tell him his first word he said in English...his first sentence he said in English...and all of the funny little things he said while learning our language.
• New boo-boos will be kissed by mommy and daddy as the girls will teach him how much fun band-aids are (in case you didn't know, band-aids are really just big stickers in disguise).
• We can let him know his birth mommy loved him very much as we pray for her...and we thank God that she gave birth to our son because he was always meant to be part of our family.

 And so the musings continue...as each day passes, I think of something else.  And as I think of the something else, I remind myself of the sunny side up thought.

Lauren

1st Day of 1st Grade

Today was the first day of school.

And like any good parent, I had to bribe ask my daughter to humor me and let me take some pictures. 

I've decided that first day of school pictures is a tradition that parents pass onto children who will someday pass it onto their children and so on.  Since my mom took pictures of me, I wanted to continue the tradition.

Pretty cute, huh?

I'm sure you are glad I continued the tradition.

What do you think of the outfit?  A lot of time and consideration went into picking out the outfit for the first day.  It's a big deal in first grade...or so I'm told.


Taylor had a lot of trouble picking out "just one" outfit...in fact, she picked out three.  So, she came up with a brilliant idea if I do say so myself.

Choice one = 1st day of school
Choice two = 2nd day of school
Choice three = 3rd day of school

 

Really....isn't that brilliant?  I'm thinking we have some genius genes in that girl of mine...  :)

 And, of course, we took some pictures with sister.  Jenna doesn't start preschool until after Labor Day...but we had to have a picture of the two of 'em.  I think that is in the "1st day of school picture taking tradition" agreement somewhere....isn't it?

 Oh yes, I love my girls. 

And they are growing up way too fast.

Lauren

Band-Aids

I am officially ready to go to Africa....

Not ready in the bags packed kind of sense (I'm SO not that proactive)....but ready in the I now have all of my imm-u-ni-za-tions kinda sense.  Oh yeah.

I am immunized and then some.  And of course, it is my luck that none of the shots could be combined.  Nope, not a one....so I was poked and pricked more times than I'd like to count. 

On the glass half full side of things, my youngest was able to show off her counting skills as she counted each band-aid. 

Of course, she had to notice that mommy doesn't get "cool" band-aids like she does at the doctor.  Nope, I did not have a choice from Barbie, Littlest Pet Shop, Dora and such....I got the basic band-aid.

Plain
ol'
beige.

I think I'll start a new fashion statement with band-aids......I'm off to patent my design.

Be back soon!

Lauren

Dog Days of Summer

It
is
hot.

I am talking hot with a capital H-O-T.  If we had a 90-something degree day, it would feel like a cold front had moved in...and I might have to pull out a jacket or at least a sweatshirt.

So...when it is this hot...there is nothing better than cooling off...visiting a pool...and doing some swimming. We have a wonderful neighbor who lets the girls come over and swim...and swim they do.

And given all the triple-digit days, my girls have been doing that a lot.  Their Papa Bill has been giving them swimming lessons since the 4th of July...and they are doing a pretty good job if I do say so myself.

So, jump right in and cool off.

Oh, yeah.....we're talking about making some BIG splashes!

Can we say pure JOY?

Seriously, are they cute or what? 

Lauren