We truly are a family redefined. We are husband, wife, son, daughter, step children, biological and adopted children and most importantly, Children of God.

A friend pointed out that I needed to update my blog header. After our adoption from Ethiopia, I had updated it stating how the adoption of Sara Joy completed our family. Well... the journey continues. After much prayer, we have decided to follow what we feel is God's calling for us...we went to Ghana with the intention of adopting a four year old girl, Isabella Hope. Little did we know that she would be the catalyst to bringing home not only her, but her half brother and sister. We will now be adding not only Isabella Hope to our family, but also Mary Grace (9) and Gilbert (6) who we will transition to the name Nathaniel Timothy. The shock is wearing off and the JOY and EXCITEMENT are overwhelming. Now truly, our family is complete. The great part of journeying with God, is that it's always an adventure. He knows where we are going, and for us it is all a marvelous surprise. Looking forward to sharing our family adventures as we walk daily through life and as we venture off to Ghana to bring home Mary, Nate and Isabella! It's always an adventure redefining our family!



Saturday, February 27, 2010

Disappeared???

So, it has been some time since I have posted.... many may have thought I have fallen off of the face of the earth - or just simply disappeared.  I was on a "blog-roll" there for awhile, and then I was just done.  Well, here I am back again, so I have neither disappeared nor fallen off the face of the earth.  I simply took a break.  There was too much going on, and I needed to focus my attention on some other things.

First, the adoption.  No news there yet.  We have been on the wait list for over two months now, and I'm hoping to get some sort of update from our agency next week.  I hope it will be some good news.  They do not really like to give out wait times, or where you stand in terms of a waiting line - which I understand - but at the same time, I'd like some information... if nothing more than to appease me :)  We really would like to know our little girl sometime soon.

Our home has seemingly been infested with germs.  I'm not sure why, probably just sinus issues as the weather is changing (and getting warmer which I can't complain about) but we have all been feeling under the weather because of it.  Last night I went to bed at 6:30 and left my poor husband to deal with the children because my head hurt so badly.  I was nearly in tears.  Anna has been sick for the past week with congestion and coughing - and LOUD snoring throughout the night... poor girl.  Cameron has suffered from the sinus headaches and Tim really hasn't been feeling well.  To top it all off, Pearl has taken a really long time to get over her gastro enteritis.  She has been to the vet three times to try to cure it.  Every time I think she is on the mends, she ends up getting sick again.  She is doing well right now, and I'm hoping this is the end of it, but it was just three days ago that she was at the vet again.  Maybe I just need a huge can of Lysol and a couple of days to clean :)

We are struggling with some other more personal issues right now as well.  I don't want to go into the details because right now, I think it is a private issue that probably should not be shared.  Anyway, it involves our little Anna and the issue has been weighing very heavily on my heart.  I know I should not worry, but it has caused me to not sleep well and has really exhausted me emotionally.  It isn't anything that we as a family can not manage, but it's working through the details that has been tough.  I guess you really know just how much you love your children when you are faced with a difficulty and come to the realization that you would do anything in the world for them.  I've known that about my Anna since the first minute I saw her sweet face, but this issue just confirms it.  The love I have for that little girl runs deep.  Very deep.  Almost painfully deep.  She is the little girl I dreamed about since I was 8 years old.  She is the adoption that I knew would happen.  She is the answer to many prayers and dreams fulfilled.  With all that, we are struggling right now.  I'll share more as we know more information, but for now, just pray for our family, and for my little girl.  Pray for Tim and I as her parents, that we have the wisdom to do what is right for our little girl.

One night (or one morning in the wee hours of the morning) when I was not sleeping, I came to the conclusion that I miss cycling.  I need an exercise program that I enjoy and I decided that cycling was it.  So, last weekend I went and bought a road bike.  I picked it up last night.  I got the shoes, the helmit, the bike, the clothes... the whole nine yards.  I'm hoping this will be a nice weekend and I can start my cycling.  If you know me at all, you know that I will overdo it and I probably won't be able to get out of bed on Sunday.  No pain, no gain... all or nothing.  I can't wait to get out on the road again though.  Time to myself, wonderful exercise and relaxation!  Maybe I can ride the distance to Ethiopia before we go and get our little girl.  Maybe that will be my goal!

I'll try to get better at writing again... I've got a lot to share, just not sure right now how to share it.  Oh, and the next post (soon) will have castle pictures.  You will be amazed at what two ten year olds (and my husband) can do!

In Christ,
Charity

Monday, February 8, 2010

Home Sweet Home

Pearl finally got to come home from the vet Friday night.  Poor baby!  She was a very sick puppy.  When we picked her up from the vet though, she was very happy to see me.  They had given her a bath and she was all nice and clean and very happy to see her family again.  She probably thought we had just left her there for good!

They had to shave part of her leg where she had to have the IV put in.  She has probably lost a little bit of weight, and she is very tired, but other than that, she seemed alright.  I bet she did not get much sleep there, as she is used to being a bit spoiled here at home and didn't have her mat and soft, comfy blanket with her at the vet. 

When we got her home, I had to give her the antibiotic that the vet gave us.  WHAT A CHORE!!  It was time for her to eat, so I just put it in her food (it's a pill) and she walked up to the bowl and refused to eat.  So, I took it out and wrapped it in a piece of cheese.  She ate that, but quickly realized that there was a pill in it and tried to spit it out.  After that she refused to eat anything.  I think she thought I would try to give her more pills. She is doing alright now, and is slowly getting back to her normal self.  It was touch and go for awhile though.  She was quite sick.

Cameron had a friend over for the weekend.  He is doing a project at school where he has to build a castle.  He is building one with two other boys in his class.  One of them, Cody, came to spend the weekend with us this weekend and work on the project.  He wasn't planning on being at our home the entire weekend, but I stole him from his parents.  He is a GREAT kid.  We just kept keeping him!  We took him to dinner Saturday night and were going to take him home after dinner - but we decided to keep him.  We were going to take him to church and give him back to his parents at church (they go to the same church as we do) - but even then we decided to keep him.  We finally allowed him to go home Sunday afternoon.  I love when I meet friends of my kids and I learn what a positive influence and what a good friend they can be to my children.  Cody is one of those kids!  Anyway, they had fun working on the castle (and so did my engineer husband).  They will probably have the most structurally sound castle ever built (he asked them for a scale model drawing.... SERIOUSLY???!!!).  They got a pretty good start on the castle.  While Tim was working on cutting the pieces, they were hamming it up on the trampoline.  They had a GREAT time.  I have lots of pictures I'll need to take some time to download. I even have pictures of the castle - in progress - which will be fun to post in sequence.  They are making it out of wood, pvc piping, styrofoam and who knows what else.  But it will have a moat and a WORKING (if all goes well) drawbridge.  Fun stuff.

Not a whole lot else going on.  The kids are active - the parents are active - we are all just plain busy, but with not too much exciting stuff!

In Christ,
Charity

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Uuuggghhh!

It's been a rough couple of weeks....After my last post, we had a bunch of stuff happen.  We took a trip to see my mom and Denis the weekend before last.  We had a good time visiting with them.  We came home and went to church on Sunday.  Cameron went forward during the invitation to be baptized!  That was WONDERFUL.  He has been struggling with it for some time - he really doesn't like a lot of attention.  But, he did it!  He will be baptized in a few weeks!

The next day, we went to work and auditors showed up at the front gate of our company.  When auditors show up, NOTHING happens other than working with the auditors.  I was in work at 6:00 in the morning and usually not home until after 8:00.  It was crazy!  Talk about being tired!  The good thing is, when the auditors left, we had a spotless audit!  I was thrilled!  This was the first audit I had to handle on my own, and I was so pleased of the outcome!

This past weekend, Cameron was in a bad mood.  The kids were stuck in the house because of freezing rain.  They couldn't go outside and play and they must've gotten a bit of cabin fever.  Cameron has been a bit irritated with his sister lately anyway.  Well, Sunday, he decided enough was enough, and he was leaving  home.  Now, I can talk about this now, but at the time, it kinda hurt.  I knew Cameron wasn't leaving, but it hurt to hear him say that he wanted to.  He was going to take his cell phone and his wallet (which has a grand total of $40 in it) and he was leaving.  He was quite disappointed when I told him that he could not take the phone because we pay for it.  So, he volunteered to give me $20 to pay for his phone for the next two months - that way he could take the phone.  Smart kid... but I don't think so.  I asked him where he was going, and he was going to live at his friend's house.  I asked him if he thought his friend's mom was just going to come and pick him up and he said no.  He knows where his friend lives.  I asked him where that was, and he said it was near the bakery.  That is like 10 miles from our house.  And Cameron was going to WALK there in the freezing rain!  Obviously my son decided to stay at home and he is now living happily again.  It was actually kinda funny.  I think that happens to most 10 years old.  I think they all threaten to run away from home at some time.  Cameron is a great kid - I'm sure it is just "growing pains".

Today, I had to take my baby to the doctor.  My baby, baby.  My little Pearl.  We went to the vet this morning because she has been throwing up for three days.  She was up all last night throwing up every two hours.  Poor baby.  When I got her to the vet today, she was dehydrated and had blood in her stool.  Poor baby.  The worst part is, that they had to keep her.  They needed to get fluids and antibiotics in her.  You have to understand that Pearl is not like every other dog.  She is with me 24 / 7 and she does not like being away from me in a room let alone being completely separated from me.  And I don't necessarily like being separated from her either.  She is my eyes (and she is a sweet little dog).  The vet said they are going to have to keep her for a couple of days.  If she is not feeling better tomorrow after antibiotics today then they will have to run X-rays tomorrow.  I hope my little girl is alright!

So, it's been kinda an exciting couple of weeks.  I think I need a nap!

In Christ,
Charity