AHEM

So, I was very excited about this post.  I had a little somethin' somethin' already working in my head about this post.

(do you do that?  Write blog posts in your head?  Or journal entries?  Or emails?  Or have entire conversations in your head-  both sides?  Is that just me?)

I was going to explain how we had not one but TWO pieces of news to share.  But my plans were thwarted.  Thwarted by voice mail!  And phone lines (darn you, Alexander Graham Bell!) (ok, AGB is not really to blame, but I need to be able to place blame somewhere, and he's as likely a candidate as anyone).

Thus, I only have once piece of news to share-  but it's great news!
Here it is:  WE SENT IN OUR HOME STUDY!
I know, I know-  it's really not THAT exciting.  I mean, in the grand scheme of things, it's only one small step in the long journey to our sweet child waiting for us in India.  However, it felt big to us.  I was grinning ear to ear when we stuffed our Home Study file in to the overnight envelope and mailed it to our agency.  I was babbling a little bit.  And I may have overly-chatted-up the postal worker (is anyone really surprised by that admission?).  But I was so excited to turn that sucker in!
We mailed in at least 20 documents including a 22 page autobiography (for each of us!), police clearance reports that required us to go to the county jail, a detailed floor plan of our home, and drawings and statements from all 3 girls.  (and much, much more!!)  We are actually really grateful that we got to go through all of the paperwork.  It made everything seem very real.  And Amby and I did it all together...which was great and so encouraging.

To be honest, it was a little overwhelming at times.  I called Missy on more than one occasion to share my fears and thoughts-  what if our social worker doesn't understand why we choose to parent the way we do?  What if he doesn't see our heart in our answers?  What if he doesn't approve us?

Yet another opportunity to trust the Lord.  He's giving me lots of those lately.  Maybe they're there all the time, & I've just gotten really self-sufficient.  I'm not entirely sure.  All I know for sure is that we are trusting Him day by day.  Truly, each day has enough worries of it's own-  and we are choosing to rest in Him.

So, that's one thing.  And the other thing that I was hoping to report was Amby's OCI status.  I called the Indian consulate in Houston today to check on when we were going to receive Amby's OCI card (which gives us more options for adoption in India).  Alas, after waiting on hold for 20 minutes (it was actually pretty awesome-  every 30 seconds an automated voice came on the line to update you on your status "there are 8 people ahead of you-  if you would like to continue waiting, please stay on the line"), I could only leave a voicemail.  Major let-down.  Major.  Oh well.  No news is good news, right?

SIGH!

That's me...breathing a huge sigh of relief.
I'll do it again.
SIGH.

Tonight, after we put the girls down, Amby and I went through our home study/adoption agency checklist together.  As I mentioned in my last post, there is an enormous amount of paperwork that we have been given (emailed, snail-mailed, faxed, etc).  I have been trying to go through it as it arrives, but with the holidays (not to mention the girls, family, and life in general!), it has started to pile up a little.
It's always at the back of my mind.
Missy and Sarah have promised to meet with me over coffee and help make a spreadsheet (moment of reverential silence for the spreadsheet).  Sarah is my favorite super-organized friend-  I stand in awe of Sarah and her ability to cut to the chase.  Missy's no slouch when it come to cutting to the chase, and they are both great at talking me down off a ledge.
Anyway, as I was saying, I have a plan to manage all of the paperwork chaos.  We (meaning Sarah) are going to make a spreadsheet of all of the stuff that we have to turn in for the adoption.  We have documents that need to be turned in for the home study.  We have documents that need to be turned in for the dossier.  We have documents that need to be turned in for BOTH the home study AND the dossier.  The spreadsheet will magically help me keep track of it all.
Am I asking too much of a spreadsheet?  Perhaps.  But, when the spreadsheet fails me, I shall lay the blame at the feet of Sarah and Missy.  Hence, the focused coffee-meeting.
It's ok-  they can handle it.
So, back to my sigh of relief.
Amby and I went through our binder (oh, I was so young and naive 1 month ago when I thought that a mere binder would hold all of our information) and sorted through the paperwork we have received.  I put things in file folders.  I labeled.  I paperclipped.  I basked in the glow of organization.
Best of all, Amby went over the checklist for our homestudy and agency application.  When he finished looking over it, he said, "That's not so bad."  It was like music to my ears.
He said, "We have most of these things.  It's going to be a pain to get the medical stuff done, but other than that I think we're in good shape."
See-  that's what I love about my husband.  He is so great at looking at a problem and breaking it down to a manageable, workable solution.  In fact, as I type this, he's in the office getting documents out of our safe and making copies.  What a guy.
I love it when a plan comes together.

We did it!

We chose an agency.  We are very thankful to have taken this next step...the agency has been extremely helpful.  We have received an ENORMOUS amount of information to sift through.  And read through and work through.  
We filled out and mailed in our application while simultaneously working on getting Amby an OCI card.  It's a lot of paperwork.
We had to buy a new ink cartridge for our printer.  And I may need glasses from reading all of the fine print.
You may not know this about us, but neither Amby nor I are "paperwork people."  I am pretty sure that when we filled out our spiritual gifts assessment for church (granted, it was about 10 years ago!) that we could not have possibly scored lower on the administration part.  While we are definitely organized in some (most)(ok, some) areas of our life, I would say it is out of necessity & responsibility, and not out of a love for filing, collating, and labeling.  
When we took the adoption class, David (our teacher) said, "Couples, there will be one of you who will be more drawn to the paperwork side of this.  You'll probably take the lead on filling out all of the forms and gathering information."  Amby and I glanced at each other.  Nudged one another...and giggled nervously.  uh-oh.
Fast forward about 3 months and here we are.


We received an email yesterday with 29 attachments.  TWENTY-NINE ATTACHMENTS.  I'm pretty sure I broke out in hives.
Here's the good news:  once I read through the email and attachments, it was a little less intimidating.  It all made sense (& our caseworker has been remarkable at answering our questions- "What's apostilled?").  And we got a great checklist to help work our way through the dossier paperwork.
Here's the great news:  there's a child at the end of all of this.  Our child.  Our child who is waiting.  And we are waiting, too.


So, when I get overwhelmed-  and I know that it's still so early in the game-  I pray.  I thank God for the paperwork and for the opportunity to get to dive in and trust Him.

Lily Louise.

1 week

6 1/2 years

In my last post, I mentioned that Lily was sick on Monday.

Well- she was actually sick all week.  She missed school every day.

I hated that she felt puny and tired.

It was frustrating that we weren't sure "what was wrong."

Amby actually put her on antibiotics yesterday, and she finally seems to be feeling better.

To be honest, though, it's been so great to be with her.

Lily and Kylie have had a great time. (gracie has been at school- bless her heart!)  They've played "baby" all week.  (it's been a dream for both of them:  Kylie is the baby.  Lily is the mommy.  Lily has someone to stroll around (in the baby doll stroller), boss around, help get dressed, read to and feed.  Kylie gets to be the baby & the recipient of Lily's undivided attention.)

I have loved getting to be with Lily-   

Time has slowed down this week.  (at times it's felt like it has screeched to a stop)

Plans have changed, and we've both been disappointed.  But, all in all-  we are grateful that, for the most part,  we are healthy.  Our friends (& familiy) have brought us board games, picked up and played with our sisters, and called (texted and emailed) to give us encouragement.  

This week, despite our sickness, we have been blessed!

Shout out.

It's a Christmas Miracle!
We got our Christmas card out.  Before Christmas!  And it's actually pretty great.
I wish I could pat myself on the back for this incredible feat.
However, all I did was hit "send."
Missy took the picture.
Missy found the card.
Missy edited the picture.
Missy put it all together on Tinyprints.

I wrote the text and added the names and ages of our girls.
Does that count for anything?

Sadly, it was even Missy's Tinyprints account.
But we paid for the cards!
Ha-  all of the credit should go right here.
Cause I'm all about the credit.

Seriously-  thanks, Missy, for setting us up to have the greatest Christmas card of all times.  (in my head, I kind of hear an echo after that last part).

You ROCK.

A Whole Lotta Nothin'

So, today has been a very special day.

We've been HANGIN' OUT.  We took the big girls to school this morning (Lily and Gracie), and I informed Kylie that we were going to do a little housework (I think she was a little mystified- what is this strange word, housework?).  

I made my list, sprayed the countertops in the kitchen with Pine-Sol, and then the phone rang.

It was the school nurse...Lily was sick.  Thankfully, it wasn't throwing-up, hacking cough, go to the doctor sick (although she was a little disappointed that we didn't get to go see Amby!!). 

It is, however, run-a-little-fever-and-feel-puny-sick.  So, I set her up on the sofa (remember that?  when you were little, and your mom set you up on the sofa with your blanket and your pillow and your brothers were so jealous??)  No jealous brothers over here, but one "sympathetic" little sister who promptly ran upstairs to get her blanket and pillow and set up on the chair.

There was much book reading and puzzle solving and an episode of Cat in the Hat (who knew?!) on PBS Kids.  We baked banana bread, made chicken noodle soup, and I gave myself an Oglevie Home Perm.

And then it was 10:15.

Wow.  

That's when it hit me-  my life used to be like this every day!!  Seriously, back in the day (and by back in the day, I mean the years when the girls were little and took morning naps-  which was a period lasting over 4 years, as our girls were so close in age) we did not leave the house until after 11.  We hung out.  We had dance parties, we did laundry and baked and played in the playroom. (that kind of looked like "we got baked in the playroom"-  no, that never happened.)  

Then we'd get rolling after the little one got up from her nap.  Sometimes we'd go to a park.  Sometimes we'd meet a friend for lunch.  Or go to Missy's.  It was fun and relaxing.   I'm just not used to it.

So, with the exception of Lily feeling puny, it was a pretty great day.

We get to tell!

FINALLY!
Over Thanksgiving, we got to tell our family that we are pursuing adoption!  It was so fun to tell the girls.  Even though they don't fully understand, they are eager to meet their new sibling (how do you explain that it's going to be months and months from now?!).
We also told our community group, bible study and many friends.  Everyone has been so encouraging.

Telling has been a double-edged sword, to be honest.  We have been thinking about this and praying for so long that we want to share it with everyone.
On the other hand, there are so many unknowns.  It's difficult to answer most questions and know that things can change.  So far, our friends have been great with our standard, "That's a great question.  We're not sure."  or "Yeah, we're looking in to that."
It seems that for every answer we find, there are 2 more questions.
We have narrowed our countries down to China and India.  Amby has always felt led to Asia, when it comes to adoption;  I haven't had a strong preference, so it's been easy to follow him.  
We know a couple who just finished their 2nd adoption from China, so that's a great resource.  
On the other hand, there's India.  As Amby is 1/2 Indian, we are very drawn to an Indian adoption.  
However, it's been extraordinarily difficult to find information on adopting from India. 
Thankfully, Amby's dad has been very sweet and extremely helpful in getting us the information on which documents we need to have and...
Well.  We are hoping for a contact in India.  And we are praying that we can meet someone here in Dallas who has had a successful Indian adoption.  I would love to talk about it and get a real feel for what we are in store for.  (oh-  it drives me crazy to end a sentence in a preposition, but I can't help myself!!)


Thanks for praying...


On another note-
Amby and I ran the 1/2 marathon today, and we are blissfully tired!  We had a great time, and the new course was beautiful.  Jan and Jeet kept the girls, so we were able to head to Fairpark (with Keeley and David Silva) early this morning with no worries.  
Amby "donated" a 49ers jacket (it was FREEZING when we got there!!) and I left a jacket and a pair of yoga pants behind. (Amby just corrected the way I spelled 49rs!) (It's 49ers)  We both had a great time, got to see some incredible houses on Beverly, and I got lapped by a marathoner.  Good times.  
It was fun to see the Dries family, Suzanne Silva and her kids, and Allison Ates, Allison Griffin, and Angela Ponce.  Thanks for cheering, guys!!


Headed to bed...