Week Sixteen, Belated Bday post, Am I like Jonah?

I will apologize up front... sorry for the long post.  Week sixteen draws to an end.  Andrew celebrated his 17th birthday while we were on our college tour so I am sitting down and celebrating him.

Happy Birthday Rew!

Seventeen things I love about you.

1. Your one dimple.

2. Your love of sports.

3. Your knack for getting along with everyone.

4. Your love of music.

5. Your young soul.

6. Your ability to bring together a community to support your effort to help the kids in the Dominican Republic.

7. Your math mind.

8. You were the easiest baby (thank you, God, because I was so young.)

9. Your boyish sense of humor that makes me smile.

10. Your confidence.

11. Your intensity when you are interested.

12. Your ability to wear old-school shorts to a soccer game, pink pants, or what not to get a laugh out of your friends.

13. Your loyalty.

14. Your love of movies.

15. Your desire to travel. (You are the easiest kid to travel with :)

16. Your love of food even when it is different (Indian, Ethiopian, sushi)

17. Your gentle spirit that makes me look like a good mother when it is just you - a wonderful creation of God's that I can take little credit for.  (Thank you for keeping those little scriptures that I hand you in your wallet.  I love you.)

**  So, this part of the post is more difficult for me.  I am new to talking about my relationship with God.  When we first started the adoption, I was asked by another adoptive mom, "are you a woman of faith?"  My response was immediate.  "Yes."  I have always believed in God, gone to church, and prayed.  I had even opened the bible occasionally, gotten as far as completing the book of Genesis.  I knew nothing about being a woman of faith.  Adopting has been amazing in so many ways.  One of the changes it has brought about has been in my relationship with God.  

I signed up to study the bible.  It has been amazing.  There have been too many times that something we were studying directly spoke to what was happening within the confines of our home.  In CBS two weeks ago we studied the book of Jonah.  Wow, I always knew Jonah was swallowed by a whale.  That was the story, right?  Wrong.  So much more.  One part of the story (because there are so many to learn).  Jonah ran from what the Lord told  him to do.  Ran in the direct opposite direction.  We were challenged to think about what was our Nineveh? God has an amazing plan for us, too.  Yet, what do we run from.  That was an easy one for me.  For years we took in newborns.  Even when I felt nudged toward adopting, knowing how crazy it sounded.  Life was neat, not complex, balanced.  Everyone was doing well.  One soon off to college.  Why would I want to disrupt the order.  After a serious conversation with God, we actually started the paperwork process.   Long story short.  We are waiting for our Little M.  I think about her before I fall asleep.  I pray that she is falling asleep with a warm blanket nestled around her little body.  I imagine my hand on her head.  I ask for God to wrap her little soul in love.  Most amazing is I have read a good deal of the bible.  I rely upon my quiet time with the Lord, to give me direction in the day.  I know that it may be hard after Little M gets home, but I have faith that God will provide the strength and the wisdom to help her.  I can say now, that I am woman of faith.  I did not know what it meant before.  I answered much to quickly, then.  I have faith, now. 

Spring Sprite

My first purchase for Little M.  I have not allowed myself to buy anything or Little M.  I found this Spring Sprite (fairy) lst week and I could not resist.  When I was little, I loved fairies.  I imagined a whole world of little people that lived a parallel life to me.  In Eliza's first bedroom, I painted a dogwood tree filled with butterflies, dragon flies, ants and bumblebees.  (I love dragon flies and butterflies.)  As she got older, she would not let me pint over her mural.  The people who bought our old house, put their daughter in that room and kept it, also.  Recently Eliza asked if I would paint it again for her and Little M.  When I saw this fairy holding a dragon fly, I had to have him for Little M.  I want to hang it by a window, to capture the light. I wonder if little M will enjoy imagining and reading or will she be more clinical, or both? One of the joys of parenting... unwrapping the gifts in each child.

**I am so excited because I found out that the artist does fairies that are African, too.  I will just have to do a little leg work to find them.

Mission Statement, College tour, Update

We are back from our college tour.  We saw Connecticut College, University of Richmond, Catholic University, American University, Loyola of Maryland, Muhlenberg, University of Delaware.  We will fit Holy Cross in tomorrow.  The process is exhausting and exciting.  The wonderful thing is Andrew really has a preference.  He loved Catholic and Loyola.  The coaches were so generous with their time, the student body was kind, and the campuses were beautiful.  We enjoyed the time together as a family.  We actually used the time in the car (there was a lot of it) to make our family mission statement.  Initially the kids were annoyed that they could not listen to their ipods or read their books, but eventually they engaged and enjoyed the process.

We received our confirmation that CIS has amended our approval to be a broader range in age.  Jessica called, also, saying that she received our new signed service agreement.  What this means...is we are on the wait list (continuation) but for a child/ren 0-4.  So going into our 16th week, we are so excited about all the possibilities.  The other great news is that there are so many Gladney families that have passed court and are now preparing to travel.  Life is good.  We are getting closer holding our Little M.  

Fourteen

Yeah!  Gladney got our addendum.  We are filling out our new service plan.  I think that we may be the only people waiting for a child over 18m.  Unofficially, of course.  So what does that mean?  I don't know and have stopped trying to figure it out.  No wait, I do know what it means.  It means that it could happen any day...really any day, or in four months.  It means that we have no idea how old of a child Little M is.  She could be an infant or 48m.  It means Little M could actually be an M&M.  It means we surrender to God's plan and His timing.  

Off to visit colleges this next week.  Catholic University, Georgetown, Loyola of Maryland (Jesuit colleges - For the greater Glory of God... you have to love the mission), American University, Trinity, and Muhlenberg) are on the agenda.  I will try and sneak away to show Eliza John Hopkins (where she wants to go).  

Have a Wonderful Valentines Day!

Lucky 13

I am so frustrated and trying hard not to be.  I feel like the referrals are going out so slow, the average wait is getting longer, and the paperwork that came (the addendum) had an error on it so will have to be sent out next week corrected.  I have found the perfect cure for impatience, disappointment, and frustration.  A large dose of Proverbs 3:5-6  and a small dose of Facebook.

Facebook.  I really don't have the time to spend a ton of time on it between A&P2, bible study, our Chinese exchange student, 3 busy kids, a not so demanding husband, a very part-time job, steering committee for a Andrew's high school, and keeping the house clean and picked up (you get the picture).  I do love it, though.  See the picture above (okay-skip over the applique skirt and bed head on both of us).  Since I grew up moving every year to every 4 years, I do not have many/any friends from elementary school.  Katie was my best friend in Athens and Beirut but we lost touch in high school.  She "found" me within 3 days of being on FB.  She even posted a picture of us when we were 7.  I have no pictures of myself at that age until now.  My kids were even more excited than I was.