This Is Not Just My Thing

Everyone sort of has "their thing," right?  You know-the thing they are really passionate about, the thing they can't stop talking about every time you see them, the thing that gets them all excited and fired up.  Maybe it's music or a certain baseball team or a political view.  Maybe it's how they choose to school their kids or how they feed their infant.  Me?  I get really passionate about caring for orphans.  But I have to confess something.  When I post about adoption or I talk about orphan care, I have this underlying fear.  I fear that everyone will think I care about orphans purely because it's "my thing." See, when someone's passionate about...

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Adoption Update: Applications Sent

When I began to fill these envelopes I expected to feel relief and excitement.  Relief because the adoption applications, copies of our homestudy, and profiles would finally be out of my hands.  Excitement because they'd soon be off to adoption agencies and attorneys that will help us bring our litte one home.  What I didn't expect were tears. I touched each profile slowly, suddenly frozen with the gravity of what the pages represent.  Overcome with emotion, I whispered to Josh, "She'll touch these.  I don't know if we'll ever get to meet her or talk to her, but I'm touching this page that she will touch."  It felt like a holy moment. I longed to somehow infuse...

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Dishes Can Wait

I woke up tired, slapped together some quick breakfast, threw in a load of laundry, and rushed to get out of the door on time.  As usual, I was late.  I drove to her apartment, my mind racing with the litany of things I could be doing.  "My house is a wreck.  I didn't unload the dishwasher.  Tali needs help with her phonics.  I hope the kids are good for their grandma.  Do I really have time for this?" I saw her waiting quietly for me by her front door, her sweet baby girl peeking out at me from the colorful wrap. Instant screams erupted as I lifted the little one into her carseat and headed to the clinic with my Burmese friend and her baby.  I had...

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Waiting

"How much of life is lost in waiting?"  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Each of us are waiting for something, aren't we?  Maybe you're waiting for someone to email you back or to waiting for your kids to sleep through the night or waiting for a raise at work.  Maybe you're waiting to feel happy again or waiting to hear from someone you love or waiting to find out some life-changing information. Right now we're waiting to be matched with a birthmom, waiting to meet the child (or children) that God has planned to enter our family.  Waiting is not easy-it never is.  But I so don't want to lose precious moments of precious days, pining away for what I'm waiting for and missing...

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Questions with Answers

With adoption, and with all of life, there are many questions that are left unanswered.  Why does it have to be so expensive?  Why do some people wait for years for a child while others adopt quickly?  Why do some birthmoms change their minds before the baby is born and others wait until they are at the hospital?  There are many questions in the adoption world that I don't have good answers for.  But I thought I'd tackle a couple of questions that we have been asked recently that I actually do have answers for! Q:  How will you connect with a birthmom? A:  We're applying to various agencies and lawyers offices that work with birthmoms.  When a...

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