Happy New Year!

I have so much to be thankful for! A wonderful husband, an amazing daughter, a home, a job for my hubby, our animals, and God for giving us the opportunity to adopt. Someone asked me what my New Years resolution would be and I said to do everything we can to bring our daughter home and to shoot a gun (not at anything living). hahaha I hope in 2010 we can raise enough money to make our dreams happen and maybe our child will be with us in early 2011. Wouldn't that be great!!!
Christmas was amazing! E has brought my family so much closer together, not that we were ever not close. But I am definitely the most social one out of all of my siblings. It lights me up to watch them hold her and to laugh with her. Can you imagine how great it will be when we have another child to bring everyone even closer? E got a lot of black baby dolls and my MIL got her a lot of children books from Ethiopia and about adoption. If you have an adopted one you have to read "A Mother For Choco".



It was super sweet. I'm not going to lie, I cried. I either forgot that it was about adoption or I didn't know so it was a surprise to me. E is on the verge of crawling. My baby has grown so fast. Eating solids, ear infections, Children's Hospital, playing, man what a life. I am soooo blessed.


We have 2 months left before we can officially start the adoption process. I know I am going to be a mess, with all of the waiting. I do not do well with waiting. That is something I need to work on. I think I am patient with children, friends, but when it is completely out of my hands I have a lot of anxiety. I know God knows best and he is going to place the perfect daughter for our family but think of all of the unknown. I hope she will be loved before she is in our arms. I hope nothing too traumatic happens to her. I hope her birth mother takes care of herself. Man, I am getting anxious even writing about this. haha

Anyway, Happy New Year!! I love you!

The Janitor

A few years ago a group of researchers were commissioned to undertake a study in a handful of orphanages in Mexico and Poland. They compared scientifically the things they had in common. They found that they all were equally as sparse, underfunded, and understaffed. The researchers were looking at how this affected the children, especially the little ones who were raised in these institutions from their birth. Among the similarities in the orphanages: rooms were sparse and bare, with many cribs, and just a couple of nurses who looked after the children. In both countries, most of the children never even got out of their cribs over the course of the day.

The researchers attached electrodes to the babies' heads to track their brain activity. What they found in each one of these orphans – these little children – living in this kind of environment was this. There was no activity at all or very underdeveloped activity in one particular section of the brain because it had not been stimulated. Yet, as the researchers gathered all their data, they found that there was one exception. Something was different in one particular orphanage in a rural town in Poland. This orphanage's conditions were exactly the same as all the other orphanages. Yet the children tested there did not have the same deficits the others had.
Called To Research Restoration…

One of the researchers was so puzzled by what they had found, she decided to go out of her way, and travel to this orphanage to try to find out why the children were emotionally healthier than all the others they had studied. She examined everything: their cribs, their food, the ratios of nurses and caregivers to the children. There didn't seem to be any major discrepancies. The data matched perfectly with all the other orphanages.

So she began to interview all the staff that interacted with the children. Still, everything appeared to be the same. No extra help was observed. Nothing appeared different.

Then late one night as she was talking to the director, she saw a woman walk by that she hadn't talked to yet. "Excuse me," she said to the director, "does that woman work here?"

"Indeed she does," the director replied.

"I don't think I have interviewed her yet," the researcher said. "Could I do that?"

The director answered, "Well yes you can, but you really will be wasting your time. She is really no one, just the night janitor. She just comes in at night and leaves in the morning."

"Does she have any interaction with the children?" the researcher asked.

"No, she doesn't," the director said. "She just cleans up. She's a simple woman. Like I said, she comes here every night and leaves in the morning."

The researcher then asked, "Is it all right if I still talk to her?"

The puzzled orphanage director granted her request.
A Secret Revealed…

So they secured a translator and the researcher sat down with the woman, this humble custodian. Her responses to the researcher's questions were short and simple, and actually the woman seemed a bit intimidated. And then the interviewer asked her, "Can you tell me about your interactions with the children? To what extent do you interact with them? Do you ever touch them or talk to them?"

The now frightened woman looked down at her shoes and softly mumbled something to the translator. "She wants to know if she's in trouble," the translator said.

The researcher responded, "No, no, she's not in trouble. We are just trying to figure out what is making the difference here in the lives of the children compared to all the other orphanages that we have been studying."

There was a long, long pause, and finally the night janitor looked up and said, "I'm so sorry, but when I finish my cleaning and my sweeping and my mopping, cleaning the toilets and the sinks, I wash up, and I take my last hour and walk to the cribs of the children. As they're sleeping I lean over… I can't help it, but I pick each one of them up, and I hold them to my chest. I rub their backs and I kiss the top their heads, and I speak words of love to them. And then I put them down. That's all I do. I'm sorry, I spend maybe two or three minutes with each child, but that's all I do. That's all I do…"

The stunned researcher, after gathering her composure, simply said these words to this humble woman who was "just the night janitor" well… "apparently all you do…that is enough." Being picked up, touched and loved two or three minutes a night had made the difference in the lives of these little orphaned children.
God Values A Simple Act Of Love…

If we all could stop a moment and touch the life of a needy child amid the everyday moments of our lives, I know we would hear God say the same words that flowed from the researchers heart, to each of us… "Apparently, that is enough." It is enough because it is His hand and His love that reaches out through our individual lives to make a difference in the life of an orphan. God always stands ready to make something out of even the smallest offering. The Bible reveals countless stories where miraculously God took "someones seemingly nothing" and transformed it into "something life changing" for someone in great need.

To ask or not to ask?

Whenever I see a child of a different race of the parent(s) I always want to ask if they adopted. Well today I got enough guts to do it. I don't know the etiquette. We all know how blunt and open I am so I couldn't care less if someone asked me, but I know a lot of people are more touchy in general. We were at a craft show and I saw a baby that didn't looked mixed. I started sweating and finally got up the nerve and asked. He was so sweet and his name was Emmett! He was adopted and the lady didn't seem to mind that I asked, but wasn't really excited to talk about it. He was adopted domestically and it was through Indianapolis but the birth mother picked her out.?? I am not sure if it was through a private company or not. I asked if it was through the state and she said yeah, well through Indianapolis. I'm not sure. I wanted to ask more questions, but I could tell she was annoyed. So we moved on.
I just wanted everyone to know that if you see me out, it is ok to approach me. haha

Baby Names

I wanted to have a theme for our kids. And I wanted to start their names with an "E". We have a ton of boy E names but couldn't come up with any girl names we really liked. Until today! So I confirmed with my husband and we think our next baby will be named... Elsie Margo. I know, I know. Cute. I am so excited about this. Now we just need the referral. hahaha

Adoption Seminar

So... tonight my mother-in-law, E, and I went to an adoption seminar (M was at work) for All God's Children. I was glad I went, even though I cried like a goober in front of everyone. And when I cry in public I laugh while I cry, like my wedding. It makes everyone that doesn't know me feel very uncomfortable. hahahahah I am really glad we went. I didn't learn much about the adoption process (I read up on it every day. And I watch You Tube videos all the time. ) But the host really calmed my nerves about the home study. I don't know why I am freaking out about it. Everyone I meet says it's no big deal, but I am so nervous. She seemed to think I had something to hide from my past which is why I was crying. That is not the case. I'm really just afraid of getting denied.
Also, at the seminar she told us that Rwanda was opening their program to infants. Before, the youngest you could adopt was 2 years. So I wrote AGCI about that. I still think Ethiopia, but I want to hear my options. M doesn't care one way or the other.

Also, yesterday I went over to my cousin Andrea's. Aunt T came over and we put together a letter asking people for donations. We are going to make a video so look in your mailbox in the not to distant future.

Here is our rough draft:

Dear ________,

As you may know in June we had our beautiful baby girl, E. She is our everything. Unfortunately, after childbirth and a series of surgeries I had to undergo a hysterectomy. Our plan was to have a large family. I have dreamed about it since I was a young girl. This is still our dream, but we are going to do it the unconventional way.

We are writing you today to ask for your help in bringing home a baby sister for E. We will be adopting a child from Ethiopia

Unfortunately an international adoption is costly. Around the tune of $25,000!! With the help of some family and friends we have raised nearly a 10th of the total cost after a Garage Sale Fundraiser. Now we could either try to piece together 9 more garage sales or ask for your financial help. We thought we would give this a shot. Any amount would be awesome, but to put things into perspective if 23 people donated $1,000 you would be saving a child from a life of destitution, famine, and possible death. Not to mention make our dreams come true.

I have enclosed a video to tell you more about our story, experiences, and dreams.

Thanks in advance for your contributions and prayers,

A, M, and E

To adopt or to Foster

So, adopting through Hamilton County had been something we were seriously pondering. So I called the H.C. adoption phone number and talked with a very nice lady about becoming an adoptive parent. She told us we would only qualify for a girl 0-5 years, since we only have a two bedroom house and we have E. The cost would be FREE!! That was a huge bonus instead of finding $25,000 for Ethiopia. The lady also told us it was practically impossible to adopt without first becoming a foster parent. She said about 50% of the kids placed in foster care go back to either the birth parent or a relative. That is a huge number, while possibly great for the kids, would be a disaster for me. I heard a story last night of a family that had a foster child for 7 years and the birth mother said she wanted her back. She had her for two weeks and "gave" her back to the foster family. Why Hamilton County didn't put the girl up for adoption a long time ago baffles me. I can't handle that. I would be heart broken if my child wasn't available to adopt and had the potential to be taken away from me. Maybe at one point in my life I could do this, but not right now.

So here we come Ethiopia. We need $23,000. I might send out letters asking people for donations. I hate to do that. I feel so rude. But desperate times call for desperate measures.

Fundraiser has been Cancelled

Unfortunately our fundraiser has been cancelled. Harvey's is no longer able to hold the event. So this puts us back to square one. Since it is so close to the 20th we are going to try and find a location to host it after the holidays. This is just a minor setback.