And She Shall be Called.....

So you may or may not caught a glimpse of our little sweet pea over these past few weeks or so.  You may have seen her face and not even realized it!  Well, the Mister and I were trying to wait to formally introduce our girl to you when she finally had a name.  Ahem...well, the original plan was for that to be not much longer after we announced the adoption.  I should've known that wasn't going to happen!  After going through about 500 names that I had suggested, along with suggestions from family and friends, we finally agreed!  Seriously people, this is BIG stuff!  Why?  Because the name game has always been torturous for us...this is how it typically goes:

 Me : "What do you think of you fill in the blank with whatever name I was throwing at him at the time?"  

The Mister: "No." 

 Me: "Do you have any suggestions?

The Mister: "No."

Repeat this 499 other times and you will have what our life has been like over the last few weeks!  So, now that I've totally built her name up way too much, let me be the first to formally introduce you to....

Nyah T***

 Before we go any further, because I know you are trying to figure out pronunciation, It's ni (like hi,) -ah.  Her middle name will remain her current name, which I cannot share at this time.  Hence the reason for all of the asterisks!  Now that that has been cleared up, onto why we picked Nyah.   Well, there's the fact that I've always loved the name, and once we discovered the meaning of the name, it kind of sealed the deal for us.  We've never been much into name meanings, but the name Nyah is actually of African origin and means, "one with a purpose."  Done.  That was all I needed to read.  My girl...she has a purpose.  I can't wait to get my arms around her so we can watch her beautiful life unfold in front of our very eyes.  

Oh yes, so now that you know her name, let me introduce you to her.... 

 Our beautiful princess!

....and yes, you will notice that in the younger picture below, she has more hair.  They are shaving my poor girl's hair!  Um, can you say, hair bows?!?!?!

As far as where we are in the process, we are waiting for our home study to be finished up. We are praying that our home study will finish up within the next 3-4 weeks, and wrap up a few other things so we are able to send our dossier to China by the end of October.  Maybe???  Hopefully???  Man, I sure hope so!  Don't you just want to squeeze those little cheeks too?

The Story of #4

In case you missed it, which I doubt anyone who is reading our blog has, we are on the road to adoption once again!  We are so excited, overwhelmed, nervous, you name it!  This time we will be going back again to that “large Asian country,” but this time, to return with a beautiful little lady!  Our sweet girl is currently just 17 months old, and this momma is doing everything I can to get our arms around her before she turns 2…which I think may be a long shot, but you never know!  

The Mister and I had been going back and forth on if a fourth was in the cards for us as a family.  Because the Mister was considering the possibility, I conveniently let our agency know that we could quite possibly be searching for a little girl over the coming months.  Well wouldn’t you know it, around early July, our agency presented us with a file of a sweet little one, just 16 months old!  The Mister and I talked and prayed about her and the decision, and decided that she was to be the newest member of our family!  

Now backing up to the month of June, I was approached by a friend to consider writing a guest post for the website, No Hands But Ours, about our little guy’s special need…cerebral palsy.  She had mentioned to me that they were looking for someone to write on that specific need, because apparently many prospective adoptive families considered it to be one of the more “scary” needs.  It sounded funny to me that anyone would call it a scary diagnosis!  I prayed about the post, knowing it would reach a much bigger audience than my little blog here, and also since I don’t consider myself to be nearly as good as a writer as many of the mommas whose blogs I follow, but I felt like God was calling me to write what was on my heart.  I won’t repeat the whole post for you…you can read it here, but I wrote these words just days before receiving our little one’s file.  Why does that matter?  Well friends, it all comes down to God’s perfect timing.  I say that because I genuinely feel that He used what He had laid on my heart to write to comfort us in making our decision about adding that little one to our family.  Why?  Because our new little one will also be diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy when she arrives home…and her scans…they are scary to me.  Yep, I said it.  Scary.  The word I had thought was so funny to use in conjunction with my precious little man was just the word that came to mind when I was reading over my little love’s file.  If you have stopped and read my guest post on No Hands But Ours, you are probably getting the connection here!  That post, if not written for any other person’s benefit in the entire universe, was written for me.  God was whispering just to me, “I’ve got this.  You need to trust me.”  We were called by God as a family to adopt, and I do know that He’s “got this,” but it’s hard.  It’s not just hard in the adoption related world to trust God, it’s hard lots of the time.  Because if you’re like me, you’re a control freak, you like to try to plan for things to go according to your plan.  But people, the sooner we realize it’s not our plan, faster it will be when we submit to God’s will and purpose for our lives, which is of course 1,000 times better than anything that you or I could ever imagine.  

“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. ²¹ Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.” – Ephesians 3:20-21

So glory to God…glory because He knit together my beautiful and precious little girl in her tummy momma, glory to Him because He knows her story and can make beauty from the ashes, and glory to Him for continually showing me what amazing blessings are the result of just trusting in His plan.

#Managingblessings

Being real now, we all have “those” days.  The days where the kids get up an hour earlier than they should (of course after being up an hour too late the night before,) within the first 20 minutes of being up, you have to deal with spilled milk, a potty accident, and if you are like me, a dog crisis.  Those days when just nothing seems to go the way that you anticipated when you went to sleep the night before.  And deep down, ok maybe not so deep down sometimes, we wish we could just pull a Dorothy, click our heels together and be transported away to some fairy world with munchkins…as long as they aren’t our munchkins!  People…I have these days…and if you are a real person, I’m sure you have these days too.

A few weeks ago, a friend had posted this quote on Facebook that was taken from Lysa Terkeurst.   

 

 

It hit me.  Hard.  I can be really good at seeing the bad in a day, and not focusing on all of our giggles, peaceful playing times, and “I love you’s.”  Those words though…they.are.real.  These little people that I have, they are nothing but my own personal posse of blessings.  For me.  Every single day.  And I forget that altogether too often.  I realized I want to and need to change my negative mom attitude and focus on managing my blessings.  The reality is, right now this chaos may seem like it’s too much and unmanageable, but I know 20 years from now, when it’s just me and the Mister, (and maybe a dog or two,) that I will be wishing that I had more days like this…

Yes, you are seeing that correctly.  That is a naked Barbie in decorative grass.  I will miss these days.  I honestly believe that right now, in this crazy, beautiful mess we are in, that these are the absolute best years of my life.  From now on, I vow to focus on managing my blessings, and forgetting about things like spilled milk.  Because one day, not too long from now, I’ll be wishing that I'd see that Barbie without the clothes on, stuck in my decorative grass, and she won’t be there.

A little late

No excuses...we've just been plain busy!  First I was going to start back up after 6 months home, then I thought, let's wait until his birthday...then vacation...and that was Memorial Day.  It's now..ahem...the 4th of July?!?!?  What???  Time has flown by!  A friend actually said to me the other day, "Can you believe in 4 months, you guys will have been home for a year?"  No, I absolutely CANNOT believe that!  Where has this year even gone?  Well I'm not sure I can even begin to summarize what we have been doing the last few months, but here it goes...

Our little man is still doing amazing!  Therapy is going great, we did get a brace for his wrist that we try to wear as much as possible, and we are working on AFO's for his feet.  He is speaking more and more English every day, and just loving life!  He is a huge fan of Big Hero 6, so I think we have acquired every.single.item sold related to the movie.  He has also turned into the kid who has a drawer of 30 t shirts, but chooses to wear the same one every day...yes, his Baymax shirt!  Neither of the other kiddos ever had such an obsession with one item of clothing, which can drive me crazy, but deep down inside I think it's cute!  We have discovered he also LOVES swimming and the water.  He could swim all day, everyday I think! 

We had a pretty intimate birthday party this year for him.  We didn't want to overwhelm him, and I think it was for the best.  A few weeks after his birthday, we headed south to a family wedding in New Orleans, but not without a quick stopover in Destin.  SOOOOO glad we decided to be crazies and take the gang to Florida!  They had a blast playing in the ocean, even though it was only for two days!  Can't wait to go back!  The look on their little faces was priceless! 

We went up to Michigan for the 4th, and go to spend time at my parent's cottage.  The kids all loved it, but the little man just couldn't get enough.   He even went tubing for the first time and LOVED it!  He kept saying, "Faster, faster!"  He's my little daredevil for sure!  We have a few more fun things planned for the crew this summer before it's time to head back to school.  The two littles will be off to preschool part-time this year...sniff sniff!  Yes, I will be hysterical I'm sure, but I know they will be loving it! 

We have been so blessed this past year and have so much to be thankful for! 

I Live with a Rock Star

Seriously people, this little man of mine has been through a boat load of change in the past 3 months and he has been AMAZING!  Someone asked me the other day how everything has been going for him, and it really made me stop and think about it.  We have put him through a laundry list of doctors appointments, therapy twice a week, and shuffling back and forth to the babysitters since I started working, and he seriously has done spectacular!  We are so beyond blessed...(especially this overwhelmed mama!)  We had his hearing and vision screen today, which he did great with.  He was sedated for the hearing screen, so he was a little unhappy with that appointment, but again, he really did great!

Language-wise he has also been doing awesome!  He probably has about 30-40 words, can count to ten on occasion, (we often leave out random numbers between 5-7,) and has been forming 2-3 word sentences.  This is just what he speaks though...what he understands is far more than that.

We often get people that tell us how wonderful we are for welcoming him into our home, but it's actually just the opposite.  We knew we wanted more children, and adoption was just the route we decided to go.  It wasn't because we felt bad for him, but that we wanted him.  I don't mean that to sound harsh or rude.  It is true that his situation was definitely far from ideal in every way possible, but really we are the "lucky" ones in the sense that he has welcomed us into his heart.

We can't wait to see what the next few months hold in store for our little man.  The Occupational Therapist is getting ready to fit him with a flexible brace for his hand, so hopefully he won't mind that too much!  Here are a few shots of what this guy has been up to with the other littles....

2 Months in Our Arms?? What?!?!?!

Can you even believe it?!?!?!  To be technical, it's actually been a two months plus a few days.  Blows.my.mind.  Seems so short and so long all at the same time.  Our little man is such a perfect addition to our family!  If you have had the chance to meet him, or even glance at one picture of his yumminess, you would know that he has to be one of the smiliest and happiest kids ever!  He gives me a new set of eyes to see our world through!  We have been truly above and beyond blessed!

So what has happened over these past few weeks?  Wow, well aside from several major holidays, just a few things!  The little man started physical and occupational therapy in December, which is twice a week.  He also had his MRI, which he was a rockstar for!  That has now lead us to several other referrals, which we will be taking care of over the next few months.   We all had a beautiful Christmas together, and he finally got the hang of the whole present thing by the time we made it up to the Mitten for his ahem, third and fourth Christmases.  I was so concerned about putting presents out under the tree early, thinking he would want to tear into them.  It wasn't until a few days after I had finally put a few presents out to "test the waters," that I had realized why they still sat there, untouched.  It was most likely because he had no idea what those pretty little packages under the tree were.  Did our little man ever receive a gift?  I didn't want to dwell on the thought for too long.  There are many, many gifts in his future, and I am now confident that he is very well aware of what a present looks like!

Christmas break was an awesome time for all three kids to get to hang out and play, and we got to spend time with lots of family, which was also awesome!  He is so loved!  His language is slowly coming along, which the doctor did mention could take longer for him specifically.  He is so observant though of everything around him, and just today, helped me to put away some dishes.  I honestly don't think the other two would've known where some of those items are kept!

Prayers are welcome for both him and for I.  Unfortunately, my time away from work is drawing to a close, and we are going to have a HUGE transition ahead of us.  One that neither one of us is prepared for I'm afraid.  Please pray that our little man does well going to the babysitter and staying with grandma on my work days.  Also pray for the Mister as well.  Juggling three kids before and after work is no small task, and since my days are so long, that unfortunately includes several meals and the beginning of bedtime.  Ewww!  The little man is also not a huge fan of going to sleep with anyone but momma these days either, so that is a whole other challenge.

My heart has been overflowing with joy from all of the love and support our little man, and our entire family has received over these past few months!  Thanks to all of you!

Finally becoming buddies!

Christmas morning!!!

Mom's XMas Elves :)

Two party animals!

Grammie hid the presents...he caught onto the game quickly

Annnnd....the Little Lady got her first haircut!

I Have a Confession to Make....

So I have to confess something to all of you....we weren't one of those couples who always wanted to adopt.  It wasn't something I had on my heart since I was a teenager or anything, and it was honestly something we never talked about really ever while we were dating or married.  In fact, it was just two years ago that we started feeling that adoption might be something that we were being called to.  Maybe that was a crazy confession, or maybe it was just part of my evil plot to get you to start to read my blog, (he he,) but as strange as it may sound, that confession is something that breaks my heart.

It breaks my heart because that means that when my sweet, precious son was born, that I wasn't even thinking about him or praying for him.  I had no idea of the amazing gift that God was about to bring into our lives.  I will never be able to repay his biological parents for the privilege we have been given to raise their perfect little boy, and am beyond blessed that I'm his Mama.

Lots of you know that when we began our journey, we didn't know where God was calling us to adopt from.  We looked into just about every option, and a slew of different countries.  China was it.  I'm now on several advocacy boards for waiting children in China, and guys, it's so hard.  It's so hard because every day I see these precious faces in front of me of kiddos who have no mom or dad, and for most of them, four walls of an orphanage are all they have ever had to call home.  So many of them I have seen lately are older, and getting close to aging out of the system.  Yes, I said aging out.  In China, you age out of the system at 14.  14 YEARS OLD!  Now I don't know about you, but I don't know any 14 year old children that are ready to face the world on their own...let alone children who have nothing.  So many of these children's orphanage and agency fees have been waived or greatly reduced to try to help get them their forever families before this day comes, and yet still so many of them end up alone when that birthday arrives.  Heartbreaking.  So many talented, beautiful children who desperately want a family more than anything in the world who never get to know what it feels like to see the pride in their parent's eyes at a ballgame, or wipe away their tears when they have a bad day.  It's not fair.

Each day that I see these faces, they plea with me to help them.  To do something.  And each day, I fail them.  I see them and want so desperately to share them with my friends on Facebook to advocate for them, but no, my friends aren't crazy adoption nuts like I am that feel the unending need to bring a dozen or more children into their homes ;)  Then I realized that I was wrong, which is why I'm writing this insanely long blog post.  It was one Facebook post that lead us to that little guy who's fast asleep down the hall from me now.  So maybe for just one person who is reading this, this is what they need to start their journey to a wonderful and unexpected blessing.  By the way, it's not just in China folks.  There are 153 MILLION orphans in the world and I'm nondiscriminatory :)  Every child in every country is equally as important and all of them need the love of a family.  Maybe adoption isn't the road for you, which I'm definitely not saying it is for everyone, but we are called to care for our orphans and widows, and there are other ways to "care for" them.  Pray for them.  Support those who are adopting.  Foster.  Sponsor.  Advocate.  The list  goes on and on.

Each little voice just wants to be chosen.  They are asking one question, "Do you have room for me?" The same question that Jesus asks us, and the same question that during this very season of Christmas, Mary and Joseph asked at the Inn.  Let them in.  In whatever way you can.

Annnnnnd....since I've made you wait this long.  One month home tomorrow and we are doing awesome!  We are so completely blessed, and he is such an amazing little guy!  I could  go on and on about updates, which I will soon, but my "confession" above was on my heart tonight and needed to be shared.  Please forgive me for that.  So here are a few pics of my newest little cutie pie...with some of my other cutie pies as well :)