Not Me! Mondays

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
I am not married to a husband who sneaks "sugar" disguised as cereal into the house. Because, I am not trying to instil healthy eating habits in my son and I try to avoid bringing foods with processed sugar into the house. I mean brightly colored packets of "fruit loops" are not tempting to a four year old and I am not the mean mommy who has to say no to said child who begs to have just one serving a week. Said husband has not been taking said four year old out on father/son outings most Saturday mornings. I am not the slow mother who took a few months to finally wonder why said son seemed to be able to point out all the doughnut shops in my town. I mean, I had never taken him to one, but he is smart and all, so why would he not figure out what all the shops sell! When it finally dawned on me why he could point them all out, said husband did not sheepishly say he was only trying to continue a family tradition, because his father also took him and his siblings out for doughnuts on Saturday mornings. You know how sugar will turn a dull morning into a great opportunity to make lasting memories for a child. To try to forestall my mad woman dance and wild ululations from all the sugar damage my mind was conjuring, said husband did not tell me that plain doughnuts are not that bad. He did not get totally busted when son chimed in that his favorite doughnuts were chocolate or sprinkle ones! Even with my best efforts, said child does not have 4 cavities already. And I am not the mother who is second guessing the pediatric dentist who "discovered" the cavities and recommended a treatment plan calling for $800 in out of pocket expenses. I am not the mother who pounced on all the negative reviews of said dental practice to justify delaying shelling out this kind of money for baby teeth. I am not the mother who is getting a second opinion from my dentist because there is only one pediatric dentist in my dental plan in my area. I mean, my son's dental health should be my primary concern and $800 should be a small price to pay to ensure a good dental experience for my son in an office with all the bells and whistles for a youngster!

...all I want for Christmas is a -- or a --

Mom busy making dinner. Son wanting to play horsie, just one more time - for the hundredth time. Mommy tells son to be patient and they can play after dinner. Son says okay, but says he will ask santa next Christmas for a brother or a sister to play with and share his toys with. Oh baby if you only knew! We still have not told our son about the adoption - we were waiting to first meet with the social workers for the official referral. I can hardly wait to see his face this weekend when he finds out he will not only have a brother or sister, but a brother AND a sister!

I am immensely proud of my son and his giving heart. He got a toy tonight from Macdonalds and another child wanted the same toy, but Macdonald's had ran out of the toy. Without a second thought or any prompting, my son happily gave the other child his toy. He has a heart of gold, is wonderful around other kids and will make a marvelous older brother!

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I so am not the mom who was skipping pages of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" I mean, I have totally learnt the lesson about being a grinch after having read the book every night since Christmas at my son's request. I am not the mom who was being super hyper trying to distract her son, so that he would not realize his mom was skipping pages. I mean it would not have taken less time to actually read the whole book than the time taken to do silly distracting antics. I am also not the mom who got totally outsmarted by said son, when he took the book and pointed out all the pages I had skipped. And I had to re-read the book, yet again! Sigh!

I am so not the mom who is failing her four year old in his christian education. He tried convincing me that he put a rainbow up in the sky because he had painted a rainbow earlier in the day and later that evening saw a rainbow in the sky. My best attempts to explain how a rainbow forms and how it is a reminder of God's promise to us did not go in through one ear and out the next. Because said son was not excitedly telling his friends the following day how he had put a rainbow in the sky.

Pray for Me....Pray for Others

We participate in "Pray for Me... Pray for Others" on the Riggs Family Blog. Check out their blog to add your prayer request.

1/2 week down, 1 1/2 more to go before we get to review the twins' file and get the official referral. Praying for patience and trusting God that the babies are loved and well taken care of. I think about them daily and worry and wonder if they are safe, happy and loved. But I know that the Kings of Kings loves them and is watching over them.

Still praying for our friend D for continual healing. He is now able to limp on his leg though he still has the swelling. Praying that he is able to make the next training session.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl and Baby Boy!

One year ago today, you came into this world. We were thinking of adoption at the time and you were born in our hearts on that day. Though we did not know about the miracle of your birth one year ago, your birth was not a surprise to the Most Holy of Holies - He knew you from the very foundation of the earth! He wonderfully formed you in the womb, and knows every single atom of your being! Mom and dad tried to move mountains to make sure that you knew someone cared about your special day. However, we have to work with an imperfect system and it is our prayer that your foster family made this day special for you. It was a bitter sweet day for us - a day of thanksgiving that you are safe, loved and well taken care of, but bitter knowing that you are so close, yet we could not give you a hug and a kiss and celebrate with you this milestone birthday. If God gives us the priviledge to raise you, we will make it up to you! We pray to be able to celebrate your next milestones like your first steps and all the many firsts you will have. On this day, we promise to be your biggest advocates and cheer leaders. We promise to love you and daily show our love to you so that you will never have cause to question our unabiding love for you. We promise to demonstrate Christ's love for you by the way we live our lives and that you may see Christ in us. We pray to be worthy of the honor to be called your parents. We promise to raise you in the fear of the Lord and we ask the Lord to set you apart for Himself that your lives may be a testimony to the goodness of God. We pray that the Lord may always protect you, guide you and direct your paths.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl and Baby Boy!

Oh, So Slow!

The wheels of government turn ever so slowly! We were supposed to meet the social workers to review baby girl and baby boy's files on Friday. However, my social worker called to advise that Friday would not work well for them because we have to meet with two social workers and they need to coordinate their calendars. Friday did not work for them - though on Wednesday both had advised that they were free Thursday afternoon and all day Friday. Surprising how fast a county worker's calendar can fill up in a day! The next time their free slots on their calendars coincide is in two weeks! Two weeks! It was so urgent to let me know about the children on Wednesday, but we have to wait two whole weeks to review the file before we can even go to the next step! My husband was guardedly optimistic when I told him about the children - he was unreserved about accepting the referral, but did not want us to get our hopes up until it was official. He does not have much faith in with the system and he is paranoid that they may call in a couple days and tell us they had our names mixed up with another family!

The social worker has called me about five times on Thursday and Friday, which is a marked improvement from the prior communication. The children's social worker had told me that their birthday was today - but I found out it is actually Sunday. It made me cry that the one person right now who should be the children's biggest advocate does not even care enough to know the children's actual birthday. This is a new case and it is the children's first birthday. But we are fallible human beings. The Creator of the Universe knows baby girl and baby boy's names and knew them from the foundation of the earth. He knows their birthday! Baby girl and Baby boy matter to Him, He loves them and He made the greatest sacrifice of all for them - His own begotten son.

Pray for Me...Pray for others!

We participate in "Pray for Me... Pray for Others" on the Riggs Family Blog. Check out their blog to add your prayer request.

My mind is reeling! This afternoon, we had an orientation meeting with our new social worker for the international adoption. I loved her, everyone at the office and we went home feeling pretty good about moving forward with this agency. I decided to drop off a form to the child welfare agency foster care social worker. She was not expecting me and I had thought I would just drop off the form, but the receptionist insisted on calling the social worker out to the lobby. Three minutes later, she came in with another social worker and they asked to meet with me in a conference room. My social worker then asked if during our homestudy visits we had mentioned if we were open to twins. I told her I didn't recall that coming up and then the other social worker told me that literally a few minutes before I walked in, she had just finished reading our homestudy report and thought we were the perfect family for the children she was trying to place! Nice to know that our homestudy report is complete and others are reading it before we have even seen a copy:)! Anyway, my heart was pounding, I was incoherent and then she told me to go home and discuss with my husband if we wanted to come in to review the children's file. It is a boy and a girl who were born premature at 32 weeks old and they will be one year old this Saturday. They have some developmental delays due to a very tough start in life. I learnt a little of their birth history and it knocked the wind out of me. But they are beautiful and seem to be extremely well taken care of in their current home. That is pretty much all I know and my mind is racing. I can't think coherently! After the meeting, I was on my way to buy carseats, clothes and diapers before I remembered I needed to first talk to my husband! Oh yeah, there is also their first birthday coming up! My head is spinning and I am just totally jumping ahead of myself! It is totally not official, we still need to meet with the chidlren's social worker before we can officially accept the referrals. We plan to meet the case worker on Friday and look through the casefile. In the interim, it will be prayers, prayers, prayers!

God's timing is so not my timing. I thought I had everything figured out! Based on how things were going, we had assumed our first adopted child was to come from Ethiopia later this year and in another year, the next adoption would be from the foster care system. Thank God that He can see the big picture!

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I am so not the dorky mother who cornered the preschool teacher because her son totally did not get the lesson on Martin Luther King day and its significance. I am not the mom who forgot that a four year old's mind is a mix between fantasy and reality and that he has many years in school where he will be learning about MLK and he will totally get it! I am so not the dork who forgot to tell said preschool teacher not to sweat it when she offered to repeat the lesson the next day. Because, four year olds really do grasp all concepts and lessons taught in their pre-school classes.

My friend D.

update:

My friend D was not able to hold off till the end of training on Friday and ended in the ER at 12:30 for some plasma and consequently getting admitted into hospital. I did go visit with him yesterday afternoon and he says this is the worst bruising that he has ever had. His leg is about 4 times its normal size. Thankfully, he does not have to have surgery which he had been scheduled to have to relieve pressure on his muscles. We visited him in the hospital today and he is scheduled to be there at least through Thursday. During service today, one of the deacons shared his heart. He was praying for my friend D and really asking God why all this was happening to such a good and decent person. During prayer, his conviction was God laying it on his heart asking what he personally was going to do about the situation. It is one thing to pray for someone, but unless we are willing to be God's hands and feet, we will not see a lot of answers to prayers. All the offering and tithes at church today went to help support his family and almost the whole church went to visit with him after church. The body of christ was really His hands and feet to bring spiritual encouragement and practical help to my friend. Just what we are commanded to do!

Prayer requests: that his job will be willing to take a chance on him and that he can start the next training session next month. He had been scheduled to take a test yesterday for a county job. Needless to say, he was hooked up receiving some plasma! So if his current job is not willing to take a risk on him, he has nothing else in the works! At a time he should be really enjoying first time fatherhood with his 4 month old child, he is having to spend time with her in a hospital room. Prayers for spiritual encouragement and financial provisions. Inspite of all that is going on, he was in really good spirits today! Nothing to bring a smile to your face than someone sneaking in some Macdonalds after 24 hours of no food because they were preparing you for surgery!

Urgent Prayer Request!

A good friend of mine is having a really hard time. He has hemophilia and the last three months have been torture. He bruised his right hand about three months ago and was in excrutiating pain for most of that time months before the doctors finally figured which pain meds worked for him. He can't really use his right hand because it is numb from a blood clot that is causing nerve damage and affecting his fingers and thumb. No surgeon wants to touch him to remove the blood clot because of his hemophilia.

He had just started a new job a couple of months before his arm got bruised and the employer had to fill the position because he was in the hospital for a couple of days, needed several blood transfusions for another couple of weeks and was on heavy duty pain meds that he could not function. Things seemed to look up and he started a new job three weeks ago. He is in training and loves the job and his co-workers. This week, he bruised both his legs and he had to go to the ER yesterday afternoon because the swelling was not going away. He got a blood transfusion and went to work today because he cannot afford to loose the job. He has a three month old daughter and his wife's job is reducing everyone's work schedules to part time as a cost saving measure. I called him today at 11:00 a.m and the swelling was getting worse. He was in a catch twenty-two to say the least. In order to heal faster, he needed another blood transfusion asap, but he knew if he left early again today, he would not have a job on Monday. He was also in pain and was not sure whether where he would be able to hold off going to the ER till after work. My heart breaks that he has to make such difficult choices. In this job market, employers don't have much room for compassion and empathy. My heart aches for all that he has endured these last few months. He is a really decent, God fearing guy who loves the Lord and just wants to serve him. Please pray for healing and financial provision. He has had moments of deep discouragement and despair but through it all, he still praises God.

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to http://www.mycharmingkids.net" her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I am so not the mama who finds it funny that my 4 year old pronounces chewing gum, "shooing gum" and who doesn't correct him because she thinks it is cute and funny. You know all good mamas put their child's language development ahead of an opportunity to laugh.

I am so not the mama who laughs and cannot for the life of her get an appropriate response to her 4 year old's pleas to feed his mama a piece of his apple so that she can be like god! Adam and Eve is one of his favorite bible stories and attempts to straighten his theology have not been successful! I so do not help matters by laughing. Poor pk, he will be in for a surprise when he realizes the apple pieces did not make me god!

Mystery Solved!

Remember my surprise that the social worker from my Local Child Welfare Agency initiated a call to see if we were still pursuing our foster care adoption? Well, I learnt that the County has decided to outsource all future homestudies to a private agency! Yippee for all new families trying to either foster or adopt foster care children. The private agency is paid depending on the number of homestudies done, so the agency has an incentive to be timely in how they do the homestudies. The county social workers do not have any quotas to meet and are not really accountable to anyone to get the job done well and in a timely manner. My social worker has to complete all her outstanding homestudies that she started last year hence the call! This explains why she was asking if we were still interested in going through the process. Did I detect a secret wish that we abandon the process so that she would have one less homestudy to do? Mind you, the county uses a template for the home studies and she just needs to fill in the blanks! Now how easy can that be!

All in all, we anticipate that we will have a homestudy report before our 1 year anniversary since beginning the process to adopt from the local child welfare agency! Yipee!