Just An Ordinary Day

I love "ordinary" days. Nothing exciting, nothing spectacular, just simple...  There are no holidays today, no appointments, no place I have to be, no errands to run..quiet.   These days give me time to work on the many projects I want to get to but never have "time" to do...like T1's football scrapbook.  I'm almost finished!! It's been a busy month, which is not unusual for us.  T2 is almost finished with volleyball.  She has one more game before regionals.  She's still not sure what she wants to do when she gets to high school.  Cheerleading or volleyball or both (unfortunately, they are the same season.).  She has really enjoyed volleyball this year and has improved so much.  I love watching the game.  It's fast and the games are so short.  I think I'll really appreciate the game when we have a little one.  Pretty soon we'll be traveling to soccer tournaments again. 

We went to Chicago for our USCIS biometrics appointment last week.  One more thing to check off our list and one step closer to our little one.  T1 got to get out of school early to go along.  He had to get his done also because he may be 18 by the time our little one comes home.  It was nice to go out for lunch and spend the afternoon with him.  Things are getting exciting around here planning college visits, invites to junior days and football combines/camps, telephone interviews...  It doesn't seem that long ago that Bill and I were in college ourselves.  Crazy!!!  I'm too young to be going through this!  Ha Ha!!

I was going through pictures the other day and came across this one of our girls.  I love it! I am so thankful they are so close in age and I pray they will always stay close.  What a gift from God they both are.  They are one of the reasons why we are also on the wait list for siblings.  I look at them and their relationship and long for that for our little one.  All our kids are so close and get along...most of the time.  Yes, we do have our moments, but I am so thankful for all the fun times.  We are so ready for our little one to come home!!

February Update

Praising God!!! We got our new numbers today! Just got the email I've been hoping for!!
Girl 42
Siblings 16
I know January was a very slow month for referrals, but I needed to see that there was some movement. The last couple of days have been really hard...and I've only been on the list for one month. Some days I seem to do really well and I can rest in the knowledge that God has everything under control. He knows the perfect time for us to meet our child. But the last two days have been hard. Our youngest just asked yesterday, "Mom, when will our baby come home?" Teachable moment....our baby will come home in God's time...the perfect time. We need to trust Him and His will for our lives. Even though we were hoping that our baby would come home this summer, God may have a different plan. I really believe it's still okay that I pray and hope for that to happen, but I also have to trust God's plan and find peace in His perfect will.
We had our 60 day licensing visit from our homestudy agency today. She thought that 8 - 10 months sounded great. Some people are hearing 18 months. Wow, 18 months!!!! She also talked about all the calls she's been getting about people interested in adopting from Haiti and being upset when told that it was not possible at this point. My heart aches for all those children there who are caught in that situation; all the children who need someone to hold them, sing to them, give them a hug, listen to them, ,tuck them into bed, pray with them, comfort them. Praying that God will bring special people into their lives who can provide these simple and yet necessary things; that God's love will surround them and help them to not feel alone or scared.
It's Friday, so praying for lots of referrals next week!!!

Move That Bus

OK...I'm taking a phrase from ABC's, "Extreme Makeover:Home Edition" when I wrote the title for my post today. I think it's about time that I reveal my "blog". Friends and family (even my own kids) have been asking if I have started a blog yet. I keep saying "no" only because I feel like it needs to be this big spectacular thing and I don't want to disappoint (always the people pleaser), but truth is, I've been working on it for a while...kind of a journal to fill my time waiting. But today I realized that it's time to share our experience in hopes that our family can inspire another. One more child finding their forever family... We are 15 months from having four teenagers under one roof. Some may think, "Wow, it must be getting easier, now that they are so much more independent." Truth is, it's actually harder. I would much rather be potty training...at least I would know exactly where they were and what they were doing every minute. I am so thankful for all the moments we have together.
About our adoption...we got our fingerprint appoinments for USCIS this week. One step closer. I scheduled my 1st Aid and CPR classes. And Friday, we have our 60 day license monitor visit - wow, has it really been 60 days already????