Scenes From a Blizzard

the beginning…

reading by candlelight when the power went out…    

Heading outside…

Heading back in

Smile and wave

We got a new photo of baby girl yesterday.

happiness.

For Baby Girl: Donations and Art Projects

Lifesong for Orphans is an incredible organization whose mission is to “bring joy and purpose to orphans.”  They provide food, clothes, schooling, discipleship and support to orphans all over the world.  They also partner with adoptive parents, like us, offering matching grants and interest free loans.  At this point we’re not sure if we qualify for a matching grant or not (we’ll find out soon), but in the mean time Lifesong will be accepting all financial donations on our behalf.  Meaning, if you were going to help support our adoption, checks and money can be sent to Lifesong, with our name in the memo line.  They will collect the money for us, and send you receipts for tax purposes.  And, if we do qualify for that matching grant, then all the money donated to our Lifesong account would be doubled!  

So, if you’re willing and able to help us bring baby girl home, here is where you can make a donation:

• By Check
  Please make checks payable to:
  Lifesong for Orphans (with our name in the memo line)
  Mail checks to:
  Lifesong for Orphans
  PO Box 40
  Gridley, IL 61744
• By Credit Card (PayPal.com)
  On the PayPal screen, please indicate where you'd like your donation to go. 

Our goal is to raise $5,000 to help fund our second trip to Ethiopia.  And we truly appreciate everyone who has already and is going to help support us financially.  If fact, we want everyone that helps with our adoption fund to also help us with a little art project.  We have a stack of 4x4 canvases and we would like you to paint/decorate them however you chose.  Use paint, crayons, pencil, newspaper, hot glue, scrapbook paper, photographs – whatever you like!  There are no rules or guidelines, anything goes!  We just ask that you sign the back and then return it to us so we can hang them in her room.  We want this “canvas collage” to be a representation of how many people care for her before they even knew her. 

I think I might have a problem

I don't know how mothers of little girls do it!  How do you stop yourself?  Where does the self control come from?
Of course, I am talking about buying little girl clothes.  How can you resist the cuteness of little flowery dresses and glittery shoes?  I can't do it!.   After years of buying ho-hum t-shirts and jeans for little boys that would just assume hang out in their skivvies all day anyway , I feel like there is no way I will be able to control myself when it comes to baby girl's wardrobe.

I resisted the urge for a long time.  I didn't even buy her anything until a month after the referral.  And even then, just looking at itty bitty girl clothes gave me crippling anxiety.  But then I found a $3 dress at (where else?) Target.  And I thought It's only $3, so no big loss if it doesn't fit. And then it began.  And now she has a dozen outfits or more (some were gifts, thanks Mom!)   I fear I won't be able to stop myself.  I cannot go into a store without looking at clothes for her.  And don't get me started on accessories!  Headbands, tights, SHOES.  SHOES, people!  Have you seen how cute the tiny sparkly shoes are?   I am going to need a support group or an accountability partner or something.

PS.  On the upside, though, I am very thrifty.  And so far the most I've spent on one single item is $6.  It pains me to have to buy clothes that are not at least 75% off.  But still, I gotta learn to fight the power of the lace eyelet sundress and the pink satiny shoes.  

Counting Down

We have our first travel dates!  Feb. 23 is when we will get to meet baby girl for the first time!  We are a tad disappointed that it is so far away.  We originally hoped that we would get to meet her in January, but what's one more month? Right? Right. We're no stranger to waiting.   And this way we'll have a little more time to scrape together our pennies for the trip.  AND since we have a two month lead time, plane tickets will be cheaper too.  So there are a few positives .  Right?  Right.
But still...we are anxious to meet her, hug her, hold her, never let her go. It's kinda strange, this feeling of missing someone you don't even know.  So here's hoping that the next two months go by quickly, smoothly and hiccup free. :)

Impatiently Waiting

This waiting part is no fun.  No fun at all.  We think of baby girl all the time.  What is she doing right now?  Is she having a good day?  What are her favorite things to play with?  Is she being taken care of?  Did she sleep well?  Those are the things that are easy to wonder about.  The simple things.  But many times my mind wanders to her painful reality.  Does she miss her birth mother?  Is she overwhelmed with grief?  Is she confused?  Will she be forever scarred by the trauma of losing her mother, then losing her caregivers at the orphanage?  Are we doing the right thing?    Sheesh, I could make myself sick with worry.

I pass the time and ease my anxiety by reading about others' adoption stories.  There are a billion other adoption blogs out there, with families all sharing their unique experiences. One of my favorites is Flower Patch Farmgirl.  I recommend reading her Big Adoption Series, if you like a good story or are considering adoption.

Getting baby girl's room ready also keeps me distracted.  We now have paint on the walls (robin's egg blue, if you'd like to know).  I've been mentally rearranging furniture, trying to decide on bedding and what to put on the walls.  Which reminds me, sometime soon I'll be posting some details about a cool fundraiser/art project for baby girl and her bare bedroom walls.

And lastly, while we wait for baby girl, we also make t-shirts.

Referral!

She is 16 months old  and she has beautiful eyes.  We can't wait to meet her!  As of yet we have no travel dates, but our best guess is that we will make our first trip in January, to appear before the court and legally adopt her.  About a month later we will travel to Ethiopia again to finally bring her home.  

As much as I want to, I cannot legally post a picture of her on the internet, or give out too much information.   So for now you can just get a glimpse those beautiful eyes.