ladies, you've gotta see this.(men...this is not for you)

Men, this post is not for you.

Today, I went swimsuit shopping. I've got a week on a houseboat at highschool camp ahead of me (including 30something high school girls, who all together weigh about 27 pounds). 3 hours of shopping, no suit...and a decision that I will simply wear my sweats if swimming becomes a necessity.

My body is not what it used to be...I have never been a bikini girl, for more reason than one. But before kids/2 pregnancies, I used to not feel bulgy in a swimsuit. Now, bulgy, wrinkly, saggy, stripey, stretchy...those are words that describe it. Not pretty.

I stumbled upon this blog today, and it made me feel better. Normal.Still saggy, bulgy, stretchy, but normal. *warning* not for the faint of heart. You will some sag, stretchmarks, and real moms. There is a little nudity (not inappropriate, just real bodies). But, it's worth a look. This is not the stuff we see on magazine covers!

http://theshapeofamother.com/

time to breathe ...emptying my brain.

sorry...this post is really to empty my brain. I have been running, running, running. Pretty much since September. Mom's ministry, adoption paperchasing, basketball season, fundraising, book club, friends...all good things but I am wiped out! In the past 10 days, I have had something all but one night. This week is looking the same, 3 nights out, and a few daytime commitments, planning and packing for high school summer camp (we leave Saturday). It's been great... I feel like all I"ve learned about adoption, could have earned me the college degree I never finished!

My heart has been stirring lately...how when my life is so full, can I still feel unsatisfied? Why do I want more? I'm realizing, that what I more of, is LESS. Less on my calendar, less places I have to be. MORE time with real friends. Really really sharing life together. I long for community. I long to be present in some friends life enough to make a difference. I long to be present enough in my kids life to leave a mark...somedays I feel like I just rush them from place to place, hustling them into thier carseats, in and out of stores or errands, griping that they aren't cooperating. (Why would they want to cooperate? I'm not really enjoying it either!)

I am so blessed to have lots of friends. Great friends. I really like making friends...being around people is good for my soul. I really love it. I am realizing though, that I'm running from event to event. Meeting to meeting. Group to group. I do feel like there are a few more of those friends, who I really want to dig deep with. Share life. Share meals, share kids, share passions and daydreams. Pray for eachother. Encourage eachother. I am praying about what this needs to look like in my life. How can I be more present in important ways and cut back on the less important ways? What is God calling me to as a wife, mom, friend? For awhile, I thought I needed to steer our mom's group in this direction...less program, more relationships. That could be really good. But I think the bigger stirring is for my own heart. My life...God telling me to slow down, cut back, and be more intentional. Really care for some people. Not just put out fires, or problem solve, or graze the surface. Get down and dirty with a few.

My heart for other adoptive families, and how I can be a resource and encouragement to them is rising up on my list. I feel a new passion growing in my heart...wondering what God will do with that.

*sigh*, feeling a little better, now, thanks for listening. That was all over the place, and a little random. My head feels a little better now :)

GREAT news!!

I had two really wonderful conversations today (well, more than that, but two *special* ones)

First, I ran into a friend, Casey. He is the middle school pastor at our church. Matt & I have known Casey for many years...he even lived with us for a year before he was married to his lovely bride, Aimee. Long story short, over a few random things, it led to him telling me they were adopting! They have a beautiful daughter, who just turned one, and #2 will be on the way via adoption...even better (in my book), they 're adopting from Ethiopia!! I was beyond happy to hear their big news. Matt and I have become passionate about connecting with families that will look like ours (transracial). We want to cherish our daughter's Ethiopian heritage, and would love to have other families to celebrate that with.

A few hours later, my phone rang, and it was Aimee! Casey had given her my number and said we should "talk". :) I love it when guys do that, "you should talk to my wife..."Anyhow, Aimee called and gave me the female version of thier story (i.e.- more details than a man would give, no offense Casey!)

They are just about ready to begin the process of adoption, they've decided on Ethiopia, and the same agency as us (Gladney!). I am so so so excited about this one. They are the sweetest family, and I really love the daydreams I'm having about having some dear friends with the same love of adoption, and another little Ethiopian in our church family. We love the Graves, and are SO excited for them as they begin this journey!! You can go here to congratulate them on beginning the journey!

Photos I've taken

Sorry to dissappoint folks, this post isnt' about the auction. Seriously, my brain is still jelly over that one. Everytime I think about the hours my sweet and organized friends spent serving me, I cry. When I think about those who PAID to come to the auction, I cry. Then I think about those who paid to come, and spent even MORE money there, and I cry. I think about my friends and family who worked tirelessly on the auction, and STILL spent more money there, I cry. I have the best friends EVER.

More will come, I'm kind of waiting to see the pics myself, then I'll post more.
In the meantime, I'll post some pics I have taken. My little photography buisiness is keeping me busy, as busy as I would like to be, at this point. I have done some bellies, babies,toddlers, families, and seniors over the past few months...and I'm loving it!

Here is a senior I did last month. She is a doll!


Here is a handsome little man who's one year pics I did a few weeks ago...SO Cute, and his mommy is one of the wonderful ladies who planned the auction, a beauty herself!


Fun stuff. I have more to come...but when to edit them all? at 1am. I'm pooped...

OH. MY. WORD. God, you're blowing our minds, once again!

Words don't even begin to describe our night. There is SO much to say, yet I haven't quite wrapped my head around it all. I will write more tomorrow, but here's the nutshell version.

We thought we were having dinner with some friends of ours. Instead, we walked into a room full of all our friends and loved ones, saying "Surprise!" We weren't sure what we were supposed to be surprised for...not our birthdays or anniversary, finally we saw gigantic balloons spelling L-U-C-Y across the room...and realized our friends were throwing us a surprise bash/auction to benefit our adoption...It was almost like our wedding reception! It was beautiful, all of our loved ones, fancy hor d'orves, desserts, beverages...centerpeices, slideshow, decorations,programs...it was amazing. There was a silent auction and a live auction...totalling $11, 208.00!! Seriously...pretty much funded our remaining adoption expenses in about 2 hours.

We are overwhelmed, and so so blessed beyond our imaginations. God continues to show up in our lives, and Lucy's. There is NO DOUBT the Lord has a plan for this little lady to be in our lives. He continues to make the path smooth for us to bring Lucy home to our family. We are blessed, blessed, blessed.

We feel so stinking loved, we don't even know how to take it in. Literally, our friends handed us the envelope of money as we walked out the door. We have in our possession, the means to finish this adoption!! God is so so good.

Earlier this year, the Lord gave me a verse, and I had no idea what it would look like. I felt he was saying to me, "get ready, Lady. I am about to do something BIG." Joshua 3:5 says "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you."

Indeed he has. And he's not even done. Thank you, Lord, for including us in your big story!

p.s. Someone also donated buddy passes for us to use when we travel. So, from our hometown to Washington DC is paid for!

It's Official!

We are officially on the waiting list for our baby girl from Ethiopia!

We expect to wait about 8 months for a referral...but who knows what God has planned for us. We trust that his timing is perfect and he already has a daughter in mind for us!

Can't wait to meet her!

Dossier, I shall miss you!

Ok, not really. For those of you non-international adoption obsessed fans, here's the definition of Dossier.

dossier

Pronunciation: \ˈdos-yā, do-sē-ā\
Function: noun
Etymology: French, bundle of documents labeled on the back, dossier, from dos back, from Latin dorsum
Date: 1880

: a file containing detailed records on a particular person or subject


My Dossier is currently en route to Fort Worth Texas, to our agency, Gladney. It left portland at 8:34pm tonight, to be exact and should be delivered to our agency tomorrow morning. It will visit with Natalie, our caseworker, for a few days, and then move on to Washington D.C to be authenticated. Then it will go to the Ethiopian Embassy...then, to Ethiopia! We hope to be on the waitlist sometime next week. (We are officially placed, when Natalie sends it off to the courier in WA DC)
(my helper, above)

It was bittersweet to send of my french friend. I made her pretty, since I had to look at her so much. It was really weird to box up my stack of paperwork that I've labored over for months, and trust some stranger to make sure that it gets where I NEED it to be. I almost wanted him to personally promise me that nothing would happen to it! What if the driver spills his Pepsi on it and it soaks through the box, and wrecks all of my original papers? What if the plane crashes and goes down in flames? I mean, even though it's insured...it would cost me time and money to do it all over again!! (Um, yes, I know, it sounds a little obsessive).

Nevertheless, me and Dossier have become close. Very close. I almost know exactly the wording of each item , how many pages it has, when the notary will expire. How much it cost me to get it, authenticate it, and ship each item.

It feels like a huge load off to say BUH-BYE to her. Hayden helped me make my final copies (he made sure that each paper came out that big machine that makes "coffees". He made the final hand off to the FedEx guy. It was a big moment...the guy looked at me weird when I said, don't put it in the box yet, I need to get my camera and take a picture, this is a BIG day!"

We celebrated at Chevy's with a tasty strawberry raspberry margarita and tasty eats with our family. I felt that I deserved a tasty relaxing beverage after hours of pouring over papers.

BTW-to anyone who's considering doing thier own dossier, you can totally do it! I won't lie, it's alot of paperchasing. But, at the end, I'm really glad I didn't pay someone to do what I could totally do. If you can follow directions and be organized at all, you can handle it and save yourself quite a bit of $.

Good night!