Anticipation

.....okay, so I know that just seeing that title has some of you singing (or at least humming) that old Carly Simon tune; not that I'm old enough to know any Carly Simon songs....

But....

It's that time of the month when we begin to look forward expectantly to our monthly wait list updates (which we generally receive the first week of each month).  The past week or so has been exciting as we've heard of at least a couple of referrals in our agency.  We should make a grand entrance into the TEENS on this month's wait list (we are currently number 20;).

Since last month's update, Jeff and Jordan both received all of the necessary travel vaccinations (Braeden and I were up to date), Jeff graciously moved his gun safe out of what will be "little girl's" (we sometimes just refer to her as "LG") room and what has been the Guest Room has started to undergo a transformation (if you count removing the bed and piling a lot of "stuff" in the floor a transformation.....it always gets worse before it gets better, right?).  In addition, I (Kelley) completed my Beginner's Sewing Class and, every now and then, we talk about little girl names....nothing solid yet; we're gonna need a face first.  : )

See you next week (unless, of course, we get "the call"...wouldn't that be something?).

$4 For 4

Just about a year ago, Kim and I were busy packing for the trip of a lifetime.  Prior to the trip, we'd never met but, as it turns out, we spent ten days together that I can promise you were life changing for each of us (and our families).

Kim and her family have committed to and almost completed the process of adopting FOUR children.  They have worked hard and prayed hard as they raised the funds to give these four children their forever family.  They are now in the home stretch......could you, would you help to bring them home?

All they ask is that you give $4 for their 4.  You can't even buy your favorite Starbucks drink for $4.

So....head on over here and give $4 for 4 sweet faces that you'll see on the Charity Project site.  Note the before they had a family faces and the after they had a family faces.  It rocks my world.

To sweeten the deal a bit, once you make your donation, comment back here and I will enter you in a drawing for one of our adoption tees.

Thanks so much!

While We Wait

"I love decorating my home and helping others do the same.  I dream of sewing magnificent window treatments and beautiful smocked dresses for my nieces, but the truth is that I can't hem a pair of pants."


The above is a snippet of the "about me" portion of my original blog (www.mytwosons-kelley.blogspot.com).

I have always been an idea person.  I love beautiful things and I can visualize the way that things could, should or would look....but I've often struggled in the execution of those things.

I have ALWAYS loved children's clothes.  I even enjoyed dressing my boys (in those years before they started having an opinion and I always got my way:) which, if you have boys you know, isn't always a lot of fun (just because boys' fashions are so much more limited than girls).  Anyway, when I was pregnant with Jordan (our oldest....that would be, um, 19 years ago), I vowed that I was going to learn to sew.  But I never did. I was given a sewing machine back then AND I took a smocking class.  However, that little smocked bishop never became anything because I never learned to sew.  I kept that sewing machine for many years but could never even get the darn thing threaded.  Eventually, I traded it out for some custom window treatments....that someone else made.

When my nieces came along, once again, I wished that I could sew.  I could wander around a fabric store forever and always saw the sweetest things that I wished I could make.  Only now, guess what?  No sewing machine.

So....all these years later and the prospect of dressing a little girl stirred my heart again to learn to sew; so, for Mother's Day I asked for a sewing machine.  And my sweet husband, though he doubted that this idea would ever come to fruition, delivered.

One of the things that I've been seeing in the little girl fashion world are pillowcase-style dresses (not made from actual pillowcases, although I plan to try some of those as well) and I decided that this would be a good thing to begin learning with.  I purchased an inexpensive downloadable PDF tutorial which included templates for arm hole cutouts and went to town.  I'm certain I could have figured it out without purchasing this tutorial but it really has been very helpful (with dimensions for all sizes, from 12 months - 8 ); and it included a second PDF tutorial booklet for making Peasant style dresses as well (which I haven't tried.....yet).

First Attempt:

Second Attempt (planning to add a monogram):

Third Attempt:

Fourth Attempt:

Okay...so, after four, it's getting a little comical so, in addition, I am taking a beginner's sewing class at a local fabric/sewing shop (so that her wardrobe isn't exclusively pillowcase dresses:).  I had my first class yesterday and am so excited about all that I hope to learn there.  In the class, we are making a reversible A-line style child's dress/jumper.  We are also learning to applique.

So, this is one of the ways that I'm spending my "while we wait" time....and, so far, it's been a lot of fun.

GREAT news!

Whew.....

Being so negative (see yesterday's post) is hard work.  : )

So, with that in mind, I want to update with something more positive.  Something MUCH more positive.

First, I failed to mention that our update email advised us (I was busy focusing on the negative, remember?) that there are children in their care who, as soon as paperwork is completed, are ready to be referred (hopefully) soon.  It seems that the process has changed up somewhat and more paperwork is required before referral than was previously the case.  This is really a good thing because of the fact that more i's have been dotted and more t's have been crossed before court and Embassy which means that there are less "hiccups" in the process once your referral is received.  In the past, families have received referrals and then waited MONTHS and MONTHS to be able to travel for court and/or Embassy -or- traveled relatively quickly for court and waited MONTHS to go back for Embassy (and bring their children home).  With the changes that are being made, the wait for a referral can potentially be longer but, once that referral is received, court and Embassy dates are hopefully much quicker and more predictable.  Good news.

With all of that said, I received a Facebook message from a fellow adoptive mom yesterday who is trapped in that timeframe between court and Embassy.  She and her husband are adopting two precious older girls who I met while in Ethiopia last July.  These girls have been longing for a family for quite some time; watching as many other children come into and out of the orphanage, bound for their forever homes.  And NOW they have a family of their own but haven't been granted an Embassy date so that they can make their way right here to Tennessee to begin living the life that they've only dreamed of until this point.  Will you do me a favor and pray for this family?  God knows who they are.  (Pray also for their mom who is experiencing some illness this week).

And speaking of prayer, I am reminded of Bartimeaus, who BOLDLY and SPECIFICALLY asked Jesus to receive his sight.  In fact, the Bible says (in Mark 10:47) that when Bartimeaus (who was blind and begging) heard that it was Jesus who was passing by, he "began to shout "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"" (note the exclamation point).  And so, taking a clue from Bartimeaus, I am praying BOLDLY and SPECIFICALLY that our daughter is one of the children who is currently in the care center, almost ready for referral.

And God, in His sovereignty, may answer that prayer.  And He may not.  And that's okay.  Because He knows best and His timing is perfect.  GREAT news.

(And, by the way, SIX children were matched with their FOREVER families in the month of May.....that's some good news, huh?).  VERY good news.


Coming soon.....a couple of "while we wait" updates.  Fun!

Wait List Update (aka This Sucks!)

Warning:  This may possibly be the most "real" update ever written on this blog.



As promised, we received our monthly wait list update first thing this morning (I love our agency!).

And before I tell you what it said about our progress on the list, I want to tell you about the email that I received from Jeff immediately following the update email.

Jeff's email was simple and straight to the point.  It simply said:

THIS SUCKS!!!!!


And to be totally transparent with you, I couldn't agree more.

I have tried, each month, to write each post with a positive spin (and, honestly, it hasn't been hard to do).  Jeff once said that I was a cup half empty person and he was a cup half full person (he's in denial); I've tried to prove him wrong on that and I think I've been successful thus far.

All good things must come to an end.

We did move up on our agency's wait list.  We are now #20.

We moved up one spot.  ONE.  Beats the heck outta none, right?  Pshaw......

Seriously, we are beginning to become weary in the waiting.  And though part of me feels totally selfish to put that in black and white, it is the truth.  And this is our blog and it's what we'll have to look back on in years to come; to remember what we were going through and how we felt and, well, this is how we feel.  So I write it.

I texted with my girlfriend this morning, half joking about how I intend to respond to the next person who says, "God's timing is perfect".  (By the way, YES, yes it is).  But really, I'm thinking of saying this:  "Perfect timing....let me tell you about perfect timing....I think that it's the PERFECT STINKING TIME to kick you in the shins".  I mean, really....I now realize how some of that perfectly logical la la "encouragement" sounds to people in their moment.  Sorry....real post, my blog.  Blah.

It's funny, really, how much we already love this little girl.  The one that we don't yet know; the one we haven't yet seen; the one with some really cute clothes in her closet, an American Girl doll and furniture soon to be delivered.  The one that we talk about and dream of and the one who it is beginning to physically hurt not to know.

Today, we're (only) one step closer.  And today I'm not totally okay with that (as if it matters).

Waiting will definitely become even more difficult once we see her face and even though I know that as much as I know that, YES, God's timing is perfect,  today it just sucks.