Just an Update

I was at a park a few months ago, and some children were playing "house" as children do, and I couldn't believe my ears/eyes when I heard a little girl say, "I'll be the mom!" and then pretend to be on her laptop or phone the entire time. Yikes! If your kids were to play "house," how would they play your role? I want my kids to see the Mommy as someone who spends quality time playing, teaching, loving, and taking care of her family and not as a person who is usually distracted at the computer or phone, and I vowed that afternoon to make my computer off limits during their awake time (and I refuse to get a phone with internet b/c I don't even want that temptation and am not nearly important enough to need to need internet access anywhere and everywhere I go). So all that to say - now that the boys have transitioned to just one nap time, my blog updates have been few . . . but here goes . . .

Adoption: We received the last bit of paperwork we needed from Uganda yesterday, and Scott's office manager is working on notorizing a huge stack of 66 (yes, you read that right!) documents so we can send all of our paperwork to our agency tomorrow. Our dossier should be in Uganda by the end of next week! Once it arrives, our attorney can file for a court date. The courts are closed December 15-January 15, so we are hoping to get a call in January telling us to get on an airplane!

There is another family adopting from Malachi's orphange who is taking a trip there next week, and we were able to send a little care package with them for Malachi. It was so wonderful to be able to send some special little things to our little boy, and they are also going to take some updated pictures and videos of him for us which we can't wait to see.

I received an update today on all the babies in the home, and there was just one sentence about our little guy, and it read,

He cries, he's been sick...he gets lonely and needs company...likes to be around others.

Needless to say, that update broke this mother's heart, and I cannot wait to be there to hold my sweet son when he is sick or sad or lonely. I hate that he doesn't yet have a mommy or a daddy there to love on and hold and comfort him. Please join us in praying for a court date in January so that we can get to our boy as soon as possible!

Javen: He is 19 months old now and full of energy. He has recently begun climbing up and on everything - he even climbed all the way to the top of a 7 foot adult-sized ladder last week totally by himself (Daddy was there to make sure he didn't fall off)! He is talking up a storm and says a lot of words very clearly. Last month, I went from "Mama" to "Mommy", and while I was pretty sad to see the baby version slip away, it is pretty cute to hear his sweet little voice calling for "Mommy" all day. He loves to read (reading is pretty much the only time he is not moving) and he LOVES balls these days - he usually has either a book or a ball in his hands - sometimes both.:) He is ALL boy, which I just love. His favorite part of the day is when Daddy comes home. They like to go out and play in Daddy's truck every night. He loves to laugh, and he loves to try to make us laugh. He is very social and love to play outside with all the neighborhood kids every evening. He is an absolute joy and gets more fun by the day.

Baby K: Our foster baby, baby K., is 14 months old now and has been with us for 5 months now. We have gotten to see him grow from a baby into a little boy, and he is as cute and sweet as can be. It is looking like he will be leaving us in the next few weeks to be placed with a relative, after which we will switch to doing shorter term respite/emergency shelter foster care until after our adoption (and will take a break from fostering altogether for a little bit while we adjust to our new son).

Life: Life is full and sweet and exhausting these days. Scott is staying busy at work, and my days are never dull with these two little ones underfoot, and of course we are all in a bit of a season of waiting while we prepare to travel to Uganda.

We took some family pictures last week, and I'll try to post a few of them in the next few days.:)

Missing Mallory

I have been missing my sweet sister Mallory this week and having a hard time believing that today marked a full year without her. In a way, it feels like she was here in my living room just yesterday, but when I think about how much she has missed - and how much we have missed her - it feels like much longer than just one year has passed since she was here with us. . .

I've been trying to think of a tradition to start with our children to remember and celebrate their Aunt Mal every year - something that would allow her to be a special part of our children's lives and that would enable her life to continue touching others as she did so well throughout her 25 years. I decided to borrow the idea of my sweet friend Carolina, who lost her precious new son Andrew a couple of years ago and who, along with her husbad, celebrates his life every year by finding a way to serve others on Andrew's birthday.

Opportunites to serve are limited with two kids under 18 months, but this afternoon I took the boys to visit a retirement community/assisted living home, and they brought many smiles and much joy to some sweet, lonely, elderly men and women. We were also asked to speak at a foster parent training class in the evening, so we took the boys along and were grateful for a second opportunity to serve as a family on this special day. I am grateful for such a special way to celebrate Mallory's life, and I know this will be a special tradition in our family for the rest of our lives (thanks, Carolina!).

The boys bringing smiles to the assited living home - and Javen borrowing one of his new friend's hats:)


A video about Mal