A case of the sickies :(

Poor Littlest Dude :(  He has a miserable cold and started in with a cough this morning :(  Yesterday he woke up with his eyes gooped shut :(  He is just sick :(  But he takes it in stride - he isn't much of a whiner - although you can tell that he is extra sensitive to sounds and his sensory needs are heightened - as they get when he gets sick :(  Not sure why - but he has always been that way.   Even though he was sick - he was a trooper for the home study interview - he might have even tried to sneakily steal the social worker's iPhone :) ha ha ha  He is funny that way ;)  He is so pro at working all those apple products - Steve Jobs was seriously genius when he created them (or had his engineers create them)  what an incredible tool they are for everyone - but ESPECIALLY for kids with special needs.  I can't tell you what a blessing it has been for Littlest Dude to have an iPad (thank you sooo much Grandma and Grandpa!).   But - I digress (I do that a lot - sorry....)  The SW said she was so impressed with how well behaved he is :)    And, as I thought about it - I had to agree.  Littlest Dude HAS grown up a lot in the last couple of years.  Even though developmentally he isn't even close to his chronological age - he IS doing more and more things that older children do - and less things that preschoolers do :)

For example - he has been sleeping in his own bed A LOT more in the last few months than ever before.  We knew we could always count on waking up to the pitter patter of little feet coming in around 4 a.m. - but - that doesn't happen nearly as much anymore.  Sometimes we will wake up in the morning and his door is closed, the light has been turned on, and he is still snuggled up in his comforter in his own bed.    He doesn't snuggle nearly as much as he used to.  Of course he is snuggly in the morning and at night when he falls asleep - and when he's sick or hurt - but, really - he IS getting more independent.  It makes me sad and glad, all at the same time.  But really - how many 10 year old boys are still super snuggly with their moms?  He still gives lots of hugs and kisses, often at the randomest times, when you wouldn't expect them, but often needed them.  He is so in tune that way - so smart - no matter what the IQ number in his school record says.  But - he is definitely growing up.  My sweet, smart, compassionate, funny, goofy boy :)  He is also getting super great at putting his dishes in the sink when he is done with them - cups, bowls - I think he might need to teach his older brother and sister about that one???  And - he is also getting pretty good at making sure his dirty laundry gets to the laundry room when asked (see above point about teaching said skill to older brother and sister.....)  Yes - he is growing up!!!

Of course watching Littlest Dude come down with a nasty cold, which in kids with DS can often turn into RSV made me think about cute Fiona - and heightened my prayers for her health and strength.  My momma's heart worries for her and winter grips her country, is her orphanage warm?  Does she have warm pajamas?  A warm blanket?  Does she sleep like a windmill like Littlest Dude did at her age?  What will happen if she gets sick?  Will someone wipe her nose, give her hugs, snuggle her tight and help her get better?  I don't know - but I am sure praying that there is someone there who loves her and cares for her and meeting her needs, until we can get there.  Praying for her health - because honestly - kids with DS when they are small and young, do get sick more often and it can become severe more quickly than with typical kids - especially with things like RSV and pneumonia.  So if you are the praying kind - please pray for Fiona - that she will be healthy and that there is someone there meeting her needs and loving her until we can come for her.

Thank you soooo much!

Now off to snuggle my sick boy and work on some papers and required training so we can get our cutie pie home!!!!

A really clean house - aka - Home Study day :)

Today was the day!!!  Our social worker called while we were away for Thanksgiving and said our state background checks came back, so we were good to go with the home study!!!  Sooooo exciting - and maybe a bit stressful???  After all - I've never done a home study before - and if I had to choose a favorite past time - it probably wouldn't be cleaning my house....  Luckily she wanted to know lots about us, and not nearly as much about our house ;)  I am thinking that every parent should do a home study before they bear children, it might be enlightening ;)

Don't get me wrong - I LOVE a clean house - and I do it often - clean house - that is.  There is just something different about looking at your house through the eyes of someone else.  Or rather how you THINK someone else might look at your house - chances are - someone else won't be nearly as thorough or critical about it as you are, while looking at it from their point of view (does that even make sense????)

So - we have been cleaning house for a couple of weeks in anticipation of this event.  Noooo - it's not that our house is THAT dirty.  It's just a little ummmm - disorganized.  I try and teach my kids about responsibility - you know - clean your own rooms, clean your own bathrooms etc.....  Well - sometimes they just don't take those responsibilities seriously ;)  Sometimes they shove everything in their closets and under their beds.  Sometimes they even move OUT and leave a lot of their cr.... er - stuff - in their old bedrooms and closets.  And the DUST????  I am beginning to think we live in the dust bowl or something - because I swear I dusted just last week - well - maybe it was last month....

You get the idea - lots of cleaning and reorganizing - garages, toy rooms, bedrooms, and MY room.  The funny thing - MY room is always the worst - not because I don't clean it - but because my kids leave so much crap in it - AND - I clean the rest of the house before I get to it - and I may just be a little tired of cleaning by the time I DO get to it.  So - ya - it's always in need of a face lift - but - today it got it!!!!  Bathroom, closet, bed and allllllllllll :)  I cleaned all the carpets in the house before Thanksgiving - thank goodness :)

So - our house was spit spot - and I think our home study visit went well :)  I really really liked the social worker - she is an amazing woman with 11 adopted kids of her own - wowza!!!  So now to work on our I800a and pray those Canadian background checks come back asap, so we get our immigration stuff in and knock out our dossier!!!!

Hold on Fiona - we are coming for you!!!! 

Ornament fundraiser is also almost ready to go - thanks to the fabulous young women in our neighborhood - thank you sooooooo much girls and leaders - you are fantastic - thanks for your love and work on Fiona's behalf!!!

Giving Tuesday - what a fantastic idea!!!

So - the title Giving Tuesday came across one of my FB groups yesterday - and of course, I had to check it out!

We ALL know about Black Friday and Cyber Monday - but what the heck is Giving Tuesday???  Well - today is officially the FIRST Giving Tuesday - and you can read more about it here - http://www.nonprofitpathways.org/news/giving-tuesday-a-national-day-of-giving-on-nov.-27-2012 - but what a fabulous idea.  With all the money spent on "stuff" over the last weekend and Monday - an official day to give to your favorite charity - how cool is that?  I think that sometimes with the hype of the big sale season and the commercialization of Christmas - we forget that it is better to give than to receive (I am SURE that is what my mom taught me ;)

Soooo - today I challenge you to GIVE!!!   And - it doesn't even have to be money - gifts of time are some of the BEST gifts ever!  Help a neighbor or a stranger!  Share a smile or take the time to call an old friend :)  You never know what that small gift might mean to someone.  And - if you want to give money to your favorite charity - DO IT :)  Of course it shouldn't take an official day to do that - but - since it is Giving Tuesday - support it - and support your favorite charity :)

And - if you have a favorite orphan on www.reecesrainbow.org, think about adding to their FSP (if they have a family) or donating to their general adoption fund.  If FIONA is your favorite orphan on RR (like she is ours ;) and you feel like you can - will you please make a donation to her FSP (link on the right) or our Chipin (link also on the right) account.  The more quickly we raise funds - the sooner (once we get through all the bureaucratic stuff) we can get to EE to pick her up and bring her home to her forever family!!!  Any little bit helps!

You can also give through keeping our sweet girl in your prayers and offering encouragement and support - comments are great too!  Thank you all for everything!  It means so much!

Get out today and GIVE :)

Home Study!!!!

Yayyyy - our state background checks finally came back!!!  Okay, okay - it was only 2 weeks - but it seems like it was forever?  We are hoping to get our first family visit in this week - and finish it up quickly so we can get our i800a off to the government asap - since there will be down time at Christmas.  It is amazing to me sometimes how long things take to get through the government agencies :(

Now we are praying that my clearance from Canada comes back ASAP - as our home study can't truly be finished without it :(  Prayers, prayers, and more prayers!!!!

Now I'm off to do some dusting and vacuuming and work on some ornaments for our fundraiser - hopefully I will have pics of them up soon!!!!! 

They will  be cute - you know you want one!!!  :)

Thanksgiving.......

This week it was Thanksgiving in the U.S. - something that I don't believe they celebrate at all in Fiona's country.  I need to do a little more research about her country - but, I am pretty sure the whole pilgrim/indian/harvest thing isn't part of their culture - at all.

So, as I spent the weekend with our family - giving thanks for the multitude of blessings the Lord has bestowed upon me, and my family - I couldn't help but feel like something - or rather - someone was missing.   I wanted to do a picture of my kids here on vacation - I love the red rocks and the blue sky here.  It is just so pretty and so very different from where we live :)  The picture of my kids, turned out pretty dang great - if I do say so myself - and believe you me - it is hard to get them all looking in the same direction and smiling at the same time :)  I can't tell you how happy the advent of digital media and cameras makes me.  It used to take 4+ rolls of film to get a decent picture of the family - in the old days ;) ha ha ha   So - the whole time we were taking pictures - and we took quite a few, I couldn't help but feel like it wasn't the 'whole' family.   I have just been missing Fiona this weekend.  Crazy I know - I mean - how can I miss someone I don't even know, and  have never met - but - yet - I do.  And - it's not even that I miss the little girl I think she might be, or that sometimes I imagine her to be - I just miss her - and feel like our family isn't complete.

I am not sure when we will actually get a picture of the 'whole' family again.   I am hoping and praying that Fiona will be home with us in the next six months so we can get one before the Biggest Sissy and her hubby leave for an internship, and before The Rocket Scientist leaves for 2 years to serve a mission for the Lord.  It gets a little tricky as the kids grow up and spread their wings to make their way in the world.  So we are praying that things will start to move along a little more quickly than they have been (if you want to join us in prayer, we would love that).  It was like they moved really quickly right at the beginning, and since then we have just been waiting for background checks to come back so we can get our home study done and start working on immigration and our dossier.  Then I think it will be more of - hurry and up and wait - again...

In the meantime - we are working on fundraising ideas and The Princess and I decided that we are going to make some Christmas ornaments and sell them to raise some money for our dossier submission.  I will post pics of them this week and if you would like to buy one - leave me a comment and I will take your information down - the comments all go to moderation - so your information will never be published :)   Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers this week for Fiona :)    I am grateful for everyone's support and excitement and prayers on our behalf!

Thank you!!!

Everyday thoughts - aka - nothing of any real importance.....

As I sit here in the quiet of my house - no one is awake - except Mr. Hollywood, who has already left for school.  I can't help but think about what Fiona is doing halfway across the world.  It's several hours later where she is than here, what has her day been like so far?

In a few minutes I will wake my kids up for family scripture study.  They will snuggle in their fleecy blankets in front of our fireplace.  Most likely The Princess will curl up over the heat vent, where warm air is blowing up.   Then after reading our scriptures and family prayer, my kids will each take warm showers, dry off with downey soft and clean towels of their own, and eat breakfast.  Littlest Dude and Princess usually have the same ol' same ol' every day - Mr. Hollywood sometimes has more variety - I think that comes with age.  Does Fiona have any of those things?  Will anyone hold her hand in prayer today?   Is her orphanage warm?  She certainly doesn't have anything that it is hers alone or that she doesn't share with other kids.  What kind of food does she get every day?  Are her showers and bath (do they have them there?) warm or cold?   So many, many things that my kids take for granted, that they have always had, because they were born into a family, that Fiona might not. 

I don't know what her orphanage is like - I am praying it is a good one - where the caretakers really care about and love the kids, where the government provides good funding and the director uses it properly.  That someone is there to pick her up when she's sad, kiss her owies, snuggle her and care for her when she's sick. I pray for that all day long - not only for her, but for all the kids without families.  I know that is probably not the reality - that there are most likely too many kids for that, even if the caretakers do their best - but I pray for it - nonetheless.

And - we work to get things done so they can move quickly once we are done waiting for this or that.  It's at times like this I wonder why the government works so slowly!!!!   I think hurry up and wait might end up being our motto.

But - until then - we will pray.  I hope you'll join us in that too, because I know the power of prayer can work miracles.

Expect the unexpected.....

I am wondering if that should be my new motto - or if it is just a continuing theme throughout my life :)   I should know by now that the Lord always wants to keep me hopping - and He is always teaching me that "easy" isn't always best :)

It's like our life before Littlest Dude.  We kind of had a timeline in mind, a plan on how we thought things would go (silly us - don't we know that children and free agency and life have a way of getting in the way of the best laid plans?) and then the Lord said "Surprise! I have a better plan for you." 

I had my two oldest daughters fairly close together, so one would expect them to do things in a similar time frame.  But, I never would have expected that they would both get married this last year :)  We feel very blessed in our son-in-laws - they are wonderful young men - but wow - two weddings in 4 months - that was unexpected ;)

And now Fiona - definitely a surprise moment :)  For all the leading and small preparations the Lord gave me - like with Littlest  Dude - I still find myself surprised ;)   Delighted, excited, a little nervous at the unknown of adopting a toddler, but definitely surprised at the timing :)  It's been a big year for us - HUGE - in respect to so many things - but there is no wrong time in the Lord's time and we know that we were led to this particular little girl - at this unexpected time :)

So - our new motto - expect the unexpected - and come what may!!! (Littlest Dude would probably say  "Bring it on" :)

We are busy preparing for our home study, praying our background checks from the state, out of state, and out of country come back in a timely matter, working on fundraising ideas, and looking over the binder of epic proportions that we received from our agency in the mail on Friday.  So many things to do - it seems overwhelming at times - but I just have to tell myself to take it in small chunks! 

I am so grateful for all of you who have been so encouraging, who have given of your time, efforts, and money and especially all of you who are praying for us and little Fiona!  This is definitely a month of Thanksgiving with so much to be thankful for! 

Thank you!!!!

My First Post!!!!

When I was trying to come up with a name for this blog,  a lot of different sayings went through my head.   Should it be A Forever Family for Fiona?  Nah - too long - kind of a tongue twister ;)  A Family for Fiona?  That's nice - good alliteration.  Pretty generic.  Catchy and cute - to the point - buttttt - not quite right.

So, I started to think about what it will mean to our family to have Fiona become a part of it.  We have always considered Little Dude to be a huge blessing in our lives.  I know sometimes people think about children and young adults/adults with DS as being hardships and burdens, but even though things are harder sometimes - we have always felt that our family is blessed to have Little Dude in it, and that him having DS has blessed us by helping us to become better people.  There is no doubt in my mind that my children are more compassionate, kinder, more tolerant, more accepting, more understanding, stronger, less selfish, and more confident because of Little Dude and his extra chromosome.

Soooo - if we are so incredibly blessed by Little Dude - we will be Doubly (probably MUCH MUCH more than doubly - but hey - two=double - it works ;) blessed by having Fiona in our family and in our lives.  Already I can see blessings that she has brought to our family - and she isn't even a part of it yet!  Watching my children pray each night for shared purpose is a beautiful thing.  We have done that on many occasions before for certain people and things - but there is something different, something deeper and a little more special, to hear their little (and big) voices pleading with the Lord for the safety of the tiny little girl a world away that they hope and pray will be their sister soon.  Their is something pure in their faith, and it is beautiful to see them all unite together and work and pray for something that a month ago they couldn't have imagined they would be praying for.

Yes - we are blessed - in so many ways - but doubly blessed by the opportunity we have to bring our little girl  home to her forever family.

Thank you for joining us and contributing in any way possible!  It means more than words can ever express!!!!