Feathering the Nest

 
 
We moved into our home last October, and we have been working to make it ours everyday. The house had been empty for two years... so work is an accurate term... Last fall, we took care of a lot of the inside. We aren't done, but we are happy.

Now, we are preparing the outside! Over the last few weeks, we have been setting up our garden... planting bulbs... planting trees... cleaning the pool and cleaning the pool, removing the hydroponic pool trees, vacuuming the pool. I think you get the idea :)

The-A-man Easter Egg Hunting

Our morning dove that has decided to share our gutter...

Mixing up the soil for the trees

They were all pulled up and going to die, but they did it with flair.

Tree planting is good for little boys :))

Life feels so good right now...

Two to Four Years!?!?

I have to apologize for not posting sooner. As part of the background check, you have to put every address at which you have lived over the last 28 years. It isn't like Brian and I have been particularly stationary, but Brian alone was responsible for over 20 addresses... Took a bit to track everything down, and I didn't want to post while everything was in stasis. However, we finally got our application mailed...

This husband of mine thinks I badger people with my camera... largely because he doesn't know how to use it.

We met with the social worker yesterday, she was smart and kind and on top of things. I love that! She mentioned more about "other special needs" adoptions. These are children that are two years old and older; they also include sibling groups as we have shown interest in adopting older kids. There are so many grants to eliminate any expense when adopting an older child. More importantly, I would love to offer a secure home to somebody who needs one, but we want to experience a "baby" together. As a domestic infant adoption is prohibitive in expense, and an "OSN" child is going to need focused attention when we adopt, we are going to adopt the infant first.

Carey gave us another whole folder to fill out and sign. Some of the papers are just rote completion papers, but there was one survey that really threw us for a loop... This survey asked what would we accept in a child. My first feeling is that we would accept anything. Then you start reading the questions: a child with HIV/AIDS (we think our hearts would break if the child died), a child with a cleft lip and palate (not really an issue, my mother was born with a cleft lip and palate, so the child would have somebody who understood). 

In the past, while considering an older child adoption, we have talked about children who were sick and dying and needed permanent homes. Where I can find comfort in the support I offer on the journey, Brian will not accept giving up to death someone he loves, without it ripping him apart. However, even in theory I never even let myself consider what it would feel like to lose one of the boys we already have... I'm terrified of causing it to happen through thinking about it. Maybe I'm not as okay with it as I think.

Luck o' the Irish

St. Patty's Day came and went, and I was working a late shift. How does one tell one's boss, "... but I actually have green to wear this year!" 

My little brawlers

As a young lass, I would look forward to St. Patrick's Day for weeks... and then forget to wear green; I'm cool like that. To prevent a generational repeat of this crime against festivity, I found the family special shirts to celebrate the day of green beer. Now, I don't think of my husband as particularly Irish, but apparently a shirt that reads, "Everyone's Irish on St. Patrick's Day" was not going to cut it. It offended his sensibilities. He even went so far as to say he was as Irish as I am... Poor deluded soul, them's fightin' words; thank goodness my Dad wasn't around to hear them. We had to take Brian's shirt back and get a cool one... something about "I (shamrock) beer". Because that's so much more Irish.


Either way, the only people who wore the shirts outside of the house were R and A... I think I'm going to go put my "Lucky Lady" shirt on right now!

OUR FIRST DONATION!!!!!

Our puzzle and it's wrapped-up form...

We set up our Paypal account today, and received our first donation right away!! Thank you, K R-G, you amazing woman, you :) K has purchased from my Scentsy page in order to support our adoption and receive a wonderful product. All of my commission from my sales of Scentsy products go straight to our adoption funds. Now, K has purchased our first puzzle pieces! Thank you, Thank you!

K R-G donated so we got to put the first pieces together!!

It was so exciting to pull pieces out of the box to find the first two pieces that fit together. Now, Those pieces have K R-G's name on the back and will stay together forever. We have officially started to put together our puzzle!

Brian and I got a puzzle keeper to protect the donated pieces, but we didn't think the felt sheet would secure our pieces. With a few modifications, we were ready to go: a simple foam-rubber shelf liner provided the base for the pieces and the felt went on top to roll around the puzzle-keeping tube. This should work a lot better.

Side note: All of our seedlings have started to SPROUT!

Puzzle Peace

Pulling open the puzzle to see
SO many pieces...

We have received our puzzle from Hammond Toys, Hobbies and Dolls. It is a beautiful image of a baby lying atop a teddy bear in shades of earth tones... SO excited. We received it on Saturday, hours before a positive pregnancy test and an ER visit to find I was miscarrying... again.

I'm a pretty good mom. According to my kids... when they are on the flattery track, I'm the best mom EVER. It makes me doubt myself completely when I cannot stay pregnant. Is there something wrong with my genes? Is God trying to run interference?

If it were up to me, I would take in every lost and hurting child I could find... There would be kids of all ages in sleeping bags on the couches and chairs; toddlers would make beds of the stairs :) I'd hug them and make each child see how truly amazing he/she each was.  Fortunately, my husband reigns me in *LOL*. I am probably only going to be allowed two more: one infant, one older.

Before anyone gets the hair on her back up, my husband is a kind and intelligent man and "reigns" and "allowed" were both tongue-in-cheek comments. Anyway, I think I can talk him into a few more older kids after the boys leave for college...

Soon, we will begin the puzzle fundraising... $5 per puzzle piece. We will write the name of the person who purchased that piece on the back of it. Later, we will frame it in a two-sided frame so the infant knows who helped bring her home. I'd like to see if we can somehow build it into a loft that she can sleep on into her teen years.

Our beautiful puzzle.

The seedlings for the garden have started to sprout. I've also been doing a lot of crocheting. I'm hoping to create things to sell on Etsy for the adoption. I have to up my stock before I open an Etsy store...

An Infant Headband with a Cloth Flower

An Infant Cocoon

Girls and Boys...

Does it make me selfish to want a little girl? I love little boys and am so happy that I'm raising two of them, but I would really like to braid somebody's hair. Every time I walk past a little girl clothing display area, I think one of two thoughts about which I am passionate: 1) why must we dress our pre-teens in the same manner as Julia Roberts when she portrayed a prostitute, and 2) AWWWWWWwww, Oh look!

Brian thinks we will be limiting our chances for adoption if we show a preference. Plus, he doesn't really have a preference. I do.

That being said, I would adore any child that came to join our family. We have a strong, healthy family, and we could be very happy as a four person crew... but I think we are missing pieces. I think there are kids out there that are going to join us, teach us, and make our family stronger. We will adopt older children in the future, but we wanted to start with an infant. At thirty-five and being the mother of a son who is learning to shave, at times I feel I am the perfect age to start at the beginning and at other times I feel I only have a few more years of starting with an infant left in me. That's why a baby is our focus today :)

To everything there is a season... Turn, Turn, Turn

Here it is... the completed garden plan: 27'x18'.

I want to set up a little vegetable stand and a sign with an honor box. All of the money will go towards the adoption fees. As we are hoping to have a Fresh-Air child come to stay with us this summer, the garden may end up being a great activity to share. I don't know; I'm still kind of intimidated by the amount of work involved. The garden is designed with a split rail fence and I'll surround it with wire fencing to keep out rabbits. We've already purchased the seeds, so I'll have to start growing the seedlings that need to be transplanted, preferably this week or next week.

Here's our current timeline :)

• This week... Complete our Application to be Adoptive Parents
• Next week...  
1. Set-up bank account with our current adoption savings for paypal and donation monies.
2. Set-up Paypal Account.
3. Find the perfect puzzle for our puzzle fundraiser.
4. Pre-plant all of the seeds that need to go in the garden as seedlings.
5. Design T-shirts to sell.
• April...
1. Rent a roto-tiller to prepare the garden.
2. Pull out all the churned grass and add the compost.
3. Install the split-rail fence.
4. Paint a wooden sign for the garden.
• May... Garden and start moving the office to set up a nursery.
• July... Homestudy!!!!
• August...
1. Apply to grants for adoption funding.
2. Welcome and have fun with visiting fresh-air child. (I wonder what the appropriate term is???)
3. New school year preparations: Reece will be in 8th, Aiden in 5th!!

That's all we know about so far... Let us see what is to come!

FUN "d"raising

We have some great ideas for fundraising, and lots to think about... We have to set up a special bank account for Paypal sales and donations. Right now, I'm designing our garden! It's our first veggie garden, ever, but I'm hoping to set it up as an "Adoption Garden" and put all money from sales of vegetables towards the goal of our baby!

Officially Adoptive Parents, Pre-Adoption

Last night we went to an open informational meeting to learn about the types of adoption and how the process (and our agency) works... Wowww. Have you ever wanted something so deeply that you are afraid to hope, afraid to jinx it?

It was easy to research preparing for action without acting, because there was always some excuse or another. The cost of adoption is daunting and parenting is such a huge commitment that it requires a certain level of readiness. Brian and I have two sons who are finally at an age to be a little self-reliant; we're fully aware in a way that first-time parents may not be. We've spent years on the fence, as so many couples do, because it is SCARY to hope in adoption.

Understand, whether first-timers or old hands, every parent brings his or her unique experiences and viewpoint to the table. It is the old "apples and oranges" idea: both are great fruit :)

One of the reasons that this meeting was important was that it was an action. Action defeats doubt and fear every time, because the worst fears and doubts are the unformed, hazy ones. Many potential adoptive parents have already lost the option of conception after months and years of hope followed by disappointment. They are used to preparing for the worst. "What if our application is rejected? What if we are too fat or ugly to be chosen by a birth mother?"

If you take the action to get a clear idea of what is ahead, the fears and doubts either are unfounded or become potential problems waiting for solutions. A solution can be accomplished. The fear is diffused.

Today we are looking up fundraising ideas!! It is going to be a LOT of work, but if we just stay the course... we could have a baby within a couple of years...

Adopting... left?

When we moved into this house four months ago, we had this room that we felt would make a perfect office, where I could set up my stock as a Scentsy Consultant and Brian could keep his guitar. The boys, for the first time in their lives, each have their own room! One of the silly hold-ups has been figuring out how to consolidate... BUT, we've decided to get started learning about the process while we build shelves. :) On Monday, we're calling Catholic Charities to set up an appt at one of their introduction groups!

Adopting... right?

After seven years and no new baby, we have decided to tackle the adoption process. I mean... our older kids are doing good, right????

As we are just starting, I'm hoping to share our journey for information and funds. Then, I hope to share the whole adoption process: emotions and actions. I want other parents to have a step by step place to go to figure out the procedure and learn what may come their way.