The last two weeks have been a whirlwind so, it is totally fitting that we are in the midst of Hurricane Sandy right now. It is the perfect culmination of that time. Don't get me wrong, it's not all been bad, but this hurricane hasn't been either. The rain and wind have canceled school for my husband and my building was closed so we are just home together as a family today. Bonus!
I don't even know where to begin. Two weeks ago, Justin and I went to Asheville, NC for a dear friends wedding. It was beautiful. Jack stayed home with his Papa who had come from Illinois to visit and stay with him for the weekend. On that Friday, Jack bit a kid at daycare and since this was his third offense, he was kicked out for the following week. Now, I understand that the other kids must be "protected" to my labeled 18 month old, but the problem is, he has not bitten anywhere else and thus I cannot address the behavior. Needless to say, the week following proved to be very stressful for me in trying to piece together childcare. My dad (Papa), stayed for an extra day and was with him on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday my friend (who conveniently lives across the street) watched him, Thursday his Hoho (Justin's dad) had him, and Friday I stayed home with him. So while the daycare provider said we needed to "teach him a lesson" by keeping him home for a week, I think he learned that if he bites someone he gets to stay home with people he loves dearly all week.
Regardless, even having amazing people supporting us and watching our child, the week of hodge podge child care was very stressful for me. Then, he goes back to childcare the following Monday where I was met with a constant reminder that if he bites three more times he's out for good. Awesome. Something to look forward to! Trying to put childcare together indefinitely! Ugh. Needless to say, we started looking for other options. In the midst of this, Monday was a bit crazy at work, Tuesday I attended a funeral of a Navy SEAL/brother of a dear friend/friend of ours who died entirely too young, and sure enough, by Wednesday I was sick. Out of work Thursday and Friday and oh by the way, did I mention we were going to Raleigh for the weekend? And with an impending hurricane I was a bit apprehensive about how things would go. Oh yes, and my grandmother died on Friday night/Saturday morning.
I hope you're not feeling too sorry for me right now. Because if you are, let me just say that was all just a slow wind up for this fast pitch. Let me tell you the amazing things that happened the last two weeks:
- I got to see my dad! Jack got to spend time with wonderful people who love him dearly for a whole week!
- I got to stay home with Jack for a whole day and we had so much fun just playing together.
- My mom worked super hard for weeks to prepare an auction for us as an adoption fundraiser which raised over $500 for us!!
- As sad as it is to me that my grandmother passed away, she deserves to be in heaven with Jesus and my grandfather where there is no more suffering and ultimate peace.
- We got to spend the weekend in Raleigh with people we love dearly.
- One of those couples hosted a neighborhood pig pickin adoption fundraiser where we had some friends and some people we didn't even know who all came to support us and raised...wait for it...$2000!!
The more we go through this process, the more I'm realizing that this adoption is less about us and more about spreading the word of adoption and God's love. We see how we have been adopted by him into his family and that he loves us and EVERYONE in the world so very much and wants us all to be adopted into his family. I do mean everyone...not just white people, straight people, rich people, do I need to go on? Adoption is part of His plan. And us adopting our little boy from Uganda is so much bigger than us expanding our family. We get to talk about adoption, the need for orphans to have homes, the love of Christ, and so much more. In our need to raise money to help us offset the costs, people get to be involved in adoption in their own way and we are privileged to have amazing people come alongside us and partner with us.
We are so thankful for all the support we have been given thus far. We are dumbfounded at how much money we have raised so far and are ecstatic about how many different people are a part of our family now because they are vested in us and this process. We hope you are feeling as blessed and joyful as we are.
I don't even know where to begin. Two weeks ago, Justin and I went to Asheville, NC for a dear friends wedding. It was beautiful. Jack stayed home with his Papa who had come from Illinois to visit and stay with him for the weekend. On that Friday, Jack bit a kid at daycare and since this was his third offense, he was kicked out for the following week. Now, I understand that the other kids must be "protected" to my labeled 18 month old, but the problem is, he has not bitten anywhere else and thus I cannot address the behavior. Needless to say, the week following proved to be very stressful for me in trying to piece together childcare. My dad (Papa), stayed for an extra day and was with him on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday my friend (who conveniently lives across the street) watched him, Thursday his Hoho (Justin's dad) had him, and Friday I stayed home with him. So while the daycare provider said we needed to "teach him a lesson" by keeping him home for a week, I think he learned that if he bites someone he gets to stay home with people he loves dearly all week.
Regardless, even having amazing people supporting us and watching our child, the week of hodge podge child care was very stressful for me. Then, he goes back to childcare the following Monday where I was met with a constant reminder that if he bites three more times he's out for good. Awesome. Something to look forward to! Trying to put childcare together indefinitely! Ugh. Needless to say, we started looking for other options. In the midst of this, Monday was a bit crazy at work, Tuesday I attended a funeral of a Navy SEAL/brother of a dear friend/friend of ours who died entirely too young, and sure enough, by Wednesday I was sick. Out of work Thursday and Friday and oh by the way, did I mention we were going to Raleigh for the weekend? And with an impending hurricane I was a bit apprehensive about how things would go. Oh yes, and my grandmother died on Friday night/Saturday morning.
I hope you're not feeling too sorry for me right now. Because if you are, let me just say that was all just a slow wind up for this fast pitch. Let me tell you the amazing things that happened the last two weeks:
- I got to see my dad! Jack got to spend time with wonderful people who love him dearly for a whole week!
- I got to stay home with Jack for a whole day and we had so much fun just playing together.
- My mom worked super hard for weeks to prepare an auction for us as an adoption fundraiser which raised over $500 for us!!
- As sad as it is to me that my grandmother passed away, she deserves to be in heaven with Jesus and my grandfather where there is no more suffering and ultimate peace.
- We got to spend the weekend in Raleigh with people we love dearly.
- One of those couples hosted a neighborhood pig pickin adoption fundraiser where we had some friends and some people we didn't even know who all came to support us and raised...wait for it...$2000!!
The more we go through this process, the more I'm realizing that this adoption is less about us and more about spreading the word of adoption and God's love. We see how we have been adopted by him into his family and that he loves us and EVERYONE in the world so very much and wants us all to be adopted into his family. I do mean everyone...not just white people, straight people, rich people, do I need to go on? Adoption is part of His plan. And us adopting our little boy from Uganda is so much bigger than us expanding our family. We get to talk about adoption, the need for orphans to have homes, the love of Christ, and so much more. In our need to raise money to help us offset the costs, people get to be involved in adoption in their own way and we are privileged to have amazing people come alongside us and partner with us.
We are so thankful for all the support we have been given thus far. We are dumbfounded at how much money we have raised so far and are ecstatic about how many different people are a part of our family now because they are vested in us and this process. We hope you are feeling as blessed and joyful as we are.
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