A Mundane Monday turned Marvelous!!

Monday, March 3, 2008 was a typical Monday until 12:00 noon.

I check my e-mail at lunch everyday. This day I had an e-mail from our adoption agency. It said that they were getting a surprise package from China. It also said that our daughter's picture may or may not be in the packet. Our agency's mail is delivered at 2:00 pm.

I called Rick freaking out and said, what should I do, we might get our baby's picture today?!

Rick, who never freaks out, said, well, just relax, we'll have to see what happens.

It was difficult to teach my class like normal after that. My students have Spanish class at 1:40 on Mondays. So, I went to the office to correct some papers hoping that maybe I would get the call around 2:10 pm - since they would get their mail at 2:00 pm and then need time to look at it.

At 1:45 pm, I got the call on my cell phone. The lady on the other end, Robin, said, Congratulations you have a daughter! She then began to tell me our daughter's name, age and weight. All of a sudden, I just started balling! Tears of joy of course! I had to ask Robin to wait as I finished crying to give me the rest of the information. She told me two pages worth of info. I will always keep these notes.

Our agency informed us that they would e-mail us our daughter's picture around 4:00 pm that day. It seemed like the longest wait ever from 1:45 pm-4:00 pm.

My work was awesome and let me leave early. Infact, the entire teaching staff knew within three minutes and they were at my classroom door wanting all the details. Our school does not have an intercom system so everyone must have had a special code I didn't know about!!

I got home at 3:15 pm and could hardly wait for Rick to get home. I called him every two minutes to see where he was at.

At 4:00 pm we opened the e-mail together and there she was. We both just stared for a while. Then Rick said, she's chubby, and I said, that's a lot of hair, and we both said, we love her!

Our daughter is 7 months old and beautiful. Rick and I are so happy!! God is good.

Mid-Winter Break!

Last week was a little bit crazy with conferences and in-services. Most nights I was getting home at 9:30 pm. 14 hour days take a drain on me after a while.

I was thankful for my one day off today. Yes, only one day, most schools get two days off for mid-winter break, not mine, that would be too generous. I do love my job though. :)

I decided to make the best of my day, and just have fun. I started the day by having breakfast with my good friend, Shelby. Shelby is thoughtful, kind, and a lot of fun. She is always open to trying new things. We met at the Rainbow Grill. She encouraged me to get a bran muffin, saying they were the best bran muffins around. I decided to venture out and try one. This was a big step for me since I am extremely picky about the food I eat. It really wasn't too bad. I ate half and gave the other half to my sister in the afternoon. Shelby and I had a great visit.

In the afternoon, I visited my sister, Sally. My sister always makes me laugh. We played Scrabble and chatted. My sister beat me at Scrabble once again. I always say, that was fun, but deep down I am irritated because I have never beat her yet. My day is coming. I cannot wait!

In the evening, I had a nice time with my husband and best friend, Rick. Rick and I excercised together in our home gym. We have really tried to be dedicated to a low carb diet and excercise. It is nice that we can encourage each other.

Rick gave me beautiful flowers at 10:30 pm on Valentine's Day since we both had long work days. We also went out to one of our favorite restaurants, Stromboli's, on Saturday night. Rick is so good to me.

Everything is looking really good with the adoption. We may have a picture of our baby girl in two weeks! Two weeks!! We can hardly wait!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good News!

Rick and I found out this week that we are #1 on China's list. That means we will get the picture of our baby girl soon. We are anticipating a picture in March and hopefully will go to China in May. We are so excited, it has been such a long wait!! We will continue to keep you updated.

We are also happy that our home church, Restore, has been going very well. We are doing great things to promote social justice and wonderful friendships have developed.

I have been enjoying teaching fifth grade this year. It has been a lot of work learning the new curriculum but also a lot of fun. My students are great and the parents are very supportive.

Rick and I watched our nieces and nephew one day recently. Here is Alyssa, Isaiah and Rick with the snowman they built together. I was so touched by their handiwork. Then, Rick said, let's destroy it and gave Isaiah and Alyssa a board to demolish the snowman with. I was shocked but they had a great time!

Summertime

I am so excited that it is Summer!
A lot has happened the last few months. Our adoption is moving slowly but surely. We hope to hold our baby girl this fall. We also are considering starting the adoption process for more children right now. We might have four or five children before we know it. We will see what happens!

A fifth grade position became available at work and I applied for it and got it. Yea!!
I spent this week moving out of the fourth grade classroom and into the fifth grade. I felt like I was on the Clean Sweep show. I had a toss pile, a give away pile and a keep pile. A friend of mine from church, Molly, helped me move my room. She was a tremendous help. Thanks Molly!

Rick and I had a spectacular vacation at Bald Head Island in North Carolina. We hung out at the beach, went for walks, and drove around the island in a golf cart. Our golf cart ran of battery power when we went too far. Rick had to push us a few times!!

We were also able to visit Rick's parents and extended family. It was a good time.

Why??????!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, so three weeks ago, we received notice from our adoption agency that we would have to redo all of our adoption paperwork because the adoption has taken so long and our paperwork is only good for 15 months in the U.S., not China. If we don't redo it, then our daughter will not receive a Visa to come back with us. UGH!

First, I was really angry! I wanted to be able to blame someone, but there was no one to blame, it's just the adoption process. I did ask God why too? I asked him if he hated me. Why is our adoption process taking so long, why so many glitches? I love and trust God with all my heart, but some things I just don't understand and probably never will on this earth.

Next, I became really sad. So sad, that I couldn't even sleep. I would lie in bed and cry and worry. I continued to work. My students were awesome. I think children can sense when your down, even if they don't know why. I must have looked like crap though. I thought my make-up was covering up the dark circles under my eyes, but when both my bosses asked me if I was alright because I looked tired, I guess the make-up wasn't doing the job.

I was really stressing because I had to depend on other people for most of the paperwork- doctor's appts., police appts., insurance agency appts., etc. I have a hard time depending on other people because I can do jobs so much faster and better myself. Or at least that's what I like to think. :)

I shared this news with few people because I simply didn't want to talk about it because it hurt so bad. The few I shared with, shared with others, which is ok and I was overwhelmed by the cards, bookmarks, flowers, money, phone calls and visits that I received. Thank you to all my family and friends for the support. It means more than you will ever know. God speaks through other people sometimes and I believe this is how he was speaking to me. He was telling me he did care, and he would take care of me.

Well, all the paperwork is re-done now and it feels GOOD! We should be getting our baby girl this summer.
I am looking forward to my Spring Break coming up. I hope to get some sleep.
Vicki

Little Joys

Life can be busy and sometimes little joys can be forgotten. Here are some sources of joy in my life. I am so blessed.
*I trust in the Almighty God
*I have an awesome husband who made me a delicious turkey with mashed potatoes and green beans for dinner today.
*I have a wonderful family
*I am going to be a mom soon
*I have good health
*I have a loving and supportive home church group
* I have great friends
* I have kind neighbors
*My students gave me two dozen beautiful, pink roses just because they like me for a teacher
*I have a good job
*I just received a raise at my job
*I got my braces off!
*I have a reliable car
*I have a beautiful home
*Rick's parents made a surprise visit from North Carolina
*looking at nursery themes

Thank you, Lord for blessing me. Help me to not become negative and bitter when life is hard. Help me to always be positive and always trust in you. You are God, my Savior, my friend.

-Vicki

Poofs and Whammys!

I was visiting with a friend during the Superbowl and she was telling me about someone she knew who it seemed everything worked out perfect for. She needed a car, and Poof! someone gave her car, she needed a job, Poof! she had a job, she wanted a baby, Poof! she was pregnant. After this story, I said, God must think she cannot handle very much. I think he thinks I can handle a lot because my story goes like this: My car broke down and Whammy! I was without a car for six weeks, I have my house sold, and Whammy! the buyer backs out, I long for a child, and triple Whammy! I have to wait longer. We laughed because we all know life is hard, but God is good. :)

Rick and I received our monthly adoption update today. We are in the last step of the process and getting very close to receiving a picture of our precious daughter(s).

The Bad News: The time frame has increased once again. At this point, our agency informs us we should receive our baby's (ies) picture in May and leave for China in June.

Common Questions:
Why is there another delay? There are many orphanages in China but they are not all approved for adoption. The Center for China's Adoption Affairs is working diligently to get more orphanages approved.

More wealthy families in China are adopting now. These families are priority over American families.

Are you and Rick angry? Angry- No. Sad - yes. Rick and I did not start this process on a whim. We prayed, researched, prayed, studied, prayed and sat down with six agencies before deciding which country and which agency to go with. God made it very clear to us , to adopt from China. We were both extremely comfortable and happy with the Great Wall of China agency. Our social workers are awesome. They are extremely understanding and they are there anytime for us. I mean literally anytime. I have had break downs at midnight and e-mailed one of my social workers. She responds back within 15 minutes and always has the right words to make me feel better! God is in control. We trust Him.

The Good News: It looks like I won't have to miss any work. We have more time to paint the nursery.

Thanks for your prayers. They are very much appreciated.

-Vicki