Waiting Stitches

Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween night. Caleb had a good time mooching candy off of the area folk :). It was a rainy, damp, cold night. Sure not fun for the parents! But it was worth it I guess - I mean, I did get one... Ok, maybe more than that... Yummy pieces of candy out of the deal! While Caleb got a lot of treats today, Jon and I felt like we were tricked. :( We have gotten an email now two days in a row forwarded by our agency from the Philippines. These get my heart racing and hopeful, just to learn nothing new. Yesterday they emailed to say they do have our profile and it is being looked at. Yes, it is good we know they at least have it, but I wanted a yes or no response to go along with it. Today we were told that tomorrow is a national holiday in the Philippines and then Mon-Wed they have a conference so no one will be in the office. This means we have to wait at least another week. Not a treat at all. Just a mean ol' trick. So much for getting this little bo...

No news is good news... Right? I'm about to burst waiting to hear back from the Philippines. We thought it'd be at least a week, so I got through that just fine. But now that I've waited a couple days past that, ick. No fun. Luckily work is keeping me busy. My third graders are putting on mini-concerts the next couple days and on top of that I've been working with the other Elementary music teacher to pick our winter concert music. It's enough to keep me busy during the day, but at night-I have time to think.  An answer that is Sooner, rather than later, sure would be nice.  Thanks for the prayers that I know so many of you have been lifting up for us. At this point God knows what is best for the little boy and I have to trust that knowledge... Albeit hard to remember.  I am reminded of my favorite bible verse: These three still remain: faith, hope, and love - and the greatest if these, is love. - 1 Corinthians 13:13 I know God is moving moun...

As I sat in church today, I watched a baby boy drinking from his bottle, playing with a little toy, and looking into his mother's eyes... and I thought, can I really do this? Can I really miss so many milestones in my child's life? How many life milestones are there before age 5? sleeping through the night... cooing... smiling... sitting on own... laughing... eating solids... standing... walking... talking... running... singing... jumping... Those are the main milestones, but what about all of those small ones? There are too many to count. So many that Jon & I will miss when we bring home a child, versus a baby. I do not doubt that I can love the children that we bring into our home, as I know that I already do love them, even though I do not even know who they are. But I do wonder what my response will be to the knowledge that I was not able to share in their milestones. I will not have pictures. I will not have "proof". I won't have stori...

As of Sunday, our profile has been sitting in the Philippines awaiting its yey or ney.  What does this mean? Well, let me try to explain, as it is a little confusing. The way the adoption system works in the Philippines is almost the complete opposite of how it works in other countries, including the one we know the most about, Ethiopia. In many countries, we are paired with the children and then we decide ultimately if we want to accept the referral. Then the child goes through court dates to make certain that he/she is an orphan that can be adopted. We would attend some of the court hearings and then ultimately bring the child home when all is settled. The Philippines starts from the last step Ethiopia does - it gets all of the child's "ducks in a row" and makes absolutely sure that the child is an orphan before the child can be put on a list that shows he/she is available for adoption. In my opinion, this is great, because there is no doubt that the child will some...

The last couple months my husband and son were very generous and let me go to be Mara , instead of Mom . My husband likes to say that I like to be a "Thespian" when I can, and yes, I do enjoy becoming a different person, playing dress up, and entertaining people. But the fun antics of other "thespians" are what I really enjoy! A lot of our craziness is something that only theater people can understand, trust me-we are a bunch of odd ducks - but I love that about theater. It's a place to let your inhibitions loose. A place that I don't feel judged. A place I can let my hair down and worry very little about everything else-well, other than remembering my blocking and lines! The last couple weeks have been performance weekends for "The 39 Steps", and among it all we have been trying to figure out the adoption steps for the little boy in the Philippines. The theater is what has kept my nerves at bay. When I have time to think about all of the ...

Mother's Day is fun, yes, but October 18 means even more to me than Mother's Day ever could, because that is the day I became a Mom. Five years ago I started my journey as a mother. This is by far the greatest journey I could have ever been blessed with. Each and every day I am thankful for the miracle I was given, Caleb is my everything, I can't imagine the last five years without him. At one year I couldn't believe how much he had grown. He already seemed like such a "big boy" and yet I look at these pictures and see how little of a peanut he was. His smile has always been infectious - he can melt my heart so quickly! Two years later we were into the full swing of parenthood and I couldn't get enough of being a Mommy! The terrible two's didn't really happen... that "stuff" began more at three  :)   There are so many days I'm excited to come home to this giggle, this smile, this love...  It's hard to believe th...

This is just one of the MANY reasons I love my Mother... This was exactly what I needed to hear today. Thank you Mom. Love you too.  You are truly a blessing to Me and my family. Can't wait for you and Dad to meet your new grandchild(ren) someday!!!! Love, Mara I was reviewing your Waiting Stitches blog and realized that today is the 15 th  – which means that you have been officially on the waiting list for  2  months now.  A lot has changed since your 1 month milestone, options have been reveled that you never even knew you had!  Guess we need to just look at each month that passes as  one month closer  to the ultimate reward – not just one more month of waiting.  God has shown you that even though you do your homework and think you have things pretty well figured out, He alone knows what His plan is.  And sometimes His path for us has lots of bends and curves in it (and even some dead ends where we have to retr...

Having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that we could officially be adopting soon. It is like this knowledge has suddenly hit me and I feel quite anxious all of a sudden. Maybe I've been so busy with the play I'm in that I was able to not feel the nerves, but all it has taken is one free evening and I have the jitters! We went from thinking a possible three years to bring our kids home, to the reality that one of our children could be coming home by summer. The hardest part is not even knowing if we really can adopt this little boy. I'm trying not to get attached to everything until we know for certain that we can adopt from the Philippines. But I'm not going to sugarcoat it - I will definitely feel a loss and grief if this does not happen. The not wanting to get attached, is happening in the opposite fashion... Today at church I watched Caleb coloring in the pew and for a brief moment I could see two little boys standing there and coloring. If only ...

Thought I'd write today asking for your prayers.  Due to the lengthy time schedule of Ethiopian adoption, we were asked if we also wanted to see Waiting Children lists from other countries. We said yes, and signed up for the monthly updates. The first one showed up in our email account from the Philippines and I fell in love with a little 4-year-old boy. This is why - in his little two paragraph bio, not only did they list a brief summary of his medical conditions, but they made it very well known that he responds to, and very much loves, MUSIC. That was music to my heart, soul, motherly instincts, and musician-brained psyche. When we told Caleb we wanted to adopt, we had told him possibly more than one child, so he has continuously said he wants an older brother that he can play with and a baby sister... could this be his brother? Could his sister then be coming from Ethiopia in a couple years? Here's the catch. Three things need to happen in the next couple wee...

We have officially been fingerprinted by the  United States Citizen & Immigration Services Department! They were very fancy fingerprints, done directly onto a pad that connected our prints to a computer screen image. Unfortunately, to get this done we had to drive over two hours to St. Paul, by 8am, to get them done. Not the way I like to spend a personal day - getting up early, having a 15 min. appointment, and having to drive a lot - so we made it into a fun family outing.    Caleb's birthday is in a week and a half, and had asked to go miniature golfing, so what better than head to Mall of America for a little golf outing and amusement park riding. Thanks to a very generous friend, she hooked us up with some free wristbands to the park & golfing.  Thanks much Jen!!!   My Mom works in St. Paul, so she watched Caleb during our brief appointment and then followed us over to the MOA. Caleb was very excited to have Oma along. I lov...

It sounds like a cliché to say "I remember when I babysat you!" - and yet, I feel like I'm starting to say these words much too often lately. There are days I still feel like I'm just right out of high school, and then Many More days when I realize that I'm starting to get "old"...   Yes, yes, I know. I'm really not that old yet. Not to mention, age is all relative after 25. But really - I look at kids and realize, I'm no longer a kid anymore.   All of this really hit me the other day in church. Most kids were back to start the Sunday School year and I realized ALL of them had grown at least a foot! When did that happen!?! Everyone's hair was longer or shorter, and they all were a little more confident in one area or another. And now I'm a month in to teaching at school and I realize how much my students have been growing since I met them a little over a year ago.   How does it all go so fast? Why do kids have to grow so quic...