Currently Listening Whatever & Ever Amen By Ben Folds Five see related

I've been bad to my xanga.

It's been over a month since my last post.  Sorry for stating the obvious, but I can't believe it's been that long.

Where do I begin?

Adoption
The process is at a stand still.  We'll know more in July.  What I can say is that we're trying to adopt a special needs baby w/ a heart defect similar to mine.  This could either slow the process since we are being so specific or speed it up if the agency has a child available who fits within those parameters. 

One other small delay: we can't begin the homestudies until I turn 25, which is at the end of May.

So, it's a waiting game.

Random Stuff...

Sony
I'm glad Sony has decided to settle w/ those who have purchased CDs w/ anti-piracy software (I would be one of those lucky consumers).  What a PR nightmare.

Exercise
Due to my current stress levels (writing a thesis and working two jobs is draining), I now have a trainer.  Yeah, okay.  So my trainer is my husband, but he definitely knows what he is doing.  In a few short months, I hope to be lean, have my stress-levels reduced, and have gained some clarity.  Exercise clears the mind, right?  I need it.

So, that's about all the exciting stuff.  I'm glad the R_o_y M_o_o_r_e program is over at school--I've been working on it since November.  For a reward, I'm heading to Atlanta this weekend to visit BFF Kynda and her hubby Mikah.

Sending good thoughts...

I'm a little frustrated.  When did DNA become next to godliness?  Family members haven't been as supportive as I would have hoped, but I should have expected mixed reactions.  Not everyone understands the concept of adoption if the mother-to-be is technically fertile.

However, we are not going to allow this to discourage us from what we have been called to do. 

Sidenote: What seems so strange to me is that I almost feel selfish to have any of my own children when there are millions in the world without parents.

Anyway.  In other news....names have been chosen.  We have chosen a name for a boy and girl and both are in honor of family members who have impacted our lives.  We'll use the names now or later, depending on what gender we get.

I want to write them, but BJ doesn't want to exploit them.  His sister had a bad experience w/ naming her daughter and now he's paranoid it'll happen to us.

In the words of Alicia Silverstone in Clueless, "As if!"

When I said this was the beginning, I wasn't kidding.  Thank God for good friends who know what they're doing, like Mandy who does home studies in Indiana.  Her guidance has been immeasurable.  LOL.  This is beginning to sound like an acceptance speech.

Okay, we'll just move on.

I talked to a few adoption agencies yesterday, because as I quickly learned, a lot of agencies work together.  Usually there is an agency that handles the home study and post-placement, while the other one handles the referral (getting the child, etc.).  The most surprising thing in all this is the time frame.  I honestly thought it would be over 12 months before the little one would be here.  The agency said, depending on what country, it could be in as few as 4 months!!!  Can we all just say crapola together?

We have some ideas for fundraising, but now I see we've got to get this thing rollin' folks.  Give me some of your best ideas.  Here are some of ours:

• Scratch off cards w/ donations ranging from fifty cents to three dollars
• Letters to friends and family (although I'm not one to ask for money, I believe God calls some to parent orphans, while He calls others to assist those who parent)
• Cookbooks
• Church-wide yard sales
• Calendars

I know this will work, and God will bless it, but we'll need help.  So, if anyone out there wants to help me sell anything, submit recipes (if that's a good idea??), etc., please let me know, but don't consider this a push or anything.  I'm seriously SO not like that.

I've even thought about selling t-shirts that say something about supporting adoption.  I do graphic design so I could make them look cool, but BJ seems to think maybe people wouldn't want adoption t-shirts. [EDIT: He says it's not that people don't want them, it's that he doesn't think I realize how many shirts it'll take to make a decent profit...which he has a point.  I tend to be a little unrealistic at times.  But hey, with help, it can happen, right?] 

Any ideas?

Thanks, guys and gals.  We definitely need support and prayers right now!  Please pray for the little life, too.  Since we haven't picked a country yet, we can't be too specific, but God already knows. 

New Purpose

This isn't about me anymore.  This is about someone else.  This is about a little life hundreds of thousands of miles away who is orphaned and waiting for a forever family.  God has called us to be their forever family.  We are embarking on an exciting journey.  A long, winding path, which will lead to a miraculous conclusion--a family formed in a way no one would have ever imagined.

This is the beginning...