"My Heart Hurts"

This morning we all arose, did a bit of reading and off we went to a local art museum to learn about Georgia artists. At the end of the tour, each child was given a canvas to create their own piece of artwork to take home. The children really enjoyed this and especially enjoyed spending the better part of their day with fellow homeschooling buddies! One of my favorite parts about homeschooling the past year has been developing new friendships. We have gotten to know some amazing families whom we will all hold dear in our hearts for a long time. This time in our life would not be the same without them!
During our drive home, out of the clear blue, MK said, "Hey mom, something bout my heart hurts!" I said, "What hurts Mei?" to which she responded, "My heart hurts about Baby M." I said, "Your heart hurts about Baby M?" and she said, "Yes, my heart feels better when we get her but now it really hurts cause she is not with us." MK really is processing our adoption in her own little mind. We had been busy all morning, no one spoke of our adoption or even spoke of China yet she clearly let us know that Baby M was not far from her mind.

Perfect.

Once upon a time, Ryan and I were engaged to be married. We had party after party, shower after shower and we lived in total bliss. As tradition would hold, Ryan's mother and my mother attended every event. During one of the wedding showers, the women went around the room giving advice to me on how to have a successful marriage. I do not remember how it all came to be but during this time, I proclaimed Ryan to be perfect. Ryan's mother quickly stated back, "No, he is not perfect...." Now, don't get me wrong, Ryan's mother loves him dearly but she is his mother. Since then, we have laughed about this conversation and I have begun to state that although Ryan is not "perfect," he is perfect for me....and he is.

I was reminded of Ryan's "perfect for me" status late last week when I entered the kitchen and saw him carefully stitching my heating pad thingy back together. Every night Ryan will heat this rice filled contraption in the microwave for me, fix me my nightly bowl of ice cream and deliver both of them to me. He has done this for years! Well, the rice filled heating contraption began to fall apart about a week or so ago and the children were most upset at finding bits of rice strewn about the house. Without a nudging or suggestion, Ryan thoughtfully got down our sewing kit given to us by his mother, and began the repair of the heating pad thingy. It is definitely the little things in life that get my attention and mean so much.

DTC

Dossier To CHINA!!!! :)
(phew, we thought we would never make it!) The Drafts household is one happy place to be in right now! First phase of our second adoption is officially complete. We are so excited to be moving closer to our precious little girl!
On a funny note, MK was with me the other night during one of our many runs to the FedEx store. I told her this was the last time we would have to go to the store and that now we could get Baby M. In hindsight, I should have re-phrased all of that because she quickly looked up at me and squealed, "YAY! Me and mommy are going to get Baby M in China right now....and we tell the boys and daddy about her when we come back on that plane!"

Book

Yesterday I was given Mary Beth Chapman's book titled Choosing To See. It is a must read - and, don't tell my children, but I am NOT the reader fanatic in our home so for me to say that a book is a MUST read, it truly is! While reading, have your tissues close by - her words are real and her story is a tear jerker, combining both happy tears and sad tears together.

MK loves to "bump" down the stairs with the boys. I went to snap a pic of them coming down together. As I was being trampled over, I said, "Hey, you guys start over and come together at the same time." Pryce said, "Mom, Mason-Kate likes to win so we always let her get ahead of us....we are pretending to race."


One of the many advantages of homeschooling.....MK loves her time with the boys. She loves for them to read to her. Lately her fav story is one out of the Beginners Bible titled The Sneaky Snake. When I don't hear it being read to her, I can hear her "reading" it to her baby.

Finley.....every morning when I get out of bed, Finley gets in. This is not a "posed" pic at all....Finley literally climbs in and gets lost within our covers.

Prima Ballerina.....she loves to dance.

Like brother, like sister.....

This past weekend we visited one of my best friends from high school. Sandi is that friend that no matter how long goes between our visits, we pick up right where we left off and it is as if we were together just yesterday. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with her family. So much so that my children are all three asking if we can go again this weekend!

On an adoption note, we are waiting on ONE document....ONE, then all will go to China. Earliest possible Dossier To China (DTC) would be this Friday. OR, if the document doesn't arrive this week, DTC will be next Friday. Either way, we are nearing the end of Phase One! :) Interestingly enough, we have had three phone calls in the last two weeks from families who are interested in adopting a Waiting Child from China. Wonderful news!

To take the children or leave the children, that seems to be the question! Quite frankly, it seems to be a question to many but ourselves. Adoption is costly. The travel is costly. Being fortunate enough to take Colin, Pryce and Mason-Kate to meet their baby sister in China will be priceless. Colin and Pryce were 5 and 8 years old during our first trip to China. They each kept a journal of their experiences that they will one day be able to share with MK, experiences in China, her birth country, through the eyes of her then 5 and 8 year old siblings. Too, they each were given a camera and they each took pictures of the sites in China, again, as seen through the eyes of a 5 and 8 year old. Every single night as I lay in bed with MK, she now asks, "Can you tell me again a story about me when I was a baby in China?" The only "stories" I have of her time in China to tell are those that include all of us, her family. She knows we were all there, we all welcomed her into our family at the same exact time. It was a life changing moment for all of us. She will say, "I love that you got on dat plane to come get me with my boys and my daddy. I so happy you did dat." How can we deny that same story to our next child? How can we deny our children the opportunity once again to experience the joy of welcoming their baby sister into our lives - all of us together, our family - especially when our tender hearted little guy states to us that he wants to be the first one to hold her? Simply put, we can't. We are building our family. The children have been lugged all over our town and state to get this document certified or this document mailed. They have celebrated every step of the way, every minor detail as well as every major one. They have run eagerly to the mailbox daily to see if another letter has arrived or to see if we have received an approval. They have set up selling booths all summer, not at our suggestion, and sold their toys to make money for this adoption. It is like when I was pregnant with the boys. Ryan went with me to EVERY appointment and heard every detail along the way. Our children have done just that during our adoption. They could probably recite the entire process in their sleep - they are part of this process, the building of our family. That is the emotional side. The realistic side is quite clear, we do not have anyone to take care of all three of them, together, under one roof, for 2 1/2 weeks or more. Most people work. Most children go to school or daycare. Ours do not. They are with us, for the most part, 24/7 and would require just that, 24/7 care. Could we make it work? Yes, if we absolutely had to but at what expense? And logically, the travel costs for taking the three of them are really quite minimal in comparison to our adoption costs as a whole. We understand that all families and all situations are different. Ours is no exception. It is important to us, all of us, that we be together in China when our daughter, our baby sister, is welcomed into our family.

Our Week

• We played a game of hide and seek as a family. This proved challenging with a three year old and a dog. If the three year old did not give your spot away, the dog did!


• MK has asked over the past few days what orphanage the boys lived in. We have explained to her that they were born in the US. She still insists on locating their orphanage on the Chinese map. No luck with that yet :)


• Pryce lost another tooth and the Tooth Fairy was all out of Wonka Bars. Improvisions were put into place :)


• Pryce had his first piano lesson and loved it!


• MK began speech again. She hasn't been participating over the summer. Though there are still times that I do not understand a lot of what she says, she is using these big words and enunciates really well. All that said, she is currently working on the S sound. She announced yesterday that only boys can say the S sound, not girls.
• School continues to go well. Colin, thankfully, is enjoying his writing class. It is a program called Institute for Excellence in Writing. He participated last year and was a bit dismayed when I announced that I had signed him up for the class this year. It is challenging but something he is so capable of doing. After class this week, he talked the entire way home about what he had learned, the games they had played to reinforce the learning and how he had impressed his instructor with an alliteration he threw in his latest writing just for kicks. We began our homeschool adventure last year very unsure of how it would play out. We all agreed to one year and then we would assess the situation to see what we would do next. Last night I found myself praying that my children will continue to enjoy it as much every year as they are now! I love this time with them and I love learning with them and seeing their eyes light up when it all clicks together. Truly exciting!
• We are one document away from our dossier going to China! YAY!