Maddox: "Mommy, I stopped growing today."

Me: "Oh, you did?  How do you know?"

Maddox:  "Well, I told God you liked me little so I can snuggle up on your neck and you can hold me and I can go to sleep.  And then God stopped me growing."

I am going to miss this little personality as she grows up....her preschool thoughts are far too cute!

Thankful

Our minister called me out last Sunday during his sermon.  He was preaching on prayer, specifically how to pray.  And he pointed out that when we pray, we should always give thanks for everything we have for it is ultimately His that He has given to us.  

And there are things that have been lingering in our thoughts lately which ultimately have become selfish prayers of want.  We have thanked Him repeatedly for our home/shelter but lately we have felt a desire to move into a new home, ultimately a larger home, because we feel we need it.  We found the perfect lot on the perfect cul-de-sac which backs up to nothing but woods, woods that will remain woods....and this perfect lot is in the perfect neighborhood - the neighborhood that will always be zoned for the perfect school (our current neighborhood will be rezoned to a more transient, less academic school).....and on this lot we could build the perfect house using our already found perfect builder with the perfect house plans we have drawn....and this house would include the much desired 3+ bathrooms -  a parents, a boys, and a girls - and 5 bedrooms....added in with a basement, a larger living space, a larger kitchen, each of these things we feel would be so very awesome to have during our adoption gatherings and the kids' friends coming over to hang out - we LOVE to have a crowd.  Oh, and most importantly for Ry, a new and improved dishwasher.  He is a man that lives for a new dishwasher - it's just his thing.  

But these are just all things that would be nice and it is in these things that we have forgotten to say thank you for all that we have.  Our home is our home filled with many memories and more memorable moments yet to come.  We are snug in our home and will be even more so when the baby arrives.  In this, we are choosing to give thanks.....thanks that we do have a nice home in a great neighborhood with children for our children to play with. The boys may never forgive us for their never having their own room for they, specifically our 13 year old, are at ages where they are seeking out their individuality and part of that is ownership of a room, their own space.  But is that needed?  No.  Do we wish to fulfill that desire for them?  Of course.  But what a lesson it is to learn now that life is not all about them as individuals - I am still learning this:) And five children of different sexes all sharing one bathroom....should make for interesting days ahead.  I am picturing the Cosby show episodes in my head - Theo yelling at his sister, who has been in the bathroom for at least half of the day!  Memories, in these, we will choose to be thankful.  And a larger area to entertain our adoption group and friends - selfish want but we have managed for five years and they keep coming back for more so I am thinking its all good!  Now, the dishwasher piece.  Well, nothing would make him happier than to have a new dishwasher and I am thinking at this point we should give thanks in the one we have...but selfishly, I do wish it to go out with a quick bang just to fulfill Ryan's current dream of a new and improved model.  

So in this season of thanks, I/we are choosing to be thankful for everything that has been set before us.  Thankful for our marriage, thankful for our children - their happiness, their health, their innocence - thankful for our home, thankful for our adoption, our family, our friends, and above all, our forgiving God.  God has given so much to us and we, ashamedly so, forget to say thank you.  Instead, we ask for more.  People close to us often ask, "Have you thought about this?" "How are you going to pay for...." "Cars and college are nearing....".....and our honest answer is that we have no idea how we will do the future.  We are choosing THANK YOU for today and trusting in God's wisdom for tomorrow.  

A verse MK worked on this week stated, "I will sing to the Lord because He has blessed me so richly."  Psalm 13:6 - A fabulous verse to reflect on during this season of Thanksgiving!

Halloween 2013

Happy Halloween 2013

 Our traditional carving took place two nights before Halloween.  In the South, pumpkins tend to go south once they have been carved due to the rampant heat that sometimes lingers this time of year.  We carved and carved only for Colin to come as the pumpkin seeds were coming out of the oven - he paused and then asked, "Did you really carve the pumpkins without me???"  Oh dear.  

Back to the store I went to get C his very own pumpkin which, by the way, has still yet to feel the prick of a knife.  P, however, was very pleased with how his turned out! (For the record, C was doing school work and has selective hearing at times)

 Halloween morning began with the annual Boo Basket surprises, a few treats for everyone.

 And then it was photo time....our beautiful peacock....

 and our exquisite Aerial....

 and an original MindCraft Creeper

This guy was an original creation designed by P and handcrafted by Ry along with P's assistance....

With photos well behind us, it was time to set off for some good ole' candy loot....

 Trick or Treat.....

 Our sweet neighbor, Ann.  She always has such fun costumes on and never forgets to bring us sweet treats for special occasions!  

 A photo outtake....MK can be so photogenic.  And then there are the silly moments.

 Peacock radiance

 The great candy swap

Halloween 2013 proved to bring in a change for our family.....no C dressing up and dashing from house to house with us.  Instead, he made his way over to a friend's house where they all did a last minute costuming and hit the neighborhood together....

An Update

1. An update on where we are in the process to adopt our baby girl.....we are currently sitting and waiting.  It has been almost two months since our paperwork left our hands and made its way into the hands of the adoption affairs office in China.  Each month, though we missed the cutoff to be considered for the September list, a new list is released from China with available children.  There are always children waiting to be matched but we are requesting a baby girl, under the age of 2, with a minor/correctable special need, and these children are hard to come by.  Our agency has stated that we could likely wait up to six months.  Though we hope and pray this is NOT the case, we are settling into this lull and soaking up life as we know it for the time being.  
2. An update on fundraising....this is the first adoption we have fully funded through grants and fundraising.  We are so happy to report that we are down to what we hope will be the final stretch in our fundraising attempts - TROT TO ADOPT 2014.  This will occur in January.  We are one of three fabulous families, two adopting from China and one adopting from Ethiopia, participating in this fundraiser!  This will be the fourth annual trot and we look forward to spreading the word on adoption in our community!  
3. An update on the name of our little one....it changes DAILY.  Hourly some days.  I love the name Meryn.  But then there is Mary-Gentry.  And I love the family history with the name Mary-Gentry.  Mason-Kate says it is soooo boring being the only one in the family with a double name....her vote is, of course, for Mary-Gentry.  And so goes the naming....
4. And, drumroll please, who is going to China???  Each time we have adopted,everyone reacts with their initial, "Congratulations!" and then they move right into, "Now, are the children going with you to China?" We are preparing as if they will all go.  Again, the realistic part is that we do not have any one or two people who we feel are going to be able to keep all four children together for 2 1/2 weeks.  Our parents are long out of the stages of running to and fro from piano to multiple practices to ballet to youth while keeping in line with feeding them three times a day plus making sure they are bathed and showered with their teeth brushed before reading them night time stories only to go to bed and wake up bright and early again to do it all over again.....I am tired just typing that and I left out the schooling part, the children are with us 24/7....school is done at home so there is no time for an afternoon nap before the bus appears!  Ryan helps so much and we make a great team when doing all of the above together.   Separating them is out of the question.....little Maddox would not know what to do without all of the above....and MK would not know how to live without Pryce - she adores him and looks forward to each and every moment they spend together.  We want to take everyone to meet our baby girl and sister.  We are trusting that this will be possible.  

And, so, that is all for now on the adoption front....we are gearing up with excitement as we watch our friends travel to meet their baby boy in Ethiopia!  And right behind them, we will be THRILLED to see little Jonah come home - his mommy has waited too long for the moment she will become a mother!  

2013 Fall Fun

Pumpkin Patch 

The children made a specific request that we go a bit earlier this year.....it seems as though we are always the family that is out selecting their pumpkins on the eve of Halloween:/

 Colin makes friends with just about anyone....

 These four....the sun is too bright, but they stuck it out.....

 This guy....oh how I have LOVED watching him play football this season, his first season ever of football.  Admittedly so, I was a bit fearful of the whole idea.  However, he has loved every single minute of it....the tackling being his most favorite part - eeeek! 

 A little ray of sunshine....she is every bit the age of four, sometimes running from the camera and other times begging me to take her picture!  

 And my boys are all boy....the pumpkin patch used to be a quiet, nice family fun event - and then enters a teenage boy and a pre-teen boy - .....our trip this year turned into a three ring circus, the boys being in the first ring tossing a baby pumpkin back and forth....this does not bode well with the pumpkin patch managers in case one is wondering.  

 MK is all about some serious hoola-hooping fun and cartwheeling her way through the yard....

 "Hey Maddox, lets do the same thing!"  

 I loved taking these random photos of the girls....

 Maddox is actually watching our neighbor's dog through the fence.....

 And the highlight for MK this week - JEANS.

Yes, we actually purchased a pair of, gasp!, jeans.

She has been making her request for "real" jeans, aka no ruffle leg and must have real pockets, for quite sometime now and she could not be more happy with her first pair.  Sigh.  

Our little neighbor, Ava, is staying with us this school year.  Ava joined her forever family in March of this year and is doing great!  She arrives each morning, giggling behind her backpack, and shouts, "Surprise!"  Ava is three months older than Maddox and, on most days, they are the best of friends.  It is definitely good practice for our little Maddox - the sharing of toys, the sharing of me, the sharing of MK - it can be a bit overwhelming at times for our littlest miss.  But, like I said, for the most part, they are the best of friends cruising around the backyard, jumping on the trampoline, playing on our playset....and belly laughing the entire time!

Maddox Ren, our comedian.  She loves to find a good walking stick and then she will proceed to walk around the yard with this stoop about her saying, "I'm an old lady, I'm a little old lady..."

Maddox is really taking a liking to writing her name and drawing pictures.  And she LOVES to join in school time with MK - she does her "homework" with the most intensity I have ever known a four year old to use.  

MK had her very last soccer game and the girls had a little half-time fun with orange slices.  Though she will quickly tell anyone that soccer is her third favorite sport - swimming and ballet being numbers 1 and 2 - she had a great experience with soccer.  My favorite MK comment from the season was when she said with a very serious face, "Mom, I am just not a kicker girl."  

One more medal to add to her collection....so proud of MK for wanting to try new things!  

Let the waiting begin.
With MK we waited in line for a non-special needs baby girl under the age of 12 months for 10 months.  We realized quickly that the wait would grow....we are still speechless when we look at the timeline and see that we would STILL be waiting for a non-special needs little girl 7 years AFTER completing our paperwork!
But we switched to the special needs program 10 months into the wait.  5 weeks later we were matched with our MK.
With Maddox we anticipated a 2 year process from start to finish.  Paperwork, match time and travel, two years.  We began the paperwork in April, received Maddox's referral in September, and traveled in March...total time = 11 months.
With our current little one, we are swallowing hard this morning after not receiving a referral after the first list release (since our LID) last night.  We all waited by the phone, staring at it, praying for it to ring with happy news on the other end.  Sadly, the phone did not ring and we did not get the news we were anticipating.  So, we will wait.  One more month and another list will be released....maybe our little one will be on there????  And if not, we will wait more.  We are being told to expect a 1-6 month wait time and we pray this is accurate without bumps in the road:)
With all this said, we do have full faith in God's plans for our family.  After all, he has opened door after door during our journey.  Please pray for our baby girl.  We feel she is alive and well and waiting for us to love on her with arms wide open and we cannot wait for the moment when we first see her face!