Take Heart, A Letter to Myself

Dear Kelly,

One of the greatest lessons you will learn through motherhood is that you are more capable of adaption than you would have imagined. When your family changes, you will figure it all out. At first, you will wonder all over again how to manage your day-to-day life with additional children, but then, remarkably, you will figure it out, and it will become second nature. Motherhood may strip you of your ability to think in a straight line, but it awakens your ability to be flexible, to find creative solutions, and to learn what is worth holding onto, and what should be let go.

Here you are at the beginning of this amazing journey to add another one to your family. Take heart, be patient and let God be in control. While the home-study is time-consuming, the dossier makes you want to cry. While you wonder if you will ever get through the paperwork you remember that little one waiting at the end of this process. Frustration sets in and you feel like you are drowning in a sea of paperwork.

It will all get done, eventually. Maybe not on Kelly's time, but one step at a time. Stop waking up in the middle of the night wanting to talk to Troy about silent auctions and passports. Breath. Pray. Trust.

This adoption will turn your life upside down. Already, your heart is outside of your body, connected to this baby in a far away country. This is why you have trouble reading Tom Davis books and hearing about what is going on in Africa. Your heart is virtually walking around Africa where it might feel hunger, injustice, and suffering. This is the plight, and the privilege, of an adoptive mother.

Sincerely,

Yourself

Special Dress Sponsors

We had a very busy weekend spent moving forward on adoption stuff. As a hurricane raged outside, Troy and I sewed, finished paperwork and worked on training. 

Today we celebrate a beautiful day, spent outdoors. Further, it is our biggest dress sponsor's birthday! Happy Birthday Grandma! Clare is modeling one of your dresses. Take a look at all of them below. 8 fabulous dresses.

Thank you to Gretchen in NJ. She is our first sponsor that we don't know. Thank you for supporting us! For you, we made two matching dresses. I think they are adorable.

More Sponsored Dresses!

Another round of dresses. More to come.

My good friend Shannon sponsored these two sweet dresses.

Shannon's mom graciously agreed to sponsor two dresses.
Thank you Sherry!

The very generous Roche family sponsored 4 dresses keeping me really busy this week.
Thank you!

Tomatoes to Salsa!

Sunday was my forth annual day to make salsa. It is truly an ALL day event. I use a recipe from my good friend Shannon and every year I use all the ingredients from the garden. According to Troy, it is the best salsa ever, so that is what makes it worth it. I think it is going to be something the kids will remember me by because we basically talk about salsa all year long. It starts in the spring when we plant the tomatoes and peppers "for salsa" and then through the winter when everyone is loading up tortilla chips with momma's salsa while watching football games. This year we came out with 23 pints. Troy wants me to make another batch that is super spicy using up some habanero peppers. Remember, Troy and I met in Tucson Arizona. Many of our first dates were over a bowl of chips and salsa.

Heritage

I am my parent's daughter for sure. I have qualities that I love about them and that is something to celebrate. Like my Dad, I love to be up early before anyone else, I love order and it secretly makes me irritated when the driveway is covered in mess. I am a great mediator, and I am really good at solving OTHER people's problems. I love to exercise and I absolutely love the heat. Summer is my season and you will always find me outside working, sweating, with a great tan. Like my Mom, I am caring. I don't have a temper. I am a people pleaser. I want my family to be happy. I put other people before myself. I enjoy cooking for people I love. I give people the benefit of the doubt and can usually find good in every person.
I wonder what attributes our adopted child will have and I wonder if they will be identifiable to me. I'd like to think that many of the qualities that make up me are because of the environment I grew up in, not always genetics.
My Grandma Clark was always very good to me. Much like I see my mother being to my kids. She was funny and always made me feel like I was right. My favorite thing about her was her laugh. It was one of a kind. Also, the way she wiggled her shoulders up and down and the way she held her face in her hand. I see qualities in her are also in me. I count it as a blessing that my husband knew her and we lived with her as a newly married couple. Grandma loved Troy and Troy loved her. I felt like through their love, I had done something right and she would always watch over our marriage. (Sounds corny, but grandmothers make you think funny things.) Heritage wise, my grandma was Norwegian and we celebrated that often. She taught me Norwegian words, and rhymes and shared recipes. The summers I spent with her as a child and the time she spent with us at the end of her life was a real blessing to my life.
Sometimes I wonder if I am doing the right thing taking a child out of their culture and submerging them around people that not only don't look like them but don't act them either. After painting a picture of my childhood, I find this quite frightening to a little one. On the other hand, I wonder what life might look for this child if not adopted. What is the future for a child who ages out of the system? Prostitution, Disease, Starvation? It is very hard to believe in this American bubble that there are people/children out there struggling to survive. When is the last time you were in "survival mode"?
In this process, I've become more and more comfortable with this idea that there is somebody out there that belongs to me and it makes my heart hurt that they might be experiencing difficult times at this moment.
And then I remember, when we are in need, He sends hope. Let me be the hope of a child who is in need.

Get a Life - by Tom Davis

written by Tom Davis:

A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’”

“All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy.

LUKE 18:18-23

At some important level, the rich young ruler finds the pursuit of religious law and material things wholly unsatisfying. So unsatisfying, in fact, that he is asking Jesus how to inherit eternal life!  I propose that the rich young ruler doubted that he was on the right path.  He knows the extent of his devotion to God. And although he is very wealthy, his possessions still leave a void. He implores Jesus to share the secret of how to fill that hole.

There must be more to life than this.

I imagine Jesus and the young man standing at the rim of a great canyon…far to deep and wide to cross without a bridge. On the other side, true eternal life waits. “How do I cross?” asks the young man.

Jesus says, “Take these earthly things you value–your time, your status, your things, your bank account, your pride–and fill up the canyon. Then you can walk across them to the other side. Take anything you love more than me and toss it into the canyon.”

“But, then I won’t have my stuff anymore,” says the young man. “Some of it might get broken or lost.”

“Well, you asked,” Jesus replies. “The eternal life you seek starts by giving your earthly life away. When you give it away, you get your life.”

Read more: http://blog.beliefnet.com/redletters/#ixzz1VPd2dpZ9

First Batch of Dresses!

The first night of sewing was enjoyable. I have so much satisfaction knowing that at some point, I will see little African girls wearing these dresses!

The Earl family, thank you for being the first to sponsor a dress! 

This dress is a size 8. 

My mother-in-law graciously sponsored 4 dresses! 

Make the World a Better Place for Children - One by One

I can't wait to read Katie's book!

First Fundraiser-Sponsor a Dress

Since I've had so much fun sewing these beautiful dresses for the little girls in Africa, we've decided that a good fundraiser might be to give people a chance to sponsor a dress. The process includes, making a donation of $25 and I will sew a dress to take with us on the first trip to Africa and distribute to a little girl in the orphanage. Not only will you be helping clothe a little girl in Ethiopia, you will also be helping us fund our adoption. My husband even volunteered to sew! If you sponsor a dress, I will post the finished dress onto this blog with your name.

Thank you!

Note: If you would like to purchase one of these dresses for a little girl in your life, please contact me directly at farrington76@verizon.net so I can customize it for you by letting you choose from some fabric samples.

All about today

Outside my window…
downpour of rain with thunder

I am thinking…
about how much I love simple things

I am thankful for…
Today I am thankful for my oldest son. He is so helpful and played with the baby for a good 30 minutes so I could make dinner. I am going to miss them when they go back to school. Is that right? Today I was praying the school bus would show up and take them to school.

From the learning rooms…
Good Night Moon...or maybe Pokey Little Puppy

From the kitchen…
egg salad and mac n cheese, plus some chocolate zucchini bread

I am creating…
a very complicated quilt that requires lots of ironing

I am going…
to meet with some VERY encouraging friends this evening.

I am reading…
"Scared", by Tom Davis

I am hoping…
to be content with accomplishing one thing well instead of a zillion things not so good

I am hearing…
loud laughing and woops from the family room.

Around the house…
playdoh, painting, arts and crafts, popsicles, puddle jumping, wet dog, the house is a wreck!

A few plans for the week…

library, craft store, post office to mail contract, park with friends, and book club at the end of the week.

Famine happening now

A friend posted this video and I find it very difficult to watch. 


A drought centered in the triangle where Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia meet has sent tens of thousands of people pouring into refugee camps in search of food. The three-way border is a nomadic region where families heavily depend on the health of their livestock. Uganda and Djibouti have also been hit. The World Food Program said it expects 10 million people in the Horn of Africa to require food aid. The head of the U.N. agency for refugees said Sunday that drought-ridden Somalia is the “worst humanitarian disaster” in the world. Somalis are walking for days or weeks to reach camps in Ethiopia and Kenya. The young and the old are dying en route. Families have little food or money after herds of cattle, goats and camels were wiped out after successive seasons of no rains hit the war-ravaged country. 

I feel so far away as I sit here in my home with the fridge full of food and the pantry stocked. THIS is why Africa means something to me. Just because I was born here and these people where born THERE, it makes us no different. It is our duty to do something to help.

This is my crazy

Today's trip to the library was crazy. Books being pulled off the shelf, Clark running every which way, and every book on the Reading Olympic list picked over. (I know, I looked for every single one.) I'd like to speak with the person in the library staff that thought it would be a great idea to install a play-set similar to something you would find on the tv show, "Gladiators" or "Wipeout", in the middle of the children's section. There is a super bouncy gym mat with puffy mushrooms sticking out of it that my kids like to throw themselves onto like they are a contestant on the show "Wipeout". Then there is this tall slide made out of foam where my kids were trying to push each other off of as if they are "gladiators". As if that isn't enough total chaos, there are several puffy benches that kids like to jump on and off from in the midst of throwing puppets in the air and catching them. I would consider my kids to behave well in most situations, they mind me and have manners appropriate for their age. Somehow, seeing this library set-up, makes them turn into little monsters and makes me want to run for the hills.
Even among crazy days and possibly an already crazy life...we are adopting. There will be crazy days no matter how many kids you have. I am going to stay focused on that beautiful child we will be matched up with. We will welcome him into our hearts and home forever. It is really a beautiful thing. Many people have asked me how I've come to the decision to adopt. It really all started with a dear friend adopting who opened my eyes and my heart took ahold to the orphan. One year of research, and trying to talk myself out of it, I just couldn't. We kept coming back to it. How could I plan vacations, or buy expensive gadgets when there are children who don't have the biggest gift of all...LOVE. Obviously, we have lots of love to give. It was all the other questions that held me back. What about my four children? Is this the responsible thing to do for our family? The perfect answer to the our decision to adopt is through obedience, and faith, we are giving credit to God. Look at everything we have been given! The list is endless and I would call that priceless.