Please Pray.....

I am always coming across blogs of people that are in the midst of a storm in their lives and are in need of prayer. I so want to get their story "out there" so others can be praying for them as well. So, I have decided to add a "Please Pray.." link to my side bar and keep it updated with families who are in need of prayer. If you read my blog and ever have someone that needs prayer please let me know and I will add them to my list. This is mainly for me to keep up with those families who I feel a need to pray for but it will also be for any of you who would like to join me in prayer for these precious families. Thank You! Here are a few that I am praying for right now.....
My sister made me aware of Tricia and Nate about a month ago and to read their story everyday is truly amazing. You have to head on over to their site and see all the wonderful things that God is doing in them and through them.
Also, please remember little Ayla as she endures her treatments. What a cutie she is!
Right now there are two families who are associated with our agency who are in China and have been stuck due to the record snow that the country is having. They finally made it to Guangzhou but it was quite an experience. You can read about their stories here and here. Pray that everything goes according to plan for the rest of their trip so that they can come home on Saturday.

Star Student Anderson!

Anderson was chosen to be this week's Star Student in his class! There is a different activity for him to do everyday to make him feel special. On Sunday night he had to fill out a questionaire all about him to share with his class on Monday. I just had to share his answers, they were too cute and a couple of them brought tears to my eyes. I wanted to scan his actual sheet and post it here but that didn't work so here they are anyway.

All About Me

1. My favorite color is: Green

2. My favorite book is: Animal Defenses

3. My favorite television program is: The Suite Life of Zach and Cody

4. My favorite sport is: Baseball

5. When I grow up, I want to be: a football player for UGA

6. I am special because: God and Jesus love me

7. The place I'd most like to visit is: China

8. My favorite food is: Bar-B-Q

9. One thing I really want to learn is: other languages

10. The best thing about me is: I'm kind

11. The people in my family are: my mom, my dad, my brother and me

12. I have a pet: dog, cat and fish

13. My best friend is: Bryson

14. The person I most admire is: my parents

15. My favorite subject in school is: P.E

We had no idea that he wanted to learn other languages, how great is that! He knows he is special because God loves him and he admires his parents! Gosh, I love this child! He is so precious to me.

Play Ball!

As soon as fall ball was over, Jon Milledge was asked to be on a travel ball team. This new team has been practicing about twice a week since then and participated in their first tournament this weekend. It was a wood bat tournament which was a little different for the boys since they usually play with aluminum bats but they did very well. They came in second place in the whole tournament which we all thought was wonderful since this was the first time they had played together as a team!! Go Knights!

This travel ball stuff is new to us but from what we gather, we will be playing LOTS of baseball between now and July. They are planning on two tournaments a month where you play at least 2-4 games a weekend. That is a lot of baseball but also good practice! Thankfully, Jon Milledge loves to be on a baseball field and we love watching him!

The Knights with their trophies!

Making the play

My sweet boy with his trophy!

Guess Who Has All A's?

JON MILLEDGE!

His school has a parent/child breakfast every year to honor the kids who have maintained all A's for the first and second nine weeks. Today was the breakfast and what a proud Mama I was! I was beaming as I walked him into the school.

Here are a couple of pictures of the breakfast. There weren't many taken because Jon Milledge was horrified that I would even dream of taking a picture with all of his buddies watching!

Great job Jon Milledge! Keep up the good work!

P.S. Anderson goes to another school that is kindergarten-2nd grade and they only give S's, N's and U's on their report card. He has always had all S's but they don't have a breakfast! :( We are very proud of you too, Anderson!

SNOW!

We had snow twice last week here in the deep south!!! That NEVER happens! Of course, it didn't last long at all, but my boys enjoyed it as long as they could!

Update on my bedroom....

Thank you all so much for your comments and suggestions about my bedroom! We decided on GREEN! The color is called desert grass so as you can tell from the name, it is a brownish, goldish, green.....if that makes sense. I just mean that you can look at it one time and it looks green, the next time a gold and then the next time a taupy color. It's pretty cool!

We only had one mishap....Milledge was trying to catch a flying paintbrush and stepped off the 8 foot ladder wrong on Saturday but didn't tell anyone how bad he was hurting until Sunday night (after the room was finished). MEN! So, we spent this morning in an Orthopedic doctor's office and found out that he tore several ligaments across the top of his foot. Ok....I guess he was hurting! He is now the proud owner of an aircast boot thingy and "crunches"(as my boys call them)! Our bedroom looks great though! Thanks Milledge for suffering for the cause! ;)

I am going to post a picture of a little part of my bedroom. It isn't quite finished yet...I am still waiting on some sham stuffers and a few other odds and ends. But here is a preview!

Can you tell it is green? I can't get a good picture where it looks as green as it really is.

The Boot!

Help! I Need Your Opinion!

Calling all my blogging friends! I need your help on deciding what color to paint my bedroom this weekend. I have new bedding and I want a new color but Milledge and I are not agreeing on what color it should be. This is where you come in. I am posting a (scanned) picture of the new bedding, my room now and a little of my bathroom, and a picture of one of the pillows that goes with the new bedding so that you can see the colors up close. Please give me your opinion on what color you think my room should be. I will post the decision and the new room when it is complete!
So far it has been suggested to paint it a yellow gold, a red or a sage green. One problem I have with the gold is with the bedding being goldish, I think it would be way too much gold. Even though I think a red would look great with the bedding there are a couple of things that wouldn't work. Like, I don't think red is a very calming color for a bedroom and my kitchen and a hall that leads to my bedroom are a completely different color of red. So, red is out. That leaves the green, which is what Milledge wants, but I'm not sure how that will look with the red all around it either. HELP!
Thanks in advance for your thoughts and help!

Hairbows, Fingerprints, and, Shots..OH MY!

I am way behind posting about the latest hairbow swap I participated in....better late than never, I suppose! I participated in a one time swap with three wonderful waiting mothers who also happen to be mothers of just boys, like me! So, I think it is safe to say that all four of us are very serious about our need for hairbows when it comes to our daughters. Aren't they the cutest??!

These are from and made by Terri. I love all of them but the little ladybug is just too cute and was such a creative idea for a clippie bow. And what about the Bulldawg bow? How cute is Ruthie going to be in Athens on game day with this bow?! I am so impressed with her hairbow making! I need to come take lessons, Terri! Terri lives here in Georgia and is the mother to two handsome boys who are patiently waiting for their sister Sophia. Thank you so much!!! I love them all!

These cute polka dot bows with a "R" monogrammed on them are from my friend Kelly who lives in Louisiana. Kelly and I have the same log in date and have really formed a wonderful friendship that I know will last a lifetime. She also has two precious boys who are counting down the days until they get to meet Eva. Also notice the little fortune cookie soaps that she added to my gift. Too cute! Thanks Kelly!

This precious snowman bow and Christmas clippie came from Ashley. I just love this little snowman with the feathers and I can't wait to find just the right outfit for Ruthie to wear with this one! Sounds like a shopping trip in the making! Ashley lives in Colorado with her husband and three handsome teenage boys who are all looking forward to the day when they can travel to China and bring Lilly home. Thank you, Ashley!

Milledge and I have decided to go ahead and update our home study so that we can get a new immigration form from the US government before it expires. The paperwork for this is nothing compared to what we did the first time around, two years ago, but there is still some foot work to be done. So far I have: turned in our consent for DFACS to run a check on us, called to get the county to come test our well water, gotten both of our verification of employment letters done and we have been fingerprinted. WHEW! Also, today we went for our second round of Hepatitis A and B shots in preparation for our trip to China. It is nice to be doing something in regards to our adoption besides worrying about it for a change. Hopefully we can move all of this along quickly since the form expires on February 9th and if you apply for it before it expires you can get a one time free extension! We are all for that!

OUCH! Sorry for the nice view of my "undergarment". I thought she would pull my sleeve UP...oh well!


"I'm not going to cry, I'm not going to cry!" ;) At least she didn't do this to my shirt...that would've been really scary!

Here is Milledge being "booked". There is no picture of me having my prints done because Milledge thought it was ridiculous to be taking pictures at the sherriff's office. The things we will do for a blog post and to document our adoption! tee hee :)

Giving it up...

I won't beat around the bush.....this wait has me frustrated, scared, worried and frankly a little angry. I want my baby home.....well....yesterday. I want more definitive answers as to why this wait has become so long. I want to see Ruthie's sweet face. I want someone to tell me when I will hop on a plane and head to China. I want to know how much older my boys are going to be when Ruthie comes home. Ok, who am I kidding...I want to know how much older I am going to be and if I can really handle a baby again. I want to know if I should update all of my paperwork or let it expire until we are closer to travel. I want to know why you have to redo your fingerprints every 15 months.....don't they remain the same, hence the reason for having fingerprints? Do you see a common word in all of these statements? "I" have realized this week that this whole process has been a lot about me and what I want and when I want it instead of truly trusting God with our adoption, my marriage, my family and lots of other areas of my life. I sooooo want to be in control of it all!
Yesterday it was big news on the China adoption front that the one small bit of information that we get every month from the CCAA, via their website, was being taken away. Don't get me wrong, I am still frustrated about this, but it was just a box! I was all out of sorts and completely stressed over the removal of a box from a website....WHY????! What have I become? I have been telling people that through this adoption God is teaching me patience(and he probably is)however, I am more convinced this week that He is asking...NO....begging me to release my need to be in control and to learn to give it all to Him.
While I am flipping out over "the box", there are two heartwrenching stories unfolding in the adoption world that you can read about here and here. I do not know either of these famililes personally and feel a little apprehensive about posting about them but my heart is breaking for them. I don't understand these things and probably never will this side of heaven but I do know that God is still on His throne and He is good. Please pray for both of these families.
After reading about these two precious children, it didn't take me long to realize that I had the wrong perspective about everything. I have a great husband, two healthy children, the opportunity to grow my family through adoption, and generally a wonderful life. I cannot control the CCAA or the fingerprint thing anymore than I can control the weather so why should I be so worried about when and how this adoption is going to happen? I have decided(at least for today) that I am placing all of this at His feet and letting Him take care of it all. Life is so precious and is meant to be lived to the fullest and I don't believe God intended for us to live in turmoil, stress or worry all the time. My friend, Kelly, sent me some great bible verses yesterday that really helped me to put all of this into the right perspective.

"I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord....Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord." Psalm 27:13-14

"He does not fear bad news, nor live in dread of what may happen. For he is settled in his mind that God will take care of Him." Psalm 112:7-8

"I am the Lord, the God of all mankind; is there anything too hard for me?" Jeremiah 32:27

So, I am giving it all up and placing all of my trust in God. I have always said that He called us to adopt and that he won't forsake us. Now, it is time for me to truly believe that and actually live it. Pray for me!

14 Month LIDiversary!

No profound statements today, I am just acknowledging the milestone. I am extremely down after the last VERY small batch of referrals and can't help but wonder how much longer we will be waiting for Ruthie. I just wish for once during this process, we would see even a small glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel. Praying for a better 2008.

Precious Memories

This is a picture of my maternal grandparents with their three daughters, the oldest one being my mother. This photo was probably taken in the mid to late 1950's at a Delta Airlines family day. My aunt Patti, who is the sweet baby in the picture, found this and gave a copy to each of her sisters and to all of the grandchildren this year at Christmas. It is such a precious memory for all of us since both of my grandparents are no longer with us. They were both very sick when they died so it is wonderful to see this picture and remember them when they were young, vibrant, healthy and happy! I miss my MawMaw and PawPaw so very much and wish everyday that they could've known my boys. My PawPaw would've loved watching the boys play ball since he was a baseball player himself. Jon Milledge and Anderson like to say that they got their ball playing from their great-grandfather. :) My grandfather was a mechanic for Delta for almost 30 years and my boys love to go by the airport, find the planes that..."your PawPaw worked on, Mama!"
Thank you, Aunt Patti for this precious memory. I will cherish it forever!

Happy New Year!

May yours be filled with love, peace and happiness!