The Bible and Orphans

God’s Promises to the Orphan 
I copied this list from the Uribes Family blog.  They have returned from Colombia with their little man. So adorable.  I love the list because it shows the heart of a relational God.  A righteous God.  

I will defend you.   Ps 82:3  “Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless;  Ps 10:14  “You are the helper of the fatherless.”

I will rescue you. Ps 82:4 “Rescue the weak and needy;”

I will deliver you.  Ps 82:4 “deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

I will not leave you as orphans.    Jn 14:18  “I will not leave you as orphans;”

I will come to you.  Jn 14:18 “I will come to you.”

I will protect you.  Jer 49:11 “I will protect the orphans who remain among you.”

I will hear you.  Ex 22:22-23  “You must not exploit a widow or orphan.  If you  exploit them in any way and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry.”                                        

I will be your Father. Ps 68:5 “Father to the fatherless”

I will put you in a family.  Ps 68:6 “God places the lonely in families”

I will not forget you. Is 49:15-16  “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has born?  Though she may forget, I will never forget  you.”  

I will give you compassion.  Hos 14:3   “…in you the fatherless find compassion.”

I will give you justice.  Deut 10:18  “He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow.”

I will come close to you.  Ps 27:10 “Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will hold me close.”

Pregnancy Realization

Today was day #60….. the last day of the window of time when we were supposed to get our referral call for our adoption of our little princess from Colombia.  Did we get a call?  No.  Did we get any indication of any adoption news?  No.  Disappointing?  Yes.

Then I started recollecting the situations surrounding all of my other pregnancies.  Yes, this is a pregnancy of the heart, not the womb, but it is ever so real and genuine…. bringing forth a child to our home… forever.  Both of my first two children were,….. um, ……tardy in their arrivals.  I was induced with each of them on the TENTH day after the due date.  Yes, ten days late.  They weren’t even trying to come out yet.  At all.  Kid #3 was only five days later than the due date, but also induced, so we don’t actually know how long he would have stayed inside either.

So this child is proving to be a true Crosby….. tardy, but worth waiting for.  I must admit though, that 3 years 10 months and 4 days is EVER so much longer than we had originally thought or planned on.  If patience is a virtue, I’m a virtuous woman.

Yes, I called our case worker several times today hoping for a thread of information.  I did leave a message, and I’ll begin my calls again tomorrow morning.  They do find out families have been matched with a child two weeks prior to the referral call….. so they should know SOMETHING!

I’ll keep you posted.

Once Again…. I’m Not Sure I’m Ready!

My brother and his wife went away this past weekend to celebrate their anniversary up in the cool mountains.  (Side note: it’s STILL supposed to be over 100 ALL week!)  BAH!  Anyway, we have had their boys, ages 5 and 11, for some of the weekend when they weren’t at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  The five-year-old is almost six… so he’ll be very close to the same age as his new cousin, our little Colombian princess, who will be 5 or 6.  It was a good reminder for me to have him stay here, to kick-start my “Oh yeah, I’m going to have a 5 or 6-year-old child again” thinking. 

We went to church and I was NOT prepared with a purse full of fishy crackers and gummy worms, like a good Auntie should have been.  I had gum, three colors of pens and the back of a printed piece of paper to color on.  (I did have a Nintendo DS, but I didn’t show that to him.) He managed just fine.  Before we went into the service I asked him if he had to go to the bathroom.  He said, “Well, we better, just in case.”  Good idea.  Then we stopped in the cafe and bought him some orange juice, just in case too.  I grabbed a tidy little package containing a fork, spoon, knife and napkin, just in case too. 

Five-year-olds ask the best questions!  He asked if spoons cost more than forks because they are a “dinky bit” bigger?  He asked why I didn’t pay for the utensil package.  He asked if I could hold his juice bottle because it was too cold for him to hold.  He asked how we were going to find Uncle Rick because it was dark in the sanctuary when we eventually arrived.  All valid questions.

He didn’t open his juice at all in church.  He just colored with three colors on the back of my printed page.  He didn’t stand for the “singing part” because he was “just fine sitting.” 

It all got my mind a-wandering again.  Will our girl be able to sit in church quietly?  Will our huge church be overwhelming for her?  Will I be sitting in the five-year-old class all year?  Will I remember to take her to the bathroom before we arrive? Am I too old for this?  Am I ready for this?  I’m not sure at the moment, but I’ve been known to rise to the occasion more than once in my life.  {smiles}

This is referral call week.  Bring it on!

I Do Have Other Kids

Austin has been the focus of several blogs lately, but I feel obligated as a mother who teaches fairness and non-favoritism, to mention my three other children.  And for the record, when I kiss each one of them “Good night” I whisper in each one’s ear, “You’re my favorite, don’t tell the others.”  It’s a ritual of motherly love… that they are all well aware of… but each one secretly believes it’s true!

Larisa is my mini-me, except the blonde, blue-eyed version.  People say she looks like me, but the only resemblance I see is our teeth.  She is 16 and has spent all but two years of her life in my 24/7 care.  She went to kindergarten and first grade, but we have homeschooled her all the way to her junior year of high school.  And we still love each other.  Amazing!  Spending so much time with your mother makes you more mature than the other 16-year-old girls who spend 50+ hours per week with their giggly, boy-crazy friends.  It’s a proven fact of life.  She is a joy to be around!

Currently, Larisa is knee-deep in Chemistry and loathes it, unfortunately.  She is taking other classes too, but Chemistry is her ball and chain this year.  She’s not a math lover, to say the least.  I’ve been teaching her Algebra… and math was my favorite subject in high school.  It’s so logical.  It’s right or it’s wrong.  There’s no predicate nominatives or split infinitives to mess with your mind!  However, teaching Larisa Algebra has almost made me not like math anymore.  But we will be victorious.

Keeve is my huggable, thoughtful, slow-paced child and our musician.  Currently he is taking piano lessons for the third year and is playing the trombone in the elementary school band.  That is the only class he has ever taken at a school.  He was 11 the first time he darkened the doorway of a public schooling establishment.  He’s there for 45 minutes, twice a week, and he’s handling all the peer pressure quite well.  Keeve is also the only Crosby child to sport braces so far.  He’s bearing that burden like a champion!  The change in his teeth and jaw shape in a mere four months is nothing less than amazing!  Keeve is also my baby boy.  He’s the one who will be the most displaced when our Colombian princess gets home to stay.  We’ve had many a talk with Keeve about this and he’s OK with the whole deal.  He prays faithfully for his little sister each night for her to have a bed to sleep in and someone to love her and feed her.  It’s precious.

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We have only four more days in our wait for our referral call for our little girl from Cali.  Please see my adoption blog for stress-related information:  www.ZazasMama.wordpress.com.  Here is the extent of what we know about our daughter at this point:  she lives in the Cauca Valley, in Colombia.  She is 5 or 6 years old.  She is an orphan.  She speaks Spanish.  That’s it.  Here are my educated guesses about her at this point:  she has black hair, olive skin and brown eyes.  She is tiny for her age.  That’s it.  Here are my hopes about her at this point:  that she still has all her baby teeth.  She has dimples.  She loves to giggle and snuggle.  Someone has lovingly told her about the love of Jesus. She likes to sing and dance and play with dollies.

TOMORROW I could have all the answers to my questions about my girl!  The suspense is killing me!

My Son (the stud) is now Famous!

(Photo: David Wallace)

Here is the link to the news story on Austin, our 14-year-old son.  (My name is even in bold in the article!!!) 

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/heatindex/articles/2010/09/21/20100921heat-index-crosby-triathlon.html

COOLIO!

Horror of Horrors

Yesterday was an exciting day for our just-turned-14-year-old son, Austin, the triathlon winner.  A sports writer from our local paper came to interview Aus about his hockey to triathlon story.  He said that he checked out the results from the race and he had to go up four or five age categories before Austin’s score was not in the top five!  We didn’t know that. When Austin told him that just two weeks before the race he only knew how to doggy paddle, the guy was sold.  The story will run next Wednesday (of course I’ll link the article here!) and he is also submitting the story to the major US triathlon magazine… which I don’t know the name of.  I’m new to this triathlon deal.  Just three weeks ago I thought triathlon was spelled triathalon.  See, I’ve come a long way already.

Ok, onto the horror of horrors that has had you gripped from the moment you read the title of this blog.  About twenty minutes into the interview, a photographer shows up at the house to do a photo shoot of Austin.  The first words out of his mouth were, “Is there a trophy room where Austin has his awards?”  Well, yes there is.  But it’s the boy’s room.  The messy boy’s room.  The room with clothes on the floor and unmade beds.  I actually put my hands to my head and spoke the words, “Horror of horrors!” out loud, revealing my housekeeping secrets.  Downstairs is sparkling clean.  Past the middle landing on the stairs, you’re on your own, baby.  Hard hats may be required.  I have too many things to worry about like cooking, and laundry, and homeschooling, and gardening, and adopting, etc. to worry about the kids’ rooms being spotless.

They didn’t even give me two minutes of grace time to throw things under the beds.  The photographer was right on my heels going up the stairs.  Without much shame, I started shoving, hiding, smoothing, throwing, moving, etc.  We did get one-quarter of the room presentable in about five minutes.  To calm my nerves, I had to leave the room while they took the pictures.  Good grief.  Don’t worry, my picture won’t be gracing Good Housekeeping anytime soon.  The word is out, unfortunately.

I’ve always said, “If you want to see me, come on over!  If you want to see my house, please make an appointment for two weeks out.”  See, it’s true!

Flashback Friday!

Well, tomorrow is Friday… but Flashback Thursday did not sound as good as Flashback Friday.  Anyway, our younger son who is the one sporting the orthodontic headgear has had the contraption on his face non-stop since he got it.  I didn’t think he would be this diligent, especially after the first night when he said it made his entire top row of teeth hurt!  Tonight I found out why he is wearing it every moment he can…. my husband calculated how much it will cost if he has to wear it for the full nine months…. and he told Keeve that he will PAY HIM if he gets it off early!  Bribery is alive and well in my God-fearing home. And can I just add here that money talks in this house!

This reminded me of another bribe-gone-bad from a few years back.  Both my boys were scheduled at the dentist on the same morning.  The dentist looked at our older son’s teeth and announced that one tooth, which was already loose, needed to be pulled.  He quoted me $60 to pull the loose tooth.  I phoned my husband to give him the update and he asked to talk to our son.  They talked.  Then hung up.  I asked what was going on!  My money-saving husband told our son that he would pay him $30 to pull the tooth himself!  A savings of $30!  Of course, our son was all for the $30 tooth pulling plan and started pushing and prodding the loose tooth.

Back I went to the other son in the next room and sat with him during his cleaning.  After a while, son#1 called out my name, “MOM!”  I went in there to discover a bloody hand holding the prized $30 tooth.  I was not surprised.

After cleaning #2 son’s teeth, the dentist reappeared in the room of son #1 who was still holding his freshly extracted canine.  The dentist was a bit surprised (and probably sad at losing and easy $60) and had a peak in my boy’s mouth.  His next comment made me laugh all the way home (just like the little wee-wee-wee piggy!)  “Son, you pulled the wrong tooth.”  It was all okay in the giant dental picture, as it was coming out soon and was loose as well. 

So we arrived home with the $30 tooth still in his head and a free tooth in his hand.  My husband gave him two days to pull the other one, or the $30 deal was off. At the end of day two the money exchanged hands and the Big Indian Tooth Fairy (my husband) was busy twice in one week!

Oh, the joys of parenting with purpose!

It Ain’t What it Used to Be

Yesterday was not only my eldest son’s golden birthday (14 on the 14th) but it was my youngest son’s introduction to headgear.  Eeeegads.  My brother wore headgear in the late 1970s, but times have changed and so has headgear.  I’ve made a solemn promise never to post pictures on facebook…. or my blogs.  A mother’s got to protect the dignity of her children, after all.  I also promised son #1 that if he made fun of son #2 I would make some headgear for him to wear and pictures would be broadcast for all to see.  (I’m the nice mom, remember?)

So, the purpose of the contraption is to pull the entire upper bridge, including attached cheek bones, forward… while holding the forehead and chin where they are.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  At least it’s a pretty blue color.  :o)  Dr. Ortho said that our son didn’t need to wear it to school.  I said, “Oh yes he does!”  Yet another advantage to homeschooling…. cutting headgear time down by two-thirds.  He even wears it to sleep.  Not my idea of a good time, but he’s coping well.

Every time I see Mr. Headgear, I am surprised by the metal bar dissecting his face.  Hopefully I’ll get used to it… it just looks so much like a transformer, or a cling-on, or a muzzle.  I’m the mom, though, so I still think he’s cute.  I told him at bedtime that we actually do need to take a picture of him wearing the headgear so his children will know how we tortured him.  That’s what parents do.

Weekend Report

Whilst I was away scrapbooking amidst the pine trees, my family and our home-group from CCV had a garage sale to help raise funds for our adoption.  They are SOOOO awesome!  I did sell some of the bigger items on Craigslist too… and there are four or five more things to sell, but we made over $1,200 so far!  My teenage daughter and I pulled out all the like-new designer kids clothing from the piles and piles that were donated and plan to consign them next week.  That should be another couple hundred dollars.  Whoooo HOooooo!

The best story from the entire weekend was from Saturday morning at the garage sale.  For those who don’t know, we live in Phoenix, AZ…. home to MANY illegal aliens…. who ALL shop at garage sales.  AZ is also the home to the infamous SB1070 bill that enables officers of the law to ask for identification from anyone they pull over, who happens to look like they could be an illegal alien.  (I would love it if Obama came to AZ and got pulled over and asked for proof of citizenship…. but I digress.)

Anyway, there is a man in our home-group who is a policeman who works nights.  He arrived home from his beat and dropped by the garage sale to see his wife and offer his support to our family.  Well, his presence in his uniform didn’t go over so well with the shoppers.  In fact, many dropped piles of chosen articles where they stood, slouched to their vehicles in the cul-de-sac and escaped without showing proof of citizenship.  When everyone figured out what was going on, Mr. Policeman’s wife sent him home to change his clothes… and to stop hampering business.  As soon as he left the cul-de-sac, six cars came right in and the shoppers resumed shopping.  It was hilarious!

Blog-cation

That’s when I take a vacation from blogging.  But do not fear, it will only be for three days.  Yes, I get to escape the rigmarole of a homeschool mom and venture up to high country where the air is cool… for a SCRAPBOOKING retreat!  Itsda BEEEEST!  (That’s from Nacho Libre, in case you haven’t seen it yet.) 

I was apprehensive about going because I don’t get cell reception where we stay… and this IS September… the month we are getting our adoption referral call.  But I was informed a week ago that we had not been matched at that point, so the call will be after the 16th.  Relief!  I can scrap worry-free! (Relatively speaking.)

These retreats come twice a year, and with my current lifestyle and schedule, it is the only scrapping I get done any more.  So, I knew I would want a lovely scrapbook of Colombia to share with everyone, but we obviously don’t have the pictures yet.  That’s ok.  I’m putting together all the pages now and then I can slap the pictures in when we return. Muy bueno!

Upon dragging out my supplies and tools (and dusting them off) I realized I still have not finished out scrapbook of our 2007 trip back East.  There are only 3 or 4 more double page spreads and I’m done.  So that is going too. 

Enjoy the weekend!  I know I will.