My Little Girl

For Nora’s third Gotcha Day (celebrating the day we adopted her) we asked a friend to take a photo shoot of our sweet little girl.  We met in a gated community just before sundown and Nora could not figure out why we wanted her to sit in the weeds!  Hahahaha!  On a blustery Wednesday a week later we met in Target parking lot to exchange the goods.  When the CD went into the home computer and we admired each scene… each smile… each dimple… I realized my little girl isn’t going to be little for much longer.  Seriously, it was the first time I thought those thoughts.  Her face is thinning out.  Her big teeth have almost all shown up for the party.  And she does her own hair now.  Our time with our kids is so short!  And when they arrive at your heart’s door at seven years old, it is entirely too swift of a time until they leave home!

This picture is my favorite of all of them because she is laughing, truly laughing and it shows in her eyes.  It’s so sweet.  Then I took a long swallow and realized that she looks at her Daddy with these loving eyes and that cheery smile, but only for a little while longer.  My stomach did a flip flop and sank as I realized this smile and adoring look will be aimed at her next Knight in Shining Armor in as little as TEN YEARS!  WHAT!  Stop the bus!

Well, she did tell us that she’s not getting married until she’s 35, so we have a few more years than most.  :o)

Hug and kiss your kids!  And make them sit in the weeds!

2011 the Year of Realization

My own baby girl was IN a wedding this past summer.  One of her high school friends who is a few years older than her…. got married.  I know that sounds like a DUH! moment, but it made me sit up and realize that marrying off my baby girl is not that far in the future…. like another 10 years maybe.  Maybe.

Today is a wedding of a daughter of one of my friends.  That means I’m old enough to have friends with daughters getting married.  I know that sounds like another DUH! moment, but I’m realizing again that marriage of ones children is inevitable.  But how can it be happening to young people MY age????  I am heading over early to help with decorating.  That’s what MY MOM used to do.  MY MOM!

So, as today slips by, remember to hug your little babies, who may be taller than you now.  It won’t be long until they come and tell you that they are leaving you FOREVER.  Sad but true!  Happy but true!  This IS what we prepared them for, but no one prepared ME!

International vs. Domestic Adoption

We have been asked many times why we are leaving our fair country to adopt in a foreign land.  “There are so many kids in the foster system that need homes!”  We’ve heard all the reasons…. and they are valid.  Our answer is, “We are doing what we are called to do.”  If the Lord guided us toward an adoption here, then that is what we would do.  But He did not, so we’re not.  There are also other reasons that we grappled with during our initial adoption inquiries.

Before we chose an agency or a country, I spoke to any adoptive parent that would stand still long enough for me to ask questions.  One such parent was a mom from our daughter’s volleyball team.  She had a young son and daughter whom they adopted…. I thought from Russia.  I’m not sure what made me think Russia?  They did look a bit Russian… brown hair, white skin…. that’s it.  I called her to ask her some questions about their international adoption of Russian kids.  She paused and said, “Uh…. our kids are from the Arizona foster system.”  Oh.  OK.  (Now where do I go??)  She asked if I would mind sharing why we would look outside AZ for a child who needed a home.  We knew each other fairly well and so I spoke my concerns openly… “We are concerned about the psychological difficulties with kids from this system and we don’t want weird relatives showing up at our door.”  Some may say I’m narrow-minded, but hey, we all have our hang-ups. Those were mine.  Her answer not only surprised me, but confirmed our international selection.  She responded, “Oh, well, we’ve had both of those things happen in the first year alone,” and she went on to explain it all to me. 

Funny thing is, last night I found myself on the other side of the weird relative equation.  On facebook we found a niece of ours who had an adoption plan made for her shortly after she was born.  She is now 19 or 20.  She is beautiful…. and looks just like one of her aunties.  My husband and I talked about whether I should contact her or not.  We decided a quick one-liner intro and request to be a friend would be appropriate.  She is “friends” with her bio-mom, sister, aunt and uncle…. all from our family.  So I figured, what’s one more weird relative??  When I went to her page this morning, I discovered that she is getting married in four days.  She is busy and in love and doesn’t need another weird relative this week.  I’ll wait a month or two.