Summer

We took Bella to the airport today to fly to St. Louis to see her dad for the summer. This day is always the start of summer for me. I will miss my little girl terribly this summer although I know she enjoys her time with her dad and little sisters. Life seems to get much quiter when she leaves and 10 weeks seems like a long, long time. We are planning on using this summer to save lots of money, finishing our yard, and getting the house ready for the home study we will be having done this fall.

I will miss my baby so much this summer....

Bella with our dogs

Nicky's 18 Month Birthday

Nicky was 18 months yesterday. Since he shared his birthday with Bella and eight of her friends last year, we thought he should get to celebrate his 1 1/2 year birthday on his own. He was so cute and loved the cake and icecream.

A Walk to Beautiful

This is one of the most powerful movies we have seen this year. It is a documentary about the women of Ethiopia. You can either watch it on the Internet or check your local listings on PBS. I would encourage everyone sharing this journey with us to watch it.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/beautiful/program.html

Adoption Update

Well, it looks like our focus now is getting the $$ we need to start. Along those lines, I believe God is providing and will continue as we try to reach our goal. Yesterday we received a check in the mail for the overpayment we had in our escrow account for our home mortgage to pay the insurance and taxes. Yippeee, $150 we did not know we had coming! Every little bit helps and I took it to the bank right away to deposit in our adoption account, I was so excited to get it. Our little stork is moving along.

Along those same lines, Simon only has one class left to take and will be done with his degree by the end of June. He had two interviews (different positions) with a local bank last week. Hiring for one of the positions had to be put on hold, but he was the person they wanted, so we will see of they will be able to hire it soon. He is still waiting to hear on the other one. We are hoping we will get an answer next week.

We have been looking for ways to speed up our savings. I have tossed around the idea of a yard sale...maybe a little later in the summer. We did find a great company that specializes in providing products for adoptive families to sell to help fund adoption. They support many fair trade projects and the products come from Ghana, Haiti, Peru, and Uganda. We are really excited about it and will have more info coming soon.

I found the coolest picture today I want to share. It is of a woman who spends her days sculpting clay at the Ethiopian tourism board’s workshop. The artists are paid for their labour. Their work is bought mainly by tourists. I just love it. Enjoy!

New Cluster Map

I am so excited about our new Cluster Map (look on the left). It will show us where everyone is from who is reading our blog.

Also, don't be afraid to leave me comments...it is great to hear what you all have to say.

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers Day to all moms out there!

We started a new family tradition today, we went hiking in the mountains outside of Fort Collins. We had a lot of fun and plan to do it every year. The weather was beautiful. Here are a couple of pictures....

Children Without Parents

I have been thinking a lot lately about how it must feel to be a child without parents. Bella and I were talking about it today and she said that I, "have made her who she is". I thought that was pretty profound coming from a 9 year old.

My earliest memory was when I was 4 years old and had to be put in the hospital for dehydration from a stomach virus. I was so scared when my mom left my side. I can still remember how horrible it felt to not have her there, almost like I was no one without her.

That memory makes me think of all of the children around the world without parents, my identity was tied to my mother, what would I have been without her? Very, very lonely and scared.

Maybe I am thinking more about this because of baby Nicky, every couple of weeks one of us (Simon, myself, or Bella) will say, "I can't imagine our life without him." As he grows and develops more of his own personality...with our influence, it makes me want to be that influence for more children.


Maybe I am thinking more about this because of Bella, she is maturing and becoming her own person, but her identity is still tied to me. Who's identity is children without parents tied to?

My parents gave me a childhood where I felt loved and safe. Following that example, I want to give that childhood to as many children as I can.