Weights in waiting

I know I have been slacking in terms of writing this blog over the past year. Many of the blogs I follow tend to do the same thing…start off strong and with lots of “ideas” and “updates”, but then they taper as the weight of the wait keeps pressing on. We are well into 2 years of this wait and I think I may actually start to see a distant spot of shining light ahead. Our Dossier for China is 99.9% finished. 

I have collected every nuance of data on our family, had it notarized, trucked it down to down town Columbus on a very busy Monday morning, stood in multiple lines, finally had it county certified then state certified, copied it three different times, and happily, shipped the sucker off into the mail to be out of my sight and out of my mind, forever! I am happy to report it has made its way safely to Vancouver and is currently sitting on the desk of our case manager. The last remaining document will come from Immigration, and as you know, red tape is as thick as mud, so its exact date of arrival is still unknown.

Speaking of our case manager, we have heard that there are nearly 45 kiddos whose documents are getting prepared to be relinquished from the Chinese government to finally allow them to be adopted through our agency. She is very hopeful that in as little as 6 months, we will know and see the face of our little one. It seems unreal at this point. To think that early next year we could be traveling to China, meeting this little angle that we have dreamed about, and take them home to start our “new” family.  It’s exciting and scary and wonderful all at the same time. But for now, we keep preparing….and yes….waiting.

So, how is the wait going…Well, I have decided to be a little proactive in my wait. I could sit around and worry and grow anxious but I decided to do something constructive. In March I started focusing on getting my boys and myself, eating and living a little better. I started doing home workouts, for starters. You could say I started really getting into weights during my wait. 

And before long, I got addicted to them. I am using BodyRockTV.com, which is a FREE personal trainer right in your living room, or in my case, my basement, who literally rocks you to the core with amazing workouts. I did not intend to loose weight necessarily, I just wanted to get a little toned, stop feeling so out of shape, and have more energy for chasing after my 4 year old, but I am happy to say I actually lost about 10 pounds and several inches in the process. I have more energy now than I have had in years. This is by far the best workout I have ever done. I soon canceled my gym membership, started saving a lot of money, and am actually starting to feel like I’m in my 20’s again! As a mom, I never thought I would give up my time with my little guy to do something for myself, but here is the thing, he loves to “work out” with me (you can tell by the video below). Kids love doing what you love doing! Ever notice how kids love playing on the computer, pretending to drive their little cars, pretending to mow the lawn with daddy? They love to do things they see us doing. When I work out in my own home, He is right there with me and sees it as a time we are spending together. I even got jay in on a few workouts. The best thing, these workouts are not time consuming. Many of them are 12 min long, but they really work you in those 12 min. Now some workouts are longer, but the website is packed full of great advise on not only fitness, but nutrition as well. 

I also started focusing on all of our nutrition. My boys love to eat out, especially my grown one, and the ramifications of eating out have begun to be evident in our overall health. I started looking into adding more locally grown produce into our diets. Fruits have never been issue, but vegetables are hard to get down all of us, particularly my little one. I heard through my aunt of a pretty amazing little company called Green Bean. They deliver locally grown, organic produce, meats, cheeses, nuts, ect right to your home weekly or biweekly. We are eating vegetables we have never had before and they taste significantly better than what Kroger has on its shelves. I am not sold on just eating organic, but I do love supporting local farmers and can see a dramatic difference in the produce quality. I am trying new recipes, we are all eating better, and I think we are actually saving money!

Well, that’s about it on the update front. I do have some exciting news, Jay has surprised me with writing a blog post of his own! I didn’t even ask him too! As much as I assume the role of writer on this blog, it is our family that it centers around and I am ecstatic to hear Jay’s thoughts as an adoptive father in the next blog post.

Please keep orphans all over the world in your prayers. If you have not already, please head over to the CHIFF facebook page and “like” the CHIFF campaign, and please take a moment to sign the petition to our government letting them know that Children EVERYWHERE need families. Lets right the wrong that hinders this. Children do NOT belong in an orphanage, they belong in a family. 

Checking those marks

I have a weird confession. I love check marks. Glad I got that off my chest….But seriously, I do LOVE them. Its strange and I am not sure when my fascination with them started but I know as far back as I can recall, I have loved check marks. I remember in school, using check marks to document my progress through homework and essays. I even had a document through grad school that I used check marks to mark off each class, each semester, each clinical hour completed. Whenever I am at a conference and an agenda is sitting in front of me, I have to put a check mark next to the portion completed. It gives me a sense of where I am in the process, how close I am to finishing, truly gives me a sense of satisfaction. I find myself counting down, and most of the time spending more time concentrating on the number of marks I have and have left to go rather than on the topic itself. When I make a list, you guessed it, check marks next to each item completed. I love check marks. Even if there is not a clear area for a check mark to be placed, I create one! I was sitting at a conference recently and someone pointed out my neuroses. I was a little embarrassed, but then they proceeded to tell me how they do the same thing, so maybe I should start a club or something for people who just love check marks. I guarantee a lot of adoptive mommies would be on that list.

Its probably a good thing I like check marks, our adoption paperwork process is once again in full swing and I REQUIRE my little list of completed and uncompleted document check lists to keep me on track. Good news though, I have only a small amount of check marks left and it is an amazing feeling! This round was a breeze (knock on wood). I was told that China would be more difficult, but as this really was my third time around with adoption paperwork, I was able to complete it rather effortlessly. I have an amazing friend who is a notary and I believe that has made the biggest difference by far. We just met with our social worker again for yet another home study. We have completed most of the documents for our new dossier, and everything is coming together. I feel like we really are moving now. We are no longer stagnant, just a name on a list of hopefuls anymore. And I have to say, I truly think we made the right decision with transitioning to China.

The number one reason we choose Ethiopia in the first place was actually the number 6 million. That’s how many orphans are estimated in that country alone. China has always had a strong, thriving adoption community and so China never crossed my mind as a place where great need still existed. I mean, China is a world power house! The United States alone owes China some 1.3 Trillion dollars! And yet, there is still a huge need. Nearly 1 million (according to some reports) orphans are located in orphanages in china, and this comes as a speculated number as china tends to down play the number by at least half. Orphanages used to be filled with little girls due to China’s “One child” policy and its preference for sons, but now a majority of the children are sick or with special needs, and over 70% are boys! Often times children are abandoned because the parents do not know how to care for a baby with special needs, they cant afford to, or they feel an inability to emotionally cope with the challenges special needs can bring. The weird thing, most “special needs” are minor to say the least, at least in terms of what we feel are “special”.

In January of this year the province of Xiamen (pronounced Sha-men) opened up a baby safety island.  This was a shelter located at an orphanage where parents could discretely drop off their abandoned children without recognition (as it is against the law). Children were previously being abandoned where they could not be found and many died before being rescued. Since the opening of the baby safety island nearly 70 children have been abandoned and sadly there is not enough staff to help care for these kiddos and some have already lost their lives. They receive roughly 1-3 children there a day. Because of this increased demand, the baby safety island had to be shut down. But the children previously left have now caused a huge crisis in the local orphanages. Our adoption agency is partnering to hire 2 full time caretakers for one year to help with caring for these kiddos, making hospital runs for the sickest, and to help with paperwork to expedite their adoptions. The reason I wanted to share this with my family and friends is simple:  This is where our child WILL come from. Not that I solely care for one individual child, but there is a great need and I ask that your prayerfully consider once again partnering with us to make a change. We may not have much, but they have nothing. Giving as little as $20, shoot even $10 could change everything. For more information or to help donate please click HERE

Ok gotta get back to my check marks, hopeful for some good news soon.