Leila Update (an Amazing One!)

Written yesterday, July 28th, 2013

Dear Leila,

Today we heard some almost unbelievable news. I say "almost" because we serve a God that answers prayers, a God that says all things are possible, and a God that has a plan for each of us. So, nothing should really be unbelievable! Today, though, we learned news I admit I was not sure we'd ever hear - your birthmother and your orphanage director gave their blessing for you to come home! Thank you Jesus!

I want you to know that once the news sunk in I just cried. I cried tears of joy and gratefulness. Was it really true? The sweet little girl we'd been praying for, dreaming for, planning for - would she really be coming here? To our family? To be our daughter! 

We received the call from Paige, the adoption coordinator with The LINK. We were still in church talking and my phone was in the car. She called and texted several times to try and reach us because we had just spoken in church about you, and how we were both just praying and believing and trusting. The last thing we spoke about was God's timing and not ours. Coincidence? I think not.

When she got in her car after service, Paige had a message from Michael (Zalika's Daddy) saying that Leila's birth mother wanted to move forward and that they would begin getting all the paperwork together on the Niger side. The orphanage director that you have known all your life agreed, as well. You may not realize this, but that in itself was a miracle. WOW. 

Later this evening we received a call from Michael who is in Niger right now (just a few miles away from you). In fact, he saw you yesterday, and he said you looked better and that you'd gained some weight. Another prayer answered! He delivered the good news again and shared that we should get moving with our homestudy. And when he said how special it would be to allow Zalika (your life long best friend and his daughter) to be at the airport to greet you when you arrived, I just couldn't hold it together. More tears. To picture the two of you being reunited and with one another again felt like the sweetest thing. 

How humbled we are to be a part of your life, sweet Leila. Every day I think about you. Where you will sleep, what kinds of food you will love, how we will teach you English, if you'll like to sing and dance, what a wonderful big sister you'll be, what you already know about Jesus, how I will do your hair, when we get to take you to Disneyworld and all the other things a momma thinks about.

We know there may be obstacles ahead - to get you here and even when you're here. But we are ready with open arms. Until we meet again. Oh that sweet day.

We love you, 

Your forever family

Celebrating 30 (Again)!

I mean, why stop now!? I can't complain for a moment about being 30 with all this fun! Some of my very favorite cheerleaders and life-giving friends sent the baby of the group (me!) into the next decade with a celebration at Mexico Restaurant. We had 2 homemade cakes since Pam couldn't decide which one would be best and tons of laughter due to Vangie bringing a tripod in the restaurant to take self-timed photos and the waiters scaring me with a sneak attack to put the awesome Mexican hat on me and serenade me with a lovely song I couldn't understand. So much for the years of Spanish I took in high school and college. I love these ladies and am so grateful for their friendship and steadfast faith.

Next celebration - the big finale! My husband is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

Our First Camping Trip

We thoroughly enjoyed our first camping trip this past weekend with the Senters Family (Matt, Brandi and Addison) in Westmoreland State Park in Montross, VA. It is a beautiful state park on the Potomac River with a huge pool, wooded sites and plenty of nature to entertain all of us. The guys spoiled us ladies for our 30th birthdays (Brandi turns 30 on 7/24) and took care of breakfast, lunch and dinner on Saturday, while also sending us off for a few hours to 2 local wineries (Ingleside and The Hague). They specially prepared a delicious dinner outside on the grill of crabcakes, scallops, steak, corn on the cob, bakes potatoes and green beans. Yum! I started to feel lazy I was so relaxed. The kids were perpetually dirty as they were constantly playing in the dirt, leaves and rocks. They didn't care one bit. We're already looking forward to our next camping trip on Labor Day weekend!

Second Blastball Game

She ran to first base by herself!! Progress!!

We still started with Daddy very close by her side and in the field with her.

In position.

Ready to knock it out of the park!

Frazier snuck on the field when I wasn't looking nor were 3 of his grandparents that came to watch the action. He's a fast little guy!

My Trip to Southport

Over my birthday weekend I had the privilege of driving my Nana down to Southport, NC for 5 days to visit my Uncle Skip and Aunt Barb. We went solo (e.g. no kids), and my in-laws were very generous with their time and helped Geoff take care of the kids in my absence. We drove a brand new Ford Taurus rental car (Nana initially wanted a luxury car but only BMWs and Mercedes were available, and she won’t drive either since they are German-made – those feelings rooted from her WWII experiences and strong patriotism). So, a Ford we took, which was also a good choice in her mind because they didn’t take any bailout money from the federal government.  She has strong opinions.

On our journey down south we listened to 6 lectures on the life and writings of the famous theologian, C.S. Lewis – they were fascinating and made the drive go by quickly. Nana learned all about Bluetooth technology that only frightened her half a dozen times when I received an incoming call through the speakers. She also had Chick-fil-a for the first time ever! I’m serious. I thought everyone below the Mason-Dixon line had been exposed to the goodness that is called “Chick-fil-a”. Around our house, that’s almost the only place we go to get something out to eat. She loved it (of course!). By the time we made it to the rest area, and she had the toilet automatically flush on her, she declared, “This is too much. I think I’m ready for the next life.” She smiled jokingly, but I think between the Bluetooth, GPS and automatic flushing, it was a little much for an almost 89 year old.

Once arriving to the beautiful town of Southport, we were wined and dined by my aunt and uncle who are wonderful cooks and quite the wine connoisseurs. They don’t watch a lot of TV, which is fine by me, so we read a lot, and I worked some. We did watch My Fair Lady with Audrey Hepburn and The Artist throughout the weekend – both very good and virtually free of bad language, which my Nana also has trouble listening to. Maybe that’s where I get my sensitivity to all things vulgar from.

I thoroughly enjoyed having some quietness, and especially appreciated the time I had with my Nana. She is largely wheelchair bound, and I was able to experience with her the challenges of that, but it also gave us opportunities to be with each other to get ready for the day and prepare to go to bed. She continues to live with a positive spirit, a desire to keep learning and a faith in God I didn’t know she had or didn’t appreciate when I was younger.

Our journey home allowed us to finish the rest of the C.S. Lewis lectures, make another trip to Chick-fil-a (I won her over!) and to a rest stop. We had some discussion on politics, which naturally arose when she asked if we could listen to Rush Limbaugh (not my favorite because I find him so polarizing). It was quite a trip, and I’m thankful for the memories made. She’s quite a lady!

Celebrating my birthday at Fishy Fishy right on the water in Southport. 

Me, Aunt Barb, Uncle Skip and Nana.

30 birthday candles on a homemade almond cake. Yum!

My sweet Nana.

Let the Celebration of 30 Begin!

No small 30th birthday celebration here - I have a month to be excited about what many say is a great decade - my 30s. So far, so good. I'm feeling ok and doing some reflecting, which is always healthy. Before I let myself have any sort of pity party, I am reminded of how blessed I am to see 30 years! And truly, I have a handsome, live-life-fully, incredibly generous husband that God surely created just for me, and 2 wonderful, beautiful, precious children. And I think about our sweet Leila and pray she will be able to see 30 years and that her next decade will be brighter and happier than her first.  I am full of gratitude and thankful for God's grace today.

Well, we started the celebrating this past Wednesday with some of my dear friends that I have been going to a regular monthly dinner with for the past 4+ years. The 6 of us buzzed around town doing 30 acts of kindness, and we had a blast! We received some surprised looks, a few perplexing glances but mostly our acts were well-received and appreciated. It was really fun! Here's what we did with the pictures we took along the way. 

The note we left with most stuff we gave out: Please enjoy this random act of kindness. Kindness is contagious. Pass it on. "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." - Ephesians 4:32

On our way with our box and bags of fun!

Our awesome driver, Emily, enjoying a cupcake shot of trail mix courtesy of Renee!

Probably the biggest surprise of the night were 2 items listed on this sweet momento from Renee - #17 - Help Lacey put together her wedding favors. #24 - Paint DT and Lacey's new nursery. 

Yep, we're having a wedding and a baby! Needless to say, we had a whole lot to celebrate with Lacey's exciting news!!!!

The 30 Acts:

Memorial Regional Hospital

1.    Magazines to the maternity ward

2.    Baked goods for the nurses

3.    Coins at vending machine

4.    Roses to patients

5.    “Baby girl” balloon to new dad, balloons to visiting children, group of balloons for people to take in Labor and Delivery

Dollar Tree

6.    Gave money to a lady in line with a pretty full cart

7.    Left random dollars throughout the store (with baby supplies, in the freezer)

Wal-Mart

8.    Pick up trash/litter

9.    Feed quarters into vending machine or tape to it

10.  Return carts to the store 

11.  Gave roses to random people

Waffle House

12.  Tip a waiter who hadn't served us yet (he said, "I think I'm going to cry. I've been working here a long time, and no one's ever done a thing like this.")

13.  Give a rose to each waitress

Laundromat

14.  Leave coins for a wash/dry load

15.  Free compliments sign for the community bulletin board (Have you been working out? I love your eyes? Have you lost weight? I love your outfit!) 

Chick-fila

16.  Pay for someone behind you in drive thru (they paid it forward and left change for the person behind them! How cool is that?!)

Target

17.  Money into diaper bag with a note

18.  Money into the Love Dare book with a note

19.  Stamped random greeting card envelopes in Target

20.  Buy a gift card to give to someone random

21.  Thanked a man for serving our country (he was in his Army fatigues)

22.  Paid for someone’s coffee in the Starbucks (this woman was so tickled!)

Safe Harbor (local women's shelter)

23.  Group item donation

Pregnancy Resource Center

24.  Group item donation

Our Church

25.  Food pantry donation

26.  Northside Outreach Center clothing donation (they have a thrift store)

27.  Cookies for our amazing church staff

Dropping off goodies and donations at the church.

Along the Way

28.  Bless a toll booth worker (one didn't charge us for the toll! This was so fun to do because they were both so surprised! We got to bless 2 since we had to turn around...)

29.  Bags of microwave popcorn left at Redbox

30.  Write your husband a love note; write a note to a friend that needs encouragement

31.  PRAYER over all of it and my sweet friends for joining me.

 

Next celebration? 5 days with my 88 year old Nana in Southport, NC. New post to come on that.