My People

I think everyone has their people. 
You know, the ones you'd drop everything and run to if they so much as hinted that they needed you.
I can look back through life and even see now that there are just some people that are MY people.  I don't know if I'm their person, but that's not really the point.
The point is that when push comes to shove and they need you, you go.I may not talk to them for months or sometimes even years, but I would literally go to the ends of the earth if they said they needed me.
I got a message today from one of my people.  She's like a little sister to me.  She's having a baby in a few weeks.  She and her sisters are my people.  Their mother passed away 2 years ago and I have a deep, deep place for them in my heart.
She kinda mentioned that she would really like it if I could maybe come out sometime kinda around when she has her baby.   
I've been thinking about it for weeks.  Sometimes we just need a little nudge from our people to set the wheels in motion. 
So I'm going to Virginia.  Cause my people asked me and because I SO desperately want to be there for this girl when she has her first baby.  Last time I saw these beautiful girls was their mother's funeral.  This may be just as difficult.  And I can't wait to see their beautiful faces!

The daily grind.

That's probably the name of a coffee shop. 
I know I've seen it.
This is the time of year that days run together.
And so because I love bullet points and I have nothing of real substance to write about here are some bullet point thoughts for you.
Lucky, lucky you.

*We bought a grill a month back.  First grill we've ever had.  Nothing fancy.  12+ years without a grill.  How?  How, I say, did we make it without a grill??  I do not know.  Burgers, pork chops, chicken, veggies.  Grilled to amateur perfection.

* I miss Haiti.  Like pain in my heart kind of miss.  Like bring me to tears if you catch me at the right time kind of miss.

*February is the next scheduled trip to Haiti. I am having the great debate.  Go or send the money?  I'm sure $1000 would go so much further then my manual labor.  But, UGH, I miss these people. See previous bullet point.

*Caleb had the line of the week on Friday.  I will not do it justice in writing.  Upon coming back from grocery shopping I told him to go help unload the car.  (Hand on hip, other hand on the couch, leaning, deep sigh...) "I'm thinking about it!  Mom, I always tink about ebery-ting."  Long pause.  Deep sigh... "OK!!  I'll do it!"--with a big smile.  Well, thank you for that thoughtful gesture.  Geez.

*I have a problem. I kill things.  Green, beautiful, lovely things.  I deeply admire covet the lawns around town with their shrubs and bushes and flowers.  I understand the logistics of growing things.  Water, sunshine, pruning.  I just suck at it.  Meaning I forget or don't transplant things properly or forget.  I think I would have a nice lawn in say, Arizona, where it's all concrete and rocks.

*I've been cooking quite a bit lately.  A few observations: I do like to cook.  I do not like cleaning up.  At all!!  I hate it.  The disdain I have for doing dishes FAR outweighs my desire to cook. I have to just push through sometimes.  I'm trying.  It won't last.

And there you go.  Happy Monday!

32

I am loving the 30s.  Truly.  I wonder if this shifts the closer I get to 40???  Don't tell me if it tanks as the number ticks up.

The 20s were no joke.  Major life happened in my 20s.  Marriage (technically that was the teens), all my children (so far), big moves, major life changing months of single parenting, death of my brother, friendships gained and lost, identity struggles, financial struggles.  The list is endless. I didn't know if I would make it out of my 20s whole. 

Well, obviously, I did, but not without a few scars. 
Much has changed in these past few years of my new decade.  Not much outwardly, but I feel it in my soul.  A solidarity with who and whose I am.  A peace.  A calm.  An understanding.  I cannot explain it fully, but I like it. 
I don't feel rattled by the everyday or the unknown.
I don't feel driven by some arbitrary set of ideals.  I don't feel bullied by what the world thinks I need to know or believe or aspire to. 
I am happy with my life.  Not because it is perfect or easy or simple, but because it is none of those thing.  It is made up of all the things I have chosen, worked for, cried over, and prayed about.  Many times, I wondered if I'd chosen correctly, or if some things were worth the work.

If I could, I'd go back and hug my 20 something self and tell her to just keep holding on...the fog lifts, the heart settles, the babies grow.  The "old" life I had so young rapidly becomes today.  A young me with "old" kids, a miraculously good marriage, solid friendships and family relationships and I'd tell her to choose it all again.

Football

It rained today.  And the temp dropped 10+ degrees.  It was GLORIOUS!  My windows are open.  The air is cool and I'm barely restraining myself from pulling on a sweater even though it's not quite sweater weather. 
I love fall.  I love summer too, but fall...It's so comfy and cozy and cool and wonderful.
And every fall for the past 8 years, it's included football.   Our lives from August through November have revolved around football.  This year there is football, but we will only be spectators to Elijah's games.  No coaching responsibilities, no afternoons at the field, no running around the athletic center waiting for dad to get done, no Saturdays spent entirely invested in a team and a staff.
I miss it.  Some of the time.  I miss the excitement of gearing up for a game.  I miss knowing the players and cheering them on.  I miss being a part of a team. 
I do not miss the long hours.  I do not miss navigating weeks on end without a partner. 
We're having a few of the players over for dinner tonight.  I'm SO glad we can still do that!  These guys mean alot to Chad and I'm glad he's keeping that connection.  We'll go to a few games, I'm sure.  We'll keep tabs on some of the guys.
It's not the same, but it will do.
 

Answers. Just not the ones we wanted.

Well, after many, many phone calls, emails and conversations with a variety of people we have come to the conclusion that we have to wait to start the adoption process for our Haiti babies.
I've learned more about Haiti adoptions in the past weeks then I thought I could without actually adopting. 
Here's the details: Haiti recently ratified the Hague Convention which means they will at some point implement certain requirements about how the US and Haiti process adoptions.  This means that any agency that wants to process Haitian adoptions has to submit paperwork for the Haitian government and then the government will decide which agencies will be allowed to do adoptions.  So, many agencies have submitted that paperwork but are not sure if they will be allowed to do Haitian adoptions once they implement the Hague regulations.

Second strike against us for now is that we're not 35.  There is rumor that that requirement will be changed along with the new Hague regulations, but no one knows for sure.
We could get a presidential waiver for this and our 4 children, but that adds a lot of time to the process and if one of us isn't 35, our dossier sits and gets outdated.
And finally, the nail in the coffin...the orphanage that we would like to adopt from is, as far as we know, not licensed to do adoptions.  Apparently, all orphanages must be accredited to operate as an orphanage.  In order to process adoptions though, they must be licensed and by definition are now called a creche.

So there you have it.  3 strikes.  Honestly, I'm ok.  I've spent the past few weeks just trying to get a definite answer so I'm happy to actually have that info so we can move on to fully focusing on raising money for the orphanage and possibly helping Josie get licensed! 
I still think we will adopt at some point, but it appears that may be farther down the road then we thought. 

Is anyone tired of hearing about Haiti??

That's a rhetorical question cause I'm not done talking about it.  So move along if you're kinda "over" me talking about Haiti. :-)
We gave our first talk/slideshow about our trip and House of Love and Hope Orphanage yesterday.  I did not pass out, stutter or make TOO many stupid jokes.  Chad spoke quite a bit which was not surprising to me, but may have surprised a few people.  We did not talk over each other or interrupt each other mid-sentence.  Which is a feat all it's own.

We would love the opportunity to do this again and again...and again to whomever will listen!  If you know of a group or organization that would be interested, let me know! We would even travel some if it meant a few more people would commit to this orphanage!
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In other news, I managed to do nearly nothing today.  Chad is on nights this week so he was home all day.
This was our agenda:
Let the kids watch movies and play on the computer til about 1 so we could be ultra lazy. 
Went to Dillons for essentials...donuts, milk, yogurt, fruit.
Read books.
Told the kids they coudn't watch any more TV or play on the computer cause I did not want their brains to stop functioning on a human level. 
Listened to them fight most of the day because they were re-learning how to deal with other human beings. 
Told Caleb 14 times in the span of 5 minutes that he could not play Angry Birds on my phone.
Finally let him play Angry Birds til my phone died.
Played a tortuous game of Spades in which Elijah and I forfeited because we had played for an hour and were -280 with no hope in sight.
Chad worked out and helped the kids through a CF Kids workout.  I took a power nap.
And now it's 530 and I should think about some type of food to feed the crazies, but I'm kinda spazing out cause I just entered the kids' activity schedules for the month and I think I'm breaking out in hives. 
My one activity rule is quickly going by the wayside.  Mostly because I don't want to count piano lessons as an activity.  That would be first thing Autumn and Cory would give up and I don't want them to so it's a freebie for now. 
Then Autumn insists she will be fine doing dance and gymnastics.  I'm sure she will be.  My head might start spinning.
Then Cory is playing soccer and he REALLY wanted to try gymnastics so we're gonna give that a go.  We know he loves soccer, but the older I get the more I wish I had learned some gymnastics skills when I was young.
So that's 3 activities for each of them.  Yeah, I know.  I'l see you sometime next summer.
Elijah is still good with just football and Caleb is the lucky winner of being dragged to all this madness.
Happy Fall Sports, friends!