Great Question?

This is a short and to the point video. I'm curious, what are your thoughts?

Yipee!

Another step closer! Our adoption director, Radu, called today and let me know that our dossier was all in order and is being fedex to Washington today!! Whoo..hoo!!!

From what he tells me, the dossier can be in Washington for up to 2 weeks and then it gets shipped back to Radu. As soon as he gets it, he will fed ex it directly to Ethiopia. When it reaches Ethiopia, we will "officially" be on the wait list. While we wait, it will take about 3 weeks to translate the dossier. The courts are closed in Aug and Sept so I won't get a court date until they reopen even if we get a referral of a child before then. So there you have it! Praise the Lord!

PS I will let you know when the dossier makes it to Ethiopia.

Another big step...

So it has been long overdue but our after many delays due to reasons I don't wish to rehash, our dossier was shipped Fed Ex today to our agency! We have been told that our agency will go over the papers and make sure that we are not missing anything. They will then send it to Washington to get authenticated. That will take up to 2 weeks. Then it will go to Ethiopia and at that point we will officially be on the wait list for a baby! I hope that all the paperwork is in order. I already found two mistakes made by the people who certified 2 of the documents and I had to resend them in. Yes, that's right, the secretary of state made 2 mistakes just in my packet. Unbelievable!

Anyway, I have a big sense of relief to finally get this off and I will be really excited to finally get on the waitlist after a long 9 months. Praise the Lord! Thank you Jesus that my paperwork is in your hands.

My Heart Aches...

It has been a surreal week. As most of you know, I'm a real estate Broker. One of my real estate agents, Steve Warren, was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. I have been in deep prayer all week and I can't get him and his family off my mind. I can't believe that it's not a dream, it's real and it's hard to take.

Steve is an amazing man who sells real estate to pay the bills but had devoted his life to missions and the will of the Lord. He and his wife, Sheri have two kids. One day he is on a mission trip to Egypt and the next he is in the hospital and the doctor tells him he has cancer in the throat, stomach, spine and bones. It's inoperable and if gets chemo it will only prolong his life by a few months.

What a shock! I'm mad at the devil for attacking this man of God and trying to take him away from his wife and kids. I have been in deep prayer for him and his family.

BLOGGERS: If you are Christian and you believe in the power of prayer, I ask for your help. I need for you to agree with me for healing on Steve. Steve also has no insurance so I pray for finances. We also pray for the doctors to have wisdom. We pray for Steve and his family.

You can read more about Steve and get updates on his blog: http://steverwarren.blogspot.com/

It really does put things into perspective, doesn't it? Thank you Lord for all of the blessing you have put in my life, including knowing Steve Warren!

Cloth vs. Disposable- Round 2

So I posted about G diapers recently and started doing a lot of research on cloth diapers. Thanks to all the moms who gave me some great advice, including Tara. She is like supermom to her new little one. I'm leaning towards doing the regualr cloth diapers and using a diaper service. We actually have a diaper service in Rockwall that just opened. Of course much of this depends on the person that watches our baby girl during the day. I went to the website of the diaper service and inquired about the service.

The owner, April, was extremely helpful. She is full of info about cloth diapers. I'm a newbie to this so I needed all the help I could get. Here is the email that April wrote me:

Amber,
So glad you are interested! I'm attaching some pictures of the prefolds and the covers.

The way it works is that you put the prefold on your baby and attach the prefold with a snappi, then cover the diaper with a cover that attaches with velcro. A snappi is a stretchy T-shaped device with grippers to grip the diaper on both sides to keep the diaper on. For a newborn, you can skip the snappi and the diaper is held on by the cover. Then when you change the diaper, you change out the prefold and use the cover again until it needs to be washed. The inside of the cover can be wiped clean with a baby wipe, and just needs to be washed when the gussets get dirty. Usually, for me, I can use one cover all day. Or I use two, and let one dry while I'm using the other.

There are also other types of diapers such as all-in-ones and pocket diapers. With the all-in-ones, everything is sewn together. The plus side is it is one step, but it has to be washed after every use, is more expensive, and takes longer to dry. The pocket diapers have a layer of fleece that helps keep your baby dry, and you stuff the pocket with whatever absorbent layer you want. These also have to be washed after each use, but have faster drying times. I like to use these for church, and for my husband since he doesn't like that there are 2 steps with the prefolds.

Most people use a variety of these methods, and create a "stash" of cloth diapers. The diaper service is great for either the prefold/cover method, or the pocket method (you can stuff the pocket with prefolds). I know this is a lot of information to take in, but I am here to help you. I can show you all of the items in person and how to use them before your baby comes.
Support and education are a big part of my business.

If you are having a baby shower, I can send some cards to put in your invites that say you are going to use a diaper service, and people can purchase weeks or months of service for you for a gift. If you like, I can send you a catalog, some information on cloth diapering, and a sample of this card. Just send me your address. If you have more questions and would like to talk, call me anytime. Congratulations on your new baby!

April Kelm
Green Baby Diaper Service
Cloth Diaper Service, Supplies, and Support http://www.greenbabydiaperservice.com/

If you are in the Dallas area, check out their website, listed above. They have a lot of info and pictures.

If any of you moms have any more advice on the topic, bring it on. I love your help!

Pre-teens...gotta love em'

So Savannah has been back for a little over two weeks now after being gone for almost a month. I missed her so much. I thought that Rick and I would "party like Rock Stars" while she was gone but no, that's not quite how it went down. When we told Savannah that we were going to party while she was gone (we were joking around, of course) she replied in true pre-teen fashion when she looked at us like we were idiots and said, "what, you are going to go to bed at 10:00 instead of 9:00?" What a smarty pants. I said, "no Savannah, we aren't that lame." Guess what, she was right. I hate when she's right. We found out when she was gone that we are really lame. The only thing we wanted to do was sleep, relax and stay at home and yes I think we went to bed at 9:00 a few times. Dang it!

Since Savannah got home she has had a friend over almost every night. I was beginning to think one of them moved in after I did an extra load of her laundry because she had been with us for 7 days. Let the pre-teen days begin. She is such a social butterfly. Hmmm...I wonder where she got that?

Her friends from KS, Hope and Lexi (yes, they are twins) were in town with their mom, Cindy, who is one of my favorite people. We had fun girl nights and lots of pool time. We also took the girls to ice skate. I miss them already.

Anyway, I'm cherishing this age even though it scares me to death its also really fun.

I thought I would post a few of my favorite pictures of my girl!

Savannah and Abby

I swear this picture has to be good for black mail some day, right?

What is with the peace sign in every picture?

She's growing up so fast! What a doll!

Keepin' it Real- Part II

Thank you to all the blog buddies that gave me advice and encouragement after my last "Keepin it Real" post. You all are so awesome and I am blessed to have a community of women who are so cool and supportive. I love ya!

I have brought my concerns and worries to Jesus and He has had a plan all along. I only want to be in His plan. I have been listening to the song, "Come to Jesus" by Chris Rice a lot lately. It is my favorite song right now. I sing it as a prayer and bring it all to Him.

At church this morning I was reminded how we all have a calling. One of my callings was to work with orphanages and to adopt. God put me with a husband who has the same calling. When I think about how cool that is, I'm amazed at God and His plan. Rick is actually the one who brought up the topic of adoption before I did. I haven't shared this before but Rick and I can have a baby without adopting if we want but God has called us to adopt and I can only rejoice in that. So when I start to feel discouraged, I will rejoice in Him for the precious calling that He has placed on our lives. I will also rely on my blog sista's that encourage me. I hope to be there for all of you as you have me.

We decided to put together all the furniture for the nursery. It was so fun to work on the room with my hubby and stop to think about a baby that would soon be in that room. We talked about baby names and spent some time together. The furniture had been sitting in the garage since we bought it. Seeing it all put together was exciting. I can't wait to put our precious little one in her new room. I will decorate in the months to come and post more pictures later. Here is the start to *****'s room. (we aren't sharing her name yet in case we decide to change it.)

You gotta love a guy who reads directions!

I know I'm not in the pictures but I swear I helped. lol. This is a picture of us all hot and sweaty after finishing with the furniture.

I recently recieved a very pretty blanket from Laura in the "Pay it Forward" game. If you want to see it, go to this post. So it took me forever, buutttt...I finally finished the gift that I'm "Paying Forward" to someone else. Jessica was the winner! One of the reasons why it took me so long is that the rules are that the gift need to be homeade. ughh...It took forever to figure out what I was going to make. I don't sew and I'm very busy. I just love Jessica to peices so I burned her a cd of some of my favorite christian (uplifing) songs. I hope she likes it. Hey, better late than never, you know. :)Now Jessica has to "Pay it Forward" to someone else.

Keepin' it real...

For the royal blog readers, you may have noticed that I haven't posted in a while compared to usual posting habits. I'm going to keep it real and risk sounding whiny.

Many of you know that I'm in the real estate business and this our busiest time of year. I have 89 agents selling for me and things are a bit crazy to say the least.Sometimes I'm being pulled in so many different directions that my arms may rip off. To be honest, even though this keeps me busy, it's not what is getting me down. That's right, I'm admitting that I have been a bit down emotionally. Although, I do wish I was at the pool when I look outside instead of being in the office.

I don't know if it's normal but I have hit a wall with the adoption of discouragement, emotional and fiancial stress. We are 9 months into the process and things are going ok, but to be honest the whole adoption seems so far off and unreal even at 9 months. I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel right now. I know that it will all be worth it in the end, I have just hit a week of discouragement not through events, just emotionally. I fear that this sounds selfish because I read other blogs with people who are totally on hold and they have it so much worse than me. Regardless, I'm trying to "keep it real" and let you know how I'm feeling.

We are blessed with so many things and God has and will supply all our needs according to His riches and glory. We are a blessed family, no doubt about that. I wish it was cheaper to adopt so that more children could have a forever family. Although Ethiopia has one of the less expensive adoption programs, it still can cost up to 20,000 and more with all your expenses. The fees blow me away. Kids are also starving in Africa and I feel like I should be doing more.

Another thing that has been heavy on my mind is Rick, my husband. He works really hard and also has a very demanding stressful job. He leaves the house at 6:00 in the morning and doesn't get home until 7:00PM usually. By the time he gets home he is absolutely exhausted. He is an awesome dad. I worry about his health. I love my man and I want him to be around for a very long time. For me, Savannah and the child that we are about to adopt. Rick and I both need to work on finding balance in our lives so when we add a family member we are ready.

We are asking for baby so our lives will change drastically from what we are used to now. We have a 12 year old now that doesn't need constant supervision. I honestly want to adopt so badly I can't even begin to tell you but I still worry about finding balance in all the madness as a working mother and having a busy husband. How is it that I feel overwhelmed and I don't even have the baby yet? I will probably get judgement for admitting to these feelings but hey, this is life and I can't think that I'm the only one dealing with these feeling. Maybe, I am.

I spoke with Radu, our program director about being a working family and my concerns. He stated that compared to what they have now, a child would be lucky to be with us. We do have a lot of love to offer and I can't wait. I need prayers for wisdom and guidance for God to show us how he wants us to procede with areas of help such as a nanny or someone to love our child while we are at work.

So I have rambled enough about a few of the things on my mind. Thanks to those that read my blog. My blug buddies are the ones that keep me sane most of the time during the adoption process. Window shopping will only get me so far and then I vent.

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Talk about a bad day! Look at this poor guy!