Our Matching Grant Blessing!!!

The organization that approved us for a $5,000 matching grant (Lifesong) let us know that they will continue to match any donations that come in, even after the deadline date (originally 11/28) until we make it up to $5,000!!!!!

That is quite a relief!!!  I had so many people contact me regarding being busy but still wanted to contribute and got in touch with Lifesong and they are sooooo accomodating!!  They said it was no problem at all to extend the deadline.

For anyone that did not get our original letter (we did have some address mishaps), I have included the letter below.

ALSO, if you would prefer contributing online, Lifesong has a paypal account that can be used.  This is the link to their donation page:  http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/give/donate/  

As you scroll down you will see the option to donate online.  

Account #:  3127

Family Name:  Poore

Click here for our Lifesong Donation Letter

Click here for our Lifesong Endorsement Letter

One proud moment.....sort of

Sitting at breakfast today we were talking about how we could help others this year. Carson informed me that when he got older he was going to save half his money and buy blankets and food for people that need it......it made me think we may be doing something right......then came Cooper's idea.....still a lot of work to do....

Cast Off Party!!!

Well, we made it through our first cast!! I am actually quite impressed that we went 4 1/2 years without one! I don't know how many times I have envisioned one of the boys falling while we were at the park together and trying to figure out how I would get both of them in the car and to an emergency room on my own.

However, as far as breaks go, this was quite easy. There were 5 adults around when it happened, Carson wasn't in much pain and there were no bones sticking out (a complete fear of my own).

Carson wore a glow-in-the-dark cast for 4 weeks that could get wet and wasn't very troublesome for him. He was finally able to get it off on Tuesday and in true Carson form, was no big deal at all.

We celebrated with Gaga Margaret that night with a Cast Off party of pizza and frozen yogurt (Carson's picks)!

Let Fall begin!!

We officially started the Fall season by going to the apple orchard on Sunday. Unfortunately the orchard we go to every year was t letting people pick their own because of the bad crop they had, but we were able to find another orchard that worked out wonderfully!

Another small change this year was that we weren't allowed to eat the apples while picking them (because of Cooper's loose , but hopefully tightening, front teeth). That was quite challenging since the boys were used to getting all sticky eating the big apples. Thankfully Daddy brought a knife to cut the apples up for us to eat on.

We ended up getting 2 1/2 bushels of apples.....tons of applesauce and apple butter to be made!!!!

By the way, the pictures that look like the boys are taking a bite, is them acting......such good actors!!!

Cooper and Love

We invited Aunt Faith and the kids over to the pool last Thursday. Thankfully our pool is heated and it wasn't to cold. It was a good day. Isaac has finally acclimated to the water and Hope and the boys love finding new things to do in the water.

Anyway, as we were packing up and getting everything gathered I kept hearing Cooper call for Hopey: "Hopey, Hopey, Hopey!!". She finally stopped what she was doing and turned to him and he said:

"Goodbye Hopey, I love you"..... I turned quickly to make sure there was no kiss to follow (don't worry Uncle Brian, there wasn't). Faith and I couldn't believe what had just happened. Usually Cooper has to be prodded repeatedly to go say goodbye to someone! It really did catch us off guard.

That is the first time Cooper has told someone that isn't family that he loves them......pretty "major" to us.

Anyway, I just thought I should record that one.

By the way, here is a pic of Hopey for those of you that haven't met her.

One tired Carson!!!!

4 days with no nap, not going to bed until 10:30 or later and 6 hours at the beach leads to.....

Carson eating cheese in his sleep!!!!! Now THAT is multitasking!!

Yet another first!!

We didn't realize it until we were actually there, but this was the boy's first time going into the Indiana State Fair!!! The last time I was there, I was 5 1/2 months pregnant with the boys. The boys loved hearing that story

Thanks to Gaga Linda, we have actually travelled on the train to the State Fair, but haven't gone in. This year, Gaga Linda was kind again and gave us train tickets to ride the train to the fair and we decided to take advantage of the great weather and hang out there Sunday night.

Of course, the boys thoroughly enjoyed it (minus the smelly pig building). Cooper took after mommy and couldn't handle the smell for long. They loved the music, the people, most of the animals, the misters, the ice cream and the great train ride there and back! Once again, they were real troopers and made it all the way around the track on foot!

Thank you Gaga Linda for the incentive to go. The train ride made it an even nicer experience!

Another experience on our journey

We successfully made it through our second garage sale fundraiser!!!!!!!!! We surpassed our goal making over $1800 with several sales still pending!

Even though it was hard to make it through, it was great getting to meet new people, hear their stories of adoption and their words of encouragement.

We took the boys out for a fun evening with just the 4 of us after everything was over, even though mommy and daddy were utterly exhausted. It was great getting a chance to just have fun and focus on one another.

Sometimes it is hard not to ask why....

As I am sitting here at 11:10pm on a Thursday night before our 2nd garage sale begins, clothes damp from sweating, feet sore, back throbbing, eyes burning from being so tired (I know I should go to sleep), physically and mentally tired, it is hard not to covet the families that just get pregnant and have a baby.

What is it like to get pregnant without any assistance, without countless doctor appointments, without your savings being depleted just trying?  What is it like to have a baby by just getting pregnant, carrying it for 9 months while going on with your regular life and then having a baby?

I know that God has a plan for us and will use our situations for something greater than we ever imagine.  I know that no matter how much we have to go through and how hard we have to work, the baby that joins our family will make up for all of it.

I have had some people comment saying "at least you won't have to go through labor", "adopting means you don't have to go through all the aches and pains of carrying a baby".  How do you reply to that?  Other than reminding them that even when I was carrying twins, I enjoyed the journey of pregnancy, I was honored to go through every moment of pregnancy with the boys.  I felt better carrying twins than I normally did.

I have again been reminded while preparing for this sale of many things and had an entire day to reflect on everything.  I am reminded that God has placed very special people in our lives to help us along on this journey.  I am reminded that our way isn't always the best way.  I am reminded that the easiest path isn't for everyone.  Most importantly, I am reminded of one of my favorite scriptures:  Isaiah 40:31 "They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles.  They shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint." Teach me Lord to wait.

One step closer to big boys!

The boys rode their bikes to the pool for the first time. It was quite a site seeing their bikes parked beside each other at the pool.

VBS 2012

The boys did great this year! They loved their teachers, actually remembered the stories and shared them with me and performed quite well with all the big kids.

Below are 3 different videos I took during the performance.  Notice Carson's obsession with looking up.  He keeps thinking there are little people up in the ceiling the change the spotlights.  Also, Cooper found a new way to play with his flip flops and cheeks.....

Oh to have the mind of a 4 year old.....

So, it is in the middle of the night and all of the sudden I hear Carson screaming out and crying.  It was shocking because it is a very rare occurence in our house for the boys to make much noise in the middle of the night.  As I am jumping up and running into the room, I glance at the clock and see that it is 3am in the morning.   I go into the room using as little light as possible so as not to wake Cooper.  Carson is sitting at the end of his bed holding his head like he hit his head.  I ask him what is wrong and he says in the middle of sobs:  "When I pull the hair on the back of my neck really hard, it hurts really, really badly!!!".......... Suddenly, all of the pitty and "caregiving" I felt 5 seconds earlier erases.  I don't even bother trying to figure out why he would be pulling the hair on the back of his neck in the middle of the night.  I have learned it is usually better not to ask those questions.  He gets tucked back into bed and told to quit pulling his hair......that was then end of that.

Waiting.....

I know I have a lot to catch up on regarding the boys and our adoption process.  For now, some thoughts that have been swarming my head all day.

We have spent the last 18 months researching agencies, asking questions and filling out paperwork.  The agency was picked and our home study has been approved.  Now, comes a part that people didn't really tell us about:  THE WAIT.  We aren't naive, we understand that there was going to be a period when we needed to wait for a birth mother to pick our family.  However, it was never spoken at how "empty" that period is.

Chris and I are such "doers", just waiting is quite a change and a completely new discipline.  There is no more paperwork to fill out, no more research to do, no more choices to be made.  I have scanned online to try to figure out what adoptive families do doing this time and there really isn't much out there about it.

Once again, there is a lot regarding international adoption and waiting for the referral, but when it comes to domestic adoption, I have only be successful at finding a couple of articles.  There is the typical:  prepare the nursery, take parenting class (for new parents), read parenting books, register at baby stores.......that just doesn't "do it" for me.

It has only been 3 months of waiting (even though our hearts have been waiting for quite a bit longer).  I understand that to some that have gone through this process that isn't much time at all.  However, that doesn't change the feeling.

We are inundated with questions of: "Any news? How much longer do you have? Is the baby here yet?  Are you matched yet?"  I have already grown tired and leery of those questions.  No matter how many times I say that we have no clue about anything, people don't seem to take that statement literally.  No clue means just that, NO CLUE!!! No idea of the sex, race, due date, time left, open or closed adoption, local or from another state.....the list goes on and on.  I find that I often need to remind myself that people are excited for us and happy for us to grow our family.  Just like us, there is nothing they can do but wait and pray for good news.

Maybe when this is all over, I will have some tips for future adoptive parents on how to cope with this stage of the process.  For now, we will continue to pray.  Pray for guidance, patience.  Pray for our unborn child's safety.  Pray for the birth mother and for her to have courage and strength to see the pregnancy through.  Pray for our boys.  That they will thrive with the changes that are to come from all of this.  Pray for God's will to be done.

Easter 2012

We had a great Easter celebration this year.  We enjoyed "old" traditions, as well as adding new ones.

We found a local church in our neighborhood that gathers the kids to teach them the Easter story before hosting an egg hunt.  The boys loved it and so did mom and dad.

It was really nice watching all the children gather round the pastor and listen to the story.

Then it was time for the hunt:

The highlight of the Easter egg hunt was that when Cooper was opening his eggs there was an empty one.  He opened it, looked up and said:  "The tomb is empty!!!  I got the "empty tomb egg"!!!"

The boys also got to go to Gaga Linda's house for an egg hunt and lunch.  

When they returned from Gaga Linda's house, their gifts for Easter were waiting for them.  

2 big baskets of toys and games AND 2 bikes!!!!

(pictures and video to follow on a different post about that)

Aunt Karleen sent a bag full of eggs for us to have our own egg hunt in the backyard.  There were over 60 eggs total that we hid.  (sorry, no pictures for this.  They are on Chris' phone.)

We ended Easter weekend going to church to celebrate and had a great Easter brunch.

Our new traditions:  

1.  attending the Easter egg hunt at the church listening to the Easter story

2.  getting the Easter gifts on Saturday (focusing on "He is Risen" on Easter day).  That is all the gift we need on Easter Sunday.

Living Life

Yes, it has been 3 months since my last post.  Life has been keeping us quite busy around here.

Quick recap:

In February, we put into action our plan of adopting.  We finally decided on an agency and took the leap.  In March, we went through all of the paperwork and meetings for home study.  So far in April, we are just waiting for the final paperwork from our case worker to be completed so we can sign it and have our home study finalized.  Of course, a lot more went on during these past 3 months, but this has been what has consumed our "extra" time.

We were hesitant to blog about our adoption process but got the "go ahead" from our case worker on it.  So, as well as trying to update regarding the boy's progress on life, I will be trying to keep track of our adoption process.

5 years....feels like a lifetime......

5 years ago I was booking an emergency flight to Cleveland, OH on my way to say goodbye to my dad. Since then, we have also said goodbye to Chris' grandmother, my aunt and unfortunately, just 5 days ago, my grandfather (more on that when my thoughts actually have time to process).  Also, withing the past 5 years, God has granted us the privilege of raising 2 beautiful boys.  I find myself looking at them and interacting with them and wondering how Dad would react to them at certain times.  So many things they do already remind me of Dad.

Ever since Grandpa passed away on Tuesday, I have had a scene that keeps replaying in my mind.  I have this vision of dad (the way he looked back in his 20's & 30's) standing at heaven's gate literally jumping up and down and "giddy" like a little boy waiting for Grandpa.  With no apprehension of what others may say, no hard feelings about the past, no pain or sorrow; nothing but pure love, they run to each other and embrace while jumping up and down so happy to be together.  Dad grabbing him by the hand and with child-like enthusiasm running him all over and showing him everything.......don't get me wrong, I am the first to admit I have absolutely no clue if that is how it goes or not, but just knowing that they are now reunited is so comforting and exciting.

We did a memorial slide show for Dad and because of electronic issues, I was never able to copy for others and actually didn't even have access to the photos until 1 month ago (thank you Chris for fixing).  When I look over this short little shot of my dad's life, it reminds me of how much he liked to "grab life and go".  He was never one to just sit and watch life just pass by.

Although my Dad only had a personal relationship with the Lord for the last few years of his life, he will be living an eternity with God and I know that I will get to be with him and all of my saved loved ones very shortly.  There is ABSOLUTELY nothing more consoling when someone you love passes away than knowing this. I got to see God change my dad's heart, change his demeanor and change his life.

(please remember to pause music on right hand side bar)