♥ SENIOR SENSATION ♥

Kinzi had a HUGE softball tournament (over 101 teams) last weekend that was cancelled (due to some serious SEATTLE sogginess) and they were left with bucket loads of beautiful pink carnations (that the kiddos were gonna hand out to all the momma's for Mother's Day). The organization was at a loss of what to do with all of them... So, one of the Mom's asked me if there is a senior center close to me that we could go and hand out a little bit of pink cheeriness to... and THERE IS!!! (GREAT IDEA MICHELLE)!! I have been looking for ways I could get involved in the Assisted Living Home/Retirement Homes/Nursing Homes (and there is one seriously just a block down the street)! YAY! ...Such a FUN way to start out our involvement!!  ♥ Kinz and I walked into the BIG room and handed the pretty flowers to a bunch of sweet ladies, then we started knocking on doors, sharing the flowers, chatting a little, laughing a little... It just made my heart feel REALLY good!   - their faces just lit up to see someone else in the room to talk to them, listen to them... 

It wasn't our idea or our gifts - but it was sure FUN to be the messenger and deliverer of SOMETHING bright and cheery for these folks!! ♥

Made me miss my Grandma!

Momma's Day, Next Step Call, HIS Timing...

(Disclaimer: I was a total lounger - no make up, sweats - looking just lovely! ha!) :)

Mother's day was definitely FUN this year!! Especially to have gotten THE CALL telling us... that I get to be a MOMMY to another SWEET little girl!! BEST Mommy's day present EVER! ♥  Kinz ran in my room first thing and gave me a BIG OLE Momma's day HUG! ...then I went downstairs and Madison surprised me with...

...the sweetest card and some CANDY! YA! YUM! I LOVE me SOME CANDY! Mother's day was quiet and a little lazy... Since we are always running around all OVER - it was nice to wake up to a TOTALLY Yummy breakfast that Erik made.. MMMmmm mmmmm! (then he disappeared for a while... he was researching maps on the internet where our little M is from in ET ♥) The girls and I watched a few movies, talked, played pass, and then we ate a YUMMY dinner Erik cooked up! 
He was definitely Chef Boy R "E" this weekend! hehe! :) 

THANK HEAVEN FOR LITTLE GIRLS!!! ♥My FAVE movie of all TIME is GIGI!! I LOVE this song... :)  I sing it to the girls all the time... with my SPECIAL french accent! hehehe! :)

...we even have a little sign of it hanging above Little M's door to her room! :)


Well the day ended GREAT and I just thank GOD for my little girls - all THREE of them!! I have learned so much from them - each of them have taught me something, helped me to become a better person and to grow closer to Him, ...I LOVE being their Mommy!!

I AM BLESSED!

...at 11:00 today I got a call from our CASE WORKER at AGCI to go over the NEXT STEPS in the process of bringing home LITTLE M!!! We talked for OVER an hour.... It was totally informative and I am a TOTAL optimist and am PRAYING we will have our first COURT DATE before the courts close in ET for a couple of months!! I can't wait to hold her in my arms and kiss her little cheeks!! ♥

However, "B" told me not to get our hopes up that they have no idea really what the timing of things will be... So, we talked a little bit about the timing of things, what kind of things AGCI will be doing in their time, what we are supposed to be doing during this time and knowing that ALL of it is in GOD'S Time! ...Well... While we were on the phone, my old case worker "T" walked in to give her a couple pieces of mail!! ONE of them had a BIG OLE PURPLE flower sticker on it from me (kinda trying to make sure she knows to  OPEN! OPEN! OPEN! SUPER fast) hehe! ...and another one was from our social worker with the LAST piece of paper for all of our REFERRAL ACCEPTANCE - even though it was all accepted on May 6th! :) It was nice to know we had everything in order.... and we just LAUGHED about the TIMING of it all... That we would be talking about God's Timing and POOOOOF there were the last two pieces of info to seal the deal! :) Wehoooooooooooooooo!! It was JUST SO COOL!

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord … ”(Psalm 37:23)  

”A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9)

“O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.” (Jeremiah 10:23)

“Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass … Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.” (Psalm 37:4,7)

REFERRAL ACCEPTANCE!!!

May 5th - I feel like we just couldn't get the information filled out fast enough!! :)  ...we got them all signed, notarized (by my AWESOME cousin Debbie), initialed and sealed it with a BIG OLE KISS and sent it off to OREGON at AGCI with a GIANT PRAYER for our little girl! - I'm ALMOST sure the UPS guy thought I was a little LOOOONY when I handed him my phone and asked him to pleeeeease snap a shot of me! ha ha ha ha! :) TOOO FUNNY! But, I just want to be able to document every single minute from now on till we bring LITTLE M Home!!! ♥

...and this day - couldn't have been any better to schedule a CUPCAKE AND COFFEE outing with two of my COOOOOOOOOOLEST friends...

DOMESTICATED DIVA and ELLEJTHOUGHTS!!

(it's pretty funny to ask all these awesome strangers to take random pictures for our BLOGS, for our memories..♥ LOVE it!)

LOVE spending time with these gals talking about our kids, Africa, traveling, videos, pictures, handing over some DONATIONS for HH!!!... and EATING SUPER YUMMMMMMMMMY CUPCAKES!! ♥

On... Friday May 6th I received a call from our case worker saying she received the ACCEPTANCE Package and there was one little thing that we needed to fix - The PHOTO MEDIA RELEASE form (for some reason that crazy form was so confusing) - we missed a signature there... AAAAAAAAAARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH!!! :( ....BUT she reassured me that there would be NO hold up on continuing to move forward and she will have the last bit of information from us and our social worker there on Monday! :) YIPPPEEEE!!  Also, on MONDAY - I will have a meeting on the phone with "B" about 'THE NEXT STEPS..."

OH THE GOOOOODNESS...

OH THE GOOOOOOOOOOODNESS...

…After we received our REFERRAL CALL for our sweet baby girl… later that evening one of my newest friends, that I actually met via BLOGGING, but now… one of my VERY closest friends, to my heart and my actual LOCATION  :) ‘popped’ over with her awesome kiddos and some HUGE CONGRATULATIONS Hugs and treats!!! OH GOODNESS! I LOVE her! She blessed us with a NEW and IMPROVED balloon!! YAY! The #1 balloon she gave me almost 7 weeks ago was really starting to deflate! :)

  She got the cutest littlest pillow pet I’ve ever seen – for “M’s” sweeeeet little head! YUMMY CANDY!! And a COLD STONE gift card – even though we haven’t known each other for long… she has got me figured out! Ha ha! I TOTALLY LOVE SWEEEEEEEEEETS - Like 24-7!! ha ha!! :)  She has been such a HUMONGOUS support of our adoption and has such a passion to help care for the widows and the orphans!! See these sweet words on her BEAUTIFUL Blog: ELLEJTHOUGHTS! 
♥ Thanking our AWESOME God for this very special friend!! ♥

...Then I took Kinz to softball practice and one of my dearest friends blessed me with this! OH GOOOODNESS I LOVE THEM!!  Thank you JUNE and Kara!! ♥

…the other day I came home and I saw this on my doorstep…

Another new and AMAZING close friend in such a short period of time blessed us with the sweetest card and a beautiful frame and a picture with our little "M"  - in it saying, "We followed our hearts rather than our Itinerary." THANK YOU SHANNON! ♥ It is TOTALLY already hanging up! Every time I walk by it I blow kisses to my little SWEETIE! :)

I am SOOOOOOOOOO Glad to have SO many AMAZING people in our lives!! I am seriously GRATEFUL beyond words!! The phone calls, texts, FB messages, BLOG comments, list serve emails!!! I have printed SO many TOTALLY AWESOME WORDS out by SO many great people celebrating HER little life - to put into a book for her to read someday!!  I know it will put the BIGGEST smile on her face like it has MINE! :)   
... It really is gonna be the ABSOLUTE COOOOOOLEST thing ever to tell little “M” how many people have been thinking about her, LOVE HER and have been praying for her for SOOOO LONG!

THE CALL!!!!

…it was a crazy beginning to our Monday morning May 2^nd, 2010 – I was walking upstairs to the office at our place and noticed I missed a call!! FROM AGCI!!! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeks! How did that happen! ?? ha ha!  I listened to the message from our Case Worker, “T” and she asked me to call back because she has some updates to share with me. Hmmmm… UPDATES?  REFERRAL?  I don’t know, it didn’t sound quite the same.  I called her back and she informed me that as of today I will have a new case worker for the rest of our adoption process and that she will be working with the paperwork families from now on….  I asked how things are coming along on the Referral front and if she sees any going out anytime sooooooon (hehehe), and I got NOTH’N! :)

We went along with our day as usual… I dropped Kinzi off at school, Madison drove that day…. and then at about 2:50 p.m. I’m ALMOST to Kinzi’s school to pick her up...

AND MY PHONE RINGS – Yaaaaaaaaaa!!! THAT SPECIAL OLD FASHIONED RING TONE (like that crazy  FB profile picture I've been starring at for almost 7 weeks)!!! I answer on speaker phone, in the car and It is my NEW Case Worker “B”!! She asked how my day is going, If I talked to “T” and some other light and fluffy stuff! …THEN she told me I better pull OVER because she has A LITTLE GIRL to talk to me about… I was sitting at a...

red light... Which is funny... CUZ I think my WHOLE LIFE just stopped for a SEC to take in this AMAZING MOMENT!! THIS MOMENT we have been waiting for FOR so LONG... THIS MOMENT I learn I am a MOMMY again!! THIS MOMENT I was totally wishing I was not in the car at a red light!! :) OH, I soooo wish we all were together at HOME - listening to THIS call!!!

The second the light TURNED...

My heart was RACING, my foot was on the peddle and it was GOOOOOO TIME! :) ....As Brandi began to share detail after detail... 

 ONE little GIRL – OH MY!!! I am SOOOOOO EXCITED!!!! I was just hanging on “B’s” EVERY WORD!!! As she continued to tell me about our sweet little 9 month old “M” – she occasionally asked if I wanted to PROCEED… OH YES!! Keeeeeep ON TALKIN’!!  THIS IS IT! We have been waiting for SOooooooooo LONG to hear about the child GOD has chosen for our family to LOVE and CARE for FOREVER and EVER!!

As COMPLETLEY AND UTTERLY EXCITED as I was – my heart already hurt for her Birthmother and for her. How HARD all of this was and is for both of them! “B” and I talked about every single piece of information about little "M"… her health records, her legal records – everything and anything they knew about her and her family…

During this time – I had grabbed Kinz from school and we were both listening to “B” share everything about her new little sister and our baby girl…

We talked for 1 hour and 13 minutes!!  

 

- By that time, we were both home (thank gooodness - we knew we needed to get to a computer soon - that her picture will be coming via email...), Erik was home from work and Madison was home from school… I got off the phone with “B”!! RUNNING all over the house (like the CRAZZZZZZZZZY lady I am) just screaaaming and and trying to find everyone and tell them they have a little sister – WE HAVE A BABY GIRL!!!!!  I shared all the details, printed everything out for Erik to read… as we waited (not sooooo patiently) for “B” to send us pictures of our sweet little "M" ("M" Yaaaaaa, another "M" kiddo in this fam!! Toooooo COOOL)!! ♥

I must have hit F9 100 times to check for NEW messages on my OUTLOOK – in the 15 minutes it took for her to send the email!!!!

The SECOND I got it I yelled for EVERYONE to come see her pictures!!  OOOOH!!! We all just FELL IN LOVE with EVERY SINGLE ONE!! We are SO excited to finally see her SWEET face! OH HOW WE ALL LOVE HER!! SO MUCH!! ...We are SO blessed, thankful, grateful, thrilled, excited to see who God had planned all along for our family... to be hers!

Psalm 68:5-6a:
“A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,  is God in his holy dwelling.  God sets the lonely in families..”

 

 Praising HIM for little "M" 

Praying for her and how hard her little life has been so far...

THANKING Him for placing her in OUR family. ♥