» Ethiopia

I’m Calm…No I’m Not!

GiantMelanie — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 19:45:47 +0000

Baby Slash, I’m freaking out inside because I think that very soon you’ll have a name and gender other than “Slash!” The wait times for a referral have stayed the same this month, which means that we might know who you are any time between now and my birthday. What an incredible birthday present you’d make, sweet baby. And I’ve been referring to you as “he” and “him” more and more, so if you’re a girl, oh Slash, kiddo, Mommy is in for a gigantic surprise. So, it’s all becoming real, my thoughts of you are shifting from general baby daydreams to specific musings about your health, your personality, your looks. Are you sick? I mean, anything from really sick to I wish I could clear up that ringworm for you right now. Are you laid back or totally hyper? Are you a wiggler or do you kinda just chill and stare out a window, lost in baby thoughts? Do you sleep a lot or do you fight the glorious naptime? Are you going to love me instantly, or are you going to break my heart for awhile until I’m allowed to cuddle you? I have never seen an Ethiopian who wasn’t GORGEOUS, so I know you’ll be beautiful, but how so? What do all your beautiful features look like together? Who are you?!?! My tummy does flip flops when I think about how close I might be to finding out. I’ve always loved mysteries, and here’s the biggest mystery of all. Who is my child?!?! I’m going to jump every time the phone rings until I get THE call, the life-changer. Whoosh. Daddy’s going out tomorrow to buy a tripod so we can video ourselves when we see your face for the first time. You know, since you don’t get to see our faces at the same time that we see yours, we want you to be able to see what we looked like. I’m an ugly crier, so prepare yourself, Slash, it won’t be pretty.

Hey, so I wish I could prepare you for this, but I can’t, so God, please prepare Slash’s little baby heart! We are going to get to meet you, but then we’re going to have to leave you. BUT WE’LL BE BACK!!! Please don’t hate us for this. Please, please, please forgive us for leaving you. It’s all an important part of the process of becoming your family forever. There IS a forever at the end of all this waiting and meeting and leaving. The ugly-crying white lady and the white dude with the scruffy beard WILL come back for you. You can count on it, little one.

Waiting

GiantMelanie — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:29:22 +0000

Ugh, waiting stinks. Some days I’m fine and other days I’m ready to crawl up a wall or under a blanket with a fluffy pillow to squeeze. I’m having a hard time focusing right now, so I’m making a list of everything that I have to look forward to in the next couple of months. This will likely be very boring for everyone else but me.

1. Trip to Memphis to meet Lindsey and Le, Ruta, and Alazar. So slobbering excited about that. We’re doing the Mojo Music Bus Tour and staying right on Beale Street. I love the blues, and I loooovvve Lindsey and fam, who I feel like are our counterparts in Oklahoma City. Can’t wait to talk sponsorship coordinators, Uganda, Ethiopia, adoption, and do some major laughing and celebrating, all while listening to killer music and eating barbeque.

2. The final batch of Adacar profiles should arrive any day now. I keep checking the mail to see if they’ve come. I’m just really excited to get all the kids sponsored. Right now I have a ton of people to follow up with, but slowly I’m seeing my database of kids be filled with sponsors’ names. Still a lot of blank ones, but people are slowly getting their payments set up. And we’re making progress on the CarePoint. More about that when I have concrete info.

3. HopeChest’s partner conference followed by the Together for Adoption conference. I’m so excited to have quality face-to-face and hugging time with the Warrior Girls and to get to see Joseph (Uganda country director) again. And to meet more and more and more adoptive parents. Honestly, I’m meeting so many adoptive parents these days that it almost seems weird to me when I meet a family with all biological kids. “Like, really? You made all of these and they all look like you? Weird!” Ha!

4. Back to school! I know, it’s cruel and unusual for me to look forward to that, but I abhor summer and all things shorts and sweating. I love getting all my high school girls back on a regular basis, cooler weather, layering clothing, and being able to take Elliott to the park without getting a third degree burn. Fall frolicking is around the corner, and as the leaves die, I start to live. And one of my favorite things in fall is Vertical Reality, the fall retreat with the high school students. I can’t wait to spend a whole weekend away with them. We’ll have so much to talk about, starting high school and all. I wouldn’t repeat that for a million dollars, but I love walking this road with them.

5. A referral? Fall should mean we get to “meet” our little one, at least on paper. I’m so excited to find out boy or girl, and hopefully that knowledge will give me lots to dream of and work on through the winter until we finally get to go. In the meantime, I am happy to report that we’ve found a delicious Ethiopian restaurant in Atlanta (Thank you, Beattys!!), and I’ll be making lots of trips there to soak up the culture and shovel in the food. As some of you know, Alex and I tried Ethiopian food years ago in Georgetown and it was terrible! I love almost every kind of food on the planet, so I’ve just been sick about it (both literally for 24 hours after and figuratively). I’ve been praying for God to allow me to love it, because both Ethiopia and food are such huge parts of my family. Anyway, one bite at Queen of Sheba last week and we realized that Ethiopian food is DELICIOUS! Our first experience in Georgetown must’ve just been BAD Ethiopian food, just like I’ve had bad American food. Queen of Sheba was good, good, good, oh so good, and Elliott adored it, too, rising on his knees over the big family-style plate and scooping up the food with injera.

Okay, that’s enough anticipation for one post. And just typing it all out has elevated me from my waiting funk and reminded me of what’s to come. I also want to balance all the things to come with the things of NOW, because I don’t want to live in the future. The now is good and is not to be wasted. The now is digging into God, spending time with friends, kissing my husband, building really tall Lego towers with Elliott, helping unite sponsors with kids in Adacar, wearing my cute Sseko sandals (maybe the one benefit of summer weather in Georgia), and spending precious minutes with my parents. Two of my close friends lost their parents last week, and I’m reminded that life is fleeting, there are no guarantees, and I want to enjoy every minute. So, this post is kind of rambly, but I think I just blogged myself into a really hopeful and positive mood.

Hey, Slash, It’s Been Awhile

GiantMelanie — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 23:16:52 +0000

Hey, Baby Slash. Mommy’s been busy hopping planes and holding orphans, watching God unite kiddos with sponsor families. It’s been amazing. I love being part of God’s plan for these kids. I get to be the one who holds up the big neon sign saying, “Look at how awesome my God is!” I love being a sign-holder for God. He’s done some pretty neon-praiseworthy things lately.

This week, as I’ve waved my awesome-God sign and seen my orphan profile packets dwindle to 17 lonely teenagers in need of sponsors (only 17 more!), my thoughts have fluttered over to you more and more. It’s hard for me to think about you too much right now. I can help hundreds and hundreds of orphans, but I can’t help you right now, MY orphan. My Slash, who is an orphan right now but won’t be soon cuz Mommy. Is. Coming. To. Get. You. Oh, I wish it was tomorrow. I wish it was today. I just want to hold you hold you hold you forever and I want forever to start now! Slash! I miss you, buddy. I miss you and I haven’t even met you yet. Yesterday Elliott said that he thinks you’re a baby sister. I think you’re a baby brother. I can’t wait to find out what you are. Last week I watched girls make beaded necklaces and then yesterday I bought girly clothes for your new cousin who’ll be about your age, and I wanted you to be a GIRL! But then last week I watched two brothers play ball together and yesterday I watched Elliott swim with the boys, and I wanted you to be a BOY! Pretty much I’m excited about you no matter what you are. Whatever you are, you’re going to fit into my family, your family, our family. We’ve been 3 for 3 years now. I want to be 4…and then if God wants to double or triple that number, I’m all for it, as long as they’re not all toddlers at the same time.

Slash, okay, I’m just going to be really real with you right now, Mommy has tears in her eyes thinking about you. I’ve held babies in Africa now. Baby Slash, some of them are sick. Their hair is bleached light with malnutrition and their eyes are sickly yellow and some of them have malaria and are anemic and need nutrients. Oh buddy, is your hair too light? Are your eyes yellow? Do you have malaria? Do you have a parasite or ringworm or a rumbly, hungry belly? Do you need Mommy to kiss it and make it better? I want to take you to Publix and get you a cookie while we wait for your antibiotics that’ll kill all the bugs living in you. I want to fatten you up with Chick-fil-A chocolate milkshakes with some Juice Plus gummies on the side for good measure. Slash, please hold on. I am coming for you. I’m going to make you yummy smoothies, and full disclosure, I hide spinach in my smoothies, so prepare to receive nutrients on the sly, sweet child.

I just put Elliott to bed. Someday soon, you’ll sleep in the room right next to his. Daddy and I will read you both stories and brush your teeth and pray with you. This month, Elliott and I have been thanking God for making him. “Thanks, God, for making Elliott’s laugh. Thanks, God, for making Elliott’s blue eyes….” I’m thanking God for making you, too, and I can’t wait to thank Him together. Thanks, God, for making Slash’s big brown eyes. Thanks, God, for making Slash’s sweet smile. Thanks, God, for making Slash’s curly hair…Thanks, God, for making Slash for our family.

Bad Blogger, Bad, Bad Blogger

GiantMelanie — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 19:29:03 +0000

I was catching up on other people’s blogs and saw where someone mentioned something about her adoption process. Oh yeah. That’s one of the reasons I have this blog, to keep the people I love informed about our adoption process. My bad. Okay, so about a week and a half ago, the Ethiopian government changed it’s law about court (It’s allowed! I’m just grateful that my beloved Ethiopia is accepting of international adoptions, so I’m not going to complain about the way it chooses to handle them!). We had signed over power of attorney to our agency’s in country staff to go to court for us, but now we’ll need to appear in court, and then come back 3-6 weeks later to take our child home.

Pros:

1. Two trips to Ethiopia!

2. Getting to meet our baby sooner than expected!

3. Two chances to fill our suitcases with humanitarian aid and visit Children’s HopeChest carepoints!

Cons:

1. Double the travel costs

2. The worst one…having my baby in my arms, being legally his/her mommy, and having to hand him/her back to the nanny and get on a plane!

So anyway, sorry I failed to mention the big adoption update. The update is – more time in Africa. We knew getting into this that adoption is a crazy world involving big faith. God’s in charge and will unite us with Baby Slash in His perfect timing. Whew! I just felt my faith get bigger. It felt good!

adoption and Adoption

GiantMelanie — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:52:45 +0000

Hi, Baby Slash. I just got all my vaccines to visit Uganda in May. And one that I don’t need for Uganda but do need for Ethiopia – to get you! When I was pregnant with your brother Elliott, I got poked with lots of needles, so getting shots to come get you is just part of this mommy’s job. I don’t know if you’re at the orphanage yet. I think about you every day. Your daddy and I are getting ready to go play with hundreds and hundreds of orphans in Uganda. These sweet kiddos fill my brain and jump up and down in my heart. I can’t wait to hug them all! And I can’t wait to hug you, over and over, forever. I’m grieving with you right now as you are experiencing a tragedy. For whatever reason, you are either in an orphanage or on your way to one soon, and my heart is breaking for you. I’m praying that God will shower you with love and protection, will help you feel loved and surrounded with comfort, that He’ll hide you in the shelter of His wings. I’m devastated for you right now, Slash. I want to be there to make it all better. I will be soon. I have the biggest privilege in the world, of being part of God’s redemptive plan for you. I am preparing a place for you in our home, just as God’s preparing a place for you in His home. You are anticipated; you are wanted; you have a place in this family and in God’s family. I’m devastated for your current circumstances but I’m overjoyed for what’s to come. Oh the joy of being adopted into our family and Adopted into God’s family! I cannot wait to tell you all about it.

From Tom Davis, founder of Children’s HopeChest

GiantMelanie — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:30:29 +0000

Hey Everybody,

I didn’t get to post all my videos from Ethiopia, but this one is especially important.

Many people ask us, “Why do you do this orphan ministry?” This video is the best answer I can give them.

WATCH: http://www.vimeo.com/8105860

Please share this video with your friends online, along with this simple message…

Watch this video to see one of the many reasons I’m involved in orphan ministry with Children’s HopeChest. Find out more and become a HopeChest Partner today at http://www.hopechestpartners.org/.

Thanks so much!

Tom.

A Mother’s Heart

GiantMelanie — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 13:31:35 +0000

Today I was reading through the Christmas story in Luke and came across a verse that I’ve read many times but that hit me in a new way. “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). As word spread about Jesus and people worshiped her son, she treasured everything that she heard and mulled it over inside. I do the same thing! Of course, people don’t worship my son. That would be really inappropriate. But they say things about him. I soak it up! Every comment that I hear from a teacher, doctor, friend. I love hearing about my son from another’s point of view. And now, as I contemplate my child on the other side of the world, I treasure any information that I receive concerning Ethiopia, the orphanage, and what life might be like for my little one. I heard what kind of formula my child will receive and I make a point to visit that kind of formula each week when I’m at the grocery store. It’s a link to my child. I stare at the label and smile and think, “My baby will drink that. That formula will sustain my child until I can get there.” Neither Elliott nor my next child are God in man, but I think I can appreciate a little of what Mary felt as she heard others praise her son. There’s a sense of wonder as you look at your child through the eyes of someone else, when you hear someone else appreciate your little boy. I want to throw my arms around anyone who invests in Elliott, who notices one of his little quirks or talents. I want to gleefully exclaim, “Thanks for loving my boy!” How incredible it must have been for Mary to watch others worship her baby. To her, he was her sweet snuggly boy, but she knew that he was more than that. So she listened, she treasured, she pondered. If this had happened these days, she might’ve scrapbooked or blogged.

Happy Thanksgiving, Baby Dale

GiantMelanie — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 02:01:25 +0000

Hi, sweet Baby Dale. I think this blog is the place where I talk to you. I can’t talk to you inside of me, so I type these words and send them out into the cosmos. In some ways it makes me feel connected to you, and in other ways, I feel farther away than ever. Today is Thanksgiving. It’s this American holiday where we watch a parade, eat Grammy’s incredible food, and hang out with family all day. The whole day is filled with warmth and love, and squishy furniture that’s perfect for napping or cuddling with babies and doggies. It’s a fabulous opportunity to reflect on the year and to thank God for His blessings and wow – today I am most thankful for my children. Both of them. For sweet Elliott who is hitting his choo-choo phase hard, I mean, like choo-choos are his big thankful item this year for sure. And puzzles. Yep, choo-choos and puzzles. And for you, who is growing in your birth mom’s belly and growing in my heart every day. I am SO THANKFUL for you, so thankful that you exist, so thankful that you’ll be my baby forever. How big are you? I have no idea when your birthday will be. Are you the size of a lemon right now? Maybe smaller, maybe bigger? Do you have things like fingernails and hair yet? Oh, will you come out with lots of hair? Elliott did, a big chock of straight dark hair that fell out and was replaced with blond curls. I know, weird, right? I think you’ll really like him as your big brother. He’s hilarious and loves to play rough with his friends, but is surprisingly very gentle with babies. I think I must’ve kissed him a thousand times today. I love kissing Elliott and I can’t WAIT to kiss you over and over and over. I will never run out of kisses for you. I will kiss you and kiss you until you’re so old that you don’t want me kissing you around your friends anymore. And then I’ll still kiss you before school and after school when you get home and can’t be embarrassed because no one’s around. I am so thankful to have you in my heart, to have you in my thoughts, and someday soon, to have you in my arms. I love you before you’re born and I’ll love you after you’re born and I love you in Ethiopia and I’ll love you in America and I love you I love you I love you. I hope you can feel these big hugs that I’m sending your way, feel them over the ocean and across Africa and into your birth mom’s belly. I hope you can feel my love. God, please help my baby to feel my love. God of miracles, surround my sweet Baby Dale with my love, which is really Your love, because You are love and You make it possible for me to love.

Hurry Up and Wait

GiantMelanie — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:26:43 +0000

In the next few days, I will get our final documents notarized. I will snuggle the final pieces of our Ethiopian dossier into a FedEx envelope and drop it into the mysterious box in front of the post office. After three months of typing, printing, collecting, gathering, stamping, notarizing, meeting, calling, emailing, and investigating, I will hand these pages that I have lovingly assembled over to strangers, strangers who will ship them to and fro, stamp them some more, and eventually translate them into Amharic, this incredible language unique to Ethiopia. These pieces of paper, my life rendered in black ink, will lead me to my child. It’s strange. With pregnancy, I had blood tests, peed in plastic cups, listened to the heartbeat, saw the squiggly ultrasound. My eating changed. My pooping changed. My belly changed. My butt definitely changed. I had lab results and doctors’ appointments and birth classes. With my next baby, I have these documents. And now I’m sending them away. I’ve hurried and hurried to get to this point when my baby is no longer waiting on me. I’ve done my part. And now…I wait. This adoption is no longer in my hands, not that it ever was, but the small sense of control that I’ve felt over the last three months, the satisfaction of contributing, of working toward something, is leaving. I wait. I wait on strangers. I wait on God. With each of my children, God has called me to wait. That’s my place, my journey. It’s a familiar path, but no less painful, even after years of practice. Painful, yet beautiful. I’ve never felt more connected to the heart of God than in my waiting for children. I want to hold my baby right now, but as I comtemplate the indefinite wait ahead, I know that God will use this uncertain time for His glory. Will I waste it with anxious thoughts or will I choose to glorify God through my waiting? God, let me choose the latter.

At this point…not even surprised.

GiantMelanie — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:14:48 +0000

Remember back in the day (What day? Not sure…a long time ago.) when you’d open your mouth really big and hold three fingers on each side of it, spelling W-O-W? Yeah, I’m thinking about bringing that back. This year is the year of wow, and today God wowed me again. At this point, I’m not even surprised…just really grateful to be part of His remarkable plan.

Okay, back story. Elliott has been going to weekly speech therapy for about six months after his dubious frenulectomy (It’s just fun to say.) . His speech is delayed, and he either has apraxia (some befuddled wiring of the brain) or he’s just stubborn. Could go either way…both screwy brains and stubbornness run in the family.

Last night, I read Tom Davis’ blog about raising money for kitchens in Ethiopia (see my post from yesterday). Alex and I didn’t really think much about it, we just had a twenty second chat, picked a number, and got on board. This morning at speech, Elliott’s pathologist, Jan Williams (LOVE HER!), said that she thinks we need to back off a bit and drop Elliott to every other week. Yeah, last night Alex and I started giving a monthly gift to Children’s HopeChest for kitchens in Ethiopia. This morning, by dropping from weekly to every other week speech therapy sessions, we are saving THE EXACT AMOUNT that we pledged last night. How cool is that? We stepped out to help, and God immediately opened up the funding.

Yeah, I’m not taking any credit for this. God’s like the cool kid in school and I’m just trying to hang out near Him, maybe try to imitate Him and wear what He’s wearing. I am having THE BEST TIME watching what He’s doing. I can’t wait to see what’s next. I mean, look at me. I’m writing in all caps. Sheesh. Very exciting.