wednesday's wonderings...

I wonder how many Barbecue sandwiches it's appropriate to eat per week. I think i have probably exceeded the limit. I also wonder whether people who don't live in NC understand what true Barbecue is about...

I wonder when Sophie's going to come. Our whole family runs late, so it wouldn't surprise me if she came in March, but I don't actually care when she comes as long as it's not on Thanksgiving -- no girl should have to miss Thanksgiving 2 out of 3 years, and this hungry preggo would NOT be happy about having to miss out on all that food. I'm already excited.

I wonder how and why Jackson got gasoline in his eye today. I wonder what the gas can was doing in reach of his little hands. I wonder why the two older kids in the yard didn't tattle on him. And I wonder what the appropriate Mama-response to "i got gas in my eye" would be, and whether I will ever develop appropriate responses to children who do crazy things. (He's fine, by the way... i think it more got onto his finger and then he rubbed his finger on his eye....)

I wonder, often, how many adoptive families have their entire adoption being paid for before the kid gets home, and how many people, like us, just muddle through in faith, knowing twenty-two months later that the children they are raising are worth every penny of principal and interest that's still being paid. I wonder if Dave Ramsey would think our adoption was idiotic... but I betcha we'll pay less in interest than some people pay for infertility treatments. At the end of the day, you listen to the call and you fight for your kids; you listen to God and not your checking account balance. I wonder, though, how many people feel tremendously guilty/doubtful about their outstanding adoption balance.

I wonder if you're supposed to have to use dryer sheets with Charlie's Soap? My clothes are staticky, even though the bag says you're not supposed to use fabric softener. I wonder if dryer sheets are different than fabric softener. I wonder how long it'd take to use up a 5 gallon bucket of the stuff, going at a tablespoon per washload...

I wonder, as i sit here listening to my sister and two kids playing in the yard, what my life would be like if there were no adoption. Lonely, that's what.

Can YOU answer any of my wonderings???

Trying to win a diaper sprayer!

two of my latest obsessions are winning things and cloth diapering. often, these two go hand-in-hand, and the latest thing i'm trying to win is no different.

I am currently trying to win a diaper sprayer via a giveaway at Happily Domestic.

What is a diaper sprayer, you ask? Well, it attaches to the plumbing on your toilet, and you use it so squirt the poo off of the diapers and into the toilet so it doesn't gom up your washing machine.

Now that you are thoroughly grossed out for the day, you probably understand a lot more about why I want to win one :) ha.

Funnest dad ever...

Scott made us dinosaurs, trees, and dino eggs for dinner :)

behavior vs. heart...

a couple of weeks ago, Joey, our pastor, said something in his sermon that I took as sage parenting wisdom. I soooo wish i'd written it down but the very loosely-quoted nugget is this.:

When ministering to people, we need to minister to the heart, and not try to change the behavior. When God changes the heart, a behavior change will naturally follow.

That is great ministry advice, but it is also advice that I want to follow on a daily basis as I parent my children. In a crazier-than-we-normally-are back-to-school adjustment period -- nothing major, just regular kid stuff-- Scott and I are having to continually remind ourselves that it is ok for our kids to make mistakes, and at the end of the day they need to be LOVED, not perfect. I am NOT GOOD at this... I'm too tempted to want my kids to LOOK good, when what they need is to be loved well. Love is not self-seeking, and when I strive for appearances, what I'm really striving for is self-recognition and -affirmation.

Praying for my sweet babies' hearts!

turns out we might have a robot for a son...

Scott: Why do you think Jesus came to earth?

MC: To die on the cross to make our hearts clean. My heart is clean!

Jackson: And my heart has batteries.

ohh, the logic of children...

Me: I'm the oldest person in our family.

MC: No you're not. Dad is.

Me: Yes I am, i was born 4 months before Dad.

MC: No! You can't be older! You don't have a beard!

reminder!

As long as I'm awake in the middle of the night for no reason, I might as well remind you to go check out Leigh's adoption fundraiser giveaway at

bringing our baby home

to check out what else she's giving away this week!

the good, but bad, the ugly...

the good:

• winning blog giveaways
• lawn-mowing season is coming to a close
• Carolina football win today, and that I got to merely listen to the game on the radio rather than having to watch it on TV :)
  
• finding a giant body pillow at Target on clearance for $6. This is a preggo's dream. We have named the pillow Elmo, and he sits in my bed and calls my name all. day. long.
• having two kids who are old enough to contribute, do chores, and help organize, but still young enough to be excited about "helping mommy"
• waking up at 6:30am to warm, fresh, bread-machine bread
• having a Mama who will bring her sickly preggo daughter soup at 9:30pm, and a Dad who slips his grandkids Chick-fil-a money just for the heck of it :)

the bad:

• sciatica
• buying a small vineyards'-worth of grapes at Costco after being begged by a certain child, then having that child tell you that he cannot eat said grapes because "they taste like bad breath"
• owning an 80-pound dog who has figured out that we put Jackson's snack in his backpack the night before... sometimes said snack is missing the next morning...
• back-to-school regression
• a certain daddy leaving the kitchen sink running this morning while getting distracted by a certain wild child, and the kitchen floor flooding
  

the ugly:

• the zit i've had for a week, that for a while looked like all the evil in my body was leaking out of one pore, that left for a while and has now come back with a vengance

all-in-all? Life is soo good :)

I'm the winner!

Last week, I won two blog giveaways. The first was for a gift certificate to www.mothersboutique.com, where i chose these awesome burp cloths. The second was from the fuzzibunz company, where i won 2 FB diapers and a tote. I must be lucky or something :)

i never do this, but...

...I am pregnant and close to puking again, and I don't have time for the girl drama. So the record needs to be set straight.

I was just informed that someone who is a stranger to me -- i don't even know anyone by this name -- has been talking to someone who is a good friend of mine about what my daughter's hair looks like.

Dear Ms. Lady who I Don't Know.....

1. I don't know you. I can't even place you. Apparently you are a friend-of-a-friend of mine. you don't know my child. You don't know what her hair looks like today.... you don't know that it is neatly parted and put into very nice, very well-moisturized Zulu knots today. Don't talk about what you don't know about.

2. You clearly don't know my family, or you would understand what our life has been like all summer. I was in bed all summer. I cannot and do not fault my amazing husband for not braiding/puffing/twisting my daughter's hair while he was taking care of EVERY.SINGLE.OTHER.responsibility in our house.

3. If you knew anything about my family, you would also know something about where my daughter comes from and her life before our family. And if you knew anything about medicine, you would know how long it takes for children's hair to repair itself from the kind of life she came from. Healthy hair starts with good nutrition.

4. If you knew anything about my family, you would know how heartbreaking it is for someone to go behind my back and disrespect my child. It is not helpful, it is infuriating and detrimental.

5. My daughter is more than her hair. My daughter is more than her appearance. My daughter is beautiful, and if you knew us, maybe you could look past the hair. Please don't tell me about what the other African-American children say about her hair... I was at lunch THIS WEEK and heard another african-american child tell Mary Cameron that "her hair looked beautiful like that." Mary Cameron is beautiful inside and out. her hair does not humiliate her, but people who constantly point fingers do.

Please just back off and let me raise my child.

Giveaway! (Not here, but read below anyway...)

Starting tomorrow, my dear dear friend Leigh (and her sweet husband Gray) are having a giveaway to start the process to bring their beautiful daughter, currently known as MG, home from Ethiopia.

Loads of people have shown their generosity by donating AMAZING products that YOU CAN WIN in the giveaway. My favorite so far? These.

Here's how it works. Donate just $5 to the cause, then choose the item you'd like to have a chance to win and leave a comment telling Leigh which item that is. Donate $25 and get one extra chance for free, for a total of 6 for $25. Also, you can earn extra chances by blogging, tweeting, etc. about the giveaway.

This is a wonderful way to get some really really cool stuff while helping a really really amazing couple bring their sweet baby home. SO GO CHECK IT OUT! And while you're there, grab the blog button off the sidebar and put it onto YOUR blog to help spread the word! :)

please pray for Kampala!

There are riots going on in Kampala today that stem from tribal difficulties. Please please pray for the country of Uganda today, as well as the precious people caught in the crossfire.

We know two adoptive families arriving in UG today for their court dates and one adoptive family that I know of that is stuck in Kampala today because of the riots. We also have dear Ugandan friends who live in Kampala. We are praying for peace and a quick resolution to these problems, and that there will be no spread to the violence or further casualties. Please join us!

Review: Fearless, by Max Lucado

I just finished reading Fearless, Max Lucado's latest book. It is a great and comprehensive look at the things in this world that we can all relate to that are scary, and spiritual AND practical advice regarding how to deal with that fear.

I really appreciated that common, everyday fears were addressed (Chapter 5: "My Child is in Danger,") as well as those fears that are so horrific that we push them down and don't allow ourselves to think about them most of the time, such as "Fear that God is Not Real," and "Fear of Global Calamity." While the format does seem a little repetitive, Lucado does a thorough job of addressing issues that we all wrestle with, from the small and mundane to the big and terrifying.

Another thing I really liked is that this is not a book about how we should be fearless because Christians all have perfect lives. He acknowledges early and often in the book that

"Christ-followers contract malaria, bury children, and battle addictions, and as a result, face fears. It's not the absence of storms that sets us apart. It's whom we discover in the storm: an unstirred Christ."

Overall, I think this book gives very practical answers to very real concerns of our day. Let me know if you check it out! (A quote post to follow at some point...)

Disclosure: I was given a free copy of Fearless by its publisher, Thomas Nelson, to review.

reduce, reuse, recycle?

During this "nesting" thing I've had going on lately, we have been in major purge mode, and the kids have taken notice of how many things in our house are being reallocated for new purposes. Apparently, Jackson has especially taken this to heart...

today when i got home from work, there was chalk and cardboard strewn all over my upstairs hallway. it was very obvious that Tucker had demolished the chalk box... and i thought that was a little weird. i mean, i know preggos sometimes eat chalk, but I'd never heard of dogs having that sort of weird deficiency.

And then as i got closer, I realized it was the Chicken Fries box from Jackson's snack yesterday.... Wanting to creatively reuse, he had snuck it upstairs an was using it to store his chalk. Ew.

Now I understand, Tucker. Sorry for yelling. If I had smelled the chicken fries smell, i might have tried to eat the box too buddy....

Article: "Redemptive Response to Tragedy"

This article just popped up on my Google Reader. It is a good reminder that I think all adoptive families would do well to consider.

http://www.growninmyheart.com/redemptive-response-to-tragedy

The part of the article that i'm mulling over for today:

"There was a time when I thought everyone should adopt. There is such a need, and it seemed obvious to me that if we all stepped forward and did our part, we could solve the problem. But, now I’m a bit more cautious. I know there isn’t anything worse than growing up an orphan, but it isn’t ideal to grow up as an adopted child in a family that doesn’t take your grief and loss seriously; a family who imagines your story started the day they signed the adoption papers and doesn’t give you room to grieve."