On the Verge...

It's raining here in Austin. It's been off and on since yesterday. Coincidentally, last night Cyclone Fani made landfall in Odisha, India and as it continues over the next few days, the eye of the (the then tropical) storm will come very close to our son´s rural town in West Bengal. The wind and rain could cause some serious damage in such a small town and the aftermath could be significant. Sometimes, it's hard to take something seriously that is happening to other people on the opposite side of the world. We see the news (maybe), a facebook friend reminds us, we pause for a moment to pray, and then we carry on with our "normal day". But as the rain has continued here over the last day, it has been easy for me to focus more on what the people in India and Bangladesh are and will be going through. It's also so much easier to focus on it when a member of your family is there and you have no idea what's happening to or how this will affect him. I'm ...

For the first year and a half of our adoption process, we were the only people we knew that were adopting from India. Last summer, I did find an online community of TONS of other families from all over the world who were adopting or had adopted from India and it has been a game changer for our process. One of the most valuable aspects of this community, for me, is seeing that the kids eventually do come home.  In fact, that is an oft quoted phrase, usually accompanied by an adorable picture of an adorable kiddo. "They do come home." It's so good to see and remember. Comparing timelines is also a helpful benefit to knowing other people going through the process. At first I was scouring the internet for any other blog posts that might give us any idea as to how long our process might take. So, for that reason, I thought I'd share our timeline for information, encouragement, and posterity. I hope it will also help those who would like to to know how to pray and to rej...

It was September 2015 when Quinn and I felt that we wanted to add a 4th child to our family. It's hard to explain how you know that feeling or how it's even possible to have that feeling when our arms were already so full with our first three kids. But there was just this space  that we felt. A space that was ready to receive another child. I've explained in previous blog posts that we were contemplating adoption at that point, but got pregnant that week. And that's when our arms and hearts began aching to hold our next child. On January 13, 2016 (three years ago today), we felt that ache even deeper in our hearts when we held Joanna in our hands when she came out miraculously easy after passing away at about 17 weeks gestation. We had been scheduled for a surgery to have her removed, but I am so, so glad  that she came to us whole in the hospital so that we could spend time holding her. It was weird and strange because they don't look like a normal baby at that ...

The Backstory In the Fall of 2015 Quinn and I both felt the Lord putting a 4th child on our hearts. We have felt the pull toward adoption since we were first married and knew that the Lord would let us know when the time was right for that. So we prayed that He would either let us get pregnant quickly or we would start the adoption process and know that was the route He wanted us to go. We got pregnant that week, so we felt like that was it. Then  Trisomy 21 happened . And we lost our sweet 4th child,  Joanna , at 18 weeks (links to those blog posts, if you haven't read them and want to). During the five short weeks we "knew" her, God gave us so much grace in preparing us to do whatever was necessary to take care of her special needs. So one of the things that Quinn and I both felt sure of was that Joanna's little life opened our eyes to see special needs in a new light; something we didn’t need to fear, but could embrace with God’s help. So, in February of 2017...

I just found this post from more than 3 years ago about Simon that I never posted! He is hours away from turning 4, so I thought I'd post it for fun. So glad that he now sleeps through the night and eats any food that we eat. And he doesn't toss his cookies any more, for which I am veeeery grateful. ***** Simon turned 8 months on November 17th (Abram's 4th birthday). In the interest of fairness, I am doing a post for each of the kids on their recent age milestones. Here is an update on Simon's 8th month of life! Weight:  8.6 kgs (That's almost 19 lbs and the 45th percentile) and 74cm (about 29.5 inches and the 90th percentile for length). He definitely does NOT have a problem with weight gain, like he had his first few months of life. Phew! Clothing size: 9 months. Because of the length. Actually, Quinn put him in a 3 month onsie the other day and he didn't look too absurd. But sleepers are a definite 9 months because he doesn't fit in anything else. ...

I woke up this morning and did what I do almost every morning in between the, oh, 5th and 6th snooze on my alarm when I finally tell myself that I need to actually start to wake up: I browsed facebook. I want to immediately sit up and pull my Bible off my nightstand, open it and with all alertness begin to meditate on the Word of God to start my day. But it's the alertness that eludes me. So, short of having my nespresso machine on my nightstand as well, I have to do something to make my brain catch up with my desires. And facebook is always there. This  morning, I began scrolling, like any other morning. I read headlines and intentionally like, love, or ha ha, friends' pictures and posts and largely pass right by videos. This is mostly due to the fact that my husband, Quinn, is usually still asleep next to me and the sound of a facebook video first thing in the morning could probably single handedly start  his day off on the wrong foot.  But this morning, a video...

A friend asked me recently how we organized all three kids' clothes in their room since they all slept together. Since moving into our new/old house, I've had to get even more creative, but it's really worked out pretty well! So I thought I'd share what we did just in case it might be helpful for anyone else.  First of all, all three kids in one room is definitely awesome. Some people fear it and, depending on your kids, it just might not be possible for you. For us, it just worked out. We traveled so much and the kids were in all different kinds of beds and sleeping scenarios that they were pretty flexible. And now, after a year of them all sharing a room, we are able to have a pretty epic happening with one child in the room while the other two sleep right through. We will eventually give Selah her own room, but that won't be for a few years. So here we are, with three kids in an 8x10 ish room, sharing our tips with you! I knew we wanted a Kura bed from IKEA becau...