Monday, November 12, 2007

What we are up to around here

Short absense again. Sorry. It is kind of the story of my life, I can only be consistant for short bursts of time and then I fall off the wagon (which I guess means I am not so consistant after all). We have been trying to enjoy the remaining nice weather of fall. This has included a leaf raking party at friend's house (with 12 kiddos involved, so much fun).

2 weekends ago, Curt and I went to an adoption information meeting in Madison. I went into it with the expections that this would be just more info to add to my already confused and crowded mind and that we probably wouldn't come away with any answers. I guess sometimes it pays to set your expectations low, because sometimes when you least expect it, God will simply blow you away. We arrived at the open house style meeting an hour later than I wanted to ( I am a time person, I like to be on time). But this just happened to be 10 minutes before the next set of informational meetings was beginning. We had been going back and forth between whether to adopt Internationally or adopt through the foster system domestically. Well, we had to choose an information session to attend. It was good because it kind of forced us into a corner and made a choose. From the beginning, we had wanted to adopt Internationally, but in the recent past we had been questioning that decision. We picked the International information session. We were the only people in that session which meant that we had the Social Worker completely to ourselves. She asked a lot of questions and shared a lot of info. We shared with her that our heart is really to adopt Internationally but the $ is scary ($20,000 to $40,000 depending on the country) and that we were having a hard time choosing a country. So she asked what country, if any, we were leaning towards. We talked to her about Haiti. About the connections we have there. About the missionaries we have supported there and the prayers that we have prayed for that country and their orphanages. We just talked. She looked me in the eyes and said "I never tell my families what country to choose, they have to make that decision themselves, but I just know that your country is Haiti." Sometimes in life, you need an audible voice. She became that for us. So Haiti it is! What a relief to finally know what direction we want to go. We will be starting the long and expensive process in January. Yeah!!!! After the meeting we went out to lunch and then just walked by the lake a bit. I will always remember that day and these photos are so special to me because they somehow capture a bit of what it feels like to finally know a direction.

On a lighter note. There has been crafting going on (always, you just don't always get to see it). I put together a Fall Craft Day for the local homeschoolers. I loved it. I had put together 10 different projects that were just set up around stations for the kids to do at their own pace. I love how creative kids can be. I had made simple examples of each project but really wanted them to feel free to do their own thing, and they did. I made a simple boat out of a paper plate and a popsicle stick and some paper. They made SHIPS with the same materials. I made simple napkin ring holders out of beads and wire. They made bookmarks and rings and bracelets. I made a simple Thanksgiving card. They made 3D cards. I did a simple stitching card with an acorn and backstitching. They did cross hatching and added beads. Amazing.
Oh, and I volunteered to test out a pattern for Kathy at Pink Chalk Studio. So now I have a lovely new scarf too. Yeah!





8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah!!! You are going to be parents again! Okay, this is totally cool, but we had a speaker this week for Spiritual Emphasis Week at Emmaus and the subject he spoke on was Decision Making. He has even put out a booklet called The 7 C's of Decision Making. (Dr. David Reid- growingchristians.org
http://gc1.growingchristians.org/dfgc/seven2.htm)
He talked about how sometimes God uses unbelievers (I'm not sure if the social worker was or not) to help us make decisions. That's so cool!

Anonymous said...

How exciting! I remember talking with you about Haiti in March and I could tell how excited you were about the prospect of adopting a child there!

Oh, and will you make me a scarf like that? Please? I'll gladly pay you plus shipping!!! We don't need scarves too often here in Texas but I'm heading to England for Christmas and I'd love to go in a scarf like that!

Maren said...

I usually just choose to beat her up for scarves, lisa is actually offering to pay...what a novel idea! Or I beg...like this - Kelly, that scarf actually matches my coat better, and I have a headband that matches (that you made me) so I think I REALLY neeeeeeeed that scarf...don't you?

Anonymous said...

That's funny - I got my sister's hat away from her by saying BUT IT MATCHES MY SCARF. YOU HAVE NO MATCHING SCARF. Totally worked.

Congratulations on getting your direction established. That does seem to be 9/10 of the challenge a lot of the time, doesn't it?

Paula Adams Perez said...

Hello! I found you via "Pink Chalk Studio." I'm a homeschooler and Christian too. I was just in Wisconsin last summer (Kenosha) for the Junior Bible Quiz National Competition with my 10 yr old. I enjoyed reading your blog. God bless you!

The Chicken Lady said...

Hey Kelly, did you know that Karen Kingsbury has adopted 3 boys from Haiti? The boys went to the elementary school I worked at in Vancouver, WA. They were great kids and what an incredible family! I might have an email address for her if you have any specific questions you might have! :)

Cute scarf, too. I'm working on aprons to sell at the quilt shop here! :)

Anonymous said...

I actually was looking up Philipians 4:8, and up came your blog. Out of curiosity, I read it. At times, life just becomes so burdening with thoughts of bitterness, anger, hurt. Praise God that I know that there are women who looks at the lovely things in life - this has been an encouragement for me. May God provide you peace and joy through your focus on a lovely things in life.

Anonymous said...

You've developed a following!!! Woot!!! I set up Mary's blog feeds inside a new Yahoo account ... sadly yours isn't written down in her book so it wasn't added ... I should get on that.

How much for a purple-ish version of the scarf???