Today I am thankful that these 3 furry four legged members of our family have adjusted so well to having Lydia in our home for almost a year now!
We have had a couple incidents of jumping on the couch not knowing the baby was up there (only Ellie, the 14lb pug she can't hurt much and in her defense can't see what is on the couch when she is standing on the floor)
We have had a couple tails in the face, getting knocked to her butt by an excited Golden, and our Layla girl sometimes runs the opposite direction when Lydia starts crawling towards her.
The dogs put up with fingers in ears, eyes, and mouths. Bentley even tolerated Lydia bopping him on the head with the remote until I could get to her to make her stop, he just let her do it, didn't even budge. They let her play with the tags on their colors and Bentley is pretty much responsible for getting Lydia to crawl and pull herself up. His silky fur just screams come pull me!!
In the end they love her and have accepted her as one of their own. She has 3 good friends in these pups. Lydia actually already tries to share with Bentley they will sit on the kitchen floor together and she will let him lick the condensation off the bottom of her sippy cup, if that's not love I don't know what is.
If you have just started following me you do not know my husbands love for Butler basketball. It started when he was young and has only grown since then. One of our first dates was to a Butler basketball game, I got to meet his friend Andrew (best man in our wedding) and his now wife Amanda at this game as well. It was so fun to hear them tell stories of buy 1 get 1 free tickets or tickets for $5 and "their seats".
Well last year the Dawgs went to the National Championship game and lost a doozy against Duke, I was super duper pregnant and stayed home that night, pacing behind the couch hoping I didn't put myself into early labor. See my post from the Final Four last year here.
Well now they are headed to the Final 4 AGAIN!!!!! I am so thrilled for this team, a team that puts student in the term student athlete and a coach that is such a class act! Not to mention this makes for one very happy husband!
I looove cupcakes, as you know Lydia's 1st Bday Party is a cupcake theme and seriously cupcakes are so cute :)
Well I have been hearing more and more about the Cupcake Kids fundraiser to raise money for the organization Sixy Feet. This organization is helping to make living conditions better for imprisoned children in Africa, this is something I knew nothing about until God opened my eyes and heart for the children in Africa. So head on over to their website to learn more and keep those serving and the children they serve in your prayers.
BACK TO CUPCAKES! They do a super cute fundraiser to help get everyone around the country involved, including the kiddos. What kid doesn't like to help decorate cupcakes and set up a stand for a bake sale?!?! There are cupcake sales going on all over the country on April 16th, see if there is one near you, if there isn't maybe you would want to set one up! It's easy to sign up and even easier to become a small part of something sooooo BIG!
Our life is crazy this spring so guess what else they have for those who can't sell cupcakes?? T-SHIRTS! Cutie patootie cupcake T-shirts, did they know my child's birthday party was coming up at the end of April and it was cupcake themed and I would need a post smashcake shirt for my kiddo? I will be ordering one for my girl to rock on her birthday after making a mess in her birthday outfit! I might even sport the cupcake kids T-shirt myself, I'm a sucker for T-shirts... and cupcakes... who isn't?
I have a huge case of writers block! Maybe it's just that I have so much swirling around in my head that I cannot form a cohesive thought let alone write it down. So I found something fun to post about today! I love finding new blogs and I was lead to this cute cute blog today. So we will start there.
1. Finding new blogs! I have found so much inspiration, encouragment, and made a few new friends along the way.
2. Hearing a new song on the radio! Check this one out by Laura Story that I heard for the first time this week. ::Tears:: Exactly what we need to hear sometimes.
Click her picture and listen to her single "Blessings"
3. Hearing of babies and children coming home to be with their family forever!! Elsa can't wait to hear you are home and in your mamma's arms. I know she can't wait either!!
Have a beautiful Wednesday and take a few minutes for yourself, to find what it is that you love today!
How happy is everyone that Spring is officially here?!?!
Yesterday marked the first of Spring and the weather showed it. We were able to take Lydia outside and let her play on her slide, walk her little toy car around, and play with bubbles. She loved the bubbles, I could hear her giggling with her daddy as he tried to catch them with her. The sound of your husband laughing with your child is probably the most glorious sound ever and makes my heart want to leap out of my chest.
Rockin her jean jacket and taking a refreshing drink after playing on her slide
I am so excited for what this spring has in store for our family. Lydia's first Easter, celebrating a graduation with my sister-in-law, celebrating Mother's Day as a healthy mom with my girl this year, garage sales to raise money for our adoption, celebrating Lydia's BIG 1 Year, a first communion, the arrival of some beautiful babies, and hopefully so much more!!
This was an email that my friend Hilary received from AGCI regarding the Ethiopia Adoption Program and all that has been going on there. This is so encouraging and thank you to all who have been praying for this program and the children waiting for their families.
Ethiopia Program Update
Hello Families,
Happy St. Patricks' Day! We hope this email finds you well and finding rest in God’s peace and plans for your family and your Ethiopia adoption journey!
As you know, over the past week AGCI has been working in collaboration with Joint Council, other licensed Adoption Service Providers in Ethiopia and the US Department of State to get clarity on the proposed changes instigated by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs that would have drastically reduced the number of adoptions processed by their office.
We have spent the entirety of this week and last connecting with our own Foreign Staff, participating in caucus calls led by Joint Council and the US Department of State, and independently collaborating with other Adoption Service Providers to get clear and accurate information concerning this matter. Your grace and patience has been so appreciated during this time! What we know as facts are:
MOWA posted a notice indicating as of March 10th they would be reducing the number of adoptions processed through their office to 5 cases a day.
Within days of this announcement, the director of MOWA and several other staff members from the ministry have been terminated.
Today we want to update you on the feedback we received yesterday from our foreign staff in Ethiopia, which was confirmed in a discussion with our adoption colleagues in a Joint Council caucus call later in the day.
At this time, all Foreign Staff on the ground in Ethiopia are reporting that MOWA has completed their staffing changes and are now currently working at full capacity to complete those adoption cases currently re-scheduled or assigned a court appointment through the courts of Addis Ababa. Our staff believe this to be around 800 cases they are working at full force to complete with no restrictions on the number of cases processed each day. This is great news! We are thrilled to hear these drastic changes do not seem to be going into full effect.
We are also pleased to report that for new cases moving forward; it appears the original changes proposed by MOWA will not be implemented to the degree of 5 cases a day. At this time it is unknown whether or not MOWA will issue a formal statement regarding how they will process cases in the future, but from all discussions it will not be a drastic decrease from before. Through the continued work, meetings, and advocacy of many Foreign Staff members in Ethiopia, it appears any future changes within the case processing for MOWA will avoid sweeping and disproportionate alterations to the number of cases processed each day. Rather, the hope is that MOWA, Joint Council, Adoption Service Providers, the US Department of State and other NGO organizations can come together to support the government of Ethiopia in strengthening the process for ethical adoptions to continue while also improving the general social structures to assist with family preservation in Ethiopia. This plan was acknowledged in the recent posting by the US State Department this morning athttp://adoption.state.gov/news/ethiopia.html. We understand the US Department of State cannot issue a formal statement without MOWA issuing a retraction. Based on the information we are receiving, MOWA is concentrating on processing the current adoptions and the new staff is not focused on numbers, but doing their jobs.
AGCI and our trusted colleagues look forward to collaborating to ensure adoptions move forward with the highest level of transparency possible. It is our commitment to carefully, ethically, and mindfully complete the adoption process on every level for orphaned children. Our hope is that as we do this in collaboration with other licensed agencies, we can also help to eliminate future concerns by MOWA and continue to build trust between their office and the adoption community at large.
Despite all this talk and discussion about proposed changes, we want to share with you some highlights from just the past two weeks in our program. Even in the midst of all these proposed changes we have seen things move in positive directions:
7 children were referred to their forever families (wait time for a referral for our most recently placed families was approximately 10 months for an infant boy and for an infant girl)
9 families and children were issued their first official court date
3 families and children were approved at a rescheduled court appointment
1 family and child was approved on their first scheduled court appointment
9 families and 10 children were cleared by the US Embassy and invited to travel to Ethiopia to complete their final immigration visa appointment and bring their children.
2 children have returned home with their forever families.
As you can see from above, our attention over the past week and this week has been not only on gathering information on this issue but also on processing adoptions for many of the children at Hannah’s Hope. We will be calling each of you to check in for your monthly updates, paperwork calls, and to connect with those of you who are already referred and in the court process. For those of you in the paperwork process, Julie Salwasser will also be continuing to step in to provide support and answer questions. Thank you for your ongoing patience!
We want to encourage you all and to share that Ethiopia is still an active adoption program! We are so blessed to be looking back at all these wonderful moments and see God’s hand at work in the stories and lives of these children He loves. Thank you for your continued passion and dedication. We look forward to all the wonderful moments yet to come as we continue to serve in Ethiopia!
Now time for the weekend and my husband shared this gem with me earlier this week and it just makes me laugh. Enjoy your Friday
Psalm 9:18 For the needy shall not be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.
Look what I found last night! God knew I needed these words, he knows that my heart is heavy for Ethiopia and what this means for our adoption journey, for all the sweet children of this country. BUT he told me do not worry because he has not forgotten them. Duh, Allison!
So today I will celebrate that we are half way to our application goal, half way to being able to officially start the process of bringing our sweet child home. THANK YOU to everyone who took time to pray for Ethiopia and sign the petition. There is still a lot going on over there and we wait to hear what all this means for us since we have not even started the process yet but we will continue to save and continue to go where God leads us.
A HUGE HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY to my baby brother Matt and to the puppy of our family Layla (she is actually 3 today but that is 21 in dog years) funny how that worked out.
Excuse the bad picture, I gave up facebook remember? So I can't get a better one of him but this is my handsome brother Matt! :)
Tonight, Purdue plays in the Big Ten Tournament, so the birthday boy gets to go with my dad while the rest of us watch on tv at a restaurant/bar downtown. Then we are all meeting up after the game for some 21st festivities. YAY!! I am so happy for him as he has been left at home on many a weekend night at school being the only one who isn't 21. I am so happy that I get to celebrate with him and my sister too. We are 3 best friends and I love that about us. We are happiest when we are together and we are happiest when we are all happy and there is much to be happy and thankful for today!
Our Layla as a puppy when we found her on the Petfinder website
Here is our Layla pup now, she is quite large and furry and loveable!
Happy Birthday Matt and Layla you bring so much joy to my life, LOVE YOU!!
LOVE THIS VIDEO!! It has been posted a couple other blogs I follow over the last 2 days and I thought I would share it as well.
Insert a little side note: my baby brother turns 21 tomorrow!! WOOO, cannot wait to celebrate with him and hopefully celebrate a Boilermaker win, the Big Ten Tournament starts today! YAY, fun picture post to come after all the festivities, lots of bday parties and time with family and friends.
Tomorrow marks the day that is supposed to be the start of a decrease in Ethiopian Adoptions by 90%. It is very heavy on my heart tonight as I think of all the kids waiting for their very own mommy and daddy to scoop them up and cover them in hugs and kisses, tell them how much they are loved and that they are perfectly made for their family.
For now I will put my trust in God's faithfulness, in the fact that he will not leave them as orphans, that he loves them and created each one of them in his image. I read someones comment earlier that really hit me; that if we love the orphans this much just imagine how much God loves them. That is so true and I will hold tight to that!!
If you haven't already done so please sign the petition here. It has made strides since I signed last night but there is always room for another signature!!
On another note, I gave up facebook and twitter for Lent. This is going probably be the most challenging Lenten sacrifice I have made but I'm hoping that it will allow me to prioritize my time a little better. Instead of scrollin through twitter updates on my phone, I will play with Lydia or talk to my husband or read my God's word. What a great idea huh? I should be doing this stuff anyway but I get so caught up in it all that I let it take over sometimes. So here goes nothing!! Praying for good quality time and a start to what will be a more balanced social media addiction after it's all over.
What a great response we had from the Lillypie benefit weekend. As many of you might have heard or seen if you follow me on facebook, twitter, or just know my heart was heavy on this. There was an article released this past weekend while this benefit was going on that announced Ethiopia may be cutting adoptions by 90%.
My heart was heavy because I feel lead to this beautiful country and it's people, it's children. I feel like I already have ties there but what do we do if they close down their doors, or cut adoptions by 90% (they usually work through 50 cases a day and would decrease it to 5!!) whew. My heart hurt for the families on the wait list and then I realized it is not about us, it is about HIM and it is about his children in Ethiopia. So I prayed for those babies, those children who have no concept of what is going on in the system. I just prayed that reform would come, that a solution that truly has what is best for the children be made, and that they just know that God will not leave them as orphans, he will come to them.
All the while I was praying for Ethiopia you all were rockin this Lillypie benefit weekend in support of us and that means the world. To know that no matter where God calls us we have an amazing support system. We are still saving, there is no official announcment from the agency we have chosen to work with and for now our sites are still on Ethiopia.
Official Lillypie #'s 56 items purchased, over 20 orders and $205 donated to the Adoption Fund. AMEN!
A BIG thank you to my dear friend Laura, she is so sweet to have done this and she will now be assembling your precious lillypies and are made with so much love. I hope all of you who ordered will come back if you ever need a gift or just a cute ruffled pick me up. Don't forget to tell your friends about her either! It's fun to support those who love the Lord and their friends.
You can find me over at Lillypie today! I am so grateful for the chance to be a guest blogger and tell a little bit about our adoption and even more grateful that Laura is conducting a benefit weekend through sales at Lillypie Accessories! So from today through Sunday proceeds of all sales go to our adoption fund. YAY God is good and has blessed me with some amazing people to walk with in this life.
I hope everyone has a great weekend and I hope to see pictures of those beautiful Lillypies in pictures oh so very soon.
Thanks again for your prayers and support and it means so much to us!
I cannot believe that we are only 2 months away from the bash of the century :) Hahaha ok mommy is exaggerating a little but I am very excited to be planning your party. However right now I just want to soak up all my time with you as my baby girl under a year old.
You are a crawling machine, I mean take off fast and furious to go play with the boys, to climb on B, to try and climb up the stairs at Grandma and Grandpas and of course to get to anyone who might be eating something you want to get your little hands on.
You have major food envy, meaning even if you have already had your dinner, if mom and dad are eating you better be eating something or we have a little grunter/whiner on our hands.
You love to clap and wave at everything even yourself in the mirror. You wave at everyone around you even strangers but once those strangers try and give you a high five, you are all "do I know you?" and it takes a while to warm up before you will touch them.
You can stand on your own for a couple seconds, you are getting very close to being able to stand on your own and try often.
Your favorite foods are cheerios, grapes (nasty poppy diapers after these), bannanas still, and pretty much anything we put in front of you except for avacados (don't like those so much)
You stayed away from us for a whole week while we went on our vacation and grandma and grandpa said you did sooooo good! I am so proud of you for adapting to a new situation, sleeping in a different crib at night, taking a bath in a different tub, and riding around all the time in a different car. You still knew us when we saw you at the airport too, I was sweatin that one.
You love to chatter away in the backseat and especially if it's a song you like. You like to dance to music when it comes on and you love it when we pick you up and dance around the house with you. You love music! You even sing with your mommy imitating the noises I make, our songs don't really have real words more like syllables and vowels all strung together to a tune, but we love doing it together.
I love showing you off because everyone can't get over how darn cute you are, you are such a fun little girl to be around and seriously the cure for a bad day. My favorite part of my day is getting to Aunt Sarah's and seeing you stop what you're doing, crawl real fast towards me and put your arms up so I can pick you up and squeeze you!!
You and daddy are the best part of my life and the two of you together is even better!! You sure love him and I love watching your relationship with him grow and grow every day. Melts my heart and makes me smile. You are special kiddo and I am so glad that you are my little lydi bug!
So I figured that since most of you don't get to see all of the random photos of my girl that I put on facebook every hour (ok, i'm not really that bad I promise) I thought I would share a picture I got with my phone while we were walking to the Butler game this past Saturday.
I also don't know if I ever shared her 9 month stats either.
90% in height (didn't catch it after they measured bc she didn't like being forced to lay on crinkly paper)
60% in weight @ 20 lbs.
We have a tall and lean girl on our hands, but don't worry those yummy cheeks are still as awesome as ever, check em out!
She was talking away and then I got the phone out and she goes serious, still a cutie patootie though!
