Chandler and Monica Researching Adoption

From beginning to research it, to meeting families, to organizing paperwork- it TOTALLY feels like this!
:)

The Two Month Mark!

It's hard to believe that we have hit the two month mark already! We have been so busy packing and researching for the move that the time has really gone by fairly quickly. I imagine that the next five months will go even faster!
It's hard to think back over the last 9 months and imagine not being where we are now in the process. We worked so hard to learn all that we could about the various types of adoption and how the different processes work. We talked with other families, met with multiple agency workers, filled out a TON of paperwork and organized ridiculous amounts of documentation to help us make sense of the programs and agencies we chose. There was so much that we didn't know!
Now, being in the midst of the waiting, we understand far better the complexity of what adoption is and should be about. Everyone we have worked with has wanted the best for the child/children that we bring into our home. That focus has been such an encouragement to us as we have moved forward through this process and it is what we will work to emphasize as we continue to grow our family.
There is a huge sigh of relief that Garrett and I share when we reach milestones throughout this adventure. When our home study was complete and our dossier paperwork had finally made it to CHSFS it was such a sense of accomplishment. There was an even bigger celebration when we learned we were finally on the waiting list. Now there is a sigh and a smile every 30 days or so, knowing that we are one month closer to bringing our baby home!
Thanks a million times over to everyone for the prayers, gifts, financial support, and encouraging words! It has helped to keep us sane!

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Finding Center

Sometimes I think life is just a series of challenges that test our ability to maintain balance and calm while our whole world is being turned upside down. Similar to bumpers when your bowling or training wheels on a bike, those challenges nudge us back onto the path we were meant to be on. While some "nudges" are a little stronger than others, it is our own force and speed that create the harshness of the impact. I must admit, I have at times nudged my way right into some serious emotional injury, bordering on full blown devastation. Sadder still, is the injury I have caused others along my own bumpy way. I can't tell you how many words I've said and things I've done that I wish I could drag back into my psyche and bury.
I bring this up not because our little world is crazy right now, but because I see the chaos that is coming and I anticipate what is ahead. Knowing that change brings all kinds of physical, mental, and emotional response, I am beginning now, to prepare for the moves and travels that will come over the next 4 months. Along with loading up boxes full of random household items, I am beginning to contemplate what all of these means for me as a person, as a woman, as a girl (I know, I am far beyond girlhood, but ask any woman and she will tell you that there will always be a part of her that is VERY much a girl).
This move and many of the things surrounding it will be new and different, forcing me to reevaluate my own life, who I am, what I want, and how I want to get there. I won't have the burdens I have now, but I know those burdens will be traded for others that I am not as familiar with. My exhaustion level will be much less, but I will also have time I have only dreamed of having and no clear direction (at least at this point) of what to do with it. The world is at my feet and I am overwhelmed.
My hope is that through the travel across the country I will begin to unravel all this tightly wound tension and begin to relax into the someone I want to become. Each day we choose who we want to be, but this whole move thing has me wanting to reinvent myself. "Where is all of this change leading?", you ask. I don't know. I guess we'll both have to just wait and see.

Playing With the Camera

O.k.- so yesterday, Garrett and I both had a day off and were fiddling around the house doing nothing, when I decided to see just how impressive our new camera was. Our parents had all pitched in on this great camera that we needed for all the excitement that is ahead (move, schooling, baby, etc).

Well.... instead of explaining the kind of pictures it takes, I'm just gonna show ya!

The tip of some type of river reed (way smaller than my pinky), and an ok picture of a daisy (see below for the really cool part).

The bud a Whisteria- gotta love Spring!

Note the water drops in the pink heart shaped flower (I think it's called, Bleeding Heart).

The detail in the daisey blew my mind. The rose bud is the size of my finger nail.

I am in no way, an experienced photographer. Imagine what someone who had some experience could do with this thing! I'm thinking of taking some more and sending them in to National Geographic (hee hee)!

'A More Perfect Union'

Humanity, faith, forgiveness, trust, knowledge of God, his followers, their stories, meanings, and truths....
I am more and more impressed by the message this man continues to send to our nation.
I know that this video is lengthy, but trust me, it is worth hanging on and listening to ALL that is shared.
This nations future is still unknown, but what is revealed in this speech exposes our countries continued struggle with race and the acceptance of one another regardless of the color of our skin, country we come from, or faith we believe in.
This speech directly relates to what our family will be, what we will struggle to find our place in and what we will fight, as a family, to represent. A society where ones skin, heritage and religion are VALUED for making this world the diverse, multi-racial and cultural world that God intended it to be.
My hope is that as we dive into the issues that lie directly ahead for us, our families and friends fight with us, taking steps toward tolerance and love for one another as God would have us do. That we would step outside of what is comfortable and thankfully look forward to seeing each other through the eyes of God.
This is me, stepping down from my soap-box..... sheepishly. Thanks for listening.

Friends in Kyrgykstan!

We got to talk to our good friends overseas tonight! We only talk to them once every 6 months or so and they are coming home soon! We are so excited!

Not only will they be home, but so will Garretts brother-in-law and sister (yeah Matt and Lou!)! Let the house sell quickly (our not so silent, and a very selfish prayer)!

The six of us did this crazy thing within the first few years of all of us all being married (not like a group thing- to our respective partners:P). We all decided to move in together into one 3 bedroom apartment! Totally insane!!!! Add to that, a new puppy (Dudley) that had separation anxiety and issues with outdoor potty training! It was the best of times... it was the worst of times- but we all love each other that much more for having been through it and I must say, Garrett and I have never missed four people more!

Just a few more months and we'll get to spend some time together again before OUR big move!

We love you guys. Hurry home!

Ethiopia's Orphans, Adoption, and Magnifying God