Houston Day Trips

I read an article recently about a family who made it a goal to visit all 50 states before their children graduated from high school.  As I was reading, I was thinking that is pretty neat, we should do that.  Then, I got to thinking that I don't know that I want to visit every state.  Plus, with my husband's job he travels so much while he is working that once he comes home, he is in no mood to go anywhere (usually). 

So, I brought this idea up to my sister and she suggested that I just focus on cities in Texas.  I thought, "What a great idea!"  I mentioned that idea to a friend who suggested a book about day trips from Houston - even better! 

I have been researching some ideas and so far these are what I have come up with:

George Observatory
Shangri-La Gardens
Houston Museum of Natural Science - Sugarland
Brenham - Blue Bell Factory (we have already seen this but it is still on my list of things to do this year)
One Room Schoolhouse League City
Rusk Palestine Railroad - this looks like so much fun!
Matt Family Orchard
Kemah Boardwalk


Do you have any other ideas you would suggest?

Oh, the Unknown!

We mailed off our adoption package a little over a week ago.  Now, we are waiting.  Waiting for them to call us and schedule our classes.  Waiting to find out what we need to do next.

In many ways, I think it is very similar to when I found out I was pregnant with Lilly.  After going to the doctor, I wanted to know what I was supposed to do next.  Everything was unknown. 

I didn't know if I would have a healthy child in the end...
I didn't know if the child would be a boy or girl...
I didn't know how the child would look...
I didn't know how the child would act...
I didn't know when the child would come...
I didn't know how we would provide for the child...


All the unknowns make me nervous but KNOWING that my God is in control gives me peace.  I know they will call at the perfect time and that I need to "cast all my cares on the Lord" and "do not be anxious about anything"

A Reminder from My Girl

We mailed the adoption application in last week!  We are so excited and nervous!

Since we started filling out the application, I have been praying for the "potential" child (or children) that will join our family.  Asking God to watch over the child and keep him or her out of harms way. 

Well, today I was praying for our future child and Lilly stopped me afterward.  She said, "You know, Mom, there are lots of children out there without a mom or a dad.  You shouldn't just be praying for the one coming to our family, but all the rest of them too."

Ouch!

As my husband said, "Out of the mouths of babes.."

So, as a reminder from my sweet girl, I will be praying for all the orphans out there tonight. 

Need A New Schedule

Maybe it is because we just came home from vacation or maybe it is because I just don't know how to say no, but since I have been back it has been nonstop go, go, go!

Because it has been so busy...

We haven't had time to do schoolwork - I am not stressing too much about this because I know she is in preschool and she is learning no matter where we are; however, if I am going to make home schooling work for us I am going to have to get into a routine of setting aside certain times of the day for that purpose.  I know, I know that one of the benefits of home schooling is that you can do it whenever and wherever, but I am a schedule type girl and I need structure or it won't get done.

I haven't been able to fully implement her sticker chart for chores and rewards - Lilly has a chart that we use to reward her for doing her chores and to use as a reward in other areas also.  Currently, two areas we are working on are doing her chores with a cheerful attitude and going to quiet time without complaining or crying.  It is hard to have time for her to do her chores when we are always away from home and it is hard to have time for quiet time as well. 

We haven't had quiet time - She doesn't take naps anymore but we both still need some quiet time to just rest and be by ourselves.  Lilly doesn't quite see that she needs this time, she just thinks I want her to be lonely for an hour.  Each of the days that we have had quiet time, she has eventually had a great time playing with her toys and things.  When I tell her quiet time is over and she can come downstairs, she doesn't want to because she is having too much fun playing.

My cleaning time is out of whack - when I am not home, it is hard to clean the house.

So, because of these things (along with a few others), I have realized that I need to be home.  My family and my home are my ministry at this stage in my life.  I need to take care of it to the best of my ability. 

Baby Steps

Once my husband and I realized we were on the same page with pursuing adoption, then we both kind of looked at each other and said, "Now what?"  What is the first step?  We talked about what kind of child we felt would fit best in our family and whether we wanted to adopt internationally or domestically.  Our conclusion was that we would like to adopt domestically and that we would like for Lilly to be the oldest child or at least the oldest girl (a big brother could be pretty cool).  We know full well that God could change all of our "ideas" and bring somebody totally different into our family, but for now, this is what we have "decided."

Second step, find an agency or group to work with to help us through this process.  We attended an orientation for a group that works with helping to get homes for children who are already in child protective services - either through adoption or fostering.  There was some information that was a little eye opening for me - not being able to home school the child until the adoption was finalized was one and that you we were not allowed to physically discipline our own child while an adopted child was in our home or we could be in danger of losing all of the children, even our own?! 

We took the application home with us after the orientation and it sat on the desk for a couple of weeks. We prayed.  Then, finally, I was moved to pick it up and start working on it.  I was stumped by a lot of the questions and I almost immediately put it back down thinking, "how am I going to answer these questions?"  How do I put the way my family shows anger into words?  How do I explain the chore distribution in our house in a way that makes sense?  What would we do if a child was afraid of our dog?  How do we deal with nudity in our home?  Lots of questions to think about. 

Then, the documentation - health forms, references, diplomas, background checks, etc.  As of now, January 2013, we are just about finished with the first round of paperwork. It is exciting and scary.  I know that God is every much in control of this as He is in us having a baby naturally - either way it is up to Him whether we will have any more children or not.  So, when we send in the application with all the documentation it will go with prayers as well.  Prayers for God's will!

Experiences

When I was younger, I remember talking to people about certain events happening in their life and I would just kind of nod my head as if I understood.  I'm sure during some of those conversations I probably gave my input on what I think I would do in that circumstance or how I will handle it if that ever happens to me.  Honestly, I don't remember any of my responses, but I do know that I never fully understood until I went through the situation myself.

Examples of these experiences:

Being married to a military man

Experiencing a deployment

Moving and living overseas

Having a baby

Having a c-section

Raising a child

Buying a house

Experiencing infertility

Having a husband who travels a lot for his job


I know people who have never experienced these can be kind and offer advice (just as I did), but I think that until you actually experience it you never truly understand. 

Of course, I know there are many things that I haven't experienced that others have and so I am learning to be more careful with the words I share in these situations.  I want to be encouraging and helpful, but I now know that unless I have been through it myself, I just won't get it.

Will I Ever Fully Get It?

Throughout the whole process of not getting pregnant the passed 3 years, I thought I had learned the lesson - I am not in control when it comes to having a baby..God is.  No matter how much I plan, calculate, etc God has the ultimate say so in whether or not we have a baby or not. Got it!

Or, maybe not...

Recently, my husband and I have been looking into the idea of adopting a child.  My thoughts:  "we are good parents, we already have one child who is smart and well-behaved, so of course they will want to give us a child"

We went to an adoption orientation for a local agency.  Our idea was that we would adopt a 2-5 year old.  The lady began the session by telling us that if weren't adopting a child 8 years old or older, a sibling group of 3 or more, or doing the foster to adopt program then our chances of getting a child the ages we wanted were very slim.

So, I began to think, "Maybe we should to the foster to adopt" "Maybe we should adopt older"

I am so thankful for my husband, he could see my wheels turning and he turned and said to me, "We will not be fostering any children because that would be too hard on Lilly.  We will fill out the application as we planned and then we will leave the rest to God." 

It was a breath of fresh air to me.  Exactly what I needed to hear, through my husband
God had to remind me that having another child - through adoption or biologically - either way, it is still up to God!