Grateful...and a Baby Squirrel

I've been so overwhelmed and humbled by the love that our sweet, little XY has been shown over the past few weeks. Her story is one of love from the very beginning. From, "God loved her and sent His Son" (1 John 4:10) to her birth family loving her for eight months before making the hardest decision they would ever have to make and laying her down on the steps of the hospital and walking away so that she could get care for her rare condition (a decision I'm convinced was borne out of a desperate kind of love most of us will never, ever understand); from my eyes clamping on a photograph of hers and a fierce, protective mother-love, the kind I immediately recognized as it mirrors what I have for the children who already call me momma, rising up in my soul, to friends, family and strangers recognizing the miracle of her, and the wonder and necessity of her being adopted into a forever family and making a sacrifice so that could happen. All of it, love.

I can NOT get enough of her smile. Angels sing when she smiles.

My heart swells with pride when each of my children pray around the table, taking turns, pleading with God to please heal XY's skin. Please bring her home to our family soon. They all included her in their family count in a recent school assignment. Gabe made a profile for her in his 3DS. Lily set aside a bin full of toys she wants to give to her. They each have a small understanding of the sacrifice they are making, and they are eager to make it. "I'm sorry, love, we can't afford that right now" is met with tender hearts and responses that sound like, "Oh yeah, we need that money to bring XY home." Don't think for one second that our kids are going without; no, they are building up a rare treasure in their hearts that cannot be found in immediate gratification or stuff of any kind.  They each understand in a small way that our family is going to live in crazy-town for a little while, and we joke and share about the crazy-town we lived in when our beloved Lily flower became their sister, and they wouldn't trade her for the world.

And nothing is sexier than my husband designing his next tattoo to contain symbolism of three sons and two daughters. A tattoo is forever, man! And so is his father-love for a child he's never met and who carries none of his genes.

We have made it through one of most grueling steps of the adoption process, the dreaded homestudy. This took a whole lot longer than we thought. By a whole lot longer, I mean 4 and half months instead of three months, but people, imagine being pregnant for six weeks longer than you thought! Torturous! When my pregnancy with Seth went over my calendar by a whopping two days, I was completely convinced I was going to be the first woman in history to be pregnant forever. I went back to planning out the school week for my little kindergartner and preschooler. I almost put away the newborn clothes. Six extra weeks of waiting for your child is a long time.

Please, please bear with me once our dossier gets to China and we have to wait four to eight months to get our Letter or Acceptance and then Travel Approval. I may be unbearable. You might want to send chocolate. And if you could pray for four months instead of eight months, maybe God will get weary of hearing the same prayers and just move a few mountains and get this momma to her child already.

A week and a half ago, God, a few of my friends and I pulled off a massive portrait fundraising effort. We used the same company from when we were fundraising to bring Lily home. This time, however, I had to work far from family and our venue was a military chapel. Talk about Red Tape! Just getting the photographer on base was an obstacle! Then November happens to be Marine Corps Birthday Month, and the Marines treat their birthday and the ensuing Balls like Chinese New Year. So scheduling was tricky. And two days before the deadline to turn in my numbers, I was still 15 sittings short of the minimum amount needed to get the company to even send a photographer! A couple of friends jumped on board last minute, called and texted all their friends and BOOM, God provided. Then another huge obstacle, I found out that because the event was happening on government property (military chapel) I was not allowed to have any kind of monetary transactions happen there. Um, the whole purpose of a fundraiser has something to do with raising FUNDS! So when people showed up, God bless them, I had to refuse to take their donations. All I could do is refer them to my blog with it's little paypal donation button and give them my address.

But God in His mighty, creative way, is allowing more people to read and learn about XY and He is changing hearts, helping people to see what He sees and love what He loves. That, my friends, makes a successful fundraiser! So glad He's in charge! And several people were moved and donated far more than the portrait fundraiser suggested. I'm so, so thankful!

So with those extra donations, we are up to 88 puzzle pieces. 88 names (some of them the same!) written on the back of a piece, declaring love. Lisa loves XY. Colleen loves XY. Amy loves XY. Gram loves XY. Laura loves XY. Holly loves XY. Jill loves XY. Shannon loves XY. And on and on. Can you imagine what that does to this momma's heart? What that will do for her heart?

A baby squirrel started following Caleb around the yard. I let him pick it up. There was no momma squirrel to be found.

The kids named him Digger and begged to keep him. Alas, it's against the law in most states. I didn't look up our state, but we'll just say it's probably against the law here, too.

It tried to illegally stow away in Caleb's pocket. I'm sorry, little bundle of cuteness that grows up to be a tree rat, you cannot be our pet, no matter how cuddly you are.

So today I want to thank you from the deepest part of a mother's heart. Thank-you. I know that God is all over this adoption, and I'm so thankful to be a part of something that God is all over.

Also, we have landed on a name for our XY. Should I tell you or make you wait? Don't you like to be surprised?