Because People Have Asked...

Because people have asked I am writing a new post about our adoption puzzle fundraiser.  We still have more than half of the pieces awaiting a name or a 3 word personal message from you!  Here is how it works,  $10 buys 1 puzzle piece and helps create 1 less orphan.  We put your name on the back of your puzzle piece and add it to our child's puzzle.  Buy one for yourself, your spouse, your kids, or as a gift in someone's name.  When the puzzle is finished we will frame it in double sided glass and hang it in our child's room as a reminder of everyone who helped bring them home.  To purchase a puzzle piece click the donate button in the upper corner of my blog.  If you would prefer to send a check, leave a comment and I will send you my address.  Let's fill in Sprout's puzzle and help bring our little one home!!

Photo Contest

Dear friends, would you please take a second and vote for this adorable picture of my babies.  All you have to do is click the link LIKE the picture. Pretty please? The photographer is giving away a 16x20 canvas to the picture with the most likes. We are in the top 2 and I would LOVE to win. It will only take a second. Thanks friends!!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=453973597987441&set=a.453973454654122.127824.130239673694170&type=1&theater

Thanks for voting!!

In Lieu of Gifts

Today my post has little to do with our own adoption.  It is about helping the orphaned, sick and vulnerable.  It is about one precious baby girl in particular.  

In lieu of gifts.

Our son Caleb is turning one year old on November 4th.  He is a perfect, sweet, healthy baby.  But today I read a story about a baby girl who is not healthy.   I first read about baby Jovia on October 12th when she was brought to the children's home my son Jeremiah is from.  She was thought to be 8 months and only weighed 10 pounds!

Meet Jovia link

They have been caring for Jovia at the baby home for nearly 2 weeks, feeding her high calorie formula every 3 hours around the clock.  Despite the constant care provided, Jovia was admitted to the hospital today and is receiving special food via feeding tube.  She has a low HgB and malaria.  Jovia is an orphan and doesn’t have a mother or father to cradle and hold her while she is sick.  What the doctors discovered today while running tests made my heart stop and I realized I had to do  something to help.  What they learned is that Jovia is not 8 months old.  The doctors determined she is between 18 and 24 months old!  I am crying as I type this because this sweet baby girl is nearly 2 years old and is starving to death.  She weighs only 10 pounds!!  Caleb weighed 10lbs 9oz at his two month check up!!

 Instead of buying a brightly colored toy that may or may not catch our 1 year old son's interest, I am asking that donations be made to help with Jovia's medical care.  Caleb's birthday is November 4th and I would love to see my community of family and friends rally around this sweet girl and raise $400 for her medical care by Caleb’s birthday on the 4th.  Please help be a part of Jovia's rescue and visit this website to learn more about her and make a donation in lieu of gifts for Caleb's 1st birthday!  

Update on Jovia link

Under the donate button at the bottom of the page there will be a clickable link to read the first part of Jovia's story entitled "Meet Jovia."

“I always wondered why somebody didn't do something about that. Then I realized I was somebody.” ~ Lily Tomlin 

Let's all be the somebody that Jovia needs right now!

PS.  If you do donate will you please comment here or on my facebook page so I know when we reach our $400 goal.  Thank you!

Ongoing Packing List

When I was in Uganda for Jeremiah's adoption I packed things I didn't need and left behind things I wished I had with me.  So I am going to keep a list here and add to it as I think of things!

~Wipes- lots of wipes!  Baby wipes and small packs of regular wipes to throw in your bag.
~Diapers.  I was glad I brought lots of diapers because I did not like the ones available in country.  
~Flush able wipes,
~A few tissue pocket packs and boogie wipes.
~Crystal light instant packs, Starbucks VIA and cocoa packs are nice to have but I brought too much last time.
~Medacine:  Tylenol, tums, dayquil, benedryl (topical and pills!), pepto, and anti diarrhea pills (tmi but you might need them if you accidentally drink any untreated water)
~Bug spray with deet
~Sunscreen
~Several mini hand sanitizers for when you are out and about.  I like the ones from Bath and Body Works with the little thing to hang from your bag.
~Razor, toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo and conditioner, Jeremiah's shampoo and conditioner, body wash, baby wash, and any other personal items you don't want to be without your brand of.
~Purex crystals or Downy Unstopables.  So nice to add to the wash since everything hangs to dry.  
~Travel fabreeze
~Ziplock bags, gallon and quart.
~Pack dryer sheets in your bag around clothes to keep your suitcase and clothes smelling fresh.  Then seal them up in a ziplock bag and keep them when you unpack.  I would tuck them in my pillowcase and around my room for a fresh smell :)
~Journal, notebook, and a few of your favorite kind of pens.  I was glad I tucked a few of my favorite pictures of my hubby and family inside my journal.
~Ipad, Kindle, ipod, camera.  Electrical adapter and chargers for all electronics.
~Figure out how expensive it would be to unlock my iphone for international use or acquire a Ugandan cell phone.
~Ergo You can front, back and side carry with it.  Front carry encourages eye contact and bonding and the child will fall asleep against your chest when they are tired.  So great for bonding!  Carries up to 45 pounds, but for me, my back has a hard time carrying over 25 pounds for very long.
~Two good flashlights.  I will bring a Mag Lite and a hand held flashlight with a lantern setting.  I only brought 1 and it died when I was in Uganda.  An unfortunate incident of Mike trying to make a bottle for J when the power was out in the middle of the night and accidentally pouring the formula into the flashlight instead of the bottle. Oops! lol  I had to borrow one for the rest of the trip!
~Back up batteries for flash lights and camera.
~Small snacks like fruit leathers and food your kids are familiar with.
~Mac and cheese.
~String cheese and regular cheese.
~Sewing kit.  I need this a few times!
~Large bag, purse, back pack or diaper bag.  We needed to carry around a lot of diapers, snacks, water bottles, and extra clothes when we are gone all day.
~A small backpack for Jeremiah to carry his own snacks in when we are going to be out and about for the day.
~7-8 days of clothes for the adults so you have enough between washings and waiting for clothes to line dry in rainy weather.  Probably more for kiddos. Nice clothes for church and court.
~Flip flops, good walking shoes, and court shoes.
~Small wet bag for baby blow outs or accidents while out and about.
~Bottles, Sippy Cups, snack traps,and children's bowls with lids and spoons.  These kind of things cost an arm and a leg there!  But you can get them if you need them.
~I think I will bring a few cooking items this time.  Granulated sugar since they don't have it in country, and possibly a small rice cooker since I suck at making rice in a pot.  Also our family favorite go to recipes that I can adapt to ingredients available in Uganda.

Carry on
~Ipad, laptop, both cameras, anything valuable.
~Lots of cash.
~Copies of all documents, especially court documents on the way home.
~Pillow
~A small bag with travel sized toothpaste, toothbrush, hair brush, hair ties, lotion, deodorant  face wipes and a little bit of make up.  Trust me, you will feel more human with these items on 2 very long airplane rides!
~Change of shirt and undergarments so you can freshen up on the layover between flights.
~Court clothes-you don't want to be without these!
~Kindle, ipod, journal and pen.
~Small toys and snacks to keep small children occupied.  A favorite lovey or blanket for sleeping.

Update on our Puzzle fundraiser!

I posted two weeks ago about my Birthday wish to have people donate to our adoption puzzle fundraiser instead of receive gifts this year.  More than anything what I want or my birthday is to be closer to bringing our little one home from Uganda.  Well, it is here.  Today is my Birthday!!  In the first week of our fundraiser we received 18 pieces.  The second week our church surprised us with a $1,000 matching grant.  Until September 8th they will be matching every donation up to $1,000!  So far we have had 64 pieces donated since we our grant was announced (so 82 total including the first 18).  We only need another 36 pieces to receive the entire grant!  We are so thankful for everyone who has donated up to this point and remember, the next 36 donations will go twice as far with our matching grant!  Just use the paypal donate button in the upper corner or leave me a message for my address if you would prefer to send a check.  Please continue sharing the blog link to our fundraiser on your facebook pages, twitter or blog.  You never know how many donations you sharing our story will bring!  A friend recently purchased 2 pieces and shared our link on her facebook page causing on of her friends to be inspired to purchase 3 more pieces and then her husband then featured us on his blog bringing 6 more pieces from total strangers!  You can read his blog post featuring our adoption story here:   http://manvdadhood.com/2012/08/18/guest-post-one-less/
I will post an update tonight after we get home from celebrating my birthday with our family this evening.  Thank you to everyone who is helping us make one less orphan in the world and bring a lonely child into a family!!  May God bless you fro being such a blessing to us!

A few recently purchased puzzle pieces on top of a picture of what the puzzle will look like when it is completed.

Help us add ONE piece to the puzzle so that there will be ONE less orphan.

I am really excited to announce a fundraiser for our adoption that anyone can help with.  It is also my birthday wish.  Today is August 1st.  The first day of my birth month.  What I really want for my birthday is to be closer to bringing our child home from Uganda.  Into his or her forever home.
We believe that we have been called to adopt.  With Jeremiah and Caleb we could more or less afford to adopt.  This time, even though we are living as simply as possible and saving every penny from my nanny job we know that we are not going to be able to do it alone.  We need our friends and community to help us.  There is a huge task ahead to raise the rest of the money needed to complete this adoption.  But we believe that nothing is impossible with God.  He can part seas and move mountains.  We believe that He has asked us to adopt a child who needs a family and even though we don't have all of the finances up front this time, we trust Him to provide.  
So......We are having a Puzzle Fundraiser!  We purchased this beautiful puzzle designed by a Tanzanian artist and will hang it in our child's room.

Here is how it works:

For $10, a person can purchase 1 piece of this beautiful African puzzle.  We will write your name on the back of the puzzle piece(s), and our next child will forever know the loved ones who helped to bring him/her home. You can purchase one for yourself, your spouse, your children, whoever's name you want on your piece(s).  When all of the pieces have been purchased and the puzzle is complete, we will place it in a double-sided glass frame to hang in our nursery. Your gift will forever be remembered, and our child will know as he or she grows up the impact that you had on their life.  Just imagine them seeing all of those names and realizing hundreds of people cared enough about them to help bring them into a family??!!!  Can you imagine how special and loved this will make them feel?

This is a 1,000 piece puzzle.  I tried hared to find a 500 piece puzzle that I loved with African flair but this was the best one.  Our goal is to have 5oo pieces purchased by September 30th, 2012.  If all 1,000 pieces were purchased the remaining half our our adoption costs needed to be saved/raised would be funded.  Imagine that!!  I however do not have 1,000 facebook friends, or even 500 so I would be grateful if you could spread the word by sharing with everyone you know.  Post it on facebook, your blog, or twitter and invite others to share in our adoption journey.  Our goal is to sell at least 500 pieces of this puzzle, so we need your help.  Thank you for supporting our adoption!

You can sponsor pieces in a couple of ways.  You can click the donate button on the right side of this blog and put in the dollar amount you wish to donate.  With the donate button you can use paypall, your credit card, or your debit card.  Or you can send a check to our home address (email me at mikeandsarah112903@yahoo.com for our address).  Then comment here or let me know on facebook how many puzzle pieces you purchased and what names you wish to put on them.

I will periodically post the pictures of the progress on the puzzle.  Once it is complete we will frame it in double sided glass as a reminder of everyone who helped bring our child home!
Thank you so much for your love, support, and prayers!  We are truly grateful!  May God bless you for being such a blessing to us!

Open Arms

Today over the course of a normal Saturday Caleb reached a milestone that I have waited for for months.  He reached his arms out to me.   Full of happiness and giggles while playing together, secure in the fact that I am his Mom and I love him, he reached his chubby sweet little baby arms out for me to hold him. 

I will backtrack to my first days with Jeremiah so you can understand why this was such an important milestone that I have been waiting forever for.  One of the best memories in my whole life was when Jeremiah did this for the first time.  I remember blogging about it here so I would never forget the way that felt.  Jeremiah was 6 months old and had only been my son for 3 weeks at this point.  I was still in Uganda with him.  I had to take him to The Surgery to have a TB test (a shot that forms a blister under the skin) and I remember writing this about it:  "I held him in my lap while they administered the shot and cried right along with him because he didn't understand why I let them hurt him.  As soon as they were done I turned him to face me and laid him on my chest to calm my sweet little boy who screamed hysterically with fright, not understanding why I let them poke him.  When he began to calm, I laid him on the bed to re-dress him and his little face turned red as he started to scream again, and for the first time ever, he lifted his skinny little malnourished arms up to me and held them out, begging me to hold him and not let go just yet.  I have never felt quite so loved in my life as I did in that moment when my tiny 9 pond 6 month old threw his wobbly arms up to me for comfort.  I will never forget that moment as long as I live!!"

Caleb is almost 9 months old and the events that led up to him holding his arms out to me to be held were nothing like the emotional traumatic day with Jeremiah, but it was precious just the same.  The trust of a baby reaching out for you knowing that you are his Mommy and will always keep him safe and love him forever.  A first moment in motherhood that I might never have noticed if I had not had that experience with Jeremiah, cherishing every moment of the bonding of his heart to mine.  A simple every day moment that would have probably passed unnoticed.


As I rocked Caleb with his bed time bottle a few minutes later I contemplated what firsts I am missing right now as my husband and I fill out the paperwork for our third adoption.  Being able to bring Caleb home from the hospital was a blessing that we never expected.  We never dreamed we would have the chance to experience EVERY first with one of our children.  It is such a precious gift and we treasure it!  Right now as we wait and hope to be matched with a waiting child I wonder what other firsts have come and gone.  First words?  First steps?  First scraped knees or first toothless grin?  There is a bit of loss that goes with being an adoptive parent in that you miss some of these firsts.  Of course it is worth every missed first to bring our children home into our family but I still wonder.  Have I missed the first belly laugh, the first taste of ice cream or the first time on a swing?  I read a poem about a year ago that helps me keep all of this in perspective:

my view [a poem]
 You might not know the story (the one about her birth)

but I have kept a record since the moment she touched earth.

I know the day she tried to walk.  I counted every fall.

I know the number of her tears.  My bottle holds them all.

I was there for the day when she turned one year old.

You don't know where it happened and she might not have been told,

but those things are less important than the fact that I was there...

that I planned her birth with purpose is more important than the "where."

I was there when she was waiting.  I whispered to her when

her small heart first held the promise of the family I would send.

I planned all those details of her self that whisper she is yours

so that one day you could show her that I'd planned this since before.

Since before she heard your voice and before she knew your name

I was holding her and planning for her welfare just the same.

There was never once a moment when I didn't rule it all

From the numbers in her birth date to events she can't recall.

I've been planning this small life for the big one that shall be.

The missing pieces of her story make more room to trust in me.

The harvest that will come from the first few years of pain

Will be greater than your heart can know or ever could contain.

by Mandie Joy

I am feeling a little bit wistful today experiencing firsts with my two children while missing first with my third child I have yet to meet.  But I am determined to stay present with my children experience all the life and firsts that each day has to offer us.  To focus on what I have and trust God to take care of the one I am missing.  

The blog post that that poem is taken from is worth a read.  Head over to Mandie in Africa's blog and read the whole post.  It is worth it!  my view