Haley Rae is coming home!

There are things in life that you don’t miss until you don’t have to do them anymore… in this case, I mean vacuuming up sunflower seeds and cleaning wads of dark brown hair out of the shower.  You see, I haven’t done that since Haley Rae left for Guatemala in February. 

She has really been ragging me for not blogging about her being gone, but I didn’t feel like I could blog without getting emotional and I didn’t want to make her homesick.  BUT, it’s okay if she gets homesick now because SHE’S COMING HOME TOMORROW!! 

After Haley graduated in May, I could see a change in her.  She had played year-round sports all her life and that’s really all she knew.  When all that stopped, she just didn’t know what to do with herself.  She started to college, but I could tell she wasn’t happy.  She didn’t know what to take in school.  She didn’t know what she wanted to “be”.   I prayed for her to find SOMETHING that would reignite the spark in her life.  Well, God works in mysterious ways.  We found out that Danny and Kim Lopez needed a volunteer to come over and help them for a couple of months in Guatemala, and within 2 weeks, Haley Rae was on a plane.  Between you and me, I never had a doubt that she’d stay the entire time.   I did, however, doubt that she would really love it.  I expected her to like it the first couple of weeks and then be ready to head on back to Sweet Home Alabama.  She has SHOCKED me on several levels.  First, she’s not ready to come home.  What the heck? Secondly, she has been in a pleasant and even euphoric mood every single time I’ve heard from her.  What the double heck??  If you know Haley Rae very well at all, you know that she’s…ummm… moody.  Who is this person who looks like my daughter, but is IN LOVE with a foreign country and in a perpetual happy mood?  I don’t know, but I love it.  I am so incredibly proud that she made the choice to walk away from her pretty darn cushy life into a world of unknown.  I know she made a difference in Guatemala, and I feel like Guatemala made a difference in her. 

It goes without saying that *I* am ecstatic about her arrival tomorrow night.  As a matter of fact, I’m packing a fork in my purse to take to the airport and will stab anyone who tries to hug her before me. 

There are a few other people who miss her and are happy to see her coming home too. 

Some people even made videos!

AND...Special messages from the men in her life!

So there you go, Haley Rae... your very own blog.  I hope this makes you feel special, because you ARE! 

The Call to Adopt

I ran into a friend last night that I haven’t seen in a while.  I was so surprised and happy when she told me that her family was adopting from the Philippines.  I was surprised because I never even realized they were considering adoption.  She explained that they had been thinking about it for a few years.  Her and her husband agreed on the Philippines.  They both wanted a healthy girl.  Neither wanted a baby.  So far, so good.  But when it came to the age of the child, she was leaning towards 4 or 5 years old, while he was thinking more like 10 or 11.  He jokingly said to her, “God will probably send us both!” (insert laughter) Funny guy. 

Three weeks after their initial contact with the agency, they got a picture with a note that said, “How about FOUR healthy girls?”  Yes, four.  That God – He always has to get the last laugh, doesn’t he?

Hopefully by the end of the year, these four precious girls will travel a world away to begin their happily ever after. 

I went to bed with a happy heart, thinking how brave this family is.  To be honest, I was thinking they must REALLY love kids if they are willing to take on FOUR at a time. And that, folks, is when God spoke to me.  Let me clarify that He doesn’t “speak” to me often.  Sometimes He hits me up side the head or smacks with in the face with stuff.  In His defense, He probably tries to speak to me before resorting to drastic measures, but I haven’t quite grasped the whole BE STILL concept and I’m not a good listener.  I tend to be more of a talker.  I’m a work in progress.  Anywho… That’s when God said this –

It’s not about how much they love kids – it’s about how much they love ME.

Whoa.

Just whoa.

I know I was called to adopt.  It was one of drastic measures kind of things that God resorted to.  He smacked me in the face with a couple of brown baby girls.  (You can read that story here )

So here’s my question to you - are you being called to adopt and you’re just not listening? Have you ever even thought about it? Do me a favor.  Take out a piece of paper and make two columns.  In one column, write down the reasons you SHOULD adopt.  In the other column, write down the reasons you SHOULDN’T.  Now, take that piece of paper and rip it into a million pieces.  It’s worthless. Ask HIM if He wants you to adopt.  Don’t try to be logical.  Logic doesn’t always equal God’s Will. 

All I’m asking is that you open your heart.  God will take care of the rest. 

Hello Tuesday! Please be nice to me.

I have to say, I was glad to see yesterday end.  It was a doozy of a day for some reason.  I don't know if it was the time change, the fact that it was Monday, or if my kids just decided to keep me on my toes. 

Any day that starts off with you googling "What if your child eats a whole pack of gum", then you know it's going to be interesting. 

Baby A is so used to have people around her all the time, that she really struggles on days when it's just me and her.  Well, *I* struggle.  She's fine as long as I'm holding her or playing with her.  She just doesn't do well playing by herself.  So, when she sat down in her floor and started playing with some toys, I took the opportunity to unload/reload the dishwasher.  Her room used to be my office, so it's situated right off the den/kitchen area.  All I had to do was peek around the corner to see her.  She had her back to me but seemed to be having a good time.  When I finished, I went to get her and she was eating something.  I grabbed her up, only to realize that she had gotten in the diaper bag and polished off a brand new pack of gum.  Yikes.

We still haven't decided if she is going to be redheaded or not.  It's got a reddish tint, but also has a brownish/blondish/stawberryish tint, so who knows.  Yesterday I was thinking definitely red, but that may be due to the exceptional Lucille Ball imitation she did.  Remember the episode where Lucy and Ethel were stomping on grapes?  Well, Baby A did that.  Except she used a spilled bag of potato chips... on the carpet.  Sigh.

I was genuinely looking forward to Yuri and Gigi getting out of school.  They are excellent babysitters and keep Baby A out of trouble for the most part.  I picked them up at school and told them to keep an eye on her while I went upstairs to put up some laundry.  When I came back down, this is what I found...

Me:           Gigi!  What are you doing?
Gigi:         I'm snotty. 

Well, duh. Of course.  Why didn't I ever think to suck the SNOT out of my nose with the vacuum cleaner??

I went back upstairs and took Baby A with me.  Before long, Yuri and Gigi followed.  As you know, children apparently LOVE to visit with their mom when she's on the potty.  I've had a lot of kids and I should be used to it, but I'm not.  I just really want to potty alone.  Call me selfish.    I remember banning my older kids from my bathroom when they were younger, and I can see that it's time to ban the little ones now.  How do I know?

Yuri:         Whatcha doin?
Me:           Trying to potty.  Go away.
Yuri:         I'll be good....

15 seconds of silence....

Yuri:         Mommy.
Me:           What???
Yuri:         You need a larger toilet. 
Me:           Huh?
Yuri:         Your butt is just NEARLY too big for that toilet.  You need to get Daddy to bring home an extra large.

Awesome, sweetie.  Thanks for noticing. 




 

I hate the F word... yes, that F word

Okay, so I’m about to rant.  You’ve been warned. 

Am I the only person in the whole world who is totally and completely offended by the F word? Have we truly become so desensitized that we freely use it and hear it without batting an eye?? 

Movies have been using it for years, and it’s always bothered me.  I literally cringe when I hear it, but I never thought I’d see the day when I had to dodge F bombs in my everyday life.

I see kids on Twitter using it.  And no, it’s not okay if you’re just retweeting someone else, or it’s a song lyric. 

I can’t even watch SportsCenter without seeing an athlete or coach say it (I’m just as offended when I lip read it as when I hear it).

I follow several other blogs that some funny, funny women write.  Unfortunately, I never link anybody up to them because they tend to think that inserting the F word makes it funnier.  They are so wrong! It just makes it vulgar and makes it look like they can’t think of a more original word to use.

It probably seems like I’m judging people who use the F word.  Let me explain… I AM JUDGING PEOPLE WHO USE THE F WORD.  I’m throwing you in the same pile as pedophiles, murderers and people who voted for Obama. 

(See, I tried to warn you)