No words.

Just came home from a very long day.  A day where I couldn't go refill my water glass without seeing the terror continue to unfold.

As I picked up Madeline from school today, I couldn't help but squeeze her and choke up.  When she asked me why I was sad, I just sat there wondering how do I even begin to explain to my preschooler why 20 kids went to school today and are never coming home.

Instead I just quietly explained that there are lots of kids' families that we need to pray for right now.  She looked at me very seriously and asked "Do they need us to pray for them to get hats and gloves and coats, Mommy? Because we can help them get that stuff." 

You have a big heart, kid.  A big heart.

New ornaments

Look at me: blogging from gymnastics! Just wanted to share our new Christmas ornaments because they are AWESOME. As is Madeline's fantastic new hair cut!

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Blog to go?

Thanks to the ridiculous number of extra students I had in my last couple of classes, I was able to buy a new (to me) iPad. My rationalization for this was that it will help me keep up with my classes while on the go. It just occurred to me that it might help with blog posts on the go as well. So I'm trying it out while hanging out in bed. Not bad.


THANK YOU a million times over to all of you who have been spreading the word about our amazon deal and shopping like maniacs! November was AWESOME and it looks like December will be as well!

10 more days of class!

Shop with Purpose

Just a  reminder as we head into Christmas Shopping season....

 

If you are shopping Amazon, please do so by clicking the link in the upper right hand corner of our blog.  Empty your cart first, click, and shop until your heart is content!  Everything looks the same and it's complete anonymous, but it's a super easy way to help us raise money for our adoption.  As of this week, we have officially mailed or handed out 1000 of our Amazon reminder cards!  And some very awesome friends have taken it upon themselves to spread the word to their friends, family, and coworkers.  You have our blessing to spread the word on this!  

In love with a picture

I read a ridiculous number of adoption blogs on a regular basis.  I came across this particular post this week, which perfectly describes how we're feeling right now:

 

"This is the stage you realize God can put a vicious fight in you for a kid without your blood coursing through his veins. Those early doubts about loving a child without the helpful instincts of biology are put to rest. Of course, you don’t know this kid yet, but you love him in your heart, in your bones. You’ll fight like hell to get to him. You can’t think of anything else. You are obsessed. You dream about him like you did when you were pregnant. You realize that when God said He sets the lonely in families, He meant it, and He doesn’t just transform the “lonely” but also the “families.” He changes us for one another. God can create a family across countries, beyond genetics, through impossible circumstances, and past reason."

There you have it.

You can read the rest at: http://jenhatmaker.com/blog/page/2

(Don't get use to this 3 posts in a few week business. I start teaching my first graduate class on Monday.  I'll be lucky to eat, bathe, or sleep over the next 6 weeks!)

Job Updates

I'm on day 2 of being stuck at home with a sick little girl.  Which is actually not so bad given that it's freezing cold and windy outside.  It's nice to have the chance to get caught up on a few projects and cleaning items, but especially the blog.  This made me realize that I have been TERRIBLE about updates this year, especially the last few months.  I also just realized that blogger has changed their layout and this seems easier now, which could be a good thing!



So the Long family has had some job changes.  Quite a few for one household actually. 

In June I was offered the opportunity to take an internship in the training department at my company.  This has always been a strong interest for me, so it seemed like a no brainer.  It's been a wonderful new adventure and it will be interesting to see what happens when the internship ends. 

On top of that change, I was actually offered the opportunity to teach as an adjunct professor under the lead of an old professor of mine.  This has been a longtime dream of mine, so of course I jumped at the chance.  The nice thing for now, is that it's all part of an online program, which gives me a lot of schedule flexibility given that I also have a full time job and a small child.  I'm wrapping up my second class this week and starting my first graduate class next week.  It's a challenge and pretty time consuming, but I really enjoy it.  Plus I've committed to taking all of my earnings from that gig and putting them into the old adoption fund. 

And last but not least, Brad was recently offered a position that is a great career move for him.  It's still local, limited travel, and will allow him to grow in some areas of interest for him.  He started this week and is confident in his decision to change. 

We honestly cannot express how blessed our family has been this year. 

And I really just included this because I wanted to play with the picture editor. Seems easier which is good.  Madeline is becoming quite the little artist, which is ironic given her techy father and number crunching mother.  It is sweet to watch her spend so much time at her easel, being very creative. 

When You Least Expect It

As you can probably tell from my last post, I have been over the waiting.  Months of no news to report. Me feverishly stalking our agency's internal forum to see who has gotten referrals lately.  I pretty much reached a point where I was completely consumed by thinking about the adoption process. And to be honest, this didn't not make me a particularly pleasant human being.  On the morning of October 8, I decided that I simply couldn't go on functioning like that.  I was so wrapped up in my own thoughts that I wasn't being the wife, mother, friend and employee that I wanted to be.  So on a Monday morning, I decided to let it go.  Knowing full well that God has a very perfect plan in place, I decided that I was going to put the notion of seeing our daughter out of my head. Until Christmas.  That timeline fit with what seemed to be going on around us and I concluded that would be a pretty awesome Christmas present. 

I pulled into my garage the evening of October 8 and it was a beautiful day outside. Madeline scrambled out of the car to climb on her bike and enjoy the favorable weather.  As I was gathering our belongings to empty at the car, I just happened to have my cell phone in my hand when it started ringing.  A blocked number showed up, which normally I would never answer.  I have no idea why I decided to answer that call, other than it was so nice outside and Madeline was entertaining herself, so I figured why not.

It was THE CALL. 

The one where a familiar voice was telling me that she had a baby girl for us. 

Our baby girl.  And I mean a BABY baby.


She rattled off a few details and I'm pretty sure I sounded like a moron on the phone because I was so in shock. 

As soon as we hung up, I hit the pavement, sobbing.  Madeline and my next door neighbor came over to make sure I was ok. 

It took about 20 minutes for Brad to get home and for pictures to be emailed to us.  The whole thing was kind of surreal. 

The minute we saw the thumbnail of her face, we were in love.  Three pictures that have been glued to my side ever since. 

We drove that night to Meijer to get prints made.  Madeline and I were whooping and shouting with joy at the top of our lungs. (Brad managed to maintain some composure.) 

I woke up the next morning convinced it was all a dream.  But her picture still sits on my nightstand. And the bathroom counter. And in my cubicle. And on my computer. And phone. 

There won't be much to report for quite a while.  And we can't put any more specific details on our blog because we are currently going through a legal process over "there."  But if you see us in person, I'm apologizing in advance for shoving pictures of our gorgeous baby girl in your face. 

Time to hurry up and wait some more! But at least we have a beautiful face and name to pray for while we wait.