What happens at Grandma's stays at Grandma's!

Caedmon and I are making the cross-country trek home to South Carolina today. (Pray for us!!!) My sister is driving up from Florida with her 3 boys, the youngest of whom I have yet to meet as he is only 2 months old. To say that I'm excited would be a slight understatement.

My agenda when I'm home:

• take Caedmon swimming everyday
• eat at Chick-fil-a at least twice
• have good conversations with each of my family members
• not have an agenda

Did I mention I'm excited?

Caedmon with his cousins, JJ & Caleb

Sunday Rewind

Yesterday we kicked off a new series called "Four Dumb Things Smart People Do". Great title for a series, huh?

Andy began by telling a story of something quite dumb that we did recently. When we were in San Francisco celebrating our anniversary two weeks ago, we went to a Giants game with a couple friends who were in town on our last night there. We loaded our car and checked out of the hotel before heading to the game, and then we rode over to the stadium with our friends. Unfortunately, we did not realize that the parking garage where our car was closed at 11 PM. So when we showed up at 11:05 after we got back from the game, we were rather dismayed to find that our car was locked up and all of our belongings were in it! To make a long story short, we ended up sleeping on the floor of our friend's hotel room until we were able to retrieve our car 7 hours later! Stupid stuff. In the words of Dave Ramsey, "I've done stupid with zeros on the end!"

fun times vs. not so much

Andy taught yesterday about the mistake many people make in sacrificing their family for their career. He began by saying that it is possible to win at work and at home, but when the two collide family must when or we end up losing at both.

In our society, we place such value on what we're able to produce. Often the first question we ask someone when we meet them is, "What do you do for a living?" Much of our identity is wrapped up in our career so to be successful at work seems like the path to being successful in life. It's easy to see the reward of spending an extra 30 minutes at work, and the results are much less tangible if you come home 30 minutes early.

But the reality is, the investment we make into our families carries far greater weight than the investment we make into our careers. We may not be able to define our "success" as clearly or as rapidly at home (it takes 20 years to raise a child), but our failure at home has a devastating impact on every area of our lives. If you can't get the job done at work, your company will replace you with someone else and never miss a beat. But if I fail to fulfill my God given role at home, I am the ONLY wife Andy will ever have and the ONLY mother Caedmon will ever have.

This is such a needed message in our society...especially here in the Silicon Valley. A mom with 4 adult daughters came up to us after the service with tears in her eyes saying, "My daughters need to hear this." You can listen to the message by clicking here.

Our son's 1st present from his Mommy & Daddy

We are getting to send a gift to our son through another family who is traveling to Ethiopia! The Dubois family is traveling to bring home their 8 month old son on June 2nd and have offered to take a care package for us! We are so excited for them and thankful for their willingness to help us out in this way. They will also take pictures of our son for us as he opens his care package! Can't wait to see those!!!

Here's a pic of what we're sending him:

Pictures of our family, an outfit, two trucks, a touch & feel book, and some Spiderman stickers picked out by Caedmon!

Please pray for our son

We received an email from our adoption agency this morning letting us know that our son (20 months old) has an upper respiratory track infection (URTI) and a soft tissue injury. I called to get more info and our family coordinator told us that she had already requested more info regarding the nature of the "soft tissue injury". That's all they told her and that could mean a wide range of things. Probably nothing too serious, but she told me she'd update me as soon as she heard anything.

Our family coordinator also mentioned that URTI's are unfortunately really common in the transition home where our child is living. The children are quite susceptible to that and to pneumonia.

The good news is that there is a full-time pediatrician that works with the children at the transition home and our son is being given the same antibiotics there that he would be receiving here. The thing he's not getting is time in his mommy's arms as I rock him and comfort him while he's sick.

While some people might be of the belief that it makes a kid "stronger" to not be coddled so much when they're sick, I think it has a tendency to make a child harder. They initially desire the comfort of an adults love, but when they learn that it's unavailable, they find ways to soothe themselves and eventually won't know how to receive that love when it's offered.

I know that the nannies at the transition home are wonderful and affectionate and they love the children. But the reality is, the kids are not getting one-on-one care and the nannies don't have the time to rock a sick child for hours on end.

So, I'd like to ask you to pray with me about something...I feel confident that our son is getting his physical needs met and that his body will heal (though I would love for you to pray for this too!). The thing I'd really like your prayer for is that God will protect his heart even when all of his emotional needs are not being met. I pray that God will keep his heart tender and that he will be ready and eager to soak in all the love that we want to give him. Pray that there would be a nanny to give him a little extra love and attention while he's sick.

I may never know if you stop right now to pray for him, but please know that I deeply appreciate it if you do. And I believe it makes a difference.

A Case of Two Mothers

I found this poem and cried as I thought of our precious son's birth mother. I cannot imagine having to relinquish the rights to my child because I am unable to care for him. The courage and strength that took is astounding to me. She could have selfishly kept him to herself and watched him wither and likely die young from starvation or sickness. But instead, he will have the chance to thrive and blossom. She will not get to see it, but I pray she takes great comfort in knowing that her selfless act gave her son the chance to live.

Once there were two women,

Who barely knew each other.

One is in your heart forever,

The other you’ll call mother.

Two different lives,

Shaped to make yours one.

One became your guiding star,

The other became your sun.

The first gave you life,

And the second taught you how to live it.

The first gave you a need for love,

And the second was there to give it.

One gave you a nationality,

The other gave you a name.
One gave you the seed of talent,

The other gave you an aim.

One gave you emotions,

The other calmed your fears.

One saw your first sweet smile,

The other dried your tears.

One gave you a family,

It was what God intended for her to do.

The other prayed for a child,

And God led her straight to you.

And now you ask me

Through your tears,

The age old question through the years.

Heredity or environment…

Which are you a product of?

Neither, my darling… neither,

Just two different kinds of love.