The Adoption

Okay, so as the word is spreading about our adoption, here are the two things that I am hearing pretty regularly.

1. "Oh, can you guys not have anymore kids?" As far as I know we are perfectly capable of having more children naturally, and we might even decide to do that someday. Who knows! Just because someone adopts, it doesn't mean that they can't have more biological children. And even if they couldn't, is that a question you should really be asking? It might be a bit painful for the couple.

2. "Oh, now you don't have to throw up for nine months again!" Yes, my pregnancy with Connor was less than ideal. As a matter of fact, as my friend Mandy says, there is probably a reason I threw up for nine months. With my personality type (I am a control freak, impatient, and selfish) the complete opposite of what adoption requires, I would have probably had a harder time softening my heart to the idea if having Connor had been a breeze. BUT............nine months of throwing up and two and a half hours of drug-free pushing to deliver a 10 pound baby is NOTHING in comparison to the journey we have ahead. We have to wait THREE to FOUR years with unbelievable patience and put quite a financial strain on ourselves to bring this little girl into our family. But without any doubt in my being, this is what we're being called to do.

These comments are amusing to me because these would have totally been my thoughts a month ago if I was on the outside looking in! It's amazing how much can change in a short time.

The Zoo

We have not spent any time together as a family in a week! I've been in Florida and Greg has been running sound for a musical at CAK at night. Today is the first time since we've all been together for a substantial amount of time since last Friday night's dinner out to celebrate our decision to adopt Claire. (We ate Chinese! Yes, we totally admit it is cheesy, but it was Greg's idea!) And by the way, my fortune cookie read, "The one you love is not as far away as you may think."

Greg has been dying to take Connor to the zoo. Connor has only been to the Knoxville Zoo one time with his Mimi while Greg and I were in Mexico. I guess you can count the Animal Kingdom at Disney as a zoo too. So, Greg pulled me out of bed this morning and basically had to drag me to the zoo. I am not an animal person and it was raining, plus I had spent way too much time at theme parks this week, so this wasn't my idea of a perfect Saturday. But, the rain let up and we had a great day. Connor couldn't wait to see the penguins and said, "Look, it's Happy Feet!" Despite all of the animals, he really just wanted to run around and play. He loved petting the goats, milking the fake cow, and most of all playing on the playground at Kids Cove. It's funny how I can do something I don't really want to do, but I love it anyway because of the joy on Connor's face. I love that little boy!

Back from Florida and Soooooo Tired!

Oh my goodness....talk about being tired! I just flew back from Florida about an hour ago. I am so exhausted and dreading going to work tomorrow. I don't even want to know the damage my kids have done on a sub for three days! I bribed them to be good with the promise of pizza on Friday, so hopefully that worked!

I was in Orlando for four days at a conference. The classes were okay, only about two of them were worth going to, but the fellowship and friendships that were made were worth the trip! Disney offers an after 4 pass, at half price to people staying on their property with a convention, so we were able to hit Epcot, MGM, and the Magic Kingdom in the evenings. It was so weird being there without Connor and Greg, but I still had a great time!

My friends Jessica, Tina, and I were taking the backlot tour at MGM, and they pulled Jessica and me out of line and had us come out on stage for the first part of the tour to act out a movie scene. We got absolutely soaked (they totally tricked us, thus the classic, Jessica pose you see in the pictures-me with my hands on my hips). The lady "directing" the scene said she'd never seen a crowd laugh as hard as they did with Jessica and me. We were such goofballs and we had an absolute blast!

It was good to get away after the emotions of last week. I was spending some time by the water at the resort on Monday, and it finally hit me everything that has been going on, and I couldn't help but just cry. I cried because I'm scared, because I'm excited, because I don't understand it all. I cried because despite all that, I still feel peace. I know that everything is going to work out in God's perfect timing.

I am so excited to be home with my guys and I'm so excited to sleep in my bed....right now!

Connor is Going to be a Big Brother

I sit here tonight physically and emotionally exhausted from the week that I've had. Last week, while visiting a close friend in the hospital who had just had a new baby, I finally began to think about expanding our family. The more I thought about it, the more I knew I wanted another child, but I just didn't know when we were supposed to get pregnant. I just couldn't come to a peace about it. Adoption has always been in the back of my mind. I have been around a lot of adoptive parents throughout my life and always admired them. I always thought that if we adopted, I'd like to adopt from China. Every time I see a little Chinese girl, I get goosebumps. It's always been this weird thing, but I just didn't know if we would have that calling. The people I know who are adoptive parents are some of the people I admire the most because of their faith, heart, and strength. I would never consider myself as strong as them. And then it came.....

We were walking downtown last Saturday to a parade and having a conversation about having a baby, I kept thinking about adoption. I was too scared to say anything because when I had mentioned it before, Greg had always said that he would be open to discussing it if we could figure out how to make it affordable. I never knew how in the world to make twenty thousand dollars sound affordable, so I just didn't bring it up. I was thinking to myself, I really want to talk about this, but I can't, and then I came around a corner and saw a little Chinese girl with adoptive parents. I became very emotional and was hiding tears behind my sunglasses. We got home later that afternoon and I prayed for God to open up Greg's heart to adoption if this is what we were supposed to do and that night we had our first real conversation about adoption, and neither of us seemed so closed to the idea anymore. I began a journal, just in case any of this came to pass.

As I sit here tonight, one week later, so much has happened. It has been the most incredible week of my life. I have never seen God as much as I have this week. He has done amazing things and I have experienced what it is truly like to listen to God and follow his will and so..........as of last night, we are adopting a little girl from China. It will be at least three years until she joins our family, but through patience and obedience, we will bring her home. We are at a holding phase right now. We cannot submit our application until I am 29 1/2, so that will not come until February. After February, we will prepare our dossier for about 6 months. Hopefully by my 30th birthday (the age at which China will allow you to adopt) , we can mail our dossier to China and begin our 18-24 month (or more as we begin researching on current trends) wait for a referral. We will then have two months to prepare for travel, and then we will fly to Beijing and spend 14 days in China, before bringing her home.

I would love to share all of the God moments that I have had this week, but I'd write all night. Now, I just begin counting down to my thirtieth birthday so we can mail our paperwork to China. I never thought I'd be counting the days until I was 30! Then again, I never thought God would choose me to do something this amazing and important! It's been a good week!

My precious little man is excited. He's already talking about "sissy". I pray our daughter has the same sweetness and kindness as our Connor. He is an amazing little boy and deserves an amazing sister.

Connor is Going to be a Big Brother!

I sit here tonight physically and emotionally exhausted from the week that I've had. Last week, while visiting a close friend in the hospital who had just had a new baby, I finally began to think about expanding our family. The more I thought about it, the more I knew I wanted another child, but I just didn't know when we were supposed to get pregnant. I just couldn't come to a peace about it. Adoption has always been in the back of my mind. I have been around a lot of adoptive parents throughout my life and always admired them. I always thought that if we adopted, I'd like to adopt from China. Every time I see a little Chinese girl, I get goosebumps. It's always been this weird thing, but I just didn't know if we would have that calling. The people I know who are adoptive parents are some of the people I admire the most because of their faith, heart, and strength. I would never consider myself as strong as them. And then it came.....

We were walking downtown last Saturday to a parade and having a conversation about having a baby, I kept thinking about adoption. I was too scared to say anything because when I had mentioned it before, Greg had always said that he would be open to discussing it if we could figure out how to make it affordable. I never knew how in the world to make twenty thousand dollars sound affordable, so I just didn't bring it up. I was thinking to myself, I really want to talk about this, but I can't, and then I came around a corner and saw a little Chinese girl with adoptive parents. I became very emotional and was hiding tears behind my sunglasses. We got home later that afternoon and I prayed for God to open up Greg's heart to adoption if this is what we were supposed to do and that night we had our first real conversation about adoption, and neither of us seemed so closed to the idea anymore. I began a journal, just in case any of this came to pass.

As I sit here tonight, one week later, so much has happened. It has been the most incredible week of my life. I have never seen God as much as I have this week. He has done amazing things and I have experienced what it is truly like to listen to God and follow his will and so..........as of last night, we are adopting a little girl from China. It will be at least three years until she joins our family, but through patience and obedience, we will bring her home. We are at a holding phase right now. We cannot submit our application until I am 29 1/2, so that will not come until February. After February, we will prepare our dossier for about 6 months. Hopefully by my 30th birthday (the age at which China will allow you to adopt) , we can mail our dossier to China and begin our 18-24 month (or more as we begin researching on current trends) wait for a referral. We will then have two months to prepare for travel, and then we will fly to Beijing and spend 14 days in China, before bringing her home.

I would love to share all of the God moments that I have had this week, but I'd write all night. Now, I just begin counting down to my thirtieth birthday so we can mail our paperwork to China. I never thought I'd be counting the days until I was 30! Then again, I never thought God would choose me to do something this amazing and important! It's been a good week!

My precious little man is excited. He's already talking about "sissy". I pray our daughter has the same sweetness and kindness as our Connor. He is an amazing little boy and deserves an amazing sister.

Another Relaxing Saturday

Two relaxing Saturdays in a row! What is going on in the Adkins house? Greg and Connor were kind enough to let me sleep in since I woke up with an awful headache (No doubt the result of a stressful week of work due to Standardized Testing and No Child Left Behind.... don't get me started!) When the migraine pills finally took effect, we headed downtown to watch the Dogwood Arts Parade. It was a dreary, rainy, and cold day, but we still had a great time. After the parade, we ate at a new restaurant in Market Square called Trio. It was awesome! It might be our new favorite! We walked off our lunch looking at the different booths and letting Connor explore all the different stuff that they had for the kids. When we finally made it back to the car and asked Connor what his favorite thing in the parade was, he said, "The Motorcycles!" After thinking for a few minutes he also blurted out, "I saw a llama poop in the street too!" Three year olds are a little too observant!

Money for Jesus

Every Wednesday night, Connor goes to his Cubbies group at church. For two hours, he listens to a Bible lesson, makes a craft, sings songs, and plays a few games. They all wear these cute little vests and earn patches as they memorize verses. He loves Cubbies! Each week they are asked to bring an offering. When Connor started wanting to put the money in his piggy bank to buy a train, we had to tell him that it was his money for Jesus. Well, last week, this totally confused Connor because he wanted to see Jesus to give him the money. I explained to him that he couldn't see Jesus, he could only feel him. Greg and I went on to explain that Jesus lives inside of your heart. Well, tonight I gave him his "money for Jesus" and he started hitting his chest with it. He said, "I can't get it in." I asked him what he was doing and he said, "I'm trying to give the money to Jesus, he's inside my heart. I can't get in there." I didn't even know where to go from there and I could not stop laughing.

By the way, Connor's new favorite drink is "Apple Spider" from Starbucks. Don't tell the Health Department!

Connor Says the Funniest Things!

Our house is out of control because the three of us have had an insanely busy week! I decided to send Connor to school until I had cleaned the house, because well, it is just easier to do without a three year old "helping." I had already told him he was just going to school until lunch, and then I'd pick him up. He came into my room and said, "Mommy, I'll miss you! Make Daddy clean the house." I just looked at him while he paused (Greg and I didn't say a word!) and then he said, "Oh wait, Daddy doesn't know how. Mommy has to do it." I love the things that come out of his mouth. He is the best!

Easter Egg Hunt

We had a great Easter Sunday. We had an awesome worship service at church. Greg did a great job of making the service creative and run smoothly. We had nearly 1400 people come to our three services today. After church we went to Nana and Granddaddy's house for an awesome lunch. Unckie, Aunt Jennifer, and Marion were able to join us. After lunch, the eight of us froze to death hunting for Easter eggs, but Connor and Marion had a great time, so it was very worth it. We made it over to G's house later in the evening to hang out with him and Uncle Adam for a while and then headed home to eat leftovers. Connor was extremely tired after no nap and headed to bed a little early. It was our best Easter yet!

A Perfect Saturday

Today was a VERY relaxing day in the Adkins house. We very rarely have days that aren't crazy busy and when days like today come, I cherish them! We slept in, ate pancakes (our Saturday tradition), took a LONG nap, and dyed Easter eggs. Connor had so much fun dying the eggs. We finally made it out to Chuck E. Cheese in the late evening, Connor's reward for filling his "Good Boy" sticker chart. These pictures were taken before we left for Chuck E. Cheese. Connor decided to crawl on my back for the pictures. Life with a three-year old!

Greg has to leave for church at 5 a.m tomorrow to get ready for three Easter services, so we had the Easter Bunny sneak into the house while Connor was in the bathtub, so Greg could be here for it. Even though this is Connor's fourth Easter, this is the first time he's understood it enough to get an Easter basket. He was very excited! We're hoping for a great Easter tomorrow, even though it is supposed to be twenty degrees when we leave for church! I had to go buy Connor a different Easter outfit yesterday, so he wouldn't freeze to death! I am sure a lot of moms had to do the same! Hopefully we won't freeze to death hunting for eggs tomorrow!

Easter Egg Hunt

Connor was feeling better on Saturday and had major cabin fever, so we took him to the church easter egg hunt. He found a bunch of eggs and had a great time. He was such a great sport about not being able to play on all the inflatables. He isn't supposed to play hard for two weeks. Greg did walk him up the giant inflatable slide and help him down. We explained to him that he had boo-boos that he couldn't see and playing on all the stuff could make him sick. He just said, "Okay, can I have some popcorn?" He is a trooper!

Surgery

Connor had his adenoids taken out and tubes put in his ears on Thursday, March 29th. Everything went smoothly and we're hoping that he will start feeling a lot better. He has been sick pretty much non-stop this year and it has been hard on all of us. The doctor told us that he'd sleep all day Thursday and that the hydrocodone she gave him would keep him sedated. However, the nurse metioned in rare cases the medicine would make kids really hyper. Let's just say for 15 minutes, he thought he was a cat. I don't think he closed his eyes to go to sleep until 9 that night. It was a LONG day!

Seven Years!

Greg and I were able to get away to Savannah, GA and Hilton Head, SC to celebrate our seven year anniversary. Mimi was nice enough to come all the way from Florida and spoil (I mean "keep") Connor for us.