Time to update...

I  have been ridiculously quiet around here lately and most of that is because.... well honestly, I don't really know why :)  I can't blame it on a newborn because to be perfectly honest, Myla is a sweetheart and has been such an easy baby so far.  I can't blame it on postpartum recovery because thanks to a hurricane, B.J. got an extra week off that didn't cost him any vacation days and allowed me an extra week to recuperate.  I don't usually get that much time :)

God has been good to us.  Myla's birth, though very intense, was also mercifully quick and recovery hasn't been too bad at all.  The kiddos have adjusted well too and are loving having Myla around.  The biggest problem with Janaya and Elianna is them arguing about who gets to hold her.  It is also cute to see Simeon, every time Myla is nursing, come running over to her pointing saying "Myla, muk!"  It makes me smile every time.  He loves when she hiccups or sneezes and giggles like crazy.  He also likes to poke her foot and make it move :)  There have been some moments of testing with each of them to make sure that the boundaries are still in place but overall, the transition has been really smooth.

My MOPS table members all signed up to bring us a meal and most of them made enough to get us two meals out of each one.  What a blessing it was to have dinner taken care of for that whole time!  It was also nice to try some new recipes too.  We have had several offers from random places to bring by meals and it has meant so much to us.  It is so encouraging to see and feel the support of friends, family, and other believers.

We have started back up with school after about two and a half weeks off (counting before Myla's birth too).  It is nice to get back into a routine, though I am not stressing about getting fully up and running on schoolwork.  We are working our way back slowly and giving grace for the days when we might miss a subject.

As far as the adoption goes, we have ordered all of the 'official' paperwork (child abuse clearances, criminal checks, fingerprints, etc.) and received all of those.  Now we are working on references, health letters, employment letters, and a few other random bits of paperwork.  We'll be scheduling to meet with our social worker hopefully sometime this month.  I am really appreciating God's timing in all of this because it would have been very difficult to transition two kids into our family simultaneously as the original timing was pointing towards.  Once again, I am reminded that He is in control and knows the best time to bring Liliana home to us.  It is nice to be moving forward on her adoption again though!  Below is the most recent picture we have of her.  She is still about 19lbs and a few inches shorter than Simeon.  Her head is only four inches bigger than Myla's (clearly not major hydrocephalus....).

I promise more pictures whenever I get around to uploading the camera.  There are way too many cute ones to miss that opportunity....  right now I have a baby to feed :)

Adoption Update

Unfortunately, there isn't much to post here :(  Everything is on a literal 'pause' until after this little one arrives.  Which has made me more frustrated than ever that I ALWAYS go past my due date.  Normally, I know that my due date means nothing and I don't really care that I go past it.  This time, I have been really struggling with wanting Pelah to arrive YESTERDAY - not only so I can meet him/her but also so we can get things going with Liliana again.

Knowing that our daughter is sitting overseas waiting for us and we can't do anything is really frustrating.  Talk about an exercise in faith.  God has been really driving home to me that He knows the right timing to bring Liliana home - regardless of when I think is the ideal time.  That is HARD.  I want to trust that His timing is perfect, and I know that it is, but my heart wants to push (no pun intended) things forward FASTER.

Waiting is hard.  Being patient is hard.  Having to wait for two children whose arrivals are linked in some way is hard.  However, I am being reminded that just because it is hard doesn't mean it is wrong.  God wants me to learn and grow through this process and while I am not sure the exact lesson He wants me to learn, I want to learn it.  So, I get to be patient - waiting for Pelah and waiting for Liliana and hopefully learning whatever lesson it is that God has for me.

Worship

I was so blessed by this as a way to start the day.  I am loving how many songs Simeon knows too!

Both Hands Service Project

On Saturday, August 25th, a team of our friends and family descended on Ms. Shirley's house.  We were there to serve a precious widow by fixing things in her house.  Over the course of just under 12 hours, we cleaned gutters, power washed the house, painted windows, fixed stuck windows, repaired doors, replaced doors, painted doors, painted all of the baseboards and trim in the house, cleaned windows, bathrooms, and living spaces, shampoo cleaned carpets, painted kitchen cabinets, weeded, painted a wooden fence, mailbox, and post, and just generally looked for ways to serve.  We were so blessed by the family and friends who took time out of their busy lives to serve and to support our adoption.  We were blessed by the donations of everything from photocopying of letters (thank you Staples and Office Max) to the donations of food (way too many people and places to thank here!) to the paint and supplies that businesses and individuals alike contributed.


One of the neat things about a Both Hands project, and the reason I was drawn to it from the beginning of our adoption, is that not only do you spend the day serving a widow and blessing her, but you also raise money for the adoption.  Our core team sent out letters to all of their friends and family asking them to sponsor them while they worked on the Shirley's house.  All of those donations went to Lifesong for Orphans as funding for a grant for our adoption.

To date, we are a little over 50% of what we wanted to raise from this fundraiser and about 20% of the total cost of our adoption.  We are trusting God to provide for the rest of the finances as He is the one who called us to adopt Liliana.  It is wonderful to be able to trust God in this walk and not stress about how we are going to pay all the costs.  He has provided so far and He will continue to provide.  I know countless stories of people who felt burdened to adopt but didn't have the finances to do it.  They stepped out in faith and God provided for every penny they needed.  What an encouragement :)

To all those who have already donated, I want to say 'THANK YOU!'.  You have no idea how much you have blessed us - whether you donated $10 or $1,000 - each donation has been an encouragement and a blessing to us.  I know many have given in spite of financial hardship they themselves are facing.  I can't put into words how much God has used your gift to bless us and encourage us in this journey.

If you haven't had a chance to yet, take a look at the video below that highlights our day and consider making a donation to the project.  We can't wait to bring our little girl home to her forever family!




Click here to sponsor this project: http://bothhands.org/bj-and-rachel-meurer 

Fine tuning handy man skills...

Have you ever seen the saying that silence is golden, unless you have toddlers then silence is trouble?  It is so true.  The other day, I noticed a suspicious quiet from Janaya and Simeon which is never good.  However, I found Janaya doing what she should be doing (yay!!) but Simeon was still MIA.  That's when I heard water running upstairs.  "Umm, how did Simeon turn on the sink?" was my first thought.  Nope.  This water running wasn't the sink it was the TOILET!!

Simeon is apparently a very smart little boy (you already knew that though, didn't you?) who can imitate things he sees after only one time.  Like the time when we used the plunger on the toilet.

So, I went up stairs and found Simeon, binky in his mouth and the brand new (thank God) toilet bowl brush in his hand.  He was 'plunging' the toilet and flushing it each time.  Elianna fortunately was willing to run and get me the camera so I could capture the moment.  Which I did.  That 'moment capture' was immediately followed with clarifying for my little handy man that toilets are not for playing and a new rule in the house - keep the bathroom door closed :)

FYI: His binky did not actually touch the toilet and fortunately, this was the upstairs, never used toilet that B.J. had just cleaned the day before...

Hymn Sing

My parent's started a hymn sing a couple of years ago.  It turns out they weren't the only ones missing the richness and tradition of hymns.  We get together on the second Sunday of the month, sing hymns for an hour and then eat some yummy, homemade soup and bread with dessert to follow.  It is one of our favorite Sunday activities.

We also sing hymns with our kids each night after prayers and before bed.  Yes, we sometimes sing praise songs and kid songs too.  We want our kids to be exposed to all kinds of Christian music - not just one genre.  All three of our kids look forward to hymn sings and to be honest, so do I :)  As we do every summer, we took a break and today we get to start back up again.  Simeon decided to get some extra practice in this week.  Enjoy :)

Update....

Yup, that's our baby girl :)  She is standing - though it looks like she is resting her elbow on the cabinet behind her.  Still, everything else looks good.  She hasn't gained any weight though - she is still about 22 pounds even though she is 2 years and 4 months old.  She weighs less than Simeon.  I just want to get her home and hold her!!!

Her update also said that she likes to be held and cuddled (yay!) and that she says three words now too.  I am thrilled with both of those updates. 

On the process front, we have our LOA!!!  This is the official Letter of Acceptance that China issues.  We had a PA (preliminary authorization) to be matched with Liliana and apparently they liked our dossier enough to say that we can definitely have Liliana.  Normally, the timeline for travel would be 10-14 weeks from today or so, but I am due in 9 weeks, which throws a monkey wrench into things.

I spoke with my agency today and they confirmed that it is pretty much impossible that she will be home before our next newborn arrives.  There is a big holiday happening in China in early October, so the agency is sending their last adoption group that will get through the process before the holiday.  That group will leave by September 12th.  After that, the next group probably won't leave until October 7th or so and I am due the 8th. 

I am coming to terms with the delay.  I just wish that our home study agency would be willing to move the process along at a reasonable pace after the baby is born instead of trying to drag it out as long as possible.  They keep saying to not rush the process - which normally I would agree with, but I fail to see how spending a few more weeks sitting around and waiting for them to write the report will help me in the process.  Oh well.  It's in God's hands at this point and I do trust Him with the timing. 

In the meantime, there is LOTS going on around here with B.J. settling into being the Assistant Principal and me trying to get lots of things done before Pelah arrives.  Add to that the usual business of life and our days are full.  One of these days I will get around to blogging about our two different weeks at Sandy Cove as well as B.J. and I getting away to Lancaster for a weekend, but for now, I need to get some sleep.  Please pray with us that our home study agency comes around and that God would prepare us for the weeks and months ahead.  God is good!!!