Sunday, July 15, 2012

One year ago we saw their faces

I am a day late in posting this, but it has been one year since we received a call and learned about our precious Lucy Eyerusalem and Jude Uchala.  The call came on July 13th, but due to a computer glitch at our agency we had to wait 24 hours and finally on July 14th, 2011 we saw their faces.  That call made me a mommy.  I will never forget the feeling and rush of emotions as we opened the email to see their photos.

This was the first photo we saw.  

 Followed by these individual ones.


 By this time tears were streaming uncontrollably, those are my babies on the other side of the world.  God had chosen us to be their parents.  I was in love immediately, but my heart was breaking being so far from them.  Their faces were so scared and sad and there was nothing I could do to comfort them.  



I was happy to see one picture with a smile.



One year later and a recent move (10 days ago) to Los Angeles, here they are today.





These pictures were taken in Colorado before we moved.

 

















One year. One family. One God. Lots of Love

In one year their hair has grown and their hearts have experienced the redemptive power of God.  I am so blessed to be their mommy.  Every day is a new adventure.


Sunday, May 13, 2012

Six Months of Motherhood: God Telled My Heart

I've been able to say that I am a mom since July 13th of 2011 when we first saw their precious faces.  Four months later we brought Lucy and Jude home and life has never been the same.  For the past six months my days and heart have been so full.   I have sat down to write numerous less than a handful of blog posts in the past six months.  Each time I begin a draft I delete it or leave it sitting unpublished.  There is so much I'd like to say, but pray about each post and have not felt I should share personal details about my children.  Know that there are ups and downs and our kids are amazing.  They are experiencing and processing so much.  They bring joy to our hearts and home each day, but parenting a hurt child is not easy.  We've been told by some that it seems we've dropped off the face of the earth; I  sometimes feel the same as it often feels that all the support has vanished.  We lay low and grow as a family.  God is the maker and the healer of all things.  He is restoring the broken hearts of our babes each day as we grow as a family.  Redemption in the midst of pain is beauty.  I am thankful that He chose Me to carry out this role.  I am Blessed beyond measure to be a child of God and a mother to the two He has entrusted to me.

As I sit to reflect on all that my eyes have seen and my heart has experienced in the past six months, {my first six months as a mother} my eyes well up with tears.  So many emotions are present on this Mother's Day.   Truthfully, each day is filled with so many emotions.

I have enjoyed celebrating today as it is the first Mother's Day that I had my babies to hold in my arms, though I've held them in my heart for years.  It is a tremendous blessing to have them home.  I celebrate the milestones they've achieved.  I celebrate that they are mine forever.  I celebrate that God made our family, and it is precious.beautiuful.cherished.

Yet, my heart is heavy today.  My heart hurts for the mother who gave life to my babes, who cared for them for the first months and years of their little lives, and for the mommy who loved them first.  My heart aches that I get the blessing of being with our children each day and see them growing, learning, and loving and that I never knew this amazing woman.  I know very little about this incredible person, but she has a huge piece of my heart.  It is a unique experience to share a role with a woman you'll never know; this role is arguable the most treasured one in the world.

My heart also is burdened for all the precious children {nearly 150 million} in the world that don't have someone to call mommy.  Though I hear Mommy! MAMA! mimi! shouted at me 762 times a day and sometimes it starts to get a little old, I must remember that this is a privilege to have this title and that so many children have no one to answer their cries.   Tragedy and injustice occur in the world but what are WE doing about it as privileged people.  You might think this is a push to get everyone to adopt, but it isn't.  In fact, adoption is not the answer.  Adoption changes the life of each child that is placed in a forever family... but it is only a small part of the orphan crisis.

If you are my facebook friend you laugh along with me at the hysterical stuff my precious Lucy says, but today I leave you with this exchange between Lucy and I a few months ago.


Lucy: Mommy I missed you when you weren't with me.
Me:  Sweetheart I missed you so much too when I had to come back to America, I prayed for you and your brother everyday and waited for God to bring our family together again.
Lucy: No mommy, that made me sad...but I'm talking about when I was in Gambella {her birth region}
Me: You didn't know me then baby.
Lucy: God telled my heart and I missed you.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Ethiopian Christmas and Jude's 2nd birthday.

Jude tends to not be a morning person, just like his mama. We filled his room with balloons while he was sleeping. When he woke up he looked and the floor and then looked at me like I was crazy. After being awake for a bit he decided it was really fun. We enjoyed celebrating the first birthday in our house. Lucy can't wait for hers now.

Two months later, I am sharing these with you. I seems I'm never able to find make the time to blog. I find myself writing blog posts in my mind through out the day... I actually have a running list of titles and topics that I'd like to share. In fact, I started this post a week ago and am just now adding the pictures to go with it.
We had a wonderful celebration of the Ethiopian Christmas. It was January 7th. That is also Jude's birthday. My mom was visiting, we went swimming, got take out from Uchenna (our local Ethiopian restaurant), and wore our Ethiopian clothing. Jude got a few birthday gifts. Lucy and I got the same necklace. It was a precious day.



The chef at Uchenna gave Jude a special treat!








I'm not exactly a masterful cake decorator, but I tried and the kids enjoyed it.


A few pics of my little man looking big and 2!



Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Christmas and Catching up... Part 1

Christmas came and went but the celebrating has lasted the season. I think there has been so much celebrating going on around here that I haven't gotten a chance to post, or at least thats the excuse I'm going to use!
Dave's family came from Kansas and Mississippi for Christmas. It was great to have all of the family together to meet Lucy and Jude. David's brother married my best friend so that is always and extra to have her in the family. She is an awesome photographer and did a family session for us on Christmas afternoon. The kids were freezing and sleepy and refused to smile, but they still look beautiful.

And this one is just funny! It shows exactly how they were feeling.
***
On Christmas Eve we went to church with the whole family.
David and I each got each other a sweater for Christmas, I think its funny that they matched and we didn't even plan it. We really are becoming one, ha!

The kids were less than interested in sitting through the service so we ended up in the kitchen where this kids were sneaking cookies.