US bound orphans in Haiti

Not just a news bite. These stories have become real to me.


I usually pay attention to world news like I heed weather reports on days when I won't be leaving the house all day. I just don't care.


Sounds calloused, or dumb and uneducated, I know. But I used to care. I used to keep up with the world and what was going on in it, but then I just got overloaded with all the bad stuff and politics just made me angry. So for my own sanity and peace, I left the world of current events and chose to focus instead on my own little world.


So I have been on a hiatus from news for a few years now. I checked in for the months leading up to the presidential election, hoping my candidate would win, but when he didn't- I checked back out again.


Anyway, lately the outside world events have come to me, via some people I know and the blogs that I love to read.


I am refering to the Haitian earthquake and it's effects on the orphans who were already in the process of being adopted. A couple in our church had been in the process of adopting a little girl from Haiti. They had been working on this for about a year I believe when the earthquake hit. I believe they were worried at first that the disaster would actually postpone the workings with the government and all, but as the United states got involved, many adoptive parents were delighted to hear that the children were granted Humanitarian Visas which would allow them to come to the US right away. The couple in our church were excited, but it turned out to be a bit tricky. In the end, they did get their little girl home, and in an added miracle, another baby girl too!


I have also come across a couple of other blogger ladies who had been in the same situation and who have gotten the children home. However, there is one couple who are still waiting. Actually, the husband has flown to Haiti and is living in the embassy there along with the little boy he is trying to get out, but they are sleeping on the floor at night and eating military rations while waiting for the ok to leave. You can read about them from the wife's blog here- Debra's Blog


Appearantly, the wonderful things the US was doing to get the kids out quickly are being thwarted by UNICEF, which it seems wants to throw a wrench in the works possibly because they believe orphans are better off in their own culture. You can read the explanation that I read here- Kristen explains.

There are not too many things harder than waiting when the outcome is unsure and your heart is all tied up in the matter. I pray for these orphans to be home soon and the families who are waiting.

Photos of my bunch

More photos of Noah- He is about 3 weeks old in these... will be one month old this thursday!

And a few of Micah and Allie at the park-

I see a pattern here!

I have developed a love of patterns. I would love love love to be a pattern designer! I didn't know such things existed until I stumbled across this blog last year- Print and Pattern. It has inspired me to do some tinkering on my own designs (nothing good yet) and possibly use them one day in my CafePress shop. I find it really interesting to see the trends in color and patterns. I am afraid however, I am not good with trends. I may love them, but I hesitate to let go once everyone else has moved on. For instance, the brown and blue trend... I came across that color combo a little late and now everyone else has moved on (can't even get any fabric in that combo) and I am still wanting brown and blue! more recently is the Aqua/red combo. The awesome aqua blue-green colors mixed with an accent of red. I have seen some awesome quilts with that combo, but I just know that the moment I decide to collect fabric for such a project, there won't be any available because everyone else has moved on. It is like finding out your favorite show has been canceled. I hate it when good things come to an end!

Maybe I will work on a new pattern and post it on the blog soon. This could possibly be my intro into the world of surface design. Just what I need, another hobby I don't have time for!!! lol

ps. I think this one would make an awesome floor to ceiling mural in my bedroom!

Survival Mode vs New Year's Resolutions

Everyone knows that the first few weeks after having a baby is survival time! You are supposed to just focus on the bare minimum. Just get throught the days and nights as best you can, not worrying so much about the household chores, but getting done what you can. Well, it is time to re-join reality. This house is in dire need of some help. The laundry has piled up. I have been keeping the kitchen clean, but there seems to be a race each day to see how many dishes we can dirty. We are going to have to stop shopping for only 2 or 3 meals at a time soon, and then there are all those New Years resolutions that I have been putting off starting.

The plan is that I will begin my new year 6 weeks after the baby got here. I am anxious to get started of course, just don't know how much I should really tackle this year. I want to really stick with the resolutions this time. The pregnancy sort of derailed my resolutions last year. (When one is sick 24 hours a day for about 5 months, one tends to ditch all pursuits other than existing) I have several areas in my life that need work.

They fit into these categories-

Chores - I need to make a cleaning schedule and also include chores the kids can help with.

Excercise- The biggie, I plan to start running this year. The hope is to go every morning before anyone is up and build up to 2 or 3 miles a day.

Prayer/Devotional time- Have begun the Bible reading plan for the year, but we really need to get a consistant family devotional time going and I need a regular quiet time of my own.

Intentional Planned activities with the kids- planned fun games and crafts, and learning times. Also later this year we will begin home-schooling. Need to start preparing for that.

Household stuff- Meal plans, and budgets.

The Daily Do- Something to do consistantly (maybe not daily) that is fun and that I can blog about. I am thinking of doing Bible story illustrations and then make a book of them for the kids at the end of the year.

It's alot. I know. I probably should only tackle a tiny baby step in each area at first. We shall see. I will update about these goals soon, letting you know how I will be attempting to accomplish them. Take care!

Photos!

Here's my sweet baby boy!

His first day. Still wearing the paper shirt. Hair is still messy from birth, but cute as can be and looking just like his brother did at birth.

This is me holding him in the NICU.

Here is how he looks now. Poor guy. He is doing fine, just getting his antibiotics and waiting. Just breaks my heart not to be holding him and I can't go visit often. The pumping is going well however and his daddy works in the hospital where he is, so he can see him more often than I can.

More pics and updates later.

He's here!

Well, Our little baby boy finally arrived. We were all set to induce Tuesday morning, but he decided to come a day early.
Noah Grey weighed 7 lbs and 3 ounces and was 19 and a half inches long. He is beautiful and as sweet as can be and looks a bit like his big brother.
Unfortuntatley, he is in the NICU right now. He had a wonderful first night and breastfed beautifully all night, and the next morning wasn't too hungry and was very sleepy. They called me that morning and told me that a blood test he had been given had come back abnormal and they believed he had an infection of some kind. They have to operate on the assumption he could have the strep B bacterial infection, so they moved him to the NICU and began a 7 day antibiotic plan. He will be staying here in the hospital for a week and I will be released today and go home to my other two little ones. I will be trying to pump and bring milk for a while and then maybe later they will let me breastfeed during visits.
Yesterday and today have been so hard. I never thought I would be going home today without him. I wasn't even able to hold him all evening yesterday or last night. Finally today they let me hold and also feed him and I felt much better. Between this and the hormones and the fact that today is my husband's last day at a job we thought was going to turn permanant but instead is ending, has all worked together to make me somewhat of a wreck.
Anyway, we need lots of prayer for both Noah and my husband and his job status. In the meantime, I will be posting a photo of Noah soon, along with his birth story.