Musings of a Whimsical Realist

As I have explained to people that we are hoping to have Sibyl home in 6-8 months, the same comment has come up many times: “It must be so hard to know she is there waiting for you and to not be able to go get her yet.”  In a nutshell, the answer is “Yes!” This excerpt is from my journal yesterday morning.  I felt compelled to share it since it touched so specifically on a moment in the process of waiting. I woke up with a heartache this morning – an ache for a 20-month-old halfway around the world.  Last  night, for the first time, I dreamt that she was here.  I was able to hold her and hug her and talk to her.  Then I woke up and she wasn’t here.  My arms felt empty for her.  I hugged her sisters and brother, but a piece of my heart was still missing.  Waiting for me. I think God gave me the dream to quicken my heart.  In the shadow of mountains of cold, sterile paperwork, it is easy to lose hold of the heart of a warm, living l...

So Part I of this topic covered the general "rules" that I adhere to with organizing.  Now to share a few of my specific and favorite ways that I've organized at home! #1 -- The re-purposed file holder.  This is on the back of my laundry room drawer.  When I fold a load of socks and find a single all by its lonesome, it goes in here until its mate resurfaces.  I have seen variations of this idea (ie. a clothesline on the laundry room wall), but I have to say, having somewhere to put the lone socks is great! #2 -- What to do with all of those pretty hair clips that your daughters end up collecting?  I got one of those photo boards from Wal-Mart for under $10 (could also make your own, you crafties out there!).  Now they are aren't taking up drawer space in the bathroom AND they double as wall art in the girls' room! #3 -- I re-purposed an old laundry hamper as our family shoe basket (we are a generally "no-shoe" house").  Shoes go ...

WE GOT IT!!!  That’s right, we got our pre-approval!  We made the official announcement to our families and then on Facebook last Friday after we got the good (amazing, awesome, fantastic) news.  I planned to get it onto here sooner than this, but Hubby’s birthday weekend followed by the busy start to the week followed by a flu bug took pretty much all of my energy.  But I’m mended and ready to start MOUNTAINS of paperwork.  And I couldn’t be happier! Before I answer some of the questions that I’ve been fielding about where we go from here, let me just say . . . when God calls you to a path, follow it!  We were strongly encouraged to consider other options back in May and told that the odds were not in our favor.  We stepped out in faith that the Lord was calling us in a clear direction, and we needed to follow it until it ran its full (and not necessarily easy) course.  Already, His hand has been clearly seen in this process.  Funds av...

Before anyone jumps ahead, let me clarify that we are still waiting for a final word on our pre-approval.  BUT something significant happened yesterday! A week ago Wednesday (the 8th), the CCCWA (China Center for Children’s Welfare and Adoption) returned from holiday, and our paperwork was waiting for them.  [Reminder: we are requesting 2 waivers to be able to move forward with adopting our little girl.]  We knew that we were looking at a typically two-week wait to hear back from them.  Imagine my surprise when Monday of this week (a mere 5 days later) I received a late-night email asking me to call our agency the next morning (no, I did NOT fall asleep easily that night!). The next morning’s conversation was rather neutral in that our agency had heard back from the CCCWA requesting more detailed information regarding our finances.  Obviously not the immediate “Yes” that we were hoping for but not a “No” either.  We were sent the financial form that is...

Most of the attention up until this point has been on the adoption process . . . the requirements, the loopholes, the stacks of paperwork (which we’ve scarcely begun), the trepidation, the hope.  As we are at the moment in the eye of the storm of the pre-approval process, I want to reflect on the emotions of adopting a child with special needs. For those of you who have been parenting children with special needs for years, please have grace, I am new to this!  I acknowledge that I am seeing the iceberg from above the surface.  To get a fuller picture of what’s under the water, I will probably have to feel like I am drowning.  And that moment hasn’t come for me yet.  Nevertheless, I do not take this lightly. I was reflecting this morning on some friends who are currently in the “trenches.”  They are fighting for what’s best for their children, fighting to give them a present and a future, fighting at times against overwhelming odds.  Some of them we...

“They’s organized.” ~Chicken Run I have a confession – I am addicted to organization.  I drool over the storage tub aisle at Wal-Mart.  I browse Staples for fun.  I clean out a closet and then open the doors a dozen times after just to soak in the organizational afterglow.  This addiction can affect my life – when I am faced with a stack of dirty dishes and a cluttered cupboard, the cupboard wins!  But time management is also part of the allure.  Functioning out of a home where everything has a place is just easier.  I rarely have to waste time digging through the house looking for something – I know where things are.  So OCD tendencies aside, I am going to share a few of my favorite organization principles. 1. Don’t marry yourself to a method.  What works for someone else may not work for you.  Good organization is ultimately about practicality.  Don’t be afraid to change an organizational method when it isn’t working! 2. ...

I get to write this blog post!  We have submitted the paperwork with our new agency to request our waivers . . . which you may recall means that WE HAVE FOUND A MATCH! After reviewing and returning the file for little girl “Iy,” I had come to two realizations.  1. That Hubby and I were both feeling strongly and persistently drawn to the idea that our next daughter would have hearing loss.  2. That in this part of the process, the main “currency” is timeliness.  So I began a new routine . . . every morning, I would sit down to breakfast at my computer and go through my bookmarked lists looking for new listings that might meet our parameters. On Thursday, September 18th, I was looking online yet again when I saw a new listing.  Less than 12 hours after it appeared online, I called the agency to request to review her file.  Late that night (after much extra effort on the inquiry specialist’s part to get us the information after their internet went down!), we m...