Deciding to adopt part ér

ér (pronounced are) is two in mandarin Chinese.
I love spring!  I love coming from dreary I can't survive one more day freeze your tail off  10 below zero temperatures to the new hope of spring. The sun starts peaking his head out of the clouds. The air is a little warmer. The birds are back to wake me in the mourning. The first little buds start poking their darling little heads out of the ground and the whole world seems A brighter, greener, happier place.

Spring is New Life. I love to walk around my garden and see the new flowers that were not there the summer before. Some seeds or bulbs I have planted, but some (like the pansies) have planted themselves or maybe God planted them. HE is the ultimate gardener!

Sometimes, seeds are planted and completely forgotten by us humans.  They still exist. They are waiting for a little sunshine or a little water to have a chance to grow.

The seed planted in my heart when I was a little girl may have been forgotten. It may have even gone unnoticed for years. Every once in a while, a little nourishment would help it to grow and I would remember that it was still there.

Around the time I was 9, my sweet Mom brought up the idea of my parents adopting. "Yes, Mom please do." I would beg. My brothers were almost in high school and I would have loved a young sibling. The idea was short lived and I was very disappointed. I remember thinking maybe I will be the one to adopt someday.
A little rain for my seed.

Then when I was around 14, one of my young women leaders adopted a baby boy. She had been infertile and It was a miracle to me to see the sweet baby in her arms.
A little sunshine for my seed.

Then when I was 16, a wonderful family in our church set out to adopt a little girl from China. It took them two years and, I'm sure, a lot of stress and prayers to bring this little girl home. They had been matched with her when she was a baby and she was two when they got the little girl home. I remember being very curious about her. She was itty bitty and absolutely darling! The mom bore her testimony to us about how God had helped them. How, even though they couldn't speak Chinese, she knew the Chinese officials felt the spirit.
A lot of sunshine and happy rain for my seed.

When I was dating my husband Shane, I asked him if we could adopt someday. Could we? Even if we had children of are own? "Yes," was his answer. Yay! Such a sweetheart. Although, I think he would have promised me the world back then. Ha... Young Love... Love that man!

My seed was now a tiny little sprout buried deep under the soil but still there.

We married. We decided to have a baby. We had our beautiful boy, Questen.

I watched Oprah. I watched about the Dying Rooms in China. I watched how little African American babies were adopted for less money because they were Not white. I cried! A LOT!
My sprout grew a bit more.
 How could we ever adopt? We were only 21 and 22 and house poor with a new baby? I cried more and pushed it to the back of my mind. It was depressing. Who wants to think about all the sad things in the world?
The sprout got pushed back down.

Years went by... We had this little Angel, Violet.

And this one, Lillian (Lilli)

Our life was full!
The seed had completely been forgotten...





  

Deciding to adopt part 1

What made you decide to adopt? I have been asked this question A LOT. The thing is it's not easy to answer. It happened fast and yet... It it's been happening for a long time.

So, I'm going to start at the beginning. About 30 something years ago there were two little girls, Marie and Lacy. Cousins who were more like sisters. They spent every second, their mommies would let them, together.

One Christmas, one of the girls, (I forget which) decided they wanted a black cabbage patch from Santa and the other followed suit. In our small town there wasn't a lot of different ethnicity and back then it was probably hard to find any kind of doll with dark skin. But Santa came through and let me tell you those dollies were well loved! The girls talked about how, one day, they would have a baby just like those dolls.

A seed had been planted.

( A little side note... Marie's favorite dolls were the Quintuplet dolls and so it's only fitting that now she has twins. Also, Lady bugs are a huge China adoption luck symbol. I laugh that years ago I had scrapped these photos  with lady bugs. That is actually a baby mouse that we found. I shudder to think now... ha )

Could this be more perfect?

I ordered this tonight!

Gods Works in Mysterious Ways and Tulips

Today was A big day! Today we had our home study. For those of you who don't know, A social worker comes to your house and interviews you. He looks in closets and asks personal questions.

Shane and I have been working so hard to be ready for this day. Shane cleaned the garage and his shop. He burned weeds and more weeds. He did all of my little honey dos. I cleaned from ceiling to floor.  I have taken load after load to Deseret Industries. (Kind of like the salvation army or good will) Closets have never been this organized. I joked with my friends that Heavenly father wanted us to adopt because he knew my house needed a major overhaul. Ha ha

Through all this,  my gardening side was praying for my tulips to be in bloom. I know, that sounds so silly, doesn't it? This stranger is going to ask questions about our sex life and yet I'm worried about posies. So yesterday, there was one or two tulips in bloom and I figured I was blessed to receive those two. But oh, heavenly father knows my heart! What sweetness to see that not only were the tulips in bloom but 15 had bloomed! Plus, six or so daffodils and a few hyacinths too!