Things I've said...

For awhile, I've been waiting on some "funny" material to blog about. It just hasnt come to me. Then yesterday I realized that my whole life is hysterical. Seriously funny stuff. I think I've become immune to my boys' antics and just accept them as normal, everyday life. I then started thinking of the things that I have said to my boys recently, and yes, I have plenty of material. So, here is a list of things that I have said to my children recently. I giggle to myself when I think about it now. I assure you, none of these are made up. And I'm quite sure you have said many of them to your own kids....maybe.

1. Abe is not a toy, he is a little boy!

2. Stop trying to climb out the window

3. Stop trying to climb in through the window

4. Dont throw the cat out the window! (I seriously need to replace my screens)

5. Keep that lightsaber in the car or you're going to hit someones car with it and that'll cost me money! (as he is waving his lightsaber out the window while I'm driving down 18th St.)

6. Stop licking your brothers head!

7. Okay, fine, but you boys at least have to put underwear on in the house

8. Stop playing with your tooshie, its not a toy!

9. Fine, you be Buzz, He'll be Woody, and I'll be the mom drinking in the corner!

10. Either put that cat down, or he's going to scratch out your eyeballs/scratch your face off/rip your arm off with his teeth/hunt you in your sleep.

11. Max is not a horsey (my sisters dog)

12. No, you cant go live with Aunt CeCe (Chrissy)

13. Stop trying to put underwear on the cat!

14. Either sit and eat that food or I'm going to superglue your butt to the chair; and then you'll walk around with chairbutt and everyone will laugh at you. (I've had to get creative with my threats)

15. I'm not sure Aunt Chrissy wants to name her Haiti baby "Puddin"

16. No, you cant go live with Mamaw Miller either

17. its not polite to fart in church

18. You boys better leave your dad alone, he's at his breaking point

19. If I hear you talk like that to your brother again, I'm going to rip your tongue out of your head!

20. No, we cant go buy bean seeds to you can grow a beanstalk and visit the giant

21. No, I don't think Jesus is at the end of the beanstalk either

22. Stop trying to pee on your brother!


These are the ones I cant think of just off the top of my head. I love these crazy, wild, unpredictable boys. Yes, there are days when I seriously consider running away, but I know that I'd come back :)

Its either we laugh....or we sell our boys to the gypsies!

Angie

Interview with Kaya Bug

1. What is your favorite color? --My favorite color is Liberty Green (um...what?)

2. What is your favorite animal besides your cousin?-- All animals. I like geckos

3. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?-- Japan so I could see Shammie, Autumn, and Savannah

4. What is your favorite food?-- Fall off the bone Texas Roadhouse ribs

5. Who is your favorite....mommy or daddy?-- Oh gosh, mom, that's not nice.

6. What is your favorite tv show?-- What are the shows I watch mom? oh gosh, um, Amazing World of Gumball

7. What is your favorite past time?-- write stories, draw horses, listen to my Ipod

8. Who is your best friend?-- Emma Dorton and Eli

9. What do you want to be when you grow up?-- A Marine Biologist

10. Which one of your 2 million pets is your favorite?-- Max the dog

11. What is the funniest thing that has ever happened to you?- "when i was at school, my best friend, um, she um, she dropped her milk and it went all the way down my pants. And I had to go to the office, and, the first graders just got in from recess so they were at the watering fountains. And I had to walk past them. And one whispered to the other, look at the 3rd grader, she peed her pants. " ( she tells this story with a bright red face)

12. Do you want to have kids when you grow up?-- I want 20 of them. (that's MY girl)

The front lines of adoption

Ever since our hearts were directed towards Haiti for adoption, my mind has just been reeling. It is a hurry up and wait game. A few things have really hit me hard the last week or so. The main one being that my heart just BREAKS for the families in Haiti. It is one of the poorest countries in the world. In order for me to adopt a child there, tragedy has to take place. Such as, a baby loses it's mother, either by death or by just straight despair. These families are having to make the choice to place their children for adoption so the child has a chance to even survive. So many times it's not that they find themselves in a crisis pregnancy, it's that they find themselves not able to feed themselves, let alone their child. So they take their child to the orphanage in the hopes that they will be adopted by someone who can feed them, care for them, and love them. My heart just breaks for the people of this country. In the case of baby Alvarez, he has his shot records, he is healthy, he is not malnourished. Any one of these things is rare, all 3 are practically unheard of. No one knows for sure what happened to his mom, but chances are she died, and his dad can't take care of him. This just breaks my heart. This little guy is loved and cherished by his biological family, but they can't take care of him. This type of story is not unusual in Haiti. I may have to go through red tape, spend a ton of money, and ache to hold them, but in the end I get a child. It's all happy day for me. The real sacrifice is not for me, it is for them. I can only hope that I can give these kids a life that their parents deem worthy. I have found myself praying more for the families of these kids, and the kids, than for myself. This is the reality of adoption. God does not allow births of children for the soul purpose of adoption. What God does is make beauty from ashes. What Satan intended for evil, God has made good. God takes these children and holds them, and stirs our hearts to adopt them.


We have sent an email to the agency to let them know that we are going forward with all of this and to expect our application this week. Once the application is accepted, we move on to step 2. If you all want to take a look at what our process is, go to this website. www.haitianadoption.org
Please continue to pray for our adoption, and even more so, for the people of Haiti.

Lead us Lord,

chrissy

Ninevah

Twin did an adoption blog last week, so now it's my turn. Let me tell you our story. It's lengthy, so hang in there with me. I married the love of my life in May of 1998. I was all of 20 years old. I couldn't wait to marry this man, have our own place, and most of all, start a family. It has ALWAYS been my hearts number 1 desire to have a million kids. Ok, maybe not a million, but several at least. Once we decided to start the family, I was soooo stoked. Time went on, more time, more time....still no baby. After a few years, it was obvious to us that this was not going to be easy, but I still had the hope of "some day" During this time, we were given the opportunity, no, blessing of adopting our daughter Micaiah. We had no idea where our family was going, but felt that beyond a doubt, this is what God wanted us to do. On September 22, 2002, our little girl came into the world. I was in the delivery room, Tom was right outside waiting. It was seriously the best day ever! We had no idea that it would take 3 1/2 years for her adoption to be finalized. I fought for that baby harder than any person should have to. 3 1/2 years of not knowing what was going to happen with her. 3 1/2 years of worry, heartache, waiting, etc. I will not go into details as to why this took so long. She was always with us, always ours. On March 14, 2005, she finally was "offically" ours. Tom and I both agree, our wedding, her birth, and her adoption day, are the 3 highlights of our lives together. During this time, we also were informed that biological children were not in the plans for us. Again, I do not wish to give personal details as to why. We have gone through all the stages of grief when it comes to this. I still do not undersand why. I may never know. Why would God put such a desire in my heart for children, and yet make it so it's not possible for Tom and I to have them. I have NEVER wanted anything more. Just lots of kids. No big house, no big career, no fancy car. Just my Tom and kids. My daughter is the best thing that ever happened to me, aside from Tom. However,, I still have the ache of wanting more kids. I was meant to be a mom. Tom and I decided to go into foster care. My sister was able to adopt 2 kids out of foster care. Surely we would be able to. We had some kids come to our house, I loved them. Then came little Antwon. I FELL IN LOVE. Head over heels in love with this little guy. He was with us for 9 months, then suddenly gone. Just poof, gone. I thought for sure that he was to be ours. It took a long, long time to move on from him. After he left, we knew for sure that we could not continue with foster care. So what....what God. Why God? Why me? So many people have kids without even trying, why not me? I don't know. I don't have answers. What I know is that I serve a God who loves me. A God who has saved me. Who is righteous and just even when we don't understand. So.....fast forward a few years. We have considered adoption for a number of years, just didn't know if we "had it in us" to go at it again. We let an adoption consultant know that we were open to it, just taking it slow. We were approached concerning a baby that was to be born in October. Birth mom abused alcohol and cocaine during pregnancy, oh, and is HIV positive. Would we consider? Uh...what? seriously? Who would possibly say yes to this? yeah....you know we did. Of course we would take this baby. So, just as fast as we could, we raised money for the adoption. We applied for grants, sold T-shirts, held a garage sale. We were blessed to raise almost $3,000 in 6 weeks. So blessed we had no doubt that this was the Lords will. With a matching grant, we were almost to the $10, 000 we needed to adopt this little one. Baby was to be born in October. We got ready. We applied for FMLA from work, told the family, started collecting baby items. Every single day, just WAITING for the call to drive to Florida and pick up our little one. Now I had my answer! God needed me to adopt this baby, THAT'S why he made it so we couldn't have kids. September came and went.....October came and went. No call. At the end of October we were informed that birth mommy had essentially fallen off the face of the earth. No baby, no mad dash to Florida. What? Seriously? What? Again? WHY? WHY? WHY? I don't know. I don't know why. What I know is that I still serve a God who loves me. A God who has a plan, I just don't know what it is. All I can do is trust him. Fast forward to a few weeks ago. A friend of mine traveled to Haiti. She posted on her facebook that a baby had been abandoned at the orphange where she was volunteering. I saw this post and thought how horrible it is and poor baby and please God find this baby a home. This friend approached my sister and asked if we were still interested in adopting. Of course we are. Which leads us to today. Yes....we are attemtping an adoption from Haiti. Haiti? seriously? Haiti? God...you want me to GO TO HAITI? It's called HAITI for a REASON God! God...do you KNOW how expensive that is? God...do you KNOW how long that takes? Really? HAITI! Yes......Haiti. OK! Here we go. It's with a VERY VERY SCARED heart, and a whole mind of unknowns that I let you all know that this is what we are doing. It is a lot of money. It is a lot of time. The average adoption takes 18-24 months. We have been told that we can do it in 18 months or less since we don't have any biological children. There is the one boy that we want. The one that was abandoned. He is gorgeous. He's 6 months old. His name is Alvarez. However, we were told yesterday that we may not get him exactly. Apparently the adoption agency has a waiting list for little ones and it's pretty much first come, first serve. I feel very strongly that even if we don't get Alvarez, per se, maybe he is just being used to gear us towards Haiti. Maybe there is another baby that we are meant for, and God needed to use Alvarez for us to say yes. Don't get me wrong, Alvarez WILL have a family. It just may not be us, as much as I want it to be. Sooooooo......what can you do to help? pray. PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY. This is a HUGE task. Pray we can raise the money, pray that all the paperwork will go through, pray for the safety of all the kids in Haiti. It is a beautiful country with beautiful people. They need so much. I will keep the blog updated as to the happenings of the adoption. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. And if someone wants to cut us a huge fat check, we would be willing to take that off your hands. :) Lead us Lord.


Chrissy

James 1:27---yep, its time for THAT blog

Ok, , well, this is going to be a lengthy one. I've been putting off writing on this particular subject, because honestly, I have a lot to say and dont usually have the time to type it all out. This morning finds me in a mood to chat about it, and my house is already clean for the most part, so I have a bit of time. For all of you mommas out there, you can be sure that it'll probably take me all morning as I'll have to type between snack time, wrestle-mania, and dirty diapers. Wheres Abe???? lol

Ok, here we go. Those of you that know me (this is Angie, btw), know my heart. I wear it on my sleeve most times; so this long post should not come as a surprise. I've been asked by multiple people to blog about it, but had to wait for the "feeling" to come. Adoption. Oh, my sweet adoption. The very word makes me teary eyed, I'm not even kidding. If I can get through this post without getting carpal tunnel, it'll be a miracle. I'm finding adoption all around me this week. A dear friend of my sisters just flew to Utah on Monday to meet their new baby girl. How sweet is that?? How unbelievably miraculous is that? That their daughter was born in Utah when they live in Indiana. I have another friend whos daughter is in India. INDIA!!!!!! Now, how in the world did that happen????? Their daughter is in India, yet they live in Lafayette. I promise you, the God that rose from the dead, can create your children where He pleases. He can do it!!!! And He can and will lead you to them if you are willing. Ok, getting ahead of myself a bit.

Well, its no surprise to anybody that looks at my family, that we have adopted. Most people can take an educated guess that our Anthony didn't come from my womb. But, neither did Elijah. He's the "not so obviously adopted" one. hahahaha I'll tell you this, I didn't want to go down that path. People, I DID NOT WANT TO!!!!! And I shame myself for that. Andy and I were married in 1999. By 2000, we wanted to start a family. 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004............no kids. I knew before we were even married that it might be difficult, but I didnt know it would be impossible. Thats what we were told. YOU WILL NOT HAVE BIOLOGICAL CHILDREN. I cannot express my feelings about that time. I just cant put it into words. You want to talk about cursing the God that made me???? Oh yeah I did. Andy and I had KNEW that we were supposed to be parents. So, what gives??? We started looking into adoption. Ugh. yeah, ok, sure, we can afford that. My family had mentioned fostercare off and on, but no way were we going to do that. How would we give them back??? Nope, not gonna do it. Time passed, no kids. Time passed, no kids. My mom came to me one afternoon. She had gone to a conference that day, and sat beside a lady that just happened to work at the Department of Child Services. Mom asked if I had thought about foster care much. I told her I would at least give the lady a call.

I'm going to save my foster care blog for another time, as foster care and adoption are two separate passions of mine. SPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED FORWARD! March 28, 2005, our son was brought to us. OUR SON!!!!! Our little boy, our answered prayers. Oh my Eli...how I fell for those blue eyes the moment I saw him. Little 19 month old Eli. SPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDDD FORWARD...October 16, 2006, Elijahs adoption was finalized. We honestly considered stopping there. We had had some other fosters, and honestly, we were a bit exhausted. However, our Father in heaven knew better. 3 days later, we get the call for a 7 week old African American baby boy. Oh, my Anthony. My sweet cocoa bean. This little baby who we thought we would only have for a very short time became "official" son number 2 on March 24, 2008. BIG SHOUT OUT TO SCOTT HODSON AND RICH ASHCRAFT! (its amazing who God sends into your child's life before you even know your child) These men played an important role in my sons life before I'd even met Anthony.

Heres the thing about adoption that some people dont understand. These boys are OURS. They are ours in every sense of the word. How can they not be ours?!!! I would be lying if I said that it happens immediately. No, it doesnt. It does take some time for the "feeling" to come. Nurse a child through a sickness, and see how you feel about that child after. Have a child in your home for months, and provide everything for them, and see how you feel. These boys came from another womb, yet they are OURS. I was once told "I dont think I could raise someone elses kid". Ok, people, DONT EVER SAY THAT!!!!! Which brings me to my list of "What not to say" I'm not making this list to be condescending, rather, to educate and hopefully inspire some of you people out there.

What NOT to say to an adoptive family

1. Oh, do you have any of your own children (own may be substituted with "real")---nope, no real children, just these imaginary ones I conjured out of air. Again, these children are ours. If you must ask, use "biological".

2. Were you not able to have kids? ....intensely personal question ALERT!!! Depending on who is doing the asking and under what circumstance. If I'm talking about adoption, sharing my story or whatnot, then yes, it is ok to ask me. If you're someone I just met...no, dont ask that. Would you go right up to a mother of twins and ask "oh, did you use fertility drugs to get your twins?" Uhhh, no, you wouldnt.

3. How do you raise a child thats a different race than you, I dont think I could do that.......I love answering this question, because honestly, its nuts to ask. How do we raise Anthony? Well, you know, we feed him sticks and leaves and beat bongo drums every night to get him to sleep. A child is a child, is a child, is a child. We raise Anthony the same way we raise our pale boys. hehehe Now, I'm not naive enough not to know that Anthony may have to deal with different things that my other boys wont have to deal with, but we'll cross that bridge (and that blog) another time.

4. How much did you pay for your boys?.......a million bucks. yep, we are secret millionaires. Again, this question is fine to ask if we are in a discussion about different kinds of adoptions, but I've had people start the conversation with this. Start the conversation, THEN ask that question.

5. Oooh, you adopted out of foster care, whats the scoop on that? Were his parents druggies? Was he abused? and so on. ...........This is where I'm going to really educate people. DO NOT ASK THIS IN FRONT OF MY CHILDREN!!!!!!!!!! Dont do it. I beg of you, dont do it. My boys are young, and honestly, they dont quite know the specifics of THEIR stories yet. But one day, they will ask, and Andy and I will judge on how much to share with them at what time. Their stories are heavy, but they are THEIR stories. I have to admit, I wasnt always so diligent about keeping it quiet. I blame my own ignorance on that. My boys know that they are adopted. We have never kept it a secret from them. We have "adoption parties" every year (similar to a birthday party)

6. You know you had biological children because God rewarded you for taking in the unwanted......yes, this has been said to me on more than one occasion. People, that is not how our God works. I dont deserve these kids. All I deserve is a hot corner of hell. But for the grace of God. There are a handful of times when I've been able to see Gods reasoning in pain. This is my biggest one. Had I not had the pain of infertility, I wouldnt have my precious Elijah and Anthony. I wouldnt. And, again, I shame myself for that.

These are just a handful of things that have been said or asked of us. I just want to tell you all this....Adopted children are special. Their births and lives are just as special (if not more so) than biological kids.

Why Adopt??? My question to you is....why not? Why not?????
Adoption is God ordained

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

James 1:27

Adoption is Holy

Father to the fatherless, defender of widows — this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families.

Psalms 68:5-6

It is Gods plan

But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

Galatians 4:4-6

Do justice!

You are the helper of the fatherless. LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear, To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, That the man of the earth may oppress no more.

Psalms 10:14,17-18

Listen to the Spirit calling you

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."

Romans 8:14-16

These children need you, and they need to know God

And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me.

Matthew 18:5

Let me assure you, should you go forward with adoption, its not going to be easy. Its not. I firmly believe that Satan would love nothing more than to have these orphans suffer. The enemy does NOT want Christians adopting children, because he knows that we will teach these children about Christ. We will teach them about Christ and they will become mighty warriors. I look at my boys' lives, and I am reminded of Joseph. "What you meant for evil, God meant for good"

I urge any young couple out there, include adoption in your marriage plans. Start early so that when the times comes, you are prepared. For those of you that already have your family, can you have one more? Can you open your home to one more? I promise you, you already have room in your heart. Yes, I know its expensive. Believe me, I know. However, I think thats Satans biggest lie that he whispers in our ear. "You cant afford that kid, are you nuts? Its so much work, just be happy with the ones you have" DONT LISTEN TO HIM! Think about it, talk about it, PRAY ABOUT IT, and the doors will open. It wont be easy, but it will be worth it.

Its either we laugh or.....we adopt.

Blessings to all who read this. I pray a special blessing upon those that have already felt the call to adopt, but have not acted on it yet. I know you are out there, and this letter is to you. Lord open the floodgates for these people!!!!! Make it completely obvious to them that they are to adopt! Lord, set the bushes on FIRE and speak to these people!

Angie

What I wanted to say......what I should have said

Last week we said good-bye to my funny, sweet, gorgeous, beautiful sister and nieces. They will be moving to Japan for four LOOONNG years. When they get back,my nieces will be 20, 17, and 16. We tried to talk to them before they left about being careful, staying away from boys and the like. What I really wanted to say, meant to say, should have said, is this

---Boys are awesome in that they will eventually turn into men who will care for you, provide for you, become your husbands, and the father of your children. UNTIL THEN, they are boys and not worth crying over, losing your parents trust over, losing sleep over. They will tell you what you want to hear, show you what you want to see, and do WHATEVER it is they have to do in order to get past "first base" with you. 99.9 % of boys under the age of 20 cannot be trusted with you. You are beautiful, gorgeous even. DO NOT SETTLE for less than the best. And the best would NEVER require you to lose that which is most precious to you for them. Your testimony, your purity, you future are NOT WORTH losing over a simple boy. Let them take you to dinner, to the movies, to church, and then give them a hug goodnight. You all have way too much talent, passion, and love to give to waste it on some simple boy. You wait 'till you got a MAN!

--- Your mom and dad are seriously some of the best parents I have ever had the luck of knowing. Yes, they seem like they just want to ruin your lives. I get that. They don't. They, as many of us, made mistakes when younger and they do NOT want to see you do the same. They tell you no for a reason. You will "get it" when you have the maturity to see it from the other side. LISTEN TO THEM! They are not just saying things to tick you off. They say things to help prevent all sorts of evils from happening to their girls. They have been there, done that. LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN to them.

---If you ever touch a cigarette or drugs I will personally beat you down. Seriously, the addiction is SO NOT WORTH IT. You won't look cool, or mature, you will look like a moron and stink like an ashtray. That is SO NOT CUTE! There are many of us who battle these addicitons that wish EVERY DAY that they didn't even start.

----GET YOUR DEGREE! BACHELORS BEFORE BABIES! Your education is something that can NEVER be taken away from you. Go to school, get that degree. Even if you find a man that has a job that will allow you to stay home and raise babies, you will always have that degree to fall back on if he were to lose his job, or God forbid, leave. Your degree will give you independence to do what YOU want to do.

---I love you. I love you, love you, love you like you're my own girls. I miss you. Lord do I worry about you. You are such awesome, beatiful, smart, God filled girls. Me and Aunt Angie are ALWAYS here for you. Even, especially, when you do something stupid. Please call us so we can either laugh at you, bail you out, or kick your butt.

You either laugh or worry yourself sick over the young girls in your life.

We love you sweet girls.

Aunt Chrissy


Ok, well, now its my turn. What I wanted to say and what I meant to say....and we'll see if I can get through this without bawling my eyes out.

Alright girls....when it comes to boys, STAY AWAY!!!!!!! As your aunts, you may think we are older than dirt, however, it honestly wasnt that long ago that we were in your shoes. So anxious to be older, more mature, to be dating, engaged, married, whatever. So heres my best advice. Dont date. seriously. dont do it for a LONNNNNGGGG time (Samantha, are you listening?) You girls are beyond gorgeous, and any boy would be lucky to have you...however...they cant have you. Nope, they cant. Because, right now, you belong to your parents. EWWWWWWWWW yes, yes I know. But, believe me when I tell you, that you have the very best parents a teenage, pre-teen, girl could ask for. They care about where you are, who you are talking to, what your character is, how you are dressed. Look around girls, those girls that you see that are dressed like whores???? their parents dont care about them. They are dressed like that so that they can find a boy that will fill the hole in their lives left by uncaring parents. Thing is...no boy can. A man can, but you cant have a man at your age. Take this time to spend with your family. You wont believe how much you miss this time when you are older.

Ok, next, DONT BE STUPID!!!! Remember, you are in a foreign country! You are not in the U.S. and therefore do not have the freedoms that we enjoy here! You do not have the luxury to "let your guard down" until your parents say you can. Just because a boy (or group of girls for that matter) seem nice, it doesnt mean you just hop in the car with them, or go for a walk with them. I did some seriously stupid stuff when I was younger, and it was only by the grace of God that I wasnt damaged permanently.

Next...get your college degree!!!!! This goes more for Sammy right now than Nanna or Autumn. Sam--get that degree! You will never regret it! I dont have many regrets, but one of my biggest is not getting my bachelors. There were several reasons why I didnt, not just Uncle Andy. I will tell you that I have missed promotions and not even been considered for jobs because I dont have my bachelors. And now I have a million kids and going back to school is the LAST thing I need to be doing.

My beautiful nieces, I love you to the moon and back. I wish I could give you big hugs right before you get on that plane. I miss you terribly already.

To Kim, I just dont have the words. I love you, my other twin. Take care of my sweet nieces, and kick them in the rear for me.

Ang

Fun with the Family!

Oh mercy....the last 24 hours have been a hoot! We started it off by heading to Dave and Busters in Indy with mom, Kim, Gina, and the supertwins! What's Dave and Busters? It's Chuck-E-Cheese for adults. SO.MUCH.FUN! Great food, awesome games, goofy prizes, yummy drinks....it's like heaven.

Today we hung out, took naps, and then we all headed to the shooting range. This was Kim and Sammies first time shooting which was a riot!!!!!

the blondies are cute but they will RIP YOU UP!




We either laugh or drink till we do :)