Plowing Through Paperwork



     I have heard stories of all of the paper work that comes with adopting a child, but never in my wildest dreams could I have truly imagined the horror.  Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a little.  With so many different forms already piling up around us, I knew I needed to stay organized.  Off to Staples I went where I found the 13 slotted pocket folder you see below.  Not to toot my own horn, but I am the Queen of organization.  When we built our house we did not have a general contractor who handles paper work, keeps track of liens or anything else that needs taken care of while building.  Chase and I were the general contractors, so organization was key and we did a pretty good job. 

     So, with that in mind I bought an adoption pocket folder.  When we built I used a binder and it wasn't my favorite tool.  However, the pocket folder, I have found, is so much better.  I spent a little extra on this one, the pockets touch the bottom of the folder so nothing can get mixed up or slip between the cracks.  There were several folders that were a little cheaper but remember you get what you pay for and I knew this needed to last a while.  This one also has a large pocket in front for keeping any random items or business cards.   



 

 

     I love all the extra pockets.  As you can see we haven't filled them up yet but I'm sure we will soon enough.  Plus, I am not sure what all I will need in the days to come so I just left the back pockets blank.  For the time being our sections are as follows: receipts, home study, Angel info, fundraising ideas and just a few others.  The home study slot is getting a lot of work since we are in the middle of it.  

 

     Call me crazy, but I can't stand using cheap pens so I splurged on bought Sharpie pens.  They are so nice and write smoothly.  

 

     I know everyone has their own way of being organized while wading through the never ending pile of paperwork.  I just wanted to share what is working for me.  Another plus about the pocket folder is never having to worry about things slipping out if you drop it.  When I had our house building binder, I had to pick it up a certain way or risk picking a million papers up off the ground.  I know this post won't have the interest of everyone, but I thought it needed writing.  Until next time, always Chasing Hope.  

My Aching Body

     For a little over a month now Chase and I have been surviving Crossfit classes at a new gym in our town.  Are we crazy?  Yes, but we have tried many different work-outs and programs and nothing has worked for long.  The first two weeks that we attended there wasn't any charge for the class, so why not give it a try.  Now you need to know something about me and some of you already do.  I am not an athlete.  No, really, in high school I didn't play sports and I have never lifted a large weight in my life.  Within the last few weeks I will say that I survived the weight days and, for a newb, did pretty well, at least in my opinion, and that's really the only one that counts.
     I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would like something as intense and rigorous as Crossfit.  Let me tell you the atmosphere is completely different from going to the regular gym.  Why you ask?  Well don't you worry, you know I will tell you.  For one you have a trainer, and at times 2, showing you how to properly lift or do whatever it is you are trying to accomplish, which at this point for me is complete the work out in the time allotted and I'm always the last one to finish.  However, the way I see it is that I am there and trying to better myself.  The trainers are there for support as well.  Even though I always complain, I am so glad that I have someone telling and showing me what I need to do. 
     Another thing that surprised me was that I actually like it.  Now while in the midst of said work out I will tell you it is pure hell, but I have found that I would rather be sore than have that feeling of not accomplishing anything.  Even when I have rest days I feel like I'm missing something. 
     The last thing that took me off guard was how nice the people were.  Now, by people I mean other people in the class and most have been working out and can do way more than me.  I will never forget the third day we went, the WOD (workout of the day) was a nightmare.  The torture began and yours truly was the last to finish, but as time was almost over the other classmates came over and were cheering me on to finish.  Even though my slow behind didn't finish the WOD completely I made it farther in the workout than I ever thought possible and the fact that others were cheering me on really lifted my spirit.  As I said before I am still the last to finish, but I do finish in the allotted time.  My goal is to one day be that person cheering on a newb to finish their workout because there is no greater feeling that thinking someone is on your side wanting you to accomplish your goal as well.  My body still aches, but in all honest I haven't felt this good in a long time.  Until next time, always Chasing Hope and feeling great. 

Unorigional

     I am neither witty nor brilliant.  However, I love a good quote.  While cruising around Pinterest I have found some excellent infertility and adoption quotes.  This quote is by far my favorite.  I have always known in the back of my mind that it would be hard for me to get pregnant.  Did I know that I would have trouble conceiving?  No way, but there was always this nagging feeling that I had that I would have trouble conceiving. 

     However, throughout this journey I have learned a lot about myself.  I have always wanted to be a mother and always have thought of adopting.  I guess that was God's way of preparing me for our journey.  So my goal is to become a mother and the method by which it happens is unimportant.  Until next time, Chasing Hope. 



 

 

31 Days of Prayer Through Infertility

     This should, for me, actually read 60 plus days of prayer through infertility.  As I dive deeper into my walk with God, I am still not the best about meeting with him daily.  However, I am finding that the deeper I dig the more love and hope I find in Him. 
     Lisa Newton from Amateur Nester created this amazing 31 day prayer/study through infertility.  During our journey, I have waded through the internet and countless blogs looking for help.  I stumbled upon this gem several months ago and decided to purchase and begin the study in May.  I figured it would be the perfect month, with my birthday and Mother's Day combined, to dive in.  What I did not realize was how busy I would be with school and the end of the year festivities that encompass it. 
     As I began the study, I noticed that almost every feeling or emotion I have felt in the last 3 years someone else was feeling too.  Each day Lisa focused on a different aspect of some of the different ways to strengthen our walk through these difficult times such as: praying for hope, community, comfort, endurance, freedom from jealousy and envy, joy, and so many more.  She breaks down each one and goes a little bit deeper by exploring some of her feelings (which always relate to a feeling I have had) and then showing what God's word says. 
     I do not want to go into too much detail and take away from her amazing and informational resource.  She does have a small fee to purchase the study but it is minimal.  To be honest I would offer to pay for someone else to read through it so they could read and understand some of what those of us going through infertility feel and face.  Out of all the blogs I have read, I always go back to Lisa's.  She is a woman after God's own heart.  Even if you aren't going through infertility and you know someone who is I invite you to purchase the study so that you might know how to pray for them.  Let's face it sometimes we don't know how to help one another but, in my opinion, lifting one another in prayer can always be an excellent place to start and finish.  Until next time, always Chasing Hope. 

Compassion International

     I have always loved being around children.  At a young age I remember wanting to hold a baby and the mother cautiously hovering over me to make sure I didn't harm her precious bundle of joy.  I always knew that I wanted to be a mom and naturally wanted my career to involve helping children too. 
     When I was in 6th grade I went to summer camp to a Mission Fuge in Mobile, AL.  During our time at camp we had to choose between, at the time, 5 different areas in a mission field which included: carpentry work, children's ministries, and several others.  I bet you can guess which one I signed up for that week.  Our task for the week was to host a VBS for the area children.  It was a simpler form which worked out great.  This particular VBS was located in a very poor area of town and if I remember right we had around 30 kids.  However, there was this one little girl that I connected with, she was adorable and I carried her everywhere I went.  For that week we were inseparable.  At that moment though I realized that I wanted to make a difference in the life of a child. 
     With that always being in the back of my mind as I grew up, I wanted to make a difference not only in my community and nation but around the world.  Please don't interpret this as a look at all the good I'm doing because it isn't.  It's only through the grace of God that things like this are laid on our hearts and He always works out the details. 
     In October 2013, I went to a Beth Moore conference in Springfield and it was AMAZING!  If you ever get the chance go see this wonderful speaker, sign up immediately.  While at the conference they were advertising that Compassion International was in need of more sponsors for their children.  This organization has been around a long time and I had seen a lot of different people who had supported a child through Compassion.  With it weighing heavy on my heart that weekend, I called Chase to ask him if it was ok to sign up to become sponsors, which he replied yes.  I also didn't want to sponsor one child.  I mean how could I choose between a boy or girl, so the obvious choice was choose both a boy and girl. 
     Choosing to sponsor a child has been one of the best decisions of my life, aside from my wedding day.  Both of my children live half way around the world, but Compassion has provided me with so much material about their country as well as the child and their family.  The cost to sponsor a child is $38 a month and this takes care of food, hygiene, schooling and supplies, and any other needs.  It is also an option to send them an extra donation on their birthday or a holiday.  The sponsors through Compassion in their country use the money and make a purchase for the child from us. 
     The biggest blessing has been the letters that we have received twice a year.  Our youngest child we sponsor is not able to write yet, he will start school this January.  He has an adult from Compassion help him write his letter.  However, our girl that we sponsor writes to us and then someone translates it, seeing her handwriting in another language is so beautiful.  I love seeing what the children write to us.  Compassion provides a template for the children to use and on one side it has the children answer questions about themselves for example: do you have pets, the weather right now is, and many others.  It always makes my day to receive these letters.  The children always include a drawing, and not that I am partial but they are going to be artists some day.  As sponsors we are encouraged to write back to our children, which we take full advantage of writing.  We cannot send large items through the mail as customs will open and dismiss a whole stack for a suspicious looking package.  However, Compassion has a list of small items we can send such as: stickers, book marks, coloring pages, and a rather large list of items. 
     The purpose of this post is to bring awareness to a great organization, Compassion International.  God has blessed me with so much that I wanted to help someone else out in return.  There have been so many times when I have had a bad day and get home and check the mail to find a letter sitting in the mailbox from one of my children.  To the right side of this post is a link to Compassions website and it's so quick to become a sponsor I promise it will be one of the biggest blessings of your life.  One click and you will fall in love with so many sweet little faces of children who deserve a fighting chance.  Until next time always, Chasing Hope. 

So, Tell Us About You

     This is such a loaded question.  Where do you start?  I already find myself a little stressed about this part.  When we signed on with Angel Adoption, part of their job is to help us set up a profile for potential birthmothers to view.  Let me explain the profile a little bit more for those that haven't the slightest clue of what I'm talking about.  Our profile consists of multiple pictures of just Chase and me, our families, our home, Chief, and anything else that we want to include.  It also includes brief paragraphs about who we are, what led us to adopt, detailed information about our families, a letter to the birthmother, and really just anything that we would want a birthmother to know about us.  This was actually another reason that we wanted to use Angel because they handle piecing the profile together.  Upon meeting with a rep several weeks ago she showed us how they would set up our profile.  Each profile consists of the same amount of information, but each couple is able to take charge of what they want to share. 
     With our information now in the trusting hands of Angel's profile guru, we will wait to see how she arranges it.  I can't help but feel so excited because we could get a call in 2 months from a birthmother saying she wants to talk, meet, or has chosen us to be her child's parents.  Angel will only show our profile to birthmothers whose due dates are a little farther out because we don't have our home study completed yet, but once it is complete they will show it to anyone. 
     I have never had a problem writing or saying how I feel, obviously from all of my posts.  However, this is so different.  You want a birthmother to be drawn into your profile and I feel like our wording has to be spot-on.  After all this might be what convinces a birthmother to choose us.  When we were talking to the Angel Reps, we asked if there was any one thing that birthmothers were looking for when choosing adoptive parents.  Her response was that a mother could choose us based off of our pictures, where we live, if one of us likes a movie she does, or if we have a pet or not.  With so many different possibilities how do we know what is the right thing to write or say?  This again is where our faith has to take over.  I know that God already has a baby and birthmother in mind.  I just pray that He opens her heart and mind to us and that the words we chose speak to her.  Until next time, always Chasing Hope. 

Infertility and the body

     This post to some might sound like an excuse and that's fine, but unless you have gone through any form of infertility you really might not understand exactly what I am talking about.  Within the last 3 years of trying to start our family I have gained weight.  Actually, since we got married I have gained weight, but I have heard that is normal.  After all the "good" wife makes her man dinner and a sweet dessert right?  That's just what I did, but this goes deeper than dieting or exercise. 
     During each month of trying to conceive there are different cycles that I would go through in my mind.  The first one starts on cycle day 1, depression, but also a hope for this cycle.  I realize that I need to be more active and maybe that will increase our chances.  So, I hop on my elliptical (or eucalyptus as my mom calls it) and workout.  This faze never lasts long because it's at the beginning of my cycle, within the last year, my periods have been very intense with heavy bleeding and horrible cramps.  Once it's over, there is a short window of time that I feel lead to work out again but then ovulation day comes.  I have heard that you should take it easy when you become pregnant for the first trimester to avoid a miscarriage.  In my brain that means lay around, eat chocolate, and pray that the baby is getting comfortable.  I know, not the best plan, but when you've prayed for so long for something you will try even the silliest things in hopes that it will work. 
     Thus, the inevitable cycle just keeps repeating itself.  I will say that for that small period of time that I was pregnant I did walk a little and did lose weight mostly due to not feeling well (I wouldn't dare call it morning sickness because I was never sick, I just didn't feel at the top of my game).  After the miscarriage I became a little depressed.  I think a little part of me wanted to see a growing belly so I ate to compensate for my lack of bump, but it just wasn't the same.  I knew I wasn't were I should be and part of me wanted to do something, but the other part said why when you do that when you could sit around and do nothing. 
     The turning point has been our recent adoption acceptance with Angel.  I finally feel like something good is going to happen for our family.  Even during my short pregnancy there was always the lingering fear of losing my Peanut and sure enough I did.  However, this feels right. 
     While we begin the adoption process, I have had to collect as many pictures as I can of Chase and I, our families, friends, our house, our stinky puppy Chief, and anything else that represents who we are.  I began to notice a common theme within the last year, my waist line has grown and I hate how I look in these pictures that we are about to send to potential birthmothers.  While we wait and pray for a birthmother to choose us, I will work out and try my best to eat right because for those of you that know me I am probably the pickiest eater on the planet.  When I meet our birthmother in person, I want her to think that I look different from my pictures.  I will be different; I will not only be mentally and spiritually strong but physically strong too. 
     I have always wanted to be one of those active and fit moms, but, in all honesty, I hate to sweat.  It's disgusting and in your best Jimmy Fallon voice, "It's just EWW!"  However, with age comes knowledge in life; if you want something so much you have to sweat and do the leg work to get there.  Only then can you look back at all the blood, sweat, and tears and truly say I did it.  I did it for no one else except myself.  Until next time, always Chasing Hope and not running out of breath.