Dear Life,
We are so blessed. When we first started on this journey of adoption, we were petrified.
Scared out of our minds.
The one thing we knew is that Sofi belonged with our family...and somehow we would make it happen.
We prayed.
A LOT.
And we've witnessed miracle after miracle.
From a local jeweler creating a beautiful custom pendant to be raffled off with all proceeds going towards Sofi...
To a dear friend (who happens to be an amazing photographer) doing minisessions one weekend and donating 100 percent of the proceeds to Sofi...
To asking for used shoes for our shoe drive only hoping to collect 5000 and receiving 12000 pairs...exceeding our secret dream of collecting 10000 therefore helping us pay for all of our agency fees!
And then last week another miracle happened...
I called immigration because I lost the fingerprinting paperwork we needed for our appointment on Thursday.
The officer told me no one was assigned to the case yet...but she would email me the paperwork we needed so we didnt' have to postpone our appointment.
I felt like such a loser for losing the paper.
Thursday we went for our appointment.
Friday I received a call from this amazing officer....she received a huge stack of files and ours was on the bottom of the pile.
She remembered me and our story.
She approved us.
Less than a month.
When it was supposed to be 45-60 days.
Now we are just waiting for Sofi's country to sign a letter of referral and give us dates to visit.
How can I think anything else but God has this little girl in His hands...and is rushing this process right along.
Sofi is my daughter.
She has a loving daddy and five amazing brothers.
And she is being covered in love by so many others.
People like you...
People praying for her.
People giving what they can.
People sharing her story.
Angels on earth.
We are so very grateful for all of you.
We are asking, pleading, that if you can, please consider donating one dollar this week.
Here is the link to GIVE1SAVE1
Our goals are lofty, if we can reach 2000 dollars, not only will that cover my plane ticket, but it will cover my husbands as well.
If we don't reach that, I will travel alone.
And that's fine.
But I would so love to capture the moment Sofi meets her daddy.
He has been waiting a long time for a daughter.
She will be here soon.
Dear Keoni, Kekoa, Kalani, Kawika, and Kumaka,
One of you asked me a very important question yesterday.
"How do you love Sofi as much as you love me? You've never even met her!"
I thought about that question a lot yesterday.
When I was pregnant I didn't know any of you.
The only picture I had was a grainy ultrasound picture.
I didn't know how tall you would be.
I didn't know what your gifts would be.
I didn't know what your challenges would be.
I only knew that I loved you from the time you existed.
That is not much different than our love for Sofi.
We have an outdated photograph.
I don't know if she will ever talk or walk.
I don't know if she will ever smile.
I don't know if she will even bond with me the way I dream of.
I do know that I have loved her since I knew of her existence.
Although I don't share her DNA, we share something more important....
LOVE
Adoption is much like 9 months of pregnancy.
You can either gain weight or lose weight (emotional eating or depression fasting)
You experience extreme mood swings.
You are prone to crying for no reason.
You wait for what seems like an eternity until you get to hold your child....
And then your life is never the same.
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY
Dear Life,
Next week we are being featured. And it's going to be pretty fantastic! Where you ask?
What is it about?
It's SOOOO simple.
This fabulous organization features a different adoptive
family, orphanage, or organization once a week on Monday.
"We’re just going to rain down a crazy blessing on a family,
organization, orphanage, or project and we’re going to do it
every week. "
What do they ask?
ONE DOLLAR!!!!!
That's it.
Of course if you so choose to donate more...well that's up to you! But everyone has ONE dollar!
What are we saving?
One dollars means saving one orphan.
One dollar means one more bed can be opened up for another orphan.
One dollar means the world to more than one person.
So look out for Monday....to help with our Sofi girl...one less orphan!
Dear Life,
How many times do we say these things:
If only I was a better wife,
my house would run smoother....my meals would be on time (and cooked by me always)....the laundry would be done always...the house would always be clean....AND all of those things would happen after I took the time to blow dry my hair and put on make up.
If only I was a better mother,
my kids would get amazing grades all the time....they wouldn't question themselves....they wouldn't question the gospel....they would be going to amazing colleges....we would go on adventures every week...they would never fight....ever.
If only I was a better friend,
I wouldn't forget birthdays... I would call them more often...I would send little thinking of you notes once in awhile...I would not get so wrapped up in my world that I forget who has always been there for me.
If only I was a better sister in the gospel,
I would serve others more...I would make meals for others...I would reach out to newcomers more...I would go to more activities.
If only I was a better...
Do you see where this is going? I could always compare myself to someone else and think "If only I...". That is a trap that so many of us get into. We see other families going through life "perfectly"...having dinner at 5 every night....having a perfectly clean house....having family night every week...having prayer every night...their children going to college...their children going on missions....but we don't see what's going on in their homes. We don't see their personal struggles. We see what they want us to see. Sometimes we feel like our struggles, our pain, our weaknesses are on display. But when do we cut ourselves some slack? When do we love ourselves enough to say ENOUGH. When do we look at our very own circumstances and say "I am doing all I can right now" and have it be enough. That family that I may be comparing my own family to may have two children...may have younger children and not be in the wacky world of teenagers...that family may not have every had to deal with a chronically ill child. Every single family has it's own challenges...has it's own strengths. Today I am choosing to focus on our families strengths. We are enough.
I love my husband to the ends of the world. I love my children to the moon and back. I love my friends. And I am doing the best I can at this moment. And at night, I kneel to God, and ask for His grace, His love, and the peace only He can give.
How grateful I am to have the knowledge that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and I love Him. How grateful I am for the Savior, and his sacrifice so that I can ask for forgiveness when I mess up. How grateful I am to be married to the most patient man I have ever met (and he's pretty dang hot). How grateful I am to be the mother of five amazing, wonderful, crazy boys. How grateful I am to have an amazing sister who is patient with me...and is always supportive of our family. How grateful I am to have amazing friends who believe in me and remind me that I live a different life than most...she reminded me that I have to focus my time on the health of one of my children...which has affected our family differently than others. Not worse...just different. How grateful I am for Sofi...for this amazing crazy experience we have been going through in bringing one of His children into a forever family.
