Umbrella Babies

reflections

ok, so if you read my blog because im the preacher's wife and you hope to gleen wisdom and foresight from my posts, then you are going to be very disappointed!

i thought i would share some reflections over the past 12 hours:

1. "its raining its pouring the old man is snoring. bumped his head went to bed and couldnt get up in the morning." first of all this is a weird song for children to learn. second of all its kind of true. just as i was falling asleep last night i was harshly awakened by a picture that usually rests quietly above my bed, falling on my head! it hurt! and i did not want to get out of bed this morning.

2. when all of my children wake up early in the mornings they usually start the day by being grumpy. three grumpy children ='s one grumpy mommy, its simple math people. however, if a bunny rabbit comes hopping into your back yard to eat your grass for breakfast, then that magically takes away the grumpiness in the three children. this works for at least 15 minutes or until the children scare the poor rabbit away.

3. having to wash ALL of the bedding for 2 beds in the span of 2 days is irritating and time consuming. my sweet, precious, b-e-autiful, adorable daughter cant seem to keep her pee in her diaper. so in the last 2 days i have had to strip and wash her bedding and mine. the funny part is that she did it again this morning in my bed. i know you think, if i were a more attentive mother then i wouldnt let her diaper get to the point of over flowing. and you would be correct in making that assumption. but it is also due to the fact that she is so stinking skinny. if she is sitting in a not-so-lady-like-position then she will have pee all down her legs and consequently all over my bed.

so pump your party fist if your with me!

now, the even funnier part of the last 12 hours is that as i did my best to read from god's word this morning, all of the scripture was about PEACE! HA HA! god has the cutest little ways of teaching me sometimes(notice the hint of sarcasm.) but seriously when i put things in the right perspective i find myself ammused by these little lessons. when i dont keep things in perspective i find myself very overwhelmed and NOT very peaceful.

seacrest out!

Man its been awhile.....

So this picture was taken about 8 monthts ago, and thats how long it has been since i have blogged. I know, i apologize. I was reading a couple of blogs today from two of my friends that are adopting little girls from Ethiopia. One of the couples are still in process and dont even know who their daughter is yet and the other got on a plane today to bring their little one home. It caused me to revisit my blog and look back on all that i had posted about our journey of bringing Reese home. I was amazed at how long ago it seemed and yet memories and emotions came rushing back like it was yesterday. Reese has been home about 9 months now and as crazy as it has been, i cant imagine what it was like NOT having her in our family.

I have spent some time today changing up the look of my blog and remembering how good it felt to get the thoughts out of my head and on to paper (uh, well you know what i mean). I am going to try to update this thing with what all is going on in my crazy world of being a wife and mother of 3 and an owner of an annoying dog named friday.

Well, hope you like the new look of my blog, if not....shhhhhut the front door!

We're Home!

I think i had the expectation that this was going to be like a little vacation with the perks of bringing home a beautiful little girl. But for me it was not like that. i love to travel and go new places but i experienced a little bit of culture shock when we were in tokyo and bangkok. The sights and sounds and smells were so incredibly new and different and no one looked like us or talked like us and it was for some reason wierd being the minority. i kept telling myself i wanted to enjoy all of the experience and take it all in but the stress and anxiety and excitement of the adoption made it hard for me to do that. Now that being said i do have some issues with anxiety and panic attacks which i upped my dosage after we arrived at the hotel :)) Trying to get our bodies accustomed to the time difference and the food and stuf was a little tough, not so much the sleeping as the food. daren and i both had some tummy trouble throughout the entire trip. im sure it was a combo of new foods, our bodies adjusting and nerves.

Meeting reese was really awesome. it was a great morning. she was ok with me holding her as long as the SW or mo was close by. Visiting the foster home was a blessing and very moving. We were able to see reese's personality come out while she interacted with the family. PRICELESS! i did have some motion sickness issues whenever we would ride in the van anywhere. (dramamine) Day 2 of shopping was a good day also. Daren got to hold her at the mall! I kept thinking i just want her, without having to go back to the foster home and without the SW's. i want her!

Well....tuesday was a new day and it was not at all what i had hoped. I was nowhere near ready for how difficult this was going to be over the next 42 hours. I was an emotional wreck. And i'm not one to be like that at all.Watching Reese go through the grieving process was excruciating. As a mom all i wanted to do was comfort her and ease her pain and console her. But she did not want me!! She would hit me and pinch me and resist. Even when she was dead tired and i would be holding her she would not put her head on me. I literally did not know what to do at times and would just put her down in the floor and look into her eyes and see so much pain and i would just cry knowing that i was the one causeing that pain. i felt at times like i didnt know if i could do this. And as embarrassed as i am to say it, there were times that i didnt know if i wanted her. Daren was trying to help me through all of this and he said something that shook me to the core. I remember saying in desperation, "i dont know what to do!" and he said, "what would you want someone to do if it were hudson or max?" and of course, i would want someone to go through whatever it took in order for my babies to feel safe and loved! So i went to bed that night feeling so overwhelmed and guilty and horrible. I spent quite a bit of time praying through the night and next morning asking for an unconditional love for this little girl who doesnt even begin to understand what is going on. So the second day was still very hard but i was able to keep the right attitude and do what i needed to for her.

Reese HATED let me repeat HATED being in the hotel room!! We were constantly out walking around with her which was exhausting. She would tense up and begin to whine as soon as we walked into the hotel lobby.Finally after 2 days she began to trust us bit by bit. We would catch glimpses of the silly little girl we saw the first day in her foster home. So by Thursday we began to get out and do some sight seeing and shopping and it was crazy how we watched her transform.

Now the travel home was also another story. Tourture is the word that comes to mind! Reese hated the flights about as much as she hated the hotel room! All i can say is thank you Lord for the sweet flight attendants on the american airlines flight from Tokyo to Dallas. they played with her, walked her so we could rest. I am pretty sure that at one point i didnt see or hear reese for about 2 hours. they were soooo helpful! We had a man yell at us on that flight! I know who yells at a couple that are obviously adopting a child from a foriegn country!!! unbelievable.

Well all that to say it was an experience that i will never forget. Reese has adjusted so well. She LOVES her big brothers and they have done amazing adjusting to her as well. Once we got home it was tough for the first week but once again everyday, bit by bit she would open up and explore and laugh and eat, man can she eat! It has gone way better than we ever hoped it would since we have been home.



God is faithful, he is trustworthy, he will never leave you, he is strength, he is power, he is wisdom, he is love, he is comfort, he is peace, he is truth, his ways are higher than ours, his plan is greater than ours, he is perfect, his timing is perfect and HE will finish whatever it is HE has started in you!

Meeting Day

On Sunday October 18, 2009 life as I knew it was changed. Daren and I woke up earlier that we wanted to in Bangkok. We knew today was going to be exhausting so we tried to sleep-in but unfortunately could not. We were up walking the streets close to our hotel in search of a Starbucks. We finally found one that was open before 8:00am (i know, wierd huh). They did not have any of the things i like to drink so i opted for a green tea latte. I do not recommend it, im just sayin...

The time seemed to drag by if not stand still. We were so excited and nervous. We sat in the lobby of the hotel just waiting for our social worker to pick us out of the crowd. "Are you Neely's?" "YES!" And we were off! The moment we have been waiting for and dreaming about was here.

We were escorted to a conference room along with another couple where Mo, our Holt social worker went over some things with us and informed us of some more details about the next few days. We could hear a baby crying in the hall and we were trying to guess who's child it was that was crying SO loud. I knew for sure it was Reese because that would be par for the course for our kids, but it wasnt.

As the other social workers brought the 2 girls in i saw Reese and she took my breath away! My first thought was how tiny she was and then quickly to how absolutely beautiful she was. She walked in holding the social workers hand and I slowly walked up to her and knelt down to talk to her. Daren kind of kept his distance and stayed a few steps behind me. We sat in the floor and began playing and interacting. I tried to reach out to her at one point and she didnt really know what to do so i thought no biggie we'll try again in a minute. The SW (social worker) finally placed her in my lap and she began crying. I stood up with her and we went over to the window and that distracted her. From that point on she seemed to be ok with me holding her as long as she could see her SW. We eventually went outside to the pool and fountain area where she walked around and we splashed in the water. When it was time to go in i reached my hands out and she came right to me.

After about and hour or so getting familiar with our babies we went to KFC, yep, The Colonel is alive and well in Bangkok! We ordered Reese fried rice and chicken and she ate all her little tummy could hold. After lunch we visited our hotel room and the SW's came along with us. Reese was great, she played with her new toys and sat on our bed. The ladies took her to the bathtub to kind of introduce that to her and let her play in the water. Reese was so sleepy that as she was sitting on the bed playing she began falling asleep while sitting up. The SW got her to sleep and she took about an hour long nap on our bed.

All in all meeting our daughter was more than i could have hoped for but after all thats the kind of God that we serve. One who does far more than you could ever hope or imagine.

ONE MORE DAY!!!

It's 10:30 in the pm here in Bangkok, and we're about to call it a day, but here's a brief update. We got in at about 2 am this morning and have been asleep most of the day. It's been raining here all day, so we just stayed in and took it easy.

Tomorrow morning we finally get to meet Reese. We'll meet her at 10:30 and get to eat lunch with her. We'll then get to meet her Foster parents tomorrow afternoon around 2:30. We'll post some pictures and hopefully some video tomorrow sometime.

It's been almost two years and it all leads up to in the morning. Excited, but still very anxious. It's off to bed. We'll try to sleep.

10 DAYS AND COUNTING...

Well here we are 10 days away from boarding a plane for Chicago then Tokyo and finally Bangkok! Honestly, i still feel like it is weeks away. Daren and i are going to a church leadership conf in Atlanta and we are leaving wednesday morning. We will be home saturday afternoon. Monday-Thursday will be wierd, hectic, memorable, exciting and sureal. I have left my in-laws and my parents in charge of the boys. They will all do a great job however we will not only have to adjust to being home with reese but also from hudson and max being spoiled by the grandparents. But im not complaining, im thankful that i have family that will rearrange their lives to accomodate us.



I have had trouble processing the fact that we are leaving in less than 2 weeks to bring reese home. I try to think about what it is going to be like and i just go blank. It just feels like a dream, however today i have begun to get really excited. Excited about traveling, cause daren and i love traveling to new places and experiencing different cultures. Excited about meeting reese, and finally being able to touch her. Excited about hudson and max getting a sister and my mom and mom-in-law getting their first granddaughter. Im excited about learning and seeing the culture of the Thai people and how we are going to manage not knowing a single word of the Thai language. Im excited for all our friends and family to meet reese after all they have done to love and support us through this journey. Im excited to see how God is going to change us and how different we will be for having been to Thailand. Im excited to see if reese will like taking a bath or if i am going to be able to fix her hair :) Im excited about expressing my deepest appreciation to the foster family for loving my baby during the 1st year of her life.



We will leave LR at 10:10am on Thursday 15th and land in bangkok at 11:25pm Friday 16th. (25 hr fight)

-Saturday 17th we will have the day to rest and do whatever we chose to do or not do.

-Sunday 18th we will meet reese at our hotel around 10am and hangout with her and eat lunch with her at our hotel. (we may meet the foster family this day)

-Monday 19th we will get to spend the day with reese and do some sight seeing , shopping etc. (we may meet foster family this day)

-Tuesday 20th the social worker will take reese for her dr. check-up and them bring her to us! this will be reese's GOTCHA DAY. She will stay with us for the rest of the trip!

-Wednesday 21st we meet with the Thai dept social dev and welfare and they will interview us and give the final permission for us to adopt reese and take her home with us.

-Wed,Thurs, Fri we are getting reese's Visa and more shopping and sight seeing and getting to know our daughter :)

-Saturday 24th we leave Bangkok 8:00am and arrive back in LR 7:00pm (23 hr flight)



Anyone wanting to sneek a peek of reese is welcome to come see us at the airport when we arrive home.



We will do our very best to update our blogs and facebook throughout the trip!