When it rains, it pours

Surprisingly this blog entry isn't about the weather. It's about God's goodness. If you read my last entry, you saw that my sister finally got news that a birth mom chose her and Brad for her June baby. They're getting a baby, and I'm going to be an aunt!!! I'm so excited and so very relieved that a whole other kind of wait is in front of her.

Back to the title. Our hearts overflowed with joy and relief at Nic's good news. So when she called from her vacation last night and said that another mom had chosen them and that baby was due in 3 WEEKS, we could hardly believe it. Of course they were considering adopting both, but after some sleep (after their long day of travel) and discussion, they decided to stick with the June baby.

Either way, God is good. Even when we're waiting. Or disappointed. Or thinking we really had a good plan and could His be better? He's good and always proves true.

A Day in the Life during a Power Outage

When the weather forecast started calling for an ice storm on Monday, I didn't really believe it. Murray never gets any great winter weather. But Tuesday I did wake up to find a lot of ice covering things, then it just sleeted and iced all day and all night long. Tuesday night as we laid in bed, we just heard branch after branch falling in the yard. The ice was having its way with our eight pine trees in the back yard.

1 am - After the power went out at 1 am, Pup and I went into the living room and he started a fire in the fireplace. The breaking of branches was a lot quieter in the living room, but then one thudded against Norah's window. I fully expected to open Norah's bedroom door and find a branch in there. Thankfully it was just touching the window outside. Then Pup and I brought the kids into the living room because he thought a tree was leaning against another in the back yard and may fall onto the house. (I've been scared of those tall pine trees in storms for a long time now.)

4 am - We decided it may not be safe here and Pup went out to find a hotel room. That's when he found out that power was out all over Murray and hotels didn't have power either. We just huddled in the living room with the kids and prayed everything would be ok. Neither of us got much sleep that night.

10 am - Kim and Aaron came over to check on us and we all piled in our cars and headed for the only open store, Kroger. Inside the darkened grocery store there were many shoppers all needing the same things: water, snacks, and food that didn't need electricity to be cooked. We were some of the lucky ones who only waited about 45 min. in line. The cashier had to manually enter every bar code for every product.

12 pm - We packed up some essentials and headed over to Aaron and Kim's to hang out for the day. Grandma Poor was making soup for supper on her gas stove, so we planned on that for dinner.

2 pm - Kim, Norah, Luke and I napped while Aaron and Pup played Magic cards by the fire (romantic, huh?)

4 pm - My sister called and I thought she was just checking on me and the power outage. But through our fuzzy connection I heard her say, "You are going to be an aunt!" She had gotten a call from her lawyer that a birth mom had chosen them for her June baby. We had been waiting for this good news for a long time!!!

6 pm - We all went over to the Poors and let Grandma feed us. Their house was so warm! Daniel, Kayla, Miliaka, Cate, Aaron, Kim and the four of us enjoyed a hot meal and warm living room.

8 pm - Pup and I brought the kids home, set up mattresses in front of the fireplace and settled in for the night. It was cold, but tolerable. Nothing a little snuggling with the kids couldn't fix.

Day 2

8 am - We all woke up to a 46 degree house and Pup told me to pack up because we were heading to Mom and Dad's. We wanted to visit his mom, but she was out of power too!

10 am - We headed to Effingham with a quarter tank of gas. We'd heard that there was gas in Puryear but also long lines. So we said a prayer and set off for the promised land of warmth, electricity, and water. We stopped in Benton to find no gas, saw signs by the Paducah exits about no fuel, and headed on toward Vienna, IL. I was nervous the whole time that we'd run out and be stuck in the cold with the kids. I called Dad to see if he'd find out whether we could get gas in Illinois. He assured me that Marion, IL had food and fuel.

11:45 am - We arrived in Marion to find life as usual. People were filling up their gas tanks, lights were on, businesses open. We filled up on gas and McDonalds.

2 pm - We made it to my parents' house and I'm not sure it ever felt so good. It felt good to be safe and not have to think about how to be warm or what to eat.

I know people have been in a thousand times worse position than what Murray just went through but I think we got a taste of how your community comes together to help each other. And a glimpse of how thin that line is from helping each other to mob mentality. I can see how it gets scary when things are scarce. Again, I can't help but be grateful for my family that opens their doors to us and to our friends that take care of us too.

Hop on the Bus

In college at MCF, we went through a phase where the worship team would sing "Hop on the Bus" every week it seemed. It's an ok song, I just thought it was kinda dumb. (I wasn't the only one either!) It got so annoying that I'd conveniently go to the bathroom when they started singing it.

Nowadays, every so often, Adam will choose it to play at church when he leads worship. Again, I don't like it, but he doesn't seem to be doing it on purpose:)

Last time they played it at church, Luke got into it because of the bus picture on the slideshow. He's actually learned some of the words to it. Then at Walmart when I wanted him to get on the cart, I said, "Hop on." And I saw a twinkle in his eye as he started to sing the tune "Hop on the Bus."

I know God's just laughing at me.

Nosedive x 2

Norah has taken two nosedives in the last few days. I don't have any photo documentation of these because I would've been a pretty bad mom for running for my camera instead of loving on my girl.

On Thursday, as I was packing in the back room to go to Mom and Dad's, the kids were both standing at the gate in front of the stairs that go down into my bedroom. Luke must've pushed too hard on the gate, and it fell. Both kids landed on top of it on the stairs. I was across the room, so when I heard it and saw what happened, I dashed over. But it was too late, Norah fell off the stairs a couple feet to the hardwood floor. She got a bloody and bruised nose and I felt horrible. I loved on her a while then we left for our trip and I had to check her every so often to make sure she was ok.

Tonight I got a little time to scrapbook while Pup watched the kids. I heard a distressed cry from Norah and then saw Luke coming for us and trying to communicate that Norah needed help. I walked into Luke's room to find Norah mostly in the toy box and totally in a position that she couldn't get out of. Poor Nor.

Sadness

I'm feeling sad for my sister today. After 4 days of waiting to hear whether this birth mother chose her and Brad to be the parents of her already-born 4 lb. 10 oz. son, Nic found out that another family was chosen. Again. This is the third time an adoption possibility has come up and fallen through for them. And it sucks.

I am thankful for some things though. One, that God sent me on a journey that resembles Nic's enough that she feels she can talk to me about it. Obviously I haven't adopted, but Kristin has, and I went through that with her. So I'm glad Nic has people who can relate.

Another thing I'm thankful for is our family. If Nic had gotten good news, we would've dropped everything to celebrate with her. Mom would've invaded Walmart, Dad would've asked off work, and I would've packed up the kids and went on a "long drive" as Luke would say. I've come to realize that not all families go out of their way to take care of each other. I think ours does and I'm grateful for it.

Like Holly just blogged about, I believe in two things too. That there's a reason for everything and that God works it all out for good. Although that's true and a comfort, I still wish God would give my sister the desire of her heart.

Looking in a Mirror

Today Luke did something that I know he gets from me. I casually look for these things in my kids. Like how Norah's little nose turns red. Mine totally does that when I'm hot or cold or pregnant. Or how Luke likes to know what the day looks like so he knows what to expect. Totally like his mom.

Today I was fixing him mac n cheese upon request and unloading groceries at the same time. He saw that I bought him some yogurt, so I let him start eating that before his mac was done. After I served him the mac, he came into the kitchen with his spoon and was saying something I didn't quite get. All the while he was trying to get his spoon in the sink. He wanted to wash the yogurt off the spoon so he could eat his mac. Totally him momma.

On a side note, did you know that Willow Tree figurines are a great size for chewing on? I can see why - they're easy to hold and have little heads that can fit in kids' mouths. Both my kids really like getting to mine, and most of my figures have been decapitated and had to have glue gun surgery. Norah's getting into them as I type...

Don't be deceived...

I keep telling myself not to be deceived during this seemingly easy time with Norah. Don't be deceived that it would be easy to have a third baby. Because looking 2 years ahead to potty training, I'm feel as much like a failure as I do a success at Norah's nice schedule.



Here's why it seems easy:


Norah wakes up at almost 8 am, jumping in her bed and grinning like you're the only person she ever wanted to see.



She eats breakfast, plays and naps at 10ish.



Then she eats a snack and plays til lunch. Which now consists of pretty much what we are eating plus her bottle.



Then she plays and naps again. Sometimes at the same time as her brother.

More playing and supper. Then she fusses from about 6-7 because she'd really like to be sleeping but I want her to skip a mini nap and just go to bed at 730ish.

That's a typical day. She eats when we eat, she eats what we eat. She naps and sleeps all night. She plays with her brother til he frustrates her, then wants to be held.

See how it can be deceiving???