When I told my sister-in-law, Kimberly, what a miracle it was that we now had the money cash to pay for Forest's sibling's adoption when just 2 months ago we had nothing, she said, "Faith like potatoes." I had no idea what she meant until she explained that it was a movie that I should see.
Kent and I watched that movie last week, and I'm really starting to feel like we need faith like potatoes right now. At the end of the movie, the main character who is a farmer decides to plant potatoes during a drought. Everyone around him tells his he's crazy; the potatoes will never grow without lots of water. He plants those potatoes and right before harvest, as he and his friend are walking the fields, his friend asks him, "How can you know there are potatoes growing under the ground when you can't see them?" The main character answers that you can't; you have to have faith that they're in there growing. When harvest comes, they break up the earth and find that the potatoes did grow, and they have a very successful harvest.
Right now, we are still waiting to hear about our baby. We have no idea what the birthmother will decide, and all evidence is that she may not place the baby since she hasn't responded to the agency's phone calls in weeks. But Kent and I still feel like she may show up at the last minute and place her baby with us so Forest and his sibling can be together. It really is a matter of having faith like potatoes. There's what your head is telling you, and then there's what your heart is telling you. I tend to listen to my heart.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
When it rains, it pours
What a crazy ride it's been lately. I was released from being RS president Sunday, but had to do it alone at church since all the kids had pink eye. Kent got to be the "lucky" one to stay home with them Sunday morning. Just as the kids were getting over pink eye, a second cold hit all of us so now everyone's got sore throats and are especially grouchy. How fun!
Of course, the big thing weighing on our minds is when the baby is coming and whether or not Forest's birthmother will choose to place him or her. My friend said to me, "Boy, Satan is really working on your family. This must be one special baby." Within an hour of her saying that over the phone, Kent calls me to tell me that he's been in a car accident. He is fine, thank heavens, but the same can't be said for his car. Sorry Barb. The Honda was originally hers.
Kent and a coworker were driving between work sites and sitting in a left turn lane. There were 2 lanes turning left and when the turn signal was green, Kent and the other car began to go, the car to his left suddenly slammed on his breaks. Kent couldn't see that a driver coming from the left completely ran the red light and was headed straight for them. The car on his left had seen her, but Kent didn't know what was going on until he ran into the lady's car who had run the red. He said that she drove right into the front of his car. Luckily, or more like the Lord watching over Kent, she hit the front left of the car. A few seconds' difference, and she could've run right into Kent. Maija and Bekah say in their prayers every day, "Bless Daddy at work that he drive home safely." I can't help but think that their prayers were answered today.
So... the Honda is totally smashed in in the front and not drivable. It was towed to Owen's shop, and the lady's insurance will pay for repairs or just give us a check for the value of the car. We think the repairs might actually cost more than the car is worth. We'll see... While all of this is sorted out, we'll be sharing the van. Makes me grateful I'm not going to be driving around doing Relief Society stuff. Kent also said, "I just want the adoption to happen now, so we can take off for Utah and not deal with the car right now." :-) One more reason we're waiting to hear about the baby.
The end of the story is that we're all safe and sound. We're grateful for the Lord's protection and His answer to prayers. And we can't wait to hear about baby #4. I think it's a girl so I'm already calling her Kiira (pronounced "Keera") but Kent wants a boy and can't seem to pick a boy's name. Maija said to me, "Mommy, you and I know it's a girl, right?" Ha! I have her brainwashed. Excellent.
We'll keep you all posted.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Waiting for Baby
I haven't posted in the last week and a half for a reason. Not much has changed. The adoption auction went very well. We are so grateful to all who participated, donated items and/or made straight donations. We're also grateful to those who wanted to donate but just aren't in a position to do so. We know how that is.
So, now we wait to see what happens. I've been grateful to have the peaceful reassurance that whichever baby ends up coming to our home is the child that was meant to be in our family. It was that way with Forest, and it will be that way this time around too. That much I know. Now, the rest of it (when? who? how?)... that I have no idea about. Keep us in your prayers.
So, now we wait to see what happens. I've been grateful to have the peaceful reassurance that whichever baby ends up coming to our home is the child that was meant to be in our family. It was that way with Forest, and it will be that way this time around too. That much I know. Now, the rest of it (when? who? how?)... that I have no idea about. Keep us in your prayers.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Preparing for Baby - Adoption Auction
Just in case you didn't get one of my mass mailings, we are in the middle of our online adoption auction (http://farnsworthadoption.blogspot.com) which runs until 11:59pm on Monday night, Feb. 1st. So far many bids have been placed and several donations as well. To say that we are grateful is an understatement. We can never fully express how grateful we are for so much generosity and kindness.
One of our primary concerns about adopting again so soon was money. It's not cheap to adopt, especially twice in a year. We may not be struggling financially in the same way that many of our friends and family are, but we're no Daddy Warbucks either (if you don't get that reference, google "Little Orphan Annie".) When we decided to move forward with another adoption, it really was a leap of faith. We've been amazed to see miracles happen and doors open to help us get together the necessary funds, again. The same thing happened when we adopted Forest last year. Amazing.
Of course, there are many other preparations to make for a new baby beyond just money. We've been getting our house ready and organizing ourselves a little better. We learned from Forest's adoption that when things start happening it can all go really fast. So, we want the guest room to be ready for my aunt who has offered to come help with the kids when it all "goes down". We want a few packed bags, so jumping on a plane at a moment's notice isn't as hard to do. We want the baby things (that I just barely finished using for Forest) to be clean and ready for the next little baby. There's plenty to do and think about... especially to think about. We're still waiting to see if Forest's birthmother chooses to place this baby or not with us. We're still holding our breath and waiting to see what the Lord's plan is for our family.
One of our primary concerns about adopting again so soon was money. It's not cheap to adopt, especially twice in a year. We may not be struggling financially in the same way that many of our friends and family are, but we're no Daddy Warbucks either (if you don't get that reference, google "Little Orphan Annie".) When we decided to move forward with another adoption, it really was a leap of faith. We've been amazed to see miracles happen and doors open to help us get together the necessary funds, again. The same thing happened when we adopted Forest last year. Amazing.
Of course, there are many other preparations to make for a new baby beyond just money. We've been getting our house ready and organizing ourselves a little better. We learned from Forest's adoption that when things start happening it can all go really fast. So, we want the guest room to be ready for my aunt who has offered to come help with the kids when it all "goes down". We want a few packed bags, so jumping on a plane at a moment's notice isn't as hard to do. We want the baby things (that I just barely finished using for Forest) to be clean and ready for the next little baby. There's plenty to do and think about... especially to think about. We're still waiting to see if Forest's birthmother chooses to place this baby or not with us. We're still holding our breath and waiting to see what the Lord's plan is for our family.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Happy Birthday to my Girls
Both Maija and Rebekah celebrated their birthdays in the last week and a half. We had a joint birthday party for them this past Saturday with 21 (yes, TWENTY ONE) of their cousins, friends and classmates. Saying that it was crazy is a bit of an understatement, but the girls had a great time, and I think their friends and cousins did too.
Here are pics:
Here are pics:
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Dropping Preschool
As you may or may not know, I was a school teacher for 4 years and I got my graduate degree in education. I care a lot about education and my kids' schooling, or in their case, future schooling. I've had Maija in a wonderful preschool in our area for the last year a half. She loved it and was excited to start classes again this week. So, it was especially hard for me to have to pull her out of preschool for this semester. In fact, Maija seems like she's fine about, and I'm the one who's had a hard time.
Even though I knew we needed to save every penny for our upcoming adoption, and even though I knew that Maija is more than ready for kindergarten already - I still struggled when I made the phone call to her preschool teacher saying that Maija wouldn't be coming back. Visions of Maija singing songs at school, doing her little preschool end-of-year program, bringing home cute projects and assignments she'd done all danced in my head.
I think the one positive (other than the obvious financial savings) is that I've gotten back in teacher mode putting together what I'm calling "Homework Days" every Friday, so Maija has at least some practice with sight words, letters, numbers and problem-solving. We did our first Homework Day last Friday with one of her friends, and it went really well. Somehow this whole preschool thing is bringing up all kinds of other emotions about all the change that is coming. Whether Forest's birthmother chooses to place his sibling with us or not, we've decided that we will adopt, so I know that a new baby is coming into our lives sooner or later. I think that every preparation we make for the adoption makes it more real to me that I am going to have 4 children under 5 years old very soon. I'm excited and terrified at the same time.
So now we're in a waiting game.... waiting for our baby to come, waiting for Maija to start kindergarten, waiting to one day be rich and have everything paid off... :-) I may wait on that last part for a long, long time.
Even though I knew we needed to save every penny for our upcoming adoption, and even though I knew that Maija is more than ready for kindergarten already - I still struggled when I made the phone call to her preschool teacher saying that Maija wouldn't be coming back. Visions of Maija singing songs at school, doing her little preschool end-of-year program, bringing home cute projects and assignments she'd done all danced in my head.
I think the one positive (other than the obvious financial savings) is that I've gotten back in teacher mode putting together what I'm calling "Homework Days" every Friday, so Maija has at least some practice with sight words, letters, numbers and problem-solving. We did our first Homework Day last Friday with one of her friends, and it went really well. Somehow this whole preschool thing is bringing up all kinds of other emotions about all the change that is coming. Whether Forest's birthmother chooses to place his sibling with us or not, we've decided that we will adopt, so I know that a new baby is coming into our lives sooner or later. I think that every preparation we make for the adoption makes it more real to me that I am going to have 4 children under 5 years old very soon. I'm excited and terrified at the same time.
So now we're in a waiting game.... waiting for our baby to come, waiting for Maija to start kindergarten, waiting to one day be rich and have everything paid off... :-) I may wait on that last part for a long, long time.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Holiday Hangover
Talking to my sister-in-law Kimberly today, we were both sharing how tired our families are after the weekend, and she said, "It's a holiday hangover." I think that's a pretty good description of how our whole family is feeling. The kids were exhausted and grouchy today. I was exhausted and grouchy today, and Kent came home exhausted and grouchy today. The holidays were a lot of fun, but it sure can wear you out.
It's also like a form of jet lag. Our sleep schedules are so messed up (see the time of this post) so we're trying to force ourselves onto a new schedule. Not fun. It reminds me of growing up when we would travel halfway around the world, and my dad had this 9pm rule: nobody can go to sleep until 9pm at night no matter how tired you are. When you've travelled to a time zone that is basically the opposite time of day from where you were, it's like torture starting around 3pm in the afternoon. You can hardly keep your eyes open, and all your body wants to do is sleep. My father would NOT let us sleep no matter how tired we were. He was convinced that the sooner you get yourself on local time, sleeping at local nighttime hours, the sooner you'd get over jet lag. Ugh!
Hopefully, in a few days we'll be back on a "normal" schedule. Also, a little newsflash - we heard that Forest's birthmother is due February 26th. We knew it was some time at the end of February, but it's so nice to have an actual due date. We're still waiting to see what she decides to do. The agency hasn't heard from her in several weeks. Crossing our fingers and praying...
Here are a few pictures of the kids and family:My Sweet Babies 
Our Little Family 
With Kent's Dad 
It's also like a form of jet lag. Our sleep schedules are so messed up (see the time of this post) so we're trying to force ourselves onto a new schedule. Not fun. It reminds me of growing up when we would travel halfway around the world, and my dad had this 9pm rule: nobody can go to sleep until 9pm at night no matter how tired you are. When you've travelled to a time zone that is basically the opposite time of day from where you were, it's like torture starting around 3pm in the afternoon. You can hardly keep your eyes open, and all your body wants to do is sleep. My father would NOT let us sleep no matter how tired we were. He was convinced that the sooner you get yourself on local time, sleeping at local nighttime hours, the sooner you'd get over jet lag. Ugh!
Hopefully, in a few days we'll be back on a "normal" schedule. Also, a little newsflash - we heard that Forest's birthmother is due February 26th. We knew it was some time at the end of February, but it's so nice to have an actual due date. We're still waiting to see what she decides to do. The agency hasn't heard from her in several weeks. Crossing our fingers and praying...
Here are a few pictures of the kids and family:
Saturday, January 2, 2010
2010
Forest is 10 months old today and growing so quickly. He is such a big boy. You can see a recent (and adorable) picture of him on our adoption auction website - http://farnsworthadoption.blogspot.com. We're doing an online auction January 29th - February 1st to help us raise more money for baby #4's adoption, which we're hoping will be Forest's sibling due February 26th. Some of the items to be auctioned include: 1) weekend getaway to cabin in Pine, AZ 2) 50 min. massage 3) salon cut & style 4) four hours of electrical work, and we're working on other items including a personal coaching session with well-known lifecoach, airline tickets, gift cards to restaurants and movie theatres, etc.
Between preparing for our next adoption and then actually being placed with our new baby, this year will be full of blessings and challenges. Kent asked me tonight what my resolutions are for this year, and I think my primary goal is to survive :-) I'm still working with our ward's Relief Society (women's organization) and Kent continues to work as assistant ward clerk. Maija will be starting CTR 5 in Primary and will start kindergarten this summer. Bekah turns 3 years old in less than 2 weeks, which of course means we'll also be hard at work planning birthday parties for her and Maija (both b-days in Jan.) And Forest will have his 1st birthday in March. Busy, busy, busy. That's what makes life so interesting and worth living.
Hope you have a blessed and wonderful 2010. We'll keep you posted on any adoption developments...
Between preparing for our next adoption and then actually being placed with our new baby, this year will be full of blessings and challenges. Kent asked me tonight what my resolutions are for this year, and I think my primary goal is to survive :-) I'm still working with our ward's Relief Society (women's organization) and Kent continues to work as assistant ward clerk. Maija will be starting CTR 5 in Primary and will start kindergarten this summer. Bekah turns 3 years old in less than 2 weeks, which of course means we'll also be hard at work planning birthday parties for her and Maija (both b-days in Jan.) And Forest will have his 1st birthday in March. Busy, busy, busy. That's what makes life so interesting and worth living.
Hope you have a blessed and wonderful 2010. We'll keep you posted on any adoption developments...
Thursday, December 31, 2009
And a Happy New Year!
Happy 2010! We'll be counting down to Bralizian time tonight since our friends are coming over with their exchange student from Brazil. It's the perfect compromise with little kids who go to bed at 8pm. We'll ring in the New Year at 7pm MST.
Whenever and wherever you are counting down... Happy New Year!
Whenever and wherever you are counting down... Happy New Year!
Feliz Ano Novo -- Portuguese
¡Feliz año nuevo! -- Spanish
Gelukkige nuwe jaar -- Afrikaans
عام سعيد -- Arabic-- Chinese
Godt Nyttår -- Norwegian
새해 복 많이 받으세요 -- Korean
Onnellista Uutta Vuotta -- Finnish
Hauoli Makahiki Hou -- Hawaiian
С Новым Годом -- Russian
Bonne année -- French
สงกรานต์ -- Thai
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