I read this "news" article talking about how supposedly study after study has shown that people without kids are happier than people with them. Pshaw- whatever! I completely disagree. Who are these scientists asking anyhow? Certainly not me.
I present you with
Exhibit A (Eden circa 2002)
Exhibit B (Jonah circa 2002)
Exhibit C (Becca circa 2003)
Exhibit D (Celeste circa 2003)
Exhibit E (Our family last night after FHE lesson)
I could go on with hundreds of more examples. I have to say that the best years of my life by far are the ones I've had raising my children. Besides getting married, my kids are the best thing that ever happened to me. They are the best thing for our marriage too. Nothing brings joy, love, satisfaction, and worthwhile challenges like having children. I love when they are babies. I love the toddler years. And I'm enjoying my tweens now. It is a progression of watching how stinkin cute they are to enjoying watching them become good people that are making something of themselves. Nothing in this world is more satisfying. And I know as the years go on, although there will be plenty of heartaches, I am fully anticipating joy beyond joy.
I don't think having an infinite number of children equates to an infinite amount of joy. That would be foolish I think. However, I have found that each child that has come to our family has multiplied our happiness and I am so grateful for each of them.
After Steve and I lost our baby Isaac back in September we decided to call it quits on having any more children of our own. I saw a specialist who told me that if I were to conceive again, my chances of carrying that baby to term with a happy outcome would only be 30%. We decided to prevent that from happening again. Despite that, I was surprised to find out I was pregnant again a couple of weeks before we left for Ethiopia, I was overcome with lots of thoughts and emotions about it. The most prevailing one being that I will likely lose this baby. So I have been quite reluctant to share the news with people. But I guess I'm ready now.
Well here I am hitting my second trimester. What it all comes down to is this:
We love children and if we have the great blessing to deliver one more healthy baby, I will count myself as one of the luckiest people alive.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Milestone
My blog has hit more than 30,000 views. How did that happen? Kinda exciting!
Well my life has really slowed down lately. It's left me doing what I probably do too much. Think. I was fortunate to see this talk on TV not too long ago. It was a rebroadcast of a talk called "Learning from our conflicts." I learned so much from it. But mostly I've come to realize that I've still got a lot to learn. The topic of conflict has become one of the most fascinating topics for me to think about. I think the main point of the talk is stated in what the speaker said here:
"When we remember our conflicts and reflect on them, they are like mirrors that can teach us things about ourselves that are otherwise difficult to discover. If we permit them, our conflicts will show us where we are weak, defensive, prideful, or otherwise in need of repair."
Then he goes on to teach you how to accomplish that. Pretty cool stuff. If you want to read it, I say go for it. It's really beneficial. Here it is.
I still feel like I'm trying to figure myself out. I think I got a late start at it. (Like as in a month or so ago.) And therefore I think it can be frustrating for those around me who feel settled with who they are to deal with someone like me who is behind in the game. I'm hoping I will get there soon. Makes me feel like a teenager kind of...
Well my life has really slowed down lately. It's left me doing what I probably do too much. Think. I was fortunate to see this talk on TV not too long ago. It was a rebroadcast of a talk called "Learning from our conflicts." I learned so much from it. But mostly I've come to realize that I've still got a lot to learn. The topic of conflict has become one of the most fascinating topics for me to think about. I think the main point of the talk is stated in what the speaker said here:
"When we remember our conflicts and reflect on them, they are like mirrors that can teach us things about ourselves that are otherwise difficult to discover. If we permit them, our conflicts will show us where we are weak, defensive, prideful, or otherwise in need of repair."
Then he goes on to teach you how to accomplish that. Pretty cool stuff. If you want to read it, I say go for it. It's really beneficial. Here it is.
I still feel like I'm trying to figure myself out. I think I got a late start at it. (Like as in a month or so ago.) And therefore I think it can be frustrating for those around me who feel settled with who they are to deal with someone like me who is behind in the game. I'm hoping I will get there soon. Makes me feel like a teenager kind of...
Monday, March 7, 2011
Adoption Update
Since my sister posted this on her blog, I've been getting texts, calls, and emails from people worried about our adoption. So I thought I'd better let you all know what's going on with our adoption.
Yes, there have been changes to the Ethiopian Adoption system. And I think they are very sad and very wrong. There are currently about 5 million orphans in Ethiopia. (We wont talk about all the millions of children that are not orphans in Ethiopia that are suffering.) In the last year there were less than approximately .2% of their orphans adopted. There are some organizations that are pressing the Ethiopian Government to stop such rapid adoption growth in their country. They are worried that some of these adoptions are not being done completely ethical they say. What I think is that they are really just opposed to adoption. Period. So they have pressed to the point of Ethiopia announcing cutting back the processing of 90% of their adoptions. The whole thing makes me sad!
How has this affected our adoption? Not much. Legally these kids are already our children. If we were in Ethiopia now, they would be living with us. Ethiopia has already decreed that from our court process. This is great news for us! We will get to bring these kids home! What are we waiting for now? The American Embassy process to be completed so that we can bring them to America as American citizens. There have been some new policies and procedures implemented into the Embassy process though and because of that, our Embassy date is most likely going to be weeks later than we had orginally expected. We aren't sure how much, but we were told our best guess would be 6 weeks from now. Could be more. And although that is a disappointment for us, we are counting our lucky stars we've made it this far! Please pray for my sister and her family that their adoption will go smoothly and not take forever.
Yes, there have been changes to the Ethiopian Adoption system. And I think they are very sad and very wrong. There are currently about 5 million orphans in Ethiopia. (We wont talk about all the millions of children that are not orphans in Ethiopia that are suffering.) In the last year there were less than approximately .2% of their orphans adopted. There are some organizations that are pressing the Ethiopian Government to stop such rapid adoption growth in their country. They are worried that some of these adoptions are not being done completely ethical they say. What I think is that they are really just opposed to adoption. Period. So they have pressed to the point of Ethiopia announcing cutting back the processing of 90% of their adoptions. The whole thing makes me sad!
How has this affected our adoption? Not much. Legally these kids are already our children. If we were in Ethiopia now, they would be living with us. Ethiopia has already decreed that from our court process. This is great news for us! We will get to bring these kids home! What are we waiting for now? The American Embassy process to be completed so that we can bring them to America as American citizens. There have been some new policies and procedures implemented into the Embassy process though and because of that, our Embassy date is most likely going to be weeks later than we had orginally expected. We aren't sure how much, but we were told our best guess would be 6 weeks from now. Could be more. And although that is a disappointment for us, we are counting our lucky stars we've made it this far! Please pray for my sister and her family that their adoption will go smoothly and not take forever.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Obscure Post
I have one question for you people out there.
How do I make the gargantuous photos on my sidebar not be so gargantuous? I should ask my genius husband this, but he's been pretty busy lately. I did have the "Shrink to fit" button clicked by the way.
Now I thought I would tell you two very random and intimate things. One about me, and one about Steve; my better half.
Amanda- I have a complex. Most people that know me well, know this already. What's my complex? 9 people out of 10, I would rather send an email to than call on the phone. I like to think about what I want to say to people and emailing gives me that chance. Those few people that call me and give me repeated chances to make myself comfortable talking on the fly with them are great. They're my favorite! If I have the guts or feel comfortable enough to call someone up, they better feel flattered. Because it took a lot to get me to that point. I hope to totally overcome this some day.
Steve- I was his first french kiss. He was 27. He had only pecked 2 other girls before me. What's more interesting is that he started it ~ not me. It was quite the shock and surprise to me because it was quite passionate. But still clean, if that makes sense. And it was our first kiss. I still get weak in the knees to this day just thinking about it. He's an excellent kisser, and what is so awesome is that I am the only girl on this earth to have the ability to testify to that. Another one of my favorite things about him. Oh how I love that man!
How do I make the gargantuous photos on my sidebar not be so gargantuous? I should ask my genius husband this, but he's been pretty busy lately. I did have the "Shrink to fit" button clicked by the way.
Now I thought I would tell you two very random and intimate things. One about me, and one about Steve; my better half.
Amanda- I have a complex. Most people that know me well, know this already. What's my complex? 9 people out of 10, I would rather send an email to than call on the phone. I like to think about what I want to say to people and emailing gives me that chance. Those few people that call me and give me repeated chances to make myself comfortable talking on the fly with them are great. They're my favorite! If I have the guts or feel comfortable enough to call someone up, they better feel flattered. Because it took a lot to get me to that point. I hope to totally overcome this some day.
Steve- I was his first french kiss. He was 27. He had only pecked 2 other girls before me. What's more interesting is that he started it ~ not me. It was quite the shock and surprise to me because it was quite passionate. But still clean, if that makes sense. And it was our first kiss. I still get weak in the knees to this day just thinking about it. He's an excellent kisser, and what is so awesome is that I am the only girl on this earth to have the ability to testify to that. Another one of my favorite things about him. Oh how I love that man!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)