How do you do it?

Over the last month I have been asked this question more times than I can possibly count. My answer - hair dye and chocolate! I have a wonderful hair stylist who diligently works to keep my ever-growing crop of gray hairs hidden and I am enjoying chocolate at will. :)

There has still been no movement with our adoption and while it is frustrating and a little bit scary, we are feeling quite at peace right now. I think having "been there done that" once already is feeding our emotional stability. We know that adoption works - we have proof every day in our home. We know that the children in the orphanage are having their basic needs met and that the caregivers work very hard and love them all very much. When people comment that they don't know how we can stand it - the waiting, the uncertainty, "knowing" our daughter and not being able to rush over to bring her home, not having an end in sight; I try to explain that there IS indeed an end in sight we just don't know when. The fact is, I see her in our family and in our home. I see her growing up with her brother, playing outside, sitting in the currently empty seat at our dinner table. I picture our family a year from now and ten years from now and she is part of it. So, while some days are truly a struggle and we worry about her and we feel sad that she is not already here, most days we hold on to the belief that "THE CALL" will come soon and we will begin the next leg of this amazing adventure.

We were extremely blessed to receive a new photo this week from a family that travelled recently. We learned one very important thing from this photo - we need to start saving our money for a piano!



In other news, we are preparing for E's eye surgery next Thursday. The doctor says it is generally a pretty straight-forward, uncomplicated procedure, but to me any procedure requiring general anesthesia is dangerous. I am quite anxious about it and ask that if anyone has spare prayers that day, please keep E and the surgeon in them.

We have had a pretty busy and fun fall so far. I have over a hundred pictures on my camera waiting for download and as soon as I have some time, I will grace this blog with the extreme cuteness that is our son! Today after I am done with work we are going to make a big pot of chili and carve some pumpkins. Tomorrow E gets to try out trick-or-treating. He kind of "gets it" this year - we were practicing in the living room last night and he thought it was pretty cool that all he had to say was "tikoteat" and I put candy in his bucket. I was pretty proud of the fact that he remembered his "thank yous" each time, too. We'll see how he does with the real thing tomorrow.