Sheba is going back to India!

Today, I write with both sadness and joy in my heart. Sheba is leaving to go back to India tomorrow. Although I was able to meet and spend time with the woman who opened our hearts to India, I am sad that she is going home without raising enough money to purchase the land needed to continue caring for the children in her orphanage. She still has children without sponsors and that tears me apart, too. We are trying to find churches throughout the United States who would open their doors and allow her to tell her story. If we can do this, Sheba could come back to the US in September and October and possibly raise the lacking funds needed to buy the land to build an orphanage and school for the children. I'm calling out to all of my blog "stalkers"... please talk to your church families!! We would like to reach as many states as possible but need to have a tour schedule set for her before she can make travel arrangements for the next trip. If their hearts are not open to this, please consider sponsoring one of the children in her care. Sheba is a wonderful lady and I wish each and everyone of you could meet her in person. Spending one day with her would change your life. Please contact me if you would like more information on how you can help.

God Bless-
Maggie

It's official...

We are number 15 on the non-NRI list. Yee haw!! 15!! Good number! Shad was born on the 15th. 1+5 =6, we will be a family of 6 when our little angel comes home. I know, I know, it's a little corny, but I'm excited to just be on the list!!

I love the FedEx man!!!!

Yeah!!! The FedEx man must think I'm wacked!!! He showed up today with our dossier from being apostilled in Albany. I opened the envelope, quickly scanned the documents and stuffed them in a new envelope addressed to Dillon. :) I have been waiting all day for him!! Those FedEx men must really love us impatient adopting moms!!! Ha! Ha! Now the wait begins. I believe we enter the list at 15. I'm not sure yet. I'll post again when Jynger lets me know.

I am so glad to be done with our SWer. Shad drove 3 1/2 hours to get our homestudy last Wednesday and it still wasn't done!! So... he told her he'd be back on Friday and wanted it in his hand then. He got there on Friday and decided he had better proof it before driving all the way back home. Good thing, because she had my middle name wrong throughout the entire document. Then she had the audacity to argue the fact with Shad! Unbelievable!!! This homestudy has been a bear!! I'm so glad that it's done and our dossier is submitted and we can move on!!!!

I'm going to camp for the weekend, having a glass of my favorite wine, OK- maybe 2, and gonna do a "happy dance"!! Wooo hooo!!

Our Inspiration...

This beautiful Indian woman is the inspiration behind Shad and I adopting from India. After waiting almost a year, my friend Michele and I met Sheba Sunayana May 1, 2008 for the first time. Let me start at the beginning...

I always knew that I wanted more children but my pregnancies with both Treyton and Cooper were difficult ones so Shad decided to have a vascectomy in 2001. After months and months of discussing adoption, Shad and I decided to explore our options. At first we thought that domestic was the way to go. We did a little research and after talking to a friend, decided to go through Foster Care. The more we got into it, the more we realized that it wasn't the right time for our family. I'm very emotional and felt that I would have attachment issues. After all, the main goal of foster care is to reunite families. A couple of years went by and my desire to have a little girl was still there so we opened the door to adoption once more. But the question still remained, what direction do we go? We prayed and prayed that God would lead us... and 5 months later he did. On a cold and rainy summer day in 2007 God answered our prayers. I stopped at the Sunoco Station and grabbed a cappuccino and the local paper before taking the boys to football practice. I hadn't bought the paper in years. It was rolled in half so I never saw what was on it. I threw it on the dash and away I went. About a half an hour later Shad met me at the boys practice and got in the car. He questioned the paper when he got in. He grabbed it and opened it. He questioned me again. Again, I never looked at it! I bought it and threw it in the car. He questioned me again!! What in the world was the big deal?! Well... on the front page was Sheba and her story. A story of one selfless woman doing Gods work in India. Here was a married woman with children of her own devoting herself to caring for orphans in India. Her work started with one begging child following her home from the market. The next day he brought a friend. This continued and her commitment to helping the orphans has grown to 152 children in her care today. She gets no government support and cares for these children on her own through donations. Depending on finances, the children may not always get 3 meals per day. She is a true missionary. She sacrifices for these children. We didn't choose India. GOD chose India for us. I believe that God put Sheba's story in our hands for a reason. It was that day that we began our true journey to finding our daughter. Almost a year later, I had the opportunity to meet her. I was talking to my friend Michele and she told me Sheba was coming back to the US and she knew who to contact to meet her. Michele knew how important it was to me to meet Sheba and to "thank" her for what she is doing. It wasn't until I sat down to talk to her that I found out that the children in her care will never be able to be adopted. (Sorry, but I cry every time I think about it.) Mostly because of the part of India that they are in. I believe that all children should have a story to tell and this is one that I will be proud to share with my daughter. I think we can all look to Sheba as an inspiration through our journeys. God Bless!

Thank you Sheba for opening our hearts to India!! You will always be a blessing to our family!!

To read her full story please visit Sheba's website. There is a link at the bottom of her page to see how a local church is helping her to purchase land to build an orphanage.

What a great day today is turning out to be....

I am a firm believer in letting kids explore themselves and their surroundings and to try new things until they find what makes them happy. What an awesome surprise to down load our vacation pictures and find these beautiful pictures of nature taken by an 8 year old. Yes, these were taken by Treyton. He asked if he could take some pictures. So of course, I handed him the camera and away he went.

Who knew that Dandelions could look so pretty! I just figured that I would have to delete most of them, but instead I kept them all!! All 20 something of them!! They're fabulous!!

The best part of it is that he just thinks he was having fun.

I can't wait to see what's to come!

Jamestown Settlement, Virginia

We took the boys to Virginia a couple of weeks ago and I'm a little behind on getting some pictures posted of our trip. We went to visit my cousin, Rick, in Mechanicsville. He lives in a development that was built on the Cold Harbor battlefield. How cool is that!? I've never been a huge history buff, but I have to admit that this trip was a lot of fun. We went to the Jamestown Settlement (the first English settlement in America) and road on a ferry. There was so much to take in that is was overwhelming!! It was nice to get away even if it was only for the weekend. The boys miss their cousin Alyssa and it gave them a chance to spend some time with her.

Holy, moly it's finally done!!!!!

Just a quick note before we head out for Richmond, VA today. Our home study is done and was emailed to Dillon (and us) today for review. YEAH!!!!!!! Hopefully everything looks good to Dillon and we can get our dossier in the mail when we get back. We'll take a copy with us to look at and double check spellings and birthdates, ect. and let our SW know if we feel any changes are necessary. Pray that everything works out (and that the weather is nice for the weekend!). I'll post more when I know more!! :)

Treyton is doing great!! The surgery was a piece of cake!! He complained of a headache when he first woke up but that was it. He couldn't believe that he could breathe through his nose again!! We came home about 11-11:30 yesterday morning and he slept for a couple of hours. By 3:30 he was ready to do something. Austin stayed after school yesterday with a friend for "fun night" so we went early to pick him up. Treyton talked about it all week but I didn't know what to expect from the surgery so he didn't plan to go. They had little activities planned around the school. You would've never known that he had had surgery that morning. He knew that he couldn't do any physical activities like soccer or floor hockey, but I think just seeing his friends reactions to being there was worth the trip down. His classmates had been worrying about him all day- that was so sweet to hear. Taylor and Sydney gave him a big hug and told him how glad they were that he was OK. (and yes... they are both girls... :) a little lady's man!) . The only thing that he has complained about is a dry throat!! Amazing isn't it?! Thanks Mama Dee and Grandma Alice for the Italian Ice and Popscicles!! Thanks for everyone's thoughts and prayers.

Treyton is nervous...

Treyton is having his adenoids removed on Wednesday. He's a little anxious, as to be expected, but is "looking forward to breathing again" he says. I'm sure things will go well but he's going to have a few rough days following the surgery. This is a very common procedure and many children go through it. Surgery was the last resort. We knew it was just a matter of time. We tried many things hoping his adenoids would shrink but instead they got bigger. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

CIS Fingerprints done...

Shad and I finally made it to Buffalo to have our fingerprints done today!! Yeah!! Seemed like everytime we tried to get there something came up. I picked him up from work after I got the boys off to school and away we went. We were in and out in about 20 minutes or so, maybe not even. We both were craving Indian food so we figured we'd celebrate the next step of the process and went to lunch at The India Gate. We are sloooowly making progress. But... we are still waiting for our homestudy. So... we wait some more!