I had knee surgery last Wed. I thought my recovery would be a week or less. That has not, nor is not going to be the case. Actually my surgeon has assured me it will likely be 3-6 weeks. I have struggled badly with this recovery, more mentally than physically. My biggest problem is, I don't like being limited, and this is reminding just how limited I am. I like being independent and I'm finding myself being completely dependent on my friends and family for many things. I don't like to sit still, I prefer being busy and on the go, but here I sit, at home, all day long.
Here's the thing, and it's what drives me to post. Because I thought this surgery would be less than a week recovery I made plans, lots of them, it was supposed to be a busy week. I couldn't attend a field trip, go out for lunch with a friend, go shopping with my daughter on her day off from school, and I'm struggling to get ready for this Ladies Night Out event I'm hosting here on Sunday. If I'm on my feet for too long my knee swells to the point of looking like I don't have knee. If I'm up too long the pain, burning and throbbing kick in. If I'm up too long I can barely walk.
How do you prepare your home for guests when you are limited? How do you clean, put things away on the first floor that belong on the seond floor or in the basement when you can't do steps? How do you stand in the kitchen preparing food and cooking? Well I wanted to share with you how. You suck up your pride, admit your limitations and pray. Here is what might happen if you do:
You will get three different emails from three different friends asking if they can bring something to eat for your party.
You will get a phone call from another friend asking if she can make and bring something for the party and if she can stay and help you clean up.
You will get a text message from a friend asking if she can come help clean your house on Saturday.
You will get a phone call from a friend asking if she can make something to eat and then want to know if she can come help you clean on Friday night. When you tell her you have a date night planned with your husband (because darling husband is trying to get you out of your misery) she will say, well I'll come clean your upstairs while your gone. I'll vacuum, clean your bathroom and dust and you enjoy your date.
You will get a call from one friend who is heading to Costco and wants to know if you need anything. Then from another friend who is heading to Costco and Produce Junction and also wants to know if you need anything.
While chatting with a friend and sharing an idea for a gift basket give-a-way, this friend will offer to go out and buy everything you need to put it together and then show up at your house the next morning and actually make it for you.
You will get a call from a friend who offers to bring by some fall flowers and freshen up your front porch so when your guests arrive it's inviting.
All these friends, they are part of a body, it's called the body of Christ. God is not limited by my limitations. He loves and cares for me, and this is one of the many testimonies I could give as to how. These women are doing this out of love for us, not just us but our future child too. They support this adoption and care deeply for this little one already. They are also doing it out of a love for their Savior. They are precious in His sight, and precious in mine.
So if you attend Sunday night, please know I did nothing but sit around while some of the most amazing people I know did all the work for me.
I do not want to embrace the limitation that my knee has caused, but I do want to embrace the limitless God who is greater than my limitation.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Silpada Jewelry
Two weeks ago at our yard sale a woman who saw our add on CraigsList stopped by. She noticed in our add that our yard sale was to help support an adoption. Being an adoptive mother herself, she has a heart for adoption and wanted to offer a fundraising opportunity to us. She is a Silpada Jewelry consultant and wondered if I would be interested in hosting a Silpada in-home demonstration. She would do the show as a fundraiser and wants to give us her commission check towards our adoption. How could you say no to a generous offer like that? I shared with her how I am having a Ladies Night on September 30th and the whole evening was geared towards other in-home product consultants coming together to do the same thing. Unfortunately the date did not work for her. We exchanged numbers and in the end she decided to set-up a display of her jewelry at the Ladies Night event for people to see the jewelry and place orders anyway. She is also displaying a bunch of cash and carry items too. So our three-show event has now become a four-show event.
This gracioius woman has also offered that if anyone wanted to book a party from tomorrow night's open house, she would be willing to do their show as a fundraiser for us too. You still get the benefits of receiving free jewelry for the sales of your show and she will still pass on her commission money from that show towards our adoption. And if that isn't a kind enough offer, she has also given me three gift certificates to give out to the first three women who book a party. The gift certificate is to receive an additional $25.00 of jewelry from your show!!!
Marg Ford is a faith-filled woman who is beyond generous. Her heart for adoption and for her Savior is beautiful and inspiring and I'm so glad the Lord led her to our yard sale. If you would like to take a sneak peak at Silpada Jewelry before tomorrow night, or you can't come but would like to order something online, you can do so by clicking here: Silpada Jewelry, Marg Ford. Click on Jane Miller as the hostess and the proceeds from you order will help with our adoption.
This gracioius woman has also offered that if anyone wanted to book a party from tomorrow night's open house, she would be willing to do their show as a fundraiser for us too. You still get the benefits of receiving free jewelry for the sales of your show and she will still pass on her commission money from that show towards our adoption. And if that isn't a kind enough offer, she has also given me three gift certificates to give out to the first three women who book a party. The gift certificate is to receive an additional $25.00 of jewelry from your show!!!
Marg Ford is a faith-filled woman who is beyond generous. Her heart for adoption and for her Savior is beautiful and inspiring and I'm so glad the Lord led her to our yard sale. If you would like to take a sneak peak at Silpada Jewelry before tomorrow night, or you can't come but would like to order something online, you can do so by clicking here: Silpada Jewelry, Marg Ford. Click on Jane Miller as the hostess and the proceeds from you order will help with our adoption.
Monday, September 17, 2012
One "Sweet" Day
Today a dear friend drove me out to Harrisburg so that I could get our I797 (immigration approval) state sealed. It's about 2 hours away, but she sacrificed her time so that I would not have to drive with my sprained ankle, and she was great company too. Our daugthers had off from school today for Rosh Hashanah, so it was a girls day out. We stopped on the way to the capital and picked up Scott's Aunt to guide our way and add to the great company. It was a long drive for a 5 minute wait to get one document sealed.
Then we headed straight to the FedEx office so I could overnight it to our agency. It's funny that I have to send this document to Oregon so they can turn around and send it to Washington, DC, but that's how the process goes. I had quite the ordeal making the photocopies I needed while at FedEx. You would think I had never used a photocopier before. From making copies in the wrong direction, to almost making 43 copies when I only need 3, it was quite funny to watch me figure out the copy machine. When it was all said and done the shipping clerk, Nestor, says "Ma'am, you handed me this envelope and there's nothing in it, were you meaning to ship nothing?." Would you belive I left the photocopies on the counter and filled out the shipment form, but never put anything in the envelope. Thankfully this guy checked before sealing the package. Too funny.
After we left FedEx, Scott's aunt took us to a place called The Sandwich Man for lunch. This place had tons of character, the guy at the counter was a hoot to talk with, and the food was delicious. No one could finish what they ordered because the portions were huge.
After lunch we took Marilyn home and decided to make a quick stop at Hershey's Chocolate World. You can't have a day off from school, be so close to chocolate and not stop, right? We did the free tour ride and while walking out we were stopped by an employee who asked us a few questions about our age and the girls ages, whether or not we had food allergies and then offered us to take a survey that required trying chocolate samples. HELLO, you don't have to ask twice. Free chocolate, where do I sign. So they took us into a room where we each sat in individual cubicles. We were given a pack of crackers and a cup of water to cleanse our pallets. Then we were each give an unidentified, packaged piece of chocolate with a number on it. On the desktop in our cubby was an Ipad. The Ipad had a series of questions to answer as you sampled the piece of candy. When you were done, you were asked to eat more cracker, drink more water, and that's right sample more chocolate. I think the girls said it best "That was AWESOME!" Needless to say it made a long drive on their day off from school much more worth the trip and it made for quite the memory too. It was a "sweet" day!
If you think of it our biggest prayer request now is to be DTC. That stands for Dossier to Ch*na. Now that everything on the US side for this adoption has been complete it's time to get the ball rolling in Ch*na.
PS - I just want to note that while I was off having a sweet time in Hershey another great friend picked my boys up from school, took care of them and fed them dinner until I returned. I'm so blessed!
 |
| Michaela and Reilly |
Then we headed straight to the FedEx office so I could overnight it to our agency. It's funny that I have to send this document to Oregon so they can turn around and send it to Washington, DC, but that's how the process goes. I had quite the ordeal making the photocopies I needed while at FedEx. You would think I had never used a photocopier before. From making copies in the wrong direction, to almost making 43 copies when I only need 3, it was quite funny to watch me figure out the copy machine. When it was all said and done the shipping clerk, Nestor, says "Ma'am, you handed me this envelope and there's nothing in it, were you meaning to ship nothing?." Would you belive I left the photocopies on the counter and filled out the shipment form, but never put anything in the envelope. Thankfully this guy checked before sealing the package. Too funny.
After we left FedEx, Scott's aunt took us to a place called The Sandwich Man for lunch. This place had tons of character, the guy at the counter was a hoot to talk with, and the food was delicious. No one could finish what they ordered because the portions were huge.
After lunch we took Marilyn home and decided to make a quick stop at Hershey's Chocolate World. You can't have a day off from school, be so close to chocolate and not stop, right? We did the free tour ride and while walking out we were stopped by an employee who asked us a few questions about our age and the girls ages, whether or not we had food allergies and then offered us to take a survey that required trying chocolate samples. HELLO, you don't have to ask twice. Free chocolate, where do I sign. So they took us into a room where we each sat in individual cubicles. We were given a pack of crackers and a cup of water to cleanse our pallets. Then we were each give an unidentified, packaged piece of chocolate with a number on it. On the desktop in our cubby was an Ipad. The Ipad had a series of questions to answer as you sampled the piece of candy. When you were done, you were asked to eat more cracker, drink more water, and that's right sample more chocolate. I think the girls said it best "That was AWESOME!" Needless to say it made a long drive on their day off from school much more worth the trip and it made for quite the memory too. It was a "sweet" day!
If you think of it our biggest prayer request now is to be DTC. That stands for Dossier to Ch*na. Now that everything on the US side for this adoption has been complete it's time to get the ball rolling in Ch*na.
PS - I just want to note that while I was off having a sweet time in Hershey another great friend picked my boys up from school, took care of them and fed them dinner until I returned. I'm so blessed!
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Yard Sale With A Twist
A twisted ankle that is...
I will apologize first because I want to account for every detail of the last 24 hours so that I don't forget. Which means I will bore you readers with the details, for which I am sorry. But as you read I think you will understand.
Yesterday afternoon we were busy getting ready for our big yard sale. I was full of energy and really excited to see how we would do. As time was flying by I knew I needed to pick up the pace because we had a Youth/Parent meeting at 7:00pm. I needed to finish up what I was doing and get dinner ready. I was upstairs sorting through clothes and ran downstairs to fetch something. Just as I was 3/4 of the way down my foot twisted, I missed the step and went tumbling to the bottom. As I landed, my daughter came running to see what happened and if I was OK (in her words she heard a "yelp" and a "thud"). I immediately started praying. All I could think about was that my ankle could not be broken because I needed to have this yard sale. Our son ran and got Scott, who was cutting the grass, and when he came to help me up I had started getting really lightheaded, I was sweating and felt really nauseous. Scott got me up and into a chair and we put ice on it and propped it on the ottoman. I sat for about 30 minutes and the pain seemed to be settling down. I got up to walk around and the pain was back, but worse. Scott thought it best that we go to the ER and get it x-rayed. I was to concerned about our yard sale and said I would not go to the hospital until he finished cutting the grass. I knew if we went it would be dark before we got back and I wasn't going to have high grass for a yard sale. (yeah, I'm stubborn like that). So he made me promise I would not get back up and walk around, to which I begrudgingly agreed, and he went and finished the grass. I made a few phone calls to begin lining up childcare, a ride for our daughter to get to Youth Group, and remained seated just as promised.
I want to insert here that I have some of the greatest friends and church family on earth. I had childcare lined up for my boys, a ride for our daughter and dinner for all three (not made by me) in less than 30 minutes.
Scott finished the grass, he loaded the kids up, I hobbled to the van and off we went to deliver our kids and then to the ER. We got to the ER and it was crowded. Thankfully they put me through the fast track. A nurse called my name to head for x-rays. She said she would be right back with a wheelchair, to which I replied "That's OK I can walk." About half way down the hall, as I struggled to keep up with her she graciously offered again, me: "No thanks I'm hobbling just fine." Somehow in my warped thinking I found it to be more embarassing to be wheeled around then to hobble on what could potentionally be a broken foot. (I know, I don't really get it either...now) As we entered X-ray, she pointed out to the technician that she offered me a wheelchair, but I "insisted" on walking. (yes, again I can be stubborn like that). One and half ours later I was being ace bandaged, offered crutches, and praising the Lord because it was just a sprain.
We got home around 10:00 pm. I attempted to do a few more things for the yard sale, but was in too much pain so I went to bed. As the night went on, the pain increased and I kept getting repeated leg cramps. Try walking off a leg cramp with a sprained ankle, ouch! Needless to say I got very little sleep. The alarm went off at 5:00am, time to set up. At 6:30am one friend showed up to help knowing what had occurred the day before. Then again at 7:00 am another friend drops into help. Did I mention I have the best friends ever!!!
As things were getting set-up the dreaded early-birds began arriving. I made $37.00 before our yard sale even officially began. We had a steady crowd of friends and strangers stop by all day. The weather was absolutely beautiful and in the quiet of my heart I could not stop praising God all day. As my girlfriend put it, get behind me Satan, you cannot have this day or this yard sale or this adoption. So with a sprained ankle the yard sale continued as planned. The Lord blessed our day abundantly. I was praying continually that we would raise $500.00 and we raised $614.71!!! In our weakness He is strong. He gets all the glory. That stubborn pride that was so evident in the past 24 hours, well I'm humbled (for now).
I know I need to reflect on this a ton more, but right now my brain is fried, I'm exhausted and my foot is throbbing. But I knew I needed to write, because when I look back I don't want to forget one last detail. So thanks for letting me bore you.
One last thing, I have to drive to Harrisburg on Monday to get some adoption paperwork sealed at the Capitol. Tonight a friend graciously offered to drive me there and back because of spraining my right foot. Have I mentioned that I have the best friends ever!!!
I will apologize first because I want to account for every detail of the last 24 hours so that I don't forget. Which means I will bore you readers with the details, for which I am sorry. But as you read I think you will understand.
Yesterday afternoon we were busy getting ready for our big yard sale. I was full of energy and really excited to see how we would do. As time was flying by I knew I needed to pick up the pace because we had a Youth/Parent meeting at 7:00pm. I needed to finish up what I was doing and get dinner ready. I was upstairs sorting through clothes and ran downstairs to fetch something. Just as I was 3/4 of the way down my foot twisted, I missed the step and went tumbling to the bottom. As I landed, my daughter came running to see what happened and if I was OK (in her words she heard a "yelp" and a "thud"). I immediately started praying. All I could think about was that my ankle could not be broken because I needed to have this yard sale. Our son ran and got Scott, who was cutting the grass, and when he came to help me up I had started getting really lightheaded, I was sweating and felt really nauseous. Scott got me up and into a chair and we put ice on it and propped it on the ottoman. I sat for about 30 minutes and the pain seemed to be settling down. I got up to walk around and the pain was back, but worse. Scott thought it best that we go to the ER and get it x-rayed. I was to concerned about our yard sale and said I would not go to the hospital until he finished cutting the grass. I knew if we went it would be dark before we got back and I wasn't going to have high grass for a yard sale. (yeah, I'm stubborn like that). So he made me promise I would not get back up and walk around, to which I begrudgingly agreed, and he went and finished the grass. I made a few phone calls to begin lining up childcare, a ride for our daughter to get to Youth Group, and remained seated just as promised.
I want to insert here that I have some of the greatest friends and church family on earth. I had childcare lined up for my boys, a ride for our daughter and dinner for all three (not made by me) in less than 30 minutes.
Scott finished the grass, he loaded the kids up, I hobbled to the van and off we went to deliver our kids and then to the ER. We got to the ER and it was crowded. Thankfully they put me through the fast track. A nurse called my name to head for x-rays. She said she would be right back with a wheelchair, to which I replied "That's OK I can walk." About half way down the hall, as I struggled to keep up with her she graciously offered again, me: "No thanks I'm hobbling just fine." Somehow in my warped thinking I found it to be more embarassing to be wheeled around then to hobble on what could potentionally be a broken foot. (I know, I don't really get it either...now) As we entered X-ray, she pointed out to the technician that she offered me a wheelchair, but I "insisted" on walking. (yes, again I can be stubborn like that). One and half ours later I was being ace bandaged, offered crutches, and praising the Lord because it was just a sprain.
We got home around 10:00 pm. I attempted to do a few more things for the yard sale, but was in too much pain so I went to bed. As the night went on, the pain increased and I kept getting repeated leg cramps. Try walking off a leg cramp with a sprained ankle, ouch! Needless to say I got very little sleep. The alarm went off at 5:00am, time to set up. At 6:30am one friend showed up to help knowing what had occurred the day before. Then again at 7:00 am another friend drops into help. Did I mention I have the best friends ever!!!
As things were getting set-up the dreaded early-birds began arriving. I made $37.00 before our yard sale even officially began. We had a steady crowd of friends and strangers stop by all day. The weather was absolutely beautiful and in the quiet of my heart I could not stop praising God all day. As my girlfriend put it, get behind me Satan, you cannot have this day or this yard sale or this adoption. So with a sprained ankle the yard sale continued as planned. The Lord blessed our day abundantly. I was praying continually that we would raise $500.00 and we raised $614.71!!! In our weakness He is strong. He gets all the glory. That stubborn pride that was so evident in the past 24 hours, well I'm humbled (for now).
I know I need to reflect on this a ton more, but right now my brain is fried, I'm exhausted and my foot is throbbing. But I knew I needed to write, because when I look back I don't want to forget one last detail. So thanks for letting me bore you.
One last thing, I have to drive to Harrisburg on Monday to get some adoption paperwork sealed at the Capitol. Tonight a friend graciously offered to drive me there and back because of spraining my right foot. Have I mentioned that I have the best friends ever!!!
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Our Immigration Approval Is In My Hand
September 13, 2012
It's finally here!
In today's mail came a very important document called our I-797, Immigration approval. An I800A is an application for determination of suitability to adopt a child from a convention country, which is what we filed to get this. It comes from the department of homeland security.
As stated on the letter, it says:
"You have been approved to adopt one child from the following Convention country: China." It says a lot more than that, but that's the important part.
I had Scott read it twice then with tear-filled eyes grabbed it and read it for myself. I got the joy of sharing it with a group of ladies later and put my hand over my stomach and said "I'm officially pregnant." Now don't be offended by that, I know it's different, but then again it's not. I carry this child around every hour of every day, only I carry them in my heart. To get that goverment approval that is needed without any hang-ups was a weight off our shoulders and a huge answer to prayer. It's kinda like getting over morning sickness, again I know it's different, yet the same.
So what's next? Scott and I will take this document and get it notarized, then I will drive to Harrisburg to have it state certified. After that it will go to Washington, DC for a process called "authentication." Authentication is a process which foreign governments require to verify that a document is "authentic". The State Department in DC will examine the state letter and seal and then add their own letter and seal verifying that everything is correct and authentic. The letter then goes to the foreign Embassy to verify that the U.S. Department of Authentications handled the document. At this time the foreign government will add their own seal and stamp of approval to this letter. At this point the letter is considered totally "authenticated" and can then be presented to the foreign government. When all of that happens we will then send our dossier to China, and a whole new process of being accepted will begin in our journey. One country down, one country to go.
Part of this process was petitioning our government for their approval to move forward so our child could become ours. Ultimately though that approval does not compare to the approval we receive from God when He makes us His through Jesus.
"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV
It's finally here!
In today's mail came a very important document called our I-797, Immigration approval. An I800A is an application for determination of suitability to adopt a child from a convention country, which is what we filed to get this. It comes from the department of homeland security.
As stated on the letter, it says:
"You have been approved to adopt one child from the following Convention country: China." It says a lot more than that, but that's the important part.
I had Scott read it twice then with tear-filled eyes grabbed it and read it for myself. I got the joy of sharing it with a group of ladies later and put my hand over my stomach and said "I'm officially pregnant." Now don't be offended by that, I know it's different, but then again it's not. I carry this child around every hour of every day, only I carry them in my heart. To get that goverment approval that is needed without any hang-ups was a weight off our shoulders and a huge answer to prayer. It's kinda like getting over morning sickness, again I know it's different, yet the same.
So what's next? Scott and I will take this document and get it notarized, then I will drive to Harrisburg to have it state certified. After that it will go to Washington, DC for a process called "authentication." Authentication is a process which foreign governments require to verify that a document is "authentic". The State Department in DC will examine the state letter and seal and then add their own letter and seal verifying that everything is correct and authentic. The letter then goes to the foreign Embassy to verify that the U.S. Department of Authentications handled the document. At this time the foreign government will add their own seal and stamp of approval to this letter. At this point the letter is considered totally "authenticated" and can then be presented to the foreign government. When all of that happens we will then send our dossier to China, and a whole new process of being accepted will begin in our journey. One country down, one country to go.
Part of this process was petitioning our government for their approval to move forward so our child could become ours. Ultimately though that approval does not compare to the approval we receive from God when He makes us His through Jesus.
"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV
Monday, September 10, 2012
Ladies Night With A Cause
Ladies Night Out Fundraiser
Sunday, September 30th 5:00 - 8:00pm
Where: Our House
I'm so excited to announce a new fundraising event.
Elizabeth Saunders, Heather Hoover, Jen Fretz and Marg Ford are very gracious women who are coming together to create a Ladie's Night Out filled with shopping, eating and fun. All three are home-based consultants who have joined together to offer you three great products.
Early Christmas shopping, teacher gifts, your mom or mother-in-law...there's something for everyone.
Please share this invitation with your family and friends.
Live out of state? Can't attend? Don't worry you can shop online, just click on the links below.
All proceeds from this event will be donated to our adoption!
Here's what you can look forward to:
Sunday, September 30th 5:00 - 8:00pm
Where: Our House
I'm so excited to announce a new fundraising event.
Elizabeth Saunders, Heather Hoover, Jen Fretz and Marg Ford are very gracious women who are coming together to create a Ladie's Night Out filled with shopping, eating and fun. All three are home-based consultants who have joined together to offer you three great products.
Early Christmas shopping, teacher gifts, your mom or mother-in-law...there's something for everyone.
Please share this invitation with your family and friends.
Live out of state? Can't attend? Don't worry you can shop online, just click on the links below.
All proceeds from this event will be donated to our adoption!
Here's what you can look forward to:
 |
| These are very fun, stylish and practical products to help you organize your life and look good while you're doing it! To view and order products online you can go to: Thirty-One, Elizabeth Saunders To View the October Specials, click here: Thirty-One Specials |
 |
| Having a bad hair day? Need a quick up-do because you're running late? Have a little girl who likes fancy hair? Then check out this excting company for all your hair-do needs. |
To view and order products online click: LillaRose, Heather Hoover
 |
| Cooking made easy. |
To view and order products click: Pampered Chef, Jen Fretz
Remember to put Jane Miller as the host name.
Please spread the word. Invite all your friends to come to the Open House or to shop online!
The more who know the better the show.
Silpada Jewelry
To view and order products click: Silpada Jewelry, Marg Ford
Remember to put Jane Miller as the host name.
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