Honesty

Evey parent loves when they get that adorable craft from their child.  You know the one that just melts your heart and make you think, "I feel really special" or "yes, this is worth it" or "I am doing something right".
We all want to see or hear how special our children think we are or how much they love us or how thankful they are for us or God or family, etc...!  It is one of the most rewarding things to hear!  
Well, I got that special craft home from one of my boys today.
Here is what Owen proudly handed me when he got off the school bus......

Owen is thankful for TOYS~

The title of this project is the MOST thankful thing....soooo

Owen is most thankful for TOYS!

I think all you moms out there will agree we me that

"mommies have got to have some thick skin"

Show Hope!

How can you show hope to the fatherless, to the "least of these"?
James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world

http://www.showhope.org/OrphanCare/MariasBigHouseofHope/WatchVideo.aspx

Sneak Peak

Here is a sneak peak of our Christmas card picture.  We are starting earlier this year because as you can tell, and to put it lightly, it is a PAINFUL experience to get a good shot of everyone!
I think it gets worse every year, and I am usually NOT in the Christmas spirit when we are done!

The kid on the far left looked at the camera in 1 out of 7....yep that would be Owen!
The cute little 2 yr old in the middle actually did ok except I forgot to take off his socks!  Oh Well!  Get over it people!
The oldest in the middle, started off with a bang, a nice big fake smile followed by his losing interest with each picture snapped.
The little girl on the end was so excited to finally be wearing that Christmas dress hanging in her closet, that she was by far the easiest to capture a good one of.

Please don't worry, I took more than 7 pictures, (55 to be exact) and I managed to get 2 decent ones to pick from to put on our Christmas Card   

Hoopin' It Up

My boys will be playing basketball for the first time this winter.  They will be on the same team, so we are excited, because that means 1 practice and 1 game.  I can handle that.  Fall was rough with baseball for Wills, tennis for Owen, and soccer for Kate.  I am happy to focus on one sport and guess who their coach is?
ME

I grew up playing basketball.  I started playing in 1st grade, so anyone who knew me growing up knows that this is what I did.  I have wonderful memories of my years playing, and I am really excited to be my boys first coach, and guess what....they are actually excited about it too!

I have 9 little boys on my team and we start tomorrow, so I will give you an update on how I foresee the Timberwolves season looking :)

Shake Your Booty!

I won't lie, it is very hard for me to spend 3 days at home.  We were on day 3, which fell on Veteran's Day. 
What's a mom to do?  We are at the end of the flu.  It actually has not been that bad.  Lots of Motrin, Fluids and those wonderful face masks (which I highly recommend)! 
There was no fever this morning and to be honest, if there is no fever we are outta da house!
Don't worry, we didn't spread germs all over McWane Center or the Jumpy Place or the local playground, but we did visit Vulcan.  If you are not from B'ham, (like me) Vulcan is this really huge statue that everyone in Birmingham just loves.  I always joked with my husband, who is from here, how proud Birmingham was of this statue.  Well, this was my first visit and it was actually pretty darn cool.
We pull up about 10:00 and the kids see this huge cast iron statue and immediately start laughing about his big iron booty.  I parked and let the kids get all their laughter and bathroom humor out of the way.  My 2 year old was even singing, "Shake your booty".  The older boys were a bit more disgusting and Kate was in tears she was laughing so hard and so was mommy.  Ummm, anyway...we gained our composure and had a great time exploring and learning all about Vulcan. 
FYI....they have a scavenger hunt for kids and that was a big hit.
We ended with a picnic lunch, and as Owen pointed out, we were sitting right under Vulcan's bottom. 
Regardless, it was nice! I think I am now one of those Birmingham people that is pretty proud of our claim to fame....the biggest cast iron statue in the U.S.A.

 Some nice man offered to take our picture.  Pretty pitiful.   Not sure that we were ready, but he snapped it!

 I am a gal from Atlanta, so this is pretty small in comparison, but Oh, how I love this city!

 Scavenger Hunting

This one loved it.  Right up his alley! 

 VULCAN ROCKS!

A Letter From Wills

Happy Veteran's Day

Wills wrote this at school to his Pop.

If you cannot decode 1st grade phonetic writing, this is what it says.

Dear Veteran,

Pop, are you in the army?

If you are in the army great.

I love when you are in the army.

love,Wills

We Can Still Have Fun!

We might have the dreaded Flu, but we will survive.  I requested some handy face masks from the Doctor yesterday.    Owen has loved wearing his.  

He stayed home from school and stayed in bed pretty much all day, but was begging to get out and get some fresh air this afternoon.

Gray was loving it and I think there might be a smile under that mask too! 

notice Grays "pants on the ground"  That boy will not keep his clothes on!

We've Been Hit

Yes, it has arrived.  Early this year, I must say!  It was bound to happen.  We did everything we could do to prevent it, but what do ya do?  It did surprise us.  Kinda came out of nowhere. 
But it hit full on all at once.   Bam!

My first immediate thought when my Dr. breaks the news that my son has the flu ,(we were lucky enough to not get 1 strand, but both this time) is to think, "who's next?"
Of course I immediately start not feeling well right then and there, but that is surely just in my head right?
Since we moms, don't really have time to get the flu, much less a cold, I repeat over and over in my head that I feel perfectly fine, just feeling the way I normally feel at 4:30 every day....exhausted!
I took Owen to the Doctor just knowing he had bronchitis.  The flu didn't even cross my mind.  I already had him diagnosed before the  nurse came in.  I tend to think motherhood somehow equals a medical degree.  But then I hear those three little words every mom loves to hear...

It is VIRAL!!!

Ahhh, come on!  Can't it be strep or bronchitis or anything other than a viral infection that I literally can do nothing about except suffer through and treat the symptoms...  I WANT AN ANTIBIOTIC!!!!

Ok, I am not a drug advocate or anything.  I am just like any other mom who hates to see their babies sick and of course, not too crazy that I have to change my tomorrow around because now I will be at home watching Scooby Doo all day,  who am I kidding, all week!  I anxiously await the next victim, and pray it is not Matt because I just can't handle that!!

While at the Doctor, I casually told Kate that Owen had the flu bug and she was probably going to get it too eventually.  BIG MISTAKE.  Poor little thing started weeping uncontrollably that "she did not want to get bugs".  Not sure what picture she had going through her sweet head, but I assured her, she would not be getting bugs! 

Tonight I prayed with Kate, and we asked God to protect her and the rest of our family from that nasty "bug".

100 Good Wishes

This is another way you can help us with fundraising for our adoption. 
Did you know the average cost of an adoption from China  is 26,000.00?
Please help us by making a big or small donation and sending a prayer or wish for our little girl!


http://www.onehundredgoodwishes.com/GoodWishes.aspx?u=72936662-2e13-46f8-9a1a-c709d2797b04

On Mondays...

I pick my battles!

Yes, it is November!

Yes, this is a Christmas dress already!

Hot Now

The time change had my kids awake at 5:45.
I was well rested because I actually fell asleep last night at 9:00 (8:00 with the time change).  Oh the glamorous life of a stay at home mom,
Well, we had about 3 1/2 hours to kill before we needed to get ready for church, so the kids and I  left Daddy asleep in his bed to go seek out some Krispy Kreme donuts!  
I put on my robe and slippers, strapped the crew in, and took my swagger wagon down the highway to seek out the HOT NOW sign!
We drove 20 minutes, no traffic, to get these glorious, amazing, fattening little balls of dough!  Oh my gosh, they are so good!
We bought 3 dozen!  Ok, we only ended up eating 1 dozen, but we gave 1 dozen to our neighbors, and I froze the last dozen for later.  Did you know that you can freeze these little suckers and pop them in the microwave (straight from the freezer) for about 20 seconds and they taste just like you bought them that day!?

So, because of the time change we,
1)  had a special treat of donuts for breakfast.
2)Have another dozen donuts for a morning down the road,
3) are 5 pounds heavier. 

It was worth it!

Daddy/Daughter Date Night

These are flowers that Dad brought home to surprise his favorite little girl...

 This is a picture before they left to go out for a dinner date at Chic-fil-a

(and of course my 2 yr old in, what else? his bathing suit! :) )

 This is a shot, minus the 2 yr old

 This is a very happy little girl when she arrived at the main event!

This is the only picture Daddy took of the show...

 Disney Princesses on Ice

Why China? Part 3

The average time frame to adopt a healthy baby from China is 3-5 years!
The average time frame to adopt a baby with Special Needs (SN) from China is 12-15 months.

Due to the long wait time for a healthy child, our family prayerfully decided to adopt a SN child.  Just so you know, most of these precious children have very minor correctable special needs.  There are many with more severe needs as well, but we know for our family, a minor correctable need is what we can handle.

Now that we have completed our home study and will be turning in more paperwork to immigration, it is time to look at the long, overwhelming special needs list and literally check (say yes or no) to the SN that we are willing to consider.
Scary huh?  To say it is an overwhelming experience it an understatement. 
What are we willing to accept in terms of our child's physical health?  Every parent prays and hopes for their baby to be healthy and "perfect".  Yet, can we love a child that might not be a picture of perfection on the outside?  Especially a child who is not made up of our genetic make-up?    Will we be able to cope with seeing her deal with her SN and possibly be rejected by this world and made fun of by other kids? 
I won't lie, fear envelopes me when I think of this!  I know the answer to all the above questions is "Yes".
But, there is still that unsettling feeling that God might bring us to a child who is dealing with something more than what we, let's say for lack of a better term, bargained for!

So, here is what I hold onto...“In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ…”
Ephesians 1:5

I am so thankful that God did not adopt me based on what I look like or the things I have or have not done.  God has adopted me as His daughter because he loves me regardless of if I have both legs, of if I have a hole in my heart, if I have a birthmark that covers my face, if I have a missing finger or toe, a cleft lip or palate, cross eyes, or whatever aliment or imperfection I have.  God loves me because He made me, in His image and He loves me so much that He sent His son to die for me!  Because I know Jesus, I am saved.  Because God has adopted me, I am one of His. 
I look the same on the outside, regardless of if I am a believer, but I am changed on the inside.
Our little girl will have this SN regardless of if we adopt her.  She will live with it in an institution, an orphanage,  unless someone says, "yes".  It is what God has given her. 
If we say "no", then who will say "yes"? 
I am so thankful God said Yes to me!

I would love your prayers for peace and clarity as we research the SN on the list, as well as make decisions on what our family can handle.  We know God has our little one in His hands and we don't want for us or things of this world to get in the way.

Want a New T-shirt?

Are you someone who wants to change the world?
Are you someone who wants to make a difference?

November is Adoption Awareness Month

and we would love your help to raise Awareness for Adoption as well as help us bring our little girl home!

Remember:

It only takes ONE caring individual to make a life-long difference for an orphan!

Please click on the link below to see the really cool t-shirt you can purchase.  with your purchase you will be doing 3 things:

1.  Raising Awareness of the importance of adoption

2.  Help in fundraising for our family.  We get 100% of profits from your purchase!!  That is HUGE!

3.  You get a cool t-shirt or Your kids get a cool shirt, or your whole family gets cool shirts--take a look.  they really are nice looking and sends an important message.

So....what are you waiting for? You will find the shirts on the right hand side of the blog below.  they are $20 plus S&H. 

Please put Matt and Mallory Carrington in the memo line when you order.
Go to this link...

http://ordinaryheroblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/its-adoption-awareness-month-let-us.html

Thank you for your support!  please pass along to your friends, family, etc...

Here is a quick look at a few of the shirts....

Innocence Lost

Halloween is gone and I am so happy to move onto Thanksgiving and Christmas!  Such a fun time of year!!
I won't bore you too much with our Halloween.  We trick or treated for an hour or so and we were done.
I will share with you a sad story of my poor little 2 year old, whom I was so excited to dress up as a cute little cowboy. Complete with hat, chaps, vest, bandanna, a painted on mustache, and a wooden horse on a stick.  He was going to look so cute, and for weeks he has told EVERYONE he was
"going to be a cowboy"
Unfortunately, this did not come to pass.  He refused to wear the get-up.  I fought him hard on this one.  I mean, aren't 2 year olds not suppose to care what they wear?  Don't parents get to pick out the obnoxious costumes? 
Well, here is what he insisted on wearing

It is Obi-Wan, but most people thought it was Fidel.
One eye was smashed shut the whole time, but he refused to take off the mask.
He paired the mask with a spiderman costume and there you have it...cute as a button!  Ha!

The other 3 had a ball.  We went trick or treating with our neighbors.
The trick or treating was kicked up a notch this year.  I have never seen my kids run like that.  They were on a mission and it was a success.....a sugar success!

On the bright side....at least none of my kids are wearing the Scream Mask.  :)

The LD

I wanted to give you the LD (low down) on what we have been doing this week in between my FP (fingerprints) that are MIA at the FBI/ABI or the CSI, or the SBCN, or AL DHR.

Do you follow me?

Just so you know this is normal in adoption language.  Everything is an acronym and I am trying to find some sort of humor in the CS (I made that one up...crazy situation) of where my FP's are!

Lately, Owen never wants to wear a shirt, and Gray and Kate (yes, that would be my daughter) have jumped on the bandwagon too.  Owen actually almost went to school yesterday without his shirt on.

He was getting on his backpack and wasn't wearing a shirt.  I wish I could say he was joking.   

I took Kate and Gray on a new trail I found.  We probably only walked 500 yards in 1 hour, but they loved throwing rocks into the creek and finding walking sticks. 

Halloween in on the horizon, and my kids are pumped.  Kate got to wear her costume to school.

This is her new pose when she takes pictures.  She told me that this is how a Princess smiles.

Gray got to wear his PJ's to Mother's Day Out and apparently, he is practicing his princess smile too! 

Our plan for the weekend, is to do some pumpkin carving, a quick trip to Atlanta for my niece's birthday, and some trick or treating on Halloween. 

Happy Halloween to You!

Home Study Complete!

Today we finished our home study.  Thank you for your prayers.  It went wonderful.  The kids were so excited, (and I mean a little too excited--like jumping on the bed excited) to show Karla (our social worker) around the house.  I did spend part of the day cleaning, putting things away, mopping up dirt all over my kitchen floor, and basic tidying up the house.  I know she is not looking at how clean our house is, but I just couldn't help myself from getting it "presentable". 
We basically have a rough estimate of the time frame from now until we bring our little girl home.  We are looking at 9 months (if all goes smoothly)!  Wow....9 months!  So, I guess I have a pregnancy to look forward to, without the actual being pregnant.  I am now pregnant with paperwork, heart ache, uncertainty, waiting, longing, hoping, trusting, and love....did I mention waiting? 
9 months from now is August 2011.   We are praying that God will bring us to her in 8 months.  For our family, traveling in July would be easier.  August brings school schedules and all that goes with it.   Arranging people to care for my 4 kids would be easier in the Summer.  Between my mom and dad, and 4 sisters, and Matt's parents, I think we could pull it off a lot more smoothly.
But again, this is totally out of my hands...welcome to the world of Adoption.  There is nothing I can do to speed this up>   BUT as a believer, I do know that our God can make what seems impossible, possible.  A God that moves mountains, who tells the ocean where to stop, who orchestrates the seasons, and who made our baby girl all the way across the world, can do it!  We will lay our requests before Him and trust that He is in control, whatever the outcome might be.   
Prayer request #4...pray we travel in July!

My Three Sons

Second Day in a row to literally fall right on his face.

Scrape from yesterday on the right side.

Goose-egg from today in center.

 This is how old he thinks he is....

He is 2!

Poor little guy!  I feel like he falls every minute I turn around!

I am starting to question all that athleticism we have been bragging about!

It is actually quite humorous to see people's reactions when I am so calm when he falls. 

I've had good practice.

I have 3 boys.

We see lots of bruises, cuts, scrapes, accidents, etc....

Boys will be Boys and apparently, this little guy is one tough little boy.

This is what I fear for ME, him, in the future

I have yet to see a picture with a girl doing these things...not that she can't!

So, Do you see a big difference in your boy(s) and girl(s)?

I will check in later, I am off to color quietly with Kate.

O' where are my fingerprints?

This week we wrap up our home study!  Everyone who has been through this adoption process told me there was a lot of paperwork and let me just say, "They weren't lyin". 
I have never signed so many papers, gathered so much information, and read so many articles in my life!
I have worked as fast as I could, to turn everything in!  We have had 3 interviews with our social worker, and the last one this week will conclude the "study".
The only thing I am waiting on is my fingerprint clerance.  For some reason, mine is still processing!  Matt has been cleared, but apparantly my prints are pending!    Humpf!  I was so nervous getting the prints done, that my hands were so sweaty that I am hoping it didn't make my prints unreadable!  Matt was so calm and cool, and I was over there freaking out that we were actually doing this adoption thing.
So, I am praying that my prints will be cleared this week and we can move on to more fun things, like Immigration Application stuff.
Our Social Worker makes her home visit this week.  Remember, my kids do not know that we are adopting, so this could be tricky!  She is coming on Wednesday at 5:00!
Yes, all you moms out there can feel my pain...the witching hour!  5:00 p.m.., when  everyone is tired and cranky and the house is destroyed because everyone has been home from school for hours at this point!
So, yet another prayer request, that my kids will be "normal".  My expectations are pretty low.  I mean my kids are not perfect!  My house is not spotless.  I am just praying we have no tantrums and that Owen filters a little lot of what comes out of his mouth! 
So, if you think about it on Wednesday, around 5:00 p.m. when you are trying to cook dinner, and the kids are tired and whiny , and the house is a mess, and there is a full moon (I'm sure) and your husband is about to get home (so everyone goes crazy again)...say a prayer for me too!   

What a Week

This week was very busy for our family.  Matt was out of town all week, and we had a lot going on outside of school.  It felt like every day was packed with activities and appointments, both fun and tedious.

It was a week of survival for me.  I REALLY hate when Matt is gone and  4 days is way too long.  I can handle 2 nights, but anything after that is not ideal.   It is pretty much exhausting being a single mom (kudos and grace to all you single mommies out there) , and I literally feel like I fall into bed every night so worn out, but then I can't sleep well because I know I am home alone! 

Our family works much better when we are both at home.

On a good note, the weather was amazing this week.  Nice and brisk in the morning and then 80's in the afternoon.  Ahhhh....Fall in Alabama.  It is great. 

On Thursday Kate, Gray and I decided to have a picnic in the yard. 

I have always been a big fan of a picnic. 

I recently bought a small picnic table to keep in my drive-way and I have loved to let the kids eat out there. 

The best part is that there is never any clean up when we eat outside,

 and THAT right there is reason enough for me to eat outside as much as the weather allows.