The Firehouse Journal

China

As most of you probably know, there was a major earthquake in China today.  The epicenter was in Sichuan province which is only 200 or so miles from where we stayed in China when we went to pick up Catherine.  It's sounds pretty devastating and it breaks my heart to hear about the death toll, the schools that have collapsed, and the towns that have been demolished.  I sit here and wonder about the orphanages and if they are okay.  I haven't seen an update on Half the Sky yet but I am sure they will have one soon.  I am also wondering if there are any adoptive parents over there in that area right now.  Please keep this situation and the Chinese people in  your thoughts and prayers.

There has been a couple of interesting articles that have come out in the last couple of weeks about adoptions from China declining.  This article from the Macleans magazine out of Canada as an especially in depth piece on the subject.   I took the article with a little grain of salt because of one particular person that they interviewed on the subject.  That person's opinion has been hotly debated on message boards but it's still a good read regardless.

This article also was printed today in the Houston Chronicle:  Experts: Global adoption agencies in U.S. collapsing .  It makes me wonder what will happen to some of the smaller agencies or China only agencies.

I am finally getting the chance to start uploading our China pictures to our flickr site.  It will probably take me a few days but I hope to have them up by the end of the week.  I'm starting off by getting our Hong Kong photos up and will be working my way into the China ones.  We also finally got our 'gotcha day' video uploaded to YouTube.  I have to warn you that I look pretty darn yucky because we traveled over 6 hours to get to the orphanage.  We also spent some time outside in the rain before we got to go inside and get our kiddos.  So, I look pretty beat but I thought I would share it with you anyway.

Mother's Day

I wasn't really sure if John and I were ever going to have children.  I was pretty content with running Firefighter Ministries, traveling, hanging out with family and friends, doing things that we wanted to do.  I actually felt pretty complete and content with our family being just John and I.  Then, three years ago on Mother's Day the seed was planted in my heart to adopt a child at a church service that featured an adoption agency.  They were asking for families to host children from Russia for six weeks during the summer.  These were children who needed families and getting them to America was a way for potential families to get to know the children that needed homes.  It hit me like a ton of bricks that this was something we needed to do.

John and I immediately talked to the agency and decided that we would host a child from Russia.  We were so excited about the possibility and started doing all of the paperwork necessary to start the process.  One month later there was a falling out with the agency and that the children were probably not going to be coming to America.  We immediately started looking for another agency that had a similar program.  When we contacted our agency, a social worker talked to us about the China program and all the wonderful aspects of adopting a child from China.  At first it was a tough decision because our hearts were so geared up for hosting a child from Russia but the more we thought about it and prayed about it the more we realized that a child from China would actually be a perfect fit for our family, especially because of half of my family being from China.

In late June, early July of 2005 we started the process to adopt Catherine.   It was a bumpy road getting the dossier in order and sent off to China but we managed to finally get logged in on December 27 of 2005.  The official wait began.  At that time, I figured that on Mother's Day 2006 we would still be waiting for Catherine's arrival. It was hard but I was full of hope.  When Mother's Day 2007 came around I was full of grief and anger about the process and how long it was taking.  I don't even think I went to church on that day because I didn't want to see all of the other mothers being celebrated while I still sat with an empty lap and no baby in my arms.  It felt like a day of loss for me instead of a day of happiness.  Now it's Mother's Day 2008, and in church Catherine sat in John's arms as I fed her goldfish and a sippy cup to keep her quiet during the service.  I had a mix of emotions because I am finally so happy to have our precious daughter on Mother's Day and yet I feel burdened and sad for those who's laps are still empty.  I think about Catherine's birth/first mother and the emotions she must be going through.  I think about all of my friends (and even the people I don't know) who are still waiting for their little ones to be placed into their mother's arms.  I think about my friends who have lost children and have a hole in their heart from that loss.  And I think about friends who may never have the chance to mother because of circumstances that have been thrown their way. 

Mother's Day isn't always full of happiness for everyone and I am glad my pastor acknowledged that today in his service.  Instead of honoring women who had living, breathing children he honored every woman that was there by giving them a rose.  He talked about how every woman has mothered in some way and in the church we try to fulfill the role as a spiritual mother to others.  He honored motherhood in such a reverent and beautiful way that I felt made everyone feel included, especially those that hurt on this day.  I clearly remember hurting on Mother's Day last year and I think I will always carry with me a little bit of that emotion because I know what it cost to get Catherine in my arms.   After this journey to Catherine, Mother's Day will always have a special meaning to me.

I would like to wish all of those mother's out there, no matter where you are at in your journey of motherhood, peace, comfort, and love.

On behalf of John and I, I would like to wish a Happy Mother's Day to our mothers, step-mothers, and those that act as our surrogate mothers.  We thank you for raising us well and for being the best mother you could be.

 

I Need a PR Firm

Apparently the PR Firm, Edelman, for Teleflorist (the company that is promoting the Today Show's Favorite Mom contest) is making the rounds today on all the non-mom blog posts.  They are even leaving comments.  They hit my site today but I guess I wasn't special enough for them to leave a comment here.  Oh well.  At least they are trying to clean up the mess they made with that asinine category: non-mom.   I'm glad I have now been classified as the adoptive mother that I am.   They are trying right?  Hmmmmmm....

You know, when I mess up, I wish I had a PR firm to help me out!  Wouldn't that be nice to have some other person go around and apologize for you? 

Funny Websites

I found this new website called Stuff Christians Like.  It's a satirical, tongue-in-cheek look at the 'culture' of Christianity, mostly the Evangelical sect.  If you have a sense of humor then you will get a kick out of this blog.  So much of what he writes rings true and that can be sad in a way.  Most of what he writes is pretty darn funny and makes me nod in agreement.  His writing is so good that there was an article written about it in the Houston Chronicle.

Let me know what you think!  Do you like what he has written?
Also, Do you have any blog suggestions?  I am looking for some new blog reading material! 

Pool Girl

We used some of Catherine's birthday money to buy her a blow up pool for the backyard.  She loves the water so much and playing in water helps with development, so we thought getting her a pool would be a win, win situation.  After her afternoon nap, I put her in her cute little bathing suit (oh my gosh that was fun times trying to get it on her) and we headed out back for some splishing and a splashing. 

Since it wasn't quite the same as a bathtub, she kind of hung out on the side for a bit but after a few minutes she was crawling around, splashing and kicking.  She also loved to feel and pinch the side of the pool.  Catherine is very much into textures and new surfaces (as long as they aren't slimy textures going into her mouth) and loves to feel them out.  She spent some time petting the side of the pool.

Chief kept trying to steal her tug boat toy for some odd reason, so Catherine and I had to keep a close eye on it!  Over all I think the pool was a hit.  John is going to build her a sandbox next and I am pretty sure she is going to love that as well.

**For some reason I am having problems uploading to YouTube, so I will get the video up tomorrow of Chief stealing Catherine's toy.**

Who Knew??? I'm A Non-Mom!!

NBC's Today Show is doing a series on America's Favorite Mom.  Viewers will have a chance to choose who their favorite mother is out of several different categories of mothers: military mom,working mom, single mom, non-mom mom, & the COE mom.  So what the heck is a non-mom mom?  According to them it's step mothers, grandmothers, or adoptive moms.  I guess apparently I am a non-mom to Catherine.  I feel like letting some bad words fly out of my mouth right now but I will try and stay calm and just say that this angers me to no end!

What is NBC thinking when they call adoptive moms non-moms?  Even calling step moms and grandmothers raising children non-moms.  I think it's utterly ridiculous and completely disrespectful.  Do I make less sacrifices for my child because I adopted her?  Am I less of a mother because I adopted Catherine?  Actually, what they are telling me through this non mom category is that I am really not a mother, just a care taker...kind of like a zoo keeper.  They could have come up with a much better title for this group than non mom.   Thanks NBC for telling me that I am not really a mother.

On Sunday, I guess I will be celebrating Non-Mothers Day.  I wonder if they have a section in Hallmark for us...kind of like the section they have for birthmoms and mothers who have had children die???  Oh wait, they don't have that section!

*****Update***** NBC must have gotten an earful after this blunder spread around the internet like wildfire.  It was discussed on message boards, other blogs, and yahoo groups and most people said they were going to be contacting NBC.  They heard our voices because a short time ago they renamed the non-mom mom category to the adoptive mom category.  While I applaud them for making the change, I have to wonder why we need to categorize mothers (or anyone for that matter)?  Why can't we just be moms that come from all different walks of life?  Our jobs are pretty much the same.  We care for our kids whether they were born in our bodies or born in our hearts or whether we have them here in our arms or here in our hearts.  We are moms...period. *************** 

Thanks Rhonda for the heads up!

Special Fish

Just for you brought to you by Childrens Hospital in Houston

I Totally Get It Now

When friends of mine who had babies would get excited about their child finally learning to clap their hands or say a new word, I would say 'Yay.  That's great'  with a little bit of enthusiasm.  Now that we have Catherine, when she learned to clap her hands, I was so excited and yelled 'YAY!!! THAT'S GREAT!!!!'  I now totally get the enthusiasm that parents have for even the smallest developments of their children.  Soooo, when Catherine finally took a bottle disguised as a sippy cup, I was super excited and had to capture it on film.  Now granted we are having to work on getting her to hold the sippy cup for a length of time greater than 2 seconds and not at an incline but hey, she is holding it herself.  She quickly threw the sippy cup in this picture about .5 seconds after I snapped it.  The dogs were excited for a moment because they thought they scored a huge piece of food but to their dismay it was a huge piece of plastic.

There were a few puffs of smoke coming up from our house today.  Catherine didn't have a great day today, therefore I was stressing out a bit.  Luckily we are seeing the doctor tomorrow so we can assess whether or not she is feeling bad or was just in a not so happy mood.  I expect Friday to be a not so great day either because she is getting a couple of vaccinations tomorrow and a blood draw.  Poor baby!!!

American Citizen

Today we received the paperwork from the government stating that Catherine is officially a citizen of the United States!  I was so proud to see that certificate!  I was however a little miffed that the mailman folded it in half to shove it in our mailbox! Luckily it's not creased.  We also received a letter from the President welcoming her into this country.  It's so awesome and such a relief to finally see this last piece of paperwork. 

By the way, John is totally proud that he picked out Catherine's outfit for the day.  I was pretty impressed and proud too because she looked really cute and fashionable and she also matched.  I must have taught him well!  Either that or he has spent way too many hours watching What Not To Wear with me.

John goes back to work tomorrow for one more half day and then Friday he is back to his 24 hour shifts.  Wow, time flies!  I can't believe it's time for him to go off paternity leave.  We managed to do pretty well his last day on, somehow I think we will be fine this time around too!  Again...if you see smoke....you know what to do.

Happy 1st Birthday!

Catherine is a Cinco De Mayo baby and so today was her very first birthday!  We got her decked out in a cute Spanish style outfit and put some daisy's in her hair so that we could get some cute birthday shots.  I can't believe how much she has grown just in the last 7 weeks since we got her. 

We got lots of phone calls today wishing her a happy birthday.  This is a picture of her listening to my parents sing to her.   I don't think she knew what to think because this was a singing toy that actually said her name instead of the alphabet.

We opened some presents that Mom & Dad got for her (a music set and a book) as well as a bunch of really great children's books from Aunt Erin.  Auntie Lisa & Uncle Ken bought her a play laptop computer and a book, which we opened yesterday and she just got a total kick out of. 

My friend Rebecca and her Mom baked her a Texas sized cupcake for her first birthday cake and brought it over in time for lunch.  It was the cutest cake ever!  We stripped Catherine down to her diaper so she could get as messy as she wanted but we first had to pose with the sombrero & shaker in honor of Cinco De Mayo.

Big huge cupcake coming your way!!!

She wasn't too sure about it at first.  I don't think she liked the texture of the icing but once she got a few tastes and we stopped looking at her and taking her picture, she actually started to eat some of it.  She didn't smash into it like we thought she would though but she did manage to smear some in her hair.

Here's me trying to demonstrate to Catherine how to eat the cupcake.

Nope, I will just do it my way!

I'm all done!  She is learning some basic sign language and she seems to have the 'all done' sign down pat.

Hey, it's my BFF Rory aka Lettuce.

We really want to honor Catherine's birth/first parents every year on her birthday.  We don't know their story but we know that they must be incredibly burdened with emotion on this day, as were we.  It's important for us to teach Catherine how much we respect them and honor them and think about them.  We decided that every year, until she decides otherwise, we would release a balloon with a short message to her birth parents written on that balloon.  This would symbolize our desire to keep their spirits alive in our hearts and our minds and that we think of them often.

Happy birthday dear Catherine!  Don't grow up too fast!