Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the Moms and Moms-in-waiting.

May this special day be a blessed one. I know for me it is extra special with

all of my babies finally home, well almost all. :)

To my children's birth Moms: I cannot even imagine what a difficult day this must be for you. You will never know the depth of the joy that you have brought into our lives

by saying "Yes" and bringing these babies into the world. You are always in our thoughts and prayers. God bless you abundantly, always!

To my dear Mother-in-law: Wishing you a wonderful Mother's Day. You will always be very

special in my heart because you, too, have given me one the most wonderful gifts I have ever received, the gift of your son. You did an incredible job raising him to be a man of character and integrity who loves God, his family and is an amazing husband. I give you and Dad credit for that and thank our Lord for that blessing. I love you!

And last but definitely not least, to my very own special Mom:

Words could never express how much I love you. You are a beautiful, intelligent, strong, resilient woman. You have taught me to always stand up for what is right, to be passionate about the things I believe in and to never give up. It is because of you that I am the person I am today. Thank you!

I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART,

Munny

Some questions answered....

In response to some of your comments and questions. Here's what I've learned.

Someone wrote to me the following:

I work for NBC (in a department not affiliated with this program) and the phone calls and emails that have come pouring in have been close to 15,0000. I just wanted you to know that your voices as a community have definitely rattled the cage and caused changes in protocol to occur.

I also received this copy of a response from another person, which answers Kelly's question about whether or not anyone at Teleflora is a Mom.

Thank you for contacting Teleflora to share your thoughts about the
"Teleflora presents America's Favorite Mom" program.

In response to your concerns, Teleflora is immediately changing the
name of our "Non-Mom" category to "Adopting Moms." After closer
examination, we can see how this may have been offensive to moms who
have adopted children -- moms who are indeed real moms to their
children in every sense of the word. In fact, many of us at
Teleflora are "adopting" parents ourselves, including our president
and owner. The essence of this category still focuses on a
grandparent, neighbor, step mom, or mom to adopted or foster
children, each one raising and loving a child.

This show of insensitivity on our part was in no way intended and we
deeply apologize for any concern or distress we may have caused. It
was always our intent to salute and celebrate all moms.

In closing, all of us at Teleflora would like to offer our sincerest
best wishes to all the many women throughout the world who have
worked so hard and given so much to earn the name "Mom."

Sincerely,
The America's Favorite Mom Team

And in response to April's comment, "I don't understand why we can't just be in the same category as moms." I don't either. I'm not interested in watching the show (which will
air tomorrow night). I also don't understand how Marie Osmond, who is hosting the show and is an adoptive mother of 5 children herself, would represent something so ignorant. But then again, with so many hands in the pot, she may not even have known about the categories.

I'm off to something more productive and meaningful, spending time with my family. Have a great day everyone!

YEAH, BABY! WE ROCK!!!!!!

Thank you to everyone who wrote and called into NBC. The adoption community is definitely tight knit and we ROCK!

NBC has changed the name of the category to The Adopting Mom. You can click here to take a peek at it yourself.

In addition, the following comment was left under my initial posting about this issue:

Grace Chang said...
My name is Grace and I work with Edelman (www.Edelman.com), on behalf of Teleflora’s “America’s Favorite Mom” program. Thank you for sharing your thoughts about this issue. After closer examination, Teleflora recognized how this may have been offensive to moms who have adopted children… moms who are indeed real moms in every sense of the word. This show of insensitivity was in no way intended and Teleflora offers its deepest apology.

It was always Teleflora’s intent to salute and celebrate all moms. Please know that in response to the concerns expressed, Teleflora immediately changed the name of the “Non-Mom” category to “Adopting Moms,” which has already been posted at AmericasFavoriteMom.com.

On behalf of Teleflora, I would like to offer my sincerest best wishes to you on this Mother’s Day.

I AM my children's MOM!

Someone emailed me this and it just made my blood boil. Maybe I'm PMS'ing or being overly sensitive but when someone categorizes me as a "Non-Mom", I think I have every right to show my Mama Bear claws.
Just ask my sweeties if I'm their MOM or not!!!!!

Click HERE to view what the idiots at NBC have come up with now!

It's your chance to vote for your favorite mom. The categories are:

"Working Mom"
"Single Mom"
"COE" (Chairman of Everything)
and.....

"Non-mom Mom", which includes adoptive mothers! GRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!

I've already done this, but if you care to write to them and let them know your thoughts,

CLICK HERE! or call (212) 664-4249,

Thought Provoking Tag!

I was tagged by Holly at Purpose Driven Family. I thought this "tag" was different and I really enjoyed it. Thank, Holly!

I am: addicted to adoption blogs.

I think: God gives us miracles every single day, we just have to open our eyes to them!

I know: that Jesus Christ is my Savior and my redeemer.

I want: to hear my children say someday that I did a good job raising them.

I hate: seeing injustice, suffering children, oppression and poverty world-wide.

I miss: my oldest son being around daily and I miss my grandparents.

I fear: cockroaches! YIKES!!!!!!!!!!

I feel: blessed with everything I have and the possibility of yet another blessing on its way.

I hear: God’s whispers, but only when I am truly still and listening.

I smell: gardenias when I walk out my front door. Mmm….

I crave: going away alone with Scott.

I search: for God’s will in almost everything I do.

I regret: the times I’ve had the opportunity to reach out to others, but because of selfishness, I haven’t.

I love: my Lord and Savior, first and foremost, and then my family with an intense passion.

I ache: to hold and care for a child that has never been shown the love of a mother.

I care: for orphans worldwide.

I always: begin my morning thanking God for being in my life, for another day and asking Him to allow me to bring honor and glory to Him in everything that I do that day.

I am not: good at math!

I believe: that we WILL add another child to our family and I stand STRONG on that
promise.

I sing: with my kids all the time.

I cry: when I think about the conditions that Kai lived in before bringing him home.
(We are blessed that Anna Grace came from a very good orphanage and a foster family that showed her a lot of love.)

I fight: to resist Satan’s snares almost daily.

I win: when I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior.

I lose: every time I try to take situations into my own hands.

I never: want to imagine living life without my husband or my children.

I listen: to worship music and to my friends when they encourage me through scripture and wise words.

I can usually be found: changing diapers, at some doctor or therapist office, handing out snack/sippy cups, refereeing, reading stories, singing, or when I have quiet time, on the computer reading adoption blogs.

I am scared: of dying and leaving my babies for someone else to raise.

I need: to spend more time in the Word of God and in prayer. I also need to spend more
time with my Mom,

I am happy about: my life. It is full of blessings, including my new nephew, Seth, whom I adore!

I hope: that I can be Jesus’ hands and feet on earth and that my children learn from my actions to do the same.

I tag anyone who wishes to do this, just let me know so I could go to your blog and check it out!

Today's notes:

"Both Kai and Anna Grace had a great day!"

Thank you, Jesus! (added by Mama)

Heaven help me!

Anna Grace and Kai are the best of buddies and the worst of enemies. They have this passionate love/hate relationship where they could be bickering with each other for an hour, yet can't stand being away from each other. I knew that the two of them together in a classroom would be oodles of fun....NOT!

Yesterday afternoon I pick them up. Miss Krissie (their teacher) says, "Anna Grace and Kai had a really rough day today. I put a note in their bags explaining." I bent down and asked each of them if they had a bad day (which was evident even before I was told by the teacher because of the somber looks and hanging heads as they approached me). They both nodded. Kai quickly held up 4 little fingers and interjected with "FOUR TIMES!", as if it was a huge milestone he had reached.

I had them both apologize to Miss Krissie for their behavior and we scurried out the door of the school, got into the car, and I told them to buckle in, as I began opening up their backpacks to find the following notes.

"Kai did not have a good day today.

He was roaring like a tiger during circle time.
Soaked his head under the faucet while he was supposed to be washing his hands.
Layed down on the table during time out and...
wrestled Anna Grace to the ground for a purple crayon!"

I took a deep breath and opened Anna Grace's backpack and read her note.

"Anna Grace did not have a good day today.

She rolled around the carpet during morning announcements.
She washed her face and hair in the water fountain.
She swung her walking partner into a wall.
She was singing loudly during nap time."

The ever positive teacher ended both notes with "I'm sure Kai/Anna Grace will have a better day tomorrow."

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOTE: I think my email server may have changed their security because I have found a bunch of emails in my spam folder (which I rarely open). If yours is one of those, I'm truly sorry, because some are about 2 weeks old! I have moved them all to my inbox and will respond soon. I've already responded to some. Again, I'm sorry. Not sure why that happened.

Turning a marathon into a sprint!

God is good! I am humbled that he continues to use me as His vessel to reach out to others. I came home tonight after a huge celebration (I'll post about that later) with the kids to find 5 (!!!) emails from friends and a couple of strangers telling me that my last post was directed towards THEM! Please remember that I am only a tool. God is the orchestrator and with a thankful heart I give Him the glory and honor for anyone that is ever touched by any words I write.

Now, time to make some room for something I really want to vent/share about. Those of you that know me, know that I am a type A personality. I feel like I'm now a woman on a mission. And Scott? Well, I think he feels like smacking me! Heh! Right about now, you must be asking yourself, "What the hec is she babbling about now?"

Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to get the green light, first from God, and then from my husband, to bring home another little one and NOT be able to. UGH!!!!

Yeah, yeah. I know I wrote all about Daddy having a plan, about His timing being perfect (and I TRULY believe that with all my heart), but man, oh man! This is killing me. I now spend every free second (hence my reason for being so lame about returning emails....so sorry!!!) just gazing into the beautiful chocolate-colored eyes of African children. I think I've spoken to every adoption agency working in every country in Africa in the past month. I've even begun to ponder boy names that start with the letter "A". Someone please shake me back into reality!

Our biggest (and only) obstacle continues to be finances. First the ones we need to clear, and then the ones we need to gather for another adoption. Do I feel God will provide? Absolutely! NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD! "But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible." - Matthew 19:26

But why is He taking so long? Where is it going to come from? How is He going to arrange this? I don't know, but I do know that I'm ready, Lord!! Scott's ready (although not nearly as anxious as I am)! There are a couple of things looking good for us right now, but they are not happening at warp speed.

Tonight after watching American Idol with Scott, I turned to him and said, "What about club feet?" He looked at me as if I had asked him if he could see well out of his third eye! He said, "Huh?" I said, "What about club feet? Are we going to request a healthy child or are we again going for special needs? And if we are adopting a special needs child, what do you think about club feet?" He burst out in laughter (which he knows pisses me off!!!) and said, "We're gonna pay off all our bills first." Men! (Yes, Aus...feel free to comment. I'd love to hear from probably my only male reader. :)

I then stomped off in my childish manner muttering under my breath that club feet is fine with me and that he could laugh all he wants but that I was going to find a way to pay off all our bills and that he should expect our social worker to jump out of his stocking at Christmas time waving a homestudy at him! I could still hear him laughing as I walked down the hall.

So, that's where I'm at tonight. Praying that God somehow make that miracle happen.
He's already done the hard part, convincing Scott. Coming up with money to pay off our last adoption debt, should be a breeze for Him! Please keep my overzealous enthusiasm in your prayers, while at the same time asking the Lord to, if at all possible, come up with something quick so that we can get started on bringing home another little guy before I lose my sanity!

A "pick-me-up" for myself

I feel like I don't really have much time to breathe, and again, I am behind on responding to emails....sorry. I promise I will.

I've been having a a few down days lately. So, I wanted to share another "sign" that God gave me a not long ago to "pick me up". This has helped me let it all go and put it back in His hands.

First, you have to flashback to a couple of weeks ago when I posted THIS VIDEO in which I titled it DADDY HAS A PLAN.

I'm not sure if you noticed that I didn't comment on it. Well, I have two reasons why there was no comment. First, is because I was pretty much speechless after seeing it (if you can believe that!) and secondly because it was yet another affirmation that indeed Daddy DOES have a plan, and I wasn't quite ready to share it with the world yet.

Here is an entry from that date that I included in my personal journal shortly after seeing this at 11:00 p.m. at night. I promise it's worth seeing the video, so after reading this, please take a minute and watch it if you haven't done so already.

April 22, 2008

WOW!!! Lord you are so awesome! I have to write about something I did today. I came across someone’s blog and saw an amazing short video about how there are many millions of orphans worldwide and how we could each do our part.

Well, I was so moved by it, that I sent it to everyone on my email list. Later tonight, I come to check my email and I have a response from my sister. Her response to the video was “Just awesome !!!! If I could always live my life knowing that HIS words are not just empty words but are PROMISES and stand on that, my life would be 100x better. Thanks for sharing and reminding me to BE STILL AND KNOW THAT HE IS GOD !!!!”

I thought, "that was a bit strange because the video really didn’t say anything about God’s promises and our trust", but I figured, it’s late, so…whatever.

Scott and Amanda happened to walk into the room when I closed the email and I immediately thought it would be good for them to see it. So, I reopen the email from my sister and click on the link I had sent her (and 50 other people). The short video opens up, but the girl starts speaking about a special needs child and nothing relating to what I had originally seen. I was so upset. I felt like a total idiot. I had sent EVERYONE the WRONG video clip. How could that happen? Where did this video come from?

I then quickly go back to Godtube and try and find the one I had seen on the blog, since I knew that Scott and Amanda were getting impatient. I found it and let them watch it. They thought it was moving, but nothing out of this world. I, too, didn’t feel as “moved” as I had when I thought I was sending it to everyone I knew.

In the meantime, I am thinking to myself that maybe I should email everyone back and say, “Sorry folks. I goofed. Here’s the REAL video clip I wanted you to watch.” But, I just figured I’d let it go and head to bed.

As I was ready to leave my desk, I was still bothered about that wrong video I sent. So, I decide to take a few minutes and watch it.

This is where our Lord comes in and knocks me back and says “TRUST ME! I HAVE A PLAN!” I sit in my chair tonight, tears streaming down my cheeks, thanking our Savior for His infinite wisdom. This was NO mistake. God wanted me to send that video out, not for everyone else to watch….but the message was for ME! He was telling me He has a plan. I need to be patient and wait and was again reminded that His plan and His timing is always perfect.

This message came at just the right time. He knew I desperately needed it. I’ve been praying daily about Liberia, about our financial situation (which needs to be addressed before any other adoption could even be considered) and about the dynamics of our family, who is now in a routine and doing so well and about the fact that Liberia’s adoptions are on hold right now. For the past two days, I’ve pondered these thoughts over and over. The more I thought about it, the less I felt like praying and the more depressed I got. I figured that the adoption thing was just a phase and that God was starting to remove that “feeling” from my heart. Even my Divine Mercy rosary that I do daily asking the Lord to reveal His plan and telling Him that I am His servant and open to do whatever His will may be, I haven’t done in 2 days.

Now I see it all so clearly. Those “pondered thoughts”. The lack of wanting to pray. That was all Satan filling my mind with lies. Making me doubt God’s promise (Yes, what the video was all about!). His faithfulness.

I’m upset at myself for falling into the trap, but I see it now for what it is. Satan doesn’t come in like gangbusters, he sneaks in subtlety, so that we can’t detect that it was him. Well, I serve a very mighty God who indeed does know my heart and does know that I just want to be obedient to His will. He intervened and showed me the truth. Thank you, Lord for watching over me and our family. We praise and honor you first and foremost, always.

Tomorrow I will go start back on the track of daily prayer and will continue to rebuke the adversary. I trust, Lord, that you will indeed continue to guide us and I know with every fiber of my being, the one you created and know everything about, that you DO have a plan for my life and it IS perfect. Your heart is so filled with love for your orphans that I continue to be affirmed that you are setting us on that path. So we wait.

Adoption is greater than the universe.

"All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son." - EPHESIANS 1:3-6

(PLEASE REMEMBER TO TURN OFF BACKGROUND MUSIC)