Pain!

I'm just feeling very burdened right now.  I have some people in my life that are in the deepest, darkest place they have ever been.  The best/worst part of having close friends is feeling their pain when they are LOW!!!  I have been on my knees praying for my friends and knowing there is nothing else I can do is hard.  Women want to "fix" things and sometimes there are things you just can't "fix".  It stinks.  Please check the Amazima button on the side of my blog, then go to the section that says blog once you get to Amazima.  Katie is a remarkable woman who deals with indescribable pain all the time in Africa.  I wish there was more I could physically do for those around me.  I know I need to trust God that He can do a better job than me anyway :)

Sept. update

It's the 22nd day of September and nothing has been mailed out from China yet to let agencies know what referrals were matched this month.  It looks like September will be a big, fat goose egg!!  I guess we'll have to wait for October to see what families will be matched with their children.  Bummer!!  The CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs) is here in the States meeting with agencies so that's probably why they haven't done referrals this month...there probably isn't anyone in the office in China.  The CCAA is meeting with agencies to go over things face-to-face.  I've "heard" that they want to receive post-placement reports until the child is 14 years old.  Of course, that would be at the cost of the adoptive family.  I'm totally fine with that, especially after hearing about the recent treatment of two adopted children here in TN.  One being put on a plane and sent back to Russia, the other beaten to death by her parent.  I think there should be more face-to-face meetings with the social worker and families once the child is home.  I'm sure it's hard for a social worker to determine a sleep-deprived parent who is doing well with their child, and a sleep-deprived parent who seriously needs some intervention, over a telephone interview.  The social workers have so much on their plate already that I know asking them to do personal visits until the child is 14 is nearly impossible.  So many people think that the adoption is "over" once the child is home, but in reality it's a long and difficult road for some children.  I hope these families will be willing to seek good, Christian counseling.  I know we will be so excited when we travel to China and bring our daughter home, but sometimes I have to make myself think of it from her point of view.  I try to imagine M2 who is 18 months old being picked up by a stranger and taken 1/2 way around the world to a culture she doesn't know, a language she doesn't understand, and faces she doesn't recognize.  How traumatic it must be for the child who has already been abandoned and institutionalized for most of their life.  I pray for love and patience for our family as we first come home with her because I know it won't be easy. 

Kitchen Drama!

Well, our kitchen is a disaster area right now.  Our refrigerator is at least 20 years old...I bought this house from my best friend's dad who left this refrigerator for us.  I ate "many a" pizza pocket out of this refrigerator when I was at least a Sophomore in high school so we knew it didn't have many miles left on it.  Anyway, we knew we were going to put tile in the kitchen once the refrig. died.  A few months ago we realized that the kitchen floor was starting to "bubble" and realized the refrigerator had been slowly leaking for awhile.  Then the garbage compactor stopped working, then the dishwasher stopped working, the light under the microwave burned out, etc.... We used industrial fans for 3 days to dry the sub floor...it sounded like a jet plane was landing in the house :)   Long story short-we had to rip the entire kitchen floor up.  It was layers of linoleum that had to be scraped off in little pieces...ughhh!  Then the refrigerator stopped working all together so everything had to be thrown away.  We have been living without a refrig. for a week now and it's not fun!!!  We have to finish the floor before we go get another so hopefully this weekend will be the END of the construction.  I think I've learned my lesson about letting repairs go for a few weeks!  We also ripped the carpet and wallpaper out of the sun room, re-painted and laid tile.  Also during this, M1 got sick and was out of  school for a few days.  They say, "when it rains, it pours".  Well, it's pouring at the Perry house right now.   The blessing is that we at least have a house that needs repairs and the money to pay for all of them. 

I'm still here...

I just realized today that it's been a month since my last post.  I really wish I had exciting, thought-provoking things happen on a regular basis so I could blog about them, but that's not my reality.  I'm back to work, which I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE and really enjoy teaching on Tue. and Thur. with my little one in my class.  I just wasn't ready for her to go away for two days a week.  The 5 years home with my girls goes by too fast...I don't want to lose any time with them.  I am so fortunate to be able to stay home and I don't want to waste that gift.  I was ready to be out of the house (other adult conversation) so I thought teaching at Parent's Day Out would be a good mix of the two as long as M2 could be in my class.  It's worked perfectly so far.  Of course, guess who is the only child in the class who doesn't nap??? Yep, my own child.  Why are they such stinkers for their parents?  It does give me a good excuse to sit in the rocking chair and rock her for awhile.  It's a nice quiet time for the two of us...for about 10 minutes until someone else starts crying and I have to jump up to pat someone back to sleep before they wake everyone else up :)  9 toddlers, that's my reality right now.  I couldn't ask to be in a better place :)