August 16, 2012 By 20 Comments

The Airport

How do you accurately describe or truly capture the moment when your family is finally united?  We started the process to Amon in August of 2010.  We made our way through paperwork and our homestudy and our dossier and were placed on the wait list in November 2010.  And there we stayed for the next almost 18 months before we saw his sweet face.  This process was crazy difficult.  The wait was long and life was happening all around us.  Life changed dramatically while in the wait with the passing of my Mom.  Life got hard…still is so very hard without her.  I knew our homecoming was going to be so emotional and wonderful and sad all wrapped into one…I knew I wanted someone at that airport specifically to document this moment…the moment when all 6 of us Kelleys were finally together.

I was elated when Cheyenne of Shots by Cheyenne said she would be there!!!  Cheyenne is this crazy talented lady who is beyond sweet as well.  Cheyenne and her partner Laci of Barefoot Photography captured this incredibly priceless moment beyond well…they conquered it…and fiercely.  And for that, I am forever grateful.  Thank you so much Cheyenne and Laci.  You are both completely stellar.  Show them some love as well.  Head over and “like” their pages.  You will truly not be disappointed.  They are so very good at what they do!

And that is exactly how you capture the moment when your family is finally united.

Happy Thursday!

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August 13, 2012 By 17 Comments

To Ethiopia & Back

Last Friday morning we received embassy clearance for Amon’s case so we immediately started booking flights.  Turns out Ashley and I hit the airways Tuesday, landed in Ethiopia late Wednesday night, had our embassy appointment Thursday, flew out of Ethiopia Friday and landed in Nashville, Tn on Saturday evening.  How’s that for the fastest trip to Ethiopia ever.

Here is our last family “waiting for you” picture on Tuesday before I headed off to the airport.

The US Embassy was so accommodating considering Amon’s health and got us in and out in no time at all.  God was truly working and moving all around us.  Our time in Ethiopia was very short, but so very rich.  I was so glad Ashley was there to experience it all with me.

And being with Amon again was like gold.  Pure, expensive, exquisite gold.  He has this place in my heart that is just so huge.  And he is brave and strong and beautiful.  This kid owns me.

He did great on the flight home…had a few little tense moments, but Ashley and I handled them just fine.  We were definitely a bit stressed, but we made it 🙂

Officially in the US.

And our homecoming, well our homecoming was grand.  Once our plane landed it was if this burden had been lifted.  We still have quite the road to travel, but getting him home was half the battle.  I cannot wait to share our airport pictures.  They are truly incredible.

So we have been soaking sweet Amon in.  Breathing his scent in deep.  Rubbing his head often.  Kissing his cheeks always.  Cuddling him extra close and just relishing in the fact that God planned our family a long, long time ago.  I just could never accurately describe how thankful I am for my beautifully, knit together family.  And I am still in awe, that Amon is sitting right here with me as I type.  God is just too too crazy good and deserves all the praise.

Happy Monday!

 

Filed Under: adoption, faith, family Tagged With: , , , , 17 Comments
August 3, 2012 By 21 Comments

Expedited & Book Cookies

Well I had this little post about some cookies I decorated with some of our favorite book characters…kind of lame, but it was a Friday post and I do like cookies 🙂  Then I woke up in the middle of the night…3:30amish…couldn’t go back to sleep…felt like God was spurring my heart, so I got up and went to check email.  And there it sat.  An email all the way from Addis with a subject line that read: Cleared Case.

(The sleeping grin at its best.)

And that is what I would like to call “expedited.”  Amon’s case was submitted for embassy last Wednesday, but we got word that it was officially submitted, like it finally got in the right hands on Monday.  5 days…that is definitely what I want to praise God for.  Expedited indeed.  I’m just floored and why should I be?  God is so so good.  So we get our embassy appointment confirmed Monday and I’m flying out next week.  I can’t believe it’s finally here.  I’m actually leaving and coming back with my son.  I’m buying plane tickets and actually getting on a plane.

I laid in bed and just thought about how I would love to pick up the phone and wake my Mom up to tell her the news.  I called way too late to chat, way too many time.  I liked her sleepy voice…her startled voice, “Laura, what, is everything okay, what’s wrong?  Oh, you just need to know how to boil water?  Okay.” 🙂  I always had ridiculous cooking questions for her.  She would have been Over.The.Moon…to say the least.  Everyday is a battle over the sadness…every single day.  Grief still hangs around, at least for me, for a long time.  So today is seriously one of the best Friday’s ever…one of the best days ever…and also a really hard one.  She would have been so smitten with Amon and it overwhelms my heart thinking about all the prayers she prayed for our sweet boy…even though she never had the honor of seeing his face.  But she was that type of woman…that type of mother…that type of Grammy.  A woman I most definitely want to be like.  So here’s to a crazy awesome Mom and a son who has rocked our world in the best way ever.  This is a Friday to remember.

{Post intended for today.}

Since I was making cookies yesterday and had some leftover dough, I decided to make a few with some of our favorite book characters.  We are crazy book people.  I, myself, do not read a ton…I wish I did.  I’m working on it.  Kids books on the other hand…The wee Kelleys, they are a whole new ball game.  We read every single day and lots of books.  We have way too many favorites, but some that are always in heavy rotation are as follows:

Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems.  Every pigeon book actually.  Every Mo Willems’ book actually…they are all amazing.

Olivia by Ian Falconer.  Again…all Olivia books are off the hook.

A Color Of His Own by Leo Lionni.  Again…Leo Lionni…incredible.  Pictures are crazy good.

Not A Box by Antoinette Portis.  Way cute.

And Where Is The Green Sheep? by Mem Fox.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Mem Fox.

So I picked some of my favorite pictures from the book and set to work.  These will probably not see the end of the day.  They will be all eaten.  The wee Kelleys cannot wait to help devour them.  It’s probably going to be a good day.

What are some of your kids most favorite books?  There are great ones out there.

Have a great weekend.  Happy Friday!

Filed Under: adoption, craft, family Tagged With: , , 21 Comments
June 27, 2012 By 16 Comments

Home.

We arrived back in the US this evening.  Bags are unpacked and dirty laundry is already in the wash.  Harper, Hudson and Solomon are all asleep in their own beds.  We are back in our house…together…but not complete.

Ethiopia was just as beautiful as we remembered and the people just as amazing as we remembered.  Our son, well he was stunning in every aspect.

As we sat in the Charlotte airport today, gate C16, I thought about how this was our last flight home.  We had been on 7 different airplanes and were about to board our 8th and yet, it didn’t feel like we were really going home.  My home is Josh and Harper and Huddy and Sol and now, our newest itty bitty member.  So home will really be home, when he has finally joined us…when we are all together…our new beginning.

So many things are still up in the air and honestly, I feel like we just rounded third base and headed straight for home plate, but we haven’t scored just yet.  We are so close…we are so close to diving head first into home plate and kicking up some dust…just so so close.

Since we started this journey almost 2 years ago, the one thing we knew for certain was that I would be staying in Ethiopia after court and through embassy.  Up until actually purchasing the tickets this was the decision.  I had done my homework and research and I knew what to expect and what to pack and I was ready…like really, really ready…and then some new things came to surface and advice was given to us and we began to second guess our decision that had so firmly been decided…written in stone.  I had done some major planning in Sharpie and then it seemed to completely unravel and all the work and research and effort and planning began to be erased.  And we decided we needed to take the counsel given from the wise…the people who had ALL the information and so we did.  One of the hardest things I have ever done was to book my ticket home from Ethiopia…even harder than that was actually getting on that plane with Josh and Harper today…maybe yesterday at this point…and actually leaving our boy.  I’ve thought all day about how to actually describe it and really, I don’t know if I could ever accurately depict what I felt today…I’m sure some of you can relate.  And since holding our son in my arms…I can call him our son now…I began to doubt our change in decision.  Isn’t that just like life…you think you have it all figured out…then something throws you for a loop…you reconfigure…and then just like that, you feel like you have to reconfigure it all again…again.  It’s almost too much for the brain.

Three nights ago, I woke in the middle of the night and just prayed.  I prayed more than I’ve prayed in a long time…like out loud…not written on paper, but out loud fervent prayers.  Prayers for our son and prayers for friends and for family, but yes, mostly for our new little guy.  And I told God I was handing this whole mess over to Him…He could have it because there was just no way I could carry it.  I try to do things on my own a lot, but when I held our tiny baby boy, I new instantly that this would be a whole new heartache I had never experienced before.  Leaving him was way too big for me to handle…way too emotional…much, much too heavy.

So today as we flew across the ocean…miles and miles and miles away from our boy…I cried a lot on the plane and in terminals and waiting in security lines.  But I reminded myself I had handed this over to God.  It was His now.

The night before we left Ethiopia Harper wanted me to read to her before we went to sleep.  One of the books she brought with her was this odd little book called The Lord Is My Shepard…Selected Psalms of Encouragement.  I have no clue where she even got the book.  It’s quite lengthy, so I told her to pick one page and we would read the page and then go to sleep.  She chose Psalm 62:

5-6 God, the one and only—
      I’ll wait as long as he says.
   Everything I hope for comes from him,
      so why not?
   He’s solid rock under my feet,
      breathing room for my soul,
   An impregnable castle:
      I’m set for life.

 7-8 My help and glory are in God
      —granite-strength and safe-harbor-God—
   So trust him absolutely, people;
      lay your lives on the line for him.
      God is a safe place to be.

I said I handed it over and I did.  I know this home stretch of waiting…this sprint down the third base line, will be wildly difficult…will take our breath away, but I have given this time…this last bit of wait…over to Him…to the One who is good and strong and is the rock under our feet.  I have nothing left, but to trust that He is going to take us all the way home and unite our small little family, finally, together as one.

So many more things to share and so many pictures to post.  We passed court…we are officially a family of 6…4 wee Kelleys…and God is just too good and I’m already ready to get back on those planes and see our itty bitty boy again.

Filed Under: adoption, faith, family Tagged With: , , 16 Comments
June 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Waiting On Court

Well here we are…one month in on our new waiting game for our court date.  I feel like God is really working on my patience…goodness knows, I need it!  Today everyone slept late.  Harper slept until 9am.  I told her I was really going to love her as a teenager…the girl likes her sleep.  So we got a late start on our morning pool time and all the while I just couldn’t get itty bitty boy off my mind.

We were driving over to Josh’s parents pool and Blessed Be Your Name by the Newsboys came on the radio.  Flashback city hit.  Almost 3 years ago to the day we were in the exact same position…in June we were waiting to hear about Solomon’s court date and I was driving Harper and Huddy over to swim at Josh’s parents house and this same song came on the radio.  I remember just sobbing over the song and I told Harper and Huddy…a wee 2-year-old and barely 9-month-old, how we needed to always praise God…good or bad…no matter what.  As we rode in the car I told the wee Kelleys the story all over again.  It was very surreal and gave my heart a bit of hope.  God cares about those small moments of hope.  I dig that.

(I still haven’t changed the clock in the van…hence it really being 9:51…and I may need to clean the van too.)

Then we got our swim on.  I’ve decided swimming is pure joy to the wee Kelleys.  They just swim their little hearts out.  They always do a little people watching too.  I’m afraid I am raising nosey kids 🙂

Harper is now a full fledged swimmer.  She jumps in the deep end and swims all the way back to the shallow in.  All she needed was a bit of confidence and to see my friend’s 3-year-old on Facebook swimming 🙂  She was super proud of herself.  And Sol isn’t far behind.

And Huddy…well, he’s just Huddy.  He’s brave and courageous and cautious all wrapped into one.  He’s just a bit more concerned with pulling himself up on the side…I love his upper body strength…and staying warm.

He talked Sol into chilling with him for a bit.  Sol is a good sport when it comes to showing his brother some love.

Sol may just in fact be a swimmer when he gets older.  Can you see it?  I can.  Be still my ever loving heart…this kid kills me.

Then they all did a bit of sun bathing before we headed home for some lunch.  I know just about every mother feels this way, but they just make my day.  I cannot for the life of me understand why God allowed me to be their Mom.  I am so honored.  Some days I feel like I am dropping the parenting ball all over the place…making huge mistakes…and then I just take a good long look at the 3 of them and I think to myself, “We’re going to make it.  We’re going to be okay.”  And I believe we are.

After lunch, to keep my mind busy and off hoping and praying the phone rings soon with our court news, we made up some Bunny’s Cake to share.  This may in fact be the best chocolate cake ever.  It’s my Aunt Peggy’s recipe, which she got from a sweet lady named Bunny years and years ago.  It is now known as Bunny’s Cake in our Hall family cookbook.

Go ahead and make some up today and thank me later.  Oh and it totally needs to be shared…it’s just too good not to share.

Happy Tuesday!

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May 22, 2012 By 3 Comments

Pretty Random

I have lots of completely, unrelated things to write today.  So let’s get started…in no particular order…

*Our paperwork was found and arrived safely in Seattle, WA yesterday.  That was pretty exciting.  How about virtual high-5s all around?  Up high!

*Our nephew Coop had his graduation from 5th grade last night.  He was looking pretty cool while his entire class rocked out.

*One thing I really like about my kids…they can sit through an entire 5th grade graduation.  Sol cheered for just about every single kid and called them all Coop and relaxed in the bleachers.  Huddy buttoned and unbuttoned and rebuttoned Nene’s shirt 🙂

*Any morning that begins with licking the leftover cheesecake batter is top notch in my book.  And for reals, this is the best cheesecake ever.

 *I love when our mornings are filled with good, fun, fightless play.  Legos for the boys…

and painting for Harper.

*And then the fights began & some tears rolled 🙂

*I like that Harper enjoys painting.  I like that she thinks about exactly what she wants to create.  I like the way God designed her 🙂

*The Oscar Mayer wiener mobile has been showing up randomly on our street over the past 2 weeks.  I personally, hope it stays.

*I like Harper’s quilt…crazy binding, imperfections and all.  I hope it’s a treasure when she gets older.

*For lunch we tried out these Pizza Puffs.  So yummy!  Everyone devoured them and I made a dozen mini ones and a dozen regular muffin sized ones as well.  I doubled the recipe.

Picture Source

*Nothing ends lunch quite like some cheesecake taste testing.  I got lots of smiles and thumbs ups.

And that’s about it.  Hoping to work on some art pieces tonight.  Praying big prayers for our week…hoping we get word about court this week…that would rock.  Now, I have 3 wee Kelleys who are all waiting to hear some books before nap.

Happy Tuesday!

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April 16, 2012 By 9 Comments

17 & Counting

It has just been one of those days.  You know the days.  The world seems a bit too big and I can feel my anxiety creeping in and getting comfortable.  Just one of those days.

Yesterday we had officially been waiting 17 months for our sweet boy.  Today is suppose to be a giveaway day, but alas, there the 15th paper sits and my brain is just not thinking and my hands just aren’t creating.  So the giveaway will be sometime this week…hopefully tomorrow, but I’m cutting myself some slack today.

The wee Kelleys are all down for naps/quiet times and I am enjoying this.  It’s so wrong and yet, so right 🙂

My best friend Ashley made an unexpected trip to Tennessee.  She is a sight for my sore eyes.  She is so lovely!

Josh was driving back in from out of town last night and Ashley was keeping the kids and I company.  We ate Mexican for dinner.   5 orders of beans and rice may not be quite right.

As I walked out of Harper’s room for quiet time today, I noticed one of her mini-Barbie dolls was saluting.  I think she was saluting me.  Maybe she was saying, “Kudos Laura.  You made it to nap time.” 🙂

And now I’m off to either

A) take a nap

OR

B) Create our 17 months giveaway canvas.

I’m thinking my inspiration should be, “My grace is sufficient for you…” 2Cor. 12:9

Here’s to a better Monday!

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April 6, 2012 By 5 Comments

The Ugly Cry

I hated not posting yesterday, especially with all the sweet comments and emails about the new PPA web design.  You guys are really too sweet and I’m so glad you are enjoying the new site as much as I am.  Thank you and thanks again to Randy.

I was running around like a crazy person in preparation for the Noonday and Matilda Jane trunk show last night and I had zero time to post, but everything got done & the party was super fun.

Brea and Renee were amazingly wonderful.  I have never met 2 more socially sweet people.  They just talked and inquired about everyone.  Thank you both, Brea and Renee, for being fabulous…we appreciate your kindness & love.

The biggest shock of the night was that I only took one little, lonely picture.  This is soooo not me.  I didn’t even realize it until the night was over…bummed.

Really thrilled and grateful for the funds raised…Good time with friends that raises money is perfectly awesome in my book.

My friend Ashley brought Harper a birthday gift last night and it was LOVE at first site…with Harper & me.  How incredibly fun is a giant bucket of colorful linking beads…so fun!

My favorite creation so far…colorful goodness.

I hung Harper’s painting up from her art party.  I really, really wanted to hang it going up our stairs, but Harper really, really, really wanted it hanging in her room.  I can understand that, so in her room it was.

The boys are always in superhero mode.  This morning Huddy was fighting battle.  I think he needs a tool belt or at least something that will hold all his crime fighting gear.  Who knew a superhero needs a wood flute 🙂

And lastly, Harper drew this picture this morning.  Then she went bounding outside to play with Josh and the boys.  So what did I do…I sat at our desk and did the big, ugly cry.  You know the one.  It’s so ugly and it’s semi loud and there was some snot involved and I was most definitely making a horrible face.  Please tell me that you too know this cry?  I may know it a little too well 🙂

But oh how sweet the picture is.  A treasure.  A keeper for sure.

Little brother,

I too love you.

And we are waiting…waiting like mad for you.

And I also really, super love love you.

Love, Mom.

Have a great Easter weekend.  Happy Friday!

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