Teaching About Adoption

I think I taught my favorite lesson EVER this week--I got to teach my kids about adoption. Even though I've been in the adoption process for this whole school year, I decided not to tell the kids about it until we were farther along. But once we got Molly's referral picture, I knew it wouldn't be long before they figured out something was up with all of the other teachers coming into my room to see her picture. So I decided to tell them about Molly and about adoption. I started off by explaining to them that there are children in the world that don't have Mommies and Daddies. Then I told them that one of the countries where there are children with no Mommies and Daddies is Vietnam and I showed them Vietnam on the globe. Then I showed them the book When You Were Born in Vietnam and we looked at the pictures of Vietnam and the pictures of children in the orphanages. Then I told them that Mr. Hines and I were very sad that there were children without Mommies and Daddies and we wanted to go and get one of these children and bring her to live with us so that she would have a home and a mom and a dad. I showed them Molly's picture and they were SO excited. I wasn't sure how much they would understand, but they were really interested and asked some really good questions. They were also really sweet about it--one of my little girls said "Mrs. Hines, when you tell me this it makes me feel like I want to cry." It's been amazing how they've been talking about and writing about adoption in their writing time. Everyday at least one child asks me when I'm going to go get Molly and of course I have to tell them we don't know yet. What an honor to get to plant this seed into the minds of these precious children. :-)

Adoption Is Greater Than The Universe

Hospitality House

When Zeke was in the NICU, Brian and I stayed at a place near the hospital called the Hospitality House. The Hospitality House is a place where people who are caring for loved ones in the hospital can have a place to stay. It's free to stay there and they provide a room, meals, a place to do your laundry, etc. Zeke was in the NICU for a month and for awhile we drove back and forth (over an hour one way) everyday to be with him. It got draining and it was SO hard to be an hour away from him at night. Finding out about the Hospitality House was SUCH a blessing. It was so nice to have somewhere close-by to stay and a place to go if we just needed a break at any point away from the hospital. The Hospitality House runs off of donations and volunteers so our Life Group decided to collect some items to take to the house. Several of the other Life Groups at our church contributed as well so Tara and I drove down-town this week to drop the items off. In the last couple of years, they have built a new, BEAUTIFUL house. We got to take a little tour which was SO special to me. We happened to get there at dinner time and it was so awesome to see the people sitting around the table eating and talking--everyone with a different story but brought together through a common hard situation--just as we had done a couple of years ago. It was such a special experience and I'm so grateful for the hearts of the those behind the scenes at the Hospitality House. To find out more about the Hospitality House and how YOU can help, here's a link:

www.hospitalityhouseofcharlotte.org

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my 26th birthday. As Tara put it, I'm now in my "late twenties"--hmmm.....not sure what I think about that! 30 will be here before I know it! Well, my birthday today was SO fun! Mrs. Austin had all of the kids make me birthday cards which they were SO excited about. Then my mom brought in cupcakes and balloons--of course the kids loved that too--and what a surprise to get to see Mom in the middle of the day! Then my friend Jo let took our kids to lunch so that Mrs. Austin and I could have duty-free lunch--a HUGE treat (am I right, teachers?!) Then tonight we went out to dinner at Chili's. Thanks guys for making my birthday so fun--I'm truly blessed. :-)

Our Princess

A big thank you to the Baldwins who got some new pictures of Molly for us today! I just cannot tell you how special these pictures are to us.

Children are a gift from the Lord;
they are a reward from him.
--Psalm 127:3

Celebrating Babies!

This weekend we got to hang out with our good friends, Nicole and Michael. It has been so fun walking through life with Nicole and Michael--we were all friends in college, taught Sunday school together, were in each others weddings, and now we're having babies together. Nicole is due in July and just found out that it's a BOY! We're expecting to meet Cooper (named after the Cooper River) this summer and can't wait for he and Molly to be good friends. We had dinner this weekend and then even got to go out and do a little baby shopping! I think the deal of the night was the lamp shade I bought for Molly's room at K-mart for $2.00! What a deal! They couldn't find a price on any of them so they gave it to me for 2 bucks--can't beat that!
I really put a lot of effort towards Molly's room in October, but since then I've kind of dropped the ball. Part of that was just being busy, but a lot of it was guarding my heart since things have been so up in the air with Vietnam. But now there is the very real possibility of us bringing home that little princess in the next couple of months and we need to get moving again! This weekend Brian put together her dresser (yes, I asked him to show it off like Vanna which he did reluctantly)--and I even helped! I wanted Molly to know that her Mama played a role in putting it together. (I mostly handed Brian the tools, but he did let me hammer a little after I begged!) Her room is looking so super cute! Now all we need is a little girl in there!

Picture Perfect

I was SO excited to get a call at work today from my friend Dana saying that our agency had posted some new pictures of the children at Molly's orphanage and Molly was in the group of pictures! She has grown so much since December! Isn't she just beautiful?!? How about those lips?! Okay.....you know a mom has to brag a little. :-)

We can't wait until we have her in our arms!