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Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Chaos Without Children

Our adoption adventure is turning into a roller coaster mainly due to unexpected conditions regarding our move to the "new" house. We got the keys Monday night after two trips to the house and a few phone calls. Once my husband went in today he discovered problems with the electrical system and missing plumbing. Turns out the house was vandalized some time in January and we just found out about it tonight! The thieves took copper wiring and a few inches of copper plumbing, probably someone looking for quick cash for a drug hit. The seller had a contractor check the house - he only noticed the electrical problem and redid the wiring and changed all the locks. He forgot to reconnect the furnace to the thermostat so it currently cannot be controlled. He did not look upstairs so he was not aware there were missing coppering tubing in the upstairs bathroom. The water got turned on yesterday and water flowed from the hole in the wall as the plumbing was not connected to the sink. We have a bit of a mess in the bathroom to clean up. The seller is suppose to send an electrician and a plumber to correct the problems. Then we will change the locks again and get dead bolts.

We began moving furniture into the house today. Wednesday we get our fridge and cable installed. We pick up our new furniture later this week and hope to be living in the house by Friday night. Thursday night and Saturday will be big move times.

I am anxious to begin nesting - preparing our child's bedroom, setting up the living room and making a study area for our child. We need to get unpacked in order for me to begin the nesting process.

We got our background clearance from USCIS/Homeland Security for the international adoption. I am still waiting for my State Patrol clearance letter, should arrive in a week or two. Once the background checks are completed we can begin the interview process with the DSHS caseworker then the house inspection. Once the paperwork is all done for this stage, we will then submit to the child's caseworker.

I am trying to not get attached to a particular child, but there is one young girl who seems destined to be "my child". It is the same feeling I got when I realized God had chosen Mike to be my husband even when I was not looking for a spouse (I was 16 years old). For now, I pray, prepare and wait. All will be done in God's time.

I found this prayer online the other night. It is a prayer for all children in our lives and in the world. It pulled my heartstrings and filled my mind with thoughts of the children in foster care and the orphans in Jamaica and the Congo. Love the children in your life, comfort children you encounter and pray for the children with no one.


A Prayer for Children
by Ina J Hughs


We pray for children
who sneak popsicles before supper,
who erase holes in math workbooks,
who throw tantrums in the grocery store and pick at their food,
who like ghost stories,
who can never find their shoes.

And we pray for those
who stare at photographers behind barbed wire,
who can’t bound down the street in a pair of new sneakers,
who are born in places we wouldn’t be caught dead,
who never go to the circus who live in an X-rated world.

We pray for children
who sleep with the dog and bury the goldfish
who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions,
who get visits from the tooth fairy,
who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money.

And we pray for those
who never get dessert,
who have no safe blanket to drag behind them,
who watch their parents watch them die,
who can’t find any bread to steal,
who don’t have any rooms to clean up,
whose pictures aren’t on anybody’s dresser,
whose monsters are real.

We pray for children
who spend all their allowance before Tuesday,
who shove dirty clothes under the bed, and never rinse out the tub,
who don’t like to be kissed in front of the carpool,
who squirm in church or temple and scream in the phone,
whose tears we sometimes laugh at and
whose smiles can make us cry.

And we pray for those
whose nightmares come in the daytime,
who will eat anything,
who have never seen a dentist,
who aren’t spoiled by anybody,
who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep,
who live and move, but have no being.

We pray for children who want to be carried
and for those who must,
for those we never give up on and
for those who don’t get a second chance.
For those we smother...
and for those who will grab the hand of anybody kind enough to offer it.

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