Why cant I be two places at once?

I learned of a death back in the States and it breaks my heart that I cant be two places at once! Don is the borther to my best friend from high school. Kim and I have kept in touch over the years and I wish I was there for her and her parents. Just horrible. I want to respect the family's privacy but ask you to pray for Don's family, wife sons and others......

We were invited to go to the Cinema to see "To train a dragon" I was able to catch the gist of it even tho it was in spaish. I want to highly recommend it to yall but I repeat I was watching the Spanish version. I wont ruin it for you but think of me when/ if you go see it and you will know why I sobbed at the end. I was holding a little one named Lesley and my husband held a little boy named Fabian all through the movie. What a treat. The sweet little ones at Fudrine are just precious and I am loving the teachers there as well. They have a passion for what they do and they do it with excellence. My little G has been so blessed.

As Ive mentioned before.
This was supposed to be a place to share what we are up to and pics. The picture part is just not happening so here is a link. I will do it this way for yall. ;) wink wink.

Day Ten

Just wanted to tell you we have gotten three comments. One from the Orphanage," Grace looks younger". At the school, "Grace looks so happy!" and our apt room mate,"boy she sure seems at ease."

Gracie has adjusted to loving and being loved quite nicely.

Thank you for your prayers as we continued to proceed when it looked hopeless.
There are so many orphans. My heart swells when I see her sleeping with abandon.

Weve had technical difficulties and it wasnt what I planned. Getting pics on here requires bandwidth that we just dont have I guess.My son taught me how to put pics on albums on Facebook so even tho I am not crazy about it..... it has served a great purpose.

Today was our third day at school
Pappi and I are learning so much at school. ;)

Fudrine Mission Statement "FUDRINE mission is to provide an efficient service, with comprehensive support professionals who work with passion to contribute to a better quality of life of children and young people with physical disability and children with Down syndrome, to develop skills and include them into society, knowing their rights and duties."

Today we met Graces first "father".
There is a young man at the Fudrine school that earned our daughters love and trust a few years ago. David is twenty, he also attends the fudrine, I am not sure if he has CP or MS. They showed us several pictures of him with Gracie. He traveled to the US in the Fall and brought her a dress back as a gift. I am hoping that we have it when we return as a keepsake. I love the Fudrine school. The teachers work very hard with the students and they push Gracie to try harder, and to try new things.

Continue praying for our return to the States. That God has just the right Pediatric Opthalmologist ready to help us help her. Gracie is doing great in spite of her visual limitations but Oh how she will soar with her vision corrected properly!

Tonight we get to go to Old Quito and see the sites.
I hope to have pictures to post.

ANd speaking of posting, This isnt an easy job with 4 year old fingers thinking they need to "help". ;) I suppose she is trying to let you know how much fun she is having and that she cant wait to meet you!

(If you attend church at Woodbine, Let me give you a heads up that you will need to bring tissues to church the second Sunday in August after our return. She LOVES music and we had some praise music on yesterday AM. She was dancing and waving her hands in the air with true abandonment! Choked us up to say the least!)

Going back to day two

Its been a week and what a whirlwind it has been. Paul and I commented that we cant believe that its been a week already.

Grace is "blossoming". We are finding this sweet sweet place that happens when there is love. You know what Kind I mean. That pure love that we can have when Christ is at work in our hearts. Not about me, what someone else can do for me. Just pure love. that is how we ended up here. :)

Can I remember what Happened on day two.... hmmm... Oh yes. Now its coming back to me. We had to be at the orphanage at 6am. that meant up early..... if you know me you know I just dont do five. But this day. This day I woke up before the alarm. In fact you can probably count the mins I slept on two hands. (maybe not really but it felt like it) Did you do that with a new addition to the family? Just lie in bed staring at that new blessing? Ahh.... I could hardly wait to get up and moving. This was the day we got out the door and to the orphanage and came back to the apt to rest while Grace napped. "siesta" When we got to our apt our houseparents were out and we were going to ask of a reputable place to eat. NO TRAVELERS TUMMY FOR ME! Id rather starve. And we felt like we were going to! We ended up taking the taxi back to the orphanage to let them know of our situation to see if they could help. Day one they ordered Dominoes for us. he hee! Travel all the way to Ecuador to eat Pizza, then we had Chinese take out for day 2. hey, it was excellent. But I am not used to eating lunch at 4 after having breakfast at 6am.... wow were we starved. We ended up feeding Grace take out. I am wondering if that was her first Chinese food? I know sometimes the orphanage has parties and the parents or whomever is there orders pizza. (which she loved)

Here are pics from day two.
Enjoy.
And once again....
thank you for the many prayers. We have been so very blessed. I want you to know that in times that God seems far away or you feel like you cant hear his voice. he is there and will answer. Just continue to wait on him. I am thankful that we continued to run the race!

We remain,
Under His wings,
Anna Paul Eric and Grace

(if you see Nathen or Ashley and Jonathan give them an extra hug for us.Thanks!)

So I am once again having technical difficulties. I CANNOT get the pics to post. When I tried uploading to Flickr earlier it was giving me fits too.... I will try again and keep you posted. Hang in there with me!

day six

Im living life and not having time to write about it. I promise to get on top of my blogging! ha ha! Just wanted to share pics of our travels.

Each day we have enjoyed getting up leisurely and playing in bed with Gracie for about an hour. then doing the morning ritual- she love being able to take a real bath. At the orphanage she was given a bath in a sink with a bucket of water standing by to use to rinse. She spashed and splashed yesterday and today. I was wet..... really wet.

She loves "doing it herself" and its fun watching her blossom each day a little more.

This evening after our travels she watched her signing time videos and then we went down to eat a sort of oatmeal drink. Its served warm. Whole milk and the oatmeal pureed with cinnamon. Gracie drank more than I did. Our host family really showed us the sights today.

Otavalo- big market, Cotapaxi- looking in stores at the leather goods, Ibarra for Helato (ice cream). Much eating was done.

Day 2

(sorry only one picture. I have so many and for some reason having trouble getting them to load tonite.)
We are up at five and pass out at 11.
With the altitude, then emotional drain and trying to deal with the language barrier. So things were crazy and today we ended up not getting lunch until 4pm because nothing went as planned. All we had for breakfast was water and bread with cream cheese on it. Let me tell you. we were just exhausted and hungry and miserable.
And these people are loud.
You hear dogs barking all the time.
Many many strays.
So upsetting.
Then we heard loud music coming down the street and though " OH ! Ice cream truck..... nope can you believe it was a laundry service?! Ha ha ha! We can laugh at it now!

Keep up the prayers. Just lots of variables.

Let me tell you about Grace.
She is so so affectionate. Hundreds of hugs and kisses.
Today we got up earlyyyyyy.......
Got to orphanage before the start of the day.
Gave Grace her bath and got dressed.
She is pretty much potty trained. YAY!

Sorry for rambling.
She got to eat at the special table. With her parents. you could see all the other little ones looking over at the little person that gets to sit at the special table with mommy and daddy.
So so sweet.
Many were asking about Graces Mommy and Pappi.
I would bring them all home if I could.
Some esp. more than others.
Eeon a very small little boy felt of Pauls arm. Looked at him questioningly and then pulled at the hair. He was so astonished at all the hair. Was WAY funny!

We played all morning. Grace ate lunch. They eat soup with most meals. Potato and vedg soup today. Then they had rice. (rice with EVERY MEAL!) like a pickled cabbage, and chicken. She ate two breakfasts. some of ours and then an hour later what Tia Maria made. A juice "Banana Milk". She had 2 cups. Then the food was like hash browns and scrambled eggs.

So you know that we had dominoes pizza for lunch then today at 4 when we went back to the orphanage hungry. We were told to leave for siesta while Grace napped. We were to eat lunch but the owners of the home werent here so we didnt know where was safe to eat. what to do? ate a piece of bread, thank God mom sent us with peanut butter crackers for the airport so we shared those....... We had CHINESE take out for lunch.(with coke- we didnt have coffee so serious headache that two tylenol didnt touch! Come all the way to Ecuador for Pizza and Chinese..... of course it was stir fry with RICE!

Back on topic.
We saw Grace dance.
She has learned "more" and "all done" signs in two days.
This will be good.

Thankfully, Caryl was at the airport today picking up her interns and they FOUND OUR STROLLER! they dont have them here and the hills and being out of shape. altitude, is KILLING ME! They will only let Paul pick it up so we will do that tomorrow evening. YAY. I was beginning to seriously get concerned.

Tomorrow is the day out.
We will be at the orphanage very early again for the routine.
Then after lunch we will go off campus and will take her to the park.
They want us to bring her to the home we are staying at to play with the toys. (which we have none.) I looked at Delta.com and I mustve misread. We were allowed one carry on and TWO check in at 50lbs each. Well we only had one each. SO I didnt bring things that werent necessary. I guess we will go shopping for toys. And a potty thingy for the toilet. (I have one at home but I was told she wasnt trained yet..... and she is very sensitive to change and things being "just so".

Let me end by telling you that its a whirlwind.
They said she could stay the night tomorrow if we felt she was ready.
Then her going away party on Friday.
I feel so inadequate but its because she is adjusting so well.

Eric gets to go on a sightseeing tour tomorrow with our roomate!

Well, off to get some sleep.

Under His wings,
Anna

A little R&R

Want yall to know we made it to Ga safe and sound just in time for supper last evening.

Getting out the door was not what I expected. I dont know why it surprised me. THe bigness of this is really taking me by surprise. I cant explain it.

I just cant believe its happening.

Our little dog kept trying to run out to the car.
She usually goes on trips with us and travels well.
I called my dad SOBBING.
I asked if we could just bring her with us.
I feel horrible..... it added one more thing on Moms "to do " list.
The great dane kept wanting to follow us out the door. They knew what suitcases meant.
I think they also knew they had never seen that many suitcases before.
I dont know how P got it all in the little Jetta but he did.
We pulled out around 11:15 am and drove all day.
I cried for the first hour.
I had a few people to call and on one I only wrote 9 out of 10 numbers.
So it was like, "Well I guess we wont be visiting them on the way up."
E and his little dog slept most of the way.

We went to church this morning and are resting.
Once mom leaves to go to bible school P and I will run to the big box store for a few mroe things. I thought wed dont the last trip there.... no such luck. I was told matchbox cars will be great gifts for the little boys and they are $5 there! So I can check one more thing offa my list.

We will need to leave around noon tomorrow. Drive an hour to the train. An hour trip on the Marta. THen we allowed time to spare plus the 2.5 to 3 hrs they want you to be early. Please pray for us. I am pretty anxious about the flight.

We will land at 10:17 and we will have a ride to take us to our host home.
THe lawyer will be picking us up at 8 the next morning to be at the orphanage at 9.

just beyond words.
I would close with more pics like I intended but they arent on this computer.

So be patient and on Tuesday you will see new pics of little G with her mommy, daddy and brother.

I remain,
Under His wings,
Anna

Sleep......

Before I start rambling let me share what I am up to.... many of you have gotten e-mails and I have included pics. But not all of them. I wanted to start at the beginning and look back at how far weve come in the past two years. This first picture was sent to me from a family that was in Ecuador in the Fall. They adopted a little girl and actually live in Switzerland. "A" has adjusted well and I heard from the family last week that she still speaks often of her best friend.... my Little G. In this picture she had asked little G to hold hands with her. I shared pics that were on FB in the Fall from when another "A" went home to be with her family. (they live in Ga and we hope to see them soon!) Then her friend "E" went home in the Fall.( his family already had was it 10 bio children??? They live in Tenn)He is the one with G in the second picture- this was taken last spring. THe last picture was taken around the same time- G in her footie PJs..... a year ago. In Jan/Feb We recieved pics from "J's" family. I think those need to be shared later too.........
I guess I am wanting to say that all of these little friends in Harlow house. They have gone home to be with their new families and G has watched them have their going home parties..... its her turn. Little does she know how much we have prayed for her, The last party I mentioned. "Js party." Melinda, Orphanage Director, Said that was the day that they heard that Gs papers were FINALLY SIGNED while they were having the party! J's mother was actually holding Little G when they heard and announced the news and everyone in the room clapped. Little G knew something good was happening and started laughing and clapping with them. If she only knew what that meant...... I pray she does.......

Yesterday was overwhelming. Sweet sweet time with a few beautiful women. I am thankful that there are friends that can say, "just take some time to enjoy fellowship and prayer." What I thought was going to be a mother/ daughter lunch ended up being a surprise gathering. It wasnt big... but God knows me all too well. It was "just right".( I really dont enjoy big) There were little people and big people...... and you know how I love little people. My heart was full..... to overflowing...... that usually means tears. They were good tears.

Daughter and I were off and running and checked everything off my list. Yes, you read right.

List for today:
1. Target
2. shoes for E (P said, "but we just bought shoes for E?!" that was um.... Fall honey.They are not fit for public.Take my word for it)
3. Post office-to mail a special gift for a special brother in law. Paul's brother has been in seminary and pastoring for a LONG, 15 years +/-, time. (plus raising a family and two brain surgeries..... ) We are so broken hearted that we wont be at his Ordination ceremony. big sigh....... I hope the thoughts and prayers will make up for our absence and that when we return Tio Matteo will get lots of sweet Grace showered on him.......
4. clean house- enuff said.
5. random last min. laundry so I can......
6. PACK and load the suitcases in the car.

I dont know if it was sheer exhaustion or the Melatonin I tried last night but I finally slept. Sleep is good. Off and running!!!!


Under His wings,
Anna

I must confess

Just in case you didnt know.......
I am NOT Superwoman.
I know?! I thought I was. But nope. Just one simple woman COMPLETELY dependant on God and others. He is my strength and shield! (no pretty cuffs to defelect the bullets of life) I have all I need - he has given me the Armor that I have to choose to put on each day...... did I forget something in the busy- ness???? Nope, Breastplate.....check. got it.
Sword.....check. yup.
Helmet.....
shoes......

You get the picture.
Yes. I have a list that with each thing I check off two are added.
BUT this is HIS STORY!
He gets all the credit.
Not some woman that has it handled on her own in some sparkly costume and red cape.
Its all HIM dear friend.

I remain,
Under His wings,
Anna

busy busy busy

I woke up with a phone call and have a list. The ongoing list that I spoke of in my first post. Somehow I mark 1 thing off and add two! Ha ha. Husband keeps a running countdown of how many days until we pull out of the driveway. It doesnt help.

Today I:
1. Went to the bank. Twice in the same trip. I forgot E's banking and knew I just had to get everything done and checked off my list.
2. had pharmacy on list but went there once and they were having to get overrides from the pharmacy since we needed 2 mos worth. I just felt like One more day wont hurt. ;) wink wink
3. went to church and handled business there. Will have to go back to drop off E's SIFAT papers. Then he can participate when our church's missions team gets there the end of July.
4. went to daughters house to work on Handkerchiefs for the Tias. Half done with that project.(she fixed me a fab salad I might add!)
5. played telephone tag AGAIN with adoption agency Director.
6. think I have accomodations lined up. YAY!
7. pulled in driveway long enough to pick E up late to take him to church.
8. looked at list and dotted I's and crossed T's. Set a few things aside to put in suitcase. Talked to someone helping P get a standby ticket home after the first 3 weeks. Folded laundry. Got permanet press washing. Put away mural paints and misc. Went to pick E up at church. Stopped at LA HA to get our last supper there before our trip.

I will tell you almost EVERY stop along the way were hugs and congrats from those in the community that have been praying for us and thinking of us along the way.

SWEET......

Back to where I started my day....... I am thankful for friends. Friends walking the journey of faith that will say." I know you are busy. Our relationship is important. Will you make time for me/us?" What a beautiful way to start the day. Coffee, blueberry muffin..... most importantly friendship and prayer.

And for now.....

I am sitting......

Blogging

I just wanted to share that I wasnt quite sure about how to share without sharing it all. Ha ha!
Here is my prediament. I have been pretty open and have worked through alot in our adoption journey. Its personal. I just cant share with everyone.Ive tried. But each time I think I need to share my blog address so others can follow along a wave of something washes over me. Call it anxiety, fear, whatever youd like but its there. Its real. I just cant do it. I need this place I have created. It needs to be untouched..... I just dont want everyone and their brother reading my history. So here it is my new blog.

I think I will keep posting here.
Just a place to ramble along.
If it becomes too much I will let you know.
You can read one or the other or both.

Thank you for reading and understanding.

I remain,
Under His wings,
Anna

Airline tickets are purchased lists are made

Well, the tickets have finally been purchased and the Mural at the church has been completed. Two big items on my "to do "list.(before we fly that is......)

Today I:

1. Steam cleaned my bedroom carpets. (note to self. Do not purchase contractor grade white carpet if given the option again!)
2. made a special marinade and got the wings ready for Paul to grill.... yumm-0!
3. Started making stacks of clothing to pack and not wear this week.
4. knit a sleeve! YAY!!!
5. fixed the dog bed. (think massive mound of stuffing.......sigh.... another one bites the dust! Boy that was a flashback to the 80's)
6. made cheat sheets to print and laminate......spanish..... you know what they say about old dogs.
7. Made more lists.......

You dont even want to see the list for the week.

I just have to tell you after all the waiting.

The ups and downs........

Its a beautiful wonderful thing to have a list such as this!

Under His wings,

Anna

PS.If you are wondering about the title of my blog.......

there are an estimated 147 million orphans...........

Sometime in July it will be 147 million minus one.