OK…so I was MIA for a few days. But lemme tell ya—now I can actually concentrate on writing again. First, muchos gracious to my blog readers for following me over to this new address. If you have my old blog address saved in your blogroll, please put this new address www.babeofmyheart.comin its place. I’m new to WordPress–so as soon as I figure out how to add my personal blogroll (family, friends and adoption friends blogs) I’ll have that up too. I made the switch to WordPress as it’s a big harder to copy images from. Last month, I noticed a influx of internet hits and they were from all over the world but mostly all visiting one post. I was able to track them all coming from one forum and I visited it to see a picture of my sweet L-bird on there. Granted, it was a picture from our movie fun (it was a picture of her and Kathryn Hiegl) but still–it had me cross-eyed. The forum administrator was quick to remove it and very apologetic. Then a dear adoption, blogging friend of mine recently had many of her images from her blog stolen as well. I *LOVE* writing. I *LOVE* sharing my life. But I don’t love pictures being swiped. So–I made the move to WordPress which doesn’t use a separate gallery to store images like Blogger does (Picasa) which makes it much easier to get images. Wordpress also has automatic spell check—and since I type so fast and my time with 3 kids (soon to be 4) is so limited…this will make your reading easier too;). SO…here I is:)
[Side note–all of my images are now and will be watermarked. It’s not as much fun to steal a watermark and copyrighted image—so I hope my sweet readers can look beyond the watermark and see the beauty in each image instead:). Double gracious.]
[Double side note–I have had several folks curious about WordPress and my design layout. I bought a simple template and designed it myself. I wouldn’t call WordPress the most user friendly blog, but a template definitely makes it easier. If you aren’t familiar with photoshop, I would stick to Blogger—and just watermark your images to be safe.]
Now to catch up my sweet blog friends:-). GOSH…it is already practicially THURSDAY?! I wish I had some really exciting news to share with you on the adoption front. But I don’t. WAAAA. I did miss a phone call from Oregon on Monday—got really excited (this is where our agency is located)—called our case worker Christy and tried to play it cool. I just thought for sure the waiting child list had been updated and maybe there was a special needs baby who had come through that they thought might be a fit for our family. But it turned out the call wasn’t from them…and the Lord I know keeps looking down and shaking his head at me. The Lord continues to say wait my child—but obviously I have a hearing problem. Let me claim 2 Corinthians 12:9 here–“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” Praise the LORD that His power is made PERFECT in my weakness! Hallelujah that when I boast about my weakness that Christ’s power may rest on me! [Ok…if we are boasting about our weaknesses here–can I just confess that I honked today at a road rage mom? I know I shouldn’t have—but her hands went up in the air and I honked. Special note to my sisters and best friends reading this—I did NOT stick out my tongue or make my enfamous ‘nanny-nanny-boo-boo face’…I just honked…but still I shouldn’t have honked. Now…I hope Christ’s power can come rest on me so next time I don’t. I’m just sayin. I need His power to rest on me DAILY!]
And speaking of NEEDING Him. I am amazed over and over at His love for me through adoption. I am amazed at the emotions and love He has already given me toward our 4th baby. I think of him so often. Last week, I had a babysitter over for Frank, and I had a short time to myself before carpool began for P and L-bird. I read online that our local businesses are hurting so badly because of online shopping, so I decided to do my part and to boost the local economy. For real. So, I ran to Carta Bella…a really cute boutique store here in town. Literally when the guy asked if he could help me I said, “I’m just here trying to boost the local economy thank you.” OK…I probably looked like a complete nut. JUST WAIT…you know me—when you think I just got nutty…it only gets nuttier.
So, I start pulling picture frames off the wall as I realize Christmas is just around the corner, and this next hour may be my only kid-free shopping before Christmas. So, I decided to do all my local economy boosting in one place. ONLY…I didn’t do a very good job shopping for other people. [While we are confessing our weaknesses here, does anyone else have that problem?! Why is it you see things that melt your own heart and things you need while shopping for others?! OHHHH…temptation! OK…this is where the nuttier part comes back in. So I was falling in love with all of these random quote picture frames and the stack in my arm was getting higher—when I spotted a really sweet frame about being a mommy. You would think it wouldn’t have caught me off guard because my bestfriend Kelly has this in her home, and I read it every time I’m over there chillin on her couch. BUT…this time my “paper pregnancy hormones” kicked in. And nuttier [aka ME] stood there SPEECHLESS and wiped away tears as I read this…the first gift for our baby’s nursery
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As I stood there reading this…I wasn’t sure which mommy for our baby that would describe best. His birth mother. Or me. I think it’s both. And as I stood there reading it OVER and OVER again—thinking about the journey we have traveled thus far…the tears I have cried…the errands and hoop jumping…the paperwork…the courses, the books, the research…the call the Lord has put on my heart to LOVE and PERSUE as He persued me for eighteen long years before I accepted Him as my Father—I just stood there…and without really having to ask–the clerk said, “Would you like me to get that down for you?” Yes. Yes I would. And with my voice still cracking and looking nuttier than ever I just said, “This is for my baby’s room.”
How thankful I am for this journey. And how thankful I am for my friends, family and adoption friends who have come along for the ride with our family—and who also invite us to come along for their rides of life. Today I am reminded how sweet each of our stories are. None are perfect, all have joys—hard stuff—but all of them are sweet as His power is made perfect in our weakness…His grace is all we need…and through Him we can do anything as He is the one who leads, guides and gives us strength when we open our hearts and hands to Him.
Happy Thursday.
XOXO,
andrea
by admin
what a beautiful first gift for the nursery. and it does capture the love and sacrifice of both the ethiopian mommy and the forever mommy.
what joy i find in resting in him and know that his power is greater in my weaknesses. i realize his power must be so great, because i am so weak! thank you for your honesty, sweet andrea!
Geez, talk about getting emotional reading that quote! I guess I should not read blogs at work…
Thank you for sharing!
Love that frame too! You can’t go wrong with any of the frames from Magnolia Lane. I sure miss Carta Bella. 🙁 My favorite store in Vickery Village until they moved to Roswell. Such a sweet family. Merry Christmas to you and your family. 🙂
How do you watermark a picture on your blog? thanks!!Polly