OUR POT OF GOLD

First and foremost, I apologize that I have been neglecting my blogging duties. I especially apologize to my brother who lives so far away from us in Colorado because this is the only way that he gets to see his most cherished niece grow up. So that being said, I will try my hardest to keep up. Life has grown very busy in our household. When I do find a minute or two I have been spending it with Halainah trying to do fun mommy daughter activities.

So the exciting news that I have been wanting to share has hit a lot of obstacles and road blocks along the way this past month. But I am confidant that our Savior has it all worked out in his own miraculous way.

First, I am so proud to announce that my husband found a new job. A job that clearly was given to him by the grace of God. A job that he has deserved for the longest time. A job that he has wanted since the day he decided what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. And worked so very hard for, attending school at night after working all day long. Nine years after graduating he worked for a good company. But now he is the Head of IT at a huge company and is responsible for 6 locations. A big responsibility and one that I know he will not only succeed with but will offer him so many choices and advancements. I am so very proud of him. He has been working in his new role for over a month and is so happy and committed. It is so important to enjoy your job. I have no doubt that this is truly the beginning of a very rewarding career for him and our family.

I went back to work after almost 2 years of being a stay at home mom. It has been bittersweet for me. I enjoy my new job and it is only part time. But I so miss being at home with my most cherished treasure. I miss our daily routines and I simply miss Halainah. But I also like interacting with adults and learning new skill sets. I worked 10 years in the mortgage industry and am now in the health field working at a physical therapists office. I don't know what my future holds as a working mom. It's still a work in progress for me and has been difficult more than it has been rewarding...so we shall see.

But the biggest news is that Tony and I decided that we are going to enter the special needs program now with our current adoption rather than waiting. Our game plan was to enter the regular program and eventually switch to special needs once we believed the time was right. After praying together as a family, it was clear to us that our second daughter will be termed "special needs" by China. So why wait and stall the process? We need to jump fully in and not just get our feet wet and test the waters. So our next adoption is in full force. We have no fears, no reservations. We know our daughter is in China, we know that she has already been chosen by our Father for us, and we know that she will be healed by him regardless of her special need. We know that financially it does not matter either. For, we would spend every penny we have for our daughters. Even if it means that we have nothing left in our piggy banks. There is no price for a child.

So what is the timeline? How soon will we see our second miracle's beautiful face? We really don't know. We are praying that it will be the spring of 2011, maybe sooner. It all depends when God feels the time is right. In the meantime we are running full steam ahead, filling out countless forms and getting frustrated at all the bumps along the way. But looking so forward to our pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, our precious miracle, Halainah's mei mei.

So there you have it. Our lives have changed drastically in this last month. A new, huge, job change and advancement for my husband. A new job for me, part time. And an important decision that will speed up our next adoption. It certainly has been crazy in our household but oh so very rewarding and exciting.

God Bless!

Of course I can never write a post and not add pictures so here are a few recent pictures of Halainah. She is getting so big. She is truly blossoming into her own little personality. So sweet, so caring, so funny, so happy, so full of life, so curious, so energetic, so spunky, so secure, so loving, so created by our Lord and always meant to be our daughter, destined to always be Halainah Grace.

Not so excited about taking a picture.

After being bribed with an M&M.

Halainah's loves her Playhouse.

And Mama loves it more because it was free.

Very first pony tail.
Loving the slide.

Blowing bubbles