tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72175132300341926932024-02-19T07:58:02.588-08:00You Grew in Our HeartsHolly Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10129045064850405653noreply@blogger.comBlogger119125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217513230034192693.post-92193745558982534782015-09-16T21:07:00.000-07:002015-09-16T21:07:04.868-07:00Mozambique Journal Day 6August 12, 2015<br />
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Had to be up early this morning to meet Augustino and activista ladies from the church to walk for what seemed like 15 miles, going from house to house to visit people who are apart of Project Life. The people in the program are sick or dying, so there are a group of women (activistas) that go every morning and visit these people and pray with them and help meet any needs they might have. Most of the people we met with weren't super sick. Everyone was very nice and welcoming and offered us food. There was one woman that was HIV positive and had been battling tuberculosis for months. She had a head wrap on and took it off for us to see cantaloupe sized masses on each side of her neck. My hypochondria started to set in a little at this point.<br />
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We then walked to the church to pick up a bucket of soup to carry over to the local hospital. There is a preschool at the church and all of the kids were playing outside. They literally attacked me when I walked through the gate. They all wanted to hug and touch me and rub on my white skin. They were laughing and pushing each other out of the way to get closer to me. Apparently white people are super interesting to kids here.<br />
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We grabbed the soup and went to the hospital. There is two buildings next to one another, children and adults. Each building has 4 rooms with 6 beds per room. It was dirty and smelled like the worst nursing home you've ever been in. The mattresses were stained and there were little mosquito nets covering each bed. There were only 4 kids admitted there today, 2 of which were just a little sick, 2 that probably won't make it. The patients aren't given hospital gowns so everyone is in their own clothing that they showed up in. I never saw a doctor or nurse.<br />
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In the adult building, there were probably 20 people or so. A few of which would not make it out of there alive, several others who probably had malaria. Pastor Augustino would talk with each person and find out what was wrong with them. Since there aren't accurate ways to diagnose people, they all just said they were very sick. He would read a passage from the bible and pray over them and then we would serve them and their family members soup, as food is not provided here either. <br />
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I have never felt the need for a hot shower more than I did after leaving the hospital today. Project Life is a wonderful ministry....just not the ministry for a hypochondriac.<br />
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We came back to the farm house and Natalia had cooked butternut squash, coconut rice and fried chicken. I wish I could bring her home with me. My poor kids never get good food like this.<br />
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This afternoon Manuel picked me, Christa and Afonso up and we headed to one of the families who are waiting to get a Green Door home. One of my ideas for Green Door is to have a video interview of each family. That way I can take those videos to people I know and hopefully get lots of sponsors. So Manuel wanted me to do one of the interviews so he would know what I'm looking for. <br />
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We pulled up to Pedro Sande's mud hut, one of the worst I've seen here. He is older and disabled, was sitting on the ground in front of his home. His wife, Lucia, was with him and several of their family members. Pedro and Lucia have been married for 57 years, he said that Lucia was his greatest gift from the Lord. They had 10 children, 5 of which had died and now they care for several grandchildren. I asked him what their biggest hardship was and he said hunger, never knowing when his next meal would be. I asked him what the biggest challenges were living in his home. He said that there were always repairs that needed to be made, and he couldn't keep up with it anymore. That the mosquitoes were bad, malaria is the number one killer here. Then he said something that took my breath away. He explained that during rainy season, which is coming up, a lot of times their homes flood and they have to sleep standing up....but he can't stand up.<br />
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I asked him if there was anything he'd like to say to me? He asked what my name was and couldn't pronounce it, nobody can here. I told him he could call me whatever he wanted, so he said he'd call me Ruth...my Nana's name. That's when I promised Pedro a house and he started singing hallelujah and waving his hands in the air. Manuel told me I couldn't promise people here things. I will not be able to sleep until Pedro and Lucia are resting comfortably in a Green Door home. To think there are thousands of other stories like his. So much work to be done here, so much work.<br />
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Holly Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10129045064850405653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217513230034192693.post-23898753719829310382015-09-08T20:38:00.000-07:002015-09-08T20:38:47.327-07:00Mozambique Journal Day 5August 11, 2015<br />
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What a day! This morning was my morning at <a href="http://www.childrensrelief.org/tessa-grace-nutrition" target="_blank">Tessa Grace</a>. I got there at about 8:30 and there were women and babies everywhere waiting to be seen. Tessa Grace is right next to the clinic where people in the community can be seen and receive meds for very inexpensive. At Tessa Grace a certain number of children, ages 0-2, can come weekly to get the care and formula that they need. Most of the moms are HIV positive, or the baby is in the care of a relative due to parents death, and they need formula that they cannot afford. There is a bible study, singing, baby weighing and a visit with the clinic director to receive formula for the week. <br />
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The director gave me a quick tour of the clinic and Tessa Grace, grabbed a weighing contraption, hung it from a beam on the porch, gave me a pen and paper and told me to weigh all the babies and give the weight on paper to the mom. So, thankfully all the moms knew what to do and started taking all of their babies clothes off and putting them in these homemade slings. Imagine a cloth diaper with a long strap attached. They put the baby in the diaper and hang them on the hook attached to the weight and they dangle in the air until I can get an accurate weight. I did my best to get accurate weights on all of them, then introduced myself and told them why I was there and prayed over them while they waited to be seen.<br />
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We moved to the office where the women would come in two at a time and would be asked a few questions about their baby's health and make sure that they were gaining weight. Then they were given an opened can of formula. The reason for opening the formula is because a lot of the women would sell it instead of give it to their baby. If the can is open, no one will buy it. Lots of cute babies came in and out and I held as many as I could and asked all the moms their ages because all the women here look so freaking young. Well, it's because they ARE all very young. <br />
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I thought we were all done when they called back a mom, Maria, and her 1 month old twin boys that had been waiting. I asked to hold them and she seemed very relieved to not have take care of them for those few minutes. The clinic didn't have room for any more children, but Maria explained that her husband doesn't work, so there isn't much food, so she wasn't making enough breastmilk to feed her twins. The director made an executive decision to let them in to the program based on the fact that most twins don't make it here and they take priority.<br />
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Maria started answering questions to get put into the system. When she was asked what the boys names were, she pointed to me and told me to name them. I thought there was a translation problem. I must have looked very confused, so the director explained to me that apparently it's very common for women to wait awhile to name their child. They don't discuss names before the child is born because so many babies die during childbirth. Then the parents think a lot of names are associated with evil spirits, so to Maria, I was a christian and could not possibly give her boys names that could ever be linked to evil. I quickly wracked my brain for biblical names that I had heard here and decided on David and Joseph, strong men of bible. As she continued on with her mundane paperwork, my tears started flowing. Partly because it was one of the most precious moments of my life, partly because Maria looked so sad and hopeless. She didn't look at those boys like they were a treasure, she looked at them like they were a burden...and they were. She didn't need anymore kids. She was 39 and had 3 other children at home that she couldn't provide for. I wanted to hug her and tell her everything would be okay, but I would be lying. I did tell her that if the twins wanted to attend <a href="http://www.childrensrelief.org/el-shaddai" target="_blank">El Shaddai</a> when they went to grade school, that I would sponsor them to go. She quickly said her other children hadn't graduated preschool, so she doubted these boys would go to school either. Then we gave her rice and beans, formula and bottles. She put one newborn on her back and the other on her 6 year old son and they headed home. Surreal.<br />
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(Fun fact about twins in Africa...whoever comes out last is the big sibling because they had to be the strongest to push the first one out!)<br />
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After Tessa Grace we came home for Natalia's beans and rice. OMG. I'd put them in my top 5 best meals ever. For realz. It's buttery rice with red beans, green beans and carrots. I can't even tell you how delicious this was.<br />
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Around 1:30 Braxton drove me and Max to El Shaddai school so I could assist Max in teaching his English classes. On the way down the long dirt road that leads to the school, we passed a chubby little boy that saw Max and started yelling and waving, "Hey Teacha"! We had to stop and give him a ride and I hope I never forget him running his little heart out to the truck with the biggest grin on his face you've ever seen. He sat by me and giggled the whole way there. I knew he was the next kid the Hubby and I had to sponsor. <br />
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<a href="http://www.childrensrelief.org/el-shaddai" target="_blank">El Shaddai</a> is beautiful. Several modest concrete buildings with a playground set among the most beautiful landscape I've seen here. Kids are everywhere, they all seem super happy. The classroom size was large, 30-40 kids. We taught 2 classes to 8-10 year olds. The kids are wild! Lots of talking, little listening, many giggles. Very different than American schools, but they are here, which is great. If they come and absorb half of the lessons and learn to read and write, they are ahead of most of the population here. We worked on basic words like please, thank you, breakfast, lunch, dinner, hello, goodbye, good morning, good afternoon and goodnight! Their accents are adorable!<br />
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Max and I had a long walk back to town and he told me how he came to know Christ and how he started working for <a href="http://www.childrensrelief.org/" target="_blank">Children's Relief</a>. I could talk to him for hours. His joy, passion and energy are intoxicating. He is going to do great things. Everyone should have a Max and Afonso in their lives.<br />
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Holly Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10129045064850405653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217513230034192693.post-85499777670119453342015-09-05T13:15:00.002-07:002015-09-05T13:15:33.576-07:00Mozambique Journal Day 4August 10, 2015<br />
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What a day! We left early this morning to go to the Bush. We drove a 20 year old truck 20 miles and it took over 45 minutes to get there on a very bumpy and dusty road. Manuel is over Green Door and church planted there to minister to the poorest of the poor. To set the setting...there is probably 200 church members, over 100 being children. They walk up to 2 miles to come to church and had to miss a day in the fields to come to this special event at the church where there would be a food distribution. These people haven't seen much rain this year, so their crops aren't doing well, which means they don't eat consistently. We pulled up to the church building, literally in the middle of nowhere, and you could hear the singing from inside probably a mile away. There were a couple of men playing on makeshift drums and about 5 women on the stage singing and dancing their hearts out. The church was packed and very energetic.<br />
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Pastor Manuel had to eventually stop the music, or they would have continued for hours. He asked the children to go outside with Christa and his wife to have bible stories and playtime. He called me up to speak to the adults. I told them about my family and why I was here. I tried to give them helpful tips for marriage and parenting. How do I explain what a healthy family looks like to women who think their husbands beating them is a sign of love? To men who have multiple wives and families? To parents who don't have a relationship with their children? I read some of my favorite scriptures and spoke about love and respect in a marriage. Tried to articulate how to be relational and intentional with your children and how they are looking up to you and watching what you do, even when you don't think they are.<br />
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After I spoke, Manuel opened up for questions. Most of the women had more prayer requests than questions. From the woman that desperately wanted a family, to the man who's children didn't obey him or go to school when they were suppose to, to the woman who took in her husband's second wife's children when she died, to the woman who feels like her husband treats her like an animal, to the woman who hides going to church for fear of her husband beating her to death. It's impossible to express how hard every aspect of these people's lives are.<br />
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Once the questions were over, they pulled me on stage and made me dance with them. I don't even know what to say about? There's a video floating around somewhere that shall never be posted. Then the women gave me a capallanna and told me to wear it and think of them. Most people here have expressed that they don't feel like anyone cares about them. That's mostly true. We create so many "problems" of our own, that it's hard to care for someone across the globe that has actual problems. I will never forget my time with them.<br />
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We left and visited one of the two Green Door homes in the Bush. The man of the house had a hand disability. Him, his wife and baby were found sleeping under a stick tent. He recently was given a home. I asked him what the biggest blessing to come out of having a home was? He said, "I'm 27 years old and for the first time in my life, I can dream about my future." He dreams about one day having furniture in his home and having a place to raise his children. Something as simple as a $2200 house can make the BIGGEST impact on a family here.<br />
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We headed back to church for lunch. The women had made us rice and boiled chunks of a whole chicken. It looked a little scary, but actually tasted great! I talked in depth with Manuel about ideas for marketing Green Door. He is so nice and receptive to anything that would make this ministry better. He talked about his vision for the future of his church, how he'd love for it to one day be a school for the children here. Such an inspiring man.<br />
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We left and visited the other Green Door home there which belonged to a set of grandparents that had lost all of their children and were taking care of 7 grandchildren. Because Green Door homes have inheritance papers, he knows that his grandchildren will be okay when him and his wife die.<br />
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The rest of the afternoon was spent shopping in town and grocery shopping in the only grocery store near by. It was actually really nice and you could find just about anything you needed there...including a decent wine selection! We came home to Natalia's spaghetti which is noodles, vegetables and a little tomato sauce. It was delicious. Braxton, Todd, Christa, Afonso and Rafa ate here and then I made them affogato for dessert. They loved it and I'm pretty sure I am now their favorite American ever.<br />
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<img align="left" src="http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/5641/sig01t.jpg" style="border: 0;" />
Holly Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10129045064850405653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217513230034192693.post-74383539419615844632015-09-02T19:30:00.000-07:002015-09-02T19:30:36.002-07:00Mozambique Journal Day 3August 9, 2015<br />
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It's Sunday here. I am tired. Couldn't sleep last night from coughing, it's really dusty here. We got ready and headed to church. Church here is very different, but the same. Everyone kind of wonders in over the course of an hour. There is a lot of singing, dancing, praying, preaching, praying, preaching and more praying. My sweet translator, Max, did his best to keep up with the sermon. It became very hot, very quick because of jammed packed building. My capallanna made my legs sweat, how do all the women wear these things? I got teary a few times taking in the fact that God is universal. That we sing the same songs, to the same God, on opposite sides of the world.<br />
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After church I basically grabbed a fat baby boy out of a moms arms and did not want to give him back. I'm pretty much obsessed with black babies. He stunk and had a runny nose and slobbered all over me and I could not get enough of him.<br />
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Then we headed to lunch with Ercylio and Ana. Ercylio runs <a href="http://www.childrensrelief.org/spark-of-hope" target="_blank">Spark of Hope</a>, which combines sports with teenage boys who don't have stable families, or families at all. They do bible study with them and teach them how to be Godly men, make sure they're going to school and help them get into college through sponsorship. Ana is the daughter of Pastor Jeranamo and Noemia. She is definitely not the normal Mozambican woman. She is strong willed, not a fan of most of the customs here and refers to her dogs as her babies. (which is absolutely ridiculous here) I loved her. She's in school to open labs that can do blood tests for numerous conditions here so that people can receive proper treatment for their illnesses.<br />
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They told me about their relationship and how he didn't love Jesus but came to church every week to see her. She didn't give him much thought and moved to America for a couple of years to attend school. When she came back, he came to her and told her that God told him to marry her. She laughed and said that they must pray to different God's because he hadn't told her that! He eventually won her over and he had to pay a huge dowry for her. Noemia was so mad that Jeronomo had asked for a dowry because he hadn't even paid one for her. So, during the process Jeronomo paid Noemia's parents a dowry so she couldn't throw it in her face anymore!<br />
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We headed back to the farm house to get ready for evening church and there was no electricity so we ate Nutella sandwiches on local bread by candlelight for dinner.<br />
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Evening church was a lot shorter than morning. Jeronomo and Noemia's little girl sat in my lap most of the time. After church I asked her to count and she did in Portugese and then I started counting in English and she would yell one, two, three, four, five, eleven, seven, nine..etc. Just like Henny and Robee do. Adorbs.<br />
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Late night of popcorn, chocolate, African wine and deep talks. I found out tonight that I am the guest speaker at a church in the Bush tomorrow, so I should probably figure out what I am going to talk about. Yikes.<br />
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Holly Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10129045064850405653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217513230034192693.post-77792609809781361612015-09-01T19:20:00.001-07:002015-09-01T19:20:54.918-07:00Mozambique Journal Day 2August 8, 2015<br />
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Busy day! Slept great under my little mosquito net although it was very cold in my room, it's winter here. I left with Max and Afonso to walk the town we were staying in. <br />
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<a href="http://www.childrensrelief.org/" target="_blank">Children's Relief</a> had set up meetings with 3 people that had received <a href="http://www.childrensrelief.org/green-door-homes" target="_blank">Green Door</a> houses. The first guy, Narcissio, was super nice. He is young and told me a little bit about how he came to know God. When he was younger, his dad would send him to church with money for the offering box. He kept telling his dad that he was going to church when really he was taking the money to go and have fun every Sunday. One day he decided to actually go to church and the message that was spoken that really resonated with him and he accepted Christ. He got involved in the church and now leads worship on Sunday mornings. His mother was very ill and he was the only one caring for her at a young age, so he received a green door home through the church.<br />
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We walked a bit further to the next house of a man that lived in a small mud hut with his mother and several brothers. He had a friend ask him to church a few years ago and when the pastor asked if anyone wanted to stand and accept the Lord, his friend nudged him to stand. His life completely changed, he became involved in the church and received a green door house next to his mom.<br />
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The area we walked through all morning was terribly poverty stricken. Way worse than anything I experienced in Ethiopia. Most people live in mud huts, the size of my laundry room, with their large family. Everyone sits outside by a fire to cook, eat and get warm. There's trash everywhere and kids younger than my 3 year old are running wild throughout the streets in soiled pants because diapers are too expensive. Chickens and roosters come into the peoples homes at night so they don't misplace any of them. Everyone is trying to sell something to make enough money to feed their families that day.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The last house we visited haunted me the most. It was a 12 year old boy wearing girls clothing because a robber had stolen all of his. He had jiggers all over his feet and ankles that make walking extremely painful. He lived with his grandmother because his mother had died and they didn't know where the dad was. He didn't speak much, but did say that he would love a bike because walking to school was very painful so he missed a lot.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We then had a long walk back where I got to talk in depth with Afonso and Max about what families and marriage look like here. Most men get their girlfriend pregnant to make sure that she can give him children. When he gets tired of her or when she stops having kids, he takes on a second or third wife. He cannot support all of his families, so he usually picks one and the others are left to take care of themselves. The marriages aren't relational and parents aren't relational with their kids. Makes sense that I haven't seen a single mother show any type of affection to her children. Most adults don't believe in God so they don't teach their children about him, the cycle just continues generation after generation.<br />
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Our afternoon was our fun day. We went to a really good restaurant on the beach. Todd had his friend, Tomias, come to give me his testimony and plans for the future. He told me about how he was working at a clinic where a woman came in and was very sick. They gave her meds and she left. (Mozambique clinics don't know how to properly diagnose anything other than HIV or malaria, so most illnesses are just a guess) Two days later, she came back, and was even more sick than before. They gave her different meds and learned that she had walked over 8 miles to get to this clinic. Tomias offered to take her home and she died with him before he got her home. It was in that moment that he decided to become a doctor and open clinics that are more accessible to people and where they will receive good care. He has 3 more years of med school and interns at the local hospital from 7am to 1am almost every day.<br />
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After lunch we did a little sidewalk shopping and then I got to skype with my babies. We headed back to the farmhouse and made egg sandwiches on fresh, local bread. Tomorrow is church day, can't wait to experience church here.<br />
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*Sorry for the poor picture quality. Only had room for my old iPhone.<br />
<img align="left" src="http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/5641/sig01t.jpg" style="border: 0;" />
Holly Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10129045064850405653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217513230034192693.post-5697093496327707472015-08-31T20:32:00.002-07:002015-08-31T20:32:19.602-07:00Mozambique Journal Day 1I've been home for a couple of weeks now. Kept thinking the right words would come, but they never did. Going to a 3rd world country really rocks you to your core. So many feelings. So many thoughts and emotions and questions constantly circulating. You just can't describe it without seeing it for yourself. The level of poverty is mind blowing to typical people living our comfortable little lives in our comfortable little bubbles. Putting things into perspective is an understatement. First world problems now unnerve me more than ever. Trying to find the balance between selling everything we have and giving it to the poor, or carrying on about my normal life pre-trip. I don't know what the answer is. I stay up all night trying to solve all the worlds problems and all I can come up with is that I sure as hell hope Jesus comes back soon to put an end to all of the hurt. So, since I clearly can't articulate anything I'm thinking, I'm just going to share my journal. Day by day, here we go...<br />
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August 6, 2015<br />
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Woke up early after a great nights sleep in our little hotel by JFK, got ready and headed to the airport. I was still feeling crappy from the sinus and ear infection, but took a ton of vitamins and meds and powered through. Facetimed the kids before boarding and Henny cried for me : ( <br />
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Boarded African Airlines and sat across the aisle from a man from South Africa who kept questioning Christa and I about why on earth we'd go to Mozambique to do relief work in a country that is "demonized"? He kept reiterating, after several glasses of wine, that he had traveled all over the world for work and had never met people who wanted to help his country. So sad. Why isn't the church more present here?<br />
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Within 30 minutes of the flight, thanks to some annoying passenger in front of us, the tv screens had to be rebooted because several weren't working. This caused them all to crash and we had zero entertainment the entire 15 hour flight. Shoot. Me. So, decided to take my neighbor's lead and have a few glasses of South African wine. The flight attendant joked that I'd never drink California wine again, and she might be right. I slept in a lot of 25 minute increments before landing in Johannesburg early morning, where we had a 2 hour layover.<br />
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We hopped on a bus that drove us to the other side of the airport and let us out in front of our tiny plane, which we boarded with about 15 other passengers. The flight was freezing cold and the turbulence was fierce. After 1.5 hours we landed in Mozambique. The "airport" looked like a large office building straight out of the 1960's. It only took about 10 minutes and a head temperature reading to get through to our bags and out the door. Christa's husband, Todd, and our translator/driver Afonso was waiting on us. The driver sits on opposite sides of the car and you drive on the opposite side of the road. Very strange. Afonso says it's the correct way to drive, he's funny. The drive from the airport to the farmhouse we are staying in was about 30 minutes. It's very flat and dusty here with lots of palm trees.<br />
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The farmhouse is very cute and quaint, reminds me of Pepaw's house. Roosters, chickens and kids run around everywhere. The roosters never shut up, that's going to get old real quick. We had a quick sit down to get to know each other. It's just Todd, Christa, Braxton and I staying here. Braxton is here for the whole summer, heading up one of the projects that ministers to teenage boys called Spark of Hope. Max and Afonso are here to help drive me around and translate for me. They're both in college and work for CRI. They know everything about everything here and want to change the way marriages and families work. They laugh at everything you say and are so charming and laid back. I already love them.<br />
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We had a couple of hours to unpack and explore the house before we slathered on deet over every inch of our bodies (apparently malaria is for real a threat here) to head out to Vengahana, which is the local churches youth group that meets on Friday nights.<br />
At Vengahana about 30 students came. There was praise and worship, a speaker and then words from several students. There were 3 toddler girls that kept coming up to me and wanting to write on my notepad and look at pictures on my phone. A young English student did his best to translate for me. I didn't realize it until later but the pastor's wife, Noemia, had a birthday coming up and so the students planned a surprise party for her. There were several kids that got up to speak about her and talked about how she was the only mother figure they'd ever had. How she always steers them in the right direction and leads them toward the Lord. She's basically like the Mother Teresa of Mozambiue. One of the toddler girls was actually a child Noemia had taken in. To have a heart like that.<br />
Afterwards, we came back to the house and talked about all the things God is doing here. I cannot wait to see it firsthand this week!<br />
<br />
'Then Jesus said to his disciples, If any of you want to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross and follow me. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world, but lose your soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?' Matthew 17:24<br />
<img align="left" src="http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/5641/sig01t.jpg" style="border: 0px none;" />
Holly Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10129045064850405653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217513230034192693.post-88653853759485013982015-06-26T20:51:00.000-07:002015-06-26T20:51:21.329-07:00That One Time I Prayed AnythingSo I leave in a few weeks for a mission trip to Mozambique. I had to google where that even was when I decided to go there. I'm flying across the world on 3 different planes with one other person to go do all kinds of awesome stuff there for 10 days. Leaving my family behind and taking a leap of faith for only the second time in my 32 years of life (the first was adopting our Ethiopian, of course). This kind of thing is way out of my comfort zone and flying across an ocean makes my armpits sweat just thinking about it, but I have this unbelievable peace and excitement that can't really be put into words...because this one time, I prayed anything.<br />
<br />
Let me back up. There's this women's conference called <a href="https://ifgathering.com/livestream-2015/" target="_blank">If Gathering</a> that takes place in Austin. It's a weekend of amazing worship and community and listening to speakers that straight rock your world. The Hubby was able to score 2 tickets to If and so us and some of our besties made a little couples weekend out of it. The girls went to the conference and the guys....well they watched a Fixer Upper marathon. True story. Anyway, there was this one speaker in particular who talked about finding your purpose and saying yes to things that fulfill you spiritually and saying no to things that don't. It really got me thinking, what's my purpose? What fulfills me? So many people would say their jobs or motherhood or volunteering at a local animal shelter or whatever else is fulfilling to them. I love my job and I love my kids and I work hard at being good at all things I'm involved with, but there's not that thing that I'm just like....oh my word, I get so much joy out of doing this?<br />
<br />
I came home from the conference with a full heart and renewed spirit and a lot of things to pray about. I immediately ordered a book by the founder of If called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Anything-Prayer-That-Unlocked-Soul-ebook/dp/B005ENBBAQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1435376507&sr=8-2&keywords=anything+jennie+allen" target="_blank">Anything</a>. I read it in one week and highlighted more than I ever have in any book, minus the bible. She talks about letting go of our lives and giving our lives to Christ completely and how when you truly pray that God would use you Any way he wants, that he will. That it will be clear and that you must go and do whatever it is he's telling you to do. There is story after story of people praying this prayer and God rocking their worlds with adoption, fostering, moving across the world to be missionaries, selling their companies to give to those in need, etc. I was like, I have to start praying anything!!<br />
<br />
So I did, and then the next week I asked the Hubby if I could teach life group and talk about how God was working on my heart and about all the things I took from the conference. We sat in my tiny living room like we do every Monday night, with the people we have true community with, and I challenged them to pray anything as well. How cool would it be to talk about how God rocked all of our worlds a year from now just by praying this simple prayer, and meaning it. Trusting that whatever he lays before us he will equip us for and how he can use normal people like us to do great things in this fallen world. So I prayed and I waited...<br />
<br />
For 4 whole days until I was at work the following Friday and my first client was a new one and so I'm asking all my new client questions to get to know them.<br />
Me- So where you from?<br />
Client- New York but my husband and and I recently moved here from Mozambique.<br />
Me- Really? What were you doing there?<br />
Client- We moved there to get some programs up and running to help the people there.<br />
Me- So why are you here?<br />
Client- Well we work for this organization called <a href="http://www.childrensrelief.org/" target="_blank">Children's Relief Int.</a> here in town and we are over the Africa division.<br />
Me- Umm...so do you need volunteers for that?<br />
<br />
You mean to tell me that there's a new client in my chair, who lived in Africa (that's so close to my heart), and is working for an organization that does amazing things all over the world and is literally 3 streets over from me and I've barely even heard of it after I've been praying that God would use me any way he wants is a coincidence? I think not. <br />
<br />
So I ask to go to breakfast with her and her husband to hear all about Mozambique and all the amazing things happening there and all of the things that still need to be done there and all over the globe. They obliged and the next thing I know I'd booked a mission trip to go see all these amazing things happening across the globe first hand. Bam. Crazy huh?<br />
<br />
We leave August 5th and fly to NY with an overnight there, then fly to Johannesburg and switch planes to fly into Mozambique. While there I will be visiting women dying of AIDS in their homes and doing bible study with them and taking them food or whatever it is that they need. I will be working in a clinic there for women and their infants to come and get nutritional support and care for their infants and loving on them and resisting the urge to sneak a cute little black baby in my suitcase and bringing them home (because clearly I need a 6th kid). But mainly I will be learning all the ins and outs of a program called <a href="http://www.childrensrelief.org/mozambique" target="_blank">Green Door</a> where they build homes for families in need. I would love to work closely with this project when I get home, raising support for these families who need homes.<br />
<br />
It's going to be a life changing trip, I just know it. I drink wine, I have tattoos, I sometimes dye my hair blue and I curse a little...but I love Jesus and he loves me enough to give me a purpose and help me carry it out just because I was willing to do anything for him and that's pretty freaking awesome. <br />
<br />
<img align="left" src="http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/5641/sig01t.jpg" style="border: 0;" />
Holly Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10129045064850405653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217513230034192693.post-13676960755022992692015-05-20T11:05:00.000-07:002015-05-20T11:08:20.148-07:00If Not Me Then Who?I have this friend, I love her. She is a super mom to 3 girls. She volunteers at our little title one school all the time. She's on the PTA or PTO or whatever it is called. I'm not so much in to volunteering at my kids schools. If you need me to send a dozen cookies to a party or send $20 for a teacher appreciation gift, I'm your gal. But, for the love of Pete, don't ask me to volunteer what little extra time I have and spend it with more bratty kids. I decided a few years ago that I was going to start saying no to anything extra that doesn't fulfill me. I know, I'm kind of a jerk like that. I'll own it. But I admire my friend for spending her extra time trying to make my kids school better. When I give her a hard time about it she always replies with, "If not me then who"?<br />
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I love that saying, except I feel like this should be the churches response to the HUGE orphan crisis in our world today. I'm going to say some things today that are going to step on a lot of peoples toes and I'm okay with that. If you know me personally, you know that I am not generally a people pleaser. Let me preface this by saying that we are not saints. God placed adoption on our hearts, we chose to follow His will, it's the hardest thing we've ever done, we suck at it most days. However, there is one less orphan in the world because of it.<br />
<br />
We as Americans love to live in a bubble. We love to see everything through rose colored glasses, until someone we dislike is voted into office and then we are all up in arms over it. We love the idea of the American dream. Go to college, meet your spouse, get married, buy a home, get a puppy, start a retirement account, travel, have a baby and then one or two more, buy a bigger house, give our kids more than we had and certainly more than they will ever need, get them through school, send them to an expensive college, get them married and then retire and travel the world until we are buried 6 feet under. Sounds lovely, huh? Except guess what? The American dream doesn't line up with the bible. Wait, what?<br />
<br />
Listen, I"m preaching to the choir here. I love my house and I love to shop and I love to eat at nice restaurants and I love to go on vacation and my kids have never wanted for a damn thing. I don't know where the right balance is. But I do know that there are over 100 million children in this world as we speak that do not have a mom or dad or a place to call home. I know that we don't like to think about babies lying in a crib all day and only having their diapers changed once a day and only getting a bottle of formula if there is any available. We don't like to think about them dying alone in their sleep because of a minor cold because their weak bodies couldn't fight it off and there's no medicine. We don't like to think about toddlers living in a tiny room and never getting to see outside the 4 walls they live in. They are frail and malnourished and extremely under developed. They have sad eyes and tummy aches and don't know what a hug feels like. We don't like to think about the orphans over the age of 3 that will most likely never even be considered for adoption because they aren't little and cute and they would come with too much baggage and would be too hard to deal with so they will age out of whatever twisted system they're in and be thrown out of the orphanage or institution with zero survival skills.<br />
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People, this is the world we live in. We can bury our heads in the sand and keep on living in our comfortable homes and pretend like there aren't any real problems in the world, but there are. And if we don't do something about it, who will? I believe that it is our job to take care of orphans. I believe that adoption is God's will for just about everyone. I believe that if you pray about it with your spouse, God will put it on your heart as well and will provide the means to make it happen. I believe that we can end the orphan crisis. I believe that every child deserves to have a family and that I come in contact with 20 people a day that could provide a family for an orphan. I believe that it is hard and expensive and stressful and sacrificial. But if not us, then who?<br />
<br />
<img align="left" src="http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/5641/sig01t.jpg" style="border: 0;" />
Holly Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10129045064850405653noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217513230034192693.post-40772215351100112212015-02-14T19:16:00.000-08:002015-02-14T19:16:19.845-08:00Stupid Pinterest Valentine'sI try not to let little things bother me because let's face it, I got 99 problems and Pinterest Valentine's shouldn't be one of them, but somebody needs to speak up. Do y'all remember back in the olden days when your mom would take you to K-Mart the night before Valentine's to pick out a $1 box of ugly cards to pass out to your friends the next day at school? Or, where we had to bust out the construction paper and markers and make ugly little folded cards with a sticker on it? What happened to those glorious days? When did we decide as parents that every single little holiday party in our kids lives had to become this over the top, ridiculous show of events? Let me just give you a little insight into how we roll at the Green house when it comes time for a Valentine's party...<br />
<br />
About 2 days before the party I run the kids up to Target and they have about 2.5 minutes and about $3 a piece to spend on Valentine's for their friends. Basically, grab whatever crap is left over and go home and write your name on it. Done. Big girls head off to their school parties with their Fun Dip packets, ask me if I'm coming to their parties, to which I reply "Umm...love ya, but ain't nobody got time to watch you eat an ice cream sundae while you ignore me and play with your friends. Some Momma's gotta work." Then I go to the boys little MDO school, rush them through the door and throw a bag of unopened suckers at the teacher and ask her to pass those out amongst their friends. I don't even know the quantity or how many kids are in the class, but surely each child will get a freaking Dum Dum. I'm feeling pretty good about the fact that my 5 children miraculously made it to their parties with something in tow, until I get on social media and start looking at what all the other moms sent with their kids...<br />
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ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Here's the deal, I think these Valentine's are adorable. (I don't have a black heart) But, these are not to impress the kids, these are to impress other mothers. These are to say I love my children more than you because I spend time making these over the top Valentine's for all of my kids friends. What, are you Vampires? Do you sleep? Who the heck has time for that crap? Other Pinterest mothers are turning their noses up at each other and non Pinterest mothers feel like the a-hole parent. Let's just stop. Stop the madness. Let's all go back to the good ole days where kids had to make their own dang Valentine's and mothers didn't have to spend a ton of time and money on crap that is thrown in the trash the day after. All those kids want is sugar so throw them a Pixy Stix and call it a day.<br />
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Holly Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10129045064850405653noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217513230034192693.post-46234745464423036682015-02-09T12:21:00.002-08:002015-02-11T04:05:34.293-08:00A Letter to Robee on Your 3rd BirthdayDear Robee,<br />
<br />
<br />
Today you turn 3. We will celebrate. As per tradition in our family, you will wake up to balloons, donuts, banners and presents. We will dote on you all day because in a family this big, you don't get a whole lot of undivided attention....but today is your day! You have now been home for 10 months. Some days it seems like we came home last week and some days it seems like you've been here for years. Our relationship didn't flow naturally at first, it's taken some work. I've made many mistakes and will probably make many more, I am treading in new water here. Thankfully, you have always been quick to forgive and have loved me still even on my worst days.<br />
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There are things that I am going to grieve today. The fact that we missed the first 2.5 years of your life. The fact that we don't have any baby pictures of you. The fact that you don't even understand what it means to be honored on your birthday, because it hasn't yet been celebrated. The fact that we don't know anything about your birth mom, and I so wish we did. I wish I knew her name so that I could talk about her more personally to you. I wish that I knew her circumstances and the reason she felt like she couldn't take care of you. I wish that I could write her a letter today and send her pictures of you, thank her for giving you life. Tell her that you're safe now and so super happy. That you have the most contagious smile and that joy exudes from your little body. That you are obsessed with cars and always have more than you can carry everywhere we go. That you like to give "face" kisses and leg hugs. That you are speaking in complete sentences and learning to count. That you would play outside all day everyday if we let you. That you love to go to church and school and that you play so nicely with your friends. That you eat constantly and are growing like a weed. That you are loved beyond measure.<br />
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Silas Robel Green, even on our hardest days I wouldn't trade you for the world. You have taught me patience beyond measure. Showed me that my heart can love another. Made my relationship with the Lord stronger. Given me a heart for adoption like no other. Even though you were abandoned, you were never forgotten. You are going to do great things with your precious life, little one. Thank you for making me a mommy again. Although your siblings grew in my tummy, you grew in my heart and I am forever changed because of it. Love you to the moon and back my little Ethiopian!<br />
<br />
Mommy <br />
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Holly Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10129045064850405653noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217513230034192693.post-54551512950037561522014-06-04T11:08:00.001-07:002014-06-04T11:08:38.374-07:00One Month Later<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We've been home with Robee for almost a month. I love how people keep asking how everyone's doing and then<br />
they are like, how you you REALLY doing? So, here's the good, the bad and the ugly one month post adoption...<br />
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Robee is doing awesome. I feel like he feels safe and secure with us. He is definitely attached to me and adores his big sisters. There are fewer meltdowns from day to day. We are establishing boundaries and a schedule, which make our days run a lot smoother. He is gaining weight and eating like a champ. Developmentally he is picking up on new stuff every day. The language barrier doesn't seem to cause a whole lot of stress on any of us and he is picking up new words constantly. We have been to several doctors appointments, had tons of blood drawn and right now we are just working to get his vitamin D levels up and watching a couple of cavities. So, over all I feel like he is doing amazing. Of course, I've never done this before and don't know what to expect (did I mention that I started reading several adoption books and then tossed them because I was on the verge of a panic attack with information overload?) So, we are just winging it. I'm sure I will have to get the poor child a shrink later.<br />
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The Hubby and Ro are starting to like each other more. It was touch and go there for awhile. That Ethiopian has tested every bit of patience the Hubby has. There aren't many men that orphans come in contact with so they are more hesitant around them. They tend to act out in different ways when they aren't sure about someone. Ro whines when I'm not around. Like, non stop. And not like in a scared way, like in a I'm going to annoy the crap out of you until you get my momma kind of way. Problem is, I work 3 days a week, which means Ro is with the Hubby on those days. Let's just say that they both could use some prayers. <br />
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The other 4 seem to really like our Ethiopian. Sophia has been so super helpful. She adores Ro and loves teaching him new things. She is constantly reading the translation book trying to figure out what he's saying and speaking in Amharic to him. If she's feeling extra helpful that day, she will put him to bed and lay by him and sing him songs until he falls asleep.<br />
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Lola is our entertainer and I think that she thinks her job is to make Ro laugh, and teach him dangerous tricks. She is constantly giving him food and has woken up early several mornings to make him eggs because he loves eggs for breakfast. He is pretty smitten with her and follows her around yelling her name most afternoons.<br />
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Beckham has pretty much been a complete punk for the past month. He is the victim and everyone is out to make his life miserable. It's like I thought we had skipped terrible 2's and 3's and then they hit at the same time with a vengence. We are working on his attitude.<br />
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Hendrix thinks Robee is his little pet. He thinks everything Ro does is hilarious. They play non stop and get into everything in my house. They want to eat constantly but heaven forbid one of them takes a piece of food off the other one's plate, all hell breaks loose. They talk in their little baby talk to each other and then laugh and give high fives. It's the cutest. If Robee is upset then Henny sits beside him and pats him. They color on my walls, fight over toys, yell and destroy everything in their sight. They will be best buds for sure. Hopefully my house is still standing by the time I get them out of the nest.<br />
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Because and only because of my little Irish twins, I'm pretty much exhausted. It's like I have these two Tasmanian devils running this show. They never sit still, they never leave me alone, they are loud and obnoxious and poop a freaking lot. They both wake up by 6:30 every morning (for the love) and are just ready to whip my ass. They are both begging for food and need their diapers changed, but the second I change them, they are going to drop a deuce. Then I change them again and put clothes on them. Why do I even bother because before we leave to go anywhere I will have changed them at least 2 more times because I'm pretty sure they have a hidden bucket of snot and dirt that they just go and roll around in as soon as they have clean clothing. Then we go to get loaded in the car and they take off running in opposite directions and think it's so cute and funny that I have to chase them all over the yard. Yeah, mommy thinks that's super funny when we are running late, which is basically all the time now since I can't even pee in the mornings without one of the little devils breaking something or tracking scrambled eggs all over my house.<br />
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Let's not even talk about trying to take them out in public. Besides the fact that the Tasmanian devils are horrible, I have Beckham who is mad at the world and insists on arguing over everything. As if that doesn't make my Target runs stressful enough, there's all the onlookers and the people that like to point out the fact that I have my hands full. No. Freaking. Kidding. What was your first clue? The lack of personal hygiene on my part, the bags under my eyes or the sweaty armpits from my borderline anxiety attack? Can a sister get some Xanax? <br />
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So when you ask me how I'm REALLY doing, the answer is my life feels completely overwhelming and I'm hanging on for dear life! But.... every time I hear that sweet Ethiopian laugh or run up and give me a hug, or when I see the joy in his eyes when he accomplishes and new "trick", it is completely worth every single moment of stress. Although most days I feel like I don't have one more ounce of energy, patience or love to give, the good Lord reminds me that he called us to do this and he will equip us with exactly what we need, when we need it. For now I am holding on to that faith....and upping my Zoloft.<br />
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Holly Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10129045064850405653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217513230034192693.post-143149275882323812014-05-15T06:58:00.000-07:002014-05-15T06:58:10.629-07:00Bringing Robel Home Part 328 hours after leaving Addis, we finally arrived in Dallas. Ugh, I never want to do that with a toddler again. Ever. We had a huge group of friends and family waiting on us with signs introducing themselves to Robee. It was so sweet. There wasn't a dry eye there. Finally, our family was together! 2 1/2 years after starting this process, thousands of dollars, piles of paperwork, loads of stress and we finally had our family of 7 together! To God be the glory for making this happen. We will forever be grateful that He chose us to walk this path.<br />
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We have now been home 5 days and every day gets better with him. We are learning his personality and quirks. This is what we know as of now....<br />
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Robee does not like men. In fact, if the Hubby was even in the same room with him when we got home, he would cry. With lots of patience and perseverance, Ro is slowly coming around. Let's hope this process speeds up because I go back to work next week and Robee will be stuck with Daddy.<br />
He is a cuddler! He loves to snuggle and loves to be held. He gives the greatest kisses and high fives to people he likes.<br />
He is a talker! Unfortunately for both of us, I don't know what the hell he's saying. But, he's picking up on lots of new words and using them and will repeat anything I ask him to...if he's in the perfect mood!<br />
He adores his big sisters and probably prefers them over me. When they are home, he is following them around begging for them to hold him. Lucky for him, the newness hasn't worn off and they usually oblige.<br />
Robee hates to be dirty. He always asks for a napkin to wipe his mouth, hands and table off after he eats. (My other kids should take notes)<br />
He is very active. He went from staying in the same little room with 8 other kids all day to having lots of freedom to roam and he's loving it!<br />
He LOVES him some bread. He's definitely an emotional eater. If he's upset, give him a piece of bread and the boy is super happy.<br />
He scratches his head and blinks super fast when he's tired and taps his feet when he's waking up.<br />
He hates ice cream. We keep trying to make him love it like the rest of us do, but he is not having it...yet.<br />
He will share anything and loves to clean up his toys when he's done making a mess.<br />
Robee's already learned how to tell on his brothers. He runs to me and yells Mommy, no, Henny and points at Henny to tell me that he should get in trouble.<br />
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This little Ethiopian has stolen our hearts and we are just smitten with him. He is a handful, but brings so much joy. I'm so glad that I get to be his Momma and cannot wait to see what the Lord does through our little man!<br />
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Here are some of the pictures at the airport courtesy of Sara Hendricks. Enjoy!<br />
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Holly Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10129045064850405653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217513230034192693.post-56320072614071554802014-05-12T07:19:00.000-07:002014-05-12T07:19:18.388-07:00Getting Robel Part 2So we finally get to Ethiopia at 7am on the 23rd. The Ethiopian airport is all sorts of disorganized. We waited for over an hour to get our Visa, then stood in line for over an hour to get fingerprinted, then had to find the 3 bags that we checked on top of the 2 bags that we carried on. So, we finally walked out of the airport at almost 10:00. We checked into our guest house and decided to go grab lunch and do some shopping real quick before we had to be at The Thomas Center at 4 to pick up our little man. Our driver/translator is just an amazing guy who definitely has a heart for orphans and is able to go into a lot of the orphanages with groups that come in to volunteer. We talked over lunch about the things that he had been seeing and the rumors going around of Ethiopia closing adoptions altogether. By the time lunch was over I felt like I was going to throw up and it wasn't because of the food.<br />
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The Prime Minister of Women's Affairs in Ethiopia doesn't like Americans adopting their children. They are trying to encourage more domestic adoptions, which is making international adoptions slow down a lot. The problem with this is that Ethiopians cannot afford to take care of more kids. They can barely afford the children they have of their own, which is why there are hundreds of abandoned children on a weekly basis. Now that adoptions are slowing down and the government can't afford to take care of these children, orphanages are overrun with children who get very little or no care at all. There isn't money for food, formula, diapers or medicine. There are babies dying every minute in government ran orphanages from simple colds. Robel spent the first year + of his life in one of these orphanages and only weighed 15 pounds and couldn't even sit up when he was 15 months old.<br />
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I don't know how to solve the orphan crisis, I so wish I did. Obviously, the best thing for the child is to be able to be taken care of by their birth parents. That is the best scenario for every child. However, if the birth parents cannot take care of that child, then someone else should. Every child deserves a family. Every child deserves that. Every child should feel loved and wanted and cared for. Think about if you weren't able to feed one or all of your children and you had to make the decision to give them a chance to survive. Can you imagine your child being put in an orphanage with tons of other children and 1 caregiver for every 20 kids? Could you imagine them barely getting fed and never getting rocked or hugged or their diaper changed more than once a day? Could you imaging them slowly regressing in development because they are under stimulated? There are MILLIONS of children that are living in these conditions with zero hope of anything else. What happens to them once they age out of the orphanage? They are put out on the streets with no survival skills and expected to survive in the world. Well, they don't. They turn to drugs or prostitution or kill themselves because they would rather die than keep suffering. Can you imagine that being your child? This problem isn't going to go away, it's only going to get worse. We cannot sit around and wait for someone else to try and "fix" this problem. If this bothers you as much as it bothers me, do something about it. Find an orphanage to support financially, pray about adopting, go on a mission trip and serve others who need hope. Advocate for these kids.<br />
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I digress. So, we get to Robel's transition home and he was ready and waiting for us! There weren't as many tears on his part this time, until we had to wait for an hour on paperwork and he slowly started realizing what was going on. We finally got to leave with him and he loved the car ride. We went back to our guesthouse and he was playing and cuddling and eating great. I laid down with him and he went straight to sleep and slept all night. I was thinking, we just adopted the most chill child ever. I shouldn't of held my breath. The next day went pretty well. We had to take him to Embassy to get his Visa and we ate at a pizza place where an older Ethiopian kept telling me what to do with our fussy toddler. That night he slept great again and I was feeling pretty good about everything. Then came Friday. I guess Robel finally realized that we weren't taking him back and he pretty much cried all day. He wouldn't let anyone but me hold him and every time I put him down, he freaked out. I couldn't do anything to make him happy and he wouldn't take a nap even though he was exhausted. By 7pm, when it was time to leave for the airport, we were both bawling. I took him out on the balcony to rock him and just cried and cried. I told the Hubby that we were probably making a mistake and that we should just take him back to the orphanage where he was happy. The Hubby talked me off of the cliff and we headed to the airport for our 17 hour flight to DC.<br />
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Honestly, the plane ride is kind of a blur now. Robel and I did sleep some and we were able to keep him entertained with only a few screaming fits. We found out quickly that Robee loves bread and eats it very slowly, so we basically just fed him bread the entire flight. We finally land and we are all exhausted. I've been holding a 2.5 year old for 17 hours and my back and arms are about to break. We get off of the plane and wait in line for customs. I decide that since Ro screams when the Hubby holds him and my arms are limp, that Ro can walk. Well, he didn't want to walk. Hell, I didn't either. What does he do? Throws down a tantrum like I've never seen before. Not a tear in his eye, but kicking and screaming and pinching me. This is when a lovely employee of Ethiopian Airlines decides that she needs to get all up in my business. Our convo went something like this...<br />
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Lady- What's wrong with him?<br />
Me- He's throwing a fit because he doesn't want to walk.<br />
Lady- Why doesn't he have shoes on?<br />
Me- Because he kicked them off.<br />
Lady- Where is his stroller?<br />
Me- I wasn't going to carry a stroller all over Ethiopia to use it for 2 hours in the airport.<br />
Lady- Well, you shouldn't let him cry like that because he could get sick.<br />
Me- Thank you so much for your help!<br />
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Well, we are in America now and when American children throw fits like this, they go to the bathroom and get a spanking. You should be glad that I will give him some time to settle in before we do that. Seriously? Mind your own damn business. I have just gotten off of a 17 hour flight with a toddler that doesn't understand or know me. I'm exhausted and am about to pull my hair out, but you're worried that Robee might puke because he's throwing a terrible two's fit? Maybe you should just get me a cocktail and shut up, ummkay?!!<br />
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Then the tears started on my behalf and I could not pull myself together. The weight of the past 2 1/2 years finally caught up with me and I was done. I cried for about 2 hours straight. All sorts of strangers were coming up to me and Robee trying to make us both happy, no luck. The Hubby kept asking what was wrong? I couldn't tell him because I didn't know. All I knew was that I was more emotionally exhausted than I had ever been and I had a little leech that threw horrific fits and with all of my years of parenting experience, I couldn't make him happy. Therefore, I wasn't happy. I prayed that God would remind me why I decided to do this and reassure me that I wasn't ruining our lives and you know what? He did. The Hubby fell asleep, so I had a couple of hours of airport entertaining to do. Within a few minutes, Robee started to show his personality for the first time. He started laughing and talking and running around and giving me kisses. He started gaining more confidence in me and me in him, and started to actually like him! <br />
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The second leg of the trip home was in one of those super tiny planes that only seat about 60 people and are super bumpy. Fantastic. Our flight attendant was a real peach and told me that I had to put Ro in his own seat and buckle him. Are. You. Kidding. Me? I calmly explained that he was super clingy and would lose all of his ever loving marbles if I put him in that seat and locked him down. She said she didn't care. I made sure that she repeated so that everyone around me heard that it was her fault their flight was about to be the most excruciating ride of their lives. So, I lock Robee down in his seat and sure enough...he lost all of his marbles. Screaming, flopping around, hitting and biting the fire out of me until...he wore himself out and slept for the entire plane ride. Maybe that flight attendant wasn't such a jerk anyway. So I enjoyed 2 glasses of terrible wine and soaked in the peace and quiet.<br />
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Holly Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10129045064850405653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217513230034192693.post-55472450825026842872014-05-11T19:30:00.002-07:002014-05-11T19:30:57.230-07:00Getting Robel Part 1Easter Sunday was the day. The kids woke up to Easter baskets and we got ready for church. There was tons of clothes drama because one freaking day a year, I get to choose what my children wear to church. Of course they had coordinating outfits and number 1&3 griped about theirs all morning. Shoot me. I'm pretty sure that I lost my marbles on them in the car, on the way to church, and told them they were ruining my whole Easter. I'm a really awesome parent like that. After church sped to our favorite Mexican restaurant to try and beat the church crowd and savor the last good meal we would have for a week.<br />
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We left for the airport around 3 and there were lots of tears from #2. She does not like for us to be gone. She's a homebody and wants everyone in the family home with her. She's a silent stresser. We get to the airport and have a flight to Charlotte, then change planes and head to DC. The Hubby and I were not seated together on the first leg of the trip. I was in between a man and his 10 year old son. We immediately started talking and come to find out, he had 4 bios and 1 adopted from Russia. Then he goes on to tell me their whole adoption story and how they brought their son home when he was 2.5, like Robee. He immediately started showing lots of anger issues and they couldn't get him to attach. He was violent and harmed himself and others around him. They put him in every therapy known to man and eventually, at the age of 8, sent him to a camp that works with children like him and he will stay there for 2 years and then they will re-evaluate. OMG. Why are you telling me this on the plane when I'm headed to pick my 2.5 year old, adopted son? As if I wasn't already stressed about this whole process.<br />
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Then we flew from Charlotte to DC and checked into our hotel for the night. Because we had already received our boarding passes for all 3 flights back in Dallas, I didn't even think to check on our flight status. So, we get to the airport the next morning, go all the way through security and get to our gate only to find out that our flight had been cancelled. Are you for real? Apparently, there was a broken windshield on the plane or something. Can't you just put some duct tape on that and take us to Ethiopia? Apparently not. So, the next flight didn't leave until the next morning and we had a whole day in DC. Not gonna lie, I was actually pretty excited. It was a beautiful day and the Hubby had never been to DC. Impromptu date day?!<br />
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So we rented a car and headed to the city. We saw all the sights that we could fit in, got sunburned and leg cramps from all the walking. We ate delicious food, shopped, had the best cupcake of my life at Georgetown Cupcakes and enjoyed our little baby moon before our lives got rocked!<br />
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Holly Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10129045064850405653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217513230034192693.post-67674198235732600382014-04-16T19:06:00.000-07:002014-04-16T19:06:32.120-07:00Almost Go TimeWe finally, officially cleared Embassy! Praise the Lord! We weren't suppose to get word until tomorrow, which is when our finder interview had been rescheduled. After being super frustrated with not being able to travel last month, I basically rode Embassy's you know what. Like would email them every other day making sure that they were still on top of our case and seeing if there was anyway to appeal this step in the process or go about it another way. Finally, our consular officer requested a phone interview with the police officer that filed all of the paperwork for Robel's abandonment. It was suppose to be last Monday, then it didn't happen. Tuesday I didn't hear anything and Wednesday I started bugging Embassy again about it. Our officer replied back that they had conducted the phone interview, but were still requiring the finder interview on the 17th. Keep in mind that we had already booked our tickets for the 20th. Basically, on a scale of 1-10 my stress level was a 75.<br />
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Thursday morning I get up and am making breakfast for the kids when the Hubby comes in and asks if we cleared Embassy? Umm...no, why would he even ask me that? Well, he asked me that because Embassy had emailed HIM and told HIM that they were going to go ahead and clear us and were cancelling our finder interview based on having enough information from the police officer. First of all, why the crap are they emailing HIM? I send and receive all the emails, I stay in contact with all the important people, I did 99% of the leg work in this adoption but they email HIM the most important and exciting news EVER. Jerks. Second, it is only by the grace of God and the hundreds, maybe thousands of prayers that were being poured out on our behalf that we got cleared without a finder interview. That basically never happens. Ever. To God be the glory!<br />
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So, this week is slightly stressful. Here are the most common asked questions from this past week..Am I ready? No. Have I packed? No. Am I excited? I don't have time for that yet. Where is Robel going to sleep? No idea. Am I going to drug him on the plane ride home? Absolutely. <br />
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Pretty much the only things I can focus on right now is my ever long to do list and praying that we aren't on the next flight 370. Can I get an amen? No seriously, we updated our will just in case...<br />
Pray for us.<br />
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Holly Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10129045064850405653noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217513230034192693.post-62635542555724531652014-04-07T07:55:00.002-07:002014-04-07T07:55:56.796-07:00Clean EatingUgh...the Hubby and I started 30 days of clean eating last week. Neither of us needs to lose much weight, but we pretty much eat like crap all the time. We love good food and trying new restaurants. His weakness is salty foods and mine is sugar. Like, I could eat a brownie sundae every day for the rest of my life and be sooo happy. We have eaten about 95% organic for about 6 years now. However, organic sugar and butter pack the same amount of calories and fat as non organic sugar and butter. Anyway, it pretty much all boils down to the fact that my brother is getting married in a month and I bought a dress that's a tid bit tight and would really like to wear it comfortably. Plus, I need to quit depending on sugar so much and form better eating habits.<br />
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So, I went to 3 different grocery stores last week and dropped about $300 on organic lean meats, fruits and vegetables. Plus everything I needed for smoothies, because I need my sweet fix everyday. The first morning I looked in our cram packed refrigerator and thought to myself that I had nothing to eat and was going to starve on this diet. First world problems. I ended up making some eggs and a smoothie for breakfast and within an hour was STARVING. I mean, my body is use to bagels and PB&J's and banana bread for breakfast. It was in no carb shock. I crammed my face full of carrots and salad and fruit and nuts all day....and I was still in starvation mode. Day 2 went a little better. I slowly started realizing what my body needed and when. Finding the right balance of protein and grains along with fruits and veggies is a science I tell ya.<br />
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Day 3 I was craving mexican food, because that usually takes up about 50% of my normal diet. So, I went to Chipotle for lunch and got a bowl loaded with chicken and guacamole, along with all the other healthy stuff. It melted in my mouth. By day 4 I realized a few things about eating clean. First thing was that I was sleeping like a rock without any melatonin help. Second, the first week of clean eating will clean you out, no additional fiber needed. Third, I had a ton of energy and didn't hit my afternoon 'Oh crap, I have to have some sugar and some caffeine and I wish I could take a cat nap so I can get through the rest of this day' mode. <br />
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After 7 days I weighed and lost 5 pounds exactly. I even cheated a little and had a couple of glasses of wine...and a few non fat lattes. Don't judge. So, needless to say, all those clean eating freaks aren't all that crazy. I think I may forever be one of them! I will keep you posted. Off to make my kale smoothie. <br />
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Holly Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10129045064850405653noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217513230034192693.post-64531861780259877422014-04-06T13:50:00.001-07:002014-04-06T13:50:31.235-07:00My Thoughts on ChurchI grew up going to church every week, usually 2-3 times a week. That's what you were suppose to do. I have lots of great memories of my church growing up. All of my friends went and there was Wednesday night youth events, camps and disciple now weekends. I learned a lot about faith , the bible and God. I learned how to navigate my way around the bible and was told how much God loved me. I knew all of the words to worship songs and asked Jesus to be apart of my life.<br />
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I also learned that there was a long list of dos and don'ts and if you stayed away from the "don'ts" then you wouldn't be judged and you were definitely going to heaven. Unfortunately for me, I chose the don'ts more than the dos so I was pretty much looked down upon and talked about by the people that were suppose to be loving on me. So, as soon as I graduated high school I just quit going to church. I mean, the judgy looks I'd get the morning after I'd been out all night drinking and hanging out with all those "sinners" on Saturday night just wasn't worth anything that I may have gotten from a sermon.<br />
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The thing about the Holy Spirit is that when you are a believer, He constantly tugs at your soul and will not let you run too far away from him. Because of that, when the Hubby and I got married, I decided that we needed to find a church. A church that we could both agree on and a church that would love us for who we were and fill us with what we needed starting our lives together. We tried several. The Hubby wanted a mega, non denominational church and I wanted a smaller church that had lots of newly marrieds that we could befriend and do life with. We ended up at a mega Baptist church that had everything to offer. We loved it there. We made friends, we enjoyed going and serving and growing in our faith. It restored my faith in the church and it's people. Not because the church was just that awesome, but because I changed my attitude towards church.<br />
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You see, I decided one day that I was going to study the bible on my own. Without any preconceived notions that had been imbedded into my head, I was going to study the bible all by myself and come to my own conclusions about church and faith and who God really was. I realized through that that I could not look to a pastor or worship leader or Sunday school teacher to determine my faith or to fix my broken relationship with God, that was up to me. I also realized the church is full of jacked up hypocrites. I know that because I am one of them. Who am I to judge the screwed up people inside the church when I'm one of those screwed up people? I'm a sinner and I need Jesus and so does every one else that chooses to step foot through a church door. People nowadays don't go to church because that's what they are suppose to do, they go to church because they are yearning for something that the church can offer.<br />
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After 10 years at that church, we felt like the Lord was leading us somewhere else. We prayed about it and visited other churches in our town. We kept going back to one in particular that was very different than what we were use to. It's small and very laid back. There's nothing fancy about it, in fact, we meet in a barn. It's the kind of church where everybody knows everybody. The teachings are solid, the music is raw and soothing. The people love on each other and are all there to better their walk with Christ. It's refreshing.<br />
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I most certainly do not think that you have to go to church every Sunday to have a personal relationship with God. There are missionaries all over this world that never get the opportunity to ever step foot in a church. At the end of the day, God knows your heart and knows where you stand with Him. However, as much as the people inside the church are jacked up, they are jacked up together and are all working on their jackedupness. Yeah, I just made that a word. I truly believe that there's a church out there for everyone, you just have to find the right fit for you. 10 years ago, it was a huge mega church with all the bells and whistles. Now, it's a tiny little Baptist church that meets in a barn. No matter where you go, there will be things that you don't like. Why? Because there's no perfect church. But there is a perfect God and everyone needs him. The churches job is to love on people and help lift each other up to bring each other closer to Him. It's job is to hold you accountable so that you can constantly grow in your faith and quit falling victim to the same sins that have a hold on to you. It's job is to surround you with people that are jacked up like you, so that you can help each other be more like Christ and less jacked up.<br />
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There are lots of churches that offer all of these things and more. Find one. Keep going from one to the next to the next until you find one that works for you. Then once you're there, jump in. Build relationships with fellow believers, serve with your God given talents, give to further the kingdom and you will be so much better for it. You will find your purpose. My thoughts on church are that it's pretty awesome and you should probably try it.<br />
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Holly Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10129045064850405653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217513230034192693.post-77057638738308758092014-03-24T11:06:00.000-07:002014-03-24T11:06:04.662-07:00Travel PostponedWe received official word Friday morning that our finder interview had been moved to April 17th. Even though I was expecting this, I had still been hoping and praying for a miracle and that we could still keep our original travel plans. I'm not much of a crier, so I just immediately got mad. Mad at the fact that we weren't leaving for another month, mad at the US Embassy for requiring a stupid finder interview anyway, mad at the fact that I had moved mountains to get my work schedule rearranged and the kids taken care of for a week while we'd be gone and really mad at our finder for being such a douche bag and not showing up for his original interview. Why does this process have to take so freaking long?<br />
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I guess the weight of the previous weeks stress finally got to me when I walked into my favorite, local coffee shop for my daily latte, and my favorite barista asked me how I was doing and the tears started flowing....and flowing and flowing. I could not pull myself together, for like 2 hours. Poor barista didn't know what to do with me. Can we say awkward? So it was then work as usual with smudged mascara and a red face. I guess that sometimes girls really do just need a good cry. I feel better now.<br />
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So now we just wait. Our tentative travel dates are now April 20-26. We are trying to get the interview moved up and praying like crazy that our finder actually shows up this time and that we will get cleared easily. It is comforting to know that Robel's life is the same. He is too young to understand that he has a family in Texas and is in a wonderful orphanage where he has great care. He is healthy and thriving and has hundreds of people praying for him every day. What more could a momma ask for? God's timing is always perfect, even if we don't understand it.<br />
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Holly Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10129045064850405653noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217513230034192693.post-90016379427599551442014-03-15T20:01:00.001-07:002014-03-15T20:01:31.117-07:00The 11th Hour (adoption update)There are these moments, while you are in the adoption process, where you feel like you got punched in the gut. It's not that hard to do when you are dealing with the fact that your child is on the other side of the world and everything that you have to do to get him home is in other people's hands. Every little, or big, set back just takes the wind out of you and proves just how little control we have. This is exactly what happened this week. <br />
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The ONLY thing we are waiting on in order for us to travel is Robel's finder interview. The US Embassy has to interview either the child's birth parent, or the person that found the abandoned child. The interview was set for yesterday at 7:30 am, which would be 10:30 pm Thursday night-our time. Our finder would have to travel over 5 hours to get to his interview, but agreed and everything was a go. We were expecting clearance Friday morning and then could travel as soon as we liked. I started looking at plane tickets once the interview was set to get an idea of potential travel dates. Let's face it, with 4 kids and a job, trying to leave the country for a week is like moving mountains. There were very little travel options online, so I contacted our travel agent to have her look. She was having a hard time getting us flights as well. We made the decision based on faith and went ahead and booked our tickets for a week after the finder interview.<br />
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All day Thursday, my stomach was in knots. Thursday afternoon we received an email letting us know that our finder couldn't make his Embassy appointment. Punched in gut feeling times 100. Unfortunately for us, Ethiopia is 9 hours ahead of us, which means that everyone there is already headed into their weekend. Which also means that we don't have any answers as to why he couldn't make it, no answers as to whether or not he can reschedule or when that could possibly be?! Can Monday get here soon enough? We are suppose to board a plane in 8 days. Stressed doesn't even do this situation justice.<br />
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After speaking with our case worker, we decided to keep our travel plans as is. We are going to trust that we get this interview taken care of this coming week, that everything will go smoothly and we will get cleared to come get our son before we board a plane in 8 days. Did I say that already? Holy crap. Please be in prayer with us that all of this happens, that we can keep our travel dates the same, and that God is preparing our sweet Robel's heart for us! Good grief I can't wait to get our little man home!<br />
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Holly Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10129045064850405653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217513230034192693.post-73649641374369065202014-02-19T13:06:00.000-08:002014-02-19T15:45:21.069-08:00My ValentineValentine's Day was last week. I love Valentine's Day. Most men think of it as some made up holiday to make them spend unnecessary money. Women think of it as a made up holiday that gets us a present for no reason. Score! The older I get, and the longer that the Hubby and I have been together (11 years btw), the less I expect on February 14th. Just get me a card, write how wonderful I am in it and I'm pretty happy. Don't get me wrong...I'd love to wake up one year to diamonds, but I won't hold my breath. <br />
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The Hubby and I actually got engaged on Valentine's Day. We've come so far in the past 11 years. Up until about 5 years ago, I would have expected some big production on the love holiday. I constantly needed for him to show me how much he loved me. I would even pick fights over the dumbest things just to test him and see how he would react. I was nagging and tried to make him into the person that I thought he should be instead of just loving him for the amazing man he was.<br />
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As the years went on and our lives became more chaotic (add children), the more stress it put on our relationship. Like any new mother, I spent all day caring for needy children and had little left to give to my spouse at the end of the day. When you're nursing a baby round the clock and have a toddler wanting you to hold them 24/7, then the hubby comes home and loves physical touch...it was enough to make me want to run away. Add baby number 3, a case of post pardum depression and the 7 year itch all at the same time. How we made it through that year, is only by the grace of God.<br />
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Here's the deal. Marriage is crazy hard. Doing life with another person that is completely different than you is super challenging. Sharing a home, children, finances and making major decisions together takes a buttload of patience. I don't know if there was a defining moment around that 7-8 year mark, but at some point I decided that my marriage was worth fighting for. That divorce wasn't an option for us. We could live unhappily for the rest of our lives, or figure out how to be happy together. Listen, it's not my job to make my husband happy. It's not his job to make me happy. We shouldn't have to change who we have always been in order to create bliss in our marriage. It IS our job to seek the Lord in everything and by his grace, he will work it out for His glory.<br />
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I don't want to be a nagging, annoying wife. I want my husband to remember every. single. day. why he fell in love with me. I don't want there to be resentment in our marriage and I definitely don't want to live as roommates for the sake of our children. I want us to grow together. We are not perfect, but, we are better than we were 11 years ago. I know that there will be more hardships in the future, but the stronger our relationship is, the better we will be able to handle those obstacles. I am by no means an expert on marriage, but there are some things that I think we do well...<br />
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1. We seek the Lord's will for our marriage and family. We pray, we go to church together, we are involved in a Lifegroup with other couples that are believers. We are constantly growing our faith, because I strongly believe that marriages just don't work unless God is in the center of it.<br />
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2. We have fun together! We don't have much, if anything in common. Therefore, we have to find things that interest us both. We like to play games and sit on the patio after the kids are in bed and talk about life. We joke around and have people over often for dinner to hang out and build relationships. We watch Walking Dead every week because it's obviously the best show on TV. Obviously.<br />
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3. Date nights. Enough said. I know that it's hard to make time for date nights. It's time consuming getting the kids worked out with sitters and it's expensive, but it's a must. Period. If we haven't had a date night in a month, we are both craving one. It's so nice to get away without kids, try new restaurants or go shopping together, and just enjoy one another. There are some months that the only time we even talk about anything important or catch up is on date nights. I cannot tell you how much this will do for the well-being of your marriage. Make it a priority.<br />
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There isn't a day that goes by that I don't thank God for Keith. He can annoy the crap out of me, but he shows me love like nothing I've ever known. I am a better person because of him and even though he thinks Valentine's is a stupid "holiday", I'm glad that it's a reminder of how much our love has grown since he proposed and I said YES!<br />
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Holly Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10129045064850405653noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217513230034192693.post-42865316375655160712014-02-12T19:43:00.000-08:002014-02-12T19:51:09.568-08:00Robel Turns "2"February 11th was Robel's "birthday". I use quotations because we really don't know when his birthday is exactly? When we received Ro's file back in July, there were 3 estimated birthdays listed. I called our agency and asked which birthday were we suppose to use? They told us to just pick one! Knowing that he was underweight and developmentally behind, we decided that we would go with the birth date that made him the youngest on paper. So, Ro turned "2" this week. After meeting him, we've decided that he's probably closer to 3. However, the more time I can get with him before kindergarten, the better!<br />
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Tuesday was a big day because not only was it his birthday, but we also got submitted to Embassy! This is the last step before we can go and pick him up. This part can take up to 6 weeks or more, hopefully it will be much quicker than that! I'm not going to lie, this part of the adoption process has definitely been the hardest.<br />
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It's been 6 weeks since we left Ethiopia. 6 weeks since we got to
hold, kiss and love on our son who is on the other side of the world.
The waiting in adoption sucks. It goes against everything within me to
be at other people's mercy. I am a doer. I get things done. I don't
procrastinate. I'm type A to the extreme. I knew going in to this
process that there is no definite "due date". It could be months, it
could take years. I prepared my mind and my heart for the waiting game
and felt like I handled the first 2 years pretty well. (Of course there
was that unexpected pregnancy and screaming baby for the first 6 months
that kind of kept me preoccupied.) Then we got Robel's file and there
was more paperwork, rainy season and then waiting on MOWA so that we
could get a court date. Those 5 months even went by fairly quickly due
to the busyness of summer, school starting and then the holidays. But
then we met him...<br />
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Time is going by so slow. The
holidays are over. It's cold in Texas, so there's a lot of staying
inside and chilling. Everything is done. We are ready for him. My
thoughts are consumed with what he's doing. Whether he's eating enough
or sleeping well. Whether he's sick or is getting enough TLC.
Wondering if he's reaching any developmental milestones that I'm
missing...again. I just want him home.<br />
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I
most certainly don't think that it's going to be rainbows and
butterflies once he gets here. In fact, I've pretty much decided that
the first 6 months are going to be absolute hell. Prepare for the worst
and hope for the best, right? All he knows is that every person that
he's depended on has left him. He doesn't understand trust or
security. He is going to come from a quiet, organized orphanage to
complete crazy. Our house is loud, our house is messy, our house is
busy and chaotic. It's going to take time for everyone to adjust and
get into the groove with a child that has had almost 3 years of life
before us. Almost 3 years of life and 3 different "homes". Numerous
caregivers that have came and gone, and the first year and a half of his
life with very little attention. Adoption will be the hardest thing we
ever do, and the most rewarding. I'm sure of it. God doesn't call us
to do things that are easy and comfortable. When we do what he calls us
to, no matter how challenging, it will be used for His glory.<br />
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So
while we are waiting and while time goes by at a turtles pace, I will
stare at this sweet picture and pray over that sweet face....and feel sorry for myself that we missed spending his "birthday" with him.<br />
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Holly Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10129045064850405653noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217513230034192693.post-27629851003166730652014-01-20T19:38:00.000-08:002014-01-20T19:38:05.013-08:00Meeting RobelI haven't had the words to write an appropriate post about our Ethiopia trip. So many emotions, not many that I can accurately express. It is such a surreal feeling flying across the world to meet your child. Ethiopia is such an amazing place, I cannot wait to go back. It's overpopulated, animals walk around everywhere, it smells like burnt gasoline and it's exactly what I imagined it to be. I had prepared myself for the culture shock and knew that I had to look past that in order to take every piece of my son's home in. I wanted to experience everything about the culture that I could possibly cram in the short amount of time that we were there. What I didn't expect was to fall in love with the people. Ethiopians, and I'm assuming Africans as a whole are the most content people. They have a sense of peace and a calmness about them that is so desirable. Their way of life is slow and meaningful. They value relationships and community. They enjoy life and don't get bent out of shape over things that just don't matter. I want that. I want to not feel rushed everywhere I go and I want to be content with the amazing life I have. I want to invest in meaningful relationships and enjoy this life that I have been given. I constantly prayed that God would permanently etch in my brain the things that we experienced there, so that the next time I take anything that we have in America for granted, I will be humbled by those memories.<br />
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Meeting Silas Robel did not go exactly as I had imagined. We walked through the door of his room and all of the kids were playing in their cribs. He was standing in his, staring at us. I walked over, huge smile on my face, tears in my eyes and said, "hey buddy"! He looked at me, threw himself on the mattress and started kicking and screaming. Kodak moment. The orphanage director picked him up and pushed him towards me saying, "Robee! Mommy and Daddy"! I scooped him up and we cried together. The director reassured me that he reacts this way to all strangers. I'm not sure if that's really true or if she was trying to make me feel better. He eventually warmed up and we spent a couple of hours playing with him and all of his little roommates. I left feeling pretty good about our relationship. The second day I walked in his room and the second he saw me, he threw himself down and started kicking and screaming. Wow, glad to see you too! We've got some work to do.<br />
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The Hubby asked me what I expected him to do and I said that I expected him to throw his arms up and yell Mommy and run towards me! Totally kidding. Wishful thinking? After seeing how nervous he was, I knew in my gut that I had to come back on the second trip. We had planned all along that for financial reasons, the Hubby would make the second trip by himself and hopefully my brother would be able to go and document the trip for us. Having met him, and can only imagine how hard that week with him in Ethiopia is going to be, we both agree that he is going to need his Mommy! I also decided that maybe I should actually read one of the many attachment books I have ordered since starting the adoption process. Looks like it's going to be harder than I expected. But, God's grace is always sufficient and I am on pins and needles waiting to bring our sweet Robee home. Here's the video of the first time I got to hold my little Ethiopian...<br />
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KGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06741221751476361742noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217513230034192693.post-32651413021323454762013-09-11T12:03:00.002-07:002013-09-11T12:03:53.126-07:00Cousin TroubleMy sister has 3 boys under the age of 4! Her #2 and # 3 are the exact same ages as my #3 and #4. As of January, we now live about 20 minutes away from them which makes cousin life so much fun! We are constantly trading kiddos and having sleepovers. There are tons of weekday playdates and lots of action with 5 little boys being at home most of the time. All of that being said....<br />
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Meet Charlie...<br />
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Meet Beckham<br />
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These two are T-R-O-U-B-L-E!<br />
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They are best friends, wholeheartedly, and they are also VERY mischievous. They are both middle children and love attention, negative or not. They feed off one another and cannot be left out of your sight for more than a few minutes. Whatever one does, the other mimics, even if that means stripping down completely naked and running around my house pretending like they are going to pee on everything. That may or may not have happened earlier this week. They are always dirty, they never wear shoes, they have zero fear and only by the grace of God haven't had a broken bone...yet. I can foresee these two being each others best man at their weddings, giving the most hilarious speeches of things they did growing up together. Let's hope they don't burn one of our houses down before then! These pictures are a great representation of these weirdo's personalities! (And yes, I am aware that Becks has a mullet in these pictures. Don't worry, it's been taken care of since.)<br />
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What a freak show! Any takers?<br />
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Holly Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10129045064850405653noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217513230034192693.post-85633298719585352982013-09-02T07:11:00.000-07:002013-09-02T07:11:42.931-07:00Hendrix is OneMy baby turned 1! His birthday completely snuck up on me. I think I was in denial. When I found out that I was pregnant with Henny, I was less than ecstatic. Remember <a href="http://yougrewinourheart.blogspot.com/2012/01/big-news.html" target="_blank">this</a> post? Weeks of uncertainty, months of nausea, pregnancy hives and a 2 week longer pregnancy than all the rest. Shoot me. Then he came out and screamed for 6 months. I had decided that I was being punished for something in my past. Fast forward to today and this baby brings so much joy to our home. He's happy. He's so unbelievably easy. He's sleeping! Praise the Lord for that one. He is the biggest momma's boy. He rarely cries and is completely content just playing by himself. He is still hanging strong in the 75th percentile and we could not imagine our lives without him. God really does know what he's doing!!<br />
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The other 3 kiddos had over the top 1st birthday parties. This is kind of how Hendrix 1st birthday went down.... We went to church on Sunday morning and his birthday was on that Tuesday. We left church and I decided that I should probably throw something together to celebrate. I called family and asked them if they were available to come over for dinner that night. They were. I dropped the Hubby and kids off at the house and ran to Target. I bought some plates and napkins and cupcakes. Threw a banner up and stuck a birthday hat on him and BAM, we had a party. Sorry Henny, that's just how we roll with the 4th kid. Eat your hearts out....<br />
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Here are all the hooligans on their one year birthdays...<br />
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Holly Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10129045064850405653noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217513230034192693.post-60322304958373465112013-07-24T12:07:00.002-07:002013-07-24T12:07:34.126-07:00I've Seen His FaceWe started the adoption process almost 2 years ago. Of course there was that <a href="http://yougrewinourheart.blogspot.com/2012/01/big-news.html" target="_blank">crazy 4th pregnancy</a>, but regardless of that, we've been waiting a long time to see our little Ethiopian's face. July 2nd we got the call. Our case worker briefly told me a little bit about a baby that she thought we'd be interested in. He was a lot younger than we expected, but I firmly believe that whatever child we got a call on, was our child. It's all in God's hands anyway and we were willing to take whomever he wanted in our family.<br />
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Up until that call, I had been pretty relaxed about the whole adoption process. Although I was ready for that call, let's face it, I'm freaking busy. I have 4 holligans to keep me occupied and my mind on other things besides adoption 24/7. I knew that we would get our referral at the right time and that everything would fall into place as it should. If it took longer than we expected, that was okay, more time for me to get ready for him. That was until I saw his face.<br />
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I opened that file and saw his sweet face. It wasn't love at first sight, I'm not going to lie. I was completely overwhelmed. We had been waiting for so long and we finally had a face. I never cried, I just immediately had the sense of urgency that I hadn't had before. I needed to do everything I could as quickly as possible to bring my baby home. I check my emails 100 times a day waiting for any news of a court date. I check plane tickets daily so that I will already have the best deal ready to book as soon as we get the call. I have a list of everything I will need to pack so that I don't forget anything in the rush. I have childcare lined up for the other kids while we are gone, and a freezer full of breast milk for #4. I know that he is very well taken care of where he is at this time. He's receiving medical care and has caregivers that love on him. But it's not me doing those things for my son and I want it to be ME. ASAP.<br />
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Please pray that we miraculously get a court date before everything in Ethiopia closes for rainy season August 6th. It's a very long shot at this point, but I'm still hopeful. Also pray that our little guy continues to get healthier by the day and that God would prepare his heart for us and our hearts for him. Here is the whole gang seeing his precious face for the first time...<br />
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Holly Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10129045064850405653noreply@blogger.com2