28 Week Update

So, every week, I wait until Thursday and then I read about how big the baby is right now. If she's average sized, what might she weigh? How long is she? What sorts of things can she do now? You know, aside from floating in amniotic fluid. Take, for instance, this week. As of today, Kate is roughly the size of an eggplant. She about 2.25 lbs and measures approximately 14.8 inches. Today begins the third trimester. She can blink her eyes and now has lashes. She is developing neurons in her brain and fat on her body. One of which she'll be thankful for when she's an adult. The other of which she will lament but will still choose to eat her body weight in Christmas cookies. If she's anything like me, that is.

I do not look ahead to the next week. I want to, desperately, but having some restraint and delaying gratification means that I have something to look forward to every week. I stare at her picture on my refrigerator. So little time. So much time. Depending on how I look at it.

It was exactly two months ago that I opened the email from my social worker. A brief synopsis of the situation. So many reasons not to move forward. At least 30,000 of them. Plus a few more. Like, STARTING ALL OVER AGAIN WITH NO BABY STUFF TO SPEAK OF. And also, I'D LIKE TO OWN A HOME AGAIN SOMEDAY!

I said this very thing to my friend. I was laughing and shrugging my shoulders as if to say, "C'est la vie" That's life.  We lay out our plans and they involve owning a home with a white picket fence and two or three kids that don't cost a collective $80,000 to bring into our family. And then God flips it all on its head. It's like I walk up to Him holding my life's plan scribbled on a piece of lined paper and He just smiles, pats me on the shoulder, and pulls out an incredible blueprint. "This is what I have for you..." He says. And sometimes I realize that I have my priorities all confused. Sometimes I forget that the Bible provides ample commentary on the blessing of children but none on owning your own home.

My friend looked me straight in the eye and said, "Yes, 20 years from now I'm sure you'll look back and say, 'I should have bought a house before I had those kids.'" Obviously, she's right. I wouldn't trade my children for anything in the world.

It's been two months since I first found out she existed.

And we have another 12 weeks to go--give or take. The suspense, y'all, is killing me.

Thankfully, I have a whole bunch of fundraising to occupy my time.

My friend, Renee, thought of a creative way to help us raise funds. The following are her words, not mine. (Well, the red ones are mine.) I don't usually call myself, "one of the greatest people on this earth." I think she has me confused with someone else. Here's her idea...

"I have a friend. Our little boys have played together. She's one of the greatest people on this earth, (there it is...the confusion with someone else) in my humble opinion, and she and her husband are GREAT parents (oh boy. I've got her completely fooled!) who love the Lord with all their hearts. They are adopting for the 2nd time, their first baby girl, and their third kiddo. They need $30,000 to bring her home. (Thanks to the crazy, amazing generosity of our friends, family, and total strangers, we now need approximately 19,500!) and her soon to be big brothers are SO excited!!! Understatement of the year. (Century, maybe.)

So they are asking everyone they know to donate $1. Just a buck. There is NO ONE I know who can't do that. And they're asking everyone they know to share their story. Heck, that's easier than the ice bucket challenge! (Truth. You had to buy that ice and record yourself and donate money and it was...a process. This. This is easy. Just One Dollar. And you can even make it tax deductible if you want to.)

So here's their story click right here (Seriously. Do it. Just click that green writing. It's EASY.)  And (in similar ice bucket challenge fashion) I challenge 10 friends to donate and share and tag 10 of their friends. If everyone participates, this process only has to be repeated 5 times in order for my friends to be fully funded. Let's bring this baby girl home!" (Yes! Please!)

If you have a Facebook account, please consider tagging friends and asking them to give one dollar. You can also email people, tell them face to face, send them a letter, a smoke signal, Morse code, whatever. Tell your small groups, your pastors, your neighborhood grocer, mall Santa. Just help us spread the word. I continue to be completely floored by the outpouring of support we've received. I cannot believe the work God is doing. It's amazing and humbling to stand aside and watch Him work. We're a third of the way there! Please, please help our story spread so that we can continue to fund this adoption!

P.S. You can also click on the link in the side bar to buy Aaron's album! Now through the end of the month, the proceeds will go to funding Kate's adoption.