We Are The Truth - an adoption blogger day: To ensure the world knows about every successful adoption, on Thursday, April 15, 2010 blog about your adoption or the adoption of someone you know. It doesn't matter if your adoption is with Russia, domestic or otherwise international. Let the world know your truth!

 

My truth began a little later in life as I was nearing 40. I had never married just never finding the person that God would want me to marry, but I as I spent time with my friends children, I was still yearning to be a mother. On a Friday night the first of June 2001, I voiced the idea of adopting a little girl to my friend Sandy.  Felt like it was impossible as I was single, no money, and worked in a church.  But I knew if God was leading me to adopt, He would provide a way.  And God most definitely led me to each of my children.  On March 28th I flew to the country of Vietnam, a country that I really knew little about before God led me to find my beautiful daughter there.  I can still remember sitting in the office of the Director of the orphanage in Vinh Long and looking up and seeing my beautiful daughter, so much smaller than I had imagined at 10 months with her sticky-up hair.  Could I raise a child by myself?  Could I afford to raise her?  Would I love her completely?  Every doubt vanished as I stook up and held this little girl in my arms.  She wiggled and fussed a little, then seem content in my arms.  i was a Mother and I ached each time I had to leave her.  At the time, Vietnam required 2 visits to adopt.  I met "Hannah" in late March and then had to leave her.  It was truly the hardest thing I've ever done.  But 3 months later, I arrived back in the beautiful country of Vietnam and this time my daughter would go with me when I left to go home.  "My daughter"...there was a time when I thought that dream would never come true.  I am so thankful that Hannah's birthmother gave her life so that I could raise this beautiful and compassionate little girl.  Hannah is now almost 9 years old.  I think of her birthmother often knowing what a special woman she must be to have given birth to Hannah.  I know that Hannah is who she is because of me and her birthmother.  Hannah loves completely.  She is compassionate and caring and oh, she is so graceful.  She is like an angel when she dances. 

But I come from a family of 5 and I love being part of a bigger family.  It was hard for me to imagine Hannah as an only child, so again we prayed for God's guidance.  Vietnam was closed when we decided to adopt again, but as only God could do, Vietnam reopened just in time for me to bring Ella home.  We received picture after picture of Ella, a sad expression on her face everytime.  i was prepared for  a shy little girl, but instead Ella is outgoing and so funny.  I would have never imagined her that way when I first met her.  Ella is very different from Hannah.  But I love her in so many different ways.  She is so smart and keeps me laughing (okay laughing when I'm not frustrated with her!)  But we are a family.  Is it hard?  Most definitely.  Being a parent is hard...disciplining them, helping them learn, providing for their needs...it's all hard.  Would I change things...well, maybe if I had a husband to help.  But I don't.  My church family has blessed our lives and I'm not sure i could raise this family without them, but I don't have to.  They are there to help.  i didn't give birth to either of my daughters.  But they are my daughers without a doubt.  Again, i am grateful for 2 women in Vietnam and I pray someday we will be able to meet them and they can see what beautiful women Hannah and Ella have become.  The truth is...I can't imagine life without either one of my daughters.  My prayer is that I never have to experience it.  We are a family, brought together by love.

Always behind...but I'm still trying to keep this up. Halloween has come and gone. It was a different Halloween this year, but we seemed to enjoy it maybe even more. It was the first year that we didn't have our Trunk or Treat at church, so we had to go trick or treat door to door. We ended up doing a cookout with other staff members and their families which are some of my children's best friends. The girls had gone round and round with their costume ideas. We had thought we would coordinate our costumes, but the girls really didn't want to when it came down to buying the costumes. Ella wanted to be a superhero and although Hannah had agreed to it, she didn't really want to be a superhero. So of course she found a prissy costume, but she really was beautiful...funny though, she was an Asian Senorita. She loves Spanish at school and couldn't wait to tell her teacher and even took a picture of herself dressed up. Ella really wanted to be spiderman, but we finally agreed on Wonderwoman and she sure made a beautiful Wonderwoman. We started the day with carving pumpkins and had black bean soup with sour cream spiderwebs in it. Then time to get dressed and head to the Morrisons. After eating hot dogs and hamburgers, the kids pulled together and we headed door to door. They really had fun and of course Ella brought home twice as much candy as Hannah. No surprise there. So the pics will follow above! Yeah, I just pulled my old Skeleton Bride costume that I had from before the kids! The girls loved that I dressed up as well.

So I got some blood test results back today...very pleased.  You see just over a year ago I had some blood tests taken...end of August 2008 actually and was told that that my fasting blood sugar was 190 and that the tests revealed I had diabetes.  My A1C was 10.6 and I was way overweight and always tired.  Several years ago I had been tested for Sleep Apnea and it was confirmed, but I had never had the second test to be fitted for a CPap machine.  So I asked my doctor if I could try to lose weight and try to control the diabetes with diet.  She agreed to let me try, but figuring I would be on medication soon.  So we schedule the sleep test again and I left the doctor ready to make a change.  That night I read up on diabetes and a diabetic diet.  The next day I went to Barnes and Nobles and picked up 2 cookbooks and thus the lifestyle change began.  I started walking as much as I could.  I did the sleep study in November and had the CPap machine by December.  And life really began to change.  It's amazing how much better you feel when you get a good night's sleep.  It had been a while.  I learned that my diabetes was probably caused from getting no sleep.  By December I had dropped my A1C to 6.4 and lost about 35 pounds.  I started walking inside the church and riding bikes with the girls and again learned to cook some more.  In February I had a little side step when I had to have my gall bladder removed.  It took awhile for me to get moving again and then I fell and hurt my back.  Finally, once the summer arrived I was able to start swimming and the weight began to move again.  So now here we are a whole year later and my I had my check up a few weeks ago, but the results just came today in the mail.  My A1C was 5.8!!!! That's below 6.0!  All my results were right on target...whoopee!  I've officially lost 74 pounds with 33 pounds to go till I reach my target weight.  I'm hoping then I can come off the CPap machine.  Now the sleep is go, but the contraption is a pain!  Can you say Darth Vader?!  Everyone asks me if I feel so much better...well, except for being tired from no sleep, I never really felt that bad...but I do like being thinner of course.  It's not cheap...buying a whole new wardrobe as you drop weight is hard, but worth it.  I really think I've made a lifestyle change.  My children have benefited as well even though they are skinny minnys.  We eat only whole grain breads, pasta, and brown rice.  We snack on almonds and dark chocolate.  I count my carbs, eat low fat, but still enjoy what I eat.  By far, the hardest adjustment is portion control.  I still love to eat and a hand full almonds is never enough, but at least if I cheat, it's healthy for me!  I've found lots of great 100 calorie products that I like and satisfy me.  Peanut butter is a favorite and my favorite is Naturally More found only at Walmart!  I've learned to cook through the process and we try new recipes all the time.  We still eat out and I know how to order, but it's the portions that amaze me.  When 1/2 of the world doesn't have enough to eat, the portions we fill ourselves with or waste at a restaurant amazes me now. I have lots of new cookbooks now, and have started my notebook full of recipes I find anywhere I can, but by far my favorite on is the Hungry Girl cookbook, 200 Recipes under 200 calories!  It's a great way to enjoy the foods I've always loved but with swaps that make them more healthy and with lower fat, carb, and calories.  I get daily emails from the Hungry Girl who tests out new products and alerts to great finds!  Check out the hungry girl at www.hungrygirl.com!  You won't be disappointed.  So may next year at this point, I'll be at my target weight with no more CPap machine.  Everyone at church keeps asking me, "What's your secret?"  Well, there is no secret, I just wanted to be more healthy for my girls and so I'm learning what it means to be healthy.  Next change in my life...finances!  Anyone want to help me with that one?