Blessed

It's been a busy day, but even in the hustle and bustle of this Mother's Day, I've still been able to pause and realize just how very blessed I am. I've got four amazing, funny, healthy children. Out of the four, I have one that was born two months premature, one that was given a 0% chance of survival inutero, and one that I was led to on the other side of the world. Blessed - yes! Amazed that God has chosen me to trust with these four little souls - oh yes!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mommas out there! And a HUGE celebration goes out to all my Momma friends in the adoption process that found out AMAZING news this week! My friend Shannon got her referral this week (Haiti)! So did Laura (Ethiopia)! My friend Fran is meeting her new daughter this week (Ethiopia)! My friend Cindy is FINALLY able to proceed with their adoption as they are officially in IBESR (Haiti)! My friend Stacie found out she's traveling next week to bring her son home (Congo)! My friend Susan is meeting and bringing home her daughter this week (Philippines)! And one of my dearest friends, Emily, is bringing home her TWO daughters this week (Haiti)! (I'm so geeked up for the homecoming Wednesday I can hardly stand it!) These friends all followed our adoption process with Macy, and it's been incredible being along side them during their process! 

Bunny pictures this weekend!

For all you local peeps....Amanda Humphrey Photography (that's me!) will be doing Easter portraits with live bunnies again this year! This has been a huge success the last two years, and I look forward to doing it again this year. I'll be doing them at Hazel Path Mansion in Hendersonville, on Gallatin Road (across from Wendy's), on Friday and Saturday mornings 10am to 1pm. No appointment necessary, it's first come, first served. Cost is $25 and that will cover your session, and a cd with 8 to 10 edited images on it, along with the copyright release to reproduce them however you wish. Cds will be ready before Easter.
Tell your friends! I'd love another big crowd this year!
*Note: There's a slight chance of isolated storms on Friday and Saturday. We will be doing the pictures on the beautiful covered porch, and will be shooting rain or shine! Spread the word!

More Stupid People.

I've shared with you all before about all the lovely stupid people I've met since bringing Macy home. Stupid, ignorant, one-track-minded people. (Gosh, that doesn't quite sound like Jesus oozing out of me does it? Well, if I could think of a more Christ-like way of putting this, I might have tried. But I came up empty, so stupid it is.)
It was 82 degrees (maybe even warmer) today in Middle TN - perfect Spring Break weather if your destination is, well, Middle TN. I wanted to take full advantage of the sunshine, so we all took the tags off our  brand new flip flops and headed to the local Greenway. When this area of town was built a couple of years ago, I thought, "Oh great, a park with no playground. We will never go there." Well good golly Miss Molly, was I ever wrong. My kids LOVE this place. And I don't even take anything - like bikes or balls. They just go and run and explore. Today we packed a picnic lunch (courtesy of Sonic) and had us a fun couple of hours. Just when I was about ready to wrap things up, Aidan says, "OH! Let's walk up to the library and check out some books". Now I'm not one to crush my children's love for literature (erg!), so I dragged my legs and little ones down the path and headed to the library. The kids were great...even Hootie was making an attempt for using an inside voice. After finding their books they wanted to play on the kiddy computers, so I let them while I stood behind them looking at a book. I then see two women, obviously library employees, scurry by me whispering in a rather concerned tone. I could tell they were looking for something as they glanced up and down all the aisles. A few minutes later they came back up to where we were (by the way, we were the ONLY people in the children's room of the library today) and walked right up to Macy, tapped her on the shoulder, and say, "Sweetie, did your Mommy leave you here? Because we've been looking for her because we don't want you to be left in here all alone." I was literally three feet behind Macy. I say, "Excuse me?" And they say, "Well, my co-worker here thinks her Momma must have left her in here and children aren't allowed to be in here unattended, so she came and got me and we've been searching all over for someone." (Insert image of me seeing red right about... now.) I simply say, "She's mine. I am her mother." They reply with some "umms" and "ohhhs" and scurry off.
AGHHHHHHHH!!!!!! HELLLOOOOOOO????? They didn't even ASK if she was "with me" (which is what I usually get) or if I'd seen her mother. All they saw was a little black kid with no black momma in sight, and made their own assumption. And HELLO unobservant librarians, she and Hannah were even wearing coordinating dresses. And we ALL came in together. HELLLOOOO???? And if you are going to be so stupid, PLEASE do not do so IN FRONT OF MY CHILDREN. Poor Macy already realizes she's different than the rest of her pastey-white family...she doesn't need you reminding her in public.
Anywho.....
Other than our run in with Mrs. and Ms. Racial Profilers, we had a lovely afternoon....

Thank you, Dr. King

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

 

 

I have a dream today!

 

 

I have a dream that one day, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers."

Hearing Dr. King's speech gives me chills. Reading about and seeing video of the racial separation that took place just a generation or two ago blows my mind. Even in my generation, as a family with a black child, we still get odd, inquisitive, and even disgusted looks on a daily basis. But as for me and my house...as for MY children...they are growing up in a home, and hopefully a generation, where seeing children of different colors and races holding hands and hugging each other is the norm.

Thank you, Dr. King, for helping dreams become reality. Because it wasn't an easy road to get here, and good gracious some people still have a ways to go, but how thankful our family is for a man to stand up for what was right, and to lead the way.

On the growth chart! At last!

A couple of weeks ago Macy went for her four year check-up, and lo and behold, the child is FINALLY on the growth chart! She's still a LOT smaller than the typical four year old, but she's in the ninth percentile at least! Yay! And just to let you know what kind of growth we are talking about: in one year (the amount of time she's been home) most kids her age gain about 2 lbs and grow about 2 inches. Macy gained EIGHT AND A HALF POUNDS and grew FIVE AND A HALF INCHES!!! (Afro not included in that measurement. :) )  And to emphasize even further....I'm not the healthiest of cooks. Like, not at all healthy. So if this child grew THAT MUCH in a year - it just from getting FOOD period! Not even healthy, nourishing food everyday. (To my benefit, we eat a LOT of fruit - just not too keen on the veggies around here. Unless they are dipped in ranch.) So there - the girls is growin' and on the growth chart! That's what some Southern cookin' and some family lovin' will do for a girl!

Our Itty Bitty Ethiopian

Our Big(ger), Sassy, Southern-Talkin' Sweetie

Luke 2:19

I love the nativity story. I never get tired of hearing the sweet story of our Savior's birth. The wise men, the shepherds....all of it. But since December 2005, the first Christmas I spent in the role of "Mommy", one particular verse has pulled my heartstrings more than the others. It's a verse that often gets overlooked. One that most people probably read quickly through, or even skip over.  But good gracious, how I "get" that verse.

"But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart."

I "get" it. I SO get it. I get staring at your baby and wanting to just visually soak him in...his tiny hands, his perfect little mouth....wanting to remember everything about that one moment. Looking at him and wishing that time could just stand still. Feeling like your heart could just about explode from the depths that you love this child. Trying to wrap your mind around the fact that this is YOUR child...YOUR responsibility...a little life that YOU are responsible for molding. As a Mom, there have been so, so, so many times that I've stopped to "ponder them in my heart". These moments are usually at night, when I sneak in to their quiet bedrooms and see them sprawled out, mouths open, dreaming away. (Gah, don't they always look so stinkin' perfect then....even when they've been horrendous during the day...at nighttime they look like little angels). Many nights I've sat on the edge of four little twin beds, prayed specific prayers over each child, and just marveled at the thought that little ole ME is their Mom. And every.single.time it absolutely astounds and honors me that our Lord thought that I was fit to be their mom. I treasure these moments. I ponder the responsibility and the blessing. And oh, how unfit I feel. How there's never been one night that I've thought, "Yep, today I nailed it. Today I coulda won that Mom-of-the-Year Award". Nope. I sit there and think, "Geez, I blew it today. But thank you, sweet Lord, that I get to try again tomorrow. Thank you that You trust me with these four precious, amazing children, because I know I just couldn't live without any one of them.  You brought them through high-risk pregnancies, weeks in the NICU, even across the world to be my children - and tomorrow you are going to let me wake up to four little faces expecting great things from their Mommy. Thank you that I can expected great things from YOU to try to make that happen."

I don't take my title as Mommy lightly. I think. I plan. I stress. And being a Mom to a three, four, five and six year old isn't easy. But at the end of the day, when it's all done, I stop. I treasure the moments. And I'll ponder them all in my heart. Because no matter how badly I don't want it to happen, they ARE going to grow up. That sweet baby I rocked on Christmas Day 2005- well, he's six now. There's no more footie pjs or rocking to sleep or me being the only one to console him. Those moments with him are treasured up.

Merry Christmas from our family.



Miss Macy turns 4!

 Our sweet Macy turned FOUR today!When I look at how tiny she is, it's still hard for me to believe that she's actually that old. But GOOD GRACIOUS does she have the personality to make up for her height! She may be small in stature, but she's big in sassiness, attitude, and just out-right FUNNINESS (is that even a word?). And she's changed soooo much in the past year! I got tickled today because my bff watched the kids while I picked up the cupcakes today, and she said that Miss Macy used the word ya'll in the plural possessive form. As in, "I like ya'lls Christmas tree." Yep. We've ruined her. We took this precious child with this gorgeous dialect and oozed our Southern slang onto her, and we've just ruined her. Oh well.

As some of you may know, three of our four kids have birthdays in the same week in December. For real. Oh, and did I mention that our anniversary is thrown in there too? Yeesssssss.....and then Christmas. Genius on our part, huh? Well, the past couple of years we've been throwing one big party for the kiddos....as for right now they don't know any better. This year's party actually fell on tonight...on Macy's actual birthday. I'll share about the party soon....maybe tomorrow. But for tonight I just wanted to give Miss Macy B a big ole' shout out and say WE LOVE YOU, Silly Girl. And just can't imagine life without you!