I Heart My Machine

We discussed our plan of attack for the creepy crawlies over a hearty breakfast at our hotel. It was decided that the first thing that needed to be done was to wash the first house's bed linens and bag all of the stuffed animals that were so nicely placed on each bed.

It sounded like a good plan in theory but when you consider that the "washing machine" looks like this:

The chore suddenly became more daunting. Knowing that only really hot water can kill the lice and nits (and there was NO hot water to be found in our neck of the woods......believe me, I know. I was reminded of that each night when I shivered my way through a 3 minute shower.) we had to create our own hot water. 2 big pots, some water from a hose, and a fire were the perfect (and most primitive) way to get started. 
Bobby was our resident hot water dumper.
And I was one of the designated washers.
I used a specially crafted washing tool made of a particular blend of tough fibers that created the perfect blend of friction to capture and kill the lice and their eggs........or I just grabbed a dirty stick from a pile of wood and started stabbing the sheets. Whatever.
After all the sheets and several piles of clothes were doused in the hot water they had to be hung out to dry. We quickly realized that this plan of attack was going to take more days than we had to work with. So, one house got properly sanitized and all the other houses got fresh sheets and their old ones will get washed the normal way when sheet washing day rolls around.
I couldn't help putting this picture in here. This is the bathroom, shared by 25 girls, in the first house that we cleaned. No soap. No toilet paper. No toilet seat. I guess we can be thankful that they had a flushing commode but man, how grateful am I that my cabinet currently holds roughly 8 rolls of toilet paper, I always have soap to properly wash my hands, and my toilet seat is comfortable enough to sit on and peruse an entire Reader's Digest? I mean, not that I do, it's just that IF I wanted to, I could. You know. If I was ever in there that long or something. If.
The actual de-licing is up next. You don't want to miss the motherload head of hair that housed an entire colony of the creeps.

Misson: El Salvador

Finally! I've sifted through some of the thousands of photos my team and I took while we were in El Salvador and have had a little free time to post about them. We kept a team blog while we were there and I was the Day 1 blogger. Here is what I wrote on that day:

Day one seemed to start off quite slower than I anticipated. Then I realized, for sure, that we are on “El Salvador time”. Breakfast- over an hour, fast food lunch- over an hour, getting some fabric for sheets- well over an hour. We ended up at the orphanage around 3pm and were greeted by children running out of every door available. I stepped out of the truck (by the way, we’ve totally gone old school and are riding in the back of a pickup everywhere we go. Just know it’s against everything that I believe in and don’t tell the kids. I don’t want to have to use the adage “Do as I say, not as I do) Our motto: pray hard and don’t look at the speedometer. I was hugged at least fifteen times in the first 3 minutes that we were there. “hola! Como te llama?” Do you know how hard it is to remember the names of over 100 children? I can’t even get my own kid’s names straight usually!

We quickly had to let go of our plan to start the de-licing upon arrival. Most of the older children were still at church and the younger ones were so busy playing and chasing us that it just didn’t happen. We have plans to do it on day 2.

Just a quick fill in for those of you that I don’t know: We have been in the process of adopting from ES for nearly three years now. Recently our adoption took a new road and we’ve had to realize that an adoption from ES is not in the cards for us. However, God had a greater plan and our adoption journey finally has an end in sight. I thought this new road and the promise of a child in the near future would make this trip easier….it didn’t. I had such an overwhelming sense of sorrow when I first arrived. Looking over to see Bobby holding a girl of no more than 13 months nearly made me lose my emotional self control. I don’t understand. I’ll never understand why. I quickly pulled myself together as I was pulled in multiple directions.”Vamos, vamos!”

How much do the girls love Bobby? I’m feeling some serious crushes going on. “Bobby, Mira, mira!!” Look Bobby!! And then they would touch their toes, or throw a ball in the air and let it hit them in the head. We did find one girl that is just perfect to fit in our crate on the way home. She’s a chatty Cathy though so we’ll have to find some way to silence her for the plane ride. Oh, I jest. Sorta.

I loved every minute of today. I even let the girls braid my hair during which time I had a personal devotion with the Lord. “Please God in Heaven, let the lice hate my hair. Help me keep my hands below my shoulders so as not to inoculate myself. And God, did you know that they don’t have soap in the bathroom? Amen.” I think the Lord is still working on my stronghold J

The sweetest thing was listening to the 2-4 year olds do their devotion in the evening before bed. All of these little beings sent up the sweetest prayers straight from their heart, criss cross applesauce in the floor with their little eyes closed and hands folded. “Dear Lord, please protect the Americans and thank you for letting them be here”. How touching that they are praying for us when the whole point is for us to be here praying for them.

God is good and he definitely filled us with “sweet kisses” (as my friend Alicia says) all day long. We can’t wait to see what is in store for us tomorrow! Pray for us as critter clean up is in our future and continue to pray for our protection as we may or may not have had to yell loudly like strong men so as to ward off gangs while we might or might not have been riding in the back of the pickup truck in the dark……maybe. If you’re Mary Lauren’s and Amanda P’s mom you can read the “may NOT’s and might NOT’s.”

Now, some pics:

We finally arrived at the orphanage after a drive of a little over an hour. I was one of the lucky ones that got to ride in the other truck that was carrying our luggage. I had a seatbelt and the normal protective steel around me so I was feeling pretty safe. It was decided that Bobby and I should split up. That way, if the pick up happened to wreck, both of us wouldn't be splattered watermelons on the roads of El Salvador.

The kids swarmed us and wanted pictures as soon as we arrived. I can't remember this gal's name because I called her "hard hand clapper" all week. She sought me out to play hand clap games with her nearly every hour but I finally had to bow out. My hands were seriously aching from the overzealous clapping she did!
It was like the paparazzi showed up or something. I thought this was hilarious that I took a picture of Mary Lauren taking a picture of Wendy taking a picture of some of the children! 
One little boy grabbed me and asked me to play checkers with him. Needless to say, he beat me because I had no idea which rocks were mine. All I know is that he was jumping rocks all over the place and just putting them in his pile. While he was doing so he was probably thinking, "Stupid gringo....".
One of the most fun things of day one was having an ice cream party. We had enough cones and ice cream for everyone and they were SO excited.

As soon as word got out that we had brought ice cream, everyone started lining up at the kitchen window.
Even the little kids formed a single file line. They had one girl, Pamela, that lined them up for all of their meals and made sure that they got their food.
This little boy decided to share his ice cream with his buddy. He poured a little into the older boy's hand and he just scooped it off with his finger and ate it. He may not have gotten any for himself. I'm not sure. There were some kids that weren't allowed to have any because they "had colds". I'm not exactly sure what that means other than there is a lot of room for medical teaching there.
Ice cream brings smiles all around the place!


Next post will be a delve into the greatness of lice removal and the fun of washing clothes in the medieval times........let's just say I would've french kissed my washing machine when I got home if that were possible.

Have a Little Look-See.....

at the future Morgan Princessa:

Due to arrive May 18th........maybe sooner!

The Rest of the Story

Warning: This is long.

The very same night that we moved the boys, we started working on priming the bedroom for it's new color. We had lots of cooks in the kitchen for this job but the boys were so excited to be helping that I couldn't say no.......at first. After three pairs of ruined pants and many brushes of primer in inappropriate places I nixed my three helpers and decided to finish after bedtime.

So, backing up: In December last year Bobby and I had really been praying for some direction regarding our adoption. In July of this year it will be 3 years since we started the process. Waiting that long had really begun to wear on my emotional stability. It's just a hard roller coaster to ride for that long. We received word via a very knowledgeable, reliable source, unrelated to our adoption agency,

that quote "if you are waiting on a referral of a girl, healthy, 0-3 years old from El Salvador, it's NOT going to happen". Apparently the government is not issuing certificates of adoptability to those children. Don't know why. Doesn't make sense. Big blow. We contacted our agency and had a meeting set up for the end of January.

Another pic of all the sorta helpers:

We headed out on an almost 8 hour drive to our agency to meet with the CEO. He confirmed what we had been told and spoke of all the uncertainty in adoption in ES. His wife, who is the head of our agency's domestic adoption program sat in on the meeting. She suggested that, even though they don't usually do so, that we put our name in the domestic hat and just see what might happen. I had already researched this option and am not joking when I say that 4 other agencies had told me, "Birthmothers do NOT choose families like yours (with that many biological kids)". Several would not even consider our application. My agency normally wouldn't, but since we'd been waiting so long they made an exception.

I (along with a very, very talented and dear friend), put a scrapbook together of our family. Our book was sent out by our agency at the first of February. We didn't share that we were exploring this option. We just wanted to keep it to ourselves for the time being because we knew the chances were slim and we didn't feel like explaining it, to tell the truth.

In the meantime, still living expectantly on God, my mom, my sister and I finished the painting. (This pic was taken yesterday so I've obviously added some extra things.......like curtains ,a rug, and a chandelier that I was told EVERY girl needed in her bedroom).
On February 9th and 10th my email inbox was flooded with friends from my bible study and church group sending well wishes, prayers, and encouragement regarding our adoption. I thought Dr. Phil was going to show up because I was convinced someone had set up an intervention for me. He never showed though and I was thankful. If I were going to be on television for an intervention I would like to have a cute, new outfit. I didn't. So it worked out for the best.

Her little bathroom is now pink and this is a really bad picture of it:
Friday, February 12 was just as normal as any other day. I had to be at two places at once since the boys were having Valentine Parties in their classrooms. I started out in Cade's room and then after about 30 minutes made my way back down to Grant's room to monitor his sugar intake. I kept hearing a strange noise and then it registered......my phone. My phone is ringing that special ring that I set it to just in case one of these years my agency actually calls me with some type of information. My phone has NEVER rung it's special ring. NEVER. Until this day. I answered quickly and I'd be lying if I said my heart wasn't beating as fast as it was when I won the blue ribbon for fastest sprinter in the fifth grade, or if I said there was no way my pits were sweating. It was my agency with "the call".......a birthmother had chosen our book. What? A BIRTHMOTHER HAD CHOSEN OUR BOOK!! I may have said, "Shut your mouth!" or "Shut up!" Whatever I said wasn't a nice thing to say to the woman who is calling to give you great news! She didn't seem offended.

I then cried, in the hallway of my son's school, like someone had just shot my puppy. I couldn't believe it. After all the negative feedback, after all the neigh sayers, after all the waiting. Our family was picked. God's fulfilling his promise. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.
And, just to add a little more praise where praise is due: Bobby and I had prayed specifically that a hispanic woman would choose our book. We had been picturing our daughter with brown skin and brown hair for so long we couldn't imagine anything else. I had asked Bobby, "What if they give us a white baby?" He said, "White baby? I've never thought about having a white baby." Which cracked us both up since we are, in fact, white!

And just as God would have it a Puerto Rican woman chose us....and her baby is fathered by a man from Honduras. 100% hispanic, just as the desire of our hearts.....one beautiful, newborn, Hondurican baby girl!! (Don't look up Hondurican. I made it up. But I feel certain that I like the way it sounds and I may just coin it as a new nationality.) Yeah for some pink for this testosterone laden family! Looks like come May the look of this family is going to be forever changed!

Stay tuned....this story might not be over just yet :) Next up: Mission Trip posts. It takes a person a long time to sift through 2,500 photos in order to blog about them!

Ahoy Matey!

February 6th also brought about big changes for Little Buddy. Being that he is a nocturnal Chatty Charlie, (unbeknownst to him), he scored a room all to himself. What used to be Grant's pad is now his pseudo-ship for pirate play!

Gone is his twin bed with railings on the side. He's moved up to a full size bed with the ever looming capability of being fallen out of! He was pumped! One thing he was not ready to let go of was the rocking chair. I asked him if I could leave it out and his reply was, "Well, I guess you could.......but no. I'm going to go ahead and keep it. You like rocking me."
I found an old treasure map and a ship's anchor to complete his decor. I've had a pirate picture on order for the last month and it's yet to arrive. I'm praying that I'm not getting hoodooyed. 
Rhett "lubs" his new room. The changes have not interrupted anyone's sleep cycles or anything. It's brought about some confusion when getting out of the bathtub because for a couple of days everyone was running to the wrong underwear drawer. Those problems have since cleared up!
Little Buddy's bffs like their new space as well. What's a new pad if you can't share it with your friends?
Tomorrow I'll peek into the changes in Cade's old room. Yummy. Those changes are exciting!

Expectant

This post is late in coming.....but such is my life lately. I feel like I've been two steps behind in everything that I plan to do. I've sent my son to a birthday party with NO gift, forgotten to pay my mother's day out tuition (although that's no shocker being that my mind still doesn't register the due date without the handy "pay now" sign taped to the door), left wet clothes in the washing machine for days and then wondered why I had no clean underwear..... My mind. It's been on hiatus.

Anyhoo, January brought some changes here at the Morgan Casa. In the midst of a truly wonderful bible study, God sent me a strong conviction about my attitude regarding our adoption. His question to me: Why do you doubt? Why are you living with no hope? That's when I made a decision: I am going to live expectantly! I'm going to fully expect that God is going to finish out the work that He's started in this family. 

As of February 6th, expectant living looks like this:

Yeah, yeah. Not the picture you were thinking of I'm sure. That my friends is a picture of two brothers now sharing a room. I gave Cade the option of choosing: room to yourself, or share with a brother. He picked share. Then he picked Grant.
The consensus was that Little Rhetters does too much talking. It's the truth. Cade and Grant were overjoyed to move into their new quarters as bunk mates!  

After I shot down the Star Wars bedding, both settled on having a sports themed room. That worked out well being that the local Tarjay had several accessories that went well with the decor.
I must say that my request for this post was just ONE normal looking picture. Now that you've perused all of the shots taken you can see that "normal" just really isn't in this family's vocabulary. That's okay. Most of the time normal just really isn't much fun!

Stay tuned for Little Buddy's room.......and more of this story!

On A Mission

At the time of this post our mission trip begins in exactly 36 hours! Last night we had a quick little get together with some of the team to do some packing. Amanda P. was stoked about being there :)

We had tons of donations from our Sunday School class as well as my mom and dad's church. We packed 60 boys watches, a gagillion girl's hair accessories, girls and boys underwear, handmade blankets and birthcloths, and a few pairs of stray shoes in this box. 

Bobby was in charge of weighing the boxes. He and I clearly didn't agree on how items needed to be packed......I wanted to place small items together in ziploc bags. He preferred to just pile things in willy nilly with the "git er done" man attitude. Needless to say, I let him do that and then when he walked away I put things in ziplocs. Deep inside he thanked me for it later when we had to move some items around......deep, deep inside. He may or may not have referred to me as "Packing Nazi" once or twice.

Here's our box of fun: Jump ropes, playdough, craft sticks and lots of diecuts, coloring books and some things Bobby picked out- wiffle balls and bats, baseballs, and glo-sticks. Have you ever seen a sad kid with a glo-stick? Me neither.
Next our box of toiletries and randomness: bowls, neopsporin, q-tips, cups, deoderant, soap, and toothpaste (all nicely packed in ziplocs, might I add).

We racked up with some shoes. All the boys will be twinkie-dinkie-doo with their almost converse shoes on. Piled under those are tons of girls shoes. We should have enough for every child to have a pair. God will have to work out the sizes because we just bought what we could find.
I didn't take a picture of our fifth box. It's a box-o-pads. And really, who wants to come to this blog and look at a bunch of pads? Here's an interesting fact though: A packed to the hilt crate of pads weighs just a hair over 25lbs. Now if you're in some kind of random knowledge contest you'll surely win with that tid bit of information.

So, 36 more hours until plane boarding, 60ish hours until we debut at the orphanage and tackle our first major task.... the de-lousing of 100+kids. If my hair looks a muck in all my pics when I get back it's because I've greased it in tea tree oil to ward off critters. If Bobby is bald it means the tea tree oil didn't work.

It is very likely, if I can pull it off, that my crate will look like this on the way home:

If there is a hand visible it means that the medication wore off before we made it all the way home. Also, the visible hand will also likely mean that you can catch my picture on America's Most Wanted or CNN News "American Missionary Kidnaps Child"......wait. Didn't we finally just quit hearing that one?? In any case, I'll try to keep things legal. Thanks in advance for your prayers for our team!!