Beautiful Sunday- Music

As many of you may know, it is really hard to find anything positive from the DRC. The internet is filled with pictures of child soldiers, airplane crashes and poverty. However, I am a firm believer that there is positive in everyone, and everything (sometimes you just have to look deep to find it).

Today's beautful Sunday is dedicated to the music of the DRC. It is rumored to be some of the best in the world. After searching on Youtube, I can't really deny it is catchy. Here is a small sampling:



Of course I chose this song because it is about the place, Mbuji Mayi, where my girls are living now.

The singer had beautiful words to say about music. She says:
"We, people of Kasai dance to express our joy of living and fighting stress. We do it with wit and ingenuity. Enjoy our musics - it is not your fault , you are just a spectator. Nothing wrong with that ."

My next project is to fill my ipod with some of this great, spirited music (and maybe try to translate some lyrics so I really know what they are singing about!).

I hope my girls never forget to dance, never forget to express their joy in life and never forget music, wherever it is from, is amazing in any langauge. Enjoy!

Decision Made!!

So as you may know it has been a bit of an agonizing decision over if we can afford emotionally and financially to get Sara a sibling or not. Matt and I have thought about raising two kids into this world, woken up at 3 am with thoughts running around in our minds, and researched the topic so much I could write a thesis on it. Finally, we knew our time was up, all the papers are in and waiting for us to make a decision already...

So without further ado, the final decision is........





Yep, final decision, we are getting two! Sara will be getting a little sister! We figured it was now or never in terms of getting another child out of the DRC; there is no way we wanted to go through the waiting, the paperwork and the money again in a few years.

Are we crazy? Probably. Are we ready for two orphans going through attachment and cultural issues? Probably not. Are we happy we made the decision finally? Definately.

Tomorrow we will see who little sister is. It is a girl Sara will know- I just hope they get along and aren't upset they have to spend the rest of their lives together!

I will let you all know as soon as we do about little sis. In the mean time, feel free to smile, laugh, think we are crazy or just wish us the best of luck- we for sure will need it now!

Decisions, time...

No one has ever said adoption is easy, and they were right! The paperwork and checks are easy, so is running around town for notarizing. Really the hard part is the emotional roller coaster and hard decisions to be made. We still don't know about a second kid- it is so hard to decide! Another would be great for Sara, and getting as many kids out of the DRC as possible is necessary, but what is really best for our family? Do we look at the immediate financial situation and say no, do we think of an adjustment period for two and decide it would be too much for us? I just wish I had a sign of some sort, a dream or vision- heck, an apparation of my grandpa telling me what to do would not make me feel any less crazy at this point. All comments are welcome....what would you do?

We are Broke! Help??

This week the agency asked us if we would take home a little boy from the same orphanage as Sara. I LOVE the idea of her having a sibling, I adore mine and think everyone should have them. So we said we will think about it. I even started looking for a cool boy name (they are a lot harder to come by than girl names!).

But, we crunched the numbers, and after traveling to get them we would be about $8000 short on getting a second baby out of that H***hole they call the Congo. I don't want an only kid. If we wait a few years to get another one, again they would have to be older so they would be within a reasonable age difference. So, it is with a very heavy heart that I think I have to admit defeat. We have only had about 5 absolutely amazing people help us with fundraising...thank God for those people, we can't thank them enough!

But that is not enough, without some divine intervention and very generous people we are way out of luck. So, if you read this and you could send $5, then have everyone else you know send $5 maybe we could get one more child out of that place, save one more from becoming uneducated and poverty stricken...can you just ask your friends to help? We sure appreciate it!!!

Beautiful Sunday- Hair!

Wow, we received a new picture of Sara. She sure looks happy, and she is in a clean house with the same shoes on as before, in a different (clean) outfit. I like to think someone is being her protector, loving her and making her feel like she is safe until we can go and get her.

The one crazy (and in the eyes of the Congoleses, Beautiful) thing is....... her hair!

Here is a sneak peek:


Yes, evidently Coolio stole his signature hair from the women of the Congo...I bet no one would have guessed that!

I have heard the hair is something to be wary of, something to endure and a thing that, as a white woman, I will find surprising. I have been told to get silk pillowcases, learn to braid and don't wash her hair more than once a week. I have also heard hair is one reason some black people don't like white people adopting "their" kids- because we don't know how to care for their hair!

There are even numerous books written on the subject:
    

To be totally honest I am a bit afraid of what will happen when Sara's Coolio braids come out, I think I may just hire a stylist to come to the house and do it for me. At least I am a woman who loves her hairstylist, although styling hair is a totally new beast.

So, for this beautiful Sunday I ask you...what does your hair say about you? About culture? About beauty?

Time...

Isn't it funny, most the time time itself goes so fast we say things like,"It can't be Christmas already!" or "how is it already Friday again?", but when it is something of major signifigance time seems to stand still and stretch out into infinity (which of course it does naturally scientfically speaking)...

We learned today government and immigration could mean we can't meet Sara for another 6-8 months- this means she will be 4 when we get her home. We will officially be adopting an "older" child and not a toddler....in time 6 months is nothing, in meeting your forever family it is an eternity.

The bright side is we get more time to think about her room design, more time to enjoy going spontaneously to the movies (and not kiddie movies) and more time to be just us...the bad news is a whole 6-8 months- adopting an "older" child, more time away from knowing who our daughter really is...

I just hope the government works quickly for us, time flies and 6 months is really closer to 4....

2012!!!

Good morning !!

What a beautiful, intersting, emotional and wonderful year this is going to be. 
This year Matt and I will go from this:  

to this:


 
It will be year of exaustion, busy times and new loves. We will be like real adults, and I am hoping it will be a beautiful, growing experience for us.

We got the new (yes, really new- our first ever!) family car this week:   (also dated 2012); and I must say after being able to load real furniture into it, it has now become my first new love of 2012.

So here's to a great New Beginning. I wish you all a Happy New Year and continued (new) loves and excitement in your own life.