Happy Birthday Claire

Then

And Now

I have a Bible verse for each of my children to remind me of God's faithfulness and all He has taught us. Our Claire Bible verse is "God has made me laugh and all who hear will laugh with me." Genesis 21:6. As most of you know we were in the process to adopt our first child when God shocked us with a pregnancy. I literally laughed upon seeing the results of my first pregnancy test. In fact I thought it was so comical, I sent Chris out to the store to purchase a second pregnancy test while I poured myself a glass of wine fully expecting the first test to be a practical joke. It just seemed so nuts that God would allow me to get pregnant (after trying for years) when He had so clearly guided us and our hearts to adoption. And then it made me laugh even more to learn our girls would be just 5 months apart. We made others laugh too with my big pregnancy belly and a newborn in my arms --- quite the walking side show.

This verse grows sweeter to me each year as I've watched Claire develop into our family clown. She oozes with sunshine and silliness and keeps us laughing. It is as if God has etched this verse into her core.

Great Grandparents

I love generational photos. They speak volumes not only of the importance of family and heritage but history too. Zane met his Great Grandparents on the Bauer side of the family last week when we drove to Tulsa, OK. The girls did great watching movies and coloring but Zane has no interest in TV, he primarily wants to eat crayons and he refused any of the toys I packed for him. He simply had no interest in being buckled in his seat for so long and let us know loud and clear of his discontent. However, it was well worth it to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Bauer. They gave the kids Oklahoma tshirts which I'm sure will cause much rioting by the UT and A&M family members. Enjoy the pics.

Gucci Camping

For as long as I've known my husband (umm...since we were 15) he has referred to camping in site of one's car as "gucci camping." Although we very much enjoy backpacking trips, we are not up for it yet with this trio of little ones we are attempting to raise. The idea of packing diapers in and out of the wilderness...yuck. Plus Chris carries our 2-person tent for us when we backpack. Is it wrong to make the kids carry their own tent?

Instead we opt for gucci camping with the kids. Friday we went out to Pedernales Falls with the Kouri family which includes their sons, ages 2 and 4. We had a great time and all the kids did well. They were troopers and enjoyed the adventure and of course, the gooey, yummy s'mores. For those interested we ruled the ideal minimum age for campers is 3 1/2-years-old. One and two-year-olds don't remember the campfire is hot and should not be touched.

As a side note, no, Claire's scraped up nose did not occur while camping. The night before the trip she was kneeling in a swivel chair and being spun around and around by her sister. The chair flipped and she hit the bedside table with her nose. I wince everytime I look at Claire's banged up nose. The swelling has gone down some but it's still bruised.

Born in September

Heard of the "Born in September" campaign? It's a charity: water birthday campaign to bring clean, safe water to the people of Ethiopia. It's so inspiring to see the radical change just one person can bring.


The September Campaign Trailer from charity: water on Vimeo.

1 Year Ago Today

One year ago today Chris and I landed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia after a red eye flight from Rome, Italy. We were exhausted, delirious and thrilled. A couple Gladney folks picked us up (after waiting nearly 2 hours for our luggage!) and drove us to the Hilton Hotel. We grabbed quick showers (not wanting Zane's first impression of us to be that we were stinky), then back in the car and off to Gladney's infant care center. I can remember the butterflies insanely flapping in my belly during that ride.

And then THE moment, out on the balcony when Zane was placed in my arms. I can still feel the light rain that was slowly sprinkling upon our faces, Zane blinking in confusion as to why his feeding was interrupted to walk outside, have sprinkles falling upon him and being handed over to these strangers. I can still remember him looking at me, trying to figure out what he thought of us, he was so tiny...and then he spit up on me...and then I got a big smile from him. Oh wow. That was a magical day.

How grateful we are to our Lord for allowing us to adopt Zane and be his mommy and daddy. We are still spellbound by this charming little man we are privileged to call son. Zane's birthmother is also heavy on my mind today. I imagine there is not a day that passes when she does not think of him, long for him. I'm putting together a book of photos from this past year and plan to send it with a future traveling Gladney family, in hopes the Gladney folks in Addis Ababa might get it to her.

Care for Orphans

Steven Curtis Chapman will be on Larry King Live tonight, 9pm ET, discussing his experience with orphans and adoption. Check out his contributed article at CNN.com. I'm not familiar with his music, other than I know he is a Christian artist, but I am familiar with his adoption charity, Shaohannah's Hope.

I realize adoption is not for every person. But I think every person can do something to care for orphans - be it sponsoring a child, donating to an orphan fund, fostering, mentoring, visiting orphans, etc. To whom much is given, much is expected.

In Chapman's article, he says, "If only 7 percent of the 2 billion Christians in the world would care for a single orphan in distress, there would effectively be no more orphans. If everybody would be willing to simply do something to care for one of these precious treasures, I think we would be amazed by just how much we could change the world."

Ethiopia Gathering

We had 50+ people over Saturday evening for a cookout with the Austin Ethiopia Adoption group. It's such an encouragement to us as we see this group rapidly grow, knowing these families will be a wonderful support for us in raising our children.

It's not only a group Chris and I will benefit from as we raise Zane but also I think about the friends Zane will make through this group, friends who share a birthstory and heritage from Ethiopia, being adopted by U.S. families, and for the most part being raised by caucasian parents. It will be important for him to be around others with similar backgrounds and skin color. Lily and Claire - what a blessed experience for them as well to grow up having friends with a variety of backgrounds and skin colors.

It was a beautiful sight to see all these sweet children playing together.