S.L.O.W. M.O.T.I.O.N

Well, I haven't updated in a few days for a couple of reasons.

First, I was out of town on a retreat that was planned before we started this process - but was VERY well timed by God.

Second, there really hasn't been anything to report. Unfortunately.

We did have our home study the day before I left for the retreat. I was all stressed out that day and really probably drove my kids and everyone else crazy. It seemed to go well though. She came, we talked, she toured the house, and she left. We will wait now for her to write up her report when all of our clearances come in.

There have been some delays in clearance. But it should all be worked out by this next week - and then she should have her report done the week after that. It all feels painfully slow. Knowing that each day is one more day that Lena is in the orphanage is just hard.

We can always see when Lena has been online on the program we use to talk with her and I have missed her about 4 times this last week. It simply makes my heart sick when I get online and it says "last seen 9 minutes ago" which seems to be the time that I get often!

I did get to try to Skype with her once last week, it was not smooth, not much was communicated due to technical malfunctions, but it was absolutely amazing to see her smiling little face, and hear her voice. She couldn't hear me, so I just typed into Skype and she could respond. That didn't work long either, but it was worth it.

We are working hard still on fundraising. We are over 23% now, in only 1 month! Actually.... one month and one day to be exact. She agreed to be adopted by us on June 27, so, here, on July 28 we are over 23% funded. Wow. God is providing!

Saturday we will have our yard sale. Please come buy our stuff! We have TONS of stuff! Electronics, books, baby gear, toys, furniture, clothes, shoes.... it goes on and on. Our cars cant park in our garage right now due to yard sale stuff!

You can order t-shirts now also - $20 for adults and $15 for kids.

And we are taking registrations for the 5k coming up on Sept 14. Please sign up to run!! We want to have a great showing of runners to support bringing Lena Home! I can't wait!

More coming soon.

We have been quiet, but we haven't stopped

Just because there haven't been any posts, doesn't mean we haven't been working.

For the home study:

Today is home visit day.
Criminal history is being processed. Ronnie's is in, Julia's has to be run manually and should be about 2 more weeks.
The medical info should be ready this week.

For the fund raising:

Here is a rundown of everything going on right now to help bring Lena home:
Coffee - www.justlovecoffee.com/mayhewadoption
Donate - http://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/bringing-lena-home-/69199
Bracelets - email me bringinglenahome@gmail.com
T-shirts - email me
Yard Sale - August 3 - email to donate - come buy stuff on august 3 from 7:00am -.....
Burpee-a-thon - August 24. email me to find out how to help raise money here!
5k - contact me to get information on how to sponsor, run, or volunteer.

For prayer:
Pray for Lena. We haven't talked with her now for 9 days and we are really missing her.
Pray for us. We are trying to enjoy this process, but sometimes it gets kinda crazy to have to wait, knowing that she is simply waiting on us.

cakes, junk, and needles

Well, we have done our best to make everyone around us a few pounds heavier by selling some of Alabama's tastiest baked goods over the last two days. Yesterday, at the farmers market we sold over $300 worth of cookies, brownies, cakes, and breads.... tonight, at Calera Baptist, we sold another $90 worth of goodies. So, our total for the bake sale was just over $400! Thank you to everyone!!! Our overall total now is just over 17% - - - in just 3 weeks!!!!!

The next big project is a yard sale - two weeks away. If you are getting rid of stuff.... clothes, furniture, DVDs. etc. etc. (you know, treasures that you need to get rid of) send them our way! We have several families' donations already stacked in our garage, and are ready for more! You can price it or we can price it... whatever is best for you.

I will also need people to help me sell that day - so, come on. I will make coffee, we will have water and such here that day at my house - come shop - and stay to help us sell! We are doing everything we can come up with to bring sweet Lena home! She wants to come home soon.

We have our home study almost completed - we are only waiting now on the in-house visit that is scheduled for next week.

It is amazing what one can do for their child, isn't it? Here is a strange quirk about me. I pass out with needles (and blood in general). I mean, I passed out once when they pricked my finger before attempting to give blood... obviously they never let me make it to the real needles! However, when I have been pregnant - all 4 times (two losses, two bouncy children) - I haven't passed out once! It is almost like when I know it is for the good of my baby, I can somehow deal with the needles. Even once, after a pregnancy loss, when they were drawing blood to be sure my numbers went back to 0 - I knew the first time they drew the blood after it had all gone back to 0.... I got all woozy and hot - they laid me back in the chair fast enough to not fully pass out, but I was close!

So, this week, at the doctor I was nervous. Josiah and Lydia were in the room with us and I was going to have to have blood drawn. It was almost scary... she put that needle in - and I didn't feel a thing! I mean, no tingle, no heat rush, no room turning black.... just like when  I have been pregnant.... but I am NOT! it's like my body/emotions knew that this has to be done to bring my baby home.

Pretty crazy.

It has now been since Saturday that we got to message with our girl. I miss her more every day. Pray that she gets online soon please...

Details

So,

we had our family physicals today - and as it turns out, our family doctor has two internationally adopted kids... and has a good friend with a Ukrainian adopted child.... and has a folder in his office on how to fill out Ukrainian adoption paperwork. How about that? Our God does details! :) This doctor that we chose a year and a half ago, has multiple experiences in adoption... two being his own kids. He is helping us with some of the craziness of that part of the process!

Also,

the college students at our church were at my house tonight. Baking, painting, playing with kids, washing dishes, and even putting up folded kids clothes and toys. They are awesome. I stood back a few times, listening to two sweet girls giggle in excitement to spend time with my daughter. I saw them smile when they talk about helping Lena plan her wedding one day. I saw them already loving a girl that one has met once and the other hasn't.

In addition,

there are about 12 families that have baked a table full of goodies for this bake sale tomorrow! I am completely humbled by the way people give. I am brought to tears in thanks for the friendships of these dear people - and to my knees in praise to my God.

Earlier today,

I was nervous about whether or not people were going to buy my baked goods. But after the faithfulness that I have seen today, I'm more concerned with my heart that fills with doubt so easily.

Oh, how He loves us.... So.

Upcoming Calendar of events

I will try to keep this edited and up to date as best as possible -

Upcoming events and big dates:

July 16: Bake Sale at Calera Farmer's Market
August 3: Yard sale
August 24: Burpee-a-thon in Northport, AL
September 7: Family night with Grace Klein ministries. Liberty church. Hoover.
September 14: 5k Race in Calera, AL
Oct. 4-5: yard sale 2

Oct. 12-26: fall basket raffle! (http://bringinglenahome.blogspot.com/2013/10/fall-basket-raffle.html)

Oct. 25-26: Yard sale 3!!!
Nov. 2: Mary Kay, Tupperware, 31, Scentsy, Young Living Open house

Nov 16: Calera Christmas Market - Calera UMC
Nov 18: Julia goes to Kiev!!!

Ongoing fundraisers:
Cheeky Maiden Soaps - Hope Suds! http://www.cheekymaidensoap.com/hopesuds/profiles/meet-the-mayhews
Just Love Coffee - https://justlovecoffee.com/Mayhewadoption
Bracelets - email us your order bringinglenahome@gmail.com
www.youcaring.com - search for Mayhew Adoption
t-shirt orders - $20 for adults and $15 for kids. email bringinglenahome@gmail.com to order.

She hasn't called me momma

As Lena left for the Ukraine three weeks ago, there were actually two things that I didn't have. One, was that I didn't have the peace of knowing that she knew she was loved and wanted.(as previously mentioned) The second one was that she had never referred to me as Momma.

Now, that seems simple, however, the other thing was that she also never called me Julia. She never called Ronnie by his name either. She would talk directly to us, she talked to Josiah and Lydia - but she never called us by our names. The only reference to Ronnie that she made was when handing Lydia back to him - she would be talking to Lydia and say something along the lines of "back to Papa." Now, I don't know even now if it was because she didn't know our names? The kids are introduced to so many people while they are here, I can imagine that at a certain point, everyone begins to look the same - especially at the point of introducing names and such - and that once a bond is beginning to be established, it may be a bit awkward to the kids to be saying things like "I love you, what's your name?"

Fast forward.

We have gotten to message with Lena about 4 times now via chat and even in this, I really didn't know what to call myself. I am not yet, legally, her mom. I am also, (hopefully) moving past the point that she would need to simply call me Julia. So, on chat, she still hasn't called me by any name. She just talks directly to us, there isn't really a need to use personal names most of the time.

Today was an emotional day on chat, she had cried to her instructor to get time online, we didn't know how long it would be and it was the first time she started asking when we will come to get her, and when will she be in America. She pressed us to try to give specifics - and the truth is, we WANT to go NOW! But we honestly have no idea when we will get to go get her.

Our conversation was complicated. It is always challenging due to the language barrier. We sit with both google and bing translators open and Ronnie with his Russian-English dictionary for the words that don't translate well. We work for every sentence. We wait on each phrase.

Today, it was more emotional than usual. But the point that just broke me was this. We were trying to be encouraging that we will be able to send her some packages when she gets finished with camp.  So, we asked if she wanted us to send her anything specific. I was hoping she would list a few things that she maybe saw when she was here and wanted us to send to her. I was even kind of hoping that she would ask for some things that we would not be able to provide until she is ours! (or even some things that we will say "no" to?!"

Her response was not easily translated. The first words were "I want normal..." But there were more words in the sentence it that both google and bing wouldn't translate.

After we looked in the dictionary, but still didn't find it,  I sent her back a message that said that I didn't know what those words were - I put that text in quotes. She simply wrote back "НУ МАМУ ПАПУ" - I am not sure if you know much about Ukrainian.... but even not knowing the letters.... momma and daddy. In all capital letters.

When asked what she wanted.... her answer was "a normal mom and dad."

She still hasn't called me momma. But I felt today like we took a great step forward. It is hard sometimes to not get mechanical in this process. It is hard to keep working sometimes. But then, on a day like today when the emotions were flying, and it was so obvious that she wants us, it pushes me to go prepare for another fundraiser - to fill out some more papers - and to go find the furniture and decorations we need for her room. She still hasn't asked for things. She didn't provide me with the list I was hoping for. She provided me with a giant step forward....

She will call me momma one day. It will be worth every second I am waiting while we build this relationship over the internet.....

Day 17 done - 17 days closer to bringing my baby home!

HOME

It is the little things.

I know, I just posted today. But this has been an awesome evening. 

It was date night. 

We had 3 hours with Josiah and Lydia taken care of by some dear friends. First, at dinner, Ronnie and I were at a small, privately owned place. We discussed whether or not to ask for a sponsorship for the 5k race from the manager. We discussed how much cooler it is when you have someone that has a personal connection, that it seems like it would be hard to trust someone that just walked in, not a 501c3 or anything, asking for money. But then he said he would ask if he could figure out who the manager was. 

He goes to check out.

The Girl that was working there leaves to get my to-go box and yells to the back, "can you check this guy out?" The Guy walks to the front..... Yep. The Owner. 

Card reader has technical difficulties. Wouldn't connect to Internet..... Buying time for a conversation! Ronnie explained what we are doing, that we need sponsors.,.. The owner agrees to consider it! We should know soon! 

We have already been blessed this week by how quickly and enthusiastically many corporate and private business owners have donated to sponsor the 5k race. (If you know of anyone who would be interested in sponsoring, please let us know! T-shirt space is available:))

So, we were shopping a few minutes later. And we ran into someone that we really have been needing to talk to in order to get some helpers at the race.... Imagine what he said?! Yep, they can help..... And they won't charge the usual fee! (Don't ask who this was.... We are sworn to secrecy:)) just praise God for not only the gifts of running into these people we needed to talk with, but also that they were interested and helpful! 

To top it off..... We were looking for some paint. Three colors. And just "happened" to find one of those gallons of paint - premixed - on sale for $10! (Normally 30ish)! Exact match to what we needed! Exact!

 Yeah, that alone isn't a big deal..... but its just one more small piece.... 

We really do need to get a journal. This journey has already been so amazing. The stories are constantly Driving us to our knees in praise. We decided that its like watching God put together a giant, beautiful puzzle. One that is sharpening our faith, pushing our trust and in the end, it is growing our family!