Feliz Navidad

Our son, Our name

Yesterday this precious little man got a new birth certificate and a new last name. Oh, how his mommy wants him in her arms! Won't be long now, Miguelito!

At Last...

I would have to say, last night was by far the hardest since this process started. Rock bottom! A night of agony, a lot of tears, crying out to God.

I woke up exhausted, went to a celebration Tim's boss threw to celebrate Tim's swearing in, came home and Tim and I crashed. We went to bed at 3:00 PM. We were both exhausted in every possible way. Just before 6, Tim got up and asked me if I was just going to sleep til morning. I thought "Yeah, til Tuesday or Wednesday morning," but we were interrupted by the phone.

It was our agency. Today Harrison was declared legally our son by the Guatemalan government! The longest and most dreaded part of the adoption is over. HE IS OURS!!!! We should bring him home the first week in February.

I waited patiently for the Lord;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
He out a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the Lord.

~Psalm 40:1-3

Be Still My Soul

Be Still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side,
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend,
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

This beautiful hymn was written in 1752 by Katharina von Schlegel and translated into English in 1855 by Jane Borthwick. And yet it is searingly relevant to my life in 2006. Never has a song so summed up what I am feeling, as this does today.

Just call me Mrs. Esquire

Well, it is official. As of 1:45 pm today Tim is an attorney.

There was a nice swearing in ceremony at the Maryland Court of Appeals. The courtroom was gorgeous, and six judges presided, decked out in the traditional garb. I wish I had brought my camera, but typically cameras aren't allowed in courtrooms, so we didn't bring one. (Of course they made an exception today.)

The speaker was the president of the Maryland Women's Bar Association. Then, the judge from our county spoke briefly about Margaret Brent, the first female attorney in the US, who happened to live and practice in Maryland. So all in all, it was a bit feminism heavy for the likes of me. But the judge did end his speech with a bit of sage advice for the new attorneys. "Never, ever, (dramatic pause) drink White Zinfandel. Life's too short to drink bad wine."

Then the candidates took their oaths and finally were pronounced attorneys. I cried. Tim has worked so long and hard for this, and it has finally happened. His dedication to this goal has been so inspiring, and over the past 3 1/2 years he has truly become my hero. I have never worked with such resolve for anything. I am daily challenged by the life I have watched him lead, and I pray, by the grace of God, I will be a fitting helpmate for him.

Thank you Lord, for my amazing, hard working man!

Psalm 27:13-14

I believe I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord, be strong, and let your heart take courage, wait for the Lord!

And now for a little controversy...

Oh, relax... It's not that controversial...

Tim and I have decide to use cloth diapers... yes, you read that right, cloth diapers! Now before you start raving about folding, pinning and rubber pants, not to mention the sheer eeeewwwww factor, hear me out...

Frugality. It is something I, new to the housewife scene, have been taking very seriously lately. I eat up every Frugal Friday posting I can find in Blogittyville. It has actually been quite fun. So a few weeks ago, I was over at Ladies Against Feminism and there was a great article called Babies On A Budget by Mrs. Tracy Lambert. Mrs. Lambert, a mother of eight, created a list of what is really necessary for baby and where money can and cannot be saved. But it was this comment that got my wheels turning.

We used disposables with the first seven. I wish I could reclaim the money that we spent diapering the first seven! Cloth diapers are not nearly as much trouble as I originally thought and much cheaper than disposables.

As I started reading around, I learned that the a family using disposable diapers, can spend $600 to $1000 per year. But a cloth diapering family (using top of the line diapers) will only spend about $400 per year. Plus, those same diapers will work on baby #2 and #3...

Hmmm... Just thirty years ago, cloth diapers were pretty common. In fact, my mom used cloth on me. Hmmm... Couldn't be that hard, could it? Oh, I'll end up in the ER, after accidentally stabbing Harry with a diaper pin... So I tried to dismiss it.

But my wheels didn't stop turning. Cloth has to be way more comfortable than PAPER! And what is in those disposable diapers anyway? So I did some research. CHEMICALS! Chemicals are in those diapers. Dioxin, Tributyl tin, Sodium Polyacrylate Gel (banned by FDA for use in tampons), not to mention chlorine and chemical fragrances. I challenge you to Google some of these chemicals. Check out the FDA warnings and then tell me why we are sealing them against our babies' skin 24/7.

Now despite my DH's jokes, I do not consider myself a Crunchy Con but when it is estimated that Americans use 18 million disposable diapers per year, I think a case could be made for good stewardship here.

So I started looking for cloth diapers. Guess what I found. No folding, no pinning, no rubber pants. These are not my mother's cloth diapers. They are easy to use and adorable! We have decided on Fuzzi Bunz. These diapers, called All-In-One's, have three parts: a super-soft fleece layer against baby's skin, an absorbent cloth inner layer to pull moisture away and keep baby dry and a waterproof outer layer to keep mommy dry. And did I mention they are adorable?

So, in summary, here are the benefits to cloth diapering:

~big time money savings, especially if you plan to have more babies
~cloth, not paper on baby's skin
~no chemicals on baby's sensitive bits
~significantly lower instance of diaper rash vs. disposables
~a few less diapers sitting in our landfills
~the new cloth diapers are just as easy to put on as disposables
~all diapers are gross, these aren't as gross as you think they are
~very hip, all the celebrities are using cloth now
~and finally, God chose the exact moment in time when His son would be born, so in effect He chose cloth diapers too. :)

Not Your Average Christmas Song

I have never been a huge Third Day Fan, but this song...Wow! All I can say, through my tears, is Wow. If you have heard it, you know why. If you haven't heard it, you should.

"Merry Christmas" by Third Day
(last song on the CD)

i heart christmastime!

We put the tree up and did some decorating last Saturday. My DH thinks it's better that you can't see are all my hot pink and lime green ornaments. We agree to disagree!

Decorated for a whole week... Now if I could just make some progress on those Christmas cards...

The Real Slim Sadie

Here's that adorable little doggie that I mentioned in my last post!