Updates. . . All Around

Adoption:
T and I have been on the waitlist a little over a month. (See our cool little ticker at the bottom of this blog) That means we can expect another 3-5 months before a referral. Although, I have to be honest. . . I'm not holding my breath to that timeline. Things with adoption change SO much.

I have no idea where we are on the "list" with our agency. I'm thinking once we hit 4 months, I'll probably ask the agency where we are on the waitlist. Some bigger agencies provide that information, but ours doesn't. So, we will truly be surprised when we get that call.

Adoption Community:
I've recently gotten in touch with some people who are using the same agency as T and I. It's great to be building a community of other adoptive parents.

Tonight I'm getting together with a local woman that our agency put us in touch with. We are not only using the same placing agency, but we are also using the same local agency, AND are adopting from the same country. Can't wait to meet her and have local people going through the same thing. And it's possible that our future children could be in the orphanage at the same time. Very cool to think about. :-D

Life:
Is it bad that I haven't started Christmas shopping yet? Today I fully realized that Christmas is NEXT week. I should drag my butt to the mall one of these days.

Life has been extremely busy and eventful lately. I plan on doing some posts about this in the new year. For the rest of the year, I think I'll avoid the topic. :)

Bloggers:
I'm looking for guest bloggers to do a guest post on my blog about why you choose the country you did for adoption? So far, I have a lovely friend working on a piece about why she choose Ethiopia, but I'd love any other takers. Are you in the process of adopting, or have already adopted? Did you choose domestic, South Korea, Ukraine, Russia, or any other country? I'd love to have you do a guest post on my blog. Just shoot me an email or leave me a comment here.

And The Winner IS. . . . . . . .

Thank you to everyone who entered your name in the drawing. I really wish you could all win. I did the drawing the old fashioned way. . . put a bunch of names in a kitchen bowl, shook it really good, and pulled out a name. And the winner of the Flip Video is. . .

.

.

.


JACKIE!!!

Congrats Jackie! I don't have your contact information, so please send me an email at:
leah spafford @ yahoo . com

Thanks again all who entered. Tomorrow I'll return with a real post. :-D

The Drawing

Thanks all who entered the drawing!

The polls are now closed, and I will draw names either tonight, or tomorrow, and post it as soon as I do. Good luck. :-D

What is your Cause?

On Saturday evening, T and I attended a beautiful Advent Vesper's concert that our Alma Mater puts on every year at a beautiful church in downtown Minneapolis. We went with some friends, and had a wonderful time. After the concert, we went to a little French Bistro with our friends and had dinner. Afterwards, we headed back home. We had carpooled with a friend of ours whose car was parked in our driveway.

At 11:30 pm, we took the exit to our house. The exit we always take off the interstate. It was a very cold evening, and I think we were all looking forward to getting to our prospective homes and calling it a night. We pulled into the driveway, said goodbye to our friend, and enjoyed the comfort of our warm home.

A perfect evening. For us.

At 11:45, at which time I was already in my warm bed, cuddled underneath a couple layers of blankets, another family was going about their evening. The parents had just come from a funeral, and had picked up their 5 children from a friend's house. The wife was also 8 months pregnant with their 6th child.

At 11:45, 15 minutes after us, this family took the exact same exit we took off the interstate. No doubt, the exit to their home. Unfortunately, their night didn't end there. Instead of getting home safely like we had just 15 minutes prior, this family was met by a drunk driver who was going the wrong way on the exit ramp. This drunk driver hit this family, and the poor family had no time to react. Instead, the wife is in critical condition, and her 8 month old fetus is dead.

What a difference 15 minutes can make in the rest of your life. Just another reminder on how life can change in an instant.

There was a story about this family in our local paper today. They are accepting donations at any Wells Fargo's in the area. I wish I had more to give this family.

This is the season of giving. This is the season to recognize how fortunate most of us are, and to find a need and try to fulfill it as best as we can. And there is a lot of need out there.

Oh, Minnesota!

We finally got hit with our first snow storm of the winter. I say finally because in year's past, it has hit in October, which made for a really long winter. (Considering our winter lasts through March most years)Every winter, I say to myself. . . "This is my LAST MN winter!" Yet every winter, I stay. Because come April through September, the weather is beautiful. I temporarily forget about our winters.

Here was my commute home from work yesterday. (I felt comfortable taking the picture because traffic wasn't moving. . . At all)

I thought it would be fun to address some of the rumors of MN. I've heard many, and they are pretty funny.

1. Minnesotans's really aren't that good at driving in the snow. Sure, compared to my friends in Texas, we may be superior (and more experienced) but every winter, when the first snowfall comes, people completely forget how to drive in it.
2. We don't all drive trucks. Especially in the city. Sure, if you go to the smaller towns the majority of vehicles are trucks. . . but not in my city.
3. We don't all have crazy accents straight out of the movie Fargo. (Which is actually in ND my friends) But well, I'm not going to lie. . . most of us do. Me included.
4. We don't all love winter. I actually hate it. But, MN draws me in for many different reasons, winters excluded.
5. We don't all have horrible fashion. . . but again I admit. . . many do.

Someday I'll do a post about all the things to LOVE about MN. But I think I'll wait to do that until a nice warm day in June. :-D

Tis the Season

Tis the season for giving, and I'm always looking for ways to give back.

Every since beginning this blog, I have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to show my thanks and gratitude to all of you that choose to read my blog. I have been filled with thoughts, prayers, comments, ideas, and so many wonderful things from this community.

So, I want to give something to you. A chance to win a super cool flip video!

All you have to do is leave a comment under this post, and you are automatically entered in the drawing to win. The deadline is noon (central standard time) on Friday.

So, if you would like this Flip Video to be yours, leave a comment, and tell your friends.

I can't wait for one of you to win this wonderful gift.

*** Someone in my life donated this to me. I thought about doing a raffle, but decided I wanted to just do a giveaway instead. If you feel like chipping in, feel free, but it's definitely not necessary to win this wonderful prize ***

And My Gift to You

I just received a lovely blog award that I was so proud to receive. I received it from the lovely Chelle over at Baby Bean Mom. This woman that I've never met in real life is amazing. She has been constant support to me and even made a BEAUTIFUL vase for me to raffle off to raise money for our adoption. It's amazing how we can become friends with people we've never met. I often wish TX was a lot closer to MN. . . cause I am sure we would be real life friends as well. Thanks Chelle! :-D

This award is not like all of the other blog awards because we all want to not only know about you, but your opinion of your fellow bloggers. So, without further ado, I present you with the rules.

Tell your readers how your journey into blogging began. Be as verbose or shy as you like.
Pick 3-5 fellow bloggers whom you adore and write what exactly it is you value about that person or their blog. The more you write about them the better. This is a chance to really appreciate your blog friends who have been there with and for you through thick and thin.
Let the blessed winners know they have been awarded.

That's it. Those are the rules. Now, before you think you can give the old line, "I don't want to pick anyone to pass this award onto because I don't want my readers to feel hurt if I don't pick them, so consider yourselves all tagged" I want you to realize that excuse tells all of your blog friends that you are wimping out, amongst other things. ;) Don't feel bad that you can't award everyone, the award will make its rounds and eventually everyone will get it. If you feel bad enough, you can always award more than 5 bloggers.

I decided to start this award in December because it is the season of giving and bringing cheer to others. What better way to do that than to let the people in our lives know that we cherish them.

I started blogging back in August of 2008 at a little blog I called Life According to Leah.wordpress.com. (I've now made the blog private until I decide what to do with all of my postings) I honestly cannot remember why I started blogging. I think it was an outlet for me. I was one of those bloggers without a purpose. I wrote about things that were going on in my life, I wrote about my political and religious beliefs, I wrote about my travels. Yes, my writing covered pretty much everything. But still, I always felt it lacked purpose. But now I realize that it was what led me to many wonderful bloggers so when I launched our adoption blog, I already had a following.

Without further ado, here is who I give this award to today. :-D

1. Emily at Our Little Buster. I'm not sure who reached out to whom, but we met because we are both adopting from the same country. (If you still haven't figured out my country of adoption, go check out Emily's blog) Emily and I now email each other and we have so much in common. Emily is another fellow blogger that I just know would be a wonderful friend in real life. Sometimes when we email each other, it scares me how much alike we are. Gosh this world we live in is too big sometimes! I follow Emily's blog on a daily basis and can't wait for her and her husband to get their referral. Although I've never met them, it is so obvious that they are going to make very wonderful parents.

2. Elizabeth from Bits of Sunshine. Elizabeth is one of my few in real life friends that also blogs. Her blog focuses on family life, home schooling, crafts, God, and just life in general. I enjoy reading it because it is so different than my life. I've also enjoyed being able to keep in touch via the blogworld. Once we all graduate high school and move on with our lives, and settle in different cities, it's easy to lose touch with people. So, this has been a wonderful way to keep in touch. :-D

3. Michele from My Life After Loss. This woman has been through more in her lifetime than I'v ever seen. Yet she remains resilient and full of life. And no matter what she is going through, she always makes the time to leave thoughtful comments on my post. And through blogging, I've also discovered that Michele was adopted. It is wonderful to hear the perspective of a grown adult and their views of adoption.

There are so many more, but I'm running short on time and want to get this post published. . . today sometime. :-D