Lori Florida

Because of everything....and because of nothing. Yesterday was the 1 year anniversary of my backpack of stories .  Seems like a proper time to break the silence in celebration. It's been a year since we announced to the world that we heard God calling and we were ready to say "yes"....shout "YES!" It's been a year that we've been grieving for our brothers and sisters and babies in Africa.  We've been grieving for our own hearts too.  Since our eyes have been opened , we've become appalled at the selfishness and indifference we found in our own hearts.  It had kept us blissfully ignorant for the first 40 years of our lives.  That has been the deepest grieving and is teaching us desperate repentance. We will not live the same, regardless of what that means to our comfort or "American-ness."  My heart can't stand it anymore. It's been a year of cathartic writing.  This blog has been like a "plate of awesome with bodaci...

Mother may I, please pretty please...take 5 large steps toward Africa?  The answer this week was YES!  2012 has been marked by loads of paperwork.  That stack of documents needing notary and state seals had me jumping up and down impatiently itchy for it to be my turn to stretch my legs toward the finish line. Our state sealing was done a week ago Friday.  Scott and I used his day off for a big "Secretary of State" date.  State sealing is only done at some of the bigger branches so we headed out of suburbia to a large, diverse waiting room.  This seemed a likely opportunity to broaden my horizons and meet someone outside of my nice little bubble world.  I was ready to reach out to someone on the margins....so I prayed all the way there for eyes that would be open to the right empty seat for while I was waiting.  For more on that  tension that I've been processing lately, read here . Here's how it went...  When we arrived, c...

I'm not totally sure what's burning yet, but something is.  I can smell it in the wind, it's making my throat scratchy.  Our house is surrounded by woods, tall trees that attract wild turkey, deer and opossums o'plenty.  Our back yard also attracts the neighbor's run away Eskimo dog.  I think he thinks our dog is cute.  I know when there's a presence in our woods.  I know, because she knows, Moxie our dog.  Her body language changes....ears perk up, tail stiffens, and she gets that far-away focused look in her eyes.  Well,  there's a rustling in the forest, friends.  I know something's out there, smokin'....just haven't been able to stare it straight in the face yet. I spent Sunday nauseous, physically nauseous people.  I was sick to my stomach all day because of what I've been reading.  My heart's churning and my head's on overdrive.  I feel something coming, sense the winds of God moving, fanning this fire He's st...

"How's the adoption going?  How much longer till you get those babies?"  It's a question I get a couple times every week.....because people remember and people care.  Answering the question is good for me.... it helps me remember that things are happening and wheels are turning, even when it feels painfully slow. It's been a while since I've given you all a straight up update about how the paperwork's going.  In my last adoption post I explained my dossier log-jam.  The amount of paperwork and detailed instructions have a potential for error greater than if I tried to pass the bar exam without studying.  It froze me.  After I got over the overwhelming desire to just take a nap, I got started.  I've been gathering, signing, notarizing and scanning through the requirements.  It's almost  done. Our adoption agency is pretty high tech....they've got an online adoption portal to answer my questions and double-check my documents. ...

A firstborn's birthday is really two holidays in one.  There's the celebration of the birth of the baby....and the celebration of the birth of a mother.  Both... life-changing, earth-shattering, cosmos-shifting events...equal in magnitude.  But the spotlight of celebration centers on the child.  There's something in the birth of the Momma that's content to be the holder, the arms that cradle, the person who throws the parties and ponders the memories. I became a Momma 17 years and 4 days ago.  But enough about me....let me tell you about the star of the show.  His name was Riley Kent Florida.  The day he was born was like a dream....because he was a dream. From the day the knot was tied I was ready to be a Momma.  But, alas, waiting had to be endured until the student teaching and degrees were finished and responsibilities were met.  The plan was to wait until we were firmly settled into a job with a paycheck.  It wasn't m...

Good news my friends!  Our mailbox contained a very important letter that came from heaven via Franklin Tennessee....Let me read you a few lines... "On behalf of Show Hope and the donors who make our grants possible, we rejoice with your family as you step out in faith to experience the miracle of adoption.  Thank you for allowing us to be a small part of your adoption process.  We are pleased to inform you that you have been awarded an adoption assistance grant in the amount of $4,000!!! ...Our prayer for your family is that God will be glorified throughout the adoption process - as He proves Himself to be faithful, provides the finances from various sources, and as He reveals His great love and care for the child you are adopting." And that is exactly what He has been doing.  We applied for this grant back in October and knew that we should be hearing from them by the end of January....so by yesterday is was getting pretty exciting to go to the mai...

I've been mulling over the next adoption process update that I needed to share with you all....and even though things have been happening, and God has been working, the words just weren't coming to my heart in any way that seemed worth sharing.  I looked into my mirror this morning and figured out why..... The next big step for us is putting together all the dossier papers so they're ready to be added to our homestudy and the immigration clearance form we're waiting for....then we'll be on the official waiting list.  The manilla folder with the dossier packet has been a permanent fixture on my desk since our first meeting with our social worker.  She gave us all those papers the same day that she asked us the dreaded question, "How are you planning to pay for this...?"   We talked about the process....and the fact that at the start we had only a few lonely dollars in the bank marked "adoption"....and the fact that once we started the dossier ...