Lori Florida

"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 ...

John 11 1  Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.  2  (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.)  3  So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” 4  When he heard this, Jesus said,  “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” 5  Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.  6  So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, If you're like me,you're asking the obvious question right now....what kind of logical sense does verse 6 make after verse 5?  Is this a misprint?  Jesus loved  Martha, Mary & Lazarus, so when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was???   The same Jesus who turned water into wine,h...

I've spent most of my introspective thoughts lately focused on the horizon.  Dreamin, schemin, hanging out with the sparkly what if's and I hope's.  Until this morning.  Pastor Compton stopped me cold in my tracks as he drew my mind's eye back 365 days and pushed the fast-forward play button.  An instant lump moved into my throat and brought along chill bumps.  2011 has been an amazing chain of events.  Some links in the chain seemed small, some seemed mountainous.  All links took me one step closer to today, and I really like today. A year ago today I was basking in the glow of a newly thawed heart.  I had my eyes closed and my face into the wind of living free because Jesus loves me so much.  I've spent the entire year studying and thinking through the book of John, and I'll be taking it with me into 2012 because I'm not done yet.  I see Jesus in a way I never have before and I feel like I love Him in a way I never have before....

God's Word spoke to my worries again this week, in a big enough way  that I'm willing to type with just my thumbs to tell you about it! No internet today, bugger's been giving me problems all month!  No internet, but I do have shiny new phone that let's me blog on the go!  Might be dangerous though....for a couple reasons..... 1.  The phone has a very robust spell correct, and when you're typing on a touch screen, anything can happen.  It keeps trying to change "God's" to "fiscal"....hmmm...I could go somewhere with that contrast...  2.  Multitasking to this level could be dangerous.....that's how my previous phone got dropped in the sink!  That's why I'm reduced to thumb typing today! So, first the worries....just this past week I blubbered to my table group at church about how I'm already starting to worry about the forms and cash part of this adoption experience being over.  I know it's a long way off....but I'm r...