Move over Cracker Barrel!

I have always loved breakfast foods…but I’m thinking now, that breakfast is officially my favorite meal of the day!!

Summit had their fundraising breakfast for the “Cook Adoption Fund” on Friday morning…and had more than spectacular results! After several anonymous donors made commitments to match the amount raised up to X amount of dollars and a sweet soul even sold tickets to a Cincinnati Reds baseball game and donated the profits and many, many full tummies later, the final amount came to a whopping total of over $1500!!!! And no, I didn’t add too many zeros to that number! W-O-W!! I have to remind you…these crazy folks donated ALL the food, gave of their OWN time, did ALL the work and then managed to raise an astronomical amount of money off of doughnuts and breakfast casseroles! I’m told there was even a waffle station…move over Cracker Barrel!! Summit Energy will give you a run for your money!



A couple of pictures of the masses enjoying the mounds of food…maybe I should have cancelled my 9:00 am appointment and joined the crowd!!

Words really cannot express how much we appreciate the generosity of the people of Summit. We know that God has placed each of you in our lives at this time for a reason and can’t help but thank Him for providing for our needs as we strive for our ultimate goal of bringing home our child from Ethiopia! I love how God confirms our decisions, making us know without a doubt that we are walking in His will! We will definitely make sure this little one knows how much his or her Summit family loves them!

Thanks, Summit Energy…You ROCK! A whole lot!!

I tried to talk Kenny into writing this, since he was actually there, but with no success! He said I do better…I guess we should give the people what they want! : )

Have you seen my socks?

A couple of weeks ago, I filled you guys in on what I do on a daily basis. Now, as far as Kenny goes.........

Do y'all remember how on the TV show Friends, that no one really actually knows what Chandler does? "He's a trans- trans- transponder!" Well, sad to say, but Kenny is my Chandler! If my life depended on it, I couldn't give you an accurate job description for Kenny. No, he's not a transponder. ("That's not even a word!") He is a Regulated Market Analyst at an awesome company called Summit Energy. He plays with numbers. He plays with energy. The end.


Now, back to Summit Energy being awesome. One of the things we have loved about Summit from the beginning is that they are a very family-friendly, family-oriented company. They like to hire seminary students, which says a little about their morals...or that they realize that most seminary students will also be great employees! Kenny has been there since March 2006 and loves the company and the people he works with.

One of our prayers from the beginning of this adoption process, was that if God called us to this, that He would also provide us with the finances as well. Several weeks ago, some guys from Kenny's company were planning their annual "Wet Dog Golf Scramble"...don't know where the "Wet Dog" came from...which is their annual charity golf tournament. They approached Kenny and asked if we...as in the "Cook Adoption Fund"...would be their charity for this year!! Despite being totally blindsided and shocked that they would even considered us worthy, we were honored and of course agreed! We would be silly not to!! As planning for the golf scramble, which will be October 4th, continued...several of the ladies of the office complained (that term is used extremely loosely) that they didn't play golf...how could they help? So, this Friday, August 29th, they will be cooking and selling breakfast to help raise money...and today, someone anonymously decided to match the money raised on Friday up to $250! Talk about blessing our socks off!! And there is still more to come...!!

One of Kenny's co-workers came to him today offering to pay for/donate frequent flyer miles for one of our flights to Ethiopia!! First off, a round-trip flight from Louisville to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia could cost anywhere between $2,000 and $3,000! And secondly...WOW!! I was speechless...literally! And that doesn't happen often! :) Again, socks gone. Blessed right off! Talk about being floored... I...WE...are overwhelmed...but in a good way! We are totally unworthy of the generosity of all of Kenny's co-workers, but they just keep giving, very unselfishly! God is providing and supplying for our financial needs...and growing our faith all the while! Praise the Lord that we are surrounded by those that care!

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:33-34

Blessed! Blessed beyond measure? Totally! Blessed beyond words? Except for this lengthy post...Yes! My socks are gone. They have been blessed right off my silly little feet!!

I am "nongruntled"!

So, Baby Cook got his/her/their...so many unknowns!...first toy today! Nicole and I went to a huge consignment sale today (always gotta be scoping things out for the church nursery...and we scored big, by the way!) and Baby Cook got a brand new Leap Frog toy! ABC's for the fridge...hadn't even been opened yet! That was my first consignment sale, but I think I may be hooked! : )

Tuesday made my frustrating day on Monday all better...On Tuesday, we had to be fingerprinted (again!) for FBI clearance and when the officer discovered that we were adopting (why else would I just randomly want to be fingerprinted?) and that I worked for First Steps (she had a son in First Steps and loved our program!), she didn't charge us! It's the little things that make me happy! From there I headed off to the post office to mail our info to the FBI and I was pleasantly surprised to have the help of a super-duper postal worker. You gotta admit...postal workers have a reputation for being disgruntled! Don't mean to generalize, but it was a nice to have someone that talked me through all my mailing options and helped me choose what would work best...a "nongruntled" postal worker, if you will! Who knew the USPS could be so helpful?!?

I'm looking forward to the weekend and sleeping past 5:30 am (I require too much sleep to get up that early)! We are having Combined Worship on Sunday night, which always makes me happy! Our last Combined Worship was the turning point for us with our adoption decision, so I feel like this weekend is a milestone of sorts. We've been working on this for about 3 months and despite dealing with a few frustrating people, we have had no major setbacks and things have gone relatively smoothly.

Let's pray for another smooth 3 months!

Confessions

For the first time since we started this process, I feel overwhelmed. Emotionally, physically, mentally...I may actually drown in all the paperwork and rules and regulations! I've spent the better part of today on the phone with various government agencies or emailing with our adoption agency trying to tie up the details of our dossier. And I may be more confused now, than when I started this morning. I'm really being a tad bit dramatic...it's not that much paperwork...it's just all the stuff that you have to do to the paperwork! And I have this totally rational (or possible irrational) fear that I'm going to do something wrong, resulting in a major setback. What if something is dated wrong? What is they can't read my handwriting? (If you know me and my doctor-esque handwriting, this is a rational fear!) What if we just plain do stuff wrong?

Please do not take this as complaining...I'm venting (take a deep breath!) and being transparent...and documenting the process! :) At this point, there is nothing in the world I would rather be doing more...short of taking a trip to Ethiopia, and in that case I can leave first thing in the morning! But most importantly, I'm asking for your prayers...

**patience, guidance, wisdom...patience...patience...patience...
**FBI clearance to come back in timely manner...like next week would be great!!
**Safe trip to Frankfort (KY state capitol) to get dossier authenticated
**Did I mention patience? Oh, and don't forget to pray for patience!

And something that I often forget, as I get wrapped up in the actual process...nothing makes this seem more real, than when I just stop and take time to pray for our actual child (or children!). Pray for their birthfamily. Pray for the health of their birthmother. Pray for the decision they may have to be making right now to place their child in the hands of someone else. Pray for those that are taking care of our child right now.

On a positive note, I did get the majority of our dossier notarized tonight by super-duper notary Adina!! (In "Adoption Land", she is considered a super hero!) We are totally blessed to have a church member and friend right down the road to notarize all this paperwork.

Just looking for a light at the end of this tunnel...


Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ...Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4, 6-7

Funny Girls

These two don't belong to me, but while I'm waiting on my own, I'm gonna claim them!! (Hope that's okay...) I'm glad their parents let us borrow them on occasion! Grace and Emma came to hang out last week while mom and dad went to a Whitfield meeting. They decided that our laundry baskets made great baby beds and were perfect for hanging out and watching a little Disney Channel. And we are in trouble, cause if you could see how Emma has "Tenny" wrapped around her little finger, who knows what will happen when we have one who actually lives here!

This is what I do.

So, I'm not sure if you guys know what I do or not, but if you keep reading, you are about to find out. I am an Initial Service Coordinator for Kentucky's statewide Early Intervention Program, First Steps. Meaning that I serve as a case manager of sorts to help families with children birth to three who have developmental delays or diagnosis (such as autism, down syndrome, cerebral palsy, etc.) set up services for their children...speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, developmental intervention, etc. Our offices are housed at an agency called Seven Counties Services and we take referrals for the seven county region that surrounds Louisville. I make home visits to these families on a daily basis to help them determined what is needed to help out their little ones.

I tell you this because First Steps just celebrated their 20 year birthday and a local news station actually did a story about us!! Whoohoo! (We don't usually get a lot of attention, so I was excited for us!) Below is the link to the story on Fox 41's website. The lady they interviewed actually works with me now as a Service Coordinator, which I found odd that they didn't mention...

Click for story...First Steps celebrates 20-year milestone!!

On a more personal note, we see many families that have adopted internationally. Usually (I stress usually, because, of course, there are always exceptions to that), the delays we see in children that are adopted are merely environmental and once that child is placed in their forever home and receiving appropriate interaction from their family, they typically only end up in our program for a couple of months before they are back on track. My co-workers have made it their personal mission to make sure I get all of our adoption referrals that have come in recently. I have been able to see several families in the past couple of months that have adopted and am thrilled to be able to help them. I know it is scary to bring home a child that has delays or other issues you aren't comfortable with, but I love that First Steps is avaliable to help us out!!

Now you know what I spend lots of my time doing! Hope you feel smarter!

Those of the Alabama persuasion...

The many faces of nephew Tristan Ryan...


Mom, Dad, Katie, Kim & Ty came to visit this weekend. It was little Ty's first visit to Kentucky...and it better not be his last!! I personally think that he likes Kentucky better than Alabama and he even told me while we were talking that he would just rather stay here.


Two heads are definitely better than one...even if one is quite a bit larger than the other! This is my favorite...I'm sure that Ty is imparting wisdom from his short 4 months to Kenny..."If you will just cry, they will feed you. Honest! It works every time!"

Ty's First Road Trip

Guess who came to visit us?!? His first road trip to Kentucky!!





More pics to follow...

I'm adopted, too.

Props to UA friend and fellow blogger, Lauren, for forwarding the following article written by adoption advocate and Christian musical artist, Steven Curtis Chapman.

Our Tragedy and God's Love for Orphans

If you don't read the whole article, at least read this...

...But what I had not yet grasped was that adoption is a physical picture of what Jesus has done for me. I did nothing to deserve God's love; in fact, I was living as an orphan, without hope. Yet God chose to pursue a relationship with me, and through the death of his son Jesus, I WAS ADOPTED INTO GOD'S FAMILY.

...If only 7 percent of the 2 billion Christians in the world would care for a single orphan in distress, there would effectively be no more orphans. If everybody would be willing to simply do something to care for one of these precious treasures, I think we would be amazed by just how much we could change the world.

We can each do something, whether it is donating, adopting, fostering, mentoring, visiting orphans or supporting families that have taken in orphans. You can change the world for an orphan.

Reality

I don't have much of an update as far as the adoption goes. We are waiting on our homestudy to be finished and processed, getting the documents together for our dossier (remember...the "dozer") and getting all of that notarized in the next week or so.

I know that y'all have seen some of statistics from a previous post, but I found these on another website and I am just blown away by the reality of the people of Ethiopia. These statistics would be totally unacceptable in the United States, but are shockingly true in Ethiopia...

Life expectancy: 42 years old.
One out of every 20 children born alive die, in their first month of life.
One out of ten die before reaching their first birthday.
One out of six die before reaching their fifth birthday.
There are 4.6 million orphans in Ethiopia.
The median age in Ethiopia is 18.
1.5 million people in Ethiopia are infected with AIDS.
Per capita, Ethiopia receives less aid than any country in Africa.
Every 15 SECONDS, another child becomes an AIDS orphan in Africa.
Every DAY 5,760 more children become orphans.
Every YEAR 2,102,400 more children become orphans (in Africa alone).

The Lord has lead our hearts to Ethiopia, where some of His children live...and die...

Kid's Camp--WooHoo!

Sorry for a delay in posts...I've been reprimanded by several!

But I was busy last week hanging out with 115 3rd-6th graders at Kid's Camp--WooHoo! It's really not as bad as it sounds and was a welcome break from the daily grind of paperwork and home visits that normally consume my day. Equipped with a "sting ease bee pen" (we had lots of bee stings last year...) and my hat (to battle the rain), we spent 3 days at Cedarmore Camp in Bagdad, Kentucky. Muddy lake water, the blob, zip line, camp food, relay games (in the rain), scraped knees, bee stings, smores, worship time, small groups, pillow fights, stinky camp rooms, sleeping bags, bunk beds, sharing a bathroom with 6 other people...camp as camp is supposed to be!


Moments before our "controlled" pillow fight...they were super excited about this!


Several of our girls (including some from Spencer County)...I know this may surprise you, but their room was the cleanest camp room there, hence the #1 they are all holding up! I was really amazed...it didn't even smell bad!!

I have a lovely picture of a couple of us after the rain, but I'm gonna spare you the vision of grown women soaked to the bone...trust me, it's not pretty!

And I am seriously considering never, ever leaving Kenny alone overnight again. He is a big boy and can take care of hiself, but the last two time I have left for a couple of days, we have had major house issues. This time, the hot water heater went out. I CANNOT tolerate cold showers!! In April, I went to Birmingham for a couple of days and the basement flooded! So, I may get Kenny a babysitter (or a handyman!) next time I have to go out of town without him!! : )

Silent Killer: Popcorn

I feel it is my civic duty to warn others around me of the hidden dangers of popcorn. Yeah...I said popcorn! I am currently enduring a round of antibiotics as a result of infected tonsils. My tonsils are infected because about a week ago, I got a piece of popcorn stuck in one of my "large tonsil holes" (so says the doctor). I thought I had strep throat. The doctor thought I had strep throat. A negative strep test and further investigation revealed otherwise. So, I plead with you...please exercise extreme caution while enjoying a bowl of buttery popcorn! Chew completely and follow with a nice, cold beverage. I would hate for anyone else to endure the pain I have experienced!! (Yeah, I know, I'm about the only person in the world who could possibly get a popcorn infection! Call me crazy!)

Okay, so maybe not a killer, but pretty close...

UPDATE: I'm pretty certain I may actually have strep...in addition to the stuck popcorn!