We have a new home

Since it is true that we in fact do have a new home about an hour further north in MI we will also be starting a new blog home. I have loved our adoption journey and now want to continue to document our family adventures at thepowellseveydayadventures@blogspot.com. Come stop and see us there, we would love to have you along for the ride.

Spring is in the air?

How I wish that this were true! I think that winter is still holding on pretty tight right now and I am ready for that spring thaw to appear. But even though we are not experiencing a heat wave I have been enjoying each day so much. I truly feel that God is blessing our family so much and that his hand is evident during this busy season of life.
Each day brings new adventures and challenges but I have to say that the joy far outweighs the struggle. Just today we went to TC with the kids. We went to the mall and Scott went to check out their Habitat Re-Store. It was so much fun to just be out as a family, after lunch in the food court we took the kids on the carousal. Mateo was a bit nervous but Ellie got this look of pure joy on her face and when we got off she clapped her hands and said weee! I just stopped and soaked in the pure joy and pleasure of that moment. I love living life and seeing it through the eyes of my children. They have made me stop and take notice of the little things and treasure even more the moments that pass us by so quickly.
Easter Sunday is tomorrow and we get to again experience this holiday for the first time with our children. I am so thankful for the Lord, that he sent his son so that today I can stand blameless before him. It is a new day and his mercies are new every morning. Praise the Lord and Happy Easter!

In a blink of an eye...

How can two months of your life flash by without a moment notice? I highly doubt if anyone is reading our blog still since I have been a slacker and not posted for so long. But for those who many come looking for a Powell update I thought I might post one. I also just got through reading through my past posts and it is a great reminder of how much our family changes and grows.

So on to the family update:

Scott- He has been at his new job now as director of Habitat for Humanity in our area since the middle of December. He has really enjoyed jumping into this ministry and is doing an amazing job if I say so myself! He is enjoying the outdoors and continuing to be a great husband and dad.

Laura- I have started a new venture that has taken up a lot of my time (hence the lack of blogging) In January I started my own Arbonne business. Arbonne is a home based health and wellness company. It has been a wonderful opportunity for our family and can't wait to see what happens in the future with it. I also am getting more involved with our church and even doing a woman's bible study.

Mateo-Wow what an active little man. He has grown so much and is speaking so much more then when he came home! He LOVES any kind of sport activity and loves playing outside even in the freezing michigan winter. He is going to a sunday school class at church and really likes that and is over all continuing to adjust so well.

Elisabeth-She is growing like a weed, and her hair is getting so long. She is chatting up a storm and I think sometimes she has skipped from one to thirteen. She loves playing with her brother and also bugging him whenever possible. She is my little dancing queen and it has been so fun to watch her grow.

Overall our family is doing really well. Both children are very well attached and it is amazing to see how far they have come in the last 8 months (wow I still can't believe they have been home that long!) We are not afraid to leave them anymore to go on a quick date (though that has not happened much anyway:) And are finding that life is balancing out a little more. Both children are such a joy and we feel blessed every day that they are home. There is so much I would like to share but will have to wait for some more down time.

I am not sure what I am going to do with our blog, I hope to keep it up but would enjoy comments from anyone who may still be checking in! Have a wonderful day!

Laura

It's begining to look like Christmas!

We are loving the Christmas season and I can't believe that it is only four days away!
We have lots of Snow her in Michigan and the kids (well maybe Mateo a little more:)are really enjoying being out in it.

While Mateo can play outside for almost an hour, Ellie after her first attempt in a sled resulted in a major face plant in the snow, prefers to stay inside. This is what she enjoys doing...



But both of then are such a joy, we see them open up more each day! Something they are both enjoying right now, as long as no one gets pushed off the stool!

Some Deep Thought

I found this on another adoptive mothers blog, she herself is an adoptee and said what I feel so well.
I am constantly surprised when we get the question "when will you have your own child".
Though I don't think that people are intending to be hurtful or insensitive but as this wise women states it seems to diminish how God brought our family together and the amazing experience that God blessed us through.

" ... like somehow our lives won't be complete or content without that experience. The actual words have been "You need to get pregnant with YOUR OWN children now." In saying this, they are indirectly saying that parenting an adopted child is really second-best to the experience of giving birth to a biological child. Can you imagine the implication of this statement?!?!

It might be important for the readers to know that adoption was our first choice for building our family. We were a family without children and there are over 140 million orphans throughout the world waiting for families. It was an easy choice for us. Growing up adopted I knew that it was possible to love an adopted child completely. As an adoptee I never felt like my parents "second choice", or a consolation gift for living a life of infertility. Instead I felt that God, in His sovereignty, had brought my family together. Indeed, my parents never once allowed me to feel that I was anything less than the child they had always hoped to have (even though I realize I was in no way a perfect child...strong willed was the word they most recently used to describe my growing up years...surprising, no?).

This idea that our family needs to experience pregnancy and giving birth is a distressing one for me because it implies that what God has blessed us with through adoption is simply not enough. In reality, God's blessings through adoption are more than sufficient (speaking in an eternal sense), because it is only through adoption that we can become His children. Giving birth to our children does not make them any more "ours" than adopting them does. After all, many people can give birth to children and then abandon, neglect, or abuse them. The act of giving birth does not equal the role of parenthood, though for some it is a part of the experience. For us, the act of giving birth was not involved in our parenting Corinn and Noah, but our role of parenthood is entirely complete even without that act ...

In essence, if you have found yourself encouraging us to "have our own" children, or if you have said that to someone else in our position I would like to challenge you to think about your reasons for saying it, and to possibly apologize for what it implies not only to us as adoptive parents, but also what it implies to our children. They are not second best...they are exactly what God had planned for our family. We look forward to the opportunity to follow His leading again sometime in the future to open our hearts and home to other children whom we did not give birth to, but whom we can call our own."

November, the month it all started

So I have an anniversary...I have had this blog for one year! How crazy is that, I looked back to November 2006 and on this day last year was the day Mateo had his DNA and SWI done, it was the first time his birth mom had seen him since he was 8 days old, and it was the day we finally saw some progress on his case. And today I woke up and snuggled with my boy on the couch, I got to see him do the motions to "I'm in the Lords army", got to make veggie soup with him, we got to watch the snow fall, and have dinner with his great grandpa. Wow, what a year can do in our lives!

Blogging has been such a blessing to me, I got to share this experience with friends and family along with all of you who have come to join and support me from blogland. All of you have made this journey so much sweeter. Thank you for following our family through the highs and lows of this roller coaster that the past year has brought. I am hoping that the next year will bring as much joy, all you have to do is stay tuned!

Blessings on each of your journeys!
Laura

So the fruit of a year of blogging...New friends, growth in faith and trust in the Lord, a place to share my thoughts and life, and of course the place that documents my journey to my two precious blessings~

Not 500 but a few more

So I got a tip for downloading the pics it is still slow but at least not taking an hour! So anyway here are some more pics of the Christmas tree adventure