The Gordons

Just this and that

2012-02-01T14:41:00.000-06:00

Life has settled into the post-holiday normalcy, so I don't have much to report. Here are a few random things....

Another adoptive family shared with me this blog post about race and adoption in the South, and I want to share it too. I can just picture my boys in their t-ball uniforms with Gordon on their backs...one white and one black.

I'm pretty excited about taking MR to the African Children's Choir performance at MSU Friday night! Check out the free concert if you're in the area! I hope she loves it...I know I will! We're going to wear our magazine bead necklaces Kaley brought us back from Uganda on her mission trip with Visiting Orphans.

Our sticker manger scene hung our fridge for several weeks, but one night during dinner prep, MR told me take her picture. I turned around to discover the wise men had abandoned their post worshiping baby Jesus...so I obliged and took a picture.

I snapped this pic of Murphy on Sunday afternoon before church. He has always been a blanket-loving tummy sleeper who refuses to sleep in socks, while his sister has always been a thumb-sucking back sleeper who refuses to sleep without socks. Wonder what Max will be?

I'm thinking of hosting a Sole Hope shoe cutting party. Anyone want to come? :)

Can you tell Africa is on my mind this week (and every week!)??

Good day

2012-01-26T14:22:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was fun for several different reasons. First, my mom took the kiddos to Carthage to spend time with my grandmother on her 82nd birthday. They had a big time....helping Mammaw with the search-a-word puzzles, eating lunch at the Bakery, helping her pick out a new recliner at Roger's in Walnut Grove, and eating cake. When I called my mom yesterday to check on them, she said Murphy was on his third piece of cake, which just confirmed my suspicion that grandparents cannot be trusted! :) Kidding...sort of. Finally at 16 months, he has a few more teeth coming in so he hasn't had much of an appetite in the last week. He was just making up for it! He now has 6 teeth too!

Mary Reeves is named after my grandmother, and I love that they get to spend time together! It's such a blessing that they know two loving great-grandmothers! Happy birthday, Mammaw!!! You are the best!

Last night, Wes and I had dinner with a couple that has traveled to Ethiopia recently. In fact, the wife has been there for extended periods several times, thanks to her awesome job, so she told us lots of tips and gave us more insight into the culture. We ate up every word and soaked in every photograph! Really made me want to get on a plane to Africa right now!! CANNOT WAIT!

Then, we got some tickets to the basketball game so we decided to try it out. Mary Reeves loved it, but of course, Murphy was restless. We stayed til the half, which I count as a successful trip! After getting the kids to bed, we caught the last few minutes of a fun Bulldog W!

We've also been collecting old cell phones here and there. Please let us know if we can take some off your hands! Every little bit helps, and I love that this fundraiser helps our lovely planet too! Happy Thursday!

Girls' weekend

2012-01-24T11:03:00.000-06:00

Last weekend, Wesley and I headed to see our BFF Sally's new home in Hernando and help her celebrate her 30th birthday!

We had such a great time browsing all the cute shops in Hernando, including our college friend Jamie's adorable store The Square Cupboard. Of course we hit up lots of children's stores too since both Sal and Wesley are due on the same day with sweet baby boys!! Also...who knew Hernando had such a great Goodwill? It looked like a department store, with all of the men's shirts hanging in rainbow order! It was a fun day!

Later that night, we met Sarah at Flight in Memphis for Sal's birthday dinner....ah-ma-zing! The food and atmosphere were perfect, and I highly recommend it for a night on the town! Sally and I split a "flight" (three small portions of different dishes) of salads and entrees. Between the four of us, we got to taste everyone's dinner choices of nearly 10 entrees. We all split one flight of desserts because we were so full. Basically, our dinner conversation consisted of comments about how good the food tasted!

The restaurant also has complimentary valet parking at the door...did I mention Sarah and I had two preggos in tow? It was such a fun night and such a treat!!!

Wes, MR and Murphy had, according to Mary Reeves, "a great weekend" too..."A man brought pizza right to our house!! I don't know how he knew how to find us!" ha! I forgot the first 3 years of her life were spent in a non-delivery town, and we usually just pick up a pizza on the go...it was her first pizza delivery experience!

My awesome husband finished up this bulletin/chalkboard for us to hang in the laundry room. Everyone who comes in our garage enters our house through the laundry room, which is definitely not the best feature of our house with dirty clothes baskets on the dryer, mail on the counter, etc. so I really wanted something fun to hang on the large wall by the door....maybe to divert their eyes! I love this!! It makes me really happy as I go in and out of the house!

He also had the whole house clean upon my return....the man definitely understands my Love Language!! So, so thankful for a much-needed weekend to catch up with friends and rejuvenate ourselves, but I was so happy to get home to my babies too!

Please help us bring our boy home!

2012-01-20T15:34:00.001-06:00

I'm linking up today at Kelly's Korner because she is spotlighting adoption fundraisers in her "Show Us Your Life" series.

If you're just stopping by, feel free to browse the blog to hear our story, but in a nutshell, we're adopting our son, Max, from Ethiopia. He'll join his big sister and big brother here with us in Mississippi. We recently joined our agency's waitlist at #89, and we're learning patience! In an email from our agency yesterday, we found out the current wait time for a referral, from the the time a dossier is submitted, is now 12-15 months...and of course those time frames always fluctuate. We are one month closer to our little man! While we wait, we're fundraising to help bring him home....

We have about 50 T-shirts in adult sizes S-XL left from our sale back in the fall, and we'd love to send one your way! They are $20 each, plus $3 for shipping. The shirts are super soft! You can get a fun shirt, raise adoption awareness every time you wear it, and help us bring our son home!! Check out the design on the right sidebar or contact me for more information....

We are also starting a new fundraising effort....collecting old cell phones, digital cameras and iPods! We're partnering with a recycling company that provides funds in exchange for sending in old phones...and who doesn't have a few of those stuck in a drawer??? I know we do because we never know what to do with them when it's time for an upgrade or a change in service providers!

My very first donation from my sweet intern!

We are excited to help keep the harmful e-waste out of landfills and earn some money in the process, so please, please let us take those old phones off your hands!! We are accepting all phones, no matter the make or condition! The company pays anywhere from $.25 to $80+ for old phones and electronics.

And don't worry about your privacy....phones that can be reused have their data cleared through a process called flashing, which reloads the phone software and clears out all data on the phone. The data on phones that can’t be reused is destroyed by melting them down for their precious metals here in the US of A.

Please let me know if you have some phones/cameras/ipods for us....just email me at meaghangordon@hotmail.com. We'll gladly help you declutter! :) Our plan is to ship the first batch of phones in March.

Thanks again for your interest in helping us give a precious soul a family! We are beyond grateful for your prayers and support! Hurry home, Max! :)

One month waiting

2012-01-16T15:57:00.000-06:00

Today marks our first month as a waiting family. We have absolutely no idea how long we'll wait, but we think about our next little man all the time. Realistically, with the rate our agency is giving referrals and the general slowdown in Ethiopia, this time next year, we will probably still be just...waiting. But, he'll be worth it...one less orphan without a mommy to snuggle with or a daddy to play baseball with or sweet siblings to share everything with. Max will have a family...our family.

It's interesting to me that today falls on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I haven't really addressed it on the blog, but we are fully aware that our family won't be a "white" family anymore, but a trans-racial family. Of course, we have no real way of knowing what that will mean for us and for Max throughout the years, but that's just something else we have to rely on the Lord for in this journey.

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

We are ALL created in His image...in fact, the earliest known human remains on this planet were found in Ethiopia. One of the best parts of this adoption for me, so far, is really, intentionally trying (such a work in progress!!) to let go of prejudices and quick judgements and try to see others the way God sees us all...precious in His sight!

I love this Brandon Heath song...
Give me Your eyes for just one second
Give me Your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me Your love for humanity
Give me Your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach?
Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me Your eyes so I can see

That's my prayer today....give me Your love for humanity. And, of course, we're praying for patience in the wait...not to obsess over waitlist numbers, referrals, etc., but to enjoy our lives right NOW and not constantly think of what's to come. One month down.....

Here She Comes...

2012-01-13T15:43:00.001-06:00

Just as we are starting to get back in our post-holiday routine, it's (hooray) another holiday! I'm so looking forward to a three-day weekend at home...with a couple of hours set aside for crowning Miss America on Saturday night!

The Miss America pageant is my favorite, second only to the Miss Mississippi pageant! Y'all, it's going to be a good one....last night's talent preliminary winner? A JUMP ROPE ROUTINE by Miss Hawaii!! Yes, it appears she is jumping rope on her bottom! Oh, the anticipation! :)

Of course, I'll be cheering for our third-straight-MSU-communication-major Miss Mississippi!! Go Mary Margaret!S

Now, I was never in a real pageant (unless you count Jr. Miss (or whatever it's called now), which is referred to as a "program" and I was the crummy first alternate), but I sure LOVE to watch (and judge in my mind...ok, and sometimes out loud!) Miss America contestants at all levels!

I know this video has been floating around blogs and facebook, but it's such a classic and guaranteed to get you in the right pageant state of mind....

Have a great Miss America weekend! I'll be watching at an intimate get-together complete with cookie dough and possibly my three-year-old's princess crown adorning my head! ha!

My husband is so crafty!

2012-01-10T16:33:00.000-06:00

I have to brag on Wes today...this weekend, he turned nothing into something, and we've added two cool pieces of furniture to our home!

The whole thing started Friday with a discarded shutter that a friend picked up at a garage sale and then gave us. Next thing I knew, we had a table!

Wes built it using the shutter as the table top. He painted it, and I helped antique it...so fun! We got glass cut for the top and now we have a cute, rustic table in our entryway, which has pretty much been ignored for the last six months while I figured out what to put there.

I'm still working on finding the right accessories for the table, but a black and white photo collage and some Mississippi pottery makes me happy for now. Here's a close-up....

Since our first project turned out so well, we started eyeing this thing, which a sweet friend donated for our huge garage sale...a few weeks late. It's taken up space in our garage ever since. This photo was taken after the lovely brass hardware and the beveled glass in the top cabinets were removed. Before....

After! :) It looks totally different, and I love it! Wes removed the top doors and added a back, which totally changes the look. I sanded, Wes painted, and then I antiqued it. I still need to pick out knobs for the bottom cabinets and fill it a little more, but it adds so much to our dining room.

We primed it in red and painted it black to match the legs of our handmade farm table. Here's close-up shot...

After we moved in June, we knew we needed these pieces, but with most of our money going to the adoption, it just wasn't in the budget. Now I'm so glad we waited because I love the table and cabinet, and I loved making them with my husband for next to nothing! A very fun and productive weekend for sure, especially since we didn't set out to spend our Saturday antiquing furniture so I didn't stress over it. I figured we had nothing to lose if they didn't turn out right, but only cuteness to gain! We also got to hang out with fun friends both Friday and Saturday nights, which made me even more happy!

Totally off the subject, but as I was snapping these pics this morning, I had to get one of Murphy in his cute outfit (although he wouldn't pose at all)! Santa ordered it from Cassady Street to support an adopting family, and I think Murf loves it more than I do! He constantly points at the dump trucks and bulldozers on his pants and says "brmmm, brummm, brummm," which is his word for truck/construction vehicle. So cute! Mary Reeves is amazed the elves knew his initials to sew this shirt for him! ha!

I'm already looking forward to our three-day weekend, in part because Monday marks one month on the waiting list! Praying, praying for referrals this week!!!!

Murphy's first haircut

2012-01-06T15:00:00.000-06:00

New year, new 'do! Goodbye, mullet, and hello, big boy haircut! It took Murphy nearly 16 months to grow enough hair to warrant a trim, but the time had come!!

Murphy's hair had gotten a wee bit out of control over Christmas break, so we took him for a trim before we got back to reality. I thought he was going to freak out or wiggle too much, but he loved that sucker she gave him and sat content and still the whole time.

Not too much to cut off as his hair is still really thin and fine, so it only took a few minutes, but I sure am glad that rat tail is gone!!

MR got a sucker too, of course, for her patience (and her loud whispers of "Mommy, I want a sucker too.")

Just for fun, here's a flashback to MR's mop when she was Murphy's age....hahahaha!

Oh so excited to find out this week that two of my BFFs are having boys as their #2 behind sweet double-name princesess! LOVE IT! Can't wait for them to find out how crazy rough and tumble those boys will be, but how much they'll loooove their mommas!!

No better way to end 2011

2012-01-06T14:30:00.000-06:00

No better way than with the Bulldogs second straight bowl game victory!! :)

After Franklin fun, including lunch at Saffire where we got engaged, Wes and I headed to Nashville while his parents kept the kids (thanks, BeBe and Pop!) for the Music City Bowl.

We had a great time hanging out with lots of fun friends...it was so fun to see MSU people everywhere we went! The town was definitely painted Maroon! Our cab driver one night told us he was from Ethiopia, and he was in Nashville for college. He was so nice and answered lots of our questions. So cool!

I have no idea why I didn't take more pictures, but we had a blast!

Two nights in the big city totally wore us out, so we were glad to be at home in our own bed by 9:30 p.m. on New Year's Eve! I was totally ok with that! ha! We had our fun, and NYE's is overrated anyway! Looking forward to next year's bowl destination! Go State!

The Canvas Heart

2012-01-05T14:58:00.000-06:00

One of our favorite Christmas gifts came from The Canvas Heart, a site I stumbled upon in December (thankfully right before she closed for custom orders), and forwarded to my mom. The artist, Crystal, lived in Ethiopia and learned Amharic, the official language, while she was there, and she now uses her language (and crafty) skills to make cool canvases back here in the States.

We absolutely love it! It's sewn around the border, and she translated John 14:18 to Amharic and, obviously, wrote Max in English. It's proudly displayed in our living room where we see it every day.

It's strange to feel like you (sorta, kinda) have three kids, but only know two of them. We have pics of Mary Reeves and Murphy everywhere, but although we also have Max in our hearts, we didn't really have any visual reminder of him to group with their photos. Now we do, which makes this momma's heart very happy! Thanks, M, and The Canvas Heart!

Christmas overload!

2012-01-04T14:50:00.000-06:00

I wanted to break this post up into several parts, but I thought I'd lose my motivation unless I just did it all at once! This is mostly for our memories, so it's a LONG way to the end! :)

Our first Christmas celebration took place at my mom's house with my Mammaw's family. Fun times!

MR and Noah

Waiting patiently to open presents...

His momma may have dressed him in a bubble, but Murphy is All-Boy! He LOVED his new trucks!

He probably made 400 laps around M's house that night with this new dump truck from Aunt Rhonda and Uncle Brent! LOVES IT!

T-R-O-U-B-L-E...Uncle George and Murphy

Mary Reeves racked up in the Princess department!

I think this may have been our only family pic from Christmas....the sickness would soon set in!

My family

We had a great time and the kids stayed up too late playing with their new toys, which did not bode well for the next few days for Mary Reeves. :(

We headed to the Gordon's the next morning for cousin time that night....

more presents on Christmas Eve...

and the jackpot for MR, her new Jeep!

She is still working on the whole pushing-the-pedal-while-steering-the-wheel-and-looking-where-she-is-going thing! Murphy is a happy passenger and DJ on the Barbie radio!

Unfortunately, she came down with a fever/cough/stomach bug that afternoon and the joyfulness of the presents faded pretty quickly. This is probably the last time she smiled that day, but we headed home to get ready for Santa to visit our house.

Mary Reeves felt so bad that she didn't even want to leave cookies for Santa or spread the reindeer food. So sad!! She had been excited about it all month, but she was just pitiful. Wes had to do it for her.

Coerced into leaving cookies for the camera....

MR wouldn't pose for a sibling shot, but this little series of Murphy is too funny! That guilty face just shoved one of Santa's cookies in his mouth...

and took off...

but then he came back and pointed to the Santa on his cookie plate. Murphy knew who was supposed to eat those cookies! :)

Santa came the next morning, but MR didn't race to see her loot. She just crawled in bed with us after being up several times throughout the night until we told her she needed to go see what he brought. Notice that she is now in summer pjs instead of the cute Christmas ones I bought....she was burning up!

She did try on one of her princess costumes...the only thing she asked for. (Sidenote: after ALL the fun things she got for Christmas, she tells people she got toothpaste, as in the little tube stuck in her stocking! Typical!)

At least Murphy had a blast!!

After a few minutes looking at the Santa stuff, this is pretty much how she spent the next three days. Boo! :(

My mom, grandmother and uncle were supposed to spend Christmas Day with us, but my grandmother got sick too, and Wes and I had terrible colds. Needless to say, no visitors for several days. :(

Thankfully, one doctor in Starkville opened up for a few hours the day after Christmas, and we were first in line! Wes, MR and I all got some antibiotics and slowly started feeling better. Definitely not the Christmas I had imagined, but we tried to make the best of it! We still spent lots of time together and were able to remember the real Reason for the Season!

Finally, we headed to Nashville...but unfortunately, MR's medicine remained in the fridge! The sweet doctor's office called us in a refill up there, but insurance didn't cover it since it wasn't time for refill...oh well! Do what you have to do!

The last fete was Stringer Christmas with Winston as Santa and MR as his elf!

Thanks, Sheri, for hosting everyone!

Murf and BeBe

Family pic....minus Pop's forehead.

We were all feeling much better, and we had a great time in Franklin. It had been way too long since we'd been up there!

Whew, I'm tired just reliving all this, but I'm thankful for celebrations with our family!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-03T16:50:00.002-06:00

After a little holiday hiatus, it's time to get caught up over the next few days! We thoroughly enjoyed our two-week vacation from work and school, but it's back to reality today!

Looking back, 2011 was QUITE a year for the Gordons....moved back to our beloved Mississippi, new jobs, new church, new daycare, enjoying new stages for our kiddos, and of course, paperwork and fundraising for our third kiddo, Max! Whew!

We can't wait for everything 2012 has in store for us! We pray this year will be a little less chaotic, but we are so thankful that every day brings us closer to traveling to Ethiopia! Wes and I have never been known for our patience, so this year will truly be a test for us as we watch the waitlist numbers go down (hopefully, very quickly)!

Lots of pics to post from the Christmas festivities, but for now, here's our 2011 Christmas card (a little late) designed by my good friend, Betsy.

Oh, to have three babies this time next year...probably wishful thinking, but we can and do pray boldly that the Lord will unite us with Max on His timing...and if it just so happens to be 2012, then WHOOHOO! :) Happy New Year!!!

Last weekend before Christmas

2011-12-19T14:39:00.000-06:00

We celebrated one last quiet Gordon Four weekend before the craziness of Christmas celebrations with all our extended families kicks off, and it was such a fun time!

The kids had their preschool Christmas parties Friday, and of course they were excited! We are thankful that they love their teachers and school friends!

The night before, we rode around town in our pjs looking at Christmas lights. Murphy loves them! He squealed so much, and both kids were impressed if someone just stuck a white light reindeer in the yard. Of course, the inflatables are MR's fave.

Saturday was our holiday goody day! Wes dipped pretzels in white chocolate, and Mary Reeves was in charge of sprinkles.

Look at the intensity....tongue out!

We also dipped Ritz cracker peanut butter sandwiches in chocolate (they taste like Girl Scout peanut butter patties) and made iced Christmas cookies. These are my favorite!!! We can't wait to make treat bags for our mailman, garbage men, firefighters, etc. this week!

While MR was a great help, Murphy didn't help much at all...he just played with his truck on the kitchen floor. He was there though!

Chef Daddy even made Pioneer Woman's spaghetti and meatballs for supper that night...delicious!! He got inspired while we watched the Food Network holiday specials that morning, and he found the recipe on his iPad while he was working out...isn't that funny that he was dreaming about meatballs while doing cardio! ha! We dirtied almost every bowl, pot and pan we own, but we had a great day in the kitchen!

Sunday was a beautiful day, and we played outside a little while after church.

Sweet things!

We couldn't play too long though....Wes and I gave Mary Reeves her Christmas present from us early....Disney on Ice! Can you tell she was a little excited?!

She liked the opening scene when Donald Duck runs over Aladdin's genie lamp with the zamboni, the shark in Nemo, and of course...the princesses!

Watching intently...

"MR, do you like it?"

Although she didn't know a couple of the characters, she LOVED the show and so did I! Wes thought it was ok. :) We both loved sharing it with her though!

Only a few more days left on our Advent countdown....this month has gone by too fast, but I know we have lots of fun ahead of us in the next two weeks!

We are on THE LIST!

2011-12-16T16:13:00.001-06:00

The Gordons are celebrating an adoption milestone!! Our dossier made it back safely to our agency from DC, complete with authentication from both the US and Ethiopian embassies!! We are now officially a waiting family eligible to receive a referral for our sweet Max! Officially, our waitlist number is.....

Edited: When we got home, I glanced at the MSU jersey hanging in Murphy's room that he'll share with Max, and guess what number it is...89, of course! :) I had to add it to the post! We'll keep the Bears jersey too though!

After obsessively checking my email for days, I resigned myself to the fact that the message wouldn't come until next week because our consultant, who only works part-time, is off on Fridays. Wes actually called me so happy, and I didn't have a clue what he was talking about! The good-news email came from another CHI consultant about 20 minutes earlier, and after being so impatient, I had missed it. ha! I'm actually glad Wes was the one to tell me though! :)

So now what? Now, quite simply, we wait for an undetermined amount of time. As is to be expected, everyone's next question is inevitably, "How long?" We really don't know! Last week, four families received referrals for boys (3-15 months old), and all waited nearly 10 months from the time the were on THE LIST. We are preparing ourselves for 12-18 months of waiting to be matched, and then it will be several months before we travel to meet him and then travel again to bring Max home.

According to the ticker on the right, we are five months, one week and one day into our adoption journey. Only the Lord knows how many more months we will wait, but we trust in Him!

Our agency puts all waiting families on one list, whether they are requesting boy, girl, either gender, or siblings, and no matter what age parameters they are requesting (infant or older child). Thankfully, we won't necessarily have to reach #1 on the list to get our referral....for example, just last week, the family that was #18 on the list received a referral for a little boy because the first 17 families on the list are (from my estimation) waiting for siblings, a girl or a younger infant boy. [Is it bad that I want to automatically subtract 17 spots from our number??! :)] Also, people can change their parameters (say, from siblings to one child), which also affects the list.

Every time a child is matched with a family we move down this list, so we rejoice with all the new families, both for the children and the parents, and for ourselves.

Also, just to clarify, we are NOT "waiting" for children to become orphans....there are an estimated 5 million orphans in Ethiopia, which is less than twice the size of Texas. We are waiting for children to become adoptable (lots of paperwork involved in a place that doesn't move at an American pace!) and to become eligible to be matched with a family through the orphanages our agency works with.

I hope all this makes sense! I'll try to explain it all more as we move further down the list.

We ask for your continued prayers, not only for us as Max's forever family, but most certainly for his first family and for the woman who will give him life and then have to give him up. My heart already aches for her and the circumstances she will endure. Adoption is born out of tragedy, but we know the Lord will make beauty from the ashes. For that, we are so thankful!

Christmas around our house

2011-12-13T16:12:00.001-06:00

As we are enjoying this Christmas season with our kiddos, we can't help but think about and wonder about Max. We are preparing our hearts for the long wait ahead of us, but we still have reminders of him (whoever he is!) around our house.

We got a couple of these great ornaments from Kim! They are filled with Ethiopian coffee beans and detailed with handmade magazine beads. We love them! You can order until Dec. 15 for this year. All proceeds help their family adopt siblings from Ethiopia!

She even personalized them for us....it's Max's first Christmas ornament! :) Love it!!

We also have five stockings hung on our mantle this year! However, this makes Murphy's second Christmas without his name embroidered on his stocking...I waited too late again to take it somewhere to get it done! By the time I thought about it, I wanted it hanging with the rest of the family's stockings. It's definitely on my to-do list for January before I pack it up again and uncover it blank again after Thanksgiving 2012...if I can find a suitable "forever" stocking for Max!

I ordered these five stocking before MR's first Christmas...all five designs that The Company Store had in this collection. I thought we might have more kids later so I might as well get extras.

Well. For some reason, I had Wes' name put on the Santa, mine on the (unisex) Christmas tree, Mary Reeves on the (unisex) snowmen, which leaves a nutcracker for Murphy's.......and a lovely, blonde, white angel for Max! Umm, no! I have no clue why I didn't just put my name on the angel, when all of the other designs would have worked for our future sons or daughters!!! So I've been scouring eBay for a matching stocking in any of the designs because the pale, girly angel certainly won't do! So much for my thinking ahead, huh?? God had different plans for our family! Even if we have to get a whole new set of stockings [next Christmas?? :)], it will soooo be worth it!!

I also mentioned our countdown-to-Christmas sticker nativity. Every day, Mary Reeves adds the star sticker for that day, plus a special sticker that goes along with the day's Scripture reading. After days of adding animals, water jugs and hay, she was so pumped to finally put some people on there when Mary and Joseph appeared this weekend. Except for that random sheep in the sky, she's doing a good job with her manger scene!

I'll post the finished product after we celebrate Jesus' birthday with a Funfetti cake! We made one last year on Christmas day, and when we were shopping in Kroger last weekend, she remembered that we had to get Jesus' cake mix for his b-day cake...apparently only Funfetti will do now! I'm not complaining!

I'm also on a blog giveaway win streak! Wonderful Katie emailed that I won a T-shirt from her giveaway! Whoo hoo! Wes is going to love his Christmas present from me! :) You can stop by their blog and get your own T-shirt or magazine bead necklace. Thanks, Braddy Bunch!

Our adoption consultant doesn't work on Tuesdays, so I'm hoping to hear from her TOMORROW that we are on the waitlist!! Fingers crossed!

Santa stopped by the co-op

2011-12-12T15:30:00.002-06:00

Mary Reeves (and me, of course!) was so excited about her school's family breakfast with Santa that was held last Friday, but we didn't make it because both kiddos woke up sick. :( I knew she was sick when she didn't even get too upset about missing out!! Wes took them to the pedi for a quick diagnosis of strep x 2, so we had a very low key weekend....minus disinfecting the house and washing tons of laundry!

Once they were feeling better, we did sneak out for a quick visit with St. Nick at the local co-op! There was no line, and he was a super jolly Santa, so it was a much better option than the mall this year...even if his beard was a little ill-fitting. :)

Mary Reeves told Santa that all she wants for Christmas is "princess costumes." :) All I wanted was our annual photo to add to the collection. Murphy only sat on his lap for the few seconds to snap the pic, while MR lingered longer, collecting her reindeer food, candy cane and Christmas pencil.

Murphy and I hung out on the work boot aisle while he sucked on his fruit-flavored candy cane. He loved it! I'm thinking maybe it was his first taste of something like that though, so I didn't blame him!

So we marked that off the Christmas to-do list! Successful trip if you ask me!

Also, our dossier was sent from our agency in St. Louis to DC last Tuesday, so I'm praying and hoping to hear VERY SOON that we are on the waitlist!!! That's what I really want for Christmas!

We want to give a HUGE thank you to my aunt Amy for submitting the highest bid in our painting auction! I can't wait to give it to you when you come for Christmas!! Thank you again to Emily for sharing her talent with our family! We are so grateful to both of you!!!!

I love Christmas!

2011-12-08T08:51:00.001-06:00

The holidays are so much fun, and we've been trying to enjoy everything this month has to offer! Mary Reeves participated in her first church Christmas program last Sunday, and boy did all the preschoolers look so cute!

She freaked out a little when I dropped her off to put her costume on, so I was pretty sure she wasn't going to sing, although she knew all the songs and all the lines. As you can tell, she didn't quite know what to make of the crowd when the kids walked out. Her face says what her little mind is thinking: "I don't know about this." She tells me that all the time when she's a little unsure. ha!

However, her face lit up when she found Wes and me in the crowd! She really did great, and we were so proud of her!

Murphy is also getting into the spirit! He was only three-months-old last Christmas, so this year is really fun for both their ages!

We picked out a tree, decorated it without breaking any ornaments (although some they may not survive Murphy's curiosity until we pack them away!), and listened to lots of Christmas music!

MR is so proud of her little tree!

I took a Christmas card pic by myself, with no one else there to help wrangle them!

We've also decorated a gingerbread house and been on the lookout for Elfie's whereabouts every morning. Unfortunately, he's forgotten to move a few times, and I've had to explain that he didn't get to fly to the North Pole that night because it was too cold and he likes our warm house! Oops!!

Mary Reeves also looks forward to our Advent countdown every night! I've yet to take a picture of the manger scene we are creating with stickers, but I'll get one this weekend. Even with all the other fun activities, it's so important to try to focus on the real meaning...the birth of our Savior!

If you are still Christmas shopping like me, please don't forget our painting auction while you're shopping for Christmas gifts! It ends tomorrow at 8 p.m., and so far it stands at $100. It's a great painting and a great cause! :)

Want to shop with a purpose? Please check out our painting auction!!

2011-12-05T09:26:00.000-06:00

I told you last week that sweet Emily Neel was auctioning a fabulous cross painting for our family. By purchasing the painting, you not only get a beautiful Christmas gift for someone, you also help make a difference in the life of a child...specifically our son, Max! Talk about a win-win!

The awesome painting is a 16x48 custom built wooden canvas with Luke 18:16 on it. The painting is sealed and can be used indoors or outdoors (on a porch, etc.). The retail value of the painting is $275! The whimsical style and gogeous colors will look great in any home...I think it will look cute in a kid's room or playroom even! I'm so excited to see who wins!!

Emily chose a perfect verse for an adoption fundraiser, right? She said:
When I started looking for a Bible verse to paint on this particular piece of artwork, Luke 18:16 kept pulling at my heart. When everyone was turning the children alway, Jesus told the crowd that these were the ones who deserved the kingdom of Heaven. Little Max deserves to learn about the glory of God! What an awesome thing to know that your family will show and teach him the love of Jesus Christ!

More from Emily:
Since I was a little girl I have had two major passions. One of those was my love for painting! The other one was adoption. I have ALWAYS wanted to adopt a child...and still do today! I think adoption is a beautiful thing, and I am thrilled to be helping out this amazing family with bringing little Max home!

Auction rules:

The one-week auction begins Monday, Dec. 5 and ends Friday, Dec. 9 at 8 p.m. After it ends, Emily will email the winner to collect payment and arrange delivery/shipping. If the winner is in Mississippi, we can arrange delivery!
To bid, like "Emily's Original Art" on Facebook and leave a comment with your bid amount.
Bidding begins at $100.
Please check back often to see if you are in the lead!

Emily has been so busy this Christmas season, so we can't tell you how much we appreciate her taking the time to paint this especially for us! Please check out her Emily's Original Art blog to see other examples of her work, including painted furniture and 3-D art pieces! You can custom order anything from her!

What a great few days we have had! First, we sent our completed dossier to our agency and now Emily is hosting this painting auction in celebration of that milestone! :) Blog friends, please share our auction on your blog, facebook and/or twitter!! We appreciate it so much!

Good luck to all bidders, and thank you from the Gordon Four, soon-to-be FIVE!

Painting auction starts Monday!

2011-12-02T14:05:00.001-06:00

Just in time for Christmas shopping, Emily Neel has donated a painting for us to auction off here on the ol' blog!! We are so appreciative!! Here's a sneak peak.........

The auction for the whimsical cross painting featuring Luke 18:16 will run from Monday, Dec. 5 to Friday, Dec. 9, so please check back next week to bid! Emily is so talented, and I know this will look great in someone's home! So exciting!!

I'll also have photos of Mary Reeves' first church Christmas program next week! Sure to be hilarious!! I'm guessing that she'll probably just stand up there like a deer in headlights and not sing a note....but she sure will be precious in her angel costume!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Our dossier is off!

2011-12-01T10:30:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was an awesome day for the Gordon family!! Our dossier is sitting in our agency's office in St. Louis right now because we had such a productive Wednesday! Here's how it all went down....

Wes and I left at dark thirty to arrive at the MS Secretary of State's office as soon as the doors opened to get all of our notarized paperwork authenticated by our great state. It was a little nerve-wracking, but everything ended up going smoothly. So thankful!!

Then it was off to FedEx to make tons of copies of everything before sending it to CHI.

Finally, the dossier was ready to go on an overnight trip to Missouri! I had a bit of a panic attack leaving all those precious papers that we've worked so hard to collect for nearly five months. I was so attached to those papers and my checklist because it was something I could DO to be closer to Max...now we can just wait! I may have checked the tracking number on my phone a few (or twenty) times since it left my hands!

Thankfully, our adoption consultant emailed this morning to let us know she had received everything, and it all looks good!!! YEA!!!!!!! Now, she'll send the dossier to Washington. When it returns from DC, certified by both the American and Ethiopian embassies, we'll be an official waiting family, ready to be matched with our son, Max!!

A good friend asked me last night what was actually included in our dossier, and I'm not sure I've put a comprehensive list on the blog, so here goes.....

Introductory letter stating our reasons for adopting from Ethiopia
Photos of our family and our home
USCIS approval (I-171H)
Home study-A detailed report consisting of interviews from our four meetings with our social worker, in-home inspection, and 10 hours of international adoption training, plus all required forms [copies of birth certificates and marriage license; medical forms-TB and blood tests; IRS W-2 forms; net worth statement; autobiographies; family and home photos; reference letters from 3 friends/family and pastor; background checks from MS, AL and VA; FBI background check (waited 10 weeks for this!)]
Letter of committment for post-adoption follow-up appointments with our social worker
Employment letters for both of us
Financial information
Birth certificates
Marriage license
Medical letters for both of us
Police letters saying we both have no records
Three reference letters
Letter of obligation stating that we will provide post adoption reports to Ethiopia until Max is 18
Copies of our passport ID pages
Power of attorney
Passport photos

Now do you understand why it took nearly 5 months and why I had anxiety letting it go??? Every single item, except the passport photos, had to be notarized and state authenticated. Now it moves on to the federal level, and we are so excited to have everything ready to go!!!

When we got back in town late that afternoon, we headed to the Holiday Bazaar, and the Lord provided such a special thing for Wes and me.....

First, we saw Katie's mom, and she gave me a magazine bead necklace I had ordered from Katie and Josh to support their Ethiopian adoption. (They are selling these great necklaces, T-shirts and fair-trade coffee, so hop on over to the Braddy Bunch for details!) We were telling Ms. Tanya all about sending off our dossier since she knows exactly what a big step it is, and then I spotted another familiar face....

As we were visiting, I saw Anna and Lucy walk by!!!

We've emailed, facebooked, etc., but never met in person until yesterday, and it couldn't have been more perfect timing! Anna and her husband brought precious, adorable, sweet-as-pie Lucy home from Ethiopia just four months ago! I thought Wes was going to try to take her home with us...she loved him!

Believe it or not, Lucy is the first Ethiopian orphan-no-more that we've actually met in person, and it was such a wonderful confirmation from the Lord on that special day! Anna was such an encouragement for the wait ahead. I'm so thankful for God's timing and His provisions!

I'm so happy Katie's mom and my mom where there to meet Lucy and her family too....it was so neat to all have this connection! I can't wait until all our babies are home!!!! Thanks for helping us pray Max HOME!

Thanksgiving recap

2011-11-30T11:01:00.000-06:00

We have so much to be thankful for this year, including the outpouring of support our family has received over the past several months to bring Max home! God is so good, and we are overwhelmed by the financial gifts we have received in Jesus' name...there are really no other words to describe our gratitude. We are thankful to be on this eye-opening journey as it changes us in many ways.

We so are thankful for these two precious blessings! They are my heart!

We are thankful to have spent our Thanksgiving break with family and friends here in Starkville. There's no place we'd rather be (except maybe on a plane back from Ethiopia with a baby boy in my lap!), and it was such a fun break! We ate Thanksgiving lunch with both of our families at my mom's new house...

We also celebrated Aunt Amy's Turkey Day birthday...with a Cold Stone ice cream cake, of course!

Mary Reeves got some good Go Fish games in with her great-grandmother Mary Kate.

We ate with Wes' family at the cabin before the big Egg Bowl victory. Don't these guys look so cute in their gameday shirts?

Mammaw Stringer with her grandsons and great-grands...

Now we are getting geared up for Christmas, and it's so much fun with our kiddos! MR loves even the smallest decorations, and Murphy is enthralled by our tree! Can't wait to make lots of memories with them this year as they start to get old enough to remember our family traditions!

MR's first haircut

2011-11-29T11:14:00.000-06:00

After going almost 3 1/2 years without scissors touching her hair, I decided it was time for Mary Reeves to get a trim. She accompanied me to my appointment at the "Beauty Shop," as she and my grandmother call it, and she did great!

The stylist sprayed her hair with water and combed it all out.....look how long it is when it's straight!

They were a little hesitant to cut her Rapunzel hair, but she really just needed a trim to even up the ends because some sections of hair have been longer since she was a tiny baby. I think she ended up with maybe just an inch off the bottom, but that makes a difference when it curls up! She was very still and brave!

Now for some After shots......Pretty sure no one but me can tell that she had her first haircut, but I still think it looks better!

MR literally rolls out of bed and we put it up in a bow...no brushing, styling, teasing, etc. Some days it's super curly and sometimes it just looks perfectly hot rolled with looser curls. What I wouldn't give to have her hair!

Our FDL arrived!!!

2011-11-28T16:05:00.001-06:00

We found our USCIS I-171H (Favorable Determination Concerning Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition) in the mailbox Saturday before we headed to the Egg Bowl! YAHOO!!! As I've said several times, this is the last piece of paperwork we needed to complete our dossier! I was sooo happy to get it in just over a week since our fingerprinting appointment! I had prepped myself for a longer wait, but what a great surprise!

We had it notarized this morning, and we'll take the entire dossier to Jackson on Wednesday to get all of the notaries authenticated. If everything looks good, we'll make a jillion copies and overnight the dossier to our agency. It goes to Washington, D.C. from there before making it's final stop in Ethiopia. Hopefully we are just a couple of weeks away from joining the waitlist!! SO EXCITED!

Of course, I have to add that Saturday was a great day for another reason as well....

The Golden Egg remains in Starkville for the third consecutive year! Go Dawgs!

Baby boom

2011-11-23T12:19:00.000-06:00

I just found out that two of my best friends are having babies! YEA!! So excited for Wesley and Sally, especially since they are due on the SAME DAY! :)

We took this pic at the last MSU game, when they both spilled the beans to everyone and to each other! I was so excited to take a pic with the mommies-to-be....and then it dawned on me, days later, that ALL three of us are expecting....their sweet babies will just be in their arms before mine will be home. Both of my BFFs will see those precious little faces before we see Max's, but we know that our day will come too. That's the difference in a pregnancy and a "paper pregnancy"....I don't have a due date marked on my calendar, but I know the Lord already has it marked on His. :)

Now for a little trip down memory lane...

Dec. 2010....Sally was months away from welcoming Vera Kate into the world (she's holding her ultrasound pic!), Mary Reeves is 18 months old, and Ella Kate is 6 months old. (It is obvious we are fans of the double name! ha!!!)

Fall 2011....VK was 3 months old, EK was about 15 months, MR was 2, and Murphy was 1 month old.

Now Vera Kate and Murphy are 1, and Mary Reeves is 3.

Ella Kate is 2. Time flies! Both of these sweet girls are going to be great big sisters!!

We have to get a group shot at the Egg Bowl since morning sickness has interfered with our tailgating/photo op time this year...at least for the other two mommas! No nausea is one of the perks of growing our family through adoption! :) Can't wait to add THREE more babies to the mix...two in May and one more according to God's timing!

Thanks for stopping by!

2011-11-21T07:00:00.000-06:00

We are so excited to be featured as a fundraising family over at Filled with Praise! Sweet Amy spotlights a different family each week, and today it's us! We are so grateful! Alison over at Lovin' Much is also helping us all shop with a purpose this Christmas by spotlighting adoption fundraising families, so today is an exciting day!

To help bring our son, Max, home from Ethiopia, we are selling these cool pigment dyed shirts for $20 each, plus $3 for shipping. They are based on the Ethiopian flag and sooo soft!

We have adult sizes Small-X-Large, and we'll happily ship the shirts right to you. They would make great Christmas presents! Please email me at meaghangordon@hotmail.com to place an order! Thanks so much!!

In the next week or so, we are also going to auction a whimsical and inspirational cross painting donated by precious Emily Neel. What a unique Christmas surprise for someone! She has almost completed the painting, but in the meantime, here are two examples....

Please check back soon for information on purchasing a fabulous gift for someone you love (or for yourself!) and supporting our cause! We can't wait to show you the finished painting!

Thanks again, Amy, for your commitment to helping adopting families!

Time to stalk the mailbox again!

2011-11-17T16:55:00.001-06:00

Wes and I got our USCIS fingerprints taken Wednesday at the federal building in Jackson. So happy to finally have that done because it's the last step in the paperwork process to get on our agency's waitlist!

Once we get the approval letter in the mail, we get to take the completed dossier to be state certified at the MS Secretary of State's office and then mail it to CHI for them to review and forward to Washington, D.C. In our nation's capital, the dossier will get authenticated by the US and Ethiopian embassies, and we'll officially be a waiting family! You better believe I'm going to be stalking that mailbox until I see the Favorable Determination Letter in the mail!!!

The ladies at the USCIS office were so sweet! I was a little nervous because we received two appointment notifications in the mail....a perfect set for noon and 1 p.m. and then a crazy set for 8 and 9 a.m. with misspellings in our address and Wes' name. When I called to get it straightened out, they told me to just report at the earliest appointment times, with all paperwork in hand, and they would make everything right.

Since Wes and I took the whole day off, we decided to take the kids along for a family fun day. We put them in the van in their pj's at 5:15 a.m. and headed down Highway 25. After a stop in Carthage to change their clothes and get Ward's biscuits, we were on our way again. As we pulled into the parking garage on Capitol Street around 8:05 for our 8 a.m. appointment, Mary Reeves, who has never been car sick before, threw up all over herself! I said a prayer of thanksgiving that I just happened to grab her a change of clothes as we were running out the door a couple hours earlier....it was literally the last thing I put in the car! We hardly ever pack extra clothes for her anymore, but I'm so glad the Lord was looking out for us!!!

She didn't cry or get hysterical like I though she might....when Wes opened the door on her side of the van, she just looked up at him and said, "I ate too much ice cream last night." Bless her heart!!

We finally got to the USCIS office about 8:30, and the kind ladies had us out of there in less than 15 minutes! We were so thankful for their understanding!

Since MR was feeling better, we headed to the Mississippi Children's Museum. I took the kids a few months ago, but it was Wes' first visit and the first time Murphy could really play. We had a blast!

On our last trip to the museum, Mary Reeves was too scared to go through the digestive system exhibit. This time, she did it several times. In through the mouth.....

and alllll the way through the stomach and both intestines before coming out in the potty! ha!

With another milestone completed, I can't wait until we have three little Gordons! We love you already, Max!

To continue our family day and celebrate the fingerprinting, we also stopped by Abeba, Jackson's new Ethiopian restaurant, for lunch before heading home. It was really neat to eat injera for the first time! We all liked the veggies, but I will say that the meats will have to grow on us. A pretty cool experience though!

We love Cold Stone!

2011-11-17T14:43:00.001-06:00

Tuesday night was soooo much fun, and we are so thankful that Cold Stone allowed us to have such a fun fundraiser! It was a perfect November night, warm enough for ice cream on the patio!

It was packed most of the night! We used the blog, facebook and twitter to get the word out. Thanks to everyone who helped spread the word!! These were definitely our best tools for a college town! I think everyone was happy to have such a great excuse for a study break! :)

We love the ice cream, the generous owners who allowed us to have our fundraiser and the sweet employees who worked their arms off all night scooping and mixing!

Mary Reeves ate every bite of her strawberry with sprinkles! Murphy begged for bites from everyone all night long, and he got plenty too!

My sweet friend Tollie and her husband Zack are cottage parents at the Palmer Home in Columbus. They were so great to bring their EIGHT kids for treat! Just a few months ago, Tollie and Zack were footloose and fancy-free in Jackson, and now they have enough kids to justify a TV show! She's pretty much my hero!!

Wes and I even got to do a little ice cream scooping! I actually worked at a custard shop for a little while in grad school, so it was fun to do it again. We were so overwhelmed by the turnout and the great people we got to "talk adoption" with that night!

Our story was even picked up by the Starkville Daily News and the Columbus Dispatch! Can you believe it? We are definitely not the first to adopt and there are plenty of other people in the process, so we were actually a little embarrassed! However, we are so grateful to help spread the message of orphan care and adoption awareness!! If you feel called to be a forever family to one or more of the 147 million orphans worldwide, you don't have to have $30,000 sitting in your bank account to make it happen! The Lord provides...we are proving that!

He has definitely provided.....Tuesday night's ice cream sales (20% of all sales from 5-8, although the line was so long they let it go until about 8:45) and tips brought in $463.47, which the store rounded up to $500! In addition, we sold a few T-shirts and had several donations in our jar for a grand total of

$800!!!! :)

Unbelievable for a little over 3 hours of FUN! We are soooooo thankful to everyone who played a part in such a successful night!!!! Now if we could just get on an airplane tomorrow to bring Max home! :)

Weekend and bloggy goodness

2011-11-14T15:30:00.000-06:00

It was another great weekend (besides the Bulldogs loss, of course)! Wes' Uncle Chuck turned 55 on 11-11-11, and to celebrate, he had birthday parties in Franklin, Tenn., on Thursday night and here Friday night. Guess what he wanted for his birthday?? He asked his friends to donate to our adoption fund in his honor! WOW! Chuck is a pretty loved guy....his guests donated more than $1,400 to help bring Max home, and donations are still coming in! Amazing!!! We are thrilled and so thankful!!

If you are in the Nashville area, please stop by Chuck and Sheri's wonderful stores, Antiques at the Factory and The Perfect Setting, both in Franklin! They have such great stuff and the best customer service!

Please don't forget about our Cold Stone Creamery fundraiser tomorrow night from 5-8 p.m.! We get 20% of ALL sales, so please get a yummy treat for yourself and bring your family and friends! We'll also have our T-shirts for sale! I'm so excited for a great excuse to eat ice cream for supper!

In other news, I won my first bloggy giveaway this weekend, the book Kisses From Katie, written by Katie Davis, the amazing young mom of 12 Ugandan daughters and founder of Amazima Ministries. I'm so excited!! I had this book on my Christmas list, so Christmas came early! Thanks, McCall!

Speaking of Christmas, if you're looking for some cute Christmas cards (oh, please, will my children be still for just ONE photo?!) then check out my friend Kim's creations. She made great thank you notes for us to match our T-shirt design, and I know she'd love to design your perfect card!

I'm also going to try to post different adoption fundraisers and other things people might be interested in while doing their Christmas shopping this year. We've been the recipients of so much support already, and I'm really going to try to focus on shopping for a purpose this year...buying gifts that people will love while helping fund adoptions and other worthwhile causes.

My friend Emily is selling Red Thread T-shirts to bring home her daughter from China (who will join her son from Guatemala) and raise awareness for adoption. The shirts look great, and they'll be here before Christmas! Get your pre-orders in now!

Lauren is giving away a huge gift basket FULL of awesome stuff over on her blog. A donation of just $5 helps fund their second adoption and gives you a chance to win more than $200 worth of goodies, so check it out!

Happy thoughts

2011-11-11T13:57:00.001-06:00

This post may be a little all over the place, but I have so many things on my heart I want to share so please bear with me....

First, I talked to a precious friend yesterday about adoption for her family. So excited and happy that one or more children will soon have a family thanks to their willingness to say yes to their calling! Sometimes the phone rings just when you need it to, and it's such a blessing to share your heart with a sweet sister who shares the same desires. I can't wait to follow their journey!...and of course, point you to their blog, when the time comes! :)

After we got off the phone, I was just thanking God for our wonderful conversation, and then I opened the mail. Once again, my heart is bursting with gratitude from a VERY generous donation (our largest by far!) that arrived in our mailbox yesterday! The Lord just reaffirmed this adoption journey in two HUGE ways last night! I've cried every time I've thought about it today. THANK YOU never, ever seems adequate, but we just hope the couple knows how much it means to us. We are inspired by your sacrificial giving, challenged to do the same, humbled and praising God for His provisions for our son!

Wes and I started this journey over four months ago with a little money in our savings, but NOWHERE near the estimated amount needed to bring our son home. Since then, we have seen donations come from unexpected places and successful fundraisers simply blow us away. The Lord is truly funding this adoption, so if you're thinking about pursuing adoption for your family....please don't let finances stand in the way! I truly believe the Lord funds what He favors!

In other exciting news, our agency has offered three referrals (matched children with forever families) in the past two weeks! After a couple of months with no referrals, it's so encouraging to know that children are getting homes and see movement on the waitlist! We are so ready to be on that list!!

In addition, several families, who on their first trip, met their children and became their legal guardians in the eyes of the Ethiopian courts, but have been waiting for months on the US to issue visas for the children, have been given clearance to return and bring them home! Praise God! The delays are heartbreaking because the children are in orphanages much longer than they need to be. I'm not even letting myself think about how hard the wait between the trips will be, knowing that Max is ours but that we are on different continents!

Wes and I are so excited about next week's USCIS appointment because we'll soon have our dossier on it's way to Ethiopia! We've done all we can, as fast as we can, to get it completed, but then it will be out of our hands. We can't make the process go any faster at that point, but we can continue to pray for our child's birth family and Max, our agency, both the Ethiopian and American governments as they work to make the adoption process better, other adoptive families, etc. We'd love for you to do the same! :)

There are so many highs and lows throughout this journey, so I want to be real and share them. Today, though, is a HIGH! Thankfulness is today's theme (it should be every day, I know, but I fail again and again in keeping that attitude) so I want to shout praises from the rooftops! :)

Compassion bloggers in Ecuador

2011-11-08T17:00:00.000-06:00

Starting today, a group of bloggers will document their trip to Ecuador as they meet the children Compassion International serves from the high-altitude of Quito to the secluded inhabitants of the Amazon rainforest.

Boomama, Big Mama, Kelly from Kelly's Korner and others will take us along with them through blog posts and Twitter updates. It's so good to see the Lord using mom blogs, of all things, to release children from poverty in Jesus' name.

We'll see how Compassion sponsorship is making a difference in the lives of these children and their families....for less than $40 a month. Child sponsorship is a great way to help prevent a boy or girl from becoming of the 147 million orphans in this world. Please follow along with their adventures and consider sponsoring a child (or children!) through Compassion.

Cold Stone fundraiser Nov. 15!

2011-11-07T15:16:00.000-06:00

Treat yourself and help us bring Max home!!!

The wonderful people from Starkville's Cold Stone Creamery are letting us have an ice cream night fundraiser Tuesday, Nov. 15!! So exciting... 20% of ALL sales from 5-8 p.m. (people don't have to mention our name or anything) go to our adoption fund!

Please come out for a treat and spread the word to everyone in the Golden Triangle!

Cold Stone is our favorite ice cream place! I love the Founder's Favorite....brownie, pecans, fudge and caramel....

Wes loves the Cookie Doughn't You Want Some....cookie dough, chocolate chips, fudge and caramel....

Mary Reeves likes anything with sprinkles! We celebrated her third b-day/Father's Day at Cold Stone....

I know most of these Cold Stone Creations look decadent (they are!), but don't worry, Cold Stone has healthy treats too....fruity sorbets, non-fat no sugar added ice cream....and (who knew!) you can actually get fruit (instead of chocolate?!) mixed in your ice cream of choice!

You could even pick up an ice cream cake or pie for the next week's Thanksgiving feast! Your friends and family will love you for bringing dessert! :)

Is your mouth watering already?? Then mark your calendar for NOV. 15! :)

Do you need a reminder of why we're raising money for our adoption? Then check out this video. Yesterday was Orphan Sunday, and these little faces say it all......

Orphan Sunday 2011 from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.

We have our biometrics appointment!

2011-11-02T17:02:00.001-05:00

YES!!! I spoke to the person assigned to our case this afternoon, and she made our appointment (two weeks from today!!) while we were on the phone....yes! The Favorable Determination Letter that results from our USCIS biometric appointment is the LAST piece of paper we need to complete our dossier and send it on its way to Ethiopia...which officially puts us on the waitlist for Max! Thank you, Lord!!!

Please pray that we'll get that letter back quickly after our appointment, as the holidays are approaching, and I'm not sure how that will affect turnaround times. We are so ready to be on "the list" and "officially" begin waiting for our next little man! I originally had it in my head that it would be great to have everything completed by Thanksgiving, but it will sure be a wonderful Christmas present if it takes until December!

We also have a couple more great fundraisers in the works, to I'll be sure to keep you posted! Thanks for following our journey!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T14:06:00.000-05:00

We continued our Halloween celebration Saturday afternoon with a little pumpkin decorating....Daddy carving (notice the power tool in the photo below!) and Momma and kiddos painting.

Murphy loved it! I was surprised at how well he did at keeping most of the paint on the pumpkin.

He was so proud of his little pumpkin! It's so cute!

Mary Reeves painted a big pumpkin with lots of her favorite colors and glitter paint. She is always quick to tell anyone that PINK is her favorite color! I also painted a (crazy big) butterfly on her face, and she wanted to paint mine in return. I asked her what she was painting...she said a Gorilla! ha!

Family pumpkin pic....Notice the lovely pink blob, uh, I mean, gorilla on my face! :)

FBC hosted a fun Fall Festival on Halloween night, and we pulled out the Pebbles and Bam-Bam costumes for the third time! The kids had a blast! There was a good variety of activities for kids of all ages, from a preschool room with tunnels, small inflatables, balls, etc. to booths and inflatables for big kids.

I couldn't believe MR did the big slide all by herself, multiple times. She looks so little on that thing, but I was proud that she was brave!

Poor little Bam-Bam looks like someone went Bam-Bam on his head....I had no idea how rough little boys are!! He fell and scraped his forehead last week, busted his lip Saturday afternoon, got a purple goose egg on his head at nursery Sunday, and fell off the top of a climbing toy at school yesterday for a bruise above eyebrow. Good grief! This kid need a helmet!!

Now we get to EAT all the yummy candy and treats from the last week! Yea! Looking forward to Homecoming this weekend and seeing lots of fun friends...and eating tailgate food, of course!

Fall fun

2011-10-28T14:13:00.002-05:00

We've had fun recently with old and new friends. Through MSU's Borderless Host program, our family has gained two new friends in Tomie and Keisha, a pair of international students studying at State. Tomie arrived in August from Nigeria, and Keisha, who runs track for the Bulldogs, is from Jamaica. Last week, the program hosted a pumpkin cut for all of the families and students, and we had a great time! Neither girl, or any of the other international students there for that matter, had carved pumpkins before, so we explained Halloween, make jack-o-lanterns, ate pumpkin pie and caramel apples, etc.

We love this program! It's a great way to connect with students (one of the great things about living in a college town) and expose our kids to other cultures, and it gives the students a sense of familiarity. Can you imagine arriving in Starkville with basically just your suitcase (no car, TV, etc.) and not even knowing your roommates? Scary, if you ask me! Both girls are so smart and dedicated. We are lucky to call them friends!

My mom was matched with a South Korean student, and we have a couple of friends that have signed up too. If you're in Starkville, I encourage you to consider signing up because there are still more students waiting to be matched with friendly families.

I also got to reunite with a few high school friends when we had a CHS cheerleader reunion last weekend! No matter how long it's been, there is something so comforting about being with people who you've known practically your whole life! Melissa, Somer and I were classmates from K-12th grade, and Jacqueline is a year younger than us. So fun!

Mary Brook and I attempted some fall fun last night at the MSU fall festival. Is Will not the cutest lion?

Neither boy seemed especially excited, but we did a little trick or treating on sorority row anyway. Mary Reeves alone benefitted from the candy.

The temperature was dropping, and when we got to the Junction, it started to rain. :( MR played a couple of games and got more candy. The solemn babies didn't mind that we pretty much turned right back around and left.

I thought I'd let Murphy try out a spoon with his mac-n-cheese at dinner. It started off well....

but, he still needs to work on this skill! :)

Also, I called the USCIS back and no progress has been made. I'll keep bothering them until I get a fingerprint appointment....the squeaky wheel gets the grease! We had to re-do three documents for the dossier, and I hope to have them all today. But, I guess we're in no hurry until we get that USCIS appointment and approval!

Looking forward to a great, quiet weekend with Wes, who's been out of town for work, and the kiddos. Homemade gumbo and pumpkin carving are the only things on my agenda. :) Have a wonderful weekend!

One of those days

2011-10-26T16:41:00.001-05:00

You know when you just have "one of those days" when you want to control things you can't control...well, today is one of them for me!

We sent our I-600A application to the USCIS at the end of September, and our home study agency mailed the home study a day or two later. Just as I was instructed, I called the next week to make sure it was received in a timely manner (which of course it was). We got our confirmation letter in the mail the next day, waaaay back in the beginning of October. Every day since, I've run to the mailbox as soon as we pull in the garage (MR and Murphy love to race to get the mail!), hoping and saying a small prayer before I opened it up that our biometric fingerprint appointment would be in there. This has gone on for a few weeks now, so I finally called again today (maybe I should have done it sooner, but I was naively counting on it to be processed in a timely manner) just to find out that the two documents (application and home study) were both received, which I already knew, but they haven't been matched together to be processed further.

Basically, all the paperwork has just been sitting around in Texas for nearly a month. Hurry up, people! I'll call again "at the end of the week" (Thursday is the end of the week, right?) to follow up, and I sure hope some progress has been made!

We are so close the waitlist, which in my mind grows every day, and I have grown somewhat impatient to be there. Then, it's just more (lots more!) waiting. Hurry up and wait. I know it's all in God's timing, but I'm so ready to send in the paperwork that we've been collecting for more than three months!

In the meantime, our adoption agency consultant is reviewing alllll that paperwork and letting us know if any documents have to be redone. I already know of one letter, so I'm hoping it's the only one!!

Sorry to grumble today, but just being real. As my old roomie Abby always says, "Peaks and valleys. Peaks and valleys!"

Thanks for letting me vent.

Six years of marital bliss

2011-10-20T16:24:00.002-05:00

Saturday, Oct. 15, marked our sixth wedding anniversary, and although I'm a little late with this one, I realized I've never done an anniversary post. Once I got it in my head to do it, I frantically searched the house for days to find the wedding photo DVD. It showed up in an unlikely place, but at least it showed up!

We were married on a perfect fall day (MSU's off weekend, of course!) at FBC Carthage, my home church, surrounded by tons of family and friends.

It really was a wonderful weekend, starting with golf for the guys Friday afternoon, the rehearsal dinner and fun Desserts and Dancing after-party that night, great bridesmaid luncheon and groomsman brunch Saturday morning, and a beautiful ceremony and reception Saturday night. I'm truly so thankful to everyone who played a part in our wedding festivities that weekend and in the months leading up to it. In a way it feels like it was just yesterday, but then again....a lot has happened in six years!

WPG, you're my favorite! I know God created us for one another, and I'm so thankful for you for so many reasons! Six years down, 66 more to go! (I typed that and then realized that it's 72 years...the same amount of time this couple was married...what a story!)

Oh, to go back to Jamaica on another honeymoon with my groom! :)

Now just for laughs....our first "couple photo" on our first date, Sigma Chi Steak Night 2001! Such young 'uns...and oh my, that shirt! It was one of the little tiny puckered ones that stretched out to fit...thank goodness that was a short-lived trend...but it's beauty is captured forever in this pic. :) Thanks for asking me to be your wife four years later anyway, Wes!

Happy anniversary, Wes!!

Gratitude

2011-10-18T15:41:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, we received a check in the mail from a friend, and I almost couldn't believe my eyes before they welled up with tears. It's not the first surprise donation we've gotten in the mail in unassuming envelopes, but it was the largest amount. It was not from someone I talk to on a weekly basis, but a friend from several years ago. We stay in touch occasionally over facebook, mostly just commenting on photos of each other's small children. That's probably where the surprise factored in, but we are so thankful for her gift! I know the Lord puts people in our lives for seasons and for reasons...Wes and I are truly, truly humbled by the support of so many family, friends, acquaintances, and even strangers!

We know it's not for us, it's for sweet Max...he will no longer be a statistic, no longer one of the estimated 147 million orphans in this world. Thank you...I say it over and over, not convinced that these words convey our gratitude, but please know that we appreciate your support, prayers, kind word, and encouragement more than you know!!! It's going to be a long wait for Max, but it will be worth it....the Lord has revealed himself to us again and again in just the past few months....I know He will continue to do so, no matter how long we wait.

Here are some pretty cool people that have helped us out.....

You know what Kaley did? She ran the Music City Half Marathon and dedicated her race to MAX! Quite possibly the coolest thing ever! Kaley has a heart for orphans, and she's also going to Africa in December on her first mission trip. Yea, Kaley! You can head over to her blog if you'd like to chip in and help her with the travel costs.

We love seeing everyone in our fundraising shirts! Lots of people have tweeted to Wes or posted pics on facebook...so fun! Send us your pic in the Love Knows No Borders tee, and you'll be forever immortalized on the blog too! If you still need a shirt, (or 3!) we have some! :)

Little Presley put his on the night he got it in the mail!

The Mayer boys in Alabama are sporting their shirts! Aren't these brothers the cutest?

MR's teacher from UWA, Ms. Courtney, snapped a pic on the top of the Ferris wheel!

We have a conference call tomorrow with our agency. We know they are going to tell us that wait times are increasing, due to several factors. Please pray for our patience as we wait for our son to come home to us. Thanks again!

Weekends are the best!

2011-10-17T16:10:00.000-05:00

Another fun weekend spent with family and friends started off Friday night with Pumpkinpalooza.. My mom made the cutest costumes for the kiddos...Pebbles and Bam-Bam! We went to Wal-mart Wednesday night, and she whipped them up Thursday....talented! :)

It's a little hard to get a posed pic of these two....Bam-Bam wouldn't wear his little hat, and Pebbles was banging him over the head with his club! Whatever! Totally cute, nonetheless!

We met up with Sally and her crew downtown. Mary Reeves loved trick-or-treating, although she it never dawned on her that she could eat some of the candy until I asked her if she wanted some. She picked out two pieces, and hasn't eaten any since. Guess she won't notice if some of it comes up missing...like the Reese's peanut butter cup in my purse! :)

Murphy was pooped so it was time to go!

We got to the tailgate around 9 a.m. for a full day on campus. Aunt Sheri loves to take MR to the bookstore to ride the escalators and buy her a treat so this time MR picked out a Dora book. It kept the kiddos entertained for a while before and after the game

BeBe and Pop with the kids....

Wes had to work Saturday and visit with donors so my mom and I ~~wrestled with the babies~~ enjoyed the game with MR and Murphy. Once again, they made it the whole game! I almost took Murphy out, but some 3rd quarter snowcones provided the pick me up to stay the whole game! I was glad because I sure didn't want to leave a tied game.

After the game, while we were gathering up everything, Mary Reeves looked up at me and said, "I know our team didn't won. The other team is faster than us." Ok then. Ha!

Back at the tailgate, MR loved that Uncle Brent made her so tall she could touch the trees! We hung out under the tents until around 5...it was a long day, but so much fun!

The Ray fam spent the night with us, and Murphy and Vera Kate had the best time playing and banging on the window at our dog, Mollie. I hope I can show this pic at their rehearsal dinner one day! :)

Look at these future cheerleaders! Sweet girls and sweet daddies!

Needless to say, we all took good naps Sunday afternoon!

I hope to have some good news on the adoption front this week, as we should get our USCIS appointment confirmation in the mail very soon! :)

Super Saturday!

2011-10-11T16:24:00.000-05:00

We had a fun family day Saturday with a trip to Country Pumpkins! With free admission, tons of neat pumpkins and gourds to choose from, and great activities, what's not to love? Our house feels like fall with our mums, pumpkins and scarecrows!

Mary Reeves loved all the pumpkins.

Murphy just wanted to ride in the wagon all afternoon, which should give Santa a pretty good idea!

Family pic on the truck...time to invest in self-tanner!

The corn box was a big hit with both kiddos, and several kernels managed to escape the pumpkin patch in diapers, etc.

Look how tall this fall!

It was an eventful day for the Gordons, as I'm now the proud owner of a mom-mobile! Wes is still coming to terms with the fact that he turned 30 on Wednesday and purchased a MINIVAN on Saturday! ha!!!! I love it so much...and I don't care how dorky that makes me! It's huge compared to my old little car with tons of conveniences that I know we will enjoy for (many, many!) years to come!

Murphy likes it too! Respect the Van! :)

Happy 30th, Wes!

2011-10-05T10:05:00.002-05:00

Happy 30th Birthday to my wonderful husband!!! Wasn't he a cute baby?!

And what middle school girl wouldn't want to hold hands with this stud....colorblock windsuit jacket and all!

So glad I snagged him way back when! We've now been together 1/3 of our lives! It's crazy to think we're entering another decade (of course, I won't join him until 2012)!

Mary Reeves, Murphy and I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! I'm so blessed to call you my best friend! We appreciate everything you do for our family and how you love us so well. Hope your 30's are the best years yet! Can't wait to celebrate tonight!

Wouldn't it be great it he had three kiddos in his lap next October? Here's hoping! :)

We got some Dawgs up in here!

2011-09-28T15:11:00.000-05:00

Saturday was a wonderful day for tailgating and football, even an overtime win against La Tech! :) We had a blast hanging out at the Bulldog Buddies tent, and BOTH kids made it through the WHOLE game, with very little whining/restlessness! Let the photo overload commence.........

BFFs reunited! It's been too long since Wendy, Sally and I were all in one place! :) Wendy is promising to come back for two more games.....ok Wen, it's on the internet so you must follow through!! :)

Mary Reeves loved on Sally's Vera Kate when she stopped by the tailgate. She is so sweet to Murphy and "little babies" now, and it's funny to watch her "big girl" three-year-old self love on them.

We got to play with Wesley and Ella Kate too!

Sweet EK in her Black Out gear LOVED Murphy! All she wanted to do was hug him and boss him around....wife material??

Sweet girls!

My fam was all there! This was the best pic we could manage...at least everyone is looking!

I was sooo proud of how they acted at the game! MR watched everything very intently, and only a 4th quarter pretzel was needed to keep her entertained. Both kids LOVED ringing their cowbells in the stadium!

My mom taught MR how to ring responsibly by following the Jumbotron instructions. She took her job very seriously....just look at that intensity!

Friday night was also fun as Starkville hosted a block party with kids' activities and MSU international student groups performing dances in cultural costumes, handing out ethnic foods, etc. I love that we can expose our kids to a life outside of Starkville, right here in Starkville! :)

MR got a henna tatoo on her hand....

She was SOOO proud of her flower....

Murphy met Bully for the first time, and he wasn't scared, just curious. MR loves him!

To continue the international theme, we also ate Mexican...that counts, right? :)

Can't wait for the next home football weekend and Pumkinpalooza downtown!

On the adoption front, our home study is OFFICIALLY COMPLETE! We sent off our I-600A application yesterday! So excited for this milestone!

FBI clearance!

2011-09-26T14:03:00.002-05:00

After 9+ weeks, our FBI background results came in the mail Saturday! YEA!!!! That was the last piece of paperwork needed to complete our home study, except for an updated licence our agency will add to it before they send it off later this week. Praise the Lord! I know it's all in His timing!

Tomorrow we'll send in our I-600A (Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition) to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Next, they'll send us notice of an appointment for biometric fingerprinting (yes, MORE fingerprinting!) at an office in Jackson, Memphis or Birmingham. Hopefully, we'll have that appointment in about a month and receive our Favorable Determination Letter soon after.

Before then we'll notarize our personal letters, financial statement, photos, etc. and collect the only outside info left, our state police letters. Ultimately, the FDL will complete the dossier paperwork. We'll then take it all to be certified at the secretary of state's office in Jackson before it heads to D.C. and then Addis Ababa!

Basically, we're more than halfway to our adoption agency's waiting list!! I'm so thankful that the paperwork gathering has gone so well so far! Please pray that it continues to do so as we are "waiting to wait" for baby Max! Please pray also for our adoption consultant as she is in Ethiopia this week for a quarterly meeting set for tomorrow with US Embassy, Department of State, and USCIS officials. Hoping for only good news on the adoption front! We appreciate your prayers!

T-shirts are here!

2011-09-23T10:40:00.000-05:00

The T-shirts are here! We've been busy sorting, packing them for mailing, dropping them off, etc. So exciting!

Our dining room is now our work station....

These will hit your mailboxes very soon!

Thanks again to everyone who has ordered shirts! Remember to send people our way when they ask you where you got that cool shirt....we have extras in S-XL for sale!

I also finally called about our FBI check results......they have been processed and will be mailed early next week!!! That completes our home study, so pray they don't get lost in the mail! :)

What else is in? Murphy's two front teeth....no wonder he was in such a pitiful mood last weekend! They are big! ha! I feel so sorry for teething babies because there's not much relief until the pearly whites just pop through those swollen gums! Four down, 16 to go....seesh!

I didn't even post about last week's game so here's a few pics...so happy to see my college buddies Laura and Lauren (LG and LG!) and meet sweet Chandler! Love these girls and so glad they have both moved back closer!

Murphy was a wild man, running all over the tailgates and tumbling down grassy hills. He had a blast!

This cute pic of M and here grandbabies is the only good one I got of both kiddos at the first home game. We actually got a babysitter for them and took them home before kickoff (another perk of living here!), but we are taking them in tomorrow night to cheer on the Dawgs! MR is going to love it, but I'm not sure how long Murf is going to make it. Can't wait until we have three kiddos to chase at the tailgate!

I'll do better with pics tomorrow since we have all day to tailgate under our tree (Thursday games cramp my tailgating style!), and I can't wait!! I'll leave you with one fun pic....

SMOOOOOOOOOOT! :)

Celebrating Murphy

2011-09-14T15:22:00.001-05:00

We had a fun cookout for the little man's birthday over the weekend. It was just the way I like our birthday parties...relaxed with family and friends and no big to-do.

Wes grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, and after playing in the backyard, we all gathered around our big table.

Cups -n- Cakes in Starkville made the cute cakes to match Murphy's outfit.

He LOVED the cake and dug right in!!

You saw the before...and THIS is the after....demolished his smash cake!

The birthday boy went straight to the tub and the high chair went straight outside to be hosed off! :)

Next was present time....MR opened everything for her brother, but Murphy didn't care one bit as long as he got to play with the toys. This system works out well for now!

On Murphy's actual birthday, I took cupcakes to his little class. They were so cute! I still can't believe his sweet teachers get them to sit at that tiny table in those tiny chairs, but all the kiddos knew just what to do!

He devoured his cupcake too....this boy has a HUGE sweet tooth. In fact, I think all three of his little teeth are SWEET TEETH! :)

We also cheered on the UWA Tigers on Saturday at their first home game and first win of the season! It was fun to see old friends and get in gear for tomorrow's MSU game! So proud of our buddy and new head coach Will on his first career win!

While we were there, Betsy snapped a few one-year pics of Murphy....I could eat him up with a spoon!!!

And a fun fall pic in front of the Covered Bridge....

Murphy had an awesome birthday weekend! We can't wait to (hopefully!) celebrate a big win over the Tigers tomorrow night!! Soooo excited for tailgating, cheering in Davis Wade....and then sleeping in my own bed!

Happy New Year!

2011-09-12T11:00:00.000-05:00

Melkam Addis Amet! Today in Ethiopia, it's Enkutatash, the first day of the New Year! It occurs on Maskaram 1 on the Ethiopian calendar, which is September 11 (or, during a leap year, September 12) according to the Gregorian calendar that we use.

Ethiopia still retains the Julian calendar, in which the year is divided into 12 months of 30 days each and a 13th month of 5 days and 6 days in leap year. The Ethiopian calendar is 8 years behind our Gregorian calendar from January to September, and then 7 years behind between September 11 and January 8.

Enkutatash means the "gift of jewels". When the Queen of Sheba returned from her expensive visit to King Solomon in Jerusalem, her chiefs welcomed her by replenishing her treasury with jewels. The Queen of Sheba’s journey was recorded in the Bible (1 Kings 10:1-13 and 2 Chronicles 9:1-12).

The spring festival has been celebrated since this early times and as the rains come to their abrupt end, dancing and singing can be heard at every village in the green countryside.

But Enkutatash is not exclusively a religious holiday. Today's Enkutatash is also the season for exchanging formal new year greetings and cards among the urban sophisticated, in lieu of the traditional bouquet of yellow daisies that bloom across the fields.

Here's to a great 2004 for our son, Max!! :)

9/11

2011-09-12T09:25:00.002-05:00

Ten years ago, I was a sophomore at Mississippi State. Now I'm here again, this time remembering and still trying to process how those terrible events unfolded.

I walked downstairs in the DG house to grab breakfast and people were getting off the shuttle and talking about a plane hitting the World Trade Center. We turned on the TV as the horrific events were unfolding, but we had no idea what was going on.

I remember Mary Stewart and I walking in our 9:30 a.m. government class in Simerall and our professor immediately writing 9-11-2001 across the entire chalkboard. He said, "This is a date you'll always remember. Class dismissed."

We just walked around campus feeling lost. We wandered over to the Union to watch non-stop news coverage. Her now in-laws and my neighbors in Carthage were in DC at the White House that day, and she kept trying to find out if they were ok. Thankfully, they were.

After being glued to the TV, we all tried to think of something, anything we could do...we got gas after waiting in line for a long time, we went to OCH to try to give blood, we all just cried. Classes were cancelled, and I went home with Wes where we stayed up late watching TV and just crying. How could this have happened?!

The next week, State played South Carolina in the first college football game after 9/11, a Thursday night ESPN game. It felt like the whole country was watching to get some sense of normalcy back in our lives. Both school's teams and cheerleaders carried a huge flag on the field for a moving patriotic remembrance before kickoff. It's still hard to believe I was on that field.

Ten years later, Wes and I are here again at the place we love so much. We visited Ground Zero in May of last year....such a shock to see it after having my touristy pic made in front of the towers when I was 13. I still can't really process everything, but I pray for our country, the survivors and those left behind. We will never forget 9/11.

Fundraising update

2011-09-10T11:30:00.000-05:00

We turned in our T-shirt orders Friday....228 shirts!! YEA!! So awesome! Thanks so much to everyone who purchased a shirt! We appreciate it so much! I can't wait to see our friends and family sporting our Ts! So fun!

They will be ready in two weeks, so we can distribute some at the MSU-Louisiana Tech game to anyone who'll be in town cheering for the Dawgs! Just let me know by commenting or emailing if you want me to bring yours. We'll also have them mailed out and passed out around town ASAP!

We also ordered a few extras in adult sizes Medium, Large and XLarge to sell in the coming months, so if anyone who sees you wearing your shirt wants one, please send them our way! :)

I know it seems like we've been fundraising like crazy, but thanks so many people's generosity, we have funded our dossier in the past month! :) Many families have to wait on funds to turn in their paperwork and get on a waitlist, but we feel SO blessed to be ready to turn in our dossier when the time comes! THANK YOU!

We were able to pay for the initial agency application fee, home study fee and paperwork gathering (around $4,100) on our own. However, our next expenses in the coming month (hopefully, if everything continues to move along!) include $890 for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services fingerprinting and approval, $4,100 for our dossier fee, and other funds to have all the documents certified, overnighted, etc. Our awesome Garage Sale Extravaganza and the T-shirt sales have provided what we need!! We are so thankful for how the Lord has provided for our little MAX! :)

Of course, we will continue to fundraising in the coming months through a variety of avenues....auctioning off a great painting donated by Emily Neel, Uncle Chuck's 11/11/11 birthday party, and a couple of other ideas in the works. We're trying to be creative, so suggestions are welcome!

We still need about $8,500 for adoption fees upon our referral and an estimated $10,000 for travel and lodging for our two trips to Ethiopia. The numbers are HUGE, but our God is BIGGER! :)

Again, thank you a million times for your prayers, financial support and kind words! When Max comes home, it's going to be so wonderful to tell him how many people have played a part in his story!

Our son's name!

2011-09-09T15:56:00.000-05:00

We are excited to announce that our third child and second son will be named....

Maxwell is a family name on my side, and we definitely wanted to stick with "M" names and family names for all our children. Mary Reeves is named after my maternal grandmother, Mary Kate Reeves Duncan, and John "Murphy" is named after Wes' maternal grandfather (Johnny Stringer) and my paternal grandmother's maiden name. It just seems to fit! :)

We plan to keep his given Ethiopian name as his middle name because it's definitely a part of his heritage and a link to his birth country. We want his name to reflect his background and his forever family.

We asked Mary Reeves what she thought of the name for her new brother, and she got a huge smile on her face and said, "Max is the perfect name for my baby brother!" Kinda sealed the deal for us!

We've been praying for Max by name, and we would be honored if you'd do the same.

Happy birthday, Murphy!

2011-09-08T09:34:00.000-05:00

Today my little buddy turns 1! I'm so thankful for this little man and the joy he brings to our family! We started the day with his favorite breakfast, a cinnamon roll, on his birthday plate! There wasn't a crumb left!

It seems like we welcomed him into the world just yesterday, but then again, I feel like he's always been part of our family!

At one-year-old, this dude is all over the place...he's into everything and loves his sister and the cat and dog. While Mary Reeves still isn't a fan of getting water in her eyes, Murphy splashes the entire bathroom during bathtime, and just laughs his head off as he sticks his head under the faucet!

He loves going through our kitchen cabinets and drawers, and you can usually find him running around the house with a measuring cup, a big plastic spoon or a box of mac&cheese in his hand!

He has mastered walking and is now focused on running and climbing. He now has three teeth, as a top front tooth popped in this week and another is on its way. Murphy is still the sweetest thing with such an easygoing personality. We haven't put him to bed with a bottle in two weeks, which made me a little sad at first to give up that snuggle time. He falls asleep easily in his crib though, and he's the last one up every morning. He is on a sippy cup and whole milk all the time now, and it's hard to believe we can pack up the bottles until our next little boy needs them!

Murphy, you are very loved!

I'm taking cupcakes to his class this afternoon, and we'll have a family cookout at our house Sunday to celebrate...lots more Murphy pics to come!

For Wes and me, Murphy's birthday marks the beginning of the craziest year of our lives! The past 365 days have been such a roller coaster in so many ways, but we can see God in the details and the timing, and we're so thankful for where we've been and where we're headed! Happy birthday, JMG!!

AWESOME sale!!

2011-09-06T12:00:00.000-05:00

We planned, collected donations, made signs, recruited volunteers, worked the sale, loaded cars with TVs and furniture, etc, but HE truly provided! Our Garage Sale Extravaganza was an overwhelming success! We praise the Lord for His provisions.....

We rasied $3,214.11 toward our adoption!!!!!!

We are so grateful to everyone who had a part in this incredible fundraiser....everyone who gave us items, spread the word to friends and family, helpers, shopppers, prayer warriors, encouragers...we can't say it enough....THANK YOU!! Because of your help, we raised about a tenth of our expected adoption expenses in 48 hours!! We are amazed and overwhelmed!!

I didn't do a great job of taking pictures because we were (thankfully!) swamped the entire sale! We advertised the start time as Friday at 4 p.m., but people showed up as soon as we started unloading the garage around 9:30 a.m. (and we're not even going to count the man that rang our doorbell at 6:58 a.m....he went away empty-handed as we were all still in the bed!).

We were starting to unpack all the donated boxes and bags, and people were steadily shopping as we displayed the items....

We were swamped Friday afternoon!! Our cul de sac was a parking lot! Thankfully, our sweet neighbors were very understanding! Almost everyone on our street (even those we hadn't met since we moved!) came to visit and shop...so nice!

Tired and sunburned, but soooo thankful!

One of the best parts of the sale was talking with adoptees, other families who have adopted, and those interested in adoption for their family. We loved sharing our story and hearing their stories! We saw photos of grandchildren waiting to come home from China, encouraged young couples to continue researching adoption, met foster mothers and children, and much more. I love making these connections!!

We also had great helpers!! A special thanks to Wesley (don't worry, I'm not posting the pic!), my mom, Wes' mom and Aunt Tanya for serving as our sales team! We couldn't have done it without you!

Mary Reeves had a blast playing with all the kids who were at the sale, and of course, she loved all the toys!

This is what our driveway looked like around noon Saturday.....we were almost sold out!

One of the best parts of the sale....the Starkville Church of God van came to our house with their trailer and loaded up everything we didn't sell for their yard sale in a few months!! Such a blessing...we didn't have to worry with the leftovers (which was mostly just clothes and a few odds and ends)...they just packed them up and drove away! I wanted to hug that man!!!

To advertise the sale, we placed ads in the Starkville and Columbus newspapers and MSU's Reflector, posted it on Craigslist, made posterboard signs to hang at busy intersections, sent emails, and used blogs, twitter and facebook. We had people tell us they heard about the garage sale from all of these media, so if you're planning a yard sale, advertising works!! We are so thankful to everyone who used their influence and contacts to drive business our way! Y'all are awesome!

We spent the rest of the weekend watching college football and recovering from Friday and Saturday! Uncle Nick was home in MS for the holiday weekend, so we celebrated Murphy's birthday with him since he won't be at this weekend's party. We sang Happy Birthday and presented our big boy with a little bowl of Blue Bell Birthday Cake ice cream with a candle. Thursday's the big day!!

Love you, Nicky G! Can't wait to see you again!

I hope everyone had as great a weekend as we did...even our beloved Bulldogs won! Again, we can't express our appreciation enough for all of you who have had a part in bringing our son home to us! GOD IS GOOD! :)

Game day, garage sale, good friends

2011-09-01T10:01:00.001-05:00

Hooray! My very favorite time of year is here...FOOTBALL SEASON! So excited to watch the Dawgs play tonight on TV, even though I'm jealous that Wes will be there in person! SOOO ready for the Bulldogs to take the field in Davis Wade two weeks from today! Go STATE!

Of course, the kiddos sported their Maroon and White to school today!

In preparation for football season, Murphy has mastered "Touchdown" arms on command! :)

The Memphis game ELEVEN years ago (good grief!) was my first game as a Bulldog cheerleader...and our bus broke down on I-55 on the way to the game!!! The managers and athletic trainers on the bus with us jumped in fans' minivans and suburbans to get to the stadium in time to set up for the game. The band bus had to drop them off then come back to get the cheeleaders. Meanwhile, we hung out near the Ole Miss exit and got heckled! ha! It was also the hottest I've ever been in my life the day we cheered in the Liberty Bowl...the temp on the field was over 100 degrees! We had to take shade breaks and salt tablets, and poor Bully (the real one) spend the whole game sprawled on his belly on a big bag of ice! Nonetheless, the Dawgs got a W, and I have a fun memory!

Excuse the quality, as it's a phone pic of a 35mm pic (as in, NOT digital!)...my how times have changed!

Not only has photography changed, but WOW....11 years later, I'm so blessed to have this amazing family (and one more on the way)! Let's hope State gets another W tonight!

Besides the excitement surrounding college football, we are also so excited to get ALL of this stuff out of our garage, dining room, guest room, etc. for the BIG yard sale!!!! Otherwise, the film crew from "Hoaders: Buried Alive" will surely show up at my house soon!

Our entire garage looks like this...we only have a tiny path from our back door to the driveway. BUT, we are not complaining!!

People have been sooooo generous, and we are so thankful! It's not going to rain, my homemade signs are hanging around town, the ads are in newspapers, we've emailed, facebooked and blogged about the sale, and tomorrow and Saturday are the big days!!!! YEA!! Come shopping!!!

Friday, 4-7 p.m. and Saturday, 6 a.m. until

Finally, a shout out to friends old and new! My BFF Sally and sweet, adorable Vera Kate made a day-trip to Stark last Friday, and we got to have lunch....and then they were having so much fun that they were still here when I got off work so we got to have dinner! YEA!

We haven't taken a pic with our kiddos since Murphy and Vera Kate were newborns...crazy!

Mary Reeves loved bossing the babies around, of course! We can't wait for home games so we can play all day!! Thanks again, Sal, for coming!

I've also met fun adoption friends in the past two weeks! My mom and I had lunch with sweet Katie and her mom, a new sorority house mom. Can you imagine two Ethiopian grandmommas on sorority row?! Small world, huh? I'm excited to watch their waitlist numbers continue to go down!

Annnd...Amy and Cole were here two weeks ago visiting their family too! That makes THREE little babies who will visit their grandparents in Starkville! LOVE IT! They are in the paperwork stage just like us, so it's been fun to connect with the Popes!

Finally, a shout out to my Created for Care roomie Meredith, who sent in her completed dossier this week!! Whoo Hoo! Sooo excited for them to get on the waitlist to meet their third daughter!!! :)

So much to be thankful for!! In the midst of yard sale prep, Wes and I also finished up our required adoption education for the home study....please HURRY UP FBI fingerprint results....you're all we're waiting for to complete our home study!!

Remember to spread the word about the yard sale and T-shirts (we're turning in the orders next week!)...and thanks for your prayers!!

GO DAWGS!!!

Giveaway winner!

2011-08-29T09:22:00.000-05:00

A HUGE thank you goes out to everyone who participated in our first blog giveaway last week! It was SO neat to see our T-shirt design popping up on the Facebook newsfeed and our blog lists! We appreciate it so much, and we're almost to our T-shirt pre-order goal as we are now in the last week of sales! It's not too late to get your order in! :)

Now for the winner of the $25 Deep South Pout gift card!!

I put all the entries in our Blessings Jar this morning....

My lovely assistant did the honors...she was so excited to play Momma's "new game"!

And the winner is........

Olivia Henderson...aka Ms. Olivia, Mary Reeves' teacher at the UWA Campus School! :)

Congrats!! This little package is on its way to you! Happy shopping! When I went in Saturday to get the gift card, the store was finishing up its expansion.....lots of space for cute new things!

Please keep spreading the word about the Garage Sale Extravaganza too! The weather looks like it's going to cooperate, and we've collected even MORE great stuff.......about 10 more lamps, two grills (gas and electric), a pretty wooden bed, another vacuum, adorable baby boy shoes, bedding, etc. I'm telling you, this stuff is NOT JUNK! We're getting so excited for the sale, so please tell all your friends and family! :) Thanks!!

Maybe he's an omnivore after all!

2011-08-24T15:02:00.001-05:00

Murphy ate meat! It's worthy of a blog post! :)

Although he's been on table food for a while, he's a carb lover like his momma, and he's mostly been living off bread, graham crackers, waffles, biscuits, noodles, etc....with some bananas (every time I type that word, Gwen Stefani spells it for me in my head! :)) and yogurt thrown in for good measure. He'll even eat a few more fruits or veggies, but he was NOT having meat of any kind after we moved on from baby food jars! Last night, like we normally do, we gave him bites of our meal....and what do you know! He devoured the smoked chicken, baked beans, potato salad and homemade mac 'n cheese! I didn't even have to give him a roll! Way to go....see how good meat is, Murf??

I hope he keeps it up! After Mary Reeves, I thought to myself...we've got this food-transition-thing down!....just goes to prove that every kid is different! She's always been a great eater....she LOVES weird foods including boiled okra, black olives, coleslaw, asparagus, tomatoes, and I can't really think of anything she doesn't like! Hopefully Murphy's palate will continue to get more sophisticated too!

He's also doing well transitioning to a sippy cup and finally napping at day care. Walking has almost completely replaced crawling as his first birthday is only two weeks away! Big boy!!!

We also had lots of fun visitors this past weekend. Funny how our visitor traffic has picked up since we moved across the state line! :)

BeBe and Pop spent the night....

Like usual, we had Pop's to-do list waiting for him! Murphy helped him install our new dishwasher. (The old one is in the garage sale pile!)

My dear Wendy was home for a visit and drove over to see us! :) LOVE HER! (That is MR's lovely "I don't want to take a picture" face!)

My Mammaw, Aunt Amy and cousin Nick also came to Starkville....so fun to see them! And when did my "little" cousin get sooo tall and enter high school???

THANK YOU to everyone who has participated in our blog giveaway so far!!! We've almost met our T-shirt pre-order goal! Please keep spreading the word about our fundraisers, and PLEASE remember to leave a comment on that post if you do, so you'll be entered in the drawing for a $25 Deep South Pout gift card! You have until Sunday night to enter, so good luck!! :)

Just talked to our social worker today, and he said he'll have a draft of our home study for us tomorrow maybe! :) Can't wait! We just have to finish up our adoption education (we did two online learning modules last night and plan to do more tonight) and get those FBI fingerprint results back! We mailed them five weeks ago, so I'm stalking our mail carrier daily now until I see those letters!

We appreciate all the prayers, emails, facebook messages, donations, orders and Garage Sale Extravaganza stuff so very much! Y'all are awesome!!

Our First Blog Giveaway!!!

2011-08-22T16:39:00.000-05:00

It's time to give back to one lucky reader because we've been given so much support since we made our big adoption announcement in July! I'm so excited to announce our first blog giveaway!!

The Garage Sale Extravaganza (we've collected so much awesome stuff that I've had to give our once humble sale a new name! We're now up to EIGHT TVs!) is just around the corner on Sept. 2-3, and T-shirt pre-orders wrap up two weeks from today on Sept. 5. We want to continue to get the word out about both, and those who help us out now have a chance to win a fun treat:

A $25 gift card from Deep South Pout!!

Check out their blog or facebook page, where they post the cutest stuff! I love everything in that store, and I know y'all will too! Don't worry if you're not around Starkville, they'll ship anything you see right to your door! And if a guy wins....well, any girl in your life will love you for sharing your winnings with them! :)

There are five ways to win, and you can do all of them for more entries!

PLEASE leave a separate comment for each, and please include your e-mail address or blog address in at least one so I can contact you if you win!!

Blog about our T-shirts/garage sale, and leave a comment letting me know you did.
Share the info on your Facebook page, and leave a comment letting me know you did.
Share the info on your Twitter account, and leave a comment letting me know you did.
Subscribe to receive our updates by e-mail on the right sidebar, and leave a comment letting me know you did.
Follow our blog or let me know that you already do. Leave me a comment.

Helpful info:

Here's the direct link to the T-shirt information for your posts: http://thewesgordonfamily.blogspot.com/2011/08/adoption-t-shirts-for-sale.html
Our Garage Sale Extravaganza will be at our house...Friday, Sept. 2 from 4-7 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 3 from 6 a.m. until. We have EVERYTHING you can imagine for sale! :)

The giveaway ends Sunday, Aug. 28 at midnight and I'll announce the winner on Monday, Aug. 29.

Good luck, and thanks again for supporting our adoption of baby boy Gordon (be on the look out soon for his name!!)

Home study visits completed!

2011-08-18T16:30:00.000-05:00

We met with our wonderful social worker Tuesday night in Tupelo to complete our visits! He showed us a draft of the home study, saying he should have a finalized version in the next few days....except for the FBI fingerprints. We sent them off a month ago, so I'm hoping they'll come back within the next few weeks to finish up our home study (estimated wait time is 4-8 weeks)!!! Plus, we've GOT to make time to complete our online adoption education classes...that's really the only thing I've been procrastinating!

In the meantime, I've continued to gather dossier paperwork...two of the three reference letters and my medical letter have come in this week, the thrice-revised employment letters are finally correct, and all our personal letters/documents are completed and waiting to be notarized as we get closer.

I'm so ready to be on the waitlist in the coming months, but at least now I feel like I'm doing SOMETHING to bring our boy home! After the paperchase is over, there is nothing to do but wait!

THANK YOU so much to all those who have ordered T-shirts!! We're so excited by the numbers we're seeing, and there's still time...we're taking orders until Sept. 5 so please help if you can by purchasing one or just spreading the word!!

Y'all....I really have no words for the assortment of stuff in our garage right now just waiting to be sold to some lucky people!!! It's truly an ecclectic collection of fabulous finds....

Need a TV? We've got four! A heated towel rack? This one will keep away the winter chill! Some pewter serving pieces or a Good Earth platter? Look no further! Men's suits and tons of Polo dress clothes? Better shop on Friday! Gas log fireplace insert? Sure thing! Nativity set? So festive! Playstation 2? Yes! Barry White CD collection? Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe! Breakfast set? Pull up a chair!

I could go on and on, but I know you get the idea! And I haven't even opened half of the donated boxes yet! One person's trash is DEFINITELY another man's treaure! :)

THANK YOU to all those who have donated!! We are so grateful that Wes has had to spend lots of time lately picking up goodies all around here and Jackson! I really can't thank y'all enough for giving your stuff to us for the garage sale! Please join me in praying for NO RAIN and a huge turnout on Sept. 2-3!!

Bid Day!

2011-08-16T15:00:00.001-05:00

Since MR and Murf started day care, she talks about how much she misses her summer babysitters, so DG Bid Day was a great place to see all of them at once! MR absolutely loves going to the house. Who wouldn't? All the girls love on her and laugh at everything she does, the cooks give her more chocolate milk than a kid should drink, and they even installed an elevator this summer that she rides up and down! Needless to say, she had a blast yesterday...and cupcakes for supper! :)

She thinks her M has the best job in the world!

Miss Elizabeth! The girl was made to work with kids! She also did a fabulous job working in the back office during Rush!

Miss Haley and Miss Allie! Both of these sweet girls were Gamma Chis this year so they stopped by the DG house to see their Rush group girls. They kept the kids in June and July and ended up being Rush roomies! We love them!

Miss Lindsay, our May babysitter, did a lot of dancing in the DG skit, and it was all I could do to keep MR from running up on the stage to hug her! She waved at her the whole time she was dancing!

We were also so excited that Annedrea went DG! She was the only girl I knew going through Rush (I'm old!), so I'm so happy for her!!

Yes, I was super cheesy and dressed them in their Hannah (Raggedy Anne and Andy) outfits! My mom gave MR that dress, and Wesley just happened to find the matching jon-jon for Murphy without knowing they matched. Perfect! Gotta do it while I can...Murphy will be too big for such cuteness before I know it!

This is my best attempt at a shot with the actual dolls, which my mom bought before I was born. It's so hard to get camera cooperation from both at once!

Anyway, although we frequent the house to see my mom (and eat!!), it was the first time I'd been to Bid Day since 2003! Umm....Sally, Wesley, Lauren, Mary Stewart, Tollie, Louisa, Alyssa (and all you non-bloggers!), HOW has it been that long ago??

Adoption T-shirts for sale!!!

2011-08-10T14:05:00.001-05:00

The adoption T-shirt store is now open for business! :) YEA!

We hope y'all like our design! It's based on the Ethiopian flag and we just love the verse! Thanks to my sweet friend Betsy for helping us so much!!

We are taking pre-orders for the rest of August, and we'll order them at the beginning of Sept. Expect delivery mid-Sept. We'll also probably order extras, but please help us by pre-ordering!

The design is printed on the front of the shirt.

The adult shirts are softwashed, pigment-dyed Comfort Colors shirts in gray (the design background color). Super soft! Adults sizes S-XL are $20. 2XL & 3XL are $22.

The kids shirts are Gildan, and they are a little lighter, Ice Gray. Kids shirts are $15 and come in these sizes:

YXS (2-4)
YS (6-8)
YM (10-12)
YL (14-16)
YXL (18-20)

Shipping is $3 if you're out of town. We can arrange pick up/delivery in many cases.

So how do you order? Please email meaghangordon@hotmail.com or comment on this post. You can pay through PayPal on the sidebar (Please make sure your shipping address is correct, and include sizes needed, shipping info, etc. in the comments section). If you prefer, I'll also give you our address to mail checks.

We appreciate everyone's support, and we are still moving right along! Our third home study visit was last night! Only one more on Tuesday and that's done! Our social worker said he'll have our completed home study to us ASAP, but we have to wait until our background checks and FBI fingerprints come back before we can send it off for our Citizenship and Immigration Services appointment to get more fingerprints. We're praying that we get our letters sooner rather than later! Wes also had his physical this week and mine is Friday. Fun times!

Again, thank you all so much for helping us step out in faith! Our fundraising allows God to make Himself known through this process...it's MUCH too big for us to do alone! When we reach our goal, He'll obviously get all the glory! It also allows you to be part of our son's story and allows you to care for the orphan in your own way! Just think....all that from a T-shirt! :)

These silly babies want to bring their brother home as soon as possible! You can look stylish and help them at the same time! :) THANK YOU!!!!

Murphy can walk!

2011-08-09T15:02:00.000-05:00

I captured some of Murphy's first steps on video! He finally got the courage to walk when he woke up from his nap Sunday afternoon! He'd been standing by himself for long periods of time and cruising all around the room for a while so we knew it wouldn't be long. I was loading the dishwasher, and he was holding on to a cabinet across the kitchen before he just took off! He loves the dishwasher so I wasn't too surprised that it was his destination!

We reenacted the big moment for the Flip! I'm usually terrible about getting the kids on video, so I'm pretty proud of myself! As if you can't tell, Mary Reeves is the sweet cheerleader in the background! ha!

Murphy walking-first steps from Meaghan Gordon on Vimeo.

There's really nothing cuter than a Frankenstein-walkin' baby!

However, he wasn't into walking at home very much yesterday.....crawling is still sooo much faster! However, the day care reported that he walked for them. I'm sure he'll be exclusively traveling upright soon! Fun!!!

First day of school!

2011-08-04T09:17:00.000-05:00

Today's the day Mary Reeves has been excited about, but I've been dreading a little...the first day of daycare! Besides church nursery, it's Murphy's first time to be in this setting. He's used to sweet babysitters coming to his house and loving on him all day. I know he'll adjust, but I just hope it's not too hard on him.

They were bright eyed this morning, but I bet the novelty will wear off soon. Hope not!

Neither one so much as pouted when I left, so I know they'll have a great day! I'm thankful for great childcare, but I sure will miss seeing them at lunch every day!

Horn of Africa drought and a little about Ethiopia...

2011-08-02T16:20:00.001-05:00

As I'm sure you've heard on the news, the Horn of Africa is experiencing a terrible famine as a result of the worst drought there in 60 years. The United Nations declared a famine in southern Somalia at the end of July, the first time the UN has declared a famine in nearly 30 years.

The severe food crisis in Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti, Sudan, South Sudan, and Uganda puts more than 12 million people at risk. With the refugees from Somalia fleeing to Ethiopia and Kenya, crowded and unsanitary conditions, in addition to severe malnutrition, are resulting in too many deaths. UN experts estimate that tens of thousands of people have already died from starvation and related diseases, and the UN is calling the crisis "the world's worst humanitarian disaster.”

As you can imagine we are praying hard for the people in East Africa, including our son's birth family. I can't really bear to look at the images coming from the region of starving children and adults. It's really horrific.

I don't know why I was blessed enough to be born in the United States, the land of plenty where I want for nothing. Great gifts mean great responsibilities. Please pray for the people impacted by malnutrition and starvation.

Want to help? Here are two of our favorite organizations working in the region:

Compassion International
Samaritan's Purse

It's easy to forget about these people, living literally around the world from us and our comparatively comfy lifestyles, but please don't forget.

Now for a little more about Ethiopia....

Ethiopia is the oldest independent country in Africa and one of the oldest in the world, at least 2,000 years old.
Christianity came to Ethiopia in ancient times and became the official Ethiopian religion in the fourth century.
Ethiopia is the original source of the coffee bean, and coffee beans are the country's largest export commodity.
Ethiopia has some of Africa's highest mountains as well as some of the world's lowest points below sea level. The largest cave in Africa is located in Ethiopia at Sof Omar. Ethiopia has one of the highest number of rivers in the world, while the country's northernmost area at Dallol, Afar, is the hottest place year-round anywhere on Earth. There are altogether around 80 different ethnic groups in Ethiopia today, with the two largest being the Oromo and the Amhara.
There are an estimated 5 million orphans in a country a little smaller than twice the size of Texas. (Just to give you an idea of what that number looks like, just under 3 million people live in MS.)
1 in 10 children die before their fifth birthday.
Only 61% of children attend school. There is a high dropout rate and and a low rate of girls' participation. It is estimated that about 50% of males and 35% of females over 15 years old can read and write. (U.S.-99% for both genders)
The life expectancy is 56 years. (It is 78 years in the U.S.)
Nearly 40% of the population lives on less than $1.25 per day.

I don't post these facts and figures to bring us down, but to realize how thankful we should be! I'm thankful that my eyes are opening....

Updates

2011-08-01T15:04:00.001-05:00

We've checking some more things off the adoption to-do list in the past few days!

We had our first home study visit from our social worker, who is really great! We cleaned our house from top to bottom in preparation. Although he didn't run a white-gloved finger over my dust-free furniture as I'd hoped he would do after our deep cleaning, he did open closets, check for fire extinguishers and smoke detectors, etc. He also asked tons of questions, but it wasn't bad at all. Since we combined two visits into one on Saturday, we only have two more to go!

We also applied for passports, passed our TB and blood tests and got those forms out of the way, started our adoption education, and made progress on collecting reference letters.

One little bummer, our notarized employment verification letters have to be redone....my name was misspelled in the body of the letter. It was just one letter left out of my name...not a big deal, right? Wrong!

The dossier documents have to be:
1. notarized
2. certified by the Sec. of State's office where the documents originated
3. authenticated at the U.S. Dept of State in Washington, DC
4. authenticated AGAIN at the Ethiopian Embassy in DC

All this before they get translated and presented to the Ethiopian Ministry of Women, Children and Youth Affairs and then Ethiopian Federal Court for approval. Obviously, it's much better to get the tiny details fixed NOW before something like a misspelling holds up the process later!

We also got our first donation in the mail last week! Awesome blessing! It was unexpected but so appreciated!! We know that most people live paycheck to paycheck so to have someone think enough of our family to send us a donation is truly humbling. We are filled with gratitude.

Wes also got some fun mail...several weeks ago, he emailed UGA coach Mark Richt thanking him for sharing his family's story and encouraging others, including us, to adopt. Well, what should show up in the mailbox but a response letter from the coach! :) We realize that his assistant probably wrote it and signed it, but it's still a really cool gesture. We'll be cheering for those other Dawgs this year too...every week but one!

We've also been filling up our garage with great things for the big sale, thanks to some very generous people! I'm praying for No Rain because we are going to have lots of great deals! I'll post preview pics as the garage sale approaches...I think you're going to want to shop! :)

This little man has also been keeping us on our toes! He is all over the place and into everything! I forgot to mention this after his nine-month checkup, but Murphy is 90th percentile in height...I promise he is Wes' child! I have no idea where these height genes are coming from, but the doctor assured us that these baby measurements don't really indicate adult height. Pretty funny anyway! :)

He stands by himself and rocks on his feet, trying to figure out how to take a step. It's literally going to be any day! I expect him to be running by his first birthday in September!

These crazy kids also start preschool/daycare this week! We've had the best luck with babysitters this summer, and we'll be sad to see Haley go! She is so sweet and fun, and I know MR and Murf are going to miss her!

It's going to be a busy week, but look for our T-shirt design to go up this week!! We'll start taking pre-orders and hope to get them out in September! :)

Mammaw Sugar

2011-08-01T14:12:00.000-05:00

Mary Reeves is named after my sweet grandmother, whom we all love very much. I call her Mammaw. Wes also calls his grandmother Mammaw, which can be a bit confusing for a little one. We've managed by referring to Mammaw in Carthage or Mammaw in Tennessee. Before her birthday, she was talking about the family members coming to her party....grandmothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. Going down her mental roll, she said Mammaw Stringer was coming (Wes') and Mammaw Sugar. I asked her again because I thought she said Stringer twice. Nope, she said Mammaw Sugar. Who's that? The mammaw that always gets all my sugar, she said! Oh, my grandmother...ha! Now that's how we refer to her, and it cuts the confusion. So precious that she came up with that all one her own! My grandmother is notorious for chasing grandkids and saying, "Give me some sugar!" She also tells Murphy that she need to change his britches...aka diaper! :)

MR was showing Mammaw Sugar how to play games on daddy's work iPad. My grandmother had never used one (or probably even seen one!) and asked MR what it was. She told her it was "like a computer and a phone." Good explanation from a just-turned three-year-old. Yesterday, when we were brushing her teeth with Scooby Doo toothpaste, she said, "Momma, we need to download Scooby Doo." Good grief!

When she gets older, she's going to look back at this picture and marvel at the archaic technology sitting in her lap! :)

Garage sale date set!

2011-07-26T16:48:00.001-05:00

We will kick off our fundraising with a big garage sale on Friday, Sept. 2 and Saturday, Sept. 3 at our house in Starkville!!! Mark your calendar! :) It's Labor Day weekend, but it's also payday weekend and the last free Saturday before football season starts (MSU plays at Memphis on Thursday). We'll just think of it as a "Labor of Love"! :)

Wes and I will be HAPPY to pick up and store anything that you'd like to donate to the cause. We'd LOVE to fill up our garage and bonus room with lots of great stuff prior to the sale! Please e-mail me at meaghangordon@hotmail.com to set up a convenient time for you. You don't have to be in the Golden Triangle to donate...Wes travels around the state for work so there's a good chance he'll be in your area in the next month, and we have family/friends willing to pick up from other areas. THANK YOU!!

Lots of people have already told us that they have some things they'd like to get rid of (let's be honest, who doesn't?) so I'm really excited about the merchandise that we'll hopefully have available. I've seen lots of other families who have had great success with garage sales, so we're hoping and praying that ours is too!

It's estimated that this adoption will cost around $30,000. (Just typing that number makes me nervous!) We don't have that kind of money in our bank account so it's going to take a lot of hard work, but we are relying on God to fund what He favors. Just think, by helping with our garage sale, purchasing a T-shirt (designing them now!) or making another donation, YOU are becoming a part of our son's story! Not everyone can or will adopt, but everyone can help in other ways. Please know how much your support means to us!!!

In other news, a big happy birthday to M! We celebrated last night thanks to Mary Reeves' party planning...dinner at Umi (not at the sushi tables where we usually sit, but at the "Fire" tables), a pink cake with sprinkles, a Mickey Mouse b-day card, and a cute bulldog necklace from Deep South Pout! We hope you had a great party, M!

I think her best birthday present of all is her new house here in Starkville! It's perfect, and we are so happy for her! MR loves it because she has her own room, and these awesome ducks walk right up to you if you feed them. Even if they are across the lake, all you have to do is start quacking and they swim right over for the promise of a snack!

A big thank you also goes out to Pop and BeBe for coming last weekend to help with projects around the house! Pop and Wes shoveled tons of mulch under the kiddos' swing set (mud pit no more!) and all around the front flowerbeds, while BeBe played and let me do some much needed organizing inside.

All of MR's old clothes (three years worth!) and my maternity clothes are now ironed, hung and ready for the consignment shop, garage sale, giving away, etc. Yes! It feels so good to get organized and to get rid of things that we aren't using anymore. Want to know that feeling??? Then give us a shout, and we'll take the clutter off your hands! :)

Getting started

2011-07-20T15:33:00.002-05:00

First of all, we want to thank everyone for your encouraging words and support!!! The connections we have already made and the stories we have heard about other adoptive families mean so much to us! Of course, people have voiced their concerns, and we completely understand them, but we are so thankful for the overwhelming positive comments we've received!

Two weekends ago, after we'd sent in our adoption application for a 0-12-month-old boy, Wes and I wondered when we should tell people. As we sat in Sunday School on July 10, we flipped over to the next week's lesson (July 17), and had one of those moments when God just laughs at His plan and at our realization that He is in control. So we decided to go ahead start telling people last week, and then tell everyone at SS that didn't already know on Sunday.

I hope you can click on the picture of the lesson's intro page:

If not, this is what it says:

Free to Call God "Father"--Would God's adoption of us be considered "conspicuous?"The photo shows a white father with a black baby and the caption describes "conspicuous families," a term used by some adoption agencies to refer to a multiracial adoptive family, in which physical characteristics make it obvious the child is not biological.

Well, ok then!

The lesson perfectly aligned with our big announcement, and as Ms. Beth, one of our teachers, remarked, how long has that book been in production, printing, etc. and it just happened to fit perfectly! Amen! :)

The lesson focused on the fact that we are ALL adopted by God. It started with these verses from Galatians 4:4-7

4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

How wonderful to know that we are God's children, adopted into His family, according to His perfect plan, to be heirs!!

This week also brought our application acceptance from Children's Hope International and a mountain of paperwork for the home study! We were supposed to have our first meeting with our social worker last night, but it got cancelled due to a conflict. We were definitely disappointed, but then when I got home, I had one piece of mail in the mailbox. It was from Compassion International....a newsletter about our sponsored child's life in Ethiopia. Thank you, Lord, for your faithful reminders that roadblocks may come, but our destination is still in sight!

Several people have asked about the logistics of the adoption process, and to be honest, we've figuring it out as we go...with lots of help from those that have walked this road before us.

Today, we were fingerprinted at the local police station for FBI background checks! Wes overnighted them to West Virginia, so here's hoping they come back quickly, with no problems!

Lovely, I know, but I want to remember every step of the way!
We've also filled out background check forms in MS, AL, and Virginia (thanks to my summer there way back in '03!); child abuse registry forms; passport applications; requests for certified copies of birth certificates and marriage licence; etc.

Still to come are TB and blood tests next week, 10 hours of international adoption training, autobiographies, and more paperwork. We also have our four visits with our social worker in the coming weeks. It sounds like a lot, but it's totally doable! We've marked a lot off our checklist already, which makes me sooo happy! We want to get our parts done as quickly as we can because after that, it's just waiting!

As for the wait, our agency told us to prepare for to wait up to 12 months for our referral of our son after the dossier (doss-e-A) is completed. That's just a very fancy word for all the documentation that must be approved by the US and Ethiopian governments. After that, we'll wait several months for our court date and make our first trip to Africa. Several weeks later, we'll head back and bring him home! :)

To help make this adoption possible, we are (humbly) asking for financial support. We're planning a garage sale at the beginning of September, and we'll be happy to pick up and store anything you'd like to donate. Nothing is too big or too small! Again, we really appreciate your prayers the most!

The Gordons are growing again....but not the way you might expect!

2011-07-14T16:02:00.000-05:00

Mary Reeves and Murphy have some big news to share!

Wait, what did those little shirts say? Let's take a closer look......

Does this mean what you think it means? YES! We are growing our family by the miracle of adoption!!! The next little Gordon will not come from momma's belly, instead he will come from.....

ETHIOPIA!

You may now pick your jaw up off the floor, and I'll continue. Settle in...

I've known for years that Wes had wanted to adopt, and we'd talked about it jokingly. We were so blessed to get pregnant very easily with both our kiddos, and we've been busy making our way in the "real world."

One Sunday morning as we were getting ready for church, ESPN aired this piece on Mark Richt, Georgia's coach
Mark Richt's Adoption Story from Family First on Vimeo.

:

We thought it was a great story and so neat that his family adopted.

That day, our pastor preached on James 1:27 (Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.)

We thought we were doing our part. After all, we've sponsored precious Adonay, a six-year-old boy in Ethiopia through Compassion International for several years. We laughingly said we wanted to bring him home if we could! When we chose him, it was completely at random...we picked a number (5) then picked a country name that started with the 5th letter (E) and found our little Adonay Tamerat. Or was it random? :) Hmmm....

Time went on, and we wondered daily about our sponsored child living around the world. We wrote letters and sent special monetary gifts in addition to the monthly sponsorship committment.

Life, as it always seems to do, took a turn for the busy. Wes started his new job in October, and I was working full time in Alabama with a newborn and a very active two-year-old. We were trying so hard to sell our house so we could all be together in MS!

After Murphy was born (yes, just 10 short months ago!), I just felt like our family wasn't complete, although after Murphy's delivery I didn't want to be pregnant again. I told Wes that I felt we were missing something, and he kinda shrugged it off...two was enough for him. What was going on with me?! It was definitely not postpartum emotions. The Lord was stirring my heart!
I came across this video in January, and I just knew what He was telling us!

I called Wes at work in tears and told him to watch it too. It took him several hours to process it and call me back. The fact was that I felt the Lord was telling us to adopt from Ethiopia.....little did I know that leading up to this conversation, God was doing work on Wes too in his own individual way.

I'll insert Wes' words here: "My wife called me in tears (I thought we were pregnant, and thank the Lord we were not, but God had something up his sleeve). She told me to watch the video and call her back. While I was watching this video, I felt something like I have never felt before. A mixture of emotions came over me with the first one being, well, we can help by sending money. That has always been my get-out-of-jail-type card when I don't want to physically do something. Well, the longer the I watched the video I felt a huge burden of these children halfway across the world. I did not call Meaghan back for a few hours because I was trying to figure out what I was going to say.

I had just started a new daily devotional, and it was talking about stepping out of your comfort zone. Well, this was too much for me to process, and I tried to just put it out of my mind. On my run that day during lunch I was convicted about REALLY helping these kids. So, I called Meaghan back about 1:30 that day and she said that she had felt for sometime that our family was not complete and that she wanted to adopt a CHILD FROM ETHIOPIA.

I was kinda shocked and my first instinct was NO, but I just processed it all. I agreed that we should look into it because I have always wanted to adopt, but a child from Ethiopia? Over the next week or so I kept telling myself that it would not work, but that I need to do something. I had agreed with Meaghan from the begining but don't know if I really meant it for a few weeks. I mean, we live in the South and it just would not work with our schedule and our "cookie cutter" small-town Southern lifestyle. But, I continued to pray and the more I prayed the more I felt like it was one of my "missions" on this earth. So I agreed wholeheartedly. We decided that our sponsored child was a sign a few years back that we should go with Ethiopia. I tried to change it and go with another country, but we were always drawn to Ethiopia."

Meaghan again: As we started researching adoption further and learning about country qualifications (based on age, years married, number of kids, etc.), we realized that one of the only countries we qualify for is Ethiopia! God was putting the pieces together.... After much prayer, we now know that our child is in Ethiopia.

Yes, we have thought all the things you're probably thinking right now....a black child in a white family in the South...in Mississippi even?? How will that work? Well, it turns out (we didn't know this until we had basically already decided on Ethiopia) that there are several other families in MS that are in the process of adopting from this country right now! Alison and Meredith were so sweet to answer lots of questions for me and provide a ton of encouragement! I'm so thankful for that!

There WILL be other families that look like ours! We aren't going to be the "cookie cutter family" but God has put us here to step out of our comfort zones and serve Him for this tiny time we are on Earth! I don't want to miss the blessing just because I'm too scared of what someone might think!!!

This is definitely one of the scariest decisions we've ever made....but also one of the easiest! I am so thankful that the Lord has simultaneously led our hearts in the same direction! NONE of this adoption process (much like parenting!) will be done through our own strength, and we pray that God gets all the glory! We also pray that we can be an encouragement to other families that have felt their hearts tugged toward welcoming an orphan into their loving, Godly home.

Please pray for us as we begin this journey!!! I know you probably have some questions, so please ask and I'll do my best to answer them! We'll figure out all of the paperwork, etc. as we go, but we do know that we will make two trips to Ethiopia. The process will be long (we hope it's only up to 2 years, at the most!) and very expensive (the travel alone is crazy!). We know the Lord will provide! I mean, I have two PR degrees, and Wes is a professional fundraiser....He's been preparing us for this all along! :)

We are so thankful the Lord is using us this way! Please follow along with us!! We can't wait to meet our baby boy!

Destin 2011

2011-07-12T11:22:00.001-05:00

We took a very quick trip to Destin for the long July 4th weekend with the Gordon fam, and we had a blast! The trip was too short (left on Friday afternoon and came back Monday), but we were so happy to spend time with everyone on vacation. It was also Murphy's first trip to the beach!! Mary Reeves is an old beach bum! :)

Cooper, Kirby, Pop, Aunt Sheri, Murphy, Uncle Chuck, MR, Wes, Me, BeBe and Uncle Nick (missed you at Louisiana Lagniappe, Winston!)

A great meal (as always...it's our fave!), fun feeding the ducks, and a beautiful view....

Mary Reeves loved the ocean. She never really got out for two days (except for Mommy-mandated shade and juice time) as long as she could get a grown up to hold her out in the waves. Of course, sweet Uncle Nick complied! We loved celebrating his birthday at the beach! Happy b-day, Uncle Nick!

Murphy loved the sand and sitting at the water's edge. This face resulted from seeing if sand would be a tasty snack! He decided it would not be!

We were packing up...the only reason MR played with her brother in the sand!

One of the only (halfway) cute pics we got of the littlest Gordons in their cute beach clothes...Mary Reeves is also sporting her birthday Toms! She loves them because she can put them on by herself. Those sandal buckles are still too hard.

This little man is a momma's boy! He didn't want anyone else to hold him the entire weekend. My arms got tired from lugging him all over the condo/beach, but I loved every minute! :)

MR went on her first crab hunting expedition...

Success! That's a crab holding on for dear life on Wes' flashlight!

Murphy's fave spot: waves lapping at his feet and a swim diapers FILLED with sand! :)

Love her!

MR also benefited mightily from Uncle Chuck's Redi Whip addiction!

We hit the pool Monday before we loaded in the car for the dreaded ride home. This is the best of many attempts at a sibling pic. MR purposely looks away from the camera these days when we ask for a posed pic. Any decent ones from the weekend were the result of Aunt Sheri's candy bribery tactics!

We didn't expect to take a vacation this summer with all the moving craziness, but we are so thankful for our brief getaway! Football season is just around the corner, so our upcoming weekends are dedicated to house projects, which is fine with me!

We also have another project up our sleeves, but you'll have to wait a little longer to find out that surprise!! :)

Flashback

2011-07-11T16:19:00.000-05:00

After coming to terms with the fact that my camera cord was gone forever, never to be unearthed from all the boxes, I finally broke down and bought another one. So here's a brief look back, just for my sake...

Sweet Ms. Sandra cared for our babies for two years. This was taken on her last day. :( Mary Reeves still asks if Ms. Sandra is going to come keep her. They LOVED each other!

In between my UWA job and my MSU job, I had a few weeks to play while we hung out in Starkville, so the kids and I met Wesley and Ella Kate at the fabulous MS Children's Museum. We had such a fun time, and the kids loved every exhibit...and so did the mommies! Wesley blogged about it here...in April!

Murphy couldn't crawl at this point, so he didn't get to play with much on our first trip, but he'll love it too next time!

TV stars! This was our favorite thing because the girls loved seeing themselves on TV...even if they couldn't figure it out!

Milking a cow

We also had lunch at the DG house the day Coach Mullen joined the chapter for some good food.

Murphy looks so grown since this pic was taken! I think it's the last time Mary Reeves willingly sat by her brother and smiled for the camera!

Wendy came to Starkville! We met the Easter Bunny at the Cotton District Arts Festival...fun, but HOT!

I have to document Murphy's first Easter. With the baskets.....

Loving his new piano before church....

Family pic.....

After about 20 attempts, this is the keeper in the Easter frocks! My camera died immediately after this shot was taken, only to be dormant for two months (until charger was located from cardboard box post-move).

Next time, back to the future with beach pics......

Happy 3rd Birthday!

2011-07-08T16:36:00.001-05:00

Mary Reeves turned three last month, and I'm finally getting around to documenting the day! Happy birthday, sweet girl! She is so fun/funny/creative/talkative/smart, and we are so blessed to call her ours!

The weekend started off with a Friday family-night trip to Little Dooey's with our out-of-town guests (Mammaw Stringer, Aunt Sheri, BeBe, Pop and Uncle Nick), M, and the Gordon Four. Delicious, of course! I drew a place mat in the birthday girl's honor!

Murphy loved the buttery toast and his crazy hairdo (thanks to his daddy)!

Party Day began with her favorite breakfast, blueberry muffins...

served on her birthday plate! I painted it at Abby's bachelorette event, and I'm pretty proud of it, even though it possibly looks like the three-year-old herself painted it! :)

We played all day with our family until it was finally time for the best part....

the Dora cake....

and too many presents! She got so many great things, and we are very thankful for such generous family!

Isn't this the cutest pic of cousin Winston and little Murf? Everyone had a great time celebrating our big girl!

Next was swim time in her new pool!

I think the party was a success! She fell asleep in BeBe's lap around 7 p.m., in the living room with everyone talking, the TV on, etc. She NEVER does that, but all the celebrating wore her slap out! We put her in her bed, and we didn't hear a peep out of her until the next morning. It's definitely the first time she's skipped her (VERY regimented) bedtime routine!

We'll have a "friend" party next year, but it was great to have a simple family cookout again this year, especially since MR adores them so much and since we'd only been in our house about 9 days! It still looked like a wreck, but everyone was paying more attention to the birthday girl than our cardboard boxes! :)

Father's Day

2011-07-08T16:33:00.000-05:00

Mary Reeves' birthday fell on Father's Day this year, so we got to celebrate all weekend long! Our last stop was Cold Stone for our family's favorite treat, ice cream! These three are the biggest blessings ever, and I'm so thankful Wes is my kids' daddy! He loves them so much, and I can't wait for all the memories we'll make as they grow! Happy Father's Day, WPG!

Sometimes I feel like Father's Day gets a little overshadowed by all the birthday fun, but MR is the one who made Wes a daddy, after all! :) It was a fabulous family-filled weekend, and we are so happy to live close to the ones we love!

Home sweet home!

2011-06-10T11:54:00.000-05:00

We are in! Last night was our first night at our new home!!!! It's totally chaotic in the house, but everyone slept great in their own beds. The whole house is freshly painted, and new carpet is so cushy on our feet (and Murphy's knees!).

My mom gave me the best b-day present ever....a cleaning service came in yesterday to clean the bathrooms, wipe out all the kitchen cabinets, clean the baseboard, etc! Now all we have to do is unpack and decorate....and, ahem, replace the deer antler chandelier in the living room!! Don't worry, we're not trashing it...the faux-antlers will accentuate the decor at my brother's deer camp! :)

We are praising God that we are finally in our house! What a lesson in patience, but it was all worth it! I'm not sure it's going to be cute for MR's 3rd birthday party next Saturday, but I'm sure our family will understand!

Speaking of birthdays, I celebrated my last 20-something b-day last week. My co-workers decorated my office and we had breakfast AND afternoon cupcakes! Way to make a girl feel special! The Gordon Four had a lovely dinner at Umi....it was seriously the most relaxing restaurant meal we've had with both of them. They loved the hibachi chef (all except the fire) and ate so nicely without needing three potty trips, spilling food, whining to get out of the high chair, etc. A wonderful birthday indeed!

Murf hit the 9-month milestone this week! He is pulling up all over the place, and I think he'll be walking sooner rather than later! His first tooth finally popped through last week, and the other bottom tooth will cut through soon. He wants to eat table food all the time now, but he still gets a lot of baby food because it's more convenient at times. He is the sweetest little snuggler and gives great hugs. What a sweetheart! Last Sunday also marked the move from the baby room at the church nursery to the creeper room! I wasn't prepared for that big move, but he'll have fun with the bigger kids.

Oh yeah, did I mention that my firstborn will be THREE in one week? AGGHH! She is so much fun though, and I truly love every age more than the last stage! She is definitely her own person! And shouldn't I get to planning a 1st b-day for the littlest Gordon soon? Oh my!

It's official...and family pics!

2011-05-25T14:37:00.001-05:00

We are homeowners again! We finally signed the papers on our own little piece of the world in Bulldog Country! It's been a long time coming, and I can't wait to get unpacked and settled in our new home! We've got lots of painting to do over the holiday weekend, and the bedroom carpet gets installed next week, so we're hoping to move the first weekend in June. Yea!!!!

My sweet friend Betsy drove over Saturday to take our family pics at the Chapel of Memories. I haven't been as good about getting Murf's professional pics made as I was with the firstborn (I hope I'm not the only bad mom out there!), and I really wanted some good shots of the four of us, so Betsy (and kindly gave up her yardwork day to come help me out. I've only seen a sneak peek so far, and I'm dying to see the rest! She took about 200 shots in a very short amount of time, and I love that she at least got a few of MR and Murphy smiling (they quickly lost interest in the whole production!). I'll share more pics when I get them!

Thanks again, B!! You're the best, and I miss you every day!

Memory Bank

2011-05-19T14:51:00.000-05:00

Just some things I want to remember (lists are helpful)....

1. Mary Reeves said the sweetest prayer at supper the other night. Usually, we bless the food together with "God is Great," or either Wes or I will say the blessing. She almost never volunteers to say it solo, but when Wes told her not to eat yet so we could say the blessing, she piped up: "Dear God, Thank you for this day. Thank you for our food. Please be with all the children and help them to get food and new houses from the tornado. Amen." I almost teared up right at the table....I love her heart! I know she pays attention when we pray at night (usually the same routine...she is perfectly capable of saying her bedtime prayers, but she prefers that Wes or I say them for her), and she listens to us when we think she's not, but I love that she put it all together that God is the provider and protector.

2. As always, she still says funny stuff or things that I'm surprised she knows/can articulate. I can't believe she'll be THREE one month from today! Because she has no concept of time, she'll see something that triggers a memory that Wes and I can't believe she can recall. For example, as we're eating dinner last night..."I like this zucchini and squash. I didn't eat it when Mr. PK and Mrs. Mary Brook were here lasterday. [definition: anything in the past; interchangeable with yesterday. "Lasternight" is the evening version :)] Um, ok. That was weeks ago, and I had to rack my brain to remember if we even had those veggies that night! Of course, we did, and for some reason, she didn't want them. Good to know she's back on the roasted veggie bandwagon!

3. Murphy is still the same sweet cuddly boy, but he's much busier now! He is obsessed with MR's Twinkle Toes shoes because of the lights, so he'll crawl/scoot/do the worm to grab those shoes no matter what room I put them in! He also wants table food more everyday, but lack of teeth limits his menu options. He spits out his baby food and whines and opens and closes his hands for finger foods. That boy loves puffs and yogurt bites!

He also finally has enough hair to wake up with bed head (look very closely at the top left)! And how old does he look in two-piece pj's instead of snap-up sleepers?!

4. We FINALLY closed on our Alabama house! Wes went to Livingston to sign the papers, turn over all the keys and get some things that we forgot when we moved. He said it was sad to leave River Bend Rd for the last time...exactly 13 months after we moved in that beautiful house. Although we were trying to sell the house only five months after we bought it because of Wes' new job (sheesh...hindsight is 20/20!), it is the place where we brought home our son, enjoyed MR's 2nd birthday, celebrated our 5th anniversary and first Christmas as a family of four, and so much more! We have fun memories of playing in the backyard, grilling on the deck with our friends, growing tomatoes for our tomato-lovin' daughter, moving Mary Reeves into her big girl bed, watching Murphy grow and change, etc. Of course, we'll also miss our friends and our church, UWA, and Tres Hermanos and the Bakery!

Only five days away until our new home officially becomes ours! We've got to do some painting and put in new carpet, but then we get to move and settle in! Can't wait!

5. I also just moved into an office with a HUGE window overlooking the Hunter Henry Center on one side and fraternity row on the other! I love it! I have the blinds opened as far as they will go, and it's sooo much nicer than the renovated closet I inhabited for the first few weeks. Yea! It's going to be fun to watch everyone hang out to set up their tailgates on fall Friday afternoons!

6. I LOVE meeting my family for lunch! It makes the day so much better to get out of the office and love on my babies for 60 minutes! Yesterday we sat at a Petty's picnic table, and today we ate on the City Bagel patio....a combo of faves: fam, food, sunshine! Definitely breaks up the monotony of staring at a computer screen!

7. My husband makes the BEST homemade guacamole EVER!

T-shirt quilts

2011-05-13T14:03:00.000-05:00

My super-crafty mom is a jack-of-all-trades! I'm serious when I say she can do it all....catering, flower arrangements, decorating, organizing, sewing, etc.! One of her latest projects is making T-shirt quilts. She's made me two (high school and college) and done them for family friends. She's started taking orders lately after getting inquires about them, so I thought I'd help spread the word, if you're interested. These things are super soft...all the T-shirts have been washed a million times....and so comfy! I use our college one all the time! It's also great to keep all the memories (and $$...these shirts cost me a small fortune in college) without just sticking them in a drawer somewhere. A few examples....

This is the Gordon's college quilt...one side has all my DG and cheerleading shirts....

and Wes' side has all his Sigma Chi shirts!

Carthage High School (here's a sappy side note: CHS will be consolidated next year, so there will be no more black & gold Tigers...a little sad considering three generations of my family graduated from there and my mom (salutatorian '70) taught there for so long! I'm really glad I kept all these shirts now...in quilt form, of course!)

Here's a one-sided Phi Mu quilt....

And a Kappa Sig wall hanging quilt for a guy's home office.....

So, there's my sales pitch....comfy quilts, great memories and a very reasonable price! If you're interested, let me know and I'll pass her info along to you! My mom's headed to Alaska later this month, and she told me she's going to use the extra quilt money for an excursion....a helicopter ride to the middle of a glacier for a dog-sledding adventure!! Only her!

Fishin' with Daddy

2011-05-10T13:45:00.000-05:00

Wes took Mary Reeves down to the lake to "wet a worm" yesterday afternoon, and she (he) caught two fish in just a few minutes! She was very pleased with this new activity, and she even carried the cricket to her daddy to bait the hook and then touched the fish. Yuck!

2011-05-09T09:35:00.001-05:00

We had a fun Mother's Day weekend, and I'm thankful I got one cute pic with my phone! I feel like such a bad mom because I haven't been able to take any good pics lately...the ones on my phone usually end up blurry because the kiddos move so fast!

MR spent Friday night at Wes' parent's house, so Wes and I got to spend one-on-one time with our little man. It was nice! We went to dinner, and we actually talked and enjoyed our meal instead of scarfing it down, taking MR to the bathroom three times, telling her to eat, etc. Murphy was so sweet the whole time....I forgot how easy it is with just one!

The next day we went to Jackson to shop and see Wes' grandmother. It was such a fun, relaxing day! For my Mother's Day present, I picked up a of couple sundresses and a pair of sandals. I also got a romper, but the jury is still out on that one....can a mother of two wear one?? It looks cute, but the tags are still on it because 1. Is it appropriate? 2. I didn't take into account the logistics of using the restroom! What do you think?

After church on Sunday, we took my fabulous mom to brunch at Restaurant Tyler. I spent the rest of the day lazing around and playing with the kiddos. Great weekend, but as always, much too short!

Yesterday was also Murphy's 8-month birthday! I'm not sure how it's even possible that he's growing up sooo fast! He will be crawling probably within the next week....agghh! He rocks on his hands and knees before shooting forward on his belly to army crawl. Our home away from home is not baby-proofed at all, so that makes me really nervous! Murphy can also clap, which was his first real trick! He's still a great sleeper and eater. We're working on finger foods now, but I could just eat him up!

We also have a wonderful new babysitter for the summer! We LOVE Ms. Lindsay! She is an elementary ed major so she's is stocked with fun books and ideas for craft projects with MR. I'm sooo happy to have her watch our kids while we're working, and it's so reassuring to know they are having fun and being cared for so well!

Thoughts....

2011-04-28T15:02:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted in a while because are lives have been hectic. We packed up everything in Alabama ready to move in our new house in Starkville, only to find out that we weren't closing that week because our AL buyers' bank was taking longer than expected....which meant we couldn't close on the MS house until we closed on the AL house. Turns out that our sellers here in Starkville didn't get the complete info from their realtor about our situation and our offer to extend the contract/rent to own....so they put the house back on the market.

We thought we were only packing the moving truck for a few days and would unload all our worldly possessions within hours, but our stuff has been in a storage unit for weeks now. There are no pictures because my camera cord and battery charger (thankfully, it died only after I managed to get one decent pics of my kids on Easter) are in a box...somewhere. Thankfully, we are living in Wes' (VERY generous!) aunt and uncle's ballgame house in Starkville until we can move, and I've started my new job! Not exactly what we had in mind, but we are so thankful to be together and to have a roof over our heads!

We actually signed a contract on a different house and hope to move in at the end of May! (For those keeping count, we've had two contracts on our AL house and two on a new MS house!) Just a friendly PSA....Moving is NOT FOR SISSIES! However, we are excited about our "new" new house, and can't wait to make it our home!

Since October, it's been so hard not to question why we had so many bumps in the road, but I know that God works all things out for good. He has taught us patience, trust, thankfulness and so much more. He is good all the time. I have to remember that today, as I'm glued to coverage of the recovery from yesterday's storms in my home state and in the state that was my home for the past seven years (the only two places I've ever lived).

Yes, Wes took a new job in October before we sold our house or before I had a job, and it would be months before we could join him. But, God's timing is perfect.....the person that was hired when Wes left UWA moved his family (our daughters and sons are the same age) to Livingston when they sold their house in Tuscaloosa. A house that is now gone. In a neighborhood that is now gone.

We praise You in the storm! There are so many times when we don't understand, but HE does.

It's heartbreaking (there is no other word) to see the photos and videos coming out of Mississippi and Alabama. Devastation. Starkville is so blessed to have missed the worst of it, and all I can imagine is that it could have just as easily been Hwy 12 instead of McFarland Blvd. The ice cream shop (now Full Moon BBQ) where I worked in grad school is GONE, along with the rest of its shopping center. Thank you, Lord, for your mercies. I know He will be glorified as we see stories of churches and communities pulling together to help their neighbors. Praying unceasingly for everyone affected.....

Recent fun

2011-03-24T11:56:00.000-05:00

The days are getting longer and our days in Livingston are getting shorter! We had big fun last weekend though with a family day in Meridian and a lovely Sunday with church friends.

Wes and MR made pancakes for breakfast then we all headed to the big city for some adventures. BTW, I'm so glad that it's getting easier to get a decent pic of both kiddos halfway looking at the camera!

We started with sunny lunch on the patio and playtime at Chik-Fil-A (the most kid-friendly place ever!) before heading to the Petco aka Free Zoo to look at all the animals and watch doggies getting their summer hairdos. Mary Reeves always wants to go to the "puppy and kitty store," but she hardly pays any attention to our cat and dog at home!

Our next stop was the kids' shop for some new kicks for Murph-man...these tiny size 1 sandals are so cute!

We followed that up with a dipped cone at Dairy Queen before heading home for naps. Wes and Mary Reeves were back in the kitchen to make brownies and then we headed to Mexico with Mr. Jason (quite possibly MR's favorite man besides her daddy!) for our favorite dinner...fajitas! Every time we go there, MR orders a plate of tomatoes as her appetizer, since the salsa and cheese dip are a little spicy for her tastes, and she eats every one!

We finished Gordon Family Fun Day with our homemade brownies and some March Madness. It was one of the best, most laid back days! Loved every minute with our little fam!

Just a few more pics from last week.....

My three loves all dressed for church.....

Pop and BeBe were at our house for St. Patrick's Day before heading to TN to see Uncle Nick. MR is still playing with the gold coins the leprechaun left in her classroom last week.

A self-portrait, since I'm usually behind the camera instead of in front of it....

And finally, a question to ponder: How is it possible that one tiny tyke can have SO MUCH HAIR while her sibling has NONE?

Randomosities

2011-03-15T15:59:00.001-05:00

We've been trucking right along...we sold our house again (long story, but the Lord provides!) and now hope to move (for real this time!) in the next three weeks. We are still trusting the Lord's timing and praising Him for his faithfulness! After a discouraging previous week, yesterday was full of good news, and we were so thankful!

Since I last updated, some fun things have happened. Murphy celebrated his half-birthday!

We went to his six-month checkup and got a great report. Funniest stat for the youngest Gordon: he is now in the 75th percentile in height....maybe he will get some of his Uncle Brent's genes after all!

He started eating cereal, sweet potatoes and green beans! He's still getting the hang of the whole spoon thing, but I think it's because he can't concentrate on eating while watching Mary Reeves' every move!

Murph's also in his big boy car seat, which must be pretty comfy because he falls asleep in it almost immediately.

We've also been loving the spring weather and enjoyed spending time in our backyard last weekend. With highs in the 80s by the end of the week, I'm already anticipating getting some much-needed sun this weekend!

After Mary Reeves whined about my putting Murphy in her stroller, she then wanted to push him around. She's a good big sister and getting even more attentive as he can play more. He cracks up at her when she's singing, dancing, running, anything. It's so funny because MR's not trying to make him laugh, he just thinks she's hilarious! He only laughs like that at her!!

Of course, MR says funny things every day! At her school, the teachers will frequently put up these signs by the parent mailboxes for us to enjoy. These were posted last week, as they had lessons on transportation. Notice in the top one that the class was talking about astronauts....and this is the response MR gave! She spends too much time at the DG house with my mom, for sure!

More MR funnies....

***Mary Reeves: "Mommy, are you so proud of me for using the potty?"

Me: "Of course I am! You're such a big girl."

MR, looking sadly at her brother, "You're not proud of Murphy because he poo-poos in his diapers?"

***We were singing "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" and naming our family in the song (ex. He's got Mommy and Daddy, MR and Murphy, etc). We got to our extended family, and she started asking, wide-eyed, "Does Jesus have Uncle George in his hands?" Yes. "Oooh! Does He have Mammaw?" Yes. This went on and on, and she would run to the next room to report to Wes...."Jesus has Uncle Brent in his hands!!!" Then she came back to me, "Jesus has a loooooot of people in his hands! What about Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Big Bird?" You should have seen the look of astonishment on her face when I told her he has ALL of Sesame Street in his hands! Priceless!

***Riding down our driveway and pointing out the window at the birdhouses on our trees, "Look at the 'birdhomes!'"

***This one needs some visuals....Wes brought MR a T-shirt from Harry Caray's restaurant in Chicago a few months ago. She loves this shirt and wears it all the time

A few weeks ago, we were driving down Hwy 45 to Starkville. I thought she was asleep, but when we passed the KFC/Taco Bell in Macon, she pointed out the window and yelled out from the backseat, "It's Harry Caray!" At first I had no clue what she was talking about...such a random thing for a two-year-old to say out of the blue!! But then I put two and two together--Colonel Sanders does have big glasses! She now yells this out every time we pass a KFC...and it's too funny to correct her!

In non-kid related happenings, we had a BLAST at Brad and Maren's wedding weekend in Starkville! Everything was so much fun, especially the rehearsal dinner after-party hosted by the brother of the groom, and we loved hanging out with so many fun college friends!

I can't wait until we are permanent residents so all our friends will come see us! Anyone who wants a place to stay for Super Bulldog Weekend better be prepared to help unpack!