I have been pondering over things all day.
I had a rather interesting night, as well. Interestingly enough, we have a new addition to our family. Little Aniyah Juliana – Mae! She was born today, in Weisbaden, Germany. Her family lives there, because currently my nephew Rodney is in the Army there with his wife, Elisabeth and they have just brought her into the world. Well, last night was uneventful. I was up praying for Elisabeth in the dark hours of the night, because I was concerned about her not taking meds to deliver this baby girl. (Smile) I prayed for her …and as I did, I was in pain, in my abdominal area, for quite some time. It felt like I was giving birth! At the same time, I was also thinking and praying for our babygirl, D. Hmmm,, I wonder…
When I woke up this morning, and as the day progressed, we got all this GOOD news, Aniyah was coming and eventually born, and My little girl’s worker also called with answers about when we could SEE HER. This is breakthrough, ya’ll, I have been waiting to hear this for WEEKS, now!
One of the most major things on my mind these past few MONTHS, in fact, has been our adoption. It doesn’t leave my head. I am so excited about it, it literally takes up a good 65% of my daily thought life. I can think about other things, but its likely until this happens and she is finally here and we are used to her, I won’t. Everyone that knows me, knows that I absolutely LOVE to take pictures. Part of my challenge will be especially in the first couple of weeks thinking of ways I can share who she is and little bits of her personality, without really revealing her identity. I just want to share this way, because she is pretty sacred to us. And so Facebook, may not be the main sharing vehicle, just yet. All due respect for my friends and family; and how we remain connected daily, I still feel as if I have become a mother hen, in a sense, and will cover this part of our adoptive life quite sacredly, until its time. In the meantime, this doesn’t mean I will not share. It just means it will be a slow share and more discreet than ever. Although I am pretty open about my life, her life is quite a different story!
I believe I am creative enough to figure it out, and am looking forward to the challenge! I already have a few ideas! If you have some photo ideas of how i can share, without really sharing, let me know! I will use them and led up to the BIG REVEAL.. later on as things go well, and I can finally share more about her, and her life. I have decided to wait until she comes and stays overnight, before we actually get her room together. I mean, I have to get to know her, and find out what makes her world go around before i actually find something that makes her feel really comfortable in this new space. The child has had so many changes since April, we just want to get her settled and make her feel at home. Tim has been real understanding and vocal about this.
Now that we know Saturday will be our very first day with her, we are excited about having her and beginning on planning for the day. actually, “planning” was my husband’s idea, and I said, lets take her to eat, and then after that let her lead us and ask what she might like to do. I want to do simple things like show her where we live and where she will sleep, and have her ask any questions she wants to ask of her new family. Though we could never take the place of her old family, i think for her, it will be pretty special to have us.
Here’s what we know about her already, Her name is Ms”D” for now…(I will tell you all her name, later) and she is ten years old. I will share later once she’s settled, more about her character. She’s pretty agile, likes to play and stay active, and is quick on her feet. she has suffered some depression, so my sister-friends and I will be praying over that part of her life, quite a bit. She has been described as a bit temperamental, and also somewhat stubborn her workers, say. Yet, this tells me, this is a girl who knows what she wants; is expressive about it, and knows how to get her needs met. She has a quite a few siblings, but several of them are not really around her now. So we will figure out how to help her get reconnected with family members. this is a part of the adoption. We are “bridge-builders”- so to speak-with her family whom she knows and will begin to help her to stay acquainted with them. We saw some awesome video footage about why this is so important for the siblings mental health and adjustment. And as a social worker, I agree it’s critical.
So… stay tuned. I will creatively think of ways to stay connected via the blog about her and share bits and pieces of our new life with her so you may share our joy. After all, this blog is about the “LIFE OF JENNRENE”, right??
Have a good night and I will try to blog again this weekend! Yay!!
Oh, and in the meantime, here’s little Ms. Aniyah born today! Not even quite one day old! Bless her heart!
I know, too cute, huh? I think her dad was as tired as mommy was!
