Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Kids' clothes and car seats

I have found the most adorable clothing line for little girls that I’ve ever seen! The photographer that I have been taking Pax to had a “Matilda Jane Trunk Show” today at her studio. I, along with my mom, Aunt Traci, my 3 kids, and my 2 nieces went and checked it out. Sooooooo adorable!!!

It’s like home-made/flea market/like nothing you can find in stores!! Disclaimer: IT’S EXPENSIVE!! They had free food and since our 5 kids ate it like they were at Golden Corral, we felt kind of obligated to buy something. I almost talked myself into just buying a pair of $14 socks, but then we got suckered in. I mean, these clothes are REALLY cute. They made me want to learn how to sew. I kept thinking, “I could make this…after a year or 2 of sewing lessons.” Long story medium, my mom and I purchased an outfit for each of my girls. When I was placing the order I was intent on getting the biggest size possible for each of them…just fitted enough to stay on their little bodies! I mean, this kind of investment is gonna have to last. I’ll post pix of them in these cute little outfits when I get them, and then you can follow the Long girls through their adolescence in them!! These may be their “first date” outfits or their “getting my drivers license” outfits, or their “rehearsal dinner” outfits. I’m just saying. I mathematically figure out how many times my children must wear something in order for the “per wear” amount to be reasonable. With these duds, it’s about 60-70 wears. And to my dismay, after the transaction went down I was told it would be 6-8 weeks before I would get them. A lot of my justification for purchasing these was that they would be adorable Easter clothes. (Did I mention that in my equation an “Easter Wear” counts as 10?) Easter is 6.5 weeks away. I have my fingers crossed!!

I will end with a small confessional. After wandering aimlessly around Kroger for a couple of hours with Pax and Traci, I loaded my little man up, drove to Tim Stewart Funeral home, then to my mom’s house, then home. I got out, carried in the car seat, and was then mortified to find that apparently I had forgotten to buckle that precious baby in when we left Kroger! Why is there not a “ding, ding” noise for unbuckled babies?! Surely I’m not the first mom who has committed this travesty. And yet I shall be the one to make billions off of this handy little invention of mine! Anyway, I did penance–aka kissed and hugged and cried and promised my boy that I would be more attentive when it came to his safety in the future. And I thanked God that He fills in the gaps that we “less than perfect” moms leave.

Monday, February 15, 2010

How Memaw showed up in my quiet time...


As many of you know, Jono’s grandmother--our Memaw--passed away Monday, February 8. It is a great loss to many. I still catch myself wondering who I’m going to call when spring gets here and I need to know what to plant where. And she was truly my girls’ best friend. Anyway, the day after she got to go to Heaven, I wrote this. It was read at her funeral and I thought I’d share it here as well…

I was reading my bible this morning…just the passages assigned to today according to my “Read The Bible In A Year” schedule. It was Matthew 25, and I immediately realized that Memaw fell into a very select and favored group of people…also known as sheep. Here are Jesus’ own words and how our Memaw embodied every one of them:

Jesus starts off in Matthew 25:31-34 saying “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.”

Verse 35 says ”For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat”. Everyone knows that if you were hungry, Memaw would give you something to eat. Every Sunday she would prepare a feast for her family, which she wrote in her journal was her favorite family gatherings. It didn’t take long for others to stop inviting us out to eat after church because EVERYONE knew Memaw had dibs on our Sunday afternoons, and she had since Jonathan and I had started dating…11 years of divine meals. If we just dropped by, the first thing she would say was, “Do ya’ll want me to fix you something to eat?” When friends or family were sick or had had a baby, she would cook and deliver a meal. And even in death she wanted to make sure her family remained well-fed. She left an account for the sole purpose of buying food on Sundays so that we would all still get together. Only Memaw. If you were hungry, Memaw was your woman.

Verse 35 goes on to say, “I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink”. If Memaw knew that we were coming by, she would have cups of apple juice and chocolate milk ready and waiting for my girls. For them to walk into Memaw’s house and not have drinks waiting for them was tragic. It only happened a couple of times, and Memaw would apologize to them like she’d committed the ultimate sin. I also remember one hot, summer day when my sister, my sister-in-law, and I brought all 9 of our kids to Memaw’s house to do a photo-shoot in her yard. Memaw started making lemonade and bringing pitcher after pitcher out to us with cups of ice. Hardly anyone left her house without getting a glass of sweet tea, kool-aid, or a coke that she kept in ample supply.

Verse 35 finishes up saying that “I was a stranger and you invited me in.” I wish that I could say that my neighbors felt as welcome into my home as Memaw’s did to hers. Any given day (or night for that matter) a neighbor from across the street or down the road may drop by to say hey, sit and talk, or borrow something from her. Numerous times Jonathan and I would bring a student from the youth group or a friend of the girls’ with us to eat at Memaw’s. She wasn’t the kind that would say yes and then grumble about them seeing her house a wreck or worrying if she had enough food…she just said yes. Friends, boyfriends, and girlfriends of all her kids and grandkids were always welcome.

Verse 36 says “I needed clothes and you clothed me.” Memaw loved buying clothes for her babies. They were usually either overalls or extremely floral. My girls loved it when they would be at her house and need a change of clothes. There was something exciting to them about going to Memaw’s special drawer where she kept extra shirts, pants, socks, and undies. She made the most beautiful dresses for both of my girls to be dedicated in, and made 3 years worth of Halloween costumes for them. If someone had a hole in their pants or needed something hemmed, there was no one but Memaw for such a task. There will be jeans going in the garbage far too early now that we don’t have Memaw to patch us up.

Verse 36 goes on to say that “I was sick and you looked after me”. I’m pretty sure that I speak for everyone in her family when I say that if you were sick, you wanted Memaw around. I remember her coming to visit me one day when I had a stomach virus. She brought a case of ginger ale, cleaned out the garbage can that I had just “utilized”, fixed me some chicken noodle soup, and proceeded to dress and play with my kids and clean my house. She would always want to babysit my girls when they were sick because “They just need their Memaw” she would say. She had friends that she faithfully drove to doctor’s appointments. She did her share of looking after sick people.

And lastly in verse 36 Jesus says, “I was in prison and you came to visit me.” In the rare case that one of her loved ones did happen to come upon hard times and find themselves in jail, Memaw was diligent to visit them on every opportunity. And when others might think that it was a waste of money, she would even send funds to them so that they could buy snacks and drinks. Time that most people would rather spend on themselves, Memaw was always ready and willing to spend on others.
Memaw would have claimed not to have much…she wasn’t rich, she didn’t think she was pretty, she was not a musician, and she was beyond uncomfortable in front of a crowd. It sounds a lot like me, only I often find myself complaining to God for not “blessing” me with some amazing gift. I’ve realized that in all the ways that I feel ungifted and “not special”, Memaw felt as well. But there is no one who I desire to be more like than her. It’s ironic, really, that everything that I’ve loathed about myself (like just not being really good at anything) existed in my favorite person. So now instead of thinking of all the good that I could do if God had just made me a little better at teaching or a good singer, I’ll thank Him for giving me a beautiful picture of what a true sheep of His looks like and I will strive to feed, give drinks to, invite in, clothe, look after, and visit my loved ones, friends, neighbors, fellow church members, and even complete strangers. Just like my Memaw did.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Home Study

Ok. Lots of updating to do. So let’s recap with where we are at in the whole adoption process. We have already covered the fact that we are too young to adopt Oksana and Vitya. Sooooo, we are pursuing anyway! We know that obedience to God at this point means pursuing these children in the same way that God pursued us….with an unrelenting love. We had a conversation with them on the last week that they were with us via Ksenia (our Ukrainian friend/chaperone/translator). She explained to them that Mama and Papa were going to do everything in their power to get them home for good, but she also broke it to Oksana that there was a hitch and a possibility that it wouldn’t be allowed. It was very bittersweet…they were excited but, obviously, pretty sad too. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago we were able to send them each a package full of fun things, candy, notes, and even a recordable card with all of our voices on it (with the exception of Pax!)! Step 2 of dealing with the “missing-them-blues” was calling them on the good ol’ telly. This past Wednesday we gave it a try at 9 in the morning our time…4 pm in Ukraine. Right here I have to give props to my sweet and beautiful friend Anya! She was willing to do a 3-way call with us and translate. So we actually got someone on the phone, however they told us that the kids were still in classes and that we should try back Saturday by 1…which for all of you who don’t feel like doing the math, is 6 AM OUR TIME! I mean, really, may they never question our love for them. What was truly baffling was that Anya and her mom, Stephanie, were willing to sacrifice their Saturday morning to help us. And, unfortunately, it was all for naught. The 6 o’clock call rendered only someone whispering “They came!” and then putting us on hold/disconnecting the call. After 4 more attempts to call someone finally answered again and said a bunch of stuff that even Anya couldn’t understand and hung up on us. Ah well. It is documented here so that one day they can read and know that Mama and Papa got up at 6am to talk to them and Mama and Papa don’t get up at 6am to talk to anyone who’s not in the hospital!!

After rolling out of bed (yes, those calls were definitely made from the comfort of our cozy bed) we did precious little to get ready, drug our still sleeping kids out of the bed, and headed to my sister’s house to drop them off for safekeeping. It was on to number 2 of 3 home studies!!! Yay!! Next Saturday we will officially complete that process! So that’s where we are. We know that our job is obedience…not “saving the kids”. And along the journey may God reveal His power and love and mercy!