Thankful Thursday and an FAQ

1. extra 6 hours at work today and was home to pick up the kids
2. Mike's last class for the spring semester is tomorrow and Saturday, then he'll have a short break(working on a doctorate and we are all super proud of him!)
3. waffles, bacon, and eggs for dinner(oh- Mel, Kate, Em--YES, we had grapes with it!!!!!)
4. my George Foreman grill that our friends J. and A. gave us--love it!
5. our 1998 Honda Accord with 172,000 miles on it works great, except for the A/C
6. we moved Abby and Dillon's bedrooms around tonight--we are getting things ready for Hudson.
7. toothbrushes and toothpaste(I have a clean teeth fettish)

FAQ 3
I began answering some questions that people ask me all the time. If you want to see the first 2, scroll down--they are titled FAQ 1, FAQ 2
How do you know there won't be something wrong with him? Hmmm, this is a tough one. With our first adoption, we were naive. I really don't think we ever considered, or we didn't talk about it if we did consider it, that the children might end up with medical or developmental problems. When you are pregnant with a birthchild, you have no garauntee, no insight into the future about what may or may not happen. Why do people only ask that of adoptive parents? I find it to be personal and offensive. Pardon me for sounding harsh. I never ever respond ugly to questions about our children. But, since internet is faceless, I feel more free. When a person is engaged, all they see is love and hope. Does anyone ask that person "how do you know he/she might not get an illness or difficulty learning how to do a job?" No, you'd never say that. Since we do have a child with special needs, this is a bit more stabbing to my heart. Our new son was a waiting child for a few little reasons. My son Dillon, is special needs, and he belongs in our family. His special needs sometimes make our lives more complicated. We've moved for him to get better access to educational services. We are so fortunate to live close to a great children's hospital and lots of specialist, but those services are very expensive. Every childhood task you take for granted with your typically developing children is and has been a challenge for us and our sweet son. Small illnesses are much scarier with him. I'm not gonna lie and say it is always easy. BUT, it is always worth it!!! Do you think that when your Heavenly Father looks at you and sees the areas you need improvement and "modification" in,that he sighs and thinks "man, if only I'd known what that person was going to be like when he/she got older!" Of course not. I'm being silly here, as you know. But, I'm driving my point home. A child with special needs is a wonderful, miraculous blessings that is worth it and deserves a loving home. Mike and I have grown more as whole people in the last 5 years than over our whole lives. Dillon is super fun! We learned to enjoy every little milestone and celebrate the good times, and not sweat the tough times so much. We've had our eyes opened to all the precious children out there waiting for a family, but aren't considered desirable because of a diagnosis or background issue. I'm going to take it a step furthur here. Warning---stop reading if you don't want your toes stepped on, shame on the millions of wealthy American Christians who turn a blind eye to the needs of children. Shame on the not wealthy American Christians who use lack of money as an excuse. If people weren't so in debt from buying what they don't need and can't afford, they could help. God doesn't call everyone to adopt, but he does demand that we care. If you aren't called to adopt, you can support those who are. Donate to Shaohannah's Hope or Life Song for Orphans, foster children in your area, become a respite caregiver for other foster parents, give encouragement to those are doing just that, give to Dillon International's Building FAmilies Fund(that is who has blessed us hugely and made the fees to adopt Hudson more managable), pray for special needs children to find families, volunteer with Special Olympics, don't stare with judgement at an Autistic child who is overstimulated in WalMart. Okay, enough, sorry to rant on and on. Good thing you don't live with me huh? My poor husband is so patient and loving and has to hear me on my soapbox all the time. I promise the next FAQ will be more light-hearted.