I usually blog on Tuesday or Thursday while my littles are napping. The past few weeks I have been getting up at 5am to get Michael out the door for middle school basketball tryouts at 6am. SO... I have chosen to nap while my littles ones are, instead of blogging. It has been a little crazy the past few weeks at the Mayernick house. We have had Halleliah Hoedowns, Pumpkin Patch fun, awards at gymnastics, and Gwen and I have been gearing up for November being "orphan/adoption awareness month." 147 MILLION ORPHANS is LOCO right now!! The amount of fundraising for adoptions is THROUGH THE ROOF!! It makes my heart skip a beat to think of all of the little children coming home to their forever families. I KNOW that our Savior is smiling up above. (not to mention the children that are HIV+ that are being pursued...woohoooooo!!!)

So, here are a few pics from the past few weeks. Gwen and I are off to pack for a sale tonight.....

My heart is overflowing with joy as the emails have flooded in of people wanting the names of domestic adoption agencies! Once again, I am going to throw the disclaimer out there...there is NO PERFECT agency. Some people have AWESOME experiences and some have AWFUL. Also, I must say that 50% of domestic adoptions disrupt. So you have to keep looking up KNOWING that our Savior has you in the palm of His hand and He has the perfect child for you! Here are a few agencies for you to google....Americankidz Adoption, Abba Adoption, Heart and Soul Adoption, Adoption Associates, and Bundle of Hope.

Also, I thought I'd show you some pics of my youngest three out with my sweet Anna. I went on a high school "girlfriend getaway" last weekend and my sitter took them to the pumpkin patch! The Lord never ceases to amaze me by surrounding me with loving young women who LOVE my children. It is such a blessing!

Right from the beginning, I am going to give the disclaimer that I am not an expert on this subject. The past few weeks I have had quite a few emails regarding domestic adoptions. I am VERY PASSIONATE about these babies and their birthmothers. Abortion is RAMPANT here in the US. It is an easy "out," for some women but for some, is their only option (so they think). African American children are the last children to be adopted. With both of our domestic adoptions, we were our birthmothers only options.

I have journeyed through two domestic adoptions. They were both TOTALLY different. (kinda like pregnancies, no two are alike) I have had positive responses like "I am so glad that you have children from the US, we have so many kids over here that need families and everybody keeps going overseas!!" Then there are negative responses like " are these children REALLY orphans? I mean, they have a mother, they are not sitting in an orphanage with no one to love them...they are in America, they are not going to starve to death, and not receive the medical care that is needed" I could fill up a whole page of responses that people have taken it upon themselves to "share" with me. I think I have a sign on my forehead that says "SHARE...SHARE EXACTLY what is on your heart in regards to my family!" haha

I've been walking with a friend through a domestic adoption. The social worker calls and says "we would like to show your profile to a birth mom.....here is her story..blah blah blah." Then, YOU decide if you want your profile to be shown....the struggle starts. Do we show it? Are we open to STD's? marijuana? cigarettes? alcohol? and the list goes on....and then you start feeling like you are "playing God." we WILL do this, we WON'T do that, we are open to this.....The grandparents start sharing about how they are concerned about the heartache that the adoption will bring. They ask: "What about the birthparents medical history? what if they have had mental illness?"

Well, if you do an international adoption...do you know any of those details? NO! But for some reason, it is safer in people's minds. Perhaps what you don't know won't hurt you? How do you "classify" an orphan? The definitions of the word orphan vary from 1)a child who has lost both parents 2)someone who lacks care, or support or supervision 3) a fatherless child.

At the end of the day, in domestic adoption, there is a single woman (typically) who cannot care for her child. IT IS A TRAGEDY. Regardless of your circumstances, there is not ONE single part of a mother's heart that wants to hand the child that she has been carrying for nine months to someone else to love. Often, after laboring and delivering these babies, these girls feel a love for these babies that they HAVE NEVER KNOWN or FELT in their entire lives, just to do the most sacrificial act, give them away, so that they can have a better life than they could ever offer. Even the children that are created from the act of rape. After carrying these babies for nine months, the mothers have so much love for them. I have a whole new perspective of these ladies that make an adoption plan after walking through the process alongside them. I pray for all three of my children's birth mom's EACH AND EVERY day and I thank my sweet Jesus for those women. I will never forget the first time that I was handed Joshua and the mom walked away. I literally fell in a slump over him and wept until I could hardly breathe. I felt as though my heart had been plucked straight from my chest. My heart THROBBED on her behalf. It was THE MOST life changing moment of my life and I have NEVER been the same since....

If there wasn't domestic adoption, we would have to have orphanages in the US. We would be so overwhelmed in our foster systems. If there wasn't this option for many of these mothers, we would find many more children left in dumpsters or they would try to parent them and who knows what the the future of these children would be. Abortion would be even MORE rampant. So, I am asked regularly "where is the largest need?" Hhhhhmmm...everywhere, there are hundreds of millions of needs.

Do we really think that our sweet Savior is sitting on his throne picking and choosing which child we should love because one is more in need than the other? Do we really think that if we bring a child into our home through domestic OR international that one might be where we are NOT "called" and if we bring one home from the wrong place that we will not be in His will and be sinning against Him? Sometimes I think that He just sits up there on that throne and just shakes his head thinking "THEY ARE MISSING IT!!!!" I just want you to love each other. It is so simple....LOVE ONE ANOTHER. We spend so much time thinking about WHAT we should do, instead of actually putting it to action.

I am so excited to talk to my friends that just came back from Africa. I cannot wait to say "SO, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH IT?!?!" They went, they saw, and now they know. I am sure that they are still processing it, so if they are at a loss, I have ALL KINDS of ideas for them! (hahahaha) The blog world is another crazy thing. We are exposed to story after story in people's lives. We have learned things that we NEVER knew before blogs. So all of you "bloggers" that don't necessarily travel...now that you know, what do you do with it?

I have done domestic adoption and international adoption. I would choose them BOTH again, again, and again. I would choose an HIV+ child again , again, and again.

Life has been loco the past few weeks. Texas was fabulous! We had a big sale yesterday here in Nashville. So, needless to say, Gwen and I are toast. My heart and mind are in Uganda right now. One of my best friends is there with her husband going to court for their two boys. The boys are in the same baby's home where Josie Love was. They went to court today, and we are waiting to hear what happened. Please lift them up with me. ?Their names are Tara and Drew Maddux. If you want to follow their journey with me, their blog is roadsofuganda.blogspot.com.