Philly Area mom, Life forever changed by adoption
It’s taken me over 3 months to write Part 2 after Part 1. That’s because it wasn’t the easiest thing to write.
10 years after Part 1. Somehow, I manage to snag the sweetest, most faithful bachelor on this side of the Mississippi (and maybe beyond that). Don’t know how that happened, but I’m so thankful that it did. Considering the years before I met him, I really should have ended up with a real loser.
We married in September 1998 and bought our first pad the following spring, a cute little townhouse we were so excited to call our own.
Those first couple years were fun years. I was working part-time while getting my Masters’ degree in Biblical Counseling. We had a great small group and were active in ministry together. We were learning to live together and how to “be married.” And, I started dreaming about starting a family.
Mark wasn’t the dreamer that I was about talking about babies. For some reason, he wasn’t oogling over ladies walking by with babies in strollers like I was or thinking about what names would just sound perfect together. He wanted to wait a while.
I still remember very clearly the moment I found my dreams threatened. Mark had a doctor’s appointment, and I was with him. The doctor read over his chart and noticed a childhood surgery Mark had had that he casually noted on the information page he had just completed. The doctor said, “Do you plan on having children?” Mark and I sorta nervously laughed as I’m sure Mark blushed and as I was thinking, “Why is he asking us that? Is it that obvious that I’m dreaming of pink and blue and Mark is not?” He went on to say, “You are likely infertile. You will probably have to use a specialist if you want to have children of your own.”
What? Shock, anger, fear set in. And, we wasted no time with getting more tests done. I had to know.
“It will be nearly impossible for you to conceive.” Those were the words I heard over the phone. And, I hung up and fell to the ground in tears.
“Let’s adopt,” Mark said. “Maybe this is God’s way of telling you to adopt,” my mom told me, “You always had a heart for adoption.”
No. I don’t want to adopt. I want to be pregnant. I don’t want to have some profile that some pregnant girl skims through to decide if we’re good enough. I don’t want to wait forever for a baby. I know someone who waited 10 years to be chosen. And, I want a baby, a little, folded up bundle of a baby. And, we count every penny. Adoption costs thousands of dollars. We don’t have that kind of money. I don’t want to. I don’t want to adopt.
into the world of superheros, comics, and pop culture at the Wizard World Comic Con in Philadelphia. 10 years ago, I would never have imagined I’d be found at something like this. And, here, I was there all afternoon on both Friday AND Saturday. Friday, I took the kids by myself (yes, I’m a superhero for driving to Phili, parking, and managing all 4 kids as well all my gear, if I should say so myself). They loved it SO much (Evan called it a “museum of awesomeness”), that they convinced us to take them again on Saturday.
For those of you who have no idea what this event is (people as uninformed as I was a couple weeks ago), this is a huge event for comic book enthusiasts as well as superhero, Star Wars, and WWF fans as well as vintage toy collectors for Star Wars and old school superhero stuff. And, it brings out a bunch of folks who like to dress up like heros (some recognizable and some that I guess they just made up…unless I’m totally on the out…which is definitely possible). It’s a subculture, people, one that I wouldn’t want to be a part of but I confess I have a fascination in observing.
We got to see some famous comic illustrators at work including Travis Nichols (one of the few really kid friendly ones) who published The Monster Doodle Book
And, we saw some not-so-famous illustrators too.
I went for the kids, knowing our oldest three would think it was the closest thing to Disney World they’d get for a while. But, I confess, it was a pretty good time. Maybe next time I’ll even dress up.
The munchkins have the summer munchies. No doubt about it. I wonder how they got through the whole school day only eating their packed lunches. It’s amazing they didn’t waste away this year. I got out the jar of pretzels and put some Nutella in a little bowl. 5 minutes later, this is what I found. At least I know those are patterns from little fingers and not tongues….or are they?
Please tell me I’m not the only mom using up the grocery budget on Chex Mix, bugles, pretzels, granola bars, goldfish, and all kinds of yummy snack packs.