FYI...pics are out of order, not sure how to fix from iPhone....
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Hannah's day in iPhone pics...
Yesterday was Hannah's last full day with mommy and daddy as an only child. So we made it fun!! We ate breakfast at Joe's, our favorite breakfast place, then headed to the zoo! We saw most of the zoo, fed the birds, then headed over to Mimi and Pawpaws house for a bit. After lunch and nap, we took her to the yogurt shop down the street and chowed down on some yummy frozen yogurt! The rest of the day we took it easy and gave lots of hugs and kisses :) We leave very very soon! I'm so sad to leave her again, but it'll all be worth it in a week when she has a little brother to play with!! Until Moscow...
FYI...pics are out of order, not sure how to fix from iPhone....
FYI...pics are out of order, not sure how to fix from iPhone....
Friday, August 24, 2012
Love this airport moment post!
I've followed along this blog for quite sometime now....
http://cheathamchat.blogspot.com/2012/08/airport-party-part-1.html?m=0
This precious little boy was brought home recently from Ethiopia. She just posted their airport moment and I just got so teary eyed!! I just can't believe that in one week that'll be us!!! In 24 hours we'll be loading the plane! AND We'll have James in our arms forever in just 3 days!!!! Pray for our journey!!
http://cheathamchat.blogspot.com/2012/08/airport-party-part-1.html?m=0
This precious little boy was brought home recently from Ethiopia. She just posted their airport moment and I just got so teary eyed!! I just can't believe that in one week that'll be us!!! In 24 hours we'll be loading the plane! AND We'll have James in our arms forever in just 3 days!!!! Pray for our journey!!
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Our Beach Vacation!
Ok took way too long to get this up! But every year we go to Galveston for a Crocker family vacation. We SOOOOOO wished James had been here in time for it, but as you all know, he wasn't. We did have a great time, although he was missed greatly! Hannah had a love-hate relationship with the sand this year. Such a girlie-girl! She hated the sand, but loved to play in it. LOL Here are my favorite pics from the week!
Yep this sums up about the first 10 minutes of each beach visit of the week :)
But she finally got over it, each time!
My love
Sassy Gracie girl!
Loved catching water from the 'Big Pool', aka Ocean
Roy made it down this year as well! Love!
Daddy and Hannah
Abbie diggin in the sand
My favorite pic!!! Finally having fun in the big pool ;)
Love love
A trip to Galveston is never complete without a trip to The Strand...or La Kings Candy/Ice Cream Shop for that matter!
More watering...
Being Miss Priss again!
HAHAHAHA!!
After Hurricane Ike, the Pier with the old Flagship Hotel was destroyed. This year they finally reopened the pier as a new Pleasure Pier! Not only does it make the Seawall look awesome, it's got some pretty awsome rides on it that I know the kids will enjoy for years to come!!
On the Pier
Hmmmhmmm...Miss Thang, but so sweet :)
Yes that is another watering can...
Showing off her crab walk!
Oooh water balloons!!
Baby Lauren's infectious smile!
The crew on the golfcart....
The icecream man came around the neighborhood, so Pawpaw got the girls bombpops...
Hannah was stained for awhile :)
My lil Minnie Mouse
Pretty Lauren
Proof that Hillary was at the beach with us this year :)
Gracie and Hannah claiming their supplies
And again, no visit to Galveston is complete without dinner at the Fisherman's Warf. My beautiful girl outside while waiting on our table
Me and my girl. Love!
Friday, August 17, 2012
Please help me...
Raise funds for LLS! My training starts tomorrow and I'm so ready!! Running 13.1 miles is nothing compared to the individuals going through cancer treatment. I have a personal goal to raise $500 by the end of next week and I'm at $300 right now! Your donation is tax deductible and goes towards such a worthy cause! Click the link below or to the right of your screen to check it out!
http://pages.teamintraining.org/ntx/mpcsdlsm12/mcrocker
http://pages.teamintraining.org/ntx/mpcsdlsm12/mcrocker
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
C4C...I'm registered for March are you?
I'm so so excited about attending this amazing adoptive mama confrence in March!! I know I'll finally get to meet a few of you mom's there! Anyone else going??!!??
http://createdforcare.org/
http://createdforcare.org/
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Friday, August 10, 2012
So why should you donate?
Other than the fact that it is a tax deduction :), here is a valid and real reason why you should consider donating to my TNT fundraiser for LLS...
This is Jarod and his family. Stephanie and I worked in the same nursing unit for almost 7 years. And that's their beautiful 4 year old daughter!
And here's his story, written by his sweet wife...
"On April 2, 2012 our world
changed forever when my husband, Jared, was admitted to the hospital with a
diagnosis of probable acute myeloid leukemia. Earlier in the day he had lunch
with his parents and his mother, who is a lab technician, mentioned that she
thought he looked a bit pale and should stop by her clinic to have his iron
levels checked. Jared was a bit reluctant but his mother, thankfully, insisted
that he stop by that afternoon. The results of his CBC were incredibly out of
range and by that evening he was admitted to the hospital for an oncology
consult.
We received the official
diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia on April 5th and he started chemo on April
6th. His oncologist, whom we love, told us Jared would need to stay in the
hospital for 4-6 weeks for his chemotherapy treatment and follow up care. This
was incredibly hard for my sweet husband to hear. You see, he is only 31 years
old and he is quite the outdoors man. He loves to hunt and fish, especially with
our 4 year old daughter, who is his whole world.
He had intense continuous chemo
for 7 days and the next 21 days he spent in the hospital recovering. After his
blood counts came up his oncologist did a repeat bone marrow biopsy which
showed--NO leukemic cells!! The day after his bone marrow biopsy he was able to
come home!!
We were told he would still
need to have several more rounds of chemo or the odds of the leukemia returning
were upwards of ninety percent. Jared just recently completed round 3 of 5 chemo
treatments and is doing really well. We look forward to the day when all the
treatments are complete, our most awesome God has healed him completely, and he
is back to doing the things he loves with the people he loves!"
Please consider any amount of donation by clicking on the link below or to the right of the screen. With James coming home SOON(!) I'd like to knock out the majority of this fundraising as soon as possible! Thank you!!
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
The Burning Questions....
We have gotten A LOT of different questions in relation to our adoption process, so I thought I'd do a blog post on a few of them. First MY question...Is there a such thing as a stupid question? Answer...No, but there is a such thing as an insensitive question! Think before you speak people! :)
1) "Why are you adopting?"
Many reasons!! It has always been on my heart to adopt and I just knew I would one day. I prayed that I'd marry someone who felt the same way. Well I did, obviously! Caleb happens to have been blessed with two adopted siblings. He already knew how adoption is, in fact, a gift from God and it is just another way to add to your family. One thing I have always known is that blood does NOT equal family. Period. This world is not perfect and unfortunately there are WAY TO MANY kids that need homes...an estimated 130-160 MILLION children (Number varies depending on which source you pull from) that do not have a forever family. MILLIONS!! Not to mention, there is also a strong biblical basis for adoption as well. These are 2 of my favorite, of many, versus pertaining to adoption:
"A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families." Psalm 68: 5
and
"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." John 14:18
2) "Can you not have you OWN kids?" Or another sly way of asking that is "Is Hannah YOURS?"
So one pet peeve of mine is that people seriously ask those questions that way! As if Hannah wasn't mine if she had been adopted?? And most people just assume that, since we are adopting, we are infertile or have issues in that department? Yes I am fully aware this is the case in many families and that is what led them to their decision to adopt, however Is it really any of your business either way? Just saying.
3) So the next question is usually: "So you don't want to have anymore of your OWN?"
Sigh. This question hurts my heart. James is mine, just as Hannah is mine. In fact they are really aren't mine...You see they really belong to God. James is a gift from God, just as God has gifted us with Hannah :) Just the route in which they were given to us is different. I usually just go along with it, because I know they don't usually mean malice, but I get this question ALOT and it drives me crazy.
4)"Why Russia?"
As we began researching adoption, we decided we wanted to go International. After naming out countries, in which we fit their country criteria, Caleb perked up at Russia. He said that was where our son is. So after much more prayer and consideration, yep he was right, we were going to Russia! We truly feel that God led us to our choice. No other country 'felt right'. Russia felt 100% right. Also, the staggering statistics of Russian orphans are just heartbreaking. As I stated in a previous post:
-There are more than 750,000 orphans are living in Russian institutions (about 2,000 of them).
-Among another estimated 2 million to 4 million homeless orphans living on the streets.
-The annual number of children left without parental care has more than doubled over the last 10 years despite falling birth rates.
-Some 10,000 young people graduate from the state-run orphanages every year.
-And at least 40% of these graduates eventually end up in prisons or in prostitution while one in ten will commit suicide, not to mention the 40% that become addicted to drugs/alcohol.
-And then this statistic I read on another Russian adoption blog...13 out of every 100 children adopted by Russians are eventually returned to the orphanage. (so sad!!!)
4)"Why not adopt here in the states?" Or "Aren't there plenty of children that need homes HERE?"
First, what I REALLY want to say is "Oh really? How many have/are you adopting here in the States?" However, I do not. ;) I educate them according to how much I feel the need to. The decision to adopt domestically vs. international is a very personal one. The fact is that, with private adoption, we could be waiting years and never be picked by a birth mom, not to mention the uneasiness of being picked then the birth mom changing her mind. The state foster system, or through CPS, just didn't feel right to us. I know many people who have had a successful experience and are called to adopted domestically and that's great!!! But it's just not for us, right now. And when it comes down to it, it is wherever God is leading you. We would have followed Him to the end of the earth if that's where He led us. We were called to Russia. That is where are son it at.
5)"How much does/did he cost?"
We are not buying our child. That is, in fact, illegal!! However, there are fees to be paid for services in the adoption process, along with travel expenses. Did you know there are fees to be paid for services in the child birthing process?? Shocking! I know how much I paid my doctor and hospital fees for Hannah's pregnancy and birth. Fees to the doctor, lab work, hospital room, epidural/anesthesia, didn't have a c-section, but there are additional fees there, the nursery, etc... Thank goodness I had insurance so the costs were lessened by that (and we still had a sizable fee to pay out of pocket), but adopting is NO different. You will not get a straight answer from me about this, unless you are actually interested in adopting. Curiosity is not a proper reason to ask someone about their finances. Common courtesy people. :) Money should NEVER be an issue with whether or not to adopt. There are so many resources out there to help ease the financial aspect of adoption. Grants, adoption tax refunds, employer reimbursement, fundraising, saving, loans. Someone wise once said to me something along the lines of this: (Not her exact quote exactly, b/c I'm bad about remembering exact wording :) ) That people nowadays will go purchase a 20, 30, 40K car and finance it for 5-6 years without batting an eye, how about taking out a loan for that amount for that time period to help cover costs related to adoption?? 20 years from now, what is going to matter? A shiny new car or the life of a child?
6) Who/where is his real mother? Standing right in front of you ;) Oh you mean his birth mother?.....
7) What's his story? That's for him to tell, not me.
8) Not to mention the fact that you tell someone you are adopting and ALL the negative comments come out of the woodwork, such as, "You know I hear all the kids from Russia are messed up" Um, ok what research have you done? "All adoptive kids have issues you know"....Ooooh that's right and all bio children are perfect? Ok move on now...
9)Will he speak Russian? Um he's a year old ;)
10) We get told all the time how lucky James is, WE are the lucky ones and blessed to get to have him in our lives!!
11) Are you going to tell him he's adopted? (after showing a picture of him to this person) Seriously?!? LOL the judge actually asked us this "Do you think he looks like you?" ;) 20 more days and I'll post a pick for you to decide!
So those are a few of the frequently asked questions, or comments, we get from people. I am actually (usually) very nice when I answer their questions, b/c I really do think people just do not know the true facts about adoption and I try to make it into a learning opportunity. You just never know who's life you may touch, although sometimes it's really hard to keep smiling.
On that note: 17 MORE DAYS!!!!!!!!!
1) "Why are you adopting?"
Many reasons!! It has always been on my heart to adopt and I just knew I would one day. I prayed that I'd marry someone who felt the same way. Well I did, obviously! Caleb happens to have been blessed with two adopted siblings. He already knew how adoption is, in fact, a gift from God and it is just another way to add to your family. One thing I have always known is that blood does NOT equal family. Period. This world is not perfect and unfortunately there are WAY TO MANY kids that need homes...an estimated 130-160 MILLION children (Number varies depending on which source you pull from) that do not have a forever family. MILLIONS!! Not to mention, there is also a strong biblical basis for adoption as well. These are 2 of my favorite, of many, versus pertaining to adoption:
"A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families." Psalm 68: 5
and
"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." John 14:18
2) "Can you not have you OWN kids?" Or another sly way of asking that is "Is Hannah YOURS?"
So one pet peeve of mine is that people seriously ask those questions that way! As if Hannah wasn't mine if she had been adopted?? And most people just assume that, since we are adopting, we are infertile or have issues in that department? Yes I am fully aware this is the case in many families and that is what led them to their decision to adopt, however Is it really any of your business either way? Just saying.
3) So the next question is usually: "So you don't want to have anymore of your OWN?"
Sigh. This question hurts my heart. James is mine, just as Hannah is mine. In fact they are really aren't mine...You see they really belong to God. James is a gift from God, just as God has gifted us with Hannah :) Just the route in which they were given to us is different. I usually just go along with it, because I know they don't usually mean malice, but I get this question ALOT and it drives me crazy.
4)"Why Russia?"
As we began researching adoption, we decided we wanted to go International. After naming out countries, in which we fit their country criteria, Caleb perked up at Russia. He said that was where our son is. So after much more prayer and consideration, yep he was right, we were going to Russia! We truly feel that God led us to our choice. No other country 'felt right'. Russia felt 100% right. Also, the staggering statistics of Russian orphans are just heartbreaking. As I stated in a previous post:
-There are more than 750,000 orphans are living in Russian institutions (about 2,000 of them).
-Among another estimated 2 million to 4 million homeless orphans living on the streets.
-The annual number of children left without parental care has more than doubled over the last 10 years despite falling birth rates.
-Some 10,000 young people graduate from the state-run orphanages every year.
-And at least 40% of these graduates eventually end up in prisons or in prostitution while one in ten will commit suicide, not to mention the 40% that become addicted to drugs/alcohol.
-And then this statistic I read on another Russian adoption blog...13 out of every 100 children adopted by Russians are eventually returned to the orphanage. (so sad!!!)
4)"Why not adopt here in the states?" Or "Aren't there plenty of children that need homes HERE?"
First, what I REALLY want to say is "Oh really? How many have/are you adopting here in the States?" However, I do not. ;) I educate them according to how much I feel the need to. The decision to adopt domestically vs. international is a very personal one. The fact is that, with private adoption, we could be waiting years and never be picked by a birth mom, not to mention the uneasiness of being picked then the birth mom changing her mind. The state foster system, or through CPS, just didn't feel right to us. I know many people who have had a successful experience and are called to adopted domestically and that's great!!! But it's just not for us, right now. And when it comes down to it, it is wherever God is leading you. We would have followed Him to the end of the earth if that's where He led us. We were called to Russia. That is where are son it at.
5)"How much does/did he cost?"
We are not buying our child. That is, in fact, illegal!! However, there are fees to be paid for services in the adoption process, along with travel expenses. Did you know there are fees to be paid for services in the child birthing process?? Shocking! I know how much I paid my doctor and hospital fees for Hannah's pregnancy and birth. Fees to the doctor, lab work, hospital room, epidural/anesthesia, didn't have a c-section, but there are additional fees there, the nursery, etc... Thank goodness I had insurance so the costs were lessened by that (and we still had a sizable fee to pay out of pocket), but adopting is NO different. You will not get a straight answer from me about this, unless you are actually interested in adopting. Curiosity is not a proper reason to ask someone about their finances. Common courtesy people. :) Money should NEVER be an issue with whether or not to adopt. There are so many resources out there to help ease the financial aspect of adoption. Grants, adoption tax refunds, employer reimbursement, fundraising, saving, loans. Someone wise once said to me something along the lines of this: (Not her exact quote exactly, b/c I'm bad about remembering exact wording :) ) That people nowadays will go purchase a 20, 30, 40K car and finance it for 5-6 years without batting an eye, how about taking out a loan for that amount for that time period to help cover costs related to adoption?? 20 years from now, what is going to matter? A shiny new car or the life of a child?
6) Who/where is his real mother? Standing right in front of you ;) Oh you mean his birth mother?.....
7) What's his story? That's for him to tell, not me.
8) Not to mention the fact that you tell someone you are adopting and ALL the negative comments come out of the woodwork, such as, "You know I hear all the kids from Russia are messed up" Um, ok what research have you done? "All adoptive kids have issues you know"....Ooooh that's right and all bio children are perfect? Ok move on now...
9)Will he speak Russian? Um he's a year old ;)
10) We get told all the time how lucky James is, WE are the lucky ones and blessed to get to have him in our lives!!
11) Are you going to tell him he's adopted? (after showing a picture of him to this person) Seriously?!? LOL the judge actually asked us this "Do you think he looks like you?" ;) 20 more days and I'll post a pick for you to decide!
So those are a few of the frequently asked questions, or comments, we get from people. I am actually (usually) very nice when I answer their questions, b/c I really do think people just do not know the true facts about adoption and I try to make it into a learning opportunity. You just never know who's life you may touch, although sometimes it's really hard to keep smiling.
On that note: 17 MORE DAYS!!!!!!!!!
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