4th of July and Adoption Updates

Well I have a post hanging out there about my trip to The Gospel Coalition but there's a lot of thinking required in that post. When it's been more than 100 degrees each day for two weeks, thinking is in short supply. I mostly do things that require little brain power and little more action than lying on the couch. At least I am honest.

Fourth of July was fantastic. We spent it at my parents' house. I realized it was the first time off and my first trip to their house since Christmas. I call their house our refuge and I totally mean it. My parents moved a week before my wedding five years ago.  What this means is that their home is not my home. So, going to visit them isn't exactly like going home. In reality, it's kind of better. I don't have a ton of people to catch up with. In fact, I only know a handful of people. I don't need to go a ton of places. Please. They live in a town of a handful of thousand people. There are not a ton of places in the option menu. A Wal Mart. A grocery store. A McDonalds. I visited one out of three.

All of this to say, when I go visit my parents, I mostly just relax in their home, enjoy their HGTV (we don't have that channel at our house and my mom and I share a love of it), spend tons of quality time with the people who raised me, and get in some good exercise. My parents are both exercise gurus so it's rare that we go to their house and don't get some sort of physical activity. This time there was an exercise class and a 5k. Let me tell you a little story about the exercise class.

So my mom is a little bit of a hometown hero. At fifty something years old, the woman runs every morning with a  group from her hometown that she and my dad founded. Then, several nights a week, she also does some sort of cardio class. She was even written up this week in her town's fitness center newsletter for her inspiring story. She likes to take me to classes with her when I visit. Her friend Susie is the perfect instructor: one part Barbie, one part demon, all parts physically fit.  Susie was teaching on Tuesday and Mom had promised we'd be there. I hadn't been feeling the best but I'd run four miles the day before so I figured I was out of the woods.  Eh. I figured wrong.

The class was circuit training and let me say for the record it takes a whole different kind of fitness to do strength circuits than it does to jog a few miles. I get there, grab my weights, plyo-ball, and mat, and start the class.  We start with lunges and I for sure know I can feel it. But I am the youngest one in the class, I am the visitor, and I am a little stubborn, so I keep going full speed ahead. Here's the thing about me: most people will stop when they feel that natural "I don't feel good and my body is telling me to stop" feeling. Not me.  I am a competitor at heart and those of you who share that trait know it makes everything a competition. I start to feel shaky. I start to feel dizzy. I keep lunging. At the start of our third circuit, I realize I may need to just march it out and try to gain composure. As I do that, I realize, it's too late. I run out the door, outside to the 104 degree heat, and proceed to dry heave for about four minutes. I come back in and try to rejoin. I can't feel my hands and feet.

Yes, I am that girl. The girl who can't finish the aerobics class.

And so my mom the rockstar grabs her things and takes me home.  The questions immediately began asking if I was exercising for two.

Because everyone knows that near passing out during exercise is the first sign you're pregnant.

I am not pregnant.

I. am. not. pregnant.

But it seems like you can't do anything at 28 years old without someone asking.  Especially if you turn green in an aerobics class.

I went home, took a shower, and felt the best I've felt in days. Seriously.  But it did mean I walked the 5k the next day. I wasn't about to risk turning green two days in a row in a small town that talks.

For the record, I am back to my normal self and even ran 4 miles today.  But I do have a bone to pick with Susie--my legs are still on fire from all those lunges.

In the adoption world, I realized I hadn't given a report lately.  Let me say this--it's so very slow in our side of the world. But in a small victory, there were 15 referrals (referral is a child-family match) in the month of June. In one week alone we had eleven. ELEVEN!!!! Usually it's a victory if we have one in a week. Heck, the average has been one to three infant or toddler referrals in a month. So the numbers were staggering!! Amazing!! And we so praise God for his answering our prayer for referrals.

The next question is always, "Oh my goodness! What number are you now? Are you close!?!?" And the answer is.

No.

We are not close.

We are not even close to close. We are, as of today, unofficially number 56 and 17 (infant and toddler lists). You may look at 17 and think that seems close but the reality is the toddler referrals are few and far between.  So we still think 3-5 years is accurate. But we also know we serve a God who is amazing. And he provided us with 15 referrals in June so anything is possible!!

Alright, well, I'm off for now.  I've got things to do. But not lunges. I am sworn of of those babies for a while.

Did I just say babies?

UGH.