A new chapter

Clearly, motherhood has been busy! It's been months since my last post.

Ezra will be 8 months next week. 8 months... I can't believe it. He just started crawling a couple of weeks ago, and is now climbing on absolutely everything.

Ezra {7 months}

{Ezra, 6 months) / Photo Courtesy of Jeremy Maz Photography

{Ezra, 6 months} / Photo Courtesy of Jeremy Maz Photography

I had hoped I would be able to keep up with blogging over the last couple of months, but clearly the reality that I haven't blogged since September has demonstrated that perhaps the busyness of being a new mother has trumped blogging lately.

I've gone back and forth on whether to continue, or whether to stop my little blogging conversation here. After all, the "process" of adopting has practically come to a close with finalization hopefully being in a couple of weeks... but at the same time a new adventure - in fact the real adventure - of parenting, of family life, has just begun... perhaps even more so considering we're about to move back to Cambodia in April.

And I love blogging. So I'm hoping to find some more time and to renew my commitment here.

I love being a mom. I love being an adoptive mom. I also love my family, my husband, my job, my opportunities to travel. So I think it's time to expand my conversation here a bit further into my life... my international, activist, analytic, admittedly crazy life. After all, being Ezra's mom certainly correlates with these aspects of life too.

Thus, here starts a new chapter of {blessed} to adopt.

Beautiful Feet

Got these during our last visit to Cambodia... so cute, so small. x

Happy + Healthy

Today we headed to Kaiser for our 'adoption physicals'. Having your physician fill out mounds of paperwork on your medical history is just another part of the long adoption process... great thing is it brings us one step closer to becoming parents. :)

We just got back from Cambodia on Friday - where it was super hot - so it's been difficult to readjust back to the cold weather of NorCal. The doctor chuckled a bit at Genilson as she was examining him - Genilson had been so cold this morning before going to the doctor that he had put on thermals under his jeans, which he then tucked into some heavy duty socks with heavy boots on... he had so much on that the doctor couldn't find his ankles to take his pulse! Genilson responded to the doctor's giggles with "I'm from Brazil!"

Being in Cambodia over the past few weeks was great... it really gave us a chance to reconnect with friends, practice some good 'ole Khmer, and best of all, re-imagine what it will be like to return to Cambodia... this time as parents. Definitely a great trip...

Today we got the chance to speak with our assigned home study social worker - who we will call "R" (for privacy's sake) - and we have our first home study visit this Wednesday! Eek! So exciting! Now we will have "news" to share with the fam on Thanksgiving... (at least about how the first visit went). We're super excited to be able to get going on these visits so soon... this will be the first of three visits all together...

Thanks so much for all of your support -
We love you,

Raising a Family in Phnom Penh

"So... now that you are starting a family are you still planning on moving back to Cambodia?"

While I'm not sure people have asked this question quite as bluntly, it does seem to be a question people wonder about... Is it safe to raise a family in Cambodia? Will your child be able to go to school? Will your children have friends to play with? Is Cambodia a good place to raise a family?

The answer to these questions... at least in the context of our situation... are yes, yes and yes! In fact, we are excited about the prospect of raising our family in a country so close to our hearts. Yes, Cambodia is a developing nation. Yes, we will face challenges that may not be the case in the U.S. or Brazil. However, the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh is actually a fine place to raise a family as long as you are willing to be creative and flexible. After all, there are both benefits and challenges to living practically anywhere.

Known at one time as the "Pearl of Asia" Phnom Penh is a beautiful and charming city. Though it is perhaps crowded, dusty, plagued with many social problems, and still recovering from previous times of war, it remains home to lots of beautiful monuments, exquisite colonial french architecture, artistic studios, and quiet cafes where expats and Cambodians alike enjoy spending their afternoons with a book, a latte and a friend or two. (Photo above: The Royal Palace in Phnom Penh)

The Cambodian government welcomes humanitarian, religious and intergovernmental organizations from around the world, not to mention international businesses, allowing for a tremendously diverse community of foreigners/expats coming from countries such as the UK, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand and the United States, most of whom reside in Phnom Penh. Because of this growing community, there are several options when it comes to educating one's children and connecting them with children of a similar age and background. In Phnom Penh alone, there are at least four international schools, all of which base their primary and secondary school curriculums on standards from nations such as the US or the UK. The school we have our eye on is Hope International School, based on the UK national curriculum, preschool up to high school, with an enrollment over 250 expat children. (Photo Courtesy of Hope School).

We are proud to be working for an organization that highly values family. Because each of our jobs in Cambodia will be somewhat flexible, we are excited about the opportunity to take an active role in our child's upbringing without a heavy dependency on outside child care. We are not sure this would be the case if living and working within the United States. We are equally excited to raise our child in an environment that, although crowded and busy, is also slow and laid back. Our child will have the opportunity to learn and grow in the midst of a very multicultural and diverse community, while still maintaining a strong identity in their roots as we travel to visit extended family in Brazil and the USA.

Fair Trade Baby Products... Handmade in Cambodia

As we spend 3 weeks in Cambodia, it's been fun to share news with friends and colleagues regarding our adoption plans.

For this year's November member meeting, Chab Dai invited member organizations to participate in a "product fair"... each organization had the opportunity to display and sell products sewn or produced by their clients (many have projects focused on income generation, so the clients going through rehabilitation learn skills in sewing or jewelry making). The fair not only gave organizations the chance to show off the work of their clients, but also gave the rest of us a chance to do some Christmas shopping!

While shopping for Christmas goodies, we excitedly ran across some great baby products now being made by some of Chab Dai's members. Because these products support fair trade ethics and the income generation efforts of great organizations combating trafficking and exploitation (plus the products are totally adorable, unique + fashionable), we couldn't resist getting a few things...

So what did we get?

1) A baby mei tai made by Daughters Cambodia. Mei tais are all the rage for baby carriers in Australia & New Zealand these days, often referred to as the "Asian baby carrier" since they originated in China. Similar to "moby wraps" commonly used in the U.S., this carrier can carry a baby on the front or back. Daughters is a great program in Cambodia that helps women and girls who are sexually exploited. They help clients learn to sew, decorate cakes and make jewelry. The mei tai we chose is black + red with with a piece of traditional cloth sewn on the front from Mondulkiri, a primarily tribe hill area in northeastern Cambodia (Photos: R - Our mei tai from Daughters)

2) A charming, hand-sewn diaper bag set, created by Sak Saum, an organization focused on teaching vulnerable women sewing and business skills. They make some great products. Our black and white diaper bag set comes with a tote, changing pad, sling and nursing cover - all hand sewn, beautiful and unique. (Pictures to come)

Welcome!

That's right... We're adopting... and we're super excited! There is a long journey ahead of us - most likely with lots of challenges along the way - but we are excited about what the Lord is going to do throughout the process.

Our intention for this blog is to: 1) provide a way for family & friends to keep up with the adoption process; 2) to keep us occupied once we start "waiting" to be matched; and 3) to have some real "in the moment" commentary that we and our child can look back on in the future (we just found out that blogs can even be published into books once they're finished up!).

To start out, we thought we'd answer some frequently asked questions about our plans:

• Domestic or International? We will be adopting a baby from within the United States, making this a "domestic adoption".
  
• What organization or agency are you using? After a great deal of research and asking around, we've chosen to pursue adoption through Pact, An Adoption Alliance in Oakland. In partnership with Pact, Adopt International will conduct our home study.
• How old? Our child will most likely be a newborn and we will probably get to bring the child home from the hospital!
  
• What about gender and race? We have chosen to adopt a child of any gender, and any race. Pact specifically focuses on placing infants of color, so we will most likely be placed with a child from a race different than our own. Pact is GREAT at helping adoptive parents address issues pertaining to raising a child with a different racial, cultural and/or ethnic heritage.
• Open or closed? We have chosen to pursue an open adoption. This means: 1) Our child's birthparents will select us; 2) We will likely either speak with or meet the birthparents before the child is born; 3) We will exchange personal information with our child's birthparents; and 4) We will maintain relationship with them throughout our child's life, and encourage our child to learn about their biological roots. Research demonstrates open adoption is often the most beneficial for everyone involved in an adoption, especially the child.
  
• How long will it take? This is a difficult question to answer since we will be chosen by our child's birthparents, and we don't know when that will happen. However, Pact usually places within 6 to 12 months.
• Isn't adoption expensive? It can be! Thankfully, Pact allows us to put a "limit" on how much we are willing to spend, and we will only be presented to situations that cater to our spending preferences. Adoption costs within the United States can vary from anything from $1,500 (usually fost-adopt) to $50,000! One very important piece of the puzzle is that adoptive parents can claim up to $13,000 in tax credits during the year the adoption is finalized. Because of this tax credit, we are able to adopt. The adoption we are pursuing will most likely cost between $10,000 and $16,000 - leaving only a couple thousand after the credit. (Of course, pray this ends up on the lower end!)
  
• Where are we in the process as of today? We have officially become clients of Pact, and are currently finishing up paperwork to send to our home study agency. Since we are off to visit Cambodia on Nov. 1 for three weeks, we hope to get all of our paperwork in before we leave and then schedule our first home visits for when we return.
  

Hopefully this answers some of your questions.
We certainly appreciate your thoughts and prayers throughout the process!