Shelton Shenanigans

Just keep swimming! We’ve crossed over the five-year mark in our adoption adventure.   It’s been so long, in fact, that I often wonder if people think we’ve given up, or if they’ve forgotten about us.   And then I got the answer to that question this summer when someone actually asked me, “weren’t you guys thinking about adopting one time?”   Yes, we were.   In fact, we still are.   It’s just taking a long, long time. We’re wrapping up our second home study update now.   This is necessary to keep our fingerprints current with Immigration while we continue to wait in line.   We will likely need to do this one more time, possibly twice, before this “waiting for referral” chapter of our story ends.   The most recent estimate from our adoption agency is that we can hope for a referral in January of 2019, but it could easily be longer than that.   Until then, we keep waiting, praying for a miracle, and hoping that things will suddenly sp...

Adoption through the Eyes of a Five Year Old   Many pages in this blog have been dedicated to the antics of our almost kindergartener.   For a while there, I referred to him as “Pilikia,” which is just a fancy word for trouble that I got from one of those word of the day calendars.   But Pilikia generally fits as this little boy is rarely still, and If he’s quiet, you better be wary! When we started our adoption journey, he was a year old.   This summer, he’ll turn six.   He’s grown up with a fundraising, spare change saving, adoption-talking family, but it’s just been in the last year that he’s started to absorb any of it. The first time we completed our home study, the social worker couldn’t really interview Pilikia because he was only two and didn’t have a lot to say about the matter.   When we updated it last year, he hid in an upstairs room and refused to talk to her because he was afraid to talk to the weird lady with purple streaks in her ...

“Have I not commanded you?   Be strong and courageous.   Do not be terrified.   Do not be discouraged.   For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”   Joshua 1:9 That has been my favorite Bible verse from the time I was a teenager.   I still remember Ms. Kennedy teaching it to our church’s daycare children as part of a devotional one summer morning.   I happened to be there as a volunteer and learned it along with them as it could be sung to the tune of “Jesus Loves Me.”   Shortly thereafter, I went off on a big adventure and clung to it with all my might, and periodically it comes back to mind when I need it. To be sure, being terrified comes as naturally to me as music ever did.   I rediscovered that old friend when we started the adoption journey with a calling, no money, and no direction.   But time in Haiti radically changed my reactions to fear, and that is not often the battle that brings me to my knees these ...

Some things are surprising, like when your ten year old gets in the car on a Wednesday night after church and asks to hear Tom Jones songs.  (It's Not Unusual) Or, when the five year old asks to say prayers after the family bedtime Bible story, and remembers to pray for the sick, and even mentions your sponsored child in Guatemala by name.  I didn't know he was even paying attention to that part! Or how much fun it is to play with a fidget spinner.  That's seriously entertaining! Or when the closest thing you can find to a healthy breakfast item in the Kansas City airport is something called "dirty fries." Some surprises are not so pleasant, like when your adoption agency announces they are again extending the estimated wait time for a referral - this time to twenty four to thirty two months.  While that one wasn't earthshattering, it was nonetheless disappointing.  (I note here that the wait time is not within the agency's control, but is bas...

Puzzle 3.0      Yes, that's right, Puzzle 3.0!      A week ago yesterday I posted a tell-all piece about lessons we've learned during the first two weeks of our puzzle fundraiser.  If you missed it, the main take away is that we launched a puzzle fundraiser a few weeks ago.  We have a 1,000-piece puzzle.  For every five dollars donated to our adoption fund, through Pay Pal or by cash or check, we add one piece to the puzzle, with the donor's name on the back.  In the end, our daughter will have a super cool keepsake to hang in her room with a picture on the front, and the names of all the people who helped bring her home on the back.  We'll frame it with glass on both sides so we can enjoy either side.      Someone asked me if we were going to suspend it in the middle of her room so that both sides would be visible at once.  I replied that I was fairly certain our middle son would find a way to turn ...

                        Lessons Learned In the First Two Weeks of Puzzle Fundraising      In case you haven't heard, the Shelton family is adopting a little girl from Haiti!  If you've been following this blog for any length of time, you know this is a long, long story, but most importantly, you know that we're in line for a referral, and thus we are back in the fundraising game again.  A couple of weeks ago, we launched our puzzle fundraiser.  We purchased a 1,000 piece puzzle to put together and hang in our daughter's room.  We'll be framing it in a double-sided frame that will display the puzzle picture on the front.  On the back will be the names of the people who helped to bring her home by sponsoring a piece of the puzzle.  Every five dollar donation equates to one piece of the puzzle.  So when it's...