Wednesday, July 15, 2009

A Cover Contest Finalist!

Well God sure knows how to surprise a girl! Purely on a whim, or what I thought at the time was a whim, I entered Rowan's picture in a photo contest for BABYTALK Magazine. Of course, I knew he probably wouldn't be chosen but it was only going to cost me $.9 for the print and $.42 for a stamp so why not take a chance. I did think they never do choose the really cute ones and I'm sure there are some parents out there right now thinking that very thought. But holy cow wouldn't you know about a month ago someone from BABYTALK called me to say Rowan was being considered as a finalist for the contest! I think I would have fallen over except that I was up to my elbows in frosting. I was throwing a birthday party for Luca at a local park and it was seriously threatening rain so I was super stressed and my kitchen was a mess. When I got this call from Victoria from New York I was so shocked I think I just said something like "oh, o.k. thanks." I hung up the phone and got back to my frosting which, of course, I had to make from scratch. Why go the easy route, right? Anyway, Adrian and I had to both fill out some background check forms and submit them to ABC since Good Morning America is a sponsor. It's their policy I guess. After nearly three weeks of stress and prayer on my part, they called to congratulate me Friday. Rowan is a finalist! He is one of eight babies chosen from a field of 50,000! Wow! Rowan will have a photo shoot in New York in August! A photo shoot in New York City! Adrian and I have had a good laugh over this one. I mean, who really expects their kid to be chosen, no matter how cute they are? Certainly not us. This is something that happens to other people, not us. I guess now it's our turn. So we are extremely proud of our extremely cute kid. Of course, since he is adopted we can take no credit for his good looks. I give God all the glory for this. I know he orchestrated this from the moment I walked into Children's Place and saw the ad for the contest to the moment I snapped the photo. I am not a good photographer yet I got a good picture. That wasn't me. It was God. I don't know what his plans are for this. Maybe this is as far as it goes or this could be a wonderful opportunity for adoption and for Ethiopia. The top prize is a gift card to Children's Place but the real prize would be having an adopted child, an Ethiopian on the cover of a national magazine! I heard on the radio today that you should be specific when praying. If you are general you'll get general answers. I'm being specific in my prayers about this opportunity. I'm praying Rowan is comfortable during the photo shoot and smiles a lot and has fun. That he's not sick or tired or hungry or has puffy eyes as he sometimes does. I'm praying he doesn't bump his head or scratch his face before the shoot. I"m praying he is chosen as one of the final three. ( The general public gets to vote for their favorite once it's narrowed down to three.) For the millions of children out there who don't have a home I am praying that Rowan can stand up for them and give them a face and maybe an opportunity for something most of us take for granted, a family. Please pray with me and pray specifically and please pass this prayer request on to everyone you know. Give them my blog address. Tell them to read this. The photo shoot is on August 7. I don't have any other details now but will update as I learn more. Pray for Rowan. Pray for Ethiopia. Pray for orphans.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

A Little on the SHORT Side

Rowan is doing tremendously well. He has come so far in such a short time. Six months ago at six months of age he couldn't hold his head up, sit up by himself, or drink without dribbling. Today, at a year old he is belly crawling, starting to cruise along the couch, and he eats anything we put in front of him. He's also gained 11 pounds and grown four inches! Unfortunately, he's still short. I'll be honest. I'm a little worried. When you think about it, four inches in six months really isn't that big a deal. I've known adopted kids who grew two inches in two weeks! Rowan is obviously taking his time. Babies are supposed to grow ten inches their first year so Rowan has some catching up to do. We're going to give it another year before we really worry. I can't help but pray about it though. Before we got our referrel, one of my prayers was that he would be tall. I grew up in a short family and I didn't and don't want him to go through the hardships I saw some of them go through especially my sister. I just know life will be a little harder for him if he is short. It's not fair and it shouldn't matter but it does and it will. I am trying very hard to remember that God is in charge, that he has great plans for Rowan, and that this is something I need to trust him for completely. I must not pray my will into Rowan's life but rather God's. I'm still going to pray that he'll grow. How could I not?
Even though Rowan is doing so much better, he is still not reaching all his milestones when he should so we have an appointment with a neurologist next week. Amazingly, the neurologist is actually in Erie so we don't have to go to Pittsburgh. Yeah! We don't expect there to be anything wrong but we do need to be proactive. Hopefully next week I'll have nothing to report.