I LOVE North Cackilaka!!!

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE living in North Carolina... or North Cackilaka as I love to affectionately call it-- I have no idea where I got that; I know I heard it somewhere, and I used to say it to the boys all last year before we moved-- they would to get so irritated with me. The conversation always went something like this: "Boys, aren't you SO EXCITED to be going to North Cackilaka (in my Yankee accent)??" Boys' reply, "Mom, STOP calling it Nawth Cack-i-LAKA!!!" Then I would just say it again :) Now that we have lived here for almost 10 months and I still say it, they have given up...

This is why I love NC-- all week long, Tony and I have been taking time in the evening and doin' some front porch sittin'-- watching our children play with all the neighbor kids, laughing at their crazy antics: club joining, club un-joining, scooter/bike races, light saber fights, etc. In MARCH!! Yesterday it hit almost 80 degrees and all week it has been getting warmer and warmer. Our front porch has a perfect view of the whole cul-de-sac and all the other neighbors' yards where the kiddos play. They just bee-bop from yard to yard, living in their own little world, so oblivious to our observations and spying on them :). Tony says living this way reminds him of growing up and it just fills him up. I feel like I am getting a special opportunity to look into his childhood and watch how his days were filled. I did not have such a childhood-- I grew up on a farm, and we certainly weren't galloping through the cornfields to get to the neighbor's house!! I treasure my childhood for different reasons, and would never trade it for the world, but I feel doubly blessed to be able to live now in a neighborhood full of families and kids and experience this side of life as well. I think the only thing missing is two more little dark-skinned bodies, running helter skelter with the rest of the gang!!

Speaking of our dark-skinned beauties, I am beginning to allow myself more and more to "feel" their coming into our family. Does that sound crazy? Let me clarify... when we first started this adoption adventure (not that long ago), it was so hard for me to imagine them without getting anxious, uptight and frustrated with the whole adoption process-- I mean, there are MILLIONS of orphans in Africa alone, but I can't get to any of them because of all this mound of rules, paperwork, meetings and red tape!! Besides all this, there is the lack of physical evidence (being pregnant)-- other than the crazy emotions-- to prove that they are really coming. Don't misunderstand what I am saying. From before we sent our application to America World, I clearly had the vision in my head and heart of Team Dragovich in "techni-color"-- it is beautiful, I wish you could all see what I see!! But that is part of the problem-- seeing it so clearly, yet being helpless in many ways to bring it to fruition. We do our part, but SOOOO many other entities must do their part to bring the vision to fruition. Isn't that the point, though? Isn't that where God's grace, mercy and peace come to the fore-front and not only does the vision come to pass, but so does the "fruit" in the life of Team Dragovich? I think so; and I am willing to go through it all-- because I see our "Techni-color" family and KNOW it is God's design.

Two more families are traveling this week to pick up their babes... We're praying for them and cannot WAIT to follow them in Ethiopia. Meanwhile, we are at at stall with paper-chasing. That's okay, soon enough we will be sending off that Dossier and entering the ranks with SOOO many other families in the "WFR" (waiting for referral) phase. Right now, that is my great desire... to be able to "tag" myself in our Yahoo Group as "WFR"!! So now you know how obsessed I am :)-- ha!!

Grace and Peace,
Shari