Rooted in Trefoil to Rooted in Sand

Lately, I find myself referring to our somewhere out there child as my little nugget, or peanut, or beti(daughter). Normally this is not out loud but in our home. I'm so looking forward to you being here with us. God knows where you are and perhaps you haven't been born yet. He will bring you to us and us to you. I know this is true. I've been going through names for our sweet one and I love Aditi(means boundless), Neha(means loving), Aashna, and Avani(means earth). I also find myself wondering what you'll call me....maybe Am'ma - which according to me research is Mother in Tamil. I really hope I can teach you to call specific people like grandma, Nani-ji. Just know that every one else will probably be Auntie or Uncle. I'm certain that you'll just call your father, dad or daddy. My goal for you little one, is to have all the possibilities in the world while keeping your heritage in the forefront. I want you to be Indian-American and coming from a first gen...

As most of you know, adoption is expensive. It is mostly this way, due to the scrutiny of the countries on who is adopting. Its a lot of time and paperwork. We could do this all on our own, but that would take 5 to 6 years just to save and we just don't have that kind of time. We're still hoping we will win the PowerBall. ;-) I was reading one of my favorite bloggers, and she was explaining that it's important to give friends and family the opportunity to be a part of the process in a meaningful way. Too often Tyler and I allow our pride to get in our way and exclude others because we insist on "doing it all by ourselves". Truth is, unless you have $45k sitting in your bank account, you can not do it alone. We have to open up and allow ourselves to be vulnerable. Every blessing that is given, multiplies the love of God to others. Just as you are willing to spread God’s love to others, be more accepting of his love through those that wish to bless you. "...

Lately, I've been working on collecting paperwork to apply to the Indian govt. for OCI in lieu of PIO and renunciation. Basically the PIO/OCI is a visa that can be used for travel and it states that I'm of Indian heritage which would allow us to adopt a "healthy" baby that is younger than a year old. Let's note that Tyler and I are open to any child up to the age of five who may or may not have minor/correctable needs....this visa tho IF approved will just give us a wider net. While I was home I was able to find my Indian passport, and was just so cool to see in person. I've made several scans of it, but like my current passport it too has to leave my possession for processing by the Indian Embassy. It's so hard to let go of two major important pieces of information...one that is a part of my beginning, my adoption story, my history, and the other that is current. I know that the embassy is familiar with handling important documents, but still I have an...

WOW!!! Seriously! Last night, we finally made the decision to share our adventure on Facebook. The amount of positive support and love we received in what felt like a matter of minutes was so overwhelming. I can't tell you how blessed I am to receive such a response as I did last night. We are very excited about this journey. I honestly don't even know where to begin. Having spent two months of research and pretty much 30 years of being off and on curious about adoption, we finally get to become parents too! Some of you may have a lot of questions or just a little. . . I'll do my best to answer them in my blog posts. By all means, please email questions or comment on the posts too. I don't think this journey will warrant a daily post because the whole adoption process is drawn out over 24 months at max, but sometimes it can be less than that. ::fingers crossed:: So I'll just fill you in what we've been doing the past two months as we go into March. THE T...

**SPOILER ALERT** (Hopefully I do not give too much away) "In India, over 80,000 children go missing each year and there are over 11 million children living on the streets." After watching Lion, I literally cannot imagine living on the streets of India. Being lost for over 25years. If you have not seen Lion, I highly suggest it. A movie that touches on the feeling of not just actually being lost, but missing that part of you. I don't remember anything about India. I'm as American as I can possibly be, but some are not as lucky. As the movie portrays the real-life journey of Saroo(Sheru) Brierley and him being lost, adopted, lost, and finally searching for his old life; you can't help but feel every bit of sadness and uncertainty as the movie moves along. Its themes are universal. Everyone has a home, and everyone feels connected to it, no matter how far they travel. I too have felt that lost feeling from time to time in my life. The 'what ifs'. I...

First my lovies, if you aren't following us please do so... Instagram: itzamemari & elusive7thgear for Tyler Twitter: itzamemari Snapchat: itzamemari Anywho! Hi!!!! It's been awhile since I've updated our blog! We've been busy-ish with work and outdoor projects. Quick recap, we are close to a year of being homeowners. Remarkable! We've done a lot of painting and a lot of small upgrades. Home life is great! The girls aka the dogs aka Maya and Piper aka Mosa-bean and Pip-June (hahaha) are doing great. Maya is 5yrs and Piper is 3yrs and I'm getting older by the minute. They are happy girls and keep us happy. Our plants are semi-surviving this heat and humidity. It's been awful but I'll take it over the cold any day. Altho, I'm itching for Autumn, pie, and crunchy leaves.  Mom and Sam are coming for a quick visit next weekend. We will finally have Sam in Champaign, IL, but more importantly, in our home. He's never met the girls or ...

“His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.” Ephesians 1:5(NLT) The above scripture resonates with me in two ways, I (Mari) am adopted and by the grace of God he adopted me. Immediately after my birth, I was placed in a Catholic orphanage for girls. Upon my placement, I was baptized and thusly named Maria Amrutham.  Now, to some people because I don't follow Catholicism my baptism is invalid. It does irritate me to hear that, but that is my first tie to God so it means a lot to me. Having been connected with Unitarian Universalism; which pu lls from all religions , it made my j ourney confusing and complicat ed. It wasn't until I got engaged that God really spoke to me and called me to his family. I ended up having dreams of being at a fork in the road, with a hand on my shoulder pushing me in a lighted direction. It took me three separate occasions to realiz...