a girl and her pups and a possibility!

I cannot believe that Christmas time is here. I leave bright and early tomorrow to go spend the holiday in Buffalo with my family.  I really thought that I would be able to share with my parents Annie Margaret's orphanage but as of now that has yet to happen. I still have a few days so I am keeping my fingers crossed.  Speaking of finger, I got my fingerprints done yesterday.  I guess everything is out of my hands now.  I have nothing left to do but sit....and wait.... I am bracing for the snowstorm that Bufflo is slated to get. I love nothing more than a white Christmas but that is a wish for once I am home safe. My mother got her Christmas gift from her real estate office..... A large sum of money for my adoption. She works with some wonderful people. Of course I have severe anxiety for leaving my dogs.  They are staying with their breeder but it is still  not the same. They are my world and I hate saying goodbye to them. Stephanie takes great ca...

Well Thanksgiving is here and gone.  This holiday always gives me mixed feelings.  Being a vegetarian, no matter how much I enjoy it, I always think of the poor, plump turkeys.  This year was extra special as BOTH of my parents came to visit.  We laughed, cried, and ate a lot of yummy food.  They got to finally meet my Happy Girl and I can definitely say it was love and both sight.   I decided to make my first offical Annie Margaret purchase.  Up until now, I have resisted the urge to shop.  Not knowing her age, or timeline, it seems silly to stock up on goodies.  Well I can now say that Annie Margaret has her very own stocking!!!  Two actually as my parents also bought one and persnalized it with their little nickname of Annie M.  As all teachers know, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is one of pure bedlam.  The kids want to be home with their friends and family and the teachers want to get in all the...

Well we all know the adoption process is a lot of waiting!  Waiting for appointments, waiting for deadlines, waiting for news.  I have been doing a lot of waiting for a long time.  Well a lot of that waiting is finally over.  Today I can proudly say my dossier is finished.  For those who are out of the loop, a dossier is a bunch of papers telling the ins and outs of my life, all notarized, and ordered, and copied a million times.  Today just happens to be Orphan Sunday.  How fitting is it that somewhere on the other side of the world, Little Orphan Annie(hehe), has no idea what God has in store for her.  My wonderful family has gathered around me and donated a large chunck of change so that my dossier fee is paid in full.  Now the paper work can be mailed to Ind*a.  I am still waiting to see what orphange I have been assigned and once that is done, I will begin the wait of being matched with my little girl.  I have also been bless...

This has been a tough week.  This is the not so pleasant side of teaching.  Two years ago I had a student named Lily.  Lily is the sweetest, kindest, quietest girl you will ever meet.  She is a dream student and her family is supportive of teachers.  Lily's mother Trudi and I became friends thoughout the year and continued to have a relationship to this day.  Trudi is an inspiration to all.  Not only was she raising Lily and her younger sister Ella, with her fantastic husband but she was in the fight of her life.  At the age of 44, Trudi was diagonosed with Stage IV breast cancer.  She has beat all the odds, being given 6 months to live.  She never complained and up until her last breath, fought with all her being.  Trudi is now an angel in Heaven.  She was laid to rest this week. 2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Trudi is with Our Father!  Though my...

Well it is finally Fall here in the Carolinas.  Of course that is much different than the fall I grew up with in Buffalo. My favorite thing to do when I was little was sit by the furnance wrapped in a blanket and cuddle with Duffy, the family dog!  There is just something about the brisk air that melts my heart.  This is my favorite time of year.  I love pumpkin patches, corn mazes, apple smells, and comfy hoodies!!  All of these I hope will be soon shared with little Annie  Margaret.  I  remember coming home from school, having an early dinner, my dad putting face paint on me, my mom helping me with my costumes, and out the door I ran.  Halloween was my favorite holiday growing up.  Maybe it has something to do with the fact that my birthday is only 9 days after ;)  Well this Autumn, there may be no corn mazes, or trick or treating but I did get a treat from my agency.  I am officially registered in In*ia.  I will from ...

Knock, knock, knock...ahhh I love that sound.  Everyone that knows me knows that I am OBSESSED with my dogs.  They are spoiled, and I love nothing more than cuddling with them both.  I have mentioned my adoption mentor before, you know the one that talks me down, and gives million dollar advice for free!She started as my breeder.  I went looking for a dog, just looking, not intending to buy.  Well we all know that when God knocks, it is best to answer.  Well the next night, I found myself the owner of a new havanese puppy named Scarlet O'Hara.  It was the best valentine's present ever.  Then for Christmas, my mom bought me another havanese I named Finnigan O'Mally.  Who would have ever guessed that this breeder would pave the way for this adoption.  Not only did she have me watch those cute little pups in the summer but she offered me a great opportunity.  I am now the proud foster momma of Happy Girl!  She is a havanese who wi...

Well a lot has happened since my last post.  I have a friend, who has really become my adoption mentor.  She guides me, talks me down, and gives the best advice.  She has advocated for me before when I had a past issue.  Well she struck again!!!!  Long story, and knowing her, she did it for the greater good so I will not go into details.  I am now able to accept tax deductible donations from Lifesong.  This organization has been gracious enough to collect donations and allow my friends and family to donate money toward my Annie Margaret fund.  I would set up pay pal, but Lifesong states that paypal charges up to 3% to use their services.  I have decided to use good old snail mail.  If you are interested in sending a donation, message me and I will give you the details.  I had to write a letter to my friends and families asking for prayers first and foremost and also for financial support. This was SSOO awkward.  I am a teacher,...

Ok looking back at my last post, I am a little embarassed.  Could I have gotten any more negative?  Here is the reality, the process is long and hard.  I will be faced with many hardships but in the end I will have a child to hold and love and teach abll about Christ.  As I was sitting in church tonight, and my priest was taking about how we are all adopted from God, I realized that I am blessed, truly blessed.  I have a small village of people who are standing beside me during this process.  I will NOT give up.  That rotten devil and pull me down all he wants but I will not allow him to take away my faith.  I am praying to Him to continue with me along this journey and lead me to Annie Margaret.  Blessed be the Name of the Lord!!!!  Here are two reasons to get up every morning!!!

Well yesterday could have been called Colleen and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.  Ok so I stole that from a childrens book but seriously, yesterday.....sucked.  Not the best word in the English dictionary but appropriate for how I felt.  It started at school, with a class that would not stop talking, a class that was so needy at lunch I had all of about 10 minutes to finish my disgusting low fat soup.  After school we had our first staff meeting so my day was extra long.  Well we were surprised with gourmet ice cream, red velvet to be exact.  Oh yea, thanks, sincerely Ms. weight watcher!  It continued with my commute home and getting stuck behind someone who decided they couldn't make a right hand turn in bumper to bumper traffic.  Up until this point, my day could have been tolerable, but then I checked my mail.  I finally heard something about one of my grants.  The one that took me fovever to fill out, the one that mad...

Well there is absolutely nothing new to report on the adoption report.  But that should not be surprising because I still do not have the money to submit my dossier.  The weird thing is that the last couple of days, I have this strange feeling that something big is going to happen.  I cannot explain it but I have this suspicion that my adoption will be moving soon, one way or another.  I seem to be more emotional about my adoption too.  I feel like a whole is in my heart.  I dream about traveling to India and sadly my dreams are not good.  One dream had me forgetting to pack and another had me in India without a child to take home.  I was looking on a website for a big adoption agency to see the waiting children in India and I noticed that they now say India requires two trips.  Can anyone expand on this?  One of the reasons I first looked at India was the one trip deal.  Today is Labor Day.  This is largely seen as the las...

As the title of this post suggests today was a looonnnnnggg day!  28 fourth graders is a lot, no matter how I sugar coat it!  The first day back is always intense.  I think I may get more nervous than my kiddos.  My class was very chatty but they are really sweet.  I have one student who is from India and I can not help but look at her and see Annie Margaret.  She is kind and sweet and absolutely beautiful!  Her mother is from Chennai which is where my friend's baby is waiting for her forever family.  I have two little girls who are in need of extra love.  God placed them with me for a reason.  I will surround them, and all of my kids with love.  I know that God will give me the strength to guide these children to greatness but for the time being, I am happy just relaxing and going to bed by 9:00.

Well my summer vacation is over :(  I would not even really call it a vacation because I babysat full time.  On my first day back I was so overwhelmed with how many of my coworkers asked about my adoption jouney.  I will admit that I did get a little frustrated with how little everone knows of the process.  Many expected I would have a child home now.  I guess that is my job to educate them.  After awhile I did get over the frustration.  I realized that all they cared about was supporting me.  On Thursday I have open house.  This is the night I get to meet my new students and their parents.  I always have severe anxiety over this.  It is at night, after working all day and I have to be "on".  I will post about my first day with the kiddos next week.  I hope everyone has a blessed and happy week!!!!

It is so hard to believe that I go back to school in 9 days!!!!  Where has the time gone.  My summers are usually spend by the pool, sleeping, relaxing.  This year I had to get a full time job to make some extra money for my adoption.  I was lucky enough to get a full time nanny job for the sweetest boy.  We have spend the summer exploring all that NC has to offer.  He is starting middle school in the fall and it is really nice and refreshing to see a boy that age still have a firm core belief in God.  Last week I puppy sat 4 little five week old puppies and 2 older pups.  8 dogs in total- talk about chaos.  I love dogs but that was a lot.  As much work as those puppies where and for the average of 4.5 hours of sleep I got per night, they were the cutest little things.  There is nothing better that puppy breath and snuggles!!!!  This will surely be a story to tell Annie Margaret on her journey to come home.

Well after about 30 hours of editing, revising, rewriting, I finally mailed off my first grant applications.  I applied for Show Hope and Lifesong for Orphans.  They are two wonderful organizations who do so much to help ensure that adoption is possible.  I am praying that I am not discriminated against for being single.  I will not hear anything for a couple of months but I do feel positive about it.  One went to McKinney St(last name of a friend) and one went to Ford St(my dad works at Ford)!  I am a true believer in signs.  People laugh but I really do think that God shos us signs to see we are following His path.  Last year, while I was deciding which agency to go with this is what happened: I was taping every episode of the long outdated series called Adoption Story.  Every once in a while I would view the upcoming episode names just for fun.  Well I noticed that I was set to record only two out of three shows on a particula...

Ok so I really don't remember my actual sweet 16, except for the beautiful diamond necklace my parents gave me; but this sweet 16 is surely one to be remembered.  My homestudy is signed, sealed, and delivered!!!  I can finally start applying for all those grants.  Well at the least the grants that allow singles to apply(gag).  I have spent the last two days figuring out my life story and my finances.  Is it too much to ask for there to be one financial sheet.  Why does each grant have a different 3 page one to fill out.  Yuck!!!  Anyways, I will be sending off applications to Show Hope and Lifesong for orphans this week.  Please pray with me that I am offered a grant.  The summer is slowly ticking away and I am anxious to complete my dossier. I know once school starts, I will have no free time to do the running around that is needed!    On a side note, can I just say how cute my little puppi...

So I know adoption is not possible without fundraising, but how do I go about getting that money without offending people.  I am told to be humble and ask for help with raising the money.  It is soooo hard.  Any advice would be appreciated.  I also decided to appply for a very unique grant opportunity.  While I am raising money for Annie Margaret, I will gather a team of friends and family and together we will rebuild a house for a widow.  It is a great way to give and get at the same time!  Pay it forward anyone?  My brother and his girlfriend were generous to each donate to my fundraiser.  I am on my way.  I just wish I could take some giant leaps instead of all these baby steps.  The Lord is surely teaching me to be patient.  So if your heart is inclined, please check out and donate to my latest fundraiser.  www.indiegogo.com/cmally1

Happy 4th of July  everyone!  This is a day to celebrate our freedom and all that our beautiful troops do for us.  One of my very best friends was in the army.  She is the bravest person I know.  This year Independence Day seems a little different.  I can't help but thing of the common day activities- swimming, playing, cook outs, picnics, parties.  All of these is something that my sweet Annie Margaret has yet to experience.  It is the sad truth that most likely Annie M has not left the four walls of the orphanage.  She does not know of the world that is waiting for her and the momma that prays for her nightly.  As is often the  case with adoption, institutionalized children have to fend for themselves.  So on this day of celebration, take a minute to thank God for all we have, and pray for the ophans who are waiting for something to celebrate.  God Bless America.....and of course India as well!!!

This weekend has been record breaking heat in the Carolinas.  Perhaps it is Gods way to prepare me for India.  I don't know if I will make it.  My mom is planning on making the trip with me. I am nervous about the long plane ride and my mom is nervous about......................................................INDIA.  It will be an adventure for sure.  I started a new fundraiser today.  One my mom found out about.  It is the same website that helped that poor bus moniter who was bullied.  By the way, I student taught at that school.  Bullying makes me sick.  How can those nasty children lay their heads down at night?  Anyways back to the fundraiser,  I have a really hard time asking people for money.  My friend Stephanie, who is my adoption advocate tells me to humble myself and let people help me.  I am stubborn, there is no denying that!  I want to do it myself. The truth is without the help of friends, family, ...

Well yesterday was my first fundraiser at a local bouncehouse.  I was very anxious to go because I was not expecting the turnout to be that great.   I picked a day when half of the people I knew were busy or out of town.  Well, God pulled through again.  Those that did come brought friends and family.  I am truly blessed to be around good people.  One of my student's parents, who truly has become more of a friend over the last couple of years, shared an amazing story about how adoption can prick your heart at any moment.  While it is am amazing story, it is not mine to tell! Please pray that God guides that family along his path!  I can not say thank you enough to those that have reached out and took the time from hectic lives to come help bring Annie Margaret home. My fabulous mother came to visit me for a few days this past weekend.  No matter how much time goes in between us seeing each other, I love each and every minute.  ...

Yesterday 6/16, I began my dossier.  Today I applied for my first grant.  I should hear in July if I have been accepted.  Please pray, any little bit helps!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So yesterday was a day of great highs, followed by a low.  My homestudy visit went amazing.  All is well and it should be in the review stage next week.  Now I am starting to get all my grant applications together.  Once my SW left, I decided to check my email.  Much to my surprise, my agency director emailed me with all of the dossier requirements.  I still have not even paid close to the amount due!!!!  She stated that she knew I had the summer to work on my dossier so to just send the money as I get it and get going on the paperchase!  If this is not God directly leading my path, I don't know what is.  This was a complete shock.  Now for the bad, here I am in SC, while my family sits in the cool weather of Buffalo, with no AC.  That is right, my AC went out yesterday.  Lets just say that I had a really bad nights sleep and I am really looking forward to tomorrow when they come and fix it.  Praying that it can be fixed...

Well today I talked to my SW Hollie.  She is all set to complete her final home visit on Wednesday.  This is it...the step I have been waiting and praying about.  Once this is complete, I can apply for grants and loans that I am eligible for.  Today also marks the day that my application was offically mailed to my agency, along with a nice chunk of change!  Lori has been nice enough to allow me to pay the money as I get it.  I am hoping to get a loan/grant by July so I can offically begin the paperchase. For those that don't know, that is known as the dossier.  It consists of a mountain of papers that need to be notarized, apostilled, and then mailed.  I am not looking forward to this but as soon as my dossier is completed, I can start recieving referrals.  Annie Margaret may not be born yet but she is sure in my heart! 

Well the school year has finally ended.  It is always hard to say good bye.  We had a great last day of board games, dancing, and laughing.  I am hoping to see many of my kiddos at my fundraiser on the 27th!  Friday night was spend celebrating at a local establishment with my fellow coworkers.  It felt really good to relax and put my feet in the sand and enjoy some adult conversation.  Today is spent cleaning as my social worker will most likely be coming for her final visit this week!  I will keep everyone posted when the date is finalized. 

Well here I am, the last week of school.  This is the week that makes me want to pull my hair out.  As much as I love my kiddos, they fight, argue, whine, and are sooooo needy.  I have to keep reminding myself that I can do it, I can do it, I can do it!!!!!  My friend Kylie bought me the cutest little pink bloomers today.  She also gave me the must beautiful children's book.  I have a feeling that her daugher Lily and Annie Margaret will become fast friends.  Kylie shared with me that she was adopted as an infant.  Her support means the world to me.  I am waiting on edge to get the call from my SW for my final home visit.  Let's get this party started.  Of course, the money needed to sign with my agency is no small penny.  Bring on the loans.  If anyone has any loans that do not discriminate against singles, send it my way.  I am trusting in God to provide!

Well, the first part of my homestudy is complete.  All paperwork is mailed, and the first visit is done. The visit took place on May 21st.  I was so nervous having my SW come to my house.  Being a single teacher, I am not made of money.  She was fantastic, made me feel at ease.  I told her my worries and she told me she did not see any problems.  Annie Margaret also recieved her first set of gifts.  My mom and Auntie Kim went shopping and she got lots of goodies- clothes, blanket, books, swimming outfit.  I am so blessed to have these ladies in my life.  Yesterday, I sent an email to my staff letting them all know I was adopting and holding a fundraiser.  They all reached out to me with congrats.  A coworker of mine sent me an email that brought tears to my eyes.  She shared with me that she was adopted and told me I had her full support.  It is amazing how times of need will bring out wonderful people.  I am hoping t...

Well the homestudy autobiography is mailed away, along with my first large chunck of money!  I am sooo excited to finally say I am in the process.  Once my homestudy is completed, I can sign the papers with my agency and begin the offical paperchase.  Today my Scarlet had her yearly checkup.  She could not be healthier!!!!!  God is good.

So today was a day where I just wanted to crawl back into bed.  I am always tired when I wake up but I am fine after 10 minutes or so.  Well today I just did not want to go to work. The end of the school year is always really hard.  The kids are stressed about testing, and I am ready for a break.  I tried to call to deal with some of my retirement money and kept getting the run around!  Nobody wanted to answer.  By the time 3:30 came I was over it!!!!  I just have to keep telling myself, tomorrow will be better.  I am finalizing a lot of my homestudy paperwork.  I would like to have the majority of it out by the end of the week.  I am waiting to hear from my priest to set up a meeting.  Please pray that everything works out! 

Well, here I am one year later.  I have finally started my homestudy.  Completing my autobiography made me realize two things:1 I am broke, as if I did not know this already, I have the paperwork now to prove it! 2- I am all in for this adoption.  God has called me to adopt and eventhough it will be a long, and winding process, I am buckled up and ready.  These next few weeks will find me getting a physical and meeting with my priest!  This is an exciting time and also a stressful one, who is in for the ride?