Whittaker Woman

It is here

I am a new woman, well a new mother at least. Why you may ask?
Because I have now began a new adventure, something never faced before. Let me see if these two phrases will give you a clue...

Boys will be boys and the terrible two's.

That's right the time has come. This sweet little face has hit me with a ball from left field. I have no idea what to do with him. Don't let the picture fool you, I know he is cute but boy is he fierce.
Let see, this past week he has ripped shelves out of the wall, broken frames, and scolded me with the words mine and NO more times than I can count. I have found a handful of baby nails in his mouth. We were at the checkout stand and I had to get the peanut butter from his hands just so she can scan it. It was gone for a millisecond but when I gave it back he looked at me and with his almost two year old glare he cussed at me and threw the jar down on the ground. And continued to scream till we got to the car. Oh if you dare not do what he wants, we get a 30 minute fit. I am telling you neither of my ladies did this when they were two. They had their moments but nothing like this. I keep looking for teeth, or a fever anything to have a reason for this terrible behavior but I guess it's just that time. I am hanging on, and I am sure there will be more to post. H

Meet Soda, Pizza, Losiah and Food

Every Friday Sohaila gets a Daddy date to Starbucks on the way to school. some how misses that deal and so Carlos wanted to take her out on a special date this past weekend. I had one of those movie like experiences as I watched her gleam with delight as they walked hand and hand out the door. I knew this little time with daddy would make them so much closer. is a quality timer for sure! When they come home she has this look on her face. They were up to something. I walk into the kitchen and she is gleaming with two plastic bags of fish. Thats right the Daddy date included bringing 4 more animals into our crazy home. was so afraid I would say no. I tried to give her a hard time but she was about to break. So here they are... Meet Soda, Pizza, Losiah and Food.

I think Carlos needed to just take her to dinner instead of buying her fish. :) 

NO Visitors allowed!

Well I have finally had to admit that I can't handle visitors ANYMORE!  I am  going to the bathroom 4 times a day. I would say that I have a healthy colon, but 4 times a day is not working for me!  So to the doctor I went to get some medicine for good old travelers diarrhea! I told him that I did not have diarrhea but he seemed to tell me I did. ?  I guess I have some friends  hanging out and truth be told  they are not welcome anymore. The fun part of it all is I am not alone... BooMama, Shlog, & Flowerdust, .

Separated at birth

This is Eli, he is a new little friend of ours. called him " the little brown boy"  and I don't know what you think, but I definitely can see what our second child would have looked like if SHE had come out a HE.

If you don't see it put your fingers over their eyes and then you can see it. They have the same nose, lips and skin. He is adopted from Columbia and Carlos' dad is from Panama so I guess somewhere deep down they have a relative or two.

My list as of February 2008

This past trip was a trip of a lift time no doubt but the added bonus of being able to mark some things off of my list just put it over the top! Last week I got to cross off going to Africa, Duh! And going on a safari. I LOVE LIVING MY LIFE!

THINGS TO DO WHILE I AM ALIVE!

Climb half dome:  X  (2004, '05, '06, '07/video)
Hike to "my tree"
Skydive: X  (Madera, 4/2005 and Kauai  8/2005)
Learn to scuba dive:
Dive to a ship wreck:
Run a 1/2 Marathon:
Run a Marathon:
Walk on the Great Wall of China:
Drive across the country:
Visit all 50 states (more than a  layover.) : I've been to Alabama,California,Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee
Learn to surf:
Hike the Appalachian Trail:
Go on  Dog Sled Ride:
Adopt a child: X (11/27/06) Korean Videos
Go on a Safari: Woohoo! X (2/16/08)
Volunteer in a hospital:
Learn to ride a motorcycle: X (3/2006)
Learn to drive a boat:
Work at a soup kitchen:
Climb Mt. Whitney: X (8/15/2007)
Take a Massage class:
Ride along with a police officer: X ( 5/4/07)   Helicopter: (Sept 15, 2007)
Hike the John Muir trail:
Drive a race car:
Read a book Once a month: X so far so good.
Travel to: Spain, South America, England's countryside, China, Africa, Korea, New Zealand
See Garth Brooks in Concert:
Backpack through Europe:
Jump off a cliff in Hawaii: X (08/2005)
Learn Spanish:
Go see a live Volcano:
Be on a  disaster relief team
Bungee Jump off of Victoria Falls
Swim in all 5 oceans: Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, Indian, Southern
Run the great wall of china
Heli-snowboard
Visit all the continents: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe and  Australia.

I packed her in my suitcase!

Well ok its not this baby, but I am getting my African baby fix! We opened the Whittaker Hostel and have some friends from Illinois visiting. THE BONUS... They just adopted from Ethiopia!
This sweet baby girl has an amazing story starting with being found under a banana tree, being fed from a cow for 21 days then, then when the couple who found her heard of a thing called adoption they walked an hour and a half to drop her off at the police station. Check it out. H

Lions, and tigers and bears

Well ok so maybe only lions but there were 10 in all!  We finished our very emotional and exhausting week with two days of detox time out on the Nile! Yep that's right folks where baby moses floated in a basket. I have to say that going on a safari has always been a dream of mine and this trip brought me to tears every time I allowed my mind to stop and think about where I was and what I was doing. It was incredible! I really felt like I was at disneyland, but it was real! We went on a "Jungle Cruise" and minus the men climbing up the totem pole everything was exactly the same!  Here are some pictures of our amazing time!

 

   
These hippo's are straight out of Disneyland!

   

 

   

Back to life, back to reality

After 2 days and 14 loads of laundry I am proud to say it
is all done, now I just have to put it away. Who said
stay at home moms just sit around, eat bon bons and
watch soap opera's all day?  This laundry is really getting
in my way! H

Home...

We traveled about 24 hours by the time our flight was suppose to leave Chicago. I was tired and despertley ready to get home and be with my babies. We had been sitting a lovely 4 hour layover. Then we the great news that the plane was delayed about 45 minutes. Once we boarded the plane they told us that there was some mechanical issues and that took another 45 minutes to fix. When we were sitting on the plane we got a phone call from our friend who was watching the girls and she told us that #2 just threw up. Great, I thought,  I survive 8 days in Africa and now I am going to get sick once I get home. So with all the emotions of the week, my jet lag, the delays on our last leg of the trip and thinking about having to be a mommy to a barfing baby... well I lost it. Right there on the plane. Just bawling. This week I surpressed many tears  but not now, there was no controlling this. The plane was  tiny so there was no hiding the fact that all of the sudden i am sniffing because snot is pouring out of my nose. HA good memories. We finally landed at 9pm. Got picked up at 9:30pm, got all the kids and got home around 11:30pm. AHH, back to life. 
Oh, one wonderful thing that happened last night, was our sweet friends who took our girls, picked up our house while we were gone. I still have boxes to unpack but we had a made bed to climb into and rooms that were picked up. When we left it looked like a tornado just blew through so it was the best gift I could have received last night. Maybe I am acts of service too. It was a great ending to a challenging evening.  H

It a universal game...

Peek a Boo
 

 

This is real

I keep looking at these pictures and keep thinking this
is not real. I am not here with these kids, in this land,
there is no way that this is real. I have been so blessed
by this country. These people have taught me what it
is like to be pure, and full. I will forever be changed.

Airplane ticket: expensive
Hotel and food: to much
A moment like this: Priceless


Click here to sponsor a child.

Toys?

Who needs toys r us when you have a tire. Boys all over
Uganda have a tire and a stick. It just reminds me of
the simplicity of life. H

Work me over

I am a adoptive mother, its in my nature to take a precious human being who does not have a mommy and be the best one I could be for him. That is what has worked me here. You must watch this first to understand this post...

This is what  Shannon told me:
He is an orphan, his mother and father have died. His caretaker which is his aunt is very sick  and his other sibling is also very ill. Somehow he is not infected and is healthy and beautiful. His smile was so contagious. He was so joyful to be with Shannon. Think about it, he is going to be all alone here in a years if not months. And here comes this hope, this woman who is tangible, who sends him gifts, who sends him money so that he can survive, and who writes him letters of encouragement. This woman who LOVES him. That is hope. That is what this organization is about. I did not completely get it until yesterday. I am so wrecked by this. My heart is so broken. I could not have been Shannon. I could not have allowed him to get back in the car where the social worker was driving him four hours away back to nobody. I just could not do it.
Click here to be a Love to someone like Shannon has.  H

Do they miss us?

As a mom who left her babies with two families that my kids have just met since moving to Atlanta, I have been slightly worried. I just wanted them to behave themselves, have good manners and show the side of them that I am madly in love with. With limited communication I have been wondering how things have been going, yesterday we got this…

This is what they wrote to us:
From Seanna- I miss you and I loves you and I miss you so much and I love you so bad and I like your pictures. We went to the park, Sohaila is funny with her short dress on. I got my toenails and fingernails painted, they are good. - Seanna

From Sohaila- Kaley Grace is my best friend and Syndey put not a real gun behind her back and said to Landon, "Do you want a present?" Then she pretended to shoot him and he feel down, (laughing through the entire story). We were playing a pillow fight. We were playing in our room and then we cleaned it up and Landon's room. We watched Barbie movies. We ate princess pasta, thank you. We went to the park and I ate two cupcakes and we passed out Valentines to all the people and we got candy too. We made the Valentines that we passed out. I was playing with my favorite polly pocket and their room.  We even watched another Barbie movie. I drawed a beautiful picture of a flower and it is for you. I love you- Sohaila.

Now what about Losiah? He really is the one who I am questioning missing us. Look at that smile,
     

The Heart of Africa

We kept driving out of the city. The land became less and less populated and homes became more hut like. The road was long, dusty and bumpy but it took me to paradise. We traveled to a village in the heart of Uganda. It was one of the most surreal moments in my life. I have grown up to have a heart for this wonderful country, it has always been my number one dream destination,  and there is stood in a tiny village in AFRICA! I was living what I have always seen on TV.  I was standing on African soil. It was just unreal.

One thing that Compassion understands is that a child needs personal attention from the time they are born. Yet many of these mothers have no understanding what it means to be a mother. They do not understand nutrition, health, spiritual guidance, or  even simple things such as play time. So Compassion works with mothers begining with pregnancy and up. They do house visits once the baby is born once a month. Logging in all the development and growth that has happened. It is amazing what they teach these mothers who just do not know how to be mothers because their mothers did not know.
We traveled by foot through this village to experience a house visit. This mother is married however the husband also has four other wives. She does not know when he will come around so basically she is a single mother. The home visit was so detailed I was shocked because I have never had any kind of report done like that by any doctor I have ever gone to. It has been mind blowing the details Compassion puts in to this part of their program.

  This is her village her life and compassion has come in and given her a hope that  her baby will survive and become an adult that may go to the University.
   

 

Later that day she was at the Compassion project and I gave her a skirt of mine, and some clothes and toys for her son. She then came up and said "picture" she did not speak English so it meant a lot to me that she wanted to have a picture with me. I will always remember her and how she lives. I pray that Compassion will be with her every step of the way raising her sweet baby boy. 
Click here to sponsor a child.

I liked the color

I've actually wanted to always go potty in a squatty potty.
That was never on my list but it was  a secret  want. 
It lived up to my expectations. I did have to have someone
stand guard because I could not close the door.  Have you
got to experience this. If so where? H

Hanging on

Think about this picture...
This is what kind of difference we make when we sponsor
a child. They understand  what a Mzungu (white person)
can give them.  They grasp on to us  begging us to
stay!  To give them a future.
Sponsor a child here.

Their eyes

Their eyes are deep, aged, and full. They tell a story.
   
   
   
I touched and hugged on each of these sweet lives today. Each of them have
a story of abandonment,  abuse or even HIV, But they also have a story of hope
that is given to them by Compassion. These kids are nurtured, educated and
given a chance to change their story to be one of victory. I am stunned at the
difference $32 dollars can make.  Absolutely stunned. Come on the ride with me. 
Look at these eyes and help give them hope.

What would it be like?

What would it be like to have never seen your face
before. So many of these kids don't know what they look
like. They love to have their picture taken to see their own face.

Click here to sponsor a child.

Friends

There is just nothing like experiencing something
like this with some of your favorite friends!

What's Carlos reading...

That's right ladies he is reading Redeeming Love!

How many do you have?

To be so honest the Whittaker household has to own at least 100 pairs of shoes between the 5 of us. I would not be surprised if it was not more. Today my spoiled self was put into place. This sweet baby boy did not even have a pair of shoes that matched and even worse they were both left shoes. Wow. Can you think about that for a second. What would your life be like if you did not even had a pair of shoes?

Click here to sponsor a child.

She will fit in my suitcase!

I saw her arrive with another little girl. I just knew I
had to hold her. I went and grabbed her and could
not let go. How precious is this little face. I did worry
a little about being extra blessed by holding her since
she was not wearing a diaper. Randy has a good story
about his blessing here. But regardless she stole my heart.
Seriously I think the Whittaker Family has officially
grown to be a family of 6. I don't know when or how but
I know that Carlos and I both agree. We're gonna do it again!

Click here to sponsor a child.

The little things

I am short. I claim I am five feet but Carlos is quick to remind me that I am 4' 11" and some.
So when I sit in majority of the seats out there my feet do not touch the ground. This normally is fine until you spend 20+ hours on a plane. My whole left leg was numb after our flight over the pond. You should have seen how excited I was to find this on our plane to Africa!

My Bean in Africa...

This is so cute. The girl on the right wanted to take a picture with her friend. She put her arm around her and then grabbed her chin to face the camera. Look at the attitude she got back. I felt like was right in front of me. I loved it.

Click here to sponsor a child.

LA Ink?

Well they don't know the show but Carlos is still
being stopped over his tattoo! H

Click here to sponsor a child.

My selfishness right before being humbled!

Ok so I admit that I struggle with what everyone in America struggles with and that is excessiveness. We were in Chicago airport when my man says "Hey isn't that Oprah's stylist" I looked up realized who he was talking about and told him to grab the camera. You see if I could spend a ridiculous amount of money I would love to go to Ken Paves. He is not Oprah's stylist. He has been on Oprah, but he is known for being Jessica Simpson's hair guy. He was really nice and I was just excited to see him!

It makes a difference

We have sponsored Wilma a sweet little girl in the
Dominican Republic for the past three years. Each month
we pay our $30 and we really don't think much about
what it is going to. Let me tell you the difference
Compassion makes, the kids in the program are clean, fed
and being educated which is the key to freedom.

Look at the difference...

Click here to sponsor a child.

Humanity is so beautiful!

I can not begin to write words that would help you understand what I saw today...

This is my favorite picture of Chris and this
sweet baby. She did the same thing to my arm and
When other kids tried to touch me she just hit them
away. She was one of the many in the slum we visited
today.

Click here to sponsor a child.

2:46 am Tuesday morning

We made it! 32 hours of traveling but we are here!

We met in Chicago and boarded a plane to Brussels.

After 10 hours we got to see the sun rise in Belgium.
We then boarded another plane...

and some of us were a little excited and full of energy.

Others were a NOT!

I was crying before my feet even touched African soil.
You see we stopped in Nairobi and about 50 families
boarded the plane. They were all dressed alike and that
is because they are being sent out of the country that is
in such chaos. They left their villages and are being sent
to safe ground where they can be safe. Randy here in the
picture told the story well. I just watched these
people, their joy, their love, their respect. Gosh I am
going to be rocked this week. I am so full of myself! They
were beautiful!

We made it!

We got to the hotel around 1am and they had kept their
buffet open just for us. It was so good!

This is why guys suck, they travel for 30 something hours
and look like they just got ready.

Thanks so much for following. One thing that really touched
me was sitting next to those families today. You know everyone
says that if you ever go to Africa you will never be the same. It
is so true. I have been here just hours and I know I am changing.
I hope I can be your eyes, ears and hands this week. I hope you
will be able to be touched by this trip that you will want to
look at your life and question so much of it. What do you live for.
What matters. HMMM i think I will be asking myself those questions
this week. Lets see! H

Who's here...

Please let me know who is following our trip. H

We are the worst travelers.

Wow it took so much for us to get out the door. We had to call Eric who was at our house a million times because we forgot our house key, then we could not find our credit card. We were a mess but we are here and ready to board...

Look at this. Only one bag for us. The other is full of
things for the kids there. I am proud of my ability to
pack lightly!

Blogging already! Here we go. H

Life before

Chaos!

Wow, I can't believe it's time. I mean we need to be leaving in 9 minutes! So its really time! Our house is a disaster there has been no time to unpack. Our second shipment of stuff came late last night. Losiah is already at our friends house and the girls keep saying. "I'm gonna miss you"... tear at my heart! Eric and Angela are here and about to take off with our girls and us to the airport. I am excited for this journey. Scared of what God is going to reveal to me, nervous of what will happen, and thrilled to be challenged! So now I only have 6 minutes before we need to be pulling out of the driveway and my suitcase is not even zipped. I got to go. H

24 hours left

My kids are driving me nuts! Sohaila is crying every other second. only wants daddy and Losiah is just a baby. However I only have 24 hours left of them and I am trying to soak it all in!

Sohaila was off crying.