The Thomas Family

3 Months

2011-11-11T16:20:00.000-06:00

Little Pirate turned three months old on Tuesday. He's looking so much bigger already! And him turning three months means that we sent our first set of pictures and a letter to the birth mom. Well, we mailed it all to the agency and then they will get it to her.

For some adoptive parents, this isn't easy to do. But honestly, I was SO excited to send in pictures. I've been dying for her to get some for weeks now. I just can't wait for her to see how absolutely adorable the little life she created is.

I wish I could watch her look through the pictures. I want to tell her all the teeny-tiny, pointless stories behind each picture. I imagine her "oohing" and "aahing" over each sweet little face. The totally asleep and non-smile faces that only a mom could truly appreciate.

That's the beautiful thing about adoption. Little Pirate has two mom's who love him with a crazy passion. I am the mom who will raise him and she is his first mom who gave him life. Although we may not see her and directly communcate, she still is a part of our family. Without her, our family wouldn't exist.

I could not feel more blessed to know her and be able to say that she is in our family.

First Halloween

2011-11-07T18:03:00.000-06:00

What a wonderful experience it was to finally celebrate Halloween with a child! Halloween is my favorite holiday, so I've been waiting for this for such a long time. Of course, Little Pirate wasn't able to do much since he wasn't even three months old. But it was still so much fun and I loved getting to celebrate his first Halloween.

We had a busy weekend full with a wedding, birthday party, Fall Festival at our church, and then trick or treating on Monday. Great memories and I can't wait for next year!

At the birthday party with his oldest cousin.

She wanted to help Nana give him his bottle. So sweet!

With the birthday boy and his only boy cousin. They're going to have a lot of fun growing up with each other!

My boys at the Fall Festival.

Trick or treating at Nana and Papa's door. He decided to take a nap for a little bit.

Our pirate family!

His trick or treating buddies on Halloween night.

He fell asleep during trick or treating too. But yes, I did still get candy for us him.

Lots of fun!

Puzzle Update

2011-10-28T15:14:00.000-06:00

Okay, folks, get excited...this is a legitimate puzzle update! The first one since Little Pirate has been born. We don't actually have all of the sold pieces together in this picture shown. Like I've said, it takes a lot longer to work on it now. But I do have all of the stats for you!

The last update I gave you was on August 7th and we had sold a total of 436 pieces. Since then we have sold 302 more pieces!! That puts us at a total of 738 pieces sold. Only 269 pieces left to go!

So please keep spreading the word about us. Once we sell those 269 pieces, we will be completely done! That will give us all the money we need to pay for Little Pirate's adoption.

As always, thank you so much to everyone who has given already. You will never know how much we appreciate you and what a big part of our lives you are.

2 Months

2011-10-22T08:00:00.001-06:00

So I'm a pretty terrible blogger now. Someone is keeping me pretty busy, but I don't mind. :) Here is Little Pirate's two month picture. It is amazing the difference between one month and two months. He definitely hit a growth spurt! Barely even looks like the same baby!

And here are some pictures from his first trip to the pumpkin patch. It was a dream come true for me to get to do that. Fall is my favorite time of they year and Halloween is my favorite holiday. I was enjoying every moment and can't wait for many more years of this!

Fun at the pumpkin patch with some of his buddies!

Me and my boy!

In his first hay bale maze. He was real excited about it...

Getting his diaper changed in said hay bale maze. haha!

Headed out on the hayride out to the real pumpkin patch.

On the way home with his first pumpkin!

Mommy Lessons From the Mall

2011-10-08T15:53:00.000-06:00

Last Friday night the hubs and I went to the mall to accomplish a few errands. It wasn't the first time we've gone since Little Pirate has been born. We went a month ago when he was about four weeks old. But somehow this trip was more eventful than the first one. It even taught me a few "Mommy Lessons" that I thought I'd share with you all!

Lesson #1 - Some stores just simply aren't stroller friendly. We were in the store PacSun when I learned this lesson. Which is not a store I would normally shop in, but we were looking for a present. The rows of clothes were packed in so close together. I could barely maneuver through with our giant stroller. I was also in the way of someone at least five different times. And then Little Pirate started crying. I was just ready to get out of there! So I let the hubs finish the browsing while Little Pirate and I sat outside of the store on a bench. Definitely won't be going back in there anytime soon, at least not with a stroller.

Lesson #2 - It's not easy to find a changing table. No, seriously, I couldn't find one anywhere! There wasn't one out in the open in the women's bathroom. I checked the handicap stalls and didn't see a thing. I even walked around trying to find a family bathroom for a minute, but no luck. So I gave up. A few minutes later the hubs decided to check the men's bathroom, just incase. He returned with a triumphant look on his face and had Little Pirate in a clean diaper. I swear, there really wasn't one in the women's bathroom!

Lesson #3 - I'm officially in the "Mom Club" now. As I was wandering around the women's bathroom looking for the changing table, I had a lady stop me. She was in there with her son and said, "Are you needing to change him or do you need to go to the bathroom??" She sounded quite concerned. I think if I had told her I needed to go, she might have been about to offer to hold Little Pirate for me. Not sure I would have taken her up on that offer, but still, it was nice. A mom trying to help out another mom. It just made me feel special to actually be in that exclusive "Mom Club" I've been coveting for so long.

Lesson #4 - Strangers are really nice when you have a baby. The previous story is an example of this, but I have another one as well. After the diaper changing fiasco, I sat down in the food court to feed Little Pirate a bottle. I settled in at a table that was right next to a man who was probably in his early 50's eating dinner. He saw Little Pirate and immediately struck up a conversation with me. (He had a wedding ring on, so that means he wasn't a creeper, right??) He asked about if Little Pirate sleeps well, talked about his own kids, and just kept smiling at my boy. Soon enough Little Pirate was done eating and was sitting up just looking around. Before the man left he stroked Little Pirate's cheek, looked at me, and said, "He's going to be a fine young man some day." Normally a stranger touching my baby would creep me out and bother me, but for some reason this didn't. It was just a sweet moment from a sweet man that I really appreciated.

Lesson #5 - My baby is really cute. I know, I know...every baby is cute. But seriously, we get stopped like crazy! People "ooh" and "ahh" over him all the time when we're out and about. We went into Bath and Body Works and a worker recognized him from when we were there a month ago! When does that happen?? That just means that my baby's really super cute, right? That he's just so incredibly memorable. That's what I think it means at least. :)

Lesson #6 - I am now wider than I used to be. After the Bath and Body Works worker fawned over Little Pirate, I turned around to walk the other way and proceeded to knock over the corner of a display with our diaper bag. Slightly embarrassing, to say the least. We use a backpack as our diaper bag and I just can't seem to remember that I have some extra width back there now. The hubs helped me quickly set things back up and then we hurried out of there.

We were definitely done with the mall for the evening at that point! I'm sure we'll be waiting at least another month before we do that again. After all, I can find nice strangers who think my baby's cute just about anywhere! ;)

1 Month

2011-09-19T14:44:00.000-06:00

I'm a little behind on writing this since Little Pirate is 6 weeks old today, but here is our one month post! This may be pretty boring to most people, but it's all the little things I want to remember about my baby boy. He's changing every day and I don't want to forget a thing.

It really is hard to believe that time is passing by so quickly. It has been so much fun to watch Little Pirate grow and develop. He is, naturally, awake a lot more lately. During that awake time he loves to give us lots of smiles while we just sit there and talk to him. It definitely melts your heart and makes the 4:00 am feedings all worthwhile.

Two weeks ago Little Pirate had to go to the doctor for his first "sick visit". He'd been having some grey colored stools that just did not seem natural at all. Our doctor at first thought this might be due to bile being backed up in his system. We had to take him to have some blood drawn to check his bilirubin levels, which all turned out to be normal. Thanks goodness! The next thought was thought he probably had an ulcer (which isn't uncommon for babies) and the discolored stools was from bleeding. We started him on some Axid and everything has become normal since then.

On Saturday I took him in to be seen again for his spitting up. (Yes, our doctor is open on Saturday's. Yes, he's awesome. No, I'm not biased because I work there and he's my boss.) ;) We ended up switching his formula again, so I'm hoping this one will work a little better. We first started him out on Enfamil Newborn, then went to Enfamil Gentlease, and now we're trying Enfamil A.R. It is a heavier formula, which has caused him to sleep a little bit longer during the night. I'm not complaining! :)

Little Pirate's skin tone continues to get darker and darker. He's African American and Caucasian, so right now he has that gorgeous olive color. But I've been told that the more he's out in the sun, he'll probably continue to get darker until he's about 18 months or 2 years old. We'll see what he's looking like after his first summer out in the sun!

It's been a lot of fun taking Little Pirate out places with us. We're a social couple and we like to go places. We don't spend a ton of time at home. We don't plan on having a baby slow us down much, within reason of course. Within the first few weeks so many people would ask us, "Oh, is this his first time out??" and we'd just tell them no, that'd he'd already been plenty of places before.

I wish I could give this blog credit, but I don't remember where I saw it... But one time I read a blog where a mom was talking about this same thing. She said that they never stayed at home or skipped out on something simply because they had a child now. She believed that as a result of that, her child was a lot more social and had a flourishing vocabulary. I hope to see the same things for our Little Pirate.

As a mom I've seen myself become emotional over some of the silliest things as my baby boy grows up...like moving into size 1 diapers, certain little onesies already being too small, and all the other little things to come with time. Parenthood is such an incredible journey and I feel so blessed that the hubs and I were handpicked to be Little Pirate's parents.

His first balloon!

His pirate themed baby shower! I plan on blogging about this as well. I have a bit of catching up to do on here.

My sleepy boys.

One of Little Pirate's adoring cousin.

About to get his heel pricked to test his bilirubin levels.

He is adored by many people!

Sitting like a big boy in his Bumbo! He can hold his head up for several minutes at a time, so we like putting him in that seat every once and a while.

Dressed and ready for his first wedding in his bowtie and suspenders onesie!

Playing at the park with some friends!

And now for his one month professional pictures by our great friend at Jenny White Photography...

Puzzle Update

2011-09-19T11:37:00.000-06:00

I promise, promise that a puzzle update is coming soon! It's just been a little hard to work on with this cute little face around now. :) But we do still have a few hundred pieces left and definitely need to sell them, so please don't forget about us!

Thankfully, we are so close to our $30,000 goal that all we need to do is finish the puzzle and we will have all of our money together. But the puzzle must be completed. So keep spreading our name around and we will work hard on keeping you updated on everything. Thank you!!

In other news, let me just say... Being a Mommy is SO amazing! I can't believe the hubs and I were chosen to be Little Pirate's parents. We are beyond blessed and love him more than words could ever express.

Two Weeks Old

2011-08-25T16:33:00.000-06:00

Confession: I used to be one of those people who never understood it when mom's would say stuff like, "I can't believe my baby's 6 months old!" I mean, you were there for the whole six months, right? It's not like you were away for half of it.

But here I am. As we drove to the doctors office on Monday for Little Pirate's checkup I was saying, "I can't believe my baby's two weeks old!!" So yes, I'm one of them now. But really, how did two weeks go by so fast??

In these wonderful two weeks we've had so much fun. Baths, outings, naps together, tummy time, rolling over. Yes, rolling over! My two week old can roll over from his tummy to his back. He's definitely going to keep us on our toes. And I know we'll love every second of it!

He LOVES being on his tummy! Passed out asleep.

2 week checkup

First trip to Target!

Wide eyed

We have happy moments and some very fussy moments. :)

He has little sideburns already! hehe!

Just saying a little prayer.

First time in a highchair at my parents house. He looks so teeny tiny in it!

First real bath. Yeah, he hated it. haha!

Our best friends son helping the hubs carry Little Pirate out of a restaurant. As we were walking by we heard someone say, "Aww, look at that big brother helping carry his little brother!" It's so true for them. They will be best buddies.

The boys just hanging out.

Enjoying a nap on his tummy on the Boppy pillow.

The rolling over wonder!

Scentsy Fundraiser

2011-08-24T09:42:00.000-06:00

I don't know why I never put this on here, but hey, better late than never! We still have a week left on our Scentsy fundraiser and the product will be shipped straight to you. So get to shopping! ;)

We're having a Scentsy fundraiser during the entire month of August! We will get 20% of all sales and if the total goes over $2000, we will get 25%. All you have to do to contribute is go to the website and place a Scentsy order for yourself! On the left of the screen is a box that says Vanessa and Mike's Adoption. Click on "Buy from Party" next to that and start shopping! Thank you!

https://lyndzpea.scentsy.us/Home

PS - I promise that I'll have a puzzle update soon. We've been a little (happily) preoccupied to devote much time to it, but we are catching up. Please continue to tell people you know about it. Thank you!

A Little of This, A Little of That... (Part 2)

2011-08-16T18:25:00.001-06:00

Sooo, where was I?? haha!

Our first night as a family of 3 was wonderful. We had very little sleep, but it was still wonderful. I couldn't believe we had a teeny tiny little baby waking us up.

And as a side note...I know they say sleep when the baby sleeps. But they don't warn you that you'll want to look at baby with every squeak, wiggle, or tiny sound he makes! But anyway, moving on... :)

The next day we met B, Little Pirate's birthmom. She came into our hospital room with two of her friends. Strangely enough, the first thing that happened when she walked in the room was she looked at me and said, "Huh. You look different than your pictures." (meaning the ones from our profile book). I had no idea what to say to that!! I'm sorry? Thank you? My bad?? Yeah, I was at a loss. So I just mustered out an "Oh." followed by an awkward laugh.

But things were fine beyond that. She only stayed in our room for about five minutes. She and each of her friends held him and took a few pictures. We felt very confident about the entire process, so we told her that if she wanted to spend some time with him in her room, we were fine with that. We told her to just let the nurses know and they would come get him from our room and bring him to hers. She seemed very appreciative of this and said that her grandparents would be there later that evening and would love to meet him and take pictures. We, again, told her that of course that was fine with us and to just let the nurses know.

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Later that evening a nurse did come in our room and very nervously said, "Umm...the birthmom said she was wanting to see the baby...?" We assured her that it was fine and she took Little Pirate to B's room.

About 20 minutes later there was another knock on our door. It was B's grandparents wanting to meet us. Definitely did not see that coming! That shocked us a little. But it was a wonderful experience. They simply wanted to meet us themselves and talk to us for a few minutes.

They told us about how they raised B and how they are pretty much also raising the two children she has. The grandpa got choked up several times talking to us about how difficult this is for them, but that they know this is best. He told us that he himself is adopted, so he knows the blessing this process can be.

He also told us that he never got to meet her third child, which was the first one she placed for adoption. He was in Brazil on a mission trip when it was born. He said that the family never sends pictures to them either, so they don't really know anything about the child. Besides raising Little Pirate in a strong Christian home, his only other request was that we send pictures. We guaranteed him that we would.

After talking for a little bit he asked if he could pray with us. Umm...wow! We definitely didn't see it coming that we would meet them, but then we really didn't see it coming that he would want to pray with us. It was just so cool. He teared up through most of it and had a hard time getting his words out, but what he did say was just wonderful. We were so happy that we got to meet them.

A few minutes later B brought Little Pirate back to our room with her two children in tow. She wanted us to meet them as well. I couldn't help but stare at them and think about how they were my son's siblings. What an interesting world adoption makes.

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On Wednesday afternoon B came into our room to say goodbye to us before she was discharged from the hospital. This was the first time I saw her show any emotion. She began to tear up a little. She gave us both hugs and asked that we please keep in touch. And then she walked out the door. She left the hospital with her son in our arms. Wow. What an overwhelming feeling.

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All in all, it was a wonderful experience. It was so nice to be able to be at the hospital and have our own room with Little Pirate. I apologize to anyone who wanted to come visit and wasn't able to. We had very few visitors since B was in and out of our room, sometimes without any notice. It was just a little bit of an awkward situation, so it was better to keep it as simple as possible.

But anyway...adoption is an incredible process. I feel so blessed to be a part of this.

And now for my favorite little tidbit from all of this...

We have had Little Pirate's real name picked out for at least a year. It's the only boy name the hubs and I have ever agreed on. Well, when we got to the hospital we found out B's first and last name for the first time. Turns out that the meaning of Little Pirate's name just so happens to be a form of B's last name (hope that makes sense).

I could not believe it when I saw her last name. What a way for God to show us that He absolutely handpicked this child and situation for us. And also, what a way for her to always be a part of Little Pirate. So happy that I serve this might and wonderful God.

Headed home as a family of three!

A Little of This, A Little of That...

2011-08-13T20:36:00.001-06:00

This may be an extremely random blogpost, but I just have so many things that I want to write down and remember from this week. So I'm just going to write them out as they come to me. It may not all be coherent and it's probably going to be very long, but it's things that are important to me. So here we go...

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First and foremost, here's the story of how all this came to be.

As most people know, on July 20th we were matched with a birthmom (whom I will refer to as B). She was due with a baby boy on August 7th. We were thrilled, of course, and worked very quickly to get a nursery completely put together.

However, a week and a half later, starting on August 1st, our agency lost contact with B. They called, texted, went by her apartment, etc, but never seemed to be able to get ahold of her. They remained positive until the morning of August 8th, the day after her due date.

I emailed our agency worker that morning pretty much asking her opinion on the situation. She sent this back to me: "I don't think we are going to hear from her right now. Always possible she could take baby home and try to parent and then call, but no way of knowing. We will start showing your book again this week. I'm sorry Vanessa."

I was devastated, naturally, and spent the day at work trying to deal with all the emotions of needing to move on. However, around 5:00 that evening, as I was headed home from work, I got a call from our agency worker. The first thing she said was, "Guess who I'm texting with right now?"

Yes, that's right, B had suddenly made contact again, after an entire week of silence. She had not had the baby yet and assured our agency worker that she still wanted to go through with the adoption plan. And her reason for the silence? Simply because she didn't have access to a phone over the last week.

Going from the information from the morning to the information in the evening was enough to make it a crazy and exciting day. But it was just the beginning! At 11:20pm I got an email from our agency worker that said, "B is going to the hospital. She is contracting. I will call you when I know more...just FYI!!" Then just 30 minutes later the agency worker was calling me. I answered the phone and she said, "We have a baby! Would you like to come meet me at the hospital??"

Talk about a whirlwind of emotions! So we scrambled to grab our hospital bags that had already been packed for a week and made the quick drive to the hospital. We sat in the waiting room for about half an hour while our agency worker took care of details with B. Then we were taken back for me to get a hospital bracelet that allowed me to take care of Little Pirate while we stayed there.

The first time we saw Little Pirate was when the nurses took us back to the nursery where he was getting cleaned up. Funny thing though...they showed us into the room where he was, along with three other babies. We didn't know which one he was at first! haha! But we quickly figured it out and got to watch him get his first bath, first shot, and just about everything else.

Once that was over we got to take him back to our hospital room where I fed him his first bottle. It was such a wonderful time!

But this is getting way too long now and I'm not even done. haha! So I'll have to break this up into two parts. I'll end with some pictures and continue the story later.

Hanging out in the waiting room.

Our first sight of him!

First feeding

First family photo around 2:00am.

Newborn Photo Shoot

2011-08-13T19:04:00.001-06:00

Yesterday we had Little Pirate's first photo shoot with Jenny White Photography. Not only is she an amazing photographer, but she is also a great friend of ours. I've watched her take pictures of all of our friends kiddos for years and it was so much fun to have our turn!

Enjoy the photos and if you're in her area, check out her work. Like I said, she's great!!

(Oh, and for those curious that don't know us personally, you will see his name spelled out in blocks in a picture. I just won't ever type it out on the blog so that it doesn't show up on internet searches, or anything like that.)

Just a little explanation for this one... This is a necklace that the hubs bought me (from here) for my birthday this year. It was inspired by women dealing with infertility and based off of the verse Joshua 1:9 - "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."

He's Here!

2011-08-10T11:34:00.000-06:00

After a few crazy roller coaster ride days, we are a family of three! I promise I will post details of the story soon. But for now, I just had to brag about my baby boy. He's sweet, wonderful, precious, and we are totally in love! We are going to be discharged from the hospital in, hopefully, just a few hours and will then be taking our sweet baby boy home with this.

We won't be posting his actual name on this blog, just for privacy reasons with adoption. So he will be referred to as Little Pirate, to match his pirate themed nursery. :) Again, we are in love and so happy to have him in our lives!

Puzzle Update - Week 16

2011-08-07T16:16:00.000-06:00

In Week 16 we sold 86 puzzle pieces! Such an awesome number. And 50 of those pieces came to us in a very special way.

On Tuesday afternoon the hubs went out to get our mail and noticed three large boxes on our front porch. They were two boxes of diapers and a box of wipes. There was an envelope taped to one of them that said "Vanessa & Mike". Inside of that was a piece of paper that just said, "You are going to do great!" Oh, and there was also $500 cash, a $200 gift card to Target, and a $200 gift card to Walmart.

To say that we were blown away by this is an understatement. Shock and utter disbelief is more like it. We have no idea who it came from. There was no name. But I know whoever decided to do this was most definitely lead by the Spirit. Therefore we like to call it our "Front Porch Jesus" experience.

This has been an exhausting week emotionally. Just waiting on pins and needles every day to hear something. It hasn't been fun. But then to remember what was left on our porch has been such an incredible encouragement. God knew this would be a hard week for us, so He lead someone to do that for us so we would have some direct encouragement and comfort from Him. It feels like God Himself left us a note to let us know that we're going to do great. We kept that piece of paper and plan on never letting it go.

To whoever was involved in our "Front Porch Jesus" experience...please know how much you blessed us. Thank you for being Spirit led. You were a direct messenger from God for us this past week. We will forever be grateful for that.

With that being said, we immediately knew that we wanted to apply the $500 to our puzzle fundraiser. But since we don't know who left it there, we couldn't write their specific names on the pieces. Instead we wrote 50 different names for God on the pieces (some pictures included below). It will probably be my favorite section of the puzzle now.

So we have now put together a total of 436 pieces. We're almost halfway done. Only 571 pieces left to go!

Even Less of an Update

2011-08-06T10:40:00.000-06:00

Nothing new to report, really.

Still no contact from birthmom. The agency is still hopeful that she'll call. There's a chance she'll go past her due date, which is tomorrow (August 7th). And there's also a chance that she wouldn't call until she's being discharged from the hospital, which means the baby would be two or three days old by then.

So, for myself, I think I'll be staying hopeful for a week past the due date. But beyond that, I'll start to let go.

The agency can't really put a timeline on this and say for sure when it's definitely over, so they're going to go ahead and start showing our profile again to other birthmom's. That doesn't really sound too hopeful of this situation to me. But who knows, there's always a chance.

Update

2011-08-04T17:37:00.000-06:00

Just a small update...

The adoption agency was able to get ahold of a birthmom's friend this morning. As some of you may know, birthmom's get some financial help during and a little after their pregnancy. The agency told the friend to pass along the message that she needs to call them or they won't be able to pay her rent for this month. So hopefully that will give her a little motivation to call to at least let us know if she's still planning on going through with the adoption or not.

They also asked the friend if she's had her baby yet and he said he didn't think so.

So at least we got some form of contact. Not sure if anything will come from it, but it's something. We'll see.

One Day at a Time

2011-08-02T16:10:00.001-06:00

Adoption must be taken one day at a time. You can't get too far ahead of yourself, simply because things rarely stay the same or consistent in this process. And yes, I'm writing this because it seems that we might have a change. Or at least a bump in the road.

Yesterday the adoption agency told us that the birthmom was having a doctor's appointment later that evening. I'm not sure what OB has evening appointments, but apparently hers does. So, naturally, I was a little anxious all day waiting to hear news. I had pretty much assumed that something a little significant would happen since she's due August 7th and a week and a half ago her doctor said he wasn't going to let her go much longer.

So I waited, and waited, and waited. 8:00pm rolled around and I decided to check in with the agency worker. She still hadn't heard anything from the birthmom. Then 10:00pm rolls around and still nothing.

This morning and this afternoon? Nothing. I know the agency has tried to get a hold of her a few times, but they aren't getting anything back. They said all we can do is wait for her to contact them.

This could be nothing. This could be her preoccupied with the two children she already has. This could be her miserably pregnant in this awful Oklahoma heat. Returning phone calls may be the very last thing on her mind right now.

Or this could be everything. This could be her completely changing her mind and backing out. There's even a chance she's already given birth and can't decide if she wants to call the agency or not.

We just don't know. And we won't know until she decides to call. Oh, how I hate being so dependant on someone else for something I so desperately want! It's not a fun feeling.

I'm trying to avoid feeling stressed and worried. Those feelings only come from the devil. My God is big and my God is in control. He has this all figured out. But still, I am feeling quite anxious. I can't quite get rid of that feeling right now. I just want to know something.

But for now, we will just sit and wait. We will pray, and sit, and wait. We will try to go about life in a normal way, even though I know I'll have a terrible time pretending. I just hope we don't have to wait long. I'll take any answer, as long as it's an answer.

Your prayers for everyone involved are appreciated.

Puzzle Update - Week 15

2011-07-30T13:40:00.001-06:00

In Week 15 we sold 93 puzzle pieces! Holy cow!! That definitely set a new record. 71 of those pieces came from our puzzle party with some wonderful people in Bartlesville. Then, outside of that, we sold an additional 22 pieces throughout the week.

We had a special request from someone to be a part of the rock puzzle pieces, so we went ahead and completed that section. Then we went back to the bottom of the puzzle to work on the pillow heart section again.

So we have now put together a total of 350 pieces. Only 657 left to go!

As always, thank you to everyone so much for contributing to this. We really appreciate it and can't wait to spend time going over all the names with our child.

Again, please keep sharing this with everyone you know. We have been matched with a baby due August 7th and the fees are needing to be paid quickly. We are trying to finish the puzzle by the end of August, so spread the word! Thank you!!

We've Been Matched!!

2011-07-25T16:00:00.003-06:00

A lot of people may know this news already since my Facebook has been exploding with it, but... We have officially been matched with a baby! We are sooo excited!!

We were at the dog park last Wednesday night (the 20th) with our good friend Amelia and her son Ryland. I heard my phone start ringing and went to look for it, but realized that the hubs had it in his pocket. As he handed it to me his eyes were very wide and excited. As I answered the phone I heard him say to Amelia, "It's the adoption agency!!"

So I answered the phone and one of the agency workers very calmly tells me the best news of my life. "Vanessa, I'm just calling to tell you that you all have been matched. I just left a birthmother's house and she chose you guys. She's due August 7th and we don't know the race or the gender."

Lots of more information and details followed. We then shared the news with our close friends and family. It was such an exciting night! The next morning I received an invoice from the adoption agency for our next payment cycle, so I guess this is pretty official!!

Some more details to share... This is the birthmom's fourth pregnancy. She has kept her first two children and this one will be her second to place for adoption. So that makes us feel a lot more comfortable and secure in her decision. She can always change her mind, but at least in this situation she's familiar with the process, routine, and feelings that are to come.

The baby will most likely be Caucasian or Biracial. We're not sure which, but we're fine with either.

She had a doctor's appointment on Thursday (the 21st) and we did find out that the baby is a boy! They also measured him at 8lbs already! So considering that info, and the fact that this is her fourth pregnancy, her doctor said that he won't let her go much longer. I'm guessing when she goes in to be checked this week, he won't let her go home. But we'll see! We could be parents to a baby boy any day now!

This is such an exciting, wonderful, scary, and overwhelming time. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. We still don't have all of the funds together that are required, so please tell everyone you know about our puzzle fundraiser! We have a goal of finishing that by the end of August.

Please also be praying for the birthmother and the baby.

We are spending our evenings frantically getting a nursery and house ready for a baby boy as we wait for the "She's in labor!" phone call. I'll let you know when we know! :)

Puzzle Update - Week 11, 12, 13, & 14!

2011-07-21T16:00:00.004-06:00

Okay, seriously?? Am I really a month behind on updating this? I'm really sorry! Our summer has been so busy, which has actually been really nice. It keeps my mind off of all of this "sitting and waiting" stuff. But I promise to do better! I've definitely missed blogging. So here we go with the puzzle updates...

In Week 11 we sold 19 puzzle pieces. What a great number for one week! One neat thing about this week, we had a family buy five puzzle pieces and wanted us to put their last name on just one piece and use the other four pieces to write Bible verses that we would like to instill in our children. I thought that was such a great idea! We actually bent the rules a little bit and did some scriptures that have been comforting to us during this time, but I'm sure they won't mind that. ;)

In Week 12 we sold 5 puzzle pieces.

In Week 13 we sold 2 puzzle pieces. Those two belong to our future child's Nana and Papa (my parents). They plan on buying two pieces every month until the puzzle is complete. :)

In Week 14 (this week) we didn't sell any puzzle pieces. But we are doing something very cool with our puzzle tomorrow. Someone from the church the hubs grew up at asked him if we would like to come hang out with their small group sometime, play games, and talk about our adoption. She also wants us to bring our puzzle with us and sell some pieces. I thought it was such a fun and neat idea! I'm really looking forward to it.

These numbers put us at a total of 257 puzzle pieces sold. Only 750 left to go!

Sunday Song

2011-07-17T07:08:00.000-06:00

So I guess I lied to you a little last week about when I would be updating my blog. I really thought I'd get to it that week, but our summer has just been so busy. I will try my hardest to update everything this week. Don't lose hope on me and this poor neglected blog!

"Indescribable" Chris Tomlin

From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea

Creation's revealing Your majesty

From the colors of fall to the fragrance of spring

Every creature unique in the song that it sings

All exclaiming

Indescribable, uncontainable,

You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name

You are amazing God

All powerful, untameable,

Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim

You are amazing God

Who has told every lightning bolt where it should go

Or seen heavenly storehouses laden with snow

Who imagined the sun and gives source to its light

Yet conceals it to bring us the coolness of night

None can fathom

Indescribable, uncontainable,

You place the stars in the sky and You know them by name

You are amazing God

All powerful, untameable,

Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim

You are amazing God

Indescribable, uncontainable,

You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name

You are amazing God

All powerful, untameable,

Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim

Indescribable, uncontainable,

You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name

You are amazing God

Incomparable, unchangeable

You see the depths of my heart and You love me the same

You are amazing God

Sunday Song

2011-07-10T07:55:00.000-06:00

Side Note: I know I'm way behind on updating this blog. Especially behind on updating our puzzle progress. Life has just been crazy busy. But I promise I will get to it this week! Don't lose hope on me and please keep coming back. Now onto the song...

"Follow You" Leeland (featuring Brandon Heath)

You lived among the least of these

The weary and the weak

And it would be a tragedy for me to turn away.

All my needs you have supplied.

When I was dead you gave me life.

How could I not give it away so freely?

And I'll follow you into the homes that are broken.

Follow you into the world.

Meet the needs for the poor and the needy God.

Follow you into the world.

Use my hands, use my feet

To make your kingdom come

Through the corners of the earth

Until your work is done

'Cause faith without works is dead

And on the cross your blood was shed

So how could I not give it away so freely?

And I'll follow you into the homes that are broken.

Follow you into the world.

Meet the needs for the poor and the needy God.

Follow you into the world.

(x2)

I give all myself.

I give all myself

I give all myself...to you.

And I give all myself

Yes, I give all myself

And I give all myself...to you.

And I'll follow you into the homes that are broken

Follow you into the world.

Meet the needs for the poor and the needy God.

Follow you into the world.

(x2)

Sunday Song

2011-07-03T07:53:00.000-06:00

I think I've posted the video for this song on here before, but I just couldn't help using it for my Sunday Song. It's a song about adoption and I just love it!

"When Love Takes You In" Steven Curtis Chapman

I know you've heard the stories

But they all sound too good to be true

You've heard about a place called home

But there doesn't seem to be one for you

So one more night you cry yourself to sleep

And drift off to a distant dream

Where love takes you in and everything changes

A miracle starts with the beat of a heart

When love takes you home and says you belong here

The loneliness ends and a new life begins

When love takes you in

And somewhere while you're sleeping

Someone else is dreaming too

Counting down the days until

They hold you close and say I love you

And like the rain that falls into the sea

In a moment what has been is lost in what will be

When love takes you in everything changes

A miracle starts with the beat of a heart

And this love will never let you go

There is nothing that could ever

Cause this love to lose its hold

When love takes you in everything changes

A miracle starts with the beat of a heart

When love takes you home and says you belong here

The loneliness ends and a new life begins

When love takes you in, it takes you in for good

When love takes you in

Thankful for the Struggle

2011-06-28T16:00:00.001-06:00

A few weeks ago I made a quick statement about the difficulties of adoption on Twitter, but decided it was probably something I could write a whole blog post on, so I am!

Infertility and adoption are both very difficult things to go through. Neither one are for the faint of heart. They require mental strength, willpower, determination, and a whole lot of patience. It can be so frustrating to try and pursue something when you have no idea what exactly you are pursuing or when/how it will come about.

Now, I'm not saying I'm good at any of these things. I'm probably one of the most impatient people to go through the adoption process. But yet, God has lead me to adoption and I believe with all of my heart that this is where He wants me to be.

That means that God believes me, the hubs, and our marriage are all strong enough to endure these things. I may not be excellent at it, but I am doing it because of the faith that He has in me. What an incredibly humbling experience.

When I was in middle school, I remember watching a biography video on Rich Mullins. One thing that stood out to me was when they talked about how his nephew was born with a birth defect. His sister, naturally, went through the "Why me?" stage, but Rich's response was so amazing to me. He simply told her that God thought so much of her, that He gave her a baby that would need the extra amount of love He knew she could provide. That idea has always stuck with me.

What may seem to be a tragedy or difficult struggle to us, may really be a compliment from God. He is so proud of His children and I believe He wants to show us off. He wants others to know what we're capable of and what we can do through Him.

May God's name be praised through our blessing and compliment of infertility and adoption.

Sunday Song

2011-06-26T06:45:00.000-06:00

"Untitled Hymn (Come to Jesus)" Chris Rice

Weak and wounded sinner

Lost and left to die

O, raise your head, for love is passing by

Come to Jesus

Come to Jesus and live!

Now your burden's lifted

And carried far away

And precious blood has washed away the stain, so

Sing to Jesus

Sing to Jesus and live!

And like a newborn baby

Don't be afraid to crawl

And remember when you walk

Sometimes we fall...so

Fall on Jesus

Fall on Jesus and live!

Sometimes the way is lonely

And steep and filled with pain

So if your sky is dark and pours the rain, then

Cry to Jesus

Cry to Jesus and live!

O, and when the love spills over

And music fills the night

And when you can't contain your joy inside, then

Dance for Jesus

Dance for Jesus and live!

And with your final heartbeat

Kiss the world goodbye

Then go in peace, and laugh on Glory's side, and

Fly to Jesus

Fly to Jesus and live!

Patience is a Virtue

2011-06-25T07:42:00.000-06:00

You know how people say, "Be careful what you ask God for. He just might give it to you!"? For example: If you pray for patience, He's not going to give you patience. He's going to give you opportunities to be patient.

Well, I feel like that's how my life is right now. But let's be honest, I'm ready for a baby, so I have not been praying for patience in that area! So, whoever it is out there that thinks I need more patience, knock it off! Just kidding, just kidding.

But really, the waiting is killing me. Without warning, the infertility blues have snuck back into my life and they are holding on tight to my heart. I think all the busyness of needing to get so much adoption paperwork done was a great distraction for me.

But now, that's over. There's no paperwork left to do. (Granted, we do still need about $21,000 for our fees, so that should keep me plenty busy!) We are now just waiting. And waiting. And waiting. We are waiting on someone to look at our profile and think we look "nice".

Everyone keeps telling me that our baby is "just around the corner". But I don't feel that way. At all. I feel like we're in for a much longer wait than anyone thought.

I know the wait shouldn't matter, because we are waiting on the perfect baby that God has planned for us. I know that. I don't doubt that for a second. But the wait is still so hard. I've been trying to become a mommy for three years now. I just want to be one already.

But I will continue to wait. I will wait on the Lord and His perfect timing. I will try and be thankful for that crazy person out there praying for me to have more patience. And I will continue to dream about and pray for my baby every day until they're in my arms.

Puzzle Update - Week 10

2011-06-23T16:00:00.000-06:00

In Week 9 we sold 12 puzzle pieces! Some weeks are naturally a lot lower than others, so it was exciting to see that we sold 12 pieces two weeks in a row. Especially since it came at a time when I've been really stressing about the amount we still need (approx. $21,000). God is good and reminds me time and time again that He is in control and He will provide for us.

So this week we were able to finish another heart square. Yay! And we even got one piece onto the next square. We have now put together a total of 231 puzzle pieces. Only 776 left to go!

Anniversary Getaway

2011-06-21T16:10:00.000-06:00

Last weekend the hubs and I celebrated our anniversary with a little 24-hour getaway. There's a place in Drumright called Tidal Schools Vineyards that I've always wanted to go to, so that was our end destination. We did, however, make some other stops along that way that made for a very interesting little trip!

We went to the vineyard on Saturday, but (for some reason) I decided we should stay the night in town on Friday. Not my greatest idea. The best place to stay used to be an old hospital, but was "converted" into a motel. As you will see, they didn't change much...

Drumright Inn & Lodge

We were in the room in the middle, 130. Yeah, now you're getting the creepy hospital feeling, huh?

There was a little hallway when you walked into the room. The first opening on the right is a random kitchen and the second opening is the bathroom. Then straight ahead is the bedroom.

Hellooo hospital room!

I'm pretty sure we stayed in the room where they kept the crazy people because there was this little safe/unsafe dial on the wall. Which also had a creepy window next to it. Thankfully, the other side of the window was a closet for the room. But still, pretty creepy!

An overview of the room. You can see the weird window on the wall. We put something in it to try and make it just a little bit less creepy.

The hubs later found this in the hallway portion of our room. So we're just gonna go ahead and tell ourselves that maybe we stayed in the labor and delivery area...

We eventually fell asleep in the loony bin and checked out early the next morning! We then headed out to Stroud to have breakfast at one of our favorite places, Rock Cafe. It's a Route 66 classic. In fact, Sally from the Disney movie "Cars" is based off of the owner and cook at this restaurant.

The hubs added our initials to the bathroom wall. Hopefully it won't be another three years before we get to go again.

After breakfast, we spent some time just wandering around...doing a little geocaching and finding random Route 66 fun (we're kinda Route 66 junkies).

The Shoe Tree! Which is exactly what it sounds like. A tree where people toss their old pairs of shoes. We brought one along to join in the fun!

Us in front of the Shoe Tree. There used to be a lot more pairs, but the original one fell down. So this is the second shoe tree started on that road.

Geocaching out in the middle of nowhere.

The middle of nowhere was really pretty!

After our afternoon adventures, we finally made it to the winery! It was a lot of fun. We had a tour of the facility, free wine tasting, lunch while a jazz band played, and then just relaxed on the patio and around the vineyard.

Despite all the craziness we encountered, it really was such a fun time with the hubs. And really, the random craziness is what made it so fun and adventurous. I love my time spent with him and am so happy we've been married for three wonderful years!

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T07:00:00.001-06:00

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful dad! He is such a great guy that so many people love. I've been so blessed to have him as my father.

A friend of mine once told me that if she ever has to have bad news delivered to her, she wants my dad to be the person to do it. Simply because he has such a calm, easy approach to things. That's just the kind of man that he is.

And it's true, he really is good at delivering bad news! He does our taxes every year and knew this year we were really counting on a big refund, so we could put it towards our adoption fund. Well, he ended up having to tell us that we were actually going to owe $800-$900. Ouch! But he delivered the news so kindly. You could tell he was just as sad about it as we were.

He is such a great and Godly man. He's always been there for his kids and I know he always will be. Again, I am so blessed to be able to call him my father. Happy Father's Day, Dad!

Home Study - ☑ Done!

2011-06-16T18:31:00.001-06:00

I usually update our puzzle on Thursday's, but we didn't sell any pieces for Week 10, so this will just be an adoption update.

Yesterday we had our official home study with the adoption agency's social worker. Besides the fear of a birthmother changing her mind after birth, the home study is probably the most nerve racking part of adoption. But as most things go, the stressful anticipation was worse than the actual home study itself.

Our home study only lasted an hour. With everything I've throughly researched (aka, Googled) about home studies, I was under the impression that we would be interviewed together and separately. But she simply asked us a few basic questions together.

She asked us our parents and siblings names, occupations, where they live, etc. She asked us to describe each other's personalities, what our hobbies are, etc. Then she asked really random questions such as how we divide up household chores, what our strengths and weaknesses are in our marriage, and how we resolve fights. Although there were some weird questions, everything was surprisingly easy to answer and went over very smoothly.

After the Q&A was over, she asked for us to give her a tour of our home. That lasted about, oh, two minutes. Which made me feel pretty silly about getting up at 5:00am that morning to finish all the tiny details of cleaning. There was definitely no white glove inspection.

After the tour we sat and chit-chatted for about five minutes and then she left. Easy peasy!

We are now what the adoption community calls "Paper Pregnant". This means that all of our paperwork is done and we're just waiting for a match. I selfishly hope that we don't have too long of a wait, but I know that God's timing is perfect. I can't wait to see what He has in store for us!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Adoptions Costs
*Application fee - $500
*Postage for mailing application - $4.95
*Profile photobooks - $108.92
*Fingerprint cards - $20
*Copay for physicals - $25
*Postage for mailing paperwork - $1.28
*Postage for mailing paperwork - $1.08
*Home study - $1,000
Running Total - $1,661.23

3 Years Strong

2011-06-14T16:00:00.003-06:00

Photo Credit: Jenny White Photography

3 years ago today I married my best friend. I know everyone says that and I don't want to sound cliched or cheesy, but it's just so true. The hubs is my absolute best friend. He is the one I want to talk to when I'm happy, sad, frustrated, or mad. He is the one I want to share my most exciting and most boring moments with. He is the one that I want to say goodnight to every evening.

Infertility has already put us through so many trials in our short marriage. This is probably a strong reason why infertility often dissolves marriages. But our marriage is stronger because of it and I believe that has a lot to do with him.

We do have some fun things planned for this weekend, but this evening will be a little more low-key. It will be spent focusing on preparing for our adoption homestudy tomorrow. And really, I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing with him tonight. I believe it's a great representation of the support he's been with our past of infertility and the optimistic encouragement he's been with our future of adoption. I am so blessed to walk through life hand-in-hand with this man.

And now for a quick trip down photo memory lane... I can't help myself!

Our very first picture together when we met.

The proposal!

In shock.

One of my favorite wedding pictures. (Photo Credit: Jenny White Photography)

Photo Credit: Jenny White Photography

We're home owners! And yes, we did move during an insane snow storm.

Probably my favorite picture I have of us.

There's not a day that goes where he doesn't make me laugh.

Puzzle Update & Adoption Update

2011-06-13T16:00:00.005-06:00

Okay, I got slightly behind on blogging last week, so this will be a puzzle update and a small adoption update.

Last week, for Week 9, we sold 12 puzzle pieces! That makes for 219 pieces put together total. We were able to finish our second heart square and are now onto the third one. Only 788 pieces to go!

Now, as for a small adoption update... A few weeks ago I told you there was birthmom looking at our profile who was due with a boy on July 2nd. Well, it looks like that situation isn't going to pan out. The email I got from our adoption agency said that "she wants to try to parent the child." The agency worker was very sweet and encouraged us to stay positive. She said they have many other options around the corner. She ended the email by saying, "Your baby is coming!"

I believe her. And I also believe that God has our child chosen already. But I also know I don't wanna have to go through these back-and-forth feelings over and over again. That could get emotionally tiring very quickly. Blech. But I will just pray and hope for the best, knowing that God has this all mapped out perfectly.

And for another quick update, we have our official homestudy this Wednesday. Eek! I'm definitely super nervous. This is where the social worker with our agency comes over to our home to make sure it's safe, clean, family-sufficient, etc. She will also extensively interview the hubs and I together and seperately. The whole process will probably last 3-4 hours. It's slightly nerve-racking, to say the least.

But once that is done, all of our legal paperwork will be completed. At that point we will be what the adoption community calls "Paper Pregnant". We will just be sitting back and waiting for a match. I can't wait!

Sunday Song

2011-06-12T07:06:00.000-06:00

"The Power of Your Name" Lincoln Brewster

Surely children weren't made for the streets

And fathers were not made to leave

Surely this isn't how it should be

Let Your kingdom come

Surely nations were not made for war

Or the broken meant to be ignored

Surely this just can't be what You saw

Let Your Kingdom come here in my heart

And I will live to carry Your compassion, to love a world that's broken

To be Your hands and feet

And I will give with the life that I've been given

And go beyond religion to see the world be changed

By the power of Your name

The power of Your name

Surely life wasn't made to regret

And the lost were not made to forget

Surely faith without action is dead

Let Your kingdom come, Lord, break this heart

And I will live to carry Your compassion, to love a world that's broken

To be Your hands and feet

And I will give with the life that I've been given

And go beyond religion to see the world be changed

By the power of Your name

The power of Your name

Jesus, Your name is a shelter for the hurting

Your name is a refuge for the weak

Only Your name can redeem the undeserving

Jesus, Your name hold everything I need

And I will live to carry Your compassion, to love a world that's broken

To be Your hands and feet

And I will give with the life that I've been given

And go beyond religion to see the world be changed

By the power of Your name

And I will love to carry Your compassion, to love a world that's broken

To be Your hands and feet

And I will give with the life that I've been given

And go beyond religion to see the world be changed

By the power of Your name

The power of Your name

(The power of Your name)

The power of Your name

(Jesus, Jesus, the power of Your name)

The power of Your name

(Jesus, Jesus, the power of Your name)

Sunday Song

2011-06-05T07:06:00.000-06:00

"In Christ Alone"

In Christ alone, my hope is found.

He is my light, my strength, my song.

This Cornerstone, this solid ground,

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace;

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease;

My Comforter, my All in All,

Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, who took on flesh,

Fullness of God in helpless babe.

This gift of love and righteousness,

Scorned by the ones He came to save.

'Til on that cross as Jesus died,

The wrath of God was satisfied.

For every sin on Him was laid,

Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay.

Light of the world by darkness slain.

Then bursting forth in glorious Day,

Up from the grave He rose again.

And as He stands in victory,

Sin's curse has lost its grip on me.

For I am His and He is mine

Bought with the precious blood of Christ

On Christ the solid Rock I stand.

All other ground is sinking sand.

On Christ the solid Rock I stand.

All other ground is sinking sand.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,

This is the power of Christ in me.

From life's first cry to final breath,

Jesus commands my destiny.

No power of hell, no scheme of man,

Can ever pluck me from His hand.

'Til He returns or calls me home,

Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

Puzzle Update - Week 8

2011-06-03T16:00:00.000-06:00

In Week 8 we sold 6 puzzle pieces! That makes for 207 pieces put together total. We're almost done with another little heart picture. This one is of a heart shaped plant in a flower pot. Only 800 pieces to go!

Life is Good

2011-05-31T17:03:00.000-06:00

I think most people are familiar with the company Life is Good. They offer products with different pictures/scenes on them that always seem to be so happy, positive, adventerous, or relaxing. At least those are the things I feel when I look at them. It's really cute stuff and I've always loved it.

Well, the last week has just been a "Life is Good" kind of week. We had a lot going on the whole time, but it was all so much fun. We went to some new places we'd always wanted to go and we spent lots of time with great, cherished friends.

Every day since Thursday has just been the kind of day where you want to sit back and cherish every minute. It was packed full of the kind of moments that make you feel so happy, loved, and blessed. It was times that I hope I never forget.

Warning: Get ready for picture overload!

It all started with Thursday night at Josh's Sno Shack with these wonderful people. So yummy!

Oh yeah, it's that good!

Friday night we had great fun with these people eating some yummy food and playing fun games.

Saturday Morning Breakfast with the hubs! Old School Bagel, one of our favorites. I didn't think to take a picture until I was done. But trust me, my French Toast bagel was delicious!

After breakfast, we headed over to the Farmers Market. That was a first for us and we loved it! We're already planning on going back this Saturday.

Tons of yummy fresh produce everywhere.

Free wine tasting!

Live music with cute kids dancing.

Fresh flowers. Such a great place!

After that we took our sweet Rollie to the dog park. Another first for us! She definitely loved it.

The hubs and Rollie running around the park.

Making some friends via a butt-sniffing train!

Saturday evening was spent with these great people. Everyone even got babysitters, so it was just the adults for the night! These people have survived so many ups and downs together for almost 10 years. I am so blessed to know all of them and call them my closest friends.

Breakfast at Panera on Sunday morning before heading to church.

Sunday lunch with our besties. The hubs was encouraging Ryland to drum everywhere with his straws. His parents were thrilled! haha!

Late Sunday night the hubs and I, for some reason, both didn't feel like being at home. So where do you go at 9:30 at night? IHOP, of course! It was nice to just sit and talk while sipping on some coffee.

Monday was spent hanging out in Muskogee with a bunch of people. Just lots of swimming and eating good food! This was our caravan on the way.

Notice how I have my arms wrapped around myself. The pool water was freezing!!

Such a cutie. He was freezing too, but still didn't wanna get out of the water!

And today, to wrap these great days up, the hubs brought me a yummy lunch from Pizza Depot!

Sunday Song

2011-05-29T07:15:00.000-06:00

"I Can Only Imagine" Mercy Me

I can only imagine

What it will be like

When I walk

By your side

I can only imagine

What my eyes will see

When your face

Is before me

I can only imagine

[Chorus]

Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel

Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you be still

Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall

Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all

I can only imagine

When that day comes

And I find myself

Standing in the Son

I can only imagine

When all I will do

Is forever

Forever worship You

I can only imagine

[Chorus]

I can only imagine [x2]

I can only imagine

When all I will do

Is forever, forever worship you

Bleeding Hearts Ministries

2011-05-28T08:00:00.009-06:00

I don't have much to update on the actual adoption front. The birthmom that last looked at our profile ended up not going to her doctor's appointment, so the worker from our agency wasn't able to meet with her. The worker did ask her what she thought of our profile and she casually replied, "Oh, I haven't even really looked at it yet..." Sooo... haha! The agency said this might be another one that's the type to call once she's had the baby at the hospital. They think she will go through with her plan for adoption, but she's not really in a rush to make any decisions. They said we would get a call if she ever tells them anything concrete.

I do, however, have some news to share that I think is pretty exciting ! We have recently partnered up with a non-profit organization called Bleeding Hearts Ministries to help us raise money for our adoption. This is a great organization with a vision to "address the basic needs of children who are victims of social inequality."

Bleeding Hearts heard about our desire to adopt and thought that this process really fit into their personal mission plan. Their website kindly had this to say about us: "They are saving a child from an unknown future and bringing them into their home where they will encounter the love of Jesus and the transforming power of God."

So now we are in fundraising mode with this company! We have some events we are planning right now that are going to be really great. I will be sure to post the details when they're ready.

If you feel compelled at all to make a tax-deductible donation, please do so. Every little bit helps. Know that you are contributing to them helping other couples adopt in the future and also contributing to their goals of helping impoverished children in our community. You can go to their website here to make a donation and learn more about them. Also, please go to their Facebook page here and "like" them. That's something simple we can all do to help get their name out there and known.

If you can think of any other ways, please help me spread the word about this great, great organization. The dreams and goals they have for the future of children is simply beautiful. We are humbled and honored to be working with them.

Puzzle Update - Week 7

2011-05-26T16:00:00.001-06:00

In Week 7 we sold 2 puzzle pieces! Which means we broke the 200 mark and have sold a total of 201 pieces. Woohoo!

I know 2 pieces in a week doesn't sound like a lot, but we truly are grateful for every piece we get to put together. I won't lie, sometimes the slow weeks can be discouraging. But we do know that God will give us the money we need, when we need it. So again, thank you to everyone who has had the desire to help some. We appreciate it so much.

For the Love of Geocaching

2011-05-24T16:00:00.001-06:00

On Saturday the hubs and I had the pleasure of going geocaching with my brother and sister-in-law. If you don't know what that is, here's an explanation from the geocaching website: "Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location." Or as some people like to say, "I use multi-million dollar satellites to find tupperware in the woods. What's your hobby?" haha!

But anway . . . my brother and sister-in-law got us into geocaching about a year ago. It's something that we all really enjoy doing. Geocaching gets you out of the house and takes you to places you might not have even realized was right around you. Pretty cool stuff.

This was the first time we've all gone out and done it together in quite a while. We walked a 5 mile walking/biking trail for about three hours and found six caches. It was a very lovely and active Saturday afternoon for us!

Heading out!

Going off the trail to find the first cache.

Sweet Niece #3 came along with us.

Such pretty scenes all around us.

We couldn't resist taking pictures on the cute bridge!

Found one!

Deep in the brush to find our last cache.

And, I got the sunburn of the year during our little outing. I thought it was gonna be a chilly day, so I didn't even think about sunscreen. But I have definitely learned my lesson! If I'm going to be outside for more than 20 minutes, sunscreen will be going on.

Sunday Song

2011-05-22T07:00:00.001-06:00

"God of This City" Chris Tomlin

[Verse 1]

You're the God of this City

You're the King of these people

You're the Lord of this nation

You are

[Verse 2]

You're the Light in this darkness

You're the Hope to the hopeless

You're the Peace to the restless

You are

There is no one like our God

[Chorus]

For greater things have yet to come

And greater things are still to be done in this City

Greater things have yet to come

And greater things are still to be done in this City

[Verse 1]

[Verse 2]

There is no one like our God

[Chorus]
For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

[Chorus]
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here

Here We Go Again

2011-05-21T08:00:00.002-06:00

Well, yesterday afternoon I got a call from our adoption agency. Totally unexpected since, as far as I knew, we were just back to trying to get all of the legal stuff completed. But apparently there's been some more stuff going on behind the scenes that we weren't aware of!

The phone call was to tell me that our profile had just been dropped off with a birthmom who's due July 2nd with a boy. The agency worker I was talking to said she will be shown two other families profiles, but she felt pretty good about our chances. She's meeting with the birthmom again on Tuesday and said she will call me with more details then.

As I've said before, nothing is ever 100% with adoption until all of the legal requirements are actually 100% completed. Therefore, we're not counting on anything coming from this situation either. We'll just, once again, sit back, wait, and pray for God's will to be done. :)

Puzzle Update - Week 6

2011-05-19T16:00:00.001-06:00

In Week 6 we sold 34 puzzle pieces! That makes for 199 pieces put together total. And, we finished the border! Woohoo! That seriously makes me really happy. Lame, I know. ;) Only 808 pieces to go!

And I know I say it a lot, but truly. . .thank you everyone for all of the support with this. It means so much to us. We're really enjoying getting to work on it. We have the puzzle setup in our nursery and it's been so much fun to just hangout and spend some time in there together each evening.

Please know that every time after we put a set of pieces together, we say a prayer over the names that have been added to the puzzle. Each one of you has blessed us so much with your genorosity and we want to bless you back in any way we can. Thank you again for all of the continued love and support!

That bottom section is everything we got done this week.

The completed border!

Adoption Profile

2011-05-17T16:00:00.012-06:00

As I've mentioned before, as part of our adoption process, we had to make an adoption profile. It's really just a book that gives some basic info about us. Who we are, our hobbies, what our life is like, etc. Some people hand make theirs (aka, an actual scrapbook), but I'm not patient enough for that. Plus, we had to have three copies, so there's no way I was gonna try to duplicate an actual scrapbook that many times. I ended up making a digital photo book with the Apple software, iPhoto.

I thought about not sharing this with everyone, because it can be pretty personal. But, before I made our book I did a lot of research and found some people who had posted theirs online. It was really helpful to actually see one and not just read about it. Also, I've made a promise to myself to be completely open and honest about this journey so that people can learn about it as much as possible. And, who knows, you might even get to learn some things about us you didn't know!

So here you go. . .here is our adoption profile or adoption photo book that birthmothers will look through. The images of the book aren't the greatest, but you get the idea. You can click on the pictures to see them bigger. I'll also post the text for each page under the image . Enjoy!

Cover

Page 1 - Dear Expectant Parent Letter (This is kinda long, so if you wanna read it just click on the image.)

Page 2 - About Us

We met in 2005 through a mutual friend and began dating just two weeks later. We then went to college together at Oklahoma Christian University. In 2007, after two years of dating, Mike proposed to Vanessa and the wedding plans began! We were married on June 14, 2008. In May of 2009 we graduated from college and then moved closer to family to begin a new chapter of our lives.

We both love making each other laugh and try to enjoy all the little moments that life has to offer. Some of the activities we like doing together are geocaching, running, going to the movies, watching sports, and getting up early for Saturday morning breakfast. We also love spending time with our family and friends as often as we can.

Page 3 - About Us, cont.

Page 4 - About Vanessa (written by Mike)

Vanessa is a very gentle and loving person. She loves to laugh her way through life, which is great because her laughter is very contagious! She is so much fun to be around and can light up a room with her smile.

She likes baking, making new crafts, reading, and snuggling with her pets.

Vanessa’s heart longs to be a mother. When I see her interact with children, I can tell she’s going to be a great mom. I can’t wait to raise a family with my best friend.

Page 5 - Vanessa's Family

Vanessa’s parents are Van and Jeanne and they have been married for 32 years. She has two older brothers, Jon and Michael. Jon and his wife, Amanda, have been married for 5 years. Michael and his wife, Ashlee, have been married for 6 years and have four children, three girls and a boy.

Everyone lives in the same general area, so we get together as a family often. We love playing board games and have lots of friendly competition. There is always a lot of fun and laughter when we’re together.

Page 6 - About Mike (written by Vanessa)

Mike is one of the most kind and compassionate people I know. He has a heart for others and looks out for the best interest of those around him. He is very social and outgoing and loves hanging out with family and friends.

His hobbies include sports, grilling, singing, and keeping up with the latest technology.

Mike loves children and is so ready to be a dad. He is a favorite playmate of many of our friends’ kids. I’m sure our new baby boy or girl will have their daddy wrapped around their little finger from the moment they arrive!

Page 7 - Mike's Family

Mike’s parents are Wes and Shirley and they have been married for 35 years. He has two older brothers, Matt and Mitch.

Wes and Shirley’s house is out in the country, so it’s nice to go out there and enjoy a slower pace of life. Mike’s mom is a great cook and is always spoiling us with delicious meals, especially during the holidays. We always enjoy going to their house to just visit, relax, and unwind.

Page 8 - Our Home

We bought our first house in January of 2010. The day we moved also happened to be the day of a huge snowstorm! We have some wonderful friends and family who helped us out anyway. It definitely made a great memory!

We have a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home. The backyard is large, has a full privacy fence, and is great to play in! We have a play area in our living room already filled with lots of fun toys. The baby’s room has been picked out and we have started filling it with things such as bedding, boy and girl clothes, and toys.

We love the neighborhood we live in! There is a good mixture of older couples and young families in our neighborhood. On a nice afternoon you will almost always see kids outside playing basketball, football, or riding their bikes around.

Our home is a place where we hope others always feel comfortable and welcome. We can’t wait to bring a baby there and make it their home too. We look forward to birthday parties, Christmas mornings, Easter egg hunts, and lots of other gatherings with family and friends.

Page 9 - Our Home, cont.

Page 10 - Our Pets

We have two cats, a boy and a girl, named Hoops and YoYo. We found them as strays and took them in as our first pets. They are declawed and very gentle. You can usually find them snuggling together, with the dog, or with us.

We also have a dog named Rollie. We went to Petsmart on a Saturday to get some things for the cats, saw Rollie there, and fell in love! She is very good with the cats and with kids. She’s a sweetheart who loves to go for walks and be with us, wherever we are.

Page 11 - Our Pets, cont.

Page 12 - Our Wonderful Friends

We are very blessed to have wonderful friends in our life. We have been a part of a small group from church for over four years and those people have become our core group of friends. They are all very kind, loving, and supportive.

We also are good friends with a lot of our own family members and stay in-touch with friends from college.

Everyone is excited about us becoming parents and can’t wait to spoil the new little one that comes into our lives!

Page 13 - Our Wonderful Friends, cont.

Page 14 - The Kids In Our Life

A lot of our friends and family have young children themselves. We love and adore every one of them! They always add lots of spunk and activity to our life.

We get to babysit a lot of these sweet kids often. One of our favorite parts of babysitting is the nighttime routine to get ready for bed...brushing teeth, reading books, and saying prayers. We always enjoy spending our evenings with them.

As previously mentioned, we have three nieces and one nephew. In our close group of friends there are three boys and two girls. They all can’t wait to have a new playmate around!

Page 15 - The Kids In Our Life, cont.

Page 16 - Our Life As Parents

We are both so excited and ready to be parents! We look forward to sharing our lives with a new child and extending all of our love to them. Any child we parent will be raised in a loving, Christian home through our faith in the Lord and our involvement at church. We know that there will be a lot of diaper changes, stressful days, and sleepless nights, but we look forward to these challenges, as well as all the wonderful changes that parenthood will bring.

Page 17 - Our Life With You

We know that all adoption placements are different. There is not one set method that will work for everyone. We would like to support you in the level of openness that you are most comfortable with. In the years to come, we would love to be able to offer you the peace of mind to know that your child is happy, loved, and thriving.

Page 18 - Thank you again for taking the time to look at our profile.

Page 19 - You are in our daily thoughts and prayers. God Bless!

Sunday Song

2011-05-15T07:00:00.001-06:00

I encourage you to watch the video for this song posted below the lyrics. The music video they made is all about adoption. They portrayed a beautiful scene to make the point that we have all been adopted by Christ.

"Children of God" Third Day

Praise to the Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ

Our God and our King, to Him we will sing

In His great mercy, He has given us life

Now we can be called the children of God

Great is the Love that the Father has given us

He has delivered us

Children of God, sing your song and rejoice

For the love that He has given us all

Children of God, by the blood of His Son

We have been redeemed and we can be called

Children of God

A mystery is revealed to the universe

The Father above has proven His love

Now we are free from the judgment that we deserve

And so we are called the children of God

We are the saints

We are the children

We've been redeemed

We've been forgiven

We are the sons and daughters of our God

Moving On

2011-05-14T08:30:00.000-06:00

In my mind, in the hubs's mind, and, I think, in the adoption agencies mind, we're all moving past this birthmother situation we've briefly been in. We finally heard back from the agency this week (apparently the lady I had been trying to email was on vacation!) and they just confirmed everything we had been thinking. The birthmom can't really make up her mind about anything. At first she couldn't decide on a family and now she's not even sure if she wants to go through with the adoption at all.

The agency said since her due date is so soon, they might meet with her a few more times and then would just play things by ear and see if she called them at the hospital. Pretty much meaning they're not counting on her going through with anything, but if she freaks out at the hospital after she's given birth, they'll let us know. Can you even imagine getting that call?? haha!

But I don't expect to get that call and we're okay with that. As I've said before, God has already handpicked our child out for us and I don't want any baby but that one. So now we're just working on getting our house really, really clean for our homestudy. We're expecting that to be scheduled around the first week of June.

Please continue to pray for that birthmother as she's going through a very difficult and confusing time. Pray that she hears the voice of God leading her to the best decision for herself and for her family. Thank you!

Puzzle Update - Week 5

2011-05-13T16:00:00.000-06:00

In Week 5 we sold 23 puzzle pieces! We now have 165 pieces put together total. We're still working on the border. I seriously can't wait to get that part done! I would say only 835 pieces to go, but our numbers have actually changed a little bit...

While working on the puzzle this week we discovered that we had a missing piece. We looked through every.single.piece to try and find it, but it is not there. While we were looking through all those pieces, we actually also counted every.single.piece. And what did we discover? This is actually a 1,008 piece puzzle! How random is that?? So based on that new number, with one piece missing, we now have 842 pieces to go. haha!

But now there's the question of what to do about that missing puzzle piece. Any suggestions are appreciated because it's definitely driving the OCD tendencies in me crazy! I actually considered buying the puzzle again just to get that one piece. However, we had a friend suggest that we simply leave it out to represent the fact that our baby was the missing piece to our family. Sweet, right? Any other ideas are welcomed!

Seriously...almost done with that border!

Mother's Day Weekend

2011-05-10T16:00:00.014-06:00

What an incredibly fun and blessed weekend I had. Life is just so good right now. I am reminded daily how great my life is and I thank God for that.

On Friday night our close group of friends headed to a Drillers game for the evening. My brother and sister-in-law were also there with their kiddos, so we sat with them towards the end of the game and for the fireworks show. I don't think I watched any of the game that night. I just enjoyed being around great friends and family. Oh, and I played in a contest they were having on Twitter and won an autographed baseball! I have no clue who the player is that signed it, but hey, still cool!

Sweet buddies playing together at the game.

Sweet Mommy and her boy snuggling.

Picking up my autographed baseball!

Hangin' with the fam a little bit.

Watching the fireworks.

On Saturday morning the hubs and I headed out to Bartlesville to spend some Mother's Day time with his mom. We had lunch at a B'ville classic, Murphy's Steakhouse. Gravy over all? Mmm, yes please! And if you don't know what that means, you need to go try the place out for yourself.

The fam headed to B'ville. Rollie loves going with us. Her Memaw and Pepaw spoil her!

Sleepy girl on the way home.

Sometime during the day on Saturday the hubs surprised me with a Mother's Day gift (candle - he knows me well) and a card. I was truly shocked. I did not expect that at all. I cried, which is kind of rare for me to do on the spot. It was just so sweet. I am so lucky to have him in my life.

On Sunday I went to church on Mother's Day for the first time in three years. It just felt like time to start going again. I am trying to move on from my infertility and not let it define me, so I was happy to be there. I even got two presents from some great friends! Again, such a shock to get a Mother's Day present.

One of them was from the craftiest person I know, Amanda. She made me a cute little bottlecap keychain with the Bible verse reference that I have at the top of this blog. So sweet! Then, as I was almost ready to leave, I saw my friends little kids come walking towards me all carrying a giftbag. I was melting already! They then presented me with, what we call, a Smoochie Frog. All of the first born children in our group have a Smoochie Frog and they decided to go ahead and get Baby Thomas one. Such a precious way for them to say that they know we will have a baby in our arms soon.

The madre and I at church on Mother's Day. And yes, I was taking pictures during church.

My cute keychain from Amanda! I stole this picture from her site 'cause every picture I took did not look as good. lol

The kiddos walking towards me with their bag.

Helping me open the present.

A Smoochie Frog for Baby Thomas!

Some smooches for Smoochie Frog.

Smoochie Frog at home in the nursery.

Again, it was a wonderful weekend. Which is something I definitely did not expect for Mother's Day Weekend. I am fully and abundantly blessed.

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T06:30:00.000-06:00

Mother's Day can be a sensitive subject for those who deal with infertility. Sometimes it can feel like the day is almost mocking us. It is there to celebrate everything we haven't been able to achieve.

I haven't attended church on Mother's Day or Father's Day for the last two years, maybe even three years. Because let's be honest, church isn't always an easy place to be at any day of the year for infertile couples. Most things at church are focused around the family. Which I'm not criticizing them for. It just makes it hard to be there sometimes.

But this year, I am going. I am about to put on my big girl pants and go to church on Mother's Day. And guess what?? I know that I'll survive it! I have simply faced the fact that Mother's Day is not about me. At least not yet. Hopefully it will be soon, but for now, it's not about me.

For now, it's about this woman. The woman who gave me life. The woman who was the best mother a little girl could ask for. The woman who is now not only a mother, but a friend.

It's also about this woman. The woman who gave my husband life and raised him to be a kind, caring, and loving man. The woman who has also been a precious mother-in-law to me. (Photo courtesy of Jenny White Photography)

Today is also about this woman, one of the best sisters-in-law a girl could ask for. The woman who has made me an aunt four times. The woman who cares for her children with an endless abundance of love and support. (PS - Ashlee, this was the best picture I could find of us together. We should probably work on that!)

It's also about this woman, who is a patient and loving stepmother. The woman who is always loving on me and praying for me. The woman who is not only an amazing friend to me, but is also like a second mother.

And it's also about these women, my best friends. The women who have been with me through all the tears, anxiety, and small victories. The women whose children will be my child's sweet playmates.

Today, on Mother's Day, I will celebrate these incredible women. One day it will be about me too, but for now, I rejoice with them. And I know that when my time comes, they will be rejoicing and celebrating me as well.

Still Waiting

2011-05-07T08:15:00.004-06:00

Well, a birthmom did look at our profile on Wednesday. That much we do know. Other than that, there's not much else to say. We haven't heard anything back from the agency yet, so we're still just waiting.

Since we haven't heard anything yet, it gives us the impression that this birthmom is probably having a difficult time with her decision, which is very understandable. I can't imagine being in her position. So we will just sit back and (try to) wait patiently. But, as mentioned before, she is due on May 22nd, so we won't have to wait too long until we have an answer.

I would like to thank everyone for all of their kind words, thoughts, encouragement, and prayers. We are doing just fine, really. We feel so much peace and really aren't anxious at all. Even if we aren't chosen for this situation, we feel fine. God already has our child picked out for us and I don't want any baby but that one.

Please keep this birthmother in your prayers. Like I said, I can't even imagine the decisions she's trying to make right now. Please be praying for God to grant her the peace and comfort she needs for her decisions, whatever they may be. Thank you!

Puzzle Update - Week 4

2011-05-05T16:15:00.002-06:00

In Week 4 we have sold 6 puzzle pieces! That makes for 142 pieces put together total. We were able to get a little bit more of the border done. I can't wait to finish that part. Only 858 pieces to go!

"Plan B"

2011-05-03T16:15:00.015-06:00

For some reason this topic has been on my heart lately, so I decided to blog about it. I can't speak for everyone, but for us, adoption is not our "Plan B". At least now it's not.

On May 7, 2010, just two days before Mother's Day, I was told that the only way I would become pregnant was through highly expensive medical treatments, aka, in vitro fertilization. I was devastated, naturally. But not as devastated as you might think. I'd had a lot of moments in the past two years of our infertility where I felt a lot more depressed.

As my OB/GYN broke the news to me, I just sat there patiently listening. He asked if I was going to go breakdown and cry in my car and I answered, "Probably." But truthfully, I didn't. I cried a little bit, but that was all. I just felt a sense of peace and comfort. I can't explain how, but at that moment I physically felt God closing the door on pregnancy for me, and I was okay with it. I was ready to figure out what was in store for us next.

I never felt that in vitro was right for us. It just seemed too overwhelming and stressful. So, of course, adoption was the obvious answer for our next step. At that point, I probably did feel like adoption was "Plan B". "Oh, we can't get pregnant, so we'll just adopt." I wasn't necessarily upset about adopting, but that was my mentality about it.

That all changed one day, though, when I was researching adoption agencies. As a bit of personal background information, I will tell you that we don't use contraceptives of any kind in the Thomas household (stick with me, this is going somewhere). We never have and nothing has happened in almost three years, so I don't really feel like wasting money on it. Well, as I was researching, I found an agency that said if you happen to become pregnant during the process, they will immediately put your adoption on hold and not continue working with you at that time.

When I read that statement fear struck into my heart. I was ready to head out to Sam's to buy a bulk package of condoms! haha! But that's when the lightbulb came on in my head. Adoption is where my heart is. It is not my "Plan B". It's exactly where I'm supposed to be.

I regularly keep up with a blog called God's Faithfulness Through Infertility. She and her husband adopted their daughter after they found out they could not have any biological children. She has talked about how she didn't grow up as a little girl dreaming of adopting. She is not living the life she had planned out for herself. Instead, she's living the "Something More" that God had planned for her life and she couldn't be happier. That's the mentality that I have gained now.

Who knows, maybe one day I'll be one of those women who accidentally get pregnant. Not to say, though, that pregnancy is a cakewalk. I have a friend who is currently dealing with a very high risk pregnancy. You can follow along with her story here, if you'd like. Prayers and encouragement are much appreciated for her.

But anyway... (sorry, I got off on a tangent). Maybe one day I will become pregnant. But if that does happen, it won't be because we were actively trying. It will only occur through God's will.

But right now, I have never been more sure that God's will for us is adoption. I truly am not even interested in pregnancy right now. I have daydreams in my head of how many children we'll have and what adoption agencies or countries they will come from.

I have yet to meet that child who will make me a mother, but I can already see and feel the beauty of adoption. What else could allow me to hold a wondrous creation...something that looks nothing like me...something that I could not have created myself...and yet, be able to love it and call it my own.

The beauty in that possibility is how I know that adoption is not my "Plan B". It is what I was meant to do. It is my calling.

Sunday Song

2011-05-01T07:30:00.003-06:00

"Before The Morning" Josh Wilson

Do you wonder why you have to

Feel the things that hurt you

If there's a God who loves you where is He now

Maybe there are things you can't see

And all those things are happening

To bring a better ending

Someday somehow you'll see you'll see

Would you dare would you dare to believe

That you still have a reason to sing

Cause the pain that you've been feeling

It can't compare to the joy that's coming

So hold on you gotta wait for the light

Press on and just fight the good fight

Cause the pain that you've been feeling

It's just the dark before the morning

My friend you know how this all ends

You know where you're going

You just don't know how you'll get there

So say a prayer

And hold on cause there's good for those who love God

But life is not a snapshot

It might take a little time but you'll see the bigger picture

Would you dare would you dare to believe

That you still have a reason to sing

Cause the pain that you've been feeling

It can't compare to the joy that's coming

So hold on you gotta wait for the light

Press on and just fight the good fight

Cause the pain that you've been feeling

It's just the dark before the morning

Once you feel the weight of glory

All your pain will fade to memory

Once you feel the weight of glory

All your pain will fade to memory, memory, memory

Would you dare would you dare to believe

That you still got a reason to sing

Cause the pain that you've been feeling

It can't compare to the joy that's coming

Would you dare would you dare to believe

That you still got a reason to sing

Cause the pain that you've been feeling

It can't compare to the joy that's coming

Come on you've gotta wait for the light

Press on and just fight the good fight

Cause the pain that you've been feeling

It's just the hurt before the healing

Oh the pain that you've been feeling

It's just the dark before the morning

Before the morning

The Waiting Game

2011-04-30T08:15:00.014-06:00

Alright folks, this is a pretty legit adoption update. So if you haven't been reading any of my other random posts, but want to know the latest info, I highly recommend you read this one. Okay, here we go...

Last Tuesday, the 19th, I was emailing back and forth with the social worker at our adoption agency. We were talking about the last of the paperwork the hubs and I needed to get done and looking at dates to schedule our home visit. In between those emails, I suddenly got a new one from her titled, "Possible match??".

My mind immediately went crazy! I tried to calm myself down a little bit and then opened the email to read about it. She told me that they'd had a birth mom just recently contact them who is pregnant with a boy and is due May 22nd. Yes, less than a month from now! The social worker wanted to know if we were interested in the situation and if we would like to have our profile shown.

(As a side note: For anyone who doesn't know, in domestic adoptions the birth mom chooses the couple she would like to have parent her child. Every adoptive couple makes some type of profile/photo book about themselves. The birth mom looks through those to make her decision.)

After reading the email, I first called the hubs to tell him the crazy news. He was absolutely speechless. All he could manage to say was, "Umm...umm...umm. Could you just forward me the email?" haha! After I did that, I called my mom because I knew she'd be able to talk to me about it!

After a lot of quick praying and thinking we decided that yes, we are very interested and yes, we would like to have our profile shown to this mother. The agency told us that they are trying to get two families to show her. They have a couple of leads on another family through another agency, but said they always prefer to use their own families. So my best guess is that, including ours, she will have two or three profiles to look through. She is meeting with the agency this Wednesday, the 4th, to do that.

So now we are just in the waiting, and praying, game. We simply have to be patient and wait to hear any news from the agency. We are trying our best to not be anxious. We know that God already has our child picked out for us. If this is it, fantastic! If not, we will move on. We are praying for nothing other than for God's will to be done.

Puzzle Update - Week 3

2011-04-28T16:15:00.003-06:00

Well, we didn't sell any puzzle pieces this week. Which is kind of a bummer 'cause I've really missed working on it. It was a little overwhelming at first, but now I really like it!

But I'm not worried about going a week without selling any pieces. I know that God will provide for us the money we need, when we need it. Thank you again for all the continued love, support, and prayers. We really appreciate it!

Easter Weekend

2011-04-26T16:15:00.001-06:00

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend! Ours seemed to be very busy, but lots of fun. Aren't those just the best weekends??

On Saturday we attended a great birthday party for a sweet little two year-old boy. After that we headed up to the hospital with my brother, sister-in-law, and their kiddos to visit my grandpa. He's been pretty sick for about a year now and seems to be in and out of the hospital a lot, so prayers for him are appreciated.

Once we were done there, the hubs and I went to Josh's Sno Shack with a good friend. We saw on their Twitter account that if you came in Thunder gear that day, you got a dollar off your purchase. We couldn't pass that up! We very much enjoyed our first shaved ice of the season.

Somewhere inbetween all of that, the hubs took me Easter dress shopping at Kohl's. Let me tell you, I was not the only procrastinator there! That place as jam packed. Every dressing room was a disaster and you were lucky if you could even get into one! But somehow, I was still able to find a great dress that was on sale and made me look super skinny, so I was pretty excited about that.

Our Easter day was simple and lovely. Church was great and then we went to lunch at Qdoba with my parents and some friends. We had our Growing Kids God's Way class that night and then afterwards hungout with some good friends until about 10:30. Like I said, it was a busy weekend, but definitely a lot of fun. We are greatly blessed.

The hubs sitting down with the kids at the birthday party waiting on instructions for the Easter egg hunt. Yep, that's the man I married! haha!

Opening our present.

A Thomas umbrella! He had seen this before and specifically requested it. We couldn't let him down.

And a Thomas train!

First Josh's of the season. So yummy!

Wonderful Easter morning.

The Easter Candy Bark I made. It was very sweet...like a little shot of sugar. But still yummy! You can find the recipe here.

Happy Easter

2011-04-24T07:15:00.010-06:00

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you." So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.

Matthew 28:5-8

I pray that you all have had a wonderfully blessed Easter weekend with your friends and family as you remember the gift of the Resurrection that Christ gave to us. Today, may your heart be filled with the same joy that those women were filled with that day. Oh, and may your belly be filled with a few chocolate bunnies too!

Progress

2011-04-23T08:15:00.001-06:00

We have made some significant progress with our adoption process. After our application was approved, the agency sent us a giant "to do" list of things they needed. Well, as of Thursday, we have completed all of that!

On Thursday Mike and I went to have our fingerprints done and get our physicals completed. All of it was surprisingly quite easy and simple. Our fingerprints were taken digitally and it was a really cool process to watch. The woman who took them was absolutely hysterical and had us laughing the whole time. Our physicals were incredibly basic and the whole appointment lasted about 10 minutes or less. I knew it wouldn't be too personal of a visit when they called us back together! haha!

After we had those things completed, we headed to the post station to mail everything off to the agency. Then we celebrated by treating ourselves to some snacks at Merritt's Bakery. Mmm, mmm!

Now that all of our paperwork is completed, we will get our home study scheduled. That will probably happen about a month from now. Then once the home study is done we will officially be on the waiting list. I can't wait!

Mike checking us in at the police department.

Hilarious lady taking Mike's fingerprints. She had to roll our fingers back and forth on the scanner and Mike kept trying to do it himself. She told him to turn around and talk to me to distract himself so she could get her job done. haha!

Waiting for our physicals.

Celebration time at Merritt's!

It seriously took me like 15 minutes to decide what I wanted. haha!

Enjoying our goodies! And yes, we ended up with three things and split them all. Krinkle Cookie, Cheesecake Brownie, and a giant Cake Ball.

Puzzle Update - Week 2

2011-04-21T16:15:00.002-06:00

In Week 2 we have sold 60 puzzle pieces! That makes for 136 pieces put together total. We were able to finish the first heart square we started and then moved onto the border, which is close to being complete. Only 864 pieces to go!

Sorry for the poor picture quality. The lighting in that room is kinda weird.

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If you don't know what I'm talking about, you can go here to learn more about our puzzle fundraiser. Also, here's some info on donating...

How to Donate: We are selling the puzzle pieces for $10 each. If you can, please donate money in-person or by mail. If that's not possible, you can click on the "Donate" button on the right sidebar under "Adoption Donations" to send money via PayPal. Please add your name(s) in the special note to sellers. Thank you!

Family Times

2011-04-19T16:15:00.003-06:00

Last Saturday some of our family got together to celebrate my lovely mother's birthday. We had dinner out on the patio, played on the neighborhood playground, and, of course, enjoyed some cake. It was a wonderful evening and made me feel very blessed to have so much of my family living close together.

Mom - I hope you had the best birthday. You are an amazing woman and I aspire to be as wonderful a mother as you have been, and continue to be, for me. I love you!

Dinner on the patio.

Such a good uncle!

Beautiful girls.

Sweet nephew.

The fastest slide ever! It scares me a little bit every time. haha!

Piggy Back Rides on the walk back to the house.

Helping Nana blow out her candles.

Cake Time!

And ending the night with brother sporting a Drillers snuggie.

Sunday Song

2011-04-17T07:30:00.002-06:00

"And Now My Lifesong Sings" Casting Crowns

I once was lost, but now I’m found

So far away, but I’m home now

I once was lost, but now I’m found

And now my lifesong sings

I once was blind, but now I see

I don’t know how, but when He touched me

I once was blind, but now I see

And now my lifesong sings

I once was dead, but now I live

Now my life to You I give

Hallelujah

Let my lifesong sing to You

Adoption Update

2011-04-14T17:55:00.006-06:00

Well, I don't really have all that much to update you on. I'm just not very good at coming up with titles for posts, so that's all I could think of. haha!

We mailed in a large stack of paperwork (as you can see pictured) yesterday. Hopefully that will get things moving along with our homestudy some more. Once our background checks and what-not have come in, the social worker with our agency will come out to our house a few times for some home visits.

We have doctor appointments next Thursday for both of us to get our physicals completed. After we're done with that we will head over to the police station to get our fingerprints done. What a fun and invasive morning that will be! ;)

I gotta say...when I pictured becoming a mom, I never thought that the police, social workers, and FBI would be involved! haha! But truthfully, I'm so incredibly excited about it and can't wait to get even further along in the process.

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Adoption Costs

*Puzzle for adoption fundraiser - $19.78

*Postage for mailing application - $4.95

*Application fee - $500

*Postage for mailing paperwork - $1.73

Running Total - $526.46

Puzzle Update - Week 1

2011-04-12T16:00:00.003-06:00

It's been just a little over a week since we started our puzzle fundraiser and it's going very well. We have put together 76 pieces so far. We feel extremely blessed by all the love and support that has been shown to us. Only 924 pieces to go! ;)

Our puzzle setup in the nursery.

We almost have an entire heart section put together so far!

The names on the back. Once it gets bigger we won't be able to do this, but for now, we can't resist flipping it over to see what the back looks like!

(FYI - You can click on the pictures to see them bigger, if you'd like.)

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If you don't know what I'm talking about, you can go here to learn more about our puzzle fundraiser. Also, here's some info on donating...

How To Donate: We are selling the puzzle pieces for $10 each. If you can, please donate money in-person or by mail. If that's not possible, you can click on the "Donate" button on the right sidebar under "Adoption Donations" to send money via PayPal. Please add your name(s) in the special note to sellers. Thank you!

Sunday Song

2011-04-10T07:43:00.007-06:00

This is something I used to do a few years ago when I was blogging regularly, so I decided to start it again. Basically, I just try to post an encouraging song every Sunday morning. Right now Mike and I actually have an "Adoption Playlist" of songs that are encouraging to us and bring us comfort, so the first few songs on here will come from that. I also try to include the song itself or a YouTube video at the bottom of the post so you can listen to it. Enjoy!

"Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)" Chris Tomlin

Amazing grace
How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost, but now I'm found

Was blind, but now I see

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear

And grace my fears relieved

How precious did that grace appear

The hour I first believed

My chains are gone

I've been set free

My God, my Savior has ransomed me

And like a flood His mercy rains

Unending love, Amazing grace

The Lord has promised good to me

His word my hope secures

He will my shield and portion be

As long as life endures

[2x]

My chains are gone

I've been set free

My God, my Savior has ransomed me

And like a flood His mercy rains

Unending love, Amazing grace

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow

The sun forbear to shine

But God, Who called me here below

Will be forever mine

You are forever mine

A Lovely Weekend

2011-04-09T15:41:00.000-06:00

Things are moving along with the adoption. Like I said before, we're just in the stage of lots and lots of paperwork. It can sometimes take awhile to get past this point, therefore, I can't let it consume all my thoughts. Which means, I will also be blogging about lots of random things going on in our lives. How exciting, right?? ;)

We've had a pretty nice weekend so far. Last night the hubs and I went to the first Friday night Drillers game with my brother, sister-in-law, and their kiddos. We love baseball in our household! There's just a magical feel to the sport and I love being at games. Last night was the absolutely perfect weather for a game too! We sat in the lawn seats so the kids could run around and play. We enjoyed ballpark food (beer, hotdogs, nachos) and just got to enjoy being together. It was great.

Ahh, Friday night at the ballpark!

Niece #2 and Niece #1.

Nephew enjoying his hotdog.

Beautiful Niece #3, who looks just like her momma and her momma's momma.

The hubs and I with Niece #1.

Blue Moon and a Chicago Hotdog. Mmm, mmm!

Enjoying the fireworks show.

This morning the hubs and I ran some errands, one of which included depositing some more money into our adoption savings account. Woohoo! Then this afternoon I joined some girls for a relaxing pedicure and frozen yogurt. That was a very nice treat!

Pedicure and frozen yogurt with these lovely ladies.

We're ready for the warm weather!

The hubs is now working at his second job. When he gets home we plan to work on the puzzle some more and maybe watch a movie. I know, real exciting, huh? ;) But that's our life for now. I'm sure things will be picking up some more in the near future!

Paperwork, Paperwork, Paperwork

2011-04-06T15:43:00.000-06:00

I know I've said before that I never realized how many choices come with starting the adoption process. Well now, I'm shocked at how much paperwork comes with the adoption process, and we've just started! On March 19th we put our application in the mail to the agency. On March 28th our references received their information to fill out on us and we got a packet with a lot of information in it.

Here's our current list from the agency of things we need to get done...

Medical exam on each adult in the home
Medical History form on each adult
Statement of Income and Assets
Financial Statement of Monthly Expenses
Agency Agreement
Residence History Form
Request for Background Check (one for each adult)
Two sets of fingerprint cards for each adult
Request for Child Abuse and Neglect Information System Search
Copy of current marriage license
Copies of two months of pay checks stubs
Copy of health insurance card and copy of handbook verifying when you can add an infant to coverage
Copies of drivers licenses and social security cards

Sheesh! Can you even imagine if everyone who got pregant had to go through all that?? I'm not complaining though. I know it's all for a good reason, but still, kinda crazy.

So that's what we're busy doing right now...lots and lots of paperwork. Once that is completed, we will schedule our first home visit with the social worker at the ageny. And, I do believe, we will have even more paperwork to fill out then. I can feel the carpal tunnel setting in now!

I'll have a puzzle update post for you soon. (And if you don't know what I'm talking about, go here). I will say, it's going very well and we feel extremely blessed. Thank you to everyone for all the continued love, prayers, and support.

Puzzle Fundraiser

2011-04-02T10:32:00.001-06:00

As many of you know, there are a lot of fees that come with adoption. We have estimated that our total costs will be around $30,000. Thankfully, we do have some money saved up and have already been able to borrow a small amount. There is a tax credit we can receive once the adoption has been finalized and we do plan to apply for some grants. We are also continuing to budget our income and personally save for this, but there are still a lot of fees that will come up quickly, which have to be paid for upfront. Therefore, we have come up with a few fundraising ideas.

The one I'm here to tell you about today is our puzzle fundraiser! We have purchased a 1,000 piece puzzle and are asking our friends and family to buy a piece for $10 each. When a piece is purcahsed, we will write that person (or persons) name on the back and add it to the puzzle. So, if we have 20 pieces purcahsed, we will be able to put together 20 pieces of the puzzle. The puzzle can't be completed until every piece has been purchased. Mike and I have started it off by each purchasing a piece ourselves (see pictures below).

Once the puzzle is complete, we will preserve it in a double-sided frame and hang it in our childs room. This will serve as a constant and beautiful reminder of all the people who helped us bring our baby home. As our child grows up, we will be able to show them the names of those people who longed for them to be a part of our family.

How to Donate: If you can, please donate money in-person. If that's not possible, you can click on the "Donate" button on the right sidebar under "Adoption Donations" to send money via PayPal. Please add your name(s) in the special note to sellers.

I will post updates on the puzzle as pieces are purchased. I have also added a "fundraiser thermometer" to the blog to show how much money we have raised/saved. We, of course, do not expect to raise all of it. We know that God will provide for us the funds that we need, in the way that we need to receive them. More than anything, we ask for your continued prayers as we proceed further down this journey.

The puzzle we bought. It's called "Hearts Abound".

Two pieces already put together!

From Mommy and Daddy. :)

Christmas Morning

2011-03-19T18:59:00.000-06:00

Today was a big day for me and the hubs. Well, in the grand scheme of things to come, it may not be that big. But for now, it was big.

We mailed in our adoption application this morning! That was the first true step we've taken towards actually getting started with adoption. And it was exciting! I kept saying all day yesterday that I felt like it was Christmas Eve, thus the title of Christmas Morning. I can't wait for all the many more exciting Christmas Eve/Christmas Morning moments to come as we continue down this journey.

What I posted on my Facebook and Twitter pretty much sums up the day: "Just mailed my heart, hopes, and dreams (adoption application) to Enid, OK. Oh, and $500! May God be glorified in this new journey."

The hubs weighing the envelope and getting it ready to go.

Ready!

Bye, bye application! I hope you turn into a baby soon! ;)

Also, I plan on keeping track of our adoption expenses on here. One, for our benefit so it will help us when it comes time to file for the adoption tax credit. Two, for anyone out there curious about adoption and all the costs that it entails. I'll continue to add to the list whenever something new comes up.

Adoption Costs

*Puzzle for adoption fundraiser (more on this later, promise) - $19.78

*Postage for mailing application - $4.95

*Application fee - $500

Running Total - $524.73

Decisions, Decisions

2011-03-14T18:06:00.000-06:00

I really never would have imagined how many decisions come with adoption. But we are finally getting somewhere with all of it. I know, I know...I've said that before. But it's been a stressful road to try and decide where our child is going to come from.

We have, however, settled on private adoption. The road to becoming parents for us is going to be stressful enough on its own. Right now, we're simply in the state of mind of wanting to be a Mommy and Daddy. I don't think we're ready for the emotional roller coaster and ups and downs of DHS at this time.

DHS has been put on our hearts, that's for sure, and that may come up later in life. Maybe we will adopt through DHS one day or maybe our eyes just needed to be opened a little bit more to DHS. I'm not sure where it may lead, but for now, we will not be adopting through them.

We are using a small in-state agency that works with only a few couples at a time. The total estimated cost will be about $30,000. There is a tax credit we can apply for after the adoption is completed that will help us get some money back, but there are still a lot of other fees that will need to be paid for. We are doing all we can to personally save up for this and the hubs has gotten a second job just for the adoption. We do have a few fundraisers in mind to help out with the costs as well and will post more on that later.

I know there has been a lot of back and forth on this blog about us adopting. I really can't say enough how stressful it is to decide which path of adoption to take. But I told myself I would be open and honest here through every step of the way. So that's why you've heard about every back and forth decision. But we are ready to move forward now and would appreciate it if you kept us in your prayers. This is only the beginning for us.

A Different Trip To The Same Place

2011-03-06T10:35:00.006-06:00

Deciding to have a baby is like planning a trip to Australia: You’ve heard that it is a wonderful place.

You’ve read many guidebooks and feel certain that you’re ready to go. Everyone you know has traveled there by plane. They say it can be a turbulent flight with occasional rough landings, but you can look forward to being pampered on the trip.

So you go to the airport and ask the ticket agent for a ticket to Australia. All around you excited people are boarding planes for Australia. It seems there is no seat for you; you’ll have to wait for the next flight. Impatient, but anticipating a wonderful trip, you wait…and wait…and wait.

Flights to Australia continue to come and go. People say silly things like “Relax, you’ll get on a flight soon.” Other people actually get on a plane and then cancel their trip, to which you cry, “It’s not fair!”

After a long time, the ticket agent tells you, “I’m sorry, we’re not going to be able to get you on a plane to Australia. Perhaps you should think about going by boat.”

“By boat!” you say. “Going by boat will take a very long time and it costs a great deal of money. I really had my heart set on going by plane.” So you go home and think about not going to Australia at all. You wonder if Australia will be as beautiful if you approach it by sea rather than air. But you have long dreamed of this wonderful place for so long and finally you decide to travel by boat.

It is a long trip; many months over many rough seas. No one pampers you. You wonder if you will ever see Australia. Meanwhile, your friends have flown back and forth to Australia two or three more times, marveling about each trip.

Then one glorious day, the boat docks in Australia. It is more exquisite than you ever imagined and the beauty is magnified by your long days at sea. You have made many wonderful friends during your voyage and you find yourself comparing stories with others who also traveled by sea rather than by air.

People continue to fly to Australia as often as they like, but you are able to travel only once, perhaps twice. Some say things like, “Oh, be glad you didn’t fly...My flight was horrible...Traveling by sea is so easy.”

You will always wonder what it would have been like to fly to Australia. Still you know that God blessed you with a special appreciation for Australia and that the beauty of Australia is not in the way you got there, but in the place itself.

By Diane Armitage printed in the April 21, 1995 "Dear Abby" column.

A Slight Update

2011-02-01T16:49:00.001-06:00

Okay, okay...my mother is harassing me to update this, so here we go!

We had our Home Safety Check last Thursday with Circle of Care. They are the program that would be the "middle man" for us while working with DHS, which is a really nice resource to have. Everything went really well. We went over a lot of paperwork and did a quick tour/safety check of the home (duh). The whole thing was very relaxed and casual. I know the one with DHS will be a lot more intense! The next step here is that DHS will run our background checks and then we will begin taking classes to become certified foster parents.

And now here comes the part that I'm not so sure I'm ready to admit to everyone. Truthfully, I just have a huge fear of being judged. But I said I would be open and honest on here about the entire process of infertility and adoption, so that's what I will continue to do.

So even though we have been through the first step of becoming foster parents, I'm still not positive that's the route we're going to take. I don't want to seem wishy-washy, but it is such an emotionally draining/stressful decision to try and decide which path in adoption to take. I've said it in the past and I'll say it again...I thought it was a big enough decision for us to decide we wanted to adopt. But once that door was opened, there were a million other decisions to make!

Recently we have had some circumstances regarding private adoption kind of fall straight into our laps. It's been hard to ignore. We do believe that God has opened our hearts to DHS, but we do also believe that God is leading us to this opportunity for private adoption.

So now we just have to choose. Do you know how hard that is?? Fertile people get to just become pregnant. That's so normal and simple. But when that doesn't work for you, you have to choose how you're going to become a parent. It is the most stressful and fearful decision I've ever had to make. I know that if we pray about it and continually give our lives over to the Lord, He will make any decision work out to His will. But it is still so stressful to wonder if we're making the "right" decisions.

Cost is a huge stress factor with private adoption. The situation that has currently been presented to us is the best with the cost factor that we've ever heard of. But it's still a lot of money.

On the other hand, I honestly do not feel like I'm in the right state of mind for foster care right now. I just want to be a mommy. I've been trying to become a mommy for two and a half years now. I'm not desperate, but I desperately want to be a mother. I don't think that gives me the right ability to be able to handle the emotional roller coaster of foster care. I feel like I would emotionally distance myself from the children, not knowing if they would be with me forever or not. I don't feel like I would give all of myself to them and that's not fair for anyone.

I would love to get pregnant, give birth to my baby, and take that baby home from the hospital knowing the whole time that it is mine. But that's not going to happen, at least not any time soon. So the closest I can get to that right now is through private adoption, where someone else would get pregnant and give birth, but I would get to take that child home from the hospital as a newborn knowing that they're mine.

But it's very difficult to say "yes" to a $20,000+ adventure when the money is not currently there, and you're not too sure how it ever will be. See?? Adoption is very stressful. And we haven't even really started anything yet! Ugh.

So there it is for you. That's most of what I've been keeping bottled up inside for the last two months or so. Please don't judge me for being wishy-washy. Trust me, I'm judging myself enough over it. I wish I could just make a decision, stick with it, and get everything going. But I would have never imagined that trying to become a parent would be so stressful emotionally, spiritually, and financially. Please just continue to pray for us as we walk down this path of infertility and adoption.

Whoops

2011-01-24T17:00:00.001-06:00

Okay, I've just realized that I kinda left everyone hanging these past couple of weeks (thus the "Whoops" title). Sorry! I've known what's going on with everything, so sometimes I forget to post it on here. haha!

The truth is, unfortunately, not much has been going on. Our Home Safety Check was supposed to be on January 6th, but the lady we've been working with got really sick that week, so she had to postpone. It has finally been rescheduled for this Thursday, the 27th. Once it's finished, I promise to give an update!

The hubs and I really appreciate all the love, support, and prayers everyone has been showing us so openly. It means more to us than you could ever imagine. Please continue to pray that we will be led to, and be open/receptive to, just the right situation God needs us to be in. Thank you again!

Here We Go

2011-01-02T09:01:00.000-06:00

Alright folks, we have finally decided what the heck we're doing, so here it is for you... We are going to go through the foster care system and foster-to-adopt. So yes, that does mean that we are becoming foster parents first. And yes, there's a good chance that some kids who come into our home will eventually return to their biological families. But one day there will be a child meant for us and that child will never have to leave our home.

Here's how we came to the decision of doing this: The hubs has always wanted to adopt. He even talked about when we were still just dating. So when it came time in our marriage that we knew that's the point we were at, he immediately wanted to do it through foster care. I, on the other hand, was terrified of that and flat out said "no", over and over again. So we tried to go through agency after agency, but nothing ever seemed to work out for some reason. We had finally settled on an agency that was looking good and had a phone interview set up with them for 5:00 pm on a Friday. I, however, woke up that morning with DHS/foster care on my brain like crazy. I just could not get it out of my head! It was the strangest thing. Then 5:15 pm rolled around and we still hadn't received a call from this private adoption agency. Then 5:30, 5:45, 6:00... Around 6:30 pm we finally decided that, for whatever reason, they weren't calling. And to my surprise, I felt extremely relieved that they didn't call us. That was the final sign I needed. I finally heard God speaking to me. He needs us to go through DHS to build our family, so that's exactly what we'll be doing.

We are working with a third party agency that will go through DHS for us. They will make all the calls necessary and will stay in continual contact with them, making sure everyone is staying on top of our paperwork. So that is REALLY nice to have. We meet with them for the first time on Monday, the 6th, at our house to start initial paperwork and they will also do a Home Safety Check at that time (yes, I will be cleaning my house like CRAZY this week!)

So, there you have it. The hubs and I are going to become foster parents with hopes that we will eventually be able to adopt one of those precious children that comes into our home. It will not be easy. I know this. But these children need love and stability in their lives, and who am I to say no to that just because they may not be with me forever? Please pray for us as we get started on this new journey. I will definitely keep you updated along the way!