But they that wait upon the Lord

 "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."    Isaiah 40:31

Well, we're not getting the baby. And I thought of posting this scripture.
When I found out that court wasn't done the first time it actually took place and it would be another waiting period before we had news on the outcome with the kiddos, my daughter was in the hall restroom looking in the mirror playing dress up. She didn't see me and was watching herself quote the above scripture. It was a much needed reminder and strength to me that came just in time. I had just hung up the phone with the foster family and could've, could've, gotten discouraged easily.
The scripture came back to mind yesterday evening. The agency called and said placement wouldn't be happening. They didn't get the baby after all. Long story. At church last night, the preacher quoted this scripture above. God is good. I don't know what lies ahead, what He has planned for us. But we'll continue to wait on Him:)  One good thing that came of this is that we know now that we are willing to open our hearts and home to another child that needs us, that God sends our way.

The Journey Begins

We. Are. Getting. A. Baby. Today!!! It's a shock, I know. It was to us too! How did it happen? Well... Our adoption agency called us yesterday and asked us if we would be willing to take an 11 month old babygirl in our home for foster care. I asked, "What do you mean? We are waiting to adopt our 2 kids already, is our home certified to also have baby?" The lady that called said she hadn't seen that on our profile, she accidentaly overlooked it. I told her if it was okay with us still getting our kiddos that I would be glad to have the baby and I would call her right back after I spoke with hubby. Hubby's response? Yes, definately! We'll take her! You see, we just 'so happened' to have disscussed this possibility last week, from A to Z. When we found out that the before mentioned court date (in The Waiting Game) was rescheduled again, we were dissapointed but also began to seriously consider fostering. What if this was God's will for us until our adoption takes place with the 2 we are waiting for now. We thought about calling our agency and letting them know we were up for fostering. Our final decision was not to call, not to push things and wait on God. In my husband's words..God laid these 2 children we are waiting for on our lap, we didn't ask or look for them. If God wanted us to foster, He would do the same, bring a child to us. That was exactly a week ago. Do you see what I see???
And so a new, unexpected journey begins...

Trying to Eat Healthier...

But I can't pass up a good sale!! These were $1.67 each and they can run up to more than $3.00! So I HAD to stock up, right? And they don't expire until October so they should last a while... Only thing is, there are already 4 packages missing from this picture! What to do?!?! We can't stay away from them!

The Waiting Game

Court involving the adoption has been rescheduled again... but not an actual date is set yet. Grrr. I'll keep you posted as soon as I found out. This makes it the fourth time this has happened:( It's hard to wait! I'm comforted knowing that God's timing is always right. I'll keep you posted, they can't move in our home until after this very important court date is finally over.

Our Adoption Story,Ch 1

How do I begin? I guess from the beginning!..
I will give as brief intro as possible. My husband and I (seems that I always start this way, lol) will be married for 9 years in a couple of months. In that 9 years, we have had three pregnancies. Two ended in miscarriage and the middle pregnancy is our miracle, 'Miss 5 yr old'. If you have ever desired a baby and not been able to concieve, you know the grief, dissapointment, impatience that goes with it. Or maybe it was just us. Anyway, a couple of years ago I had some health problems and with the doctors advice, we decided to stop trying. We had such a peace about it once the decision was made that I felt it was from God. A peace that I can't describe, and almost a feeling of relief also. We still believed and still do that God can heal me and give us another baby, just like before. But the desire was gone, and so we were satisfied with the fact we had our one and at least we got to experience it at least once. There was just one thing, I had a hard time knowing that our daughter would grow up an only child. Not that there is anything wrong with being an only child, I just knew the longing she had for a sibling and I wished many a time for a playmate for her. So, I tried to look at the bright side, all the benefits of having an only child. Only thing is, all the benfits seemed to be for me and not her. Like no more sleepless nights, only 1 child to bathe, feed, clothe, etc. I even tried to read books encouraging families with only children, but none of what they said made sense to me! And I still had no desire for a baby. We had discussed adpotion before, even before having our own child, but we never pursued it. It was always a thought of maybe one day...maybe
Then last year, God began to deal with me on the issue. Embarassed to say, I tried not to think about it. It was too scary to acually think about...

An old unpublished post

I found this old unpublished post of Little Miss' preschool year:)

Easier than I thought

This is turning out to be a lot easier than I thought it would be. I can upload pics or type in between chores or lessons. We are learning about the 7 days of creation right now, fun and interesting. I just hope I keep up with posting!

 We have just recently started using an actual curriculum and this one began from Genesis. Each day as we learned what God created, our study has been on that. Now that we are done with the 7 days, we will go back to the 1st day of creation and study that for 10 days, 2nd day of creation for the next 10 days and so on. It includes science, math, writing, art and whatever else we decide to incorporate in it:)

 This was on her 6th day. She made a drawing for each day and now has her own 'book' on creation

 This is Adam and Eve:) She added a few animals after I took the picture

 This is what we've pretty much done prior to this. Painted, colored, explored the outdoors, did fun little hands on projects and read tons of books

It's Official!

Well...It's FINALLY official! What's finally official?? So glad you asked! WE ARE!! OUR HOME IS!! We signed our final papers last night at the adoption agency that certifies us by the state to foster/adopt;) We are finally done! And so glad to be done. We went to 13 classes of training for this, had to leave our daughter at various babysitter's each time(thanks you guys! you all are wonderful!), and prepared our home to meet state requirements for children to be placed in it. And all it cost us was time well spent, lots of energy, and even, ahem, a 'little' stress sprinkled with some tears. We even have a fancy certificate that we have to frame and has to be in clear view in our home. No problem with me! I will be proud to hang it in our home! I would've posted a pic of it but, umm, it has way too much info on it! lol. I will keep posting about our adoption story and how we made it to this point. So glad we are done with this part, still a long journey ahead..

Some camping pictures

                                                           

                                          Bike riding with Daddy

                                          Enjoying time spent with friends!

                                          Daddy teaching her how to fish

                                                      

                                             

                                    I could sit and listen to the to the sound of the river for hours..

                                          On a nature trail

Broken Bow,OK

Last week, we went on a 3 day camping trip with some of our friends to Broken Bow, OK. We had tons of fun! The scenery was absolutely breathtaking, hoping to upload some pics later today if I can figure out how:). We went canoing, bike riding (sorry no pics of that, not talented enough to take pics while riding up and down hills, just glad I survived the ride without crashing!), walking nature trails, fishing, relaxing, and eating lots of good food. It was a nice break from the everyday rush, and will probably be our last 'calm, quiet, and peaceful' vacation for a while! And that's perfectly okay with us. I have a feeling once we get the kiddos, vacation will be more work than relaxing... And yet, we can't wait!!

Our Adoption Story

Preface
January 1, 2011
Winter Heritage Youth Conference

 A small family of three rings in the new year, hand in hand, singing, shouting, praising God for his goodness and basking in His presence along with the youth from their church and close friends. Just a few minutes into the new year, husband and wife begin to discuss the mercies of God and what a difference He has made in their lives. How He brought them out from a world of confusion, sadness, hoplessness, with no direction and gave them peace, joy, hope and a future. They let God know that whatever He wants them to do, they'll do it glady. For they both know that God holds them and the future in His hands and they take great comfort in that. Immedietly, they know that God has something great in store for them THIS year. They can't pinpoint exactly what it will be, but they know, without a doubt, that it will be great. 
To be continued..
P.s. I have tears remembering that special night. It was awesome.

Here we go! I mean, grow!

Ok, I just purchased my 1st computer a few months ago, I am still learning all the fun (yeah right) ways to search and navigate the internet, I am finally getting the hang of email, and even though I usually go a few days of forgetting I have access to the internet, I am enjoying the idea of starting my own blog!! And no, I am not 60yrs old. I ran into an old friend recently that goes to church with some of my family and she reminded me that I wasn't 60, lol, when I told her I really wanted to start blogging but wasn't so sure of it all. So here we go! I aim to keep all things adoption posted and up to date, 'aim' being the key word:) Hope you enjoy watching our family grow...