Go and Tell

A Sweet Night for our Family

2012-02-13T13:01:00.000-08:00

For quite some time some of our dear, dear friends have been planning a fundraiser dinner for our adoption. And last Thursday night was the big night! To say that Shaun and I were completely humbled would be an understatement. It was amazing! Everything looked beautiful, the food was great, the silent auction was a hit, and the number of people who turned out just blew us away.

I think that one of the main things Shaun and I have learned throughout this adoption process is how to love others. And we've learned this by the way that we have been loved. Our friends and family (and even some acquaintances and strangers) have just been so caring, so loving, so generous......pointing us to Christ while they care for our family. It's hard to know what else to say except, THANK YOU!

Thank you to those who hosted, those who came, those who gave, those who pray....THANK YOU!

We LOVE you all and hope that we can show you and your families just how much!!

And we can't wait for our baby to one day be able to see who all came together to help bring him/her home! What a testimony to our whole family!

I took a few pictures of the night and I wish I had gotten more (of each and every person). But I guess I was too busy talking instead of "snapping".

The hostesses! Sorry boys, didn't get a picture of the husbands!

And some of the hosts/hostesses couldn't be there. You were missed!!!!

Here are the great auction items!!! There were tickets, paintings, autographed CDs, a great bottle of wine, crosses, accessories, a dress made by Sara Ellen, A Dozen Dresses, found on Facebook (my mother-in-law won the dress for me, by the way!!:) and more! Thanks so much for all who donated!

Hayes ran around the whole night and had so much fun playing with all his buddies. By the end of the night he was drenched with sweat and exhausted...and hungry since his mommy forgot to feed him. Thankfully daddy stepped in at the end!

Wishing I had taken more pictures but thankful for these that I can add to our adoption scrapbook. (Actually, there is no such thing as an "adoption scrapbook" at our house.....that's one of the reasons I blog!:)

Anyway, fun night filled with blessings. SO very thankful!!!

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And before I go, I would like to ask you to pray for the adoption process in Ethiopia. You know there have been lots of "bumps" in the road along the way, things that have slowed the process down. And now it seems that we waiting families are facing another bump in the road, which is causing even more delays. Hard to explain it all, just want to ask for prayer.

Please pray that God will show his favor on each step of the adoption process (referrals, court, embassy). Pray that the enemy will NOT get his hand in another step of this process. And pray that we will remember God's goodness while we continue to wait.

Have a good Monday!!

Sweet Spiderman

2012-02-09T12:35:00.000-08:00

Sweet little spiderman drew a picture of his future sibling today, which in his words, actually looks more like an "Ethiopian kid" than an "Ethiopian baby".

Have a happy Thursday! I'll be back soon to fill you in on what some awesome friends are doing for us tonight!!:)

It's Not About Me: Part 3

2012-02-03T13:13:00.000-08:00

Well, to start things off, our official numbers for January were #38 for a GIRL and #30 for a BOY, but I know we are really a couple lower than that (because of some referrals) so I am saying that for a BOY we are in the 20s!!!:) Come on teens!! Actually, come on referral because I am back to believing in the power of prayer (after that day's hiatus) and I'm praying big and bold!

So, on to PART 3:

Created for Care Retreat

(Click HERE for the C4C website)

Well, I've never been a very "retreaty" sort of gal. But for this one I was pumped! I will admit, though, that for the first few hours of the retreat (and off and on throughout) I was wondering what the heck I was doing there. I don't know if I expected to walk in and feel refreshed immediately or if I thought that by going all my many "issues" would just go away....I don't know. But what I do know is that the Lord was present there and He used the retreat to encourage me and challenge me in new ways.

First of all, I went with some awesome girls from home and our carride and roommate situation was perfect!

(Do I look tired in that picture or what!? I am not used to late nights anymore!! And I look like an amazon woman, too......hmm.....not my best picture but that's beside the point)

Anyway, at the retreat I got to meet and in some cases, re-meet, some precious women that I hope to always stay in contact with! It was a gift just to be around women in a similar situation (many who are right there with us on the AGC waitlist for Ethiopia!!).

Those are the other AGC mommas. Some have arrived home with their children and others are waiting (like us). I'm keeping this picture small because the way my pajama top bunched up, it makes me look like I had a tire around my waist.:) This was not my most glamorous weekend for pictures!!

So, what did God teach me at this retreat?

::God IS who he says he is and He will DO what he says he will do!
It's all through the Bible. Remember Abraham and Moses and Joshua, etc.....

::I need to replace the word "wait" with "hope"
The Spanish word, "esperar", means "to wait, to hope, to expect".
So, our waiting should not be without HOPE or EXPECTATION.
And that hope should ultimately be in what's eternal.....Jesus!

::Adoption is hard. Parenting, in general, is hard. So as parents we should believe for ourselves and our children that GOD IS BIGGER.
God is bigger than any obstacle, any problem we run into. God is BIGGER!

::In my parenting, I must remember that 'I'm a mommy that Jesus loves'.
In believing that simple statement, I gain:
Freedom: freedom to be myself, to mess up, to rest in Jesus
Power: power to be creative, to be patient and wise, power to pray
Intimacy: intimacy with Jesus, trusting in his love, passing that on to my children

::Our children need words of affirmation and words of TRUTH spoken to them.
"You is kind. You is smart. You is important." from The Help (my favorite book and movie)
Our children are starving for words of affirmation, words of truth. So look for the treasure in your child/children and speak words of life and truth into them. Give them language to think about who they are.
A great idea: To pick out a bible verse for each of your children for the year. Put that verse up in your house and pray over that scripture with and for your children. Help them to hide those words in their heart, so that it becomes natural for them to think and live that way!

::And the standout quote from the retreat:
"The world sees an orphan but Jesus sees disciples and kings."
The main speaker, Susan Hillis, said those words and they have stuck with me ever since. So powerful.
Adopting (and parenting) is for such a greater purpose than for just becoming a mommy or a daddy, or enjoying your child. It's purpose is greater than just bringing a child into your home, dressing them in cute clothes and feeding them well.
Adoption (and parenting, really) is about obedience to God, walking in faith, and teaching your children about the Lord. It's about making an impact for Christ on this generation and the next, and the next, and the next. That is what our prayer should be, that God will bring our children to himself and make them disciples.

Matthew 28:19-20, "Therefore GO and make disciples of ALL NATIONS, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Proverbs 22:6, "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."

So when we ended the retreat, with all 400+ women holding hands being led in prayer for our children, that NOT ONE of the more than 1,000 children represented there (home and not yet home) would live a life without Christ, I could barely hold back the tears. What precious gift to be able to stand with those women, praying for our children, children from ALL NATIONS to know Jesus. To me, that was worth the trip. Pretty amazing.

::Now that I'm home............
I'm processing, I'm praying, I'm reflecting.
I'm loving on my husband and child one minute and messing up as a wife and mommy the next.
I'm depending a lot on grace.
I'm trying to replace "waiting" with "hoping" and I'm trying to trust in God's big picture for our family.
I'm having fewer tears and a lot more peace. (hopefully that will last!:)

And I'm remembering the scripture that the Lord showed me during my "Date with God" at the conference. (An explanation on a "date with God" is another blog for another day!)
I was asking God to show me some scripture of encouragement and here is where he led me:

Psalm 6:6-7
"I am worn out from groaning; all night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes."
vs. 8- 9
"....for the Lord has heard my weeping. The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer."

I wouldn't say that my bed and couch have been drenched with my tears but I have definitely been shedding a few! And the last verse just reassured me that I am loved and remembered, that my crying and praying is not in vain........"the Lord has heard.......the Lord accepts my prayer."
He accepts yours too!

Well, that's the end of this trilogy!! Parts 1, 2, and 3...DONE!
Something lighthearted next, I promise!

It's not about me: Part 2

2012-01-30T13:45:00.000-08:00

One hope that I have with this blog is that my children will read it one day. And when they do I hope they will see the story of their life unfold and believe with all of their hearts that their heavenly father loves them. I hope they see their life as a gift from a very powerful and detail oriented God. And of course, I hope they see how very much their earthly parents love them, prayed for them, and fought for them, especially when we felt tired, worn out and "done".

But when our child hears the word "done" I want one thing to be clear;

Sweet child, through all the bumps and tears and waiting, we were never "done" with YOU. Never. Though sometimes we felt tired and like our journey would never end, we knew there was a YOU and we knew you were worth it. Totally and completely worth it. So please know that your parents are not perfect, far from it, in fact, and at times we grew impatient. We even tried different short cuts to get to YOU. But thankfully, your heavenly father is perfect and He kept us on the right path, HIS path, that led us straight to YOU. And no matter how hard, how bumpy or how long, we are so thankful that God gave us the grace to endure. Because YOU were the ONE intended for us and we love you so!

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Now for PART 2:

I've been learning for quite some time that life is not all about me. Obviously this is something that's hard for me to grasp so God has to keep teaching and re-teaching me. Good thing he's more patient than I am!!

One other thing I've learned over the past few years is that when life gets hard and prayers seem to go "unanswered", then it's probably a good idea to shift the prayers off of myself and towards others.

Last week the Lord reminded me that a very important person I should be praying for daily is our birthmother. And he reminded me of this through Hayes.

(Hayes, when you read this one day, please know how much you have taught your mommy. You are one special child and I see the Lord working in your heart on a daily basis. I pray that you will always have a passionate heart for the Lord and for others. And I can't wait to see how the Lord uses all that you are learning through this adoption (of your brother or sister) in your life later on. )

Last week while I was bathing Hayes, he was singing one of his 900 made up songs and to tell you the truth, I wasn't paying much attention to the words. His songs are usually pretty entertaining. Sometimes they are silly and make absolutely no sense and other times the boy sings the gospel with some major passion, ya'll!

Well, as I was bathing him I noticed that his song was to a familiar tune and that he seemed to be repeating it over and over in the softest, sweetest voice. I began to catch a few of the words and to tell you the truth, what I heard floored me! Here's what he was singing:

"Soothe and care the child's mom, the child's mom, the child's mom.

Soothe and care the child's mom, because she has none."

I was pretty speechless because I had a good feeling I knew what he was singing about but I stopped him anyway and said, "Hayes, I really love that song. What is it about?"

And to that he answered simply, "It's about 'Epianopia'".

I know that the Lord used Hayes to remind me that my prayers should be focused on her and not me. My troubles are small compared to hers and my sacrifice, not even comparable. She loves a child very much that for some reason, she will have to give up. And as a result, her grief will suddenly become our joy.

I know Hayes may not understand the depth of his words. But I am thankful that the Lord used his sweet mouth to sing a song that was once again a reminder to me that life is not all about me.

"From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise...." Psalm 8:2

Part 3 (the final part, I promise!) is coming soon! And it has a lot to do with the adoption retreat, Created for Care, that I went to this past weekend.

Be back soon!:)

It's not about me....well, maybe a little bit: Part ONE

2012-01-30T09:31:00.000-08:00

I think the hardest part of not blogging regularly is coming back to it and knowing where to start. And to tell you the truth, right now I don't really know where to start. So I guess I'll start with the struggle.

The Struggle

It's no secret that lately I've been feeling worn out. And frankly, that's just the beginning. Because on top of the exhaustion has been some anger and if I'm being completely honest, some envy, as well.

So, just to put it all out there, I've been worn out from the adoption process, angry that life is not going my way, and envious of others whose lives are where I thought mine would be.

Get the picture? But that's not even the worst of it.

The worst part is that in response to all of these emotions, I declared to myself (and a few others) that I was "done". I was sick of waiting, sick of hoping and tired of praying for things that just weren't going my way. Therefore, I was not going to pray about our adoption for a while because, well, to tell you the truth, I didn't even know how to pray anymore. In my mind, I had cried out to God long enough. "God, how long must we wait? Lord, do you still hear us? Do you remember that we said 'yes' to adoption? God, what are you doing with us?"

God's work in me

Some of you know that when you are God's child and you make the choice to turn your back on him, the good news is that he doesn't turn his back on you. And thankfully I am God's child and he loves me so much that he didn't let me stay in this pits for long. In fact, the morning after I declared that I wouldn't be praying about our adoption anymore, I opened my bible. (Something I hadn't done in days.) And I turned to Isaiah 1 simply because I was supposed to read it for bible study. In it, Isaiah is telling the people of Judah that their sin is destroying them. And verses 16 and 17 said this, "Stop doing wrong, learn to do right. Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow."

Well, immediately I was convicted. This is not about me. Yes, this is a faith walk and yes, the Lord is working in me and changing my heart but ultimately, this is not about me. Life is not about me.

Our family was called to adopt. And somewhere in Ethiopia is a baby, possibly still in the womb, who will be born and for some reason abandoned. And that baby will be labeled "fatherless", "orphan". But at the same time, that "orphan" is ours and my job is to "defend" him/her, to pray for him, to fight for him, and to eventually bring him home. And what I heard from the scripture was this, "Meg, 'stop doing wrong'. How could you even think about not praying for this adoption anymore? You are tired and you may seem helpless but I have given you the power of prayer and that is the one way that you can fight for your child (and others) right now. Don't stop praying."

So, of course, I stopped that very moment and I prayed. I prayed for our child and for orphans all over this world. And I prayed for God to continue to show me how to pray, how to endure and how to be faithful to Him like he is to me.

The good news is that God has been answering that prayer. For the past couple of weeks, God has slowly and at times, very subtly been convicting me and re-shaping my heart.

More to come in PART 2

Freedom

2012-01-17T06:55:00.000-08:00

I'm sure you've noticed that I haven't been very consistent in my blogging lately. I don't know. It's just one of those weird times and I'm struggling to know if I should really write about what's going on in my mind and heart or not. It's a battle that I go through often with this whole blogging thing and it never fails that when I am thinking that I will just give it all up, God sends me encouragement to continue.

So let me just say this. I am NOT going to stop blogging, at least not now. But as I sort through some heart issues, I think I need to just give myself some FREEDOM to abstain from blogging from time to time. Sometimes I put pressure on myself to write even when I don't feel like it. And 9 out of 10 times, I end up thankful that I did. But, I just want to put this out there so that if a week or two go by and I haven't posted anything then you'll know......nothing's wrong. It's just the freedom I'm giving myself not to blog.

I know that there are a couple of real "blog-worthy" events coming up that I will want to write about, so definitely stay tuned. And of course, if anything major happens with our adoption I'll post it in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS!!!!!!!!!!! And who knows!? Next week, I might feel like pouring my heart out to you (whoever you are)!

But for now, I'm going to breathe, try to figure out how to pray for our future, read, invest in people, stay busy and get out of this little funk that I'm in.

So, have a great Tuesday and I'll be back sometime soon!:)

12 Random Things of 2012

2012-01-09T08:04:00.000-08:00

1. I know I've done a terrible job updating you all on our waitlist numbers. You might have guessed that it is because there has been very little movement and my words for November I believe were, "I am so over the whole number thing!" But, there has been some movement lately and I think our January numbers will be pretty good. (haven't gotten them, yet). But for those of you who are interested, for November we were #44 Girl, #33 Boy (yes, we went backwards) and for December we were #41 Girl and #30 Boy. AND I think for January we are out of the 40s for a girl and out of the 30s for a boy! FINALLY!!!

2. Along those same lines, we are praying for some major movement on the referral end of things. And we are praising God that the government in Ethiopia does seem to be approving adoptions (at least for our agency) and we pray that continues!

3. And on a totally non-adoption note......there is a certain 4 year old at our house who is STILL singing Christmas songs! Will it ever end?!

4. Speaking of that boy, he's been helping me paint our bathroom and he's actually a pretty good painter. Of course, I just randomly started painting my bathroom because I got sick of how ugly it is and thought a little paint would help. And, as usual, it has turned into more of a job than I bargained for.

5. And while I was painting on Saturday, I was also making my husband an awesome meal that he requested. Can I just toot my own horn for a second?! You know Shaun is a huge Saint's fan and we both LOVE New Orleans and its' good food. SO, in honor of the Saint's game on Saturday, Shaun requested this menu: Seafood Gumbo, Shrimp Poboys AND fried pickles (to put on the poboys). Yep, quite an undertaking! But, I was ready for the challenge and to tell you the truth, I thought it sounded pretty good myself. And the results....drumroll please.....DELICIOUS!!!:) I'm here to tell you, it was good and I was proud of myself. So much so that at dinner I said, "What a day! I mean, today I've painted a bathroom, and made this meal!" (humble, I know!:) To which Hayes replied, "Mommy, you are rollin'!!!"

6. Speaking of rollin', I've got to get rolling! Lots to do, better speed this up!

7. I have to mention this. Our new favorite thing is an idea I saw several times on Facebook. We took all of our Christmas cards people sent us and put them in a bag. Each night Hayes draws a card out of the bag at dinner time. We talk about that family during dinner and discuss how we should pray for them. Then after we eat, we spend a couple of minutes praying. It's been great! I would highly recommend it!

8. Did I mention that while painting my bathroom we broke the mirror that hangs above our sinks? Oh, yes. I was pulling painters tape off of it when it came out of the wall on top of me. Thankfully I caught it and Shaun came to my rescue! But as we were setting it down on the tile....crack! I actually kind of like NOT having a mirror, though. I never like looking at my face when I wake up in the morning. But after a little while this morning of not knowing what I looked like I decided, for Shaun's sake, to take a peek in Hayes' mirror. Whew! Horrors. How do people on movies wake up looking glamorous?

9. And speaking of faces, my friend, Kerry, is selling Faces of Adoption calendars. She and her photographer friend, Allison, created these awesome calendars of adopted children in our area. Kerry is selling them to raise money for their adoption (a precious boy from China) and to give to Lifeline Children's Services. Go HERE to purchase one!! I know you will be glad you did and you will never grow tired of looking at those sweet faces.

10. And that reminds me of a book my mom gave me for Christmas that I just finished, The Sweetest Thing by Elizabeth Musser. It would be categorized in the Christian fiction genre but it is NOT cheesy. I repeat. Not cheesy! In fact, it's wonderful! I couldn't get enough of the characters and I couldn't put it down either. I read it in just a couple of days! Such a great story of friendship and faith!

11. And something else sweet is what Hayes said last week. I overheard him telling Shaun, "Daddy, I have this prayer that is stuck in my head and it won't go away. It's 'Please God, let us have our baby. Please God bring our baby home now!'"

Whew. Tugs at my heart.

12. And finally, a verse from Jesus Calling today. It's on my mind and in my prayers, "For nothing is impossible with God." Luke 1:37

Happy Monday!!

New Years, Grumpiness, Cooties and HOPE

2012-01-02T09:34:00.000-08:00

We had a great New Year's Eve, very low key. Had some friends over, ate burgers, watched some Auburn football (war eagle!) and shot a few fire works. Look at these cuties!

And our Sunday (New Year's Day) started out great. We had a slow start to the morning, enjoyed some family time, church and a restful afternoon. I even had this great blog post running through my mind and it was all about HOPE. I'll get to that in a minute. But first, before I write some ooey gooey truths about HOPE, I have to write the not so sweet truth about our night last night. I really, really want to get to the part about HOPE but I can't until I confess how grumpy I've been. I mean, as I write this I am still getting "the grumps" out (if I'm being completely honest).

So, last night. A little time at the park, soup on the stove, taking down Christmas decorations, cheery family. Then it was dinner time. And it was one of those times when we were constantly saying, "Hayes, eat your supper. Hayes, use your manners." Over and over and over. And to be honest, I was ~~probably~~ getting a little annoyed. But Shaun and I were continuing to have some good conversation, even laughing about all the unexpected circumstances/ expenses we had this past year (new roof, new hot water heater, car repairs, 2 wrecks, root canal, etc.....) And the reason that conversation even started was because as we were putting away Christmas decorations before dinner, I found my missing cell phone (went missing this time last year) in a box of Christmas decorations. Ha! And the cell phone reminded me of the wreck I also had this time last year and we were just kind of laughing about all the craziness. Then we reflected a little about how God provided for us with EVERYone of those expenses and not only did he provide but he protected us. So my heart was thankful. But somehow, completely out of nowhere, I found myself going from being thankful and enjoying my night to being just plain annoyed. And I didn't know why. So as I cleaned up dinner I became grumpier and grumpier and when Hayes asked me to play the game, Cootie, I agreed even though I really didn't want to. And the night went downhill from there.

Cootie. The. Most. Annoying. Game. Ever. There, I said it. It was a sweet gift from someone we love (who doesn't read my blog, by the way) and tonight was my first time to play it. And let me just say that it would be cute if it weren't a game....if you could just create a "cootie" for the fun of it, like Mr. Potato Head (which we might be doing from now on, by the way). Anyway, it was my first time to play and the game was not going my way. I was rolling the dice and my turn was getting skipped every time. In other words, I wasn't getting to build my "cootie". (This sounds ridiculous, doesn't it!?)The game just seemed a little pointless to me. And....since I was in such a "pleasant" mood, I might have commented that I thought it was a dumb game. And I might have even mentioned something about throwing the game out the window. I don't know. But the next thing I know, Hayes is crying and asking me to please not throw his game out the window because it is his new game he got for Christmas and he loves it.

Oops! Guess I am not getting the mom of the year award, huh?

SO I'm thinking that maybe I took my grumpiness too far (and at this point I don't even know why I got grumpy to begin with!)!!

Time for reflection. (after appologies, of course)

Ok. I know why I got grumpy.

A lack of faith and low expectations.

That's it. That's why. I had been on a
"hopeful high" through Christmas and New Year's but as soon as we started talking through the trials of this past year, my expectations sunk. Instead of dwelling on how faithful God was through it all, and on how blessed we truly are as a family, I began (deep down) dwelling on the crap and honestly, expecting more crap in 2012.

Wrong way to start the new year!!!

So scratch all of that. There will be no more grumpiness today. And tomorrow I will pray for the grace to be joyful again, taking each day one day at a time. Because this year I truly am HOPEFUL. Even if I have to remind myself each day as I wake up, and throughout the day if things aren't going quite right, I WILL BE HOPEFUL.

And what am I hopeful in? Well, I'm hopeful in Jesus.

Yes, I hope for no more car trouble. And I hope our basement doesn't flood again. And of course, I hope this is the year we bring more children into our home. But if I am really placing my hope in those things, then I am setting myself up for some major disappointment. Because if my hope is in our car and our car does break down (and we all know our track record is not that great!), I might lose my mind. And if my hope is in bringing our baby home and something falls through, well, you might not want to be around me. And honestly, if my hope is in our baby and we do bring him/her home, then how am I going to handle the sleepless nights and tough days? Ultimately, we all know that my happiness and fulfilment is not in my home, my car, or in my children. Because those things will fail me and most definitely will not complete me.

So this year, I am going to strive (key word there) to place my hope in the ONE who will never fail me and the one who does complete me. I am choosing to place my hope in Jesus. And I can't wait to see what my Jesus has in store for us in 2012!!

(By the way, as I write this my exact thoughts running through my mind are: "My baby better come home this year, dadgummit.")

I guess I've got a long way to go. It might take some repetition in my mind.....My hope is in Jesus. My hope is in Jesus. My hope is in Jesus.....

Happy New Year! Hope your HOPE is in Jesus, too!!!

Christmas

2011-12-30T06:12:00.000-08:00

It's hard to even know where to begin with a "post-Christmas post". I do have to say that our time was busy, of course, but also lots of fun. And the busy was good. Christmas was good. Fun, crazy, good.

I guess I'll do pictures and captions, with maybe a few explanations. Here it goes.....

Before Christmas we had some company for a few nights which was fun. Our friends, the Petersons, moved out of town but came here to celebrate Christmas with some family. And they got to stay with us! Hayes loved waking up to Kathryn for a couple of mornings!

We spent Christmas Eve with Shaun's family and had a great time!

We headed to my parents' house late that night to wake up there Christmas morning. And this was the first year in many years that I've gotten to spend Christmas day with my sister. It goes without saying how much Hayes LOVED waking up with some of his cousins!

He woke up with A LOT of excitement but we wouldn't let them come downstairs until everyone was awake. Torture, I know! So they crowded around Uncle John's phone and watched a movie.

Then it was time and we lined them up youngest to oldest (like my siblings and I used to do!:).

And finally the present opening began!

Christmas breakfast might have been one of my favorite parts of the whole day. (of course, mom's eggs benedict was DELICIOUS!) But our conversation was pretty precious, too! The men read the Christmas story, we sang, and then my dad asked the children to share their thoughts about Jesus' birth. It was a sweet discussion and a good reminder of what we were celebrating.

Of course, the rest of the crew came over after church for even more food, presents and fun.....

Then Christmas night we were off to the annual Shugart family Christmas! Always a FUN night and this year it seemed even more special to me. I think that is because many in our family have had a tough year. 2011 brought some major challenges and life changes for lots of family members. But on Christmas night we were able to get together, act goofy, reflect on the year, give thanks for family and acknowledge that the Lord is good and he DOES provide. As one of my uncles said in his prayer, afterall, Jesus is our HOPE.

Of course, there was karaoke......

For ALL ages.......

Plus weird Dirty Santa gifts.....

And by the end of the night, some very tired little ones......

But it was a good tired because the day had been so much fun!
I wish I had our family picture we took at my parents' house but it is on my bro-in-law's camera......maybe I will get a copy soon!
We also got to spend some good time with my Dad's family but I don't have a single picture which is a bummer.....I think I was too busy chasing Hayes around the yard in his new riding toy!:)

Well, that is all for now! I hope your Christmas was filled with joy and HOPE in Jesus!
Have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-21T06:59:00.000-08:00

My niece called yesterday and said, "Aunt Meg, are you going to send us a Christmas card?"

I told her that I already had but apparently they didn't get it. Ugh. I wonder who else didn't get our card!?!

So, in order to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, here is our card for this year.

And the insert said:

JOY to the WORLD!

And greetings from the DeCoudres family!

2011 has been a life changing year for us. Most of you know that in 2010 we felt called to bring our next child home from Ethiopia through the process of adoption. We were just sure that this year we would have another little face to add to our Christmas card. Obviously we do not and, of course, that is disappointing. But as we wait, we are constantly reminded of how our Savior so graciously adopted us into his family, the family of believers. What a gift! So this Christmas, as we celebrate the birth of our Lord, we pray that you, too, will know Jesus and give thanks for your adoption into his family. We pray 2012 brings new blessings to our family and to yours.

Have a very Merry Christmas!

Love, Shaun, Meg and Hayes

But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, "Abba, Father." Galatians 4:4-6

Holy Cow! It's Fabulous!

2011-12-15T06:57:00.000-08:00

That's pretty much what Hayes thinks about everything "Christmasy"!! But those were his particular words last night as we watched a light show someone in our community did. It really was cool because they designed all their lights to blink and "dance" to music. All you had to do was park outside their house, tune in to a particular radio station and if you are 4 years old, stick your head out the window and exclaim, "Holy Cow! It's fabulous!!!"

I have to admit, blogging has not been a top priority of mine for the last week or so. But I did want to sit down today and do a little re-cap of our lives. It will be good for me to sit down, breathe and think for just a minute, anyway!

Last Thursday I got to help decorate and serve at a table for the Lovelady Christmas dinner. Loved it! If you don't know what the Lovelady Center is, read about it HERE. It was an honor to spend time with those women who are turning their lives around AND who are very quick to give the credit to the Lord.

Friday was Shaun's work party. Saturday we went to Atlanta for the day with my family and our friends the O'Ferralls and the Breazeales. It was always a Christmas tradition when we were younger to go to the Atlanta Symphony and now that we have young children we are trying to carry on the tradition. We had so much fun! Hayes was out of control with excitement but he did sit through the symphony and he loved the African song (Betelehemu) sung by the Morehouse College choir. They are awesome, by the way!! We did miss our other sisters (Emily and Toy) but were glad for the opportunity for some of us to get together!

Sunday I woke up with my second migraine of the week. (Don't know what's going on with that!) So I missed our church's choir program and our Sunday School party that night.

Monday I was feeling better so Hayes and I headed to my parents' house for the night. Hayes worked on this:

And found spots for candy that mom and I didn't know existed! It was one fancy gingerbread house when he was finally finished with it!

And isn't this the cutest idea? He did this at school.

The three kings riding camels......loved this!!

And if you haven't gotten a copy of this book, yet, then go to Amazon.com and order one NOW!

I'ts WONDERFUL!

Several people had recommended it to me so I got it. I'm always looking for a good book about the true Christmas story and this one is written by the same author of the Jesus Storybook Bible.

Such a neat and powerful perspective of the night Jesus was born.

Some of my favorite lines:

"The animals stood around his bed. And the whole earth and all the stars and sky held its breath......"The One who made us has come to live with us!""

and then the last words of the book,

"Heaven's Son sleeping under the stars that he made."

I promise you and your children or grandchildren will love it! So get it today!

So that's about it. Lots going on, like with all of you, I'm sure!! I'll try to post our Christmas card later but first I should probably mail them all out. Whew!

Nothing new on the adoption front to share. Except for the fact that Hayes wanted the baby's stocking up so that he could "remember his baby". So, of course, I'm not going to deny that! But what to fill it with?? Well, for starters, some skin and hair products. I ordered that sweet little baby some HAIR BUTTER! Hayes asked me what that was for and I tried my best to explain that our beautiful brown skinned baby would have a different hair texture. I told him that we would have to put different products on his/her hair to make it calm down and look beautiful.

At lunch that day, this was Hayes' prayer:
"Dear Lord, thank you for this food. And thank you for hair butter. I do not think it will taste good but at least our baby won't look crazy! Amen!"

Have a good Thursday!!

Strange Little Gingerbread Men and such....

2011-12-08T07:48:00.000-08:00

Even though I feel like we are REALLY busy right now I find myself trying to come up with extra activities to keep one very excited 4 year old happy and occupied. Otherwise he is bouncing off the walls...literally. In fact, right now I am dodging a tape measurer that keeps coming WAY too close to my head as he measures the curtains next to me.

But coming up with fun, inexpensive activities to do every day can be a challenge. Here are some of our ideas:

::We made a paper chain to count down the days to Christmas (one of these days I'll get (or make) an actual advent calendar but for now the paper chain is just fine.)

::We've made numerous trips to the Library. Do you remember the book, The Tale of Three Trees? I love it and I had forgotten what a great book it is!

::We've also been playing a lot of this game:

It's one of the BEST children's games (fun, easy, not annoying)! We play it almost everyday!

::And we've been baking.

Now, I consider myself to be pretty crafty but when it comes to Gingerbread men, well........

Some of them turned out a little strange. Don't ya think?

Most of the boys are ok (except for the one with the green eyes but that's Hayes' fault).

Look at the poor ladies up top, though. They are supposed to be angels but they are far from glorious looking, in my opinion.

Oh, well! We surely did have fun making them.

Anyway, just a few ideas if you need some. Hayes is literally in my face right now singing JOY to the WORLD and giggling so I'm gonna go.
Have a happy Thursday!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

2011-12-05T07:49:00.000-08:00

We're just decorating and shopping and getting ready for Christmas around here. AND trying to keep one very hyper, very excited little boy under control. Whew! I don't think he has stopped talking or singing since our tree went up last week!

It is impossible not to have fun with this crazy guy around. Such a blessing!

::::::::::::::

Ok, I have to tell this story only because I want to document it. Ya'll are going to think I'm crazy (of course you probably already think I'm nuts!) but this really did happen! And the reason I want to document it is because one day, when our adoption story unfolds, I know we will look back at times when we felt a strong urge to pray and see why prayer was needed on that particular day. There have been several times throughout this journey that I have felt an overwhelming sense that I needed to stop what I was doing and pray. But this particular situation had never happened to me and I can't wait to see what God does with it!! (or maybe I'll never know)

Anyway, last Thursday (December 1st), I put Hayes down for his nap and had great plans of eating some chocolate ice cream, shopping on-line and watching meaningless TV. I was a little grumpy and I had no desire to spend time with the Lord. In fact when I walked into my bedroom with plans to totally veg out, I actually said out loud (like a crazy person...i promise I don't normally talk to myself), "Lord, I will talk to you later, but right now I don't even want to think about this adoption."

(I told ya'll, I'm nuts!)

So I sat down at my computer to shop, turned on the TV to watch re-runs of something stupid, and took my first bite of ice cream when............everything went OUT! The TV, the phones, the cable, everything!

Well, I knew that was not a coincidence. So, I took the hint and (while my ice cream melted) I prayed. I prayed for our baby, prayed for the birth mom, prayed for a MIRACLE. And I promise you, as soon as I said, "Amen", everything came back ON!!! Seriously!

I know that sounds absurd but I promise it is true and all I could do was laugh. (while being a little freaked out, I'll admit.)

So there's my story. I talk to myself and I'm a nut but God is at work and I hope that one day I know why He wanted me to pray at 2:00pm on December 1, 2011!!

Have a happy Monday!

Why Is Adoption So Hard?

2011-11-29T07:43:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas, LOVE IT! I love the sights, the sounds, the smells, everything. But as we approach this Christmas season, a time where my focus should totally be on my Savior and not on myself, I find myself having a gigantic lump in my throat. Every. Single. Day. The holidays always bring about emotions but this year, in particular, might be especially emotional for me. I thought we'd have our baby by now, or at least a beautiful picture to look at with plans to travel. But that's not the case at all. And it doesn't help that on December 13th we will have been on the wait list for one whole year. That's a long time. Longer than a pregnancy. Longer than any mom and dad should have to wait to meet their child.

Yep, this time last year we were just sure that 2011 would bring a new baby into our family. And as we approach 2012 I'm disappointed, to say the least.

Disappointed, sad, frustrated, hopeful, longing.....the list goes on and on. And as I juggle all these feelings I just have to blurt it out:

Adoption is so dang hard!

And I've spent a lot of time lately thinking about adoption and why it is as hard as it is.
Want to know what I've come up with?
It's because it is so unnatural.

Think about it. When God created the world he made a man and a woman and told them to "Be fruitful and increase in number." That certainly didn't mean for them to adopt because they were the only people in all of creation at the time. No, he told them to "be fruitful and multiply" and that meant to have sex and fill the earth with children. And at the time that God spoke those words, the world was perfect. There was no sin. His intentions were for man and woman to have children, take care of them, teach them about Him and to continue the cycle from generation to generation.

So what went wrong?

Sin. Sin crept in, in the form of a snake and from then on the world would be far from perfect. From then on, couples would reproduce and some would fail to take care of their children. From then on children would be born to parents who would die and leave them to wander the streets. From then on, there would be disease and sadness and irresponsible people. From then on, there would be a great NEED for adoption.

Want to know what else happened the moment sin crept in and the world became imperfect? Infertility.

God gave a command to Adam and Eve (and to us) to "be fruitful and increase in number" but then they sinned and from that moment on, no matter how hard some of us try, we can't fulfill that command with our own bodies. Not for anything we've done, and not for a lack of trying, but because this world is not perfect. And what God created to be so natural, for a woman to become pregnant and bear children has become so unnatural for some. But the longing is still there. That's where it hurts. We were created to do something that our bodies just won't do- and it hurts.

For Shaun and me, God used that hurt to break us and to bring us to a point where our hearts were opened to adoption. And for a brief time, we were filled with peace. Thankful to have been called to something so beautiful and wonderful. Thankful for direction.

And we are still thankful. In fact, we can't imagine our lives without the call to adopt. But as we continue our journey, we encounter new emotions every day. New longings and hurts, feelings we never knew existed. That's because God brought us out of one unnatural situation, infertility, and placed us in another very unnatural situation, adoption.

As I write I hope you understand that I believe in a sovereign God. I believe that God created the world to be perfect but he knew it would not stay that way. So when I say that God planned our family (including all of our children, biological and adopted) from the beginning of time, that's the truth. God knew sin would creep into this world and he knew children would be left as orphans. So he knew that some families (including ours) would need to rise up and adopt. It's redemption isn't it?

God made us. We sin and desperately need a savior. He sent his son to die. We're saved, adopted into the family of God.

Which is the picture we see in adoption:

God made every child and because of the fall, some children are orphans, "fatherless". They desperately need a family. God planned families and called some to adopt. Families answer the call and are united with their children. The child is an orphan no more.
BEAUTIFUL!

But just because we are called to adopt. And just because He gives us the grace to be obedient, and just because it is a BEAUTIFUL picture of redemption, that doesn't mean things will be easy. In fact, there is nothing easy about adoption. Because to us, it's unnatural.

At the time of creation, God never intended for a woman to have a child and abandon him/her. Or for a woman to die in childbirth and leave her child an orphan. Or for a family to have no money to support their children.
That was not part of God's original plan.

Just the same, it's not natural for a family to long for children and not be able to have them. And it's not natural for a child (my child) to be born to another woman. And it's certainly not natural for our children to be born in another country, thousands of miles away. There's nothing that feels natural about that.

It's not natural to have to prove yourself on paper to be a fit parent. And it's not natural for a child to live in an institution, an orphanage, without a family.

And so, for an adoptive parent, these unnatural feelings turn into heart heavy emotions, as we take our place in God's redemptive plan.
We long to meet our child in a third world country thousands of miles away, instead of in a hospital room minutes down the road. We fill out papers and get fingerprinted to prove our ability to be good parents, instead of conceiving and giving birth. We wonder each day if today is the day good news will come, wondering how much longer the process will take, instead of writing our due date on a calendar and feeling labor pains (another result of the fall, I might add) when the time has come.

Oh, I feel labor pains. I've felt them for over a year now. 6 months of paperwork. A year on the waitlist and no "due date" in sight. Completely unnatural, yet somehow, in God's redemptive plan, beautiful.

So that's it. That's why adoption is so hard. Because in a perfect world, there would be no orphans, and therefore no need for adoption. But we don't live in a perfect world do we? Neither did our savior. He made himself lowly by coming down into our sinful world, yet he managed to live a perfect life. Though tempted and persecuted, shamed and scorned, he remained faithful to his father, sinless, loving those who hurt him and taking on their sin, our sin, adopting us into his family And though it was painful and completely unnatural for a KING, he was obedient and get this......JOYFUL (John 17:13).

So, yes, adoption is hard. It is a long process and at times completely uncomfortable. It has brought every emotion that was hiding deep in my heart to surface and it has given me this gigantic lump in my throat that won't go away. But the seemingly unnatural truth is this: We have a baby thousands of miles away that we have not seen, but that we love......deeply. We have a child that we are waiting on, holding out for, chomping at the bit to meet. We have a child who needs to see the gospel in action. And we will move forward, each day, praying, hoping, trusting, juggling emotions, relying on His grace and being reminded of the gospel THROUGH THIS CHILD.

Adoption.
It's unnatural. But necessary. It's messy. But beautiful. It's hard. But so worth it. It is the gospel.

The other day I was struggling to even know what to feel. I was pleading with God to give us our child...and soon. I was praising Him for calling us to adopt. I was frustrated over the wait and angry over our lack of movement (we actually went backwards one spot on the boy list this month...another story for another day).
So I prayed. And I asked the Lord to direct me to scripture that would encourage me and give me strength for that day.
When I opened my bible, I was staring straight at Psalms 77 and 78, titled in my bible, "Remember the deeds of the Lord" and "Teach the Children the Deeds of the Lord".
I'll end this post (finally, right?!) with some of those verses but first I have to say that God used that scripture in a mighty way with me that day. He reminded me that He is "the God who performs miracles". And that He has done great things in the past, and he continues to do great things, things that we MUST teach our children, "even the children yet to be born".
I don't know what all God has in store for us but I do know that we have great things to teach Hayes and we WILL have great things to teach our other children. Because it is our prayer that ALL of our children "know the wonders He has done" and so "put their trust in God."
We DO serve an awesome and powerful God, "the God who perfoms miracles."
Now I'm praying BOLDLY for a miracle!!!

Psalm 77:7-14
"Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never show his favor again? Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time? Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion? Then I thought, 'To this I will appeal; the years of the right hand of the Most High." I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds. Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God? You are THE GOD WHO PERFORMS MIRACLES; you display your power among the peoples."

Psalm 78:4-7
"We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done. He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. They they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands."

Our Thanksgiving

2011-11-28T09:31:00.000-08:00

I think this is the first time I have had a chance to sit down at my computer since my last post. Our Thanksgiving was good and very busy. We were in town with Shaun's family and Hayes had a great time with all the cousins.

For the first time I attempted to make my Grandmom's dressing recipe and I think (after a few phone calls to my mom) it turned out pretty well. And yes, Thursday night I was eating it cold straight from the fridge which is my favorite way to eat it!

Of course, Saturday we watched the Auburn/Alabama game and were bummed that Auburn lost. Last year was definitely our year and this year definitely is not (It's Alabama's, though!). Hayes said we would get "creamed" and we did! Oh well, life is much bigger than football (even though some people in the state of Alabama don't think so....and I'm talking about from both sides....whew!!!)

Another highlight of our holiday was that Shaun was home for 4 days in a row. We love having daddy home. AND, we got to have our first fire in our fireplace. Several years ago we uncovered a fireplace in our house that had been covered with sheetrock by the previous owners. We have been afraid to use it because we thought it had ventilation problems. But, last week a chimney guy came to look at it and said we were good to go!!! My boys were beyond excited. (What is it with boys and fire?) And we've had fun sitting by the fireplace at night playing games and just hanging out.

This is not a good picture but I wanted to document Hayes in his baseball gloves setting up the fire. You know the boy has to put on something (gloves, hat, etc.) for every event around here!

Now we are bundling up for this new cold weather and waiting for the rain to stop so that we can get our Christmas tree. We are ready to decorate!

That's about all for this post. I have a lot more on my heart that I'll share in a post later today.

Happy Monday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-22T06:57:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been knee deep in moss and running around like crazy so I haven't had a chance to post anything lately. Funny how things get SO much busier around the holidays, even one where all you're supposed to do is BE THANKFUL. Don't you love Thanksgiving? No presents, just food, family, and giving thanks. I love it!

And speaking of Thanksgiving, we had a cute little Indian last week who got VERY into his Thanksgiving program. This precious guy sang his little heart out and did every motion to the max!! So cute!

Hayes, we are SO THANKFUL for Y-O-U!!!!

In between Thanksgiving programs, a couple of very rare girls' night outs, and making moss crosses (which I can't take any more orders for, but thank you ALL SO much for asking.....I'm truly thankful!!!), we also got to go to a Chris Tomlin concert. We had never seen him in concert and let me just say, WOW! It was great. So fun, so worshipful, so convicting. And a great night with great friends! ;) ;) Louie Giglio spoke and I had never heard him speak before either...another WOW! I'm sure none of you would be surprised to hear that I was in tears by the ~~end~~ middle of the night, but only because the Lord was opening my heart to EXACTLY what I needed to hear. I'm very thankful! And can I just say that Hayes went with us to the concert and he was such a trooper! It was WAY past his bedtime when all was said and done but he had a blast. And when they sang Amazing Grace, My Chains are Gone, our sweet boy was singing right along with them in his sweet 4 year old voice......loved it!

That just about wraps up life lately but I want to share a link to my friend, Alison's blog because, as promised, she posted links to adoption fundraisers. So go check it out and you just might be able to check a few things off your Christmas list, while at the same time help some great families who are trying to bring their children home!!! Seriously, there are some MAJORLY talented people making candles, scarves, wreaths, t-shirts, children's clothing and MORE! Go shop!!

And if I don't post again before Thursday, then Happy Thanksgiving! I hope it is filled with food, family and the peace of God. And if you are struggling to be thankful for much of anything this Thanksgiving, then just remember the only ONE who is steady, constant, and never failing......our savior, Jesus!! Even if everything else in your life seems to be failing, your savior is not. He never fails!!! So give thanks! Because with HIM, you can never truly fail either!

And the winner is........................

2011-11-17T07:08:00.000-08:00

My friend, Alison, at Lovin' Much!!!!

Yay!!!

Alison, e-mail me your address (megdecoudres@yahoo.com) and I'll ship your cross on Monday!

Thanks SO much to all who entered. I'll try to do another giveaway after the holidays.

Please don't forget about all the organizations I mentioned, plus all the adoptive families who are raising money for their adoptions, too. There are some great and very creative Christmas gifts out there that would serve an even greater purpose....to help the precious orphans of this world!

I think Alison at Lovin' Much is actually going to post adoption fundraisers on her blog very soon. So check it out for some ideas!!

Last chance for Giveaway!!!

2011-11-16T12:10:00.000-08:00

This is your last chance to enter the giveaway for this

Moss Cross!

See THIS POST for details!!

10pm tonight is the deadline!

Thanks for all who have entered so far!

2 Quick Things

2011-11-14T08:22:00.000-08:00

First, a few of you have told me that the link to our coffee shop (on left side of blog) doesn't work. I checked it out and it was definitely a problem with my link and not our actual coffee shop. SO, I took the link away and left the web address. And if you want to purchase some coffee for a Christmas gift then we would LOVE for you to visit our coffee shop.

www.justlovecoffee.com/decoudres

When you enter the site, you will see our name at the top. Click on the Green button that says, "Shop and Support".

$5 of every bag purchased from our store goes directly to our adoption fund!!! (And if you order a bag, leave me a comment to tell me and I'll give you an entry in the moss cross giveaway!!)

And speaking of the GIVEAWAY, please don't let all the "guidelines" confuse you. You can choose one way to enter OR all 5. It really isn't hard, I promise. So enter before this Wednesday night for a chance to win!

See THIS POST to enter!

Who's ready for a GIVEAWAY??

2011-11-11T06:56:00.000-08:00

I recently sold some of my crafts (cloth napkins, coasters, and moss wreaths) at a church bazaar.

I am thankful to say that I took just the right number of orders on moss crosses/wreaths to increase our adoption fund and not stress me out before the holidays!!

So.....I'm in the middle of filling some orders and I would LOVE to give away a
Medium Sized Moss Cross
to one of my faithful blog readers!

The Cross is 15 inches tall and 11 inches wide. It hangs from a burlap ribbon. I recommend it for indoor use or in a covered, shady outdoor area. If used inside (hanging on a mirror, piece of furniture, a kitchen window, etc.) it will last for a LONG time. Looks great for Christmas (and if packed up after the holiday can be used year after year). OR keep it up all of the time!!! It will be yours, so use it however you want!!:)

You can enter the giveaway a total of 5 times. Here's how:

1. Become a Follower of my blog and leave a comment saying you did so.

(Or if you already are a follower, leave a comment to tell me.) This will give you ONE entry into the pot!

2. "Like" one or more of the following on Facebook, leave me a comment telling me which one, and get ONE more entry.

Neverthirst, 147 Million Orphans, All God's Children International, Lifeline Children's Services, Ornaments4Orphans, Show Hope, Sixty Feet, Amazima Ministries, Into the Streets of Ethiopia, or another one of your favorites that focuses on serving the poor, the fatherless, the widows!

3. Become a Follower of one or more of those blogs I just mentioned (I'm giving links at the bottom of this post). Let me know which one you are following and get ONE more entry.

4. Are you fundraising for your own adoption? Leave me a comment giving a link to your fundraising info and get ONE more entry!!

5. And finally, purchase an item from/ or donate to one of the ministries mentioned above or another adoption fundraiser and tell me about it. Let's spread the word so that this Christmas we can give gifts with a purpose!!

So that is 5 chances to get your name in the pot for a free MOSS CROSS!!!

The deadline is Wednesday, November 16th at 10pm. I will enter your name up to 5 times in the pot and draw the following day. I should post the winner's name on Thursday, November 17th!! Then I'll get your address and ship your cross so that you can have it for the holidays!

So get busy! Check out the websites I mentioned. Consider giving to one of those organizations for Christmas and don't forget to leave comments to tell me what you've done!!

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress........" James 1:27

Links to Organizations:

All God's Chilren International
Lifeline Children's Services
Show Hope
Neverthirst
147 Million Orphans
Sixty Feet
Amazima Ministries
Ornaments For Orphans
Into the Streets of Ethiopia
Desire Street Ministries

He's done it again!

2011-11-09T14:02:00.000-08:00

Who's done it again you might ask? God, that's who! I am telling ya, every time I hit a low and battle some frustration and anxiety, the Lord sends encouragement our way. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

In my last post I expressed to you all that I was struggling and just desperately trying to lean on the Lord. I mentioned Orphan Sunday, which was just such a day of encouragement for us and I keep re-playing that day in my head...the great sermon, the love and encouragement from our church family, both mine and Shaun's parents who came to worship with us, and the great lunch following the service. Totally uplifting.

Then Monday Shaun and I headed to the doctor for our physicals. Yes, we are re-doing a lot of things we did a year ago in order to update our homestudy so that it doesn't expire. And yes, I was a little frustrated on Monday because no one really wants to have to renew their homestudy. I mean, let's just be real about that!

But, we did start one round of travel shots and that gave me a little bit of hope. (Looking for the bright side, people!)

Then yesterday we had our home visit from Lifeline. Remember our first home study visit over a year ago? You can read about it HERE. I have to admit, I was a little nervous that Hayes would say something else crazy, but he didn't!! Yay Hayes! He did listen to every question and chimed in when he thought he knew an answer. He did tell our social worker about how hard mommy cried when daddy had his car accident. And he did tell Shaun that he and I could do whatever we wanted to do while he answered "his questions" with the social worker. But overall, nothing much to report. It was a smooth, uneventful visit.

And then last night, oh, last night! The encouragement continued in a MAJOR way. Some sweet friends invited us to the Lifeline Adoption banquet, "ONE". "No ONE can do everything, but we all can do ONE thing.....on behalf of the fatherless."

David Platt (author of Radical and pastor at The Church at Brook Hills) was the speaker and it was just wonderful! I felt like he was talking only to me, which of course was not the case since there were 700 other people in the room.....700!

What I took away from the night in a nutshell was this:

*We are not alone. There were 700 like-minded (I'm assuming) people in that room last night who understand in some way or another what we are doing.

*God's hand is in every step of our adoption. Every setback, every delay, everything.

*Adoption is hard. Even David Platt says so. :)

*Adoption is so biblical. I just love every reminder I get of this.

*I can't "save" every orphan. That's not what it is about anyway. But lately, I have just had an overwhelming burden for the orphans of this world. Last night was a reminder, though, that I can't do everything. We can only do what God calls us to do. And right now that is to pursue the adoption of OUR child.

*And finally, I didn't learn this last point I just got a kick out of it so I thought I would pass it along. #1 thing for people NOT to say to adoptive parents...."Do you have any children of your OWN?"

FYI, adopted children are our own, just like biological. God planned families from the beginning of time and he planned for some families to have all their children the natural way and he planned for other families (like ours) to have some children through adoption. And our Ethiopian babe IS our own just like Hayes is. And for the record I CANNOT wait to stop calling him/her our Ethiopian babe and start referring to him/her by name! Praying that happens very SOON!

Ok, I'm almost done. But the last thing I want to mention is something that brought me so much encouragement just this very day.

I went to Bible Study this morning (which was great, by the way!) and I had about 20 minutes before I had to be some where. So, I went to this nearby park to walk...by myself...no I-Pod....just silent time to pray. So I was walking and praying, specifically for some families in our agency who have been waiting for their children for a LONG time and I was just asking God to please MOVE MOUNTAINS (1 Cor. 13). I asked him to please "cut through bars of iron" and reveal "treasures" (Isaiah 45, a verse a friend sent me this week.) I asked God to soften the hearts of the Ethiopian officials just like he says he can change the hearts of kings (Proverbs 21). And I really just focused on boldly praying to God for those 20 minutes (with the exception of when the old man in WAY too short shorts walked by me and I got really distracted....ew!)

And would you believe that less than an HOUR later, I noticed a message from our agency's list serve on my phone and you know what it said??? Those families I had just prayed for are being cleared and will, God willing, be returning to Ethiopia SOON to bring their children home!!

Praise the Lord!!!

So I am praying in a BIG and BOLD fashion and would ask you to do the same! God is ABLE!

Have I fooled you?

2011-11-06T17:49:00.000-08:00

You've probably noticed that I haven't posted many heart-felt words lately. That's probably because in all honesty, my heart hasn't been in the right place. I have posted lots of cute pictures lately, though. Did you notice that? And did they make you think that we (my little family) are all perfectly happy around here? Did our smiles make you believe that we have it all together? That's one thing some people don't like about blogs, you know. We bloggers can make our lives look any way we want. We can post all the smiley, pretty pictures and make you believe that our lives are easy and nice, with no major problems. And if I have made you believe that about us over the last month then I am sorry. You've been fooled.
(**Important side note: All the smiles in our pictures are real because we are so very blessed and we do have LOTS of fun together. What I am writing about today is the times behind the scenes that aren't caught on camera, the times we usually do not want other people to see.)

And with that in mind, the truth is that I have been very, very far from having it all together lately. It has been one of those times when all the uncertainties of adoption (and life), as well as the daily bumps in the road have caught up with me. At times over the past few weeks I've felt sad and anxious, frustrated and even angry. And I've tried to handle every bit of it on my own.......not something I would recommend to others.

Recently my attempt to take on the weight of the world all alone came crashing down in a very yucky and not so pretty fashion. But it was just the meltdown I needed to make me realize how very much I need my Savior (and my husband and family who have loved me through my craziness!).

Today was Orphan Sunday. I bet a lot of you didn't know that. Thankfully, our church celebrated Orphan Sunday for the first time this year and it was a much needed day of encouragement for me. I even had the honor of speaking during the worship service and was thankful that instead of throwing up all over the pulpit, the Holy Spirit calmed me and spoke through me. Much like the time God spoke through a donkey (Numbers 22), or in some versions an "ass" (which is what I felt a little more like today! haha!:). And as I spoke what I know to be the truth, I was reminded of what the truth actually is.

We are not in this alone. We were called to this adoption journey by a HOLY God, one who knows the BIG picture, not just the small glimpse that Shaun and I see. And even more than that, He is equipping us and will continue to equip us to handle whatever he calls us to. Today I even quoted the verse from Hebrews 13 that says God will "equip us with everything good for doing his will." It's the truth, you know. He doesn't just call us to something without providing what we need to handle it...spiritually, physically, emotionally, etc.

And speaking of emotions, well, mine have been all over the place lately. I've felt weak, very weak, but even today I was reminded that God calls the weak to do His work. (Don't forget that donkey he spoke through!!!)

And I think what God wants me to know right now is that He loves me and that He wants me to love him. God loves orphans and He wants me to love orphans. He has shown his grace to me and I am to show that same grace to others. It's just that simple--and yet so incredibly complicated all at the same time. But the hardest thing I've had to face head on lately is that even though God called us to adopt, that doesn't mean our journey will be an easy one. And even though there are more than 140 million orphans in this world, our journey to ONE (hopefully more later) might come with a few more bumps and delays than I had anticipated. But in the midst of those setbacks and hard times, our job is to be obedient. And as we were reminded this morning (in such a great sermon), being obedient means to serve and obey the Lord "joyfully and willfuly". Two characteristics I fight on a daily basis.

We sang a song this morning called "Ten Thousand Times Ten Thousand." I can't tell you how much I love that song! It's such a song of hope, about our Savior coming again one day to make this world perfect. And in the song it says, "Then eyes with joy shall sparkle, that brimmed with tears of late; Orphans no longer fatherless, nor widows desolate."

Do you realize that one day there will be NO MORE ORPHANS? None, zip, zero! And words like "infertility" and "struggles" and "delays" and "waiting" will not even be in our vocabulary! Because one day Jesus is coming back to this earth to bring his kingdom here. And that is an awesome thought to think about.

But what about the here and now? Well, it is NOW. And we are HERE, right where God put us. So I had better figure out how to answer God's call for my life and to do it joyfully, as well.
So for us that is realizing that God has called us to something that he will equip us for. And it is knowing that Shaun and I cannot solve the orphan crisis during our lifetime. (Although we HAVE to do our part while we are here.) And we can't do what we are called to do on our own. We've got to depend on our savior while we answer his call. We've got to depend our our savior from the time we wake up every day until the time we lay our heads down at night. We've got to find joy in Him even when the days are long and hard and we must embrace the life journey God has us on, knowing that He sees the BIG picture, knowing that everything he brings our way is for our good and his glory.

So that's where I am. Trying to depend on the Lord. Trying to trust. Trying to be joyful. Praying for strength. And reminding myself of the truths I know.
Is that where you are too?

Ride 'em Cowboy!

2011-11-02T13:37:00.000-07:00

YEE-HAW!

Every cowgirl needs a big tough cowboy to protect her and that's just what I had this Halloween!

Have a happy Wednesday! Be back later!

Life lately

2011-10-31T13:50:00.000-07:00

Life around here has been pretty busy lately. Hayes had is 2nd and final horseback riding lesson (at least for now). Of course, he's already asking when he can ride again and we've decided it is something we will let him do from time to time as he gets older if he continues to enjoy it.

This past weekend my whole family went to Auburn for the AU/ Ole Miss game. Since my brother in law, John, went to Ole Miss and the rest of us went to Auburn, we try to go to this game together as a family. Last year we all went to Oxford and this year it was in Auburn (on our turf!:) Auburn won! War Eagle! But I have to say that John is a really, really good sport about the whole thing. We had a lot of fun. This picture of Hayes pretty much sums up his weekend with the cousins:

Pure joy!

Then there's been soccer

And now I'm working on my crafts to get ready for a church bazaar this Friday! If I have anything left after the sale (which I'm sure I will), I will try to sell the remaining items on my blog or on Etsy.

I am also still planning a Giveaway for a Christmas item. So keep staying tuned!!

October Numbers

2011-10-25T06:16:00.000-07:00

We got our numbers last Friday but I wasn't very excited about them so I didn't rush to post them. I am ready for some BIG, GOOD news to report people! But it's just not happening.

SO, for October we are

#32 for a BOY

and

#44 for a GIRL

We moved a few spots but to be honest, I am ready to move a LOT of spots. Thankfully, the courts have re-opened in Ethiopia after being closed for 2 months for the rainy season. Praying that things will really get moving soon!

That's all for now! Have a good Tuesday!

(And be looking for a "Give Away" soon. I'm doing a lot of crafting right now to get ready for a bazaar and I'd like to give one item away on my blog....hopefully in the next week!:)

Another birthday! And horse riding lessons!

2011-10-19T14:26:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday was my birthday. And if you've been reading my blog for a while then you probably know that it was Shaun's birthday, too. Yes, we share a birthday and we are still trying to learn to embrace it!:) (Selfishly we would each like our own birthdays!!)

Anyway, it was a great day. My mom came down for the day and took us to lunch. Then she let me go shopping while she played with Hayes. It was so nice to take my time trying on a few clothes!

Then Shaun's mom came over and kept Hayes so that Shaun and I could go to dinner and a movie. We went to see The Help and..... oh my goodness!! I had read the book and was dying to see the movie. Thankfully, it was not a disappointment. I loved it! And I cried through like the whole last hour. In fact, I might just do a whole post on that book/movie. So stay tuned!

Yesterday was also a big day for Hayes. For his birthday a month ago we gave him 2 horse back riding lessons. You all know he is a cowboy at heart and every cowboy must learn to ride a horse, of course!:) (Especially if there is a Groupon for lessons!!) Actually, he's been asking to ride a horse WEEKLY ever since he got on one at a farm last year.

So.......yesterday was his first of 2 lessons and he LOVED it! I was kind of nervous when I saw how small he looked on that big horse. (cause you know, hayes usually doesn't look very small!) But he was not afraid at all. It was precious!

When I told him he would have to wear a helmet he was a little disappointed. Cowboys wear cowboy hats, you know. However, once he got the "cowboy helmet" on he was pretty proud!!

I was impressed with how much they taught him in his first lesson. He learned to post and even got to trot a little. I have a feeling we are going to have to do a few more horse back riding lessons in the future!

Every good cowboy has to put away his gear.

The end!

Momma's Love

2011-10-17T08:11:00.000-07:00

Most of my friends have told me that age 4 is their favorite. And although we've only been there for a month I would have to agree. I am loving this age!!

I love that he changes "characters" about 5 times a day (usually coming back to the old faithful cowboy!).

I love that he lassos coolers and chairs (with a jump rope) and whatever else he can find outside.

I love our conversations and the questions that he asks.

I love the hilarious comments he makes.

I love his new vocabulary.

I love that he wants to learn about so many things.

I love that he asks me what every sign says as we drive down the road. "Mommy, what does W-a-f-f-l-e H-o-u-s-e spell?"

Yep, if I could bottle up this little boy right now, I would!!

Some of my favorites lately:

:: "Mommy, I'm going to start calling you 'Momma's Love on wheat'!!" (Can you tell we love to eat at Momma Goldberg's?)

:: In his bedtime prayer, "Thank you God that my parents are cool."

:: To Shaun, "Daddy, I know a good name for our baby boy....Charl." (Shaun:Well that is an interesting name. Where did you come up with that?) "You know, daddy, how you go to 'charl' (trial)."

:: "Mommy, we learned about the letter "B" today at school. It says b..b..b..Vallerina."

Other words I LOVE to hear him say:

"glubs" (gloves)

"leabs" (leaves)

"lub" (love)

Melt my heart!!:)

And last but not least, after I told Hayes we were taking him to the Dollar Theater to see Cars 2....

"Mommy, I love going to the movies. It is just fun. I love doing fun stuff because, well, it's fun. You know what is not fun? Dying on the cross. That was not fun. I'm just glad He stayed up there."

Me, too, Hayes! Me, too!

That's all for now. Hopefully I'll be able to report some October numbers to you later this week!

Have a happy Monday!!

It's always something!

2011-10-11T12:25:00.000-07:00

After I wrote my post yesterday morning I was just feeling so thankful and encouraged. Hayes and I had plans for a very low key day and we spent the morning running a few errands. When we were out and about we got a phone call from Shaun that changed our day from uneventful to quite eventful (which is becoming the "norm" around here, by the way). Shaun had been in a car accident. Yep, we've had some majorly bad car stuff happen over the last year. (Read here and here.) He was ok but the accident had been pretty scary and the car was in bad shape.

Apparantly, he was driving down the interstate in the right lane when a car in front of him swerved to miss something in the road. Quickly, Shaun saw a large object in the road that had fallen out of someone's truck. He swerved to the right to miss it and when he tried to correct himself back to the left, he lost control of his car and crossed back over all 3 lanes of traffic, spinning around and crashing into the cement divider in the median. He was facing the wrong way, against traffic, but no longer in a lane. PRAISE the LORD no one collided with him. It was an absolute miracle. (I can barely think about it because it makes me sick.)

Needless to say, his phone call was not one I wanted to get but we were just thankful that he was completely fine. He walked away without a scratch!! After his call, Hayes and I turned our car around and headed to pick Shaun up off the side of the interstate. I was crying (do you think I do that a lot?!:) And Hayes said, "Mommy, I think we need to pray about this." I asked him if he would pray and he did, praying the sweetest prayer thanking God that his daddy was ok.

So, now we are back to one car, although Shaun has borrowed his dad's extra pickup truck until we can figure out what to do. The insurance company called us today and said that they checked out the car at the tow lot and it is definitely totaled....guess we'll be looking for a new car. I surely will miss that Honda, though!

I'll tell you what! I'm not sure what's going on with all these accidents, leaks, etc. But I do know that the insurance company is going to get tired of hearing from us. And I also know that through it all, God has protected our family.

Things can be fixed, so we'll just keep on fixin' them. God continues to provide, so we'll just trust that some way, some how, in all of this, his name will be glorified.

*********************************

I had originally planned to post some pictures today. I haven't posted any in a while and I need to play catch up. Here's one of our soccer boy. Let me just tell ya. He is LOVING soccer! And he is serious business out there on that field. It's fun to watch.

And this past weekend we hosted a couples' baby shower for our friends Heather and Ryan. It was a lot of fun and we had quite a spread of food that all the hostesses made. Poor Heather had to put up with everyone watching the Auburn game during her shower, and then we lost, which didn't help. But, all the guys did their best to remember that it was a baby shower, not just an Auburn tailgate!

They are having a girl so, of course, every thing was pink, pink, pink!

Goofy Hayes got to hang out with everybody during the shower. He spent most of the night watching movies in our bedroom. But he did come out for present opening and managed to put this pink bow on his head. Let's just say that "somebody" likes attention....

That's all for now. Praying for a very UNeventful rest of the week!

Loved

2011-10-10T07:29:00.000-07:00

If you ask me what I've learned the most out of this adoption journey, I think I would tell you that I've learned what love really is, which means that I'm seeing the gospel in a whole new way. Because isn't the gospel about love?

"For God so LOVED the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:16

I guess you could say that I'm understanding more about what God did for us and I'm learning how that should affect my life, how I should put it into action every single day.

I have most definitely learned how biblical adoption really is, how Christ loves us and adopted us (as believers) into his family and how adopting our child is a representation of that.

"In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will." Eph. 1:5

I've learned about how his compassion towards the hurting and needy should be reflected in our compassion towards others.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any troubles with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." 2 Cor. 1:3-4

I've learned about the emphasis God puts on how we love others.

"A new command I give you; Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34-35

And that brings me to what I want to share. Shaun and I feel that through this process we are learning how to love others with a more Christ-like love. And I think the most humbling way God has taught us this is with how we have been LOVED by so many of you.

I've mentioned many times before that for the past few years, we have been hugged, encouraged, prayed for and "given to" in more ways than we could have ever imagined. It's been amazing. And there have been times where we've been flooded with love in an overwhelming way.

The past few days have been one of those times. We have been flooded with your LOVE and it has been one of the sweetest and most humbling times for us as a couple and as a family. For the past few days so many of you have shown love to us in amazing, generous ways. And the neatest thing is, there has been no particular reason for it. You just have. And we know it has all been orchestrated by God.

I'm not going to share the details because I know our friends wouldn't want us to. But I am going to say that Shaun and I have both been brought to tears because of the selfless love of our family and friends and we are so very thankful. We are thankful that God chose to shower us with some big blessings all at once. We are thankful for how he always provides. We are thankful for friends and family who love the Lord and give of themselves in a way that represents the gospel to all those who see.

Shaun and I are grateful and humbled and honestly pretty speechless. So for the knocks on our door to surprises under our pillow (literally) THANK YOU.

We are seeing the gospel through you. Hayes is seeing the gospel through you. Our Ethiopian babe will see the gospel through you. What a gift!

I'll post more about our weekend later, but right now I am crying....again! So I'll pull myself together and probably post again later today.

But before I go, I want to challenge you to make someone feel LOVED today. Make a phone call, give a hug, say words of encouragement, or give a gift. Just LOVE as Christ LOVES you!

Our adoption Journey So Far

2011-10-04T07:51:00.000-07:00

As our adoption continues to move forward slowly, and as we get closer to the year mark on the waitlist, AND as we begin to update our homestudy (something no one really wants to have to do), I can't help but reflect on our adoption journey so far. And as I think about it I am reminded of how faithful God has been to us throughout the last year and a half.

When I felt called to adopt and asked Shaun to pray about it in June of 2010, it only took him ONE WEEK to feel the call as well. ONE WEEK! Now, you have to understand that my sweet husband is usually pretty slow to come around on things like this and so although I was praying at the time for him to make his mind up quickly, I didn't dream it would happen quite so fast! Definite example of God's faithfulness!

Immediately I knew our child was in Ethiopia. How? You might ask.

God.

We were hearing and seeing "Ethiopia" left and right but we had never heard of anyone adopting from there. Well, we learned very quickly that we were not alone. In fact, the first week God was tugging on my heart, I met a family in our community in the process (who have since brought their child home) of adopting from Ethiopia. And after that, everywhere I went we were meeting families with children from Ethiopia. (even at Dollywood of all places!!!) Such an example of God's faithfulness!

From the moment I wrote about our adoption plans on my blog, other families with our same desire started coming out of the woodwork. I had no idea there was such an Ethiopian adoption community in the "blogosphere"!! Again, God's faithfulness.

We love our church but knew of only 2 families within our church who had adopted. And the topic of adoption was rarely mentioned. But within months of our decision, we learned that there was a mission conference already in the works for that winter and the topic.......ADOPTION!

Can we say, God's faithfulness!?!

Now we have several more families within our church adopting, an adoption community group that is going through the book, The Connected Child, and there are plans for a celebration of adoption on Orphan Sunday, November 6th! GOD'S FAITHFULNESS!!!!

And can I just take a minute to mention the masses of people who have prayed for us, supported us, bought my crafts, encouraged us, and signed petitions when it looked like Ethiopian adoptions were coming to a halt!? People I know, people I don't know...it's just been amazing. This journey has been one of the hardest, most wonderful, challenging, humbling experiences of my life and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

God has provided for us every single step of the way. He has provided for us financially as we have been able to make every payment so far. He has provided for us spiritually by giving us scripture to cling to and prayer warriors to pray for us. He has provided for us physically and emotionally by holding us up, giving us strength and helping us to find joy throughout.

Of course, we don't know what the next few months hold for our family. We are praying to see the face of our child very soon and to travel to Ethiopia in the very near future. Who knows when that will be? Only God. But we do know that "He who promised is faithful" and that we can "hold unswervingly to the hope we profess". (Hebrews 10:23)

See all there is to see, Do all there is to do!

2011-09-30T11:45:00.000-07:00

I know I've quoted Jesus Calling about a million times. But here it is again, a million and one!

"You need not fear the future, for I am already there.......Your future is in My hands; I release it to you day by day, moment by moment. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow. I want you to live this day abundantly, seeing all there is to see, doing all there is to do. Don't be distracted by future concerns. Leave them to Me! Each day of life is a glorious gift......."

When I read this today a few of the words just jumped out at me, especially when it says that Jesus will "release [the future] to you day by day, moment by moment". It is in HIS HANDS. I just had to stop for a minute and picture my future in his hands, in Jesus' hands. And each day he opens up his hands just a little and releases moments of my future to me. And not only that, but he gives me the grace to handle my future as it comes!!

The other thing that jumped out at me is that Jesus wants us to live each day "seeing all there is to see and doing all there is to do". I LOVE THAT! John 10:10 says, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have LIFE, and have it to the FULL."

I've been learning a lot about this lately (under some really good teachers)....about how Jesus created this world to be. In the beginning he didn't create the world to be full of sin and sadness, full of things to worry about. In the beginning he created a beautiful, perfect garden for us to work and enjoy! That is how he intended it to be. But then sin crept in and Satan (the thief) took away all that was good and perfect and tainted it.

So what's the point?

We shouldn't live each day weighed down by sin and worrying about our future, fearing what's to come. If you are a Christian, you know what is to come! So live each day with the garden in mind, working hard, enjoying God's creation and sharing what we know and love with others!

Yes, there will be tough days (or months or years). Yes, bad things will happen. But, we have a God who gave us life and wants us to live it to the fullest! That's something to be joyful about!!!

It is a fact that my life looks different than I thought it would. And it is a fact that there is still a lot of uncertainty about my future and about our future as a family. But I can rest in the fact that there is NO uncertainty in Jesus. And I can rest in the fact that he knows my future and each day He will release a little bit at a time because He loves me and He knows I couldn't handle it if he dumped it all on my lap at once!!

So for now, I'm taking things one day at a time. And today I am choosing to be joyful and live my life to the fullest. (I will probably fall and stump my toe in a minute and all that I've said will go down the drain. :) But that's just part of it, isn't it!?)

So what have I seen and done today that has made me remember "the garden"?
And how have I tried to live life to the fullest TODAY?

:: Well, for one thing, I took Hayes to the Botanical Gardens to get his pictures made and walked around in that beauty for a little while.

:: I've enjoyed the sunshine and the fresh, cooler air!

:: I listened as the photographer this morning asked Hayes to sing his favorite song and he belted out "Holy, Holy, Holy" as she took his picture sitting on a rock wall. (I laughed as I thought about his other favorite song he could have chosen, "Chicken Fried" by the Zac Brown Band!)

:: I gave thanks for Groupon that allowed us to get Hayes' 4 year old pictures made when we are trying to cut back on expenses!! (and I think I skipped 3 year old pics altogether!)

:: I planted some fall flowers of my own in our window boxes and I'm hoping they last for a few months at least.

:: I gave thanks for the friend from college I haven't seen in years who called today and left me a message wanting to catch up and to pray with me over the phone. That is showing the love of God, my friends!!! (And to that friend, I hope we are able to talk soon!)

:: I've enjoyed crafting today, knowing that I am doing something to work towards our baby coming home! (I'll let you know when I have some things ready to sell!)

:: And I'm enjoying pumpkins and football and all the other things that make Fall so much fun!

So happy Fall, happy football season (War Eagle Auburn fans! What kind of game are we gonna see tomorrow??), and happy weekend!
Go enjoy the life God has given you!!

Book: Adoption Miracles

2011-09-26T06:09:00.000-07:00

If you are adopting, have adopted, or if you just want a good SHORT book to read, then you've got to read Karen Kingsbury's book, A Treasury of Adoption Miracles. You could probably read it in one sitting and it is just so encouraging! I think that a long time ago my mom gave it to my sister who recently gave it to me and I'm so glad she did.

A sweet lady had given me a DVD of Karen Kingsbury's adoption story several months ago and when I finally sat down to watch it, I cried all the way through. Such a neat story. But the stories she writes about in this book are beyond amazing. Almost too perfect, too good to be true. But that's why our savior is so intriguing. His goodness and perfection are hard to grasp. So he gives us stories, true stories like these, to give us a glimpse of his goodness, and a picture of his perfection.

If YOU do not think that Jesus' fingerprints are all over your life. If YOU do not believe that your life has been planned in detail by a sovereign and loving savior. If YOU (like me) have a hard time trusting in his perfect timing. If YOU are going through hard times and don't believe the outcome could possibly be for your good and HIS glory......then read this book, or even better grab a bible!!

This book gave me a renewed hope that our God has planned out every second of this adoption journey. He is not surprised by any "bumps" in the road, any delays. My infertility is a part of his perfect plan. Giving us Hayes 4 years ago was part of his perfect plan. Calling us to adopt from Ethiopia is part of his perfect plan. He knew we would be at #35 and #49 on the waitlist at this very moment and he is saying to us, "WAIT! I've got THE child for your family. I have not forgotten you. In fact, I'm going to carry you, Meg, Shaun, and Hayes, through this day and each day after. Just wait and see what I have in store for your family!!!"

How's the adoption going?

2011-09-23T07:44:00.000-07:00

People ask me all the time, "How's the adoption going?" And then they usually say, "I bet you are tired of that question."

But the truth is, I am NOT tired of that question at all. I actually really appreciate when people show interest. I just wish I had another answer to give, other than "It's going.....slowly."

The truth is, it is S-L-O-W. Real slow. But, it is going. We are still adopting from Ethiopia. And waiting is just the name of the game.

If you want to know how to pray for us, I'll tell ya!

1. Please pray for the orphans all over the world. And in particular pray for the Ethiopian orphans.

There is definitely still a lot of anti-adoption evil going on over there and those children need YOUR prayers.

2. Pray for Hannah's Hope, the orphanage where our child will be. I pray daily for an army of angels to surround it and protect those children and the special mothers who take care of them.

3. Pray that Shaun, Hayes and I will remain faithful and that we will find our true joy in the Lord. It is the Lord who completes us, not our adoption, not more children.

4. Pray for our child. As I long to get my hands on him/her, I just have to trust that our baby is in the safest, most loving, and most powerful hands.....the hands of the Lord.

5. Pray for our birthmother. Pray she will have strength and endurance. Pray for her to know the Lord.

6. OH, and by the way. We are now praying for a FLOOD of referrals!! Forget the river, we want a flood!! :)

***On a different note, I am actually getting back to "crafting" today. I took a break over the summer and then I lost my workspace when our basement flooded. But I've gotta get busy! Trying to make a bunch of stuff for Christmas, including moss crosses....might even do a give-away soon!

And finally, guess who scored his first soccer goal last night?!

Yep! And oh my, he was proud! I didn't have my camera. This picture is actually from last week and I loved it.....daddy encouraging Hayes.

This morning when I called Hayes to breakfast he said, "I kind of thought you might put my breakfast on the "special day plate" since I scored my first goal last night."

Oops!

Have a great weekend!

Do I really have a 4 year old?

2011-09-19T14:21:00.000-07:00

And the answer to that question is a big, fat YES! Yes, we have a 4 year old. But not just any 4 year old....the one that God so creatively and so intricately designed for us. Thank you, Lord!

Years ago when we were trying to have a baby I could have NEVER dreamed up Hayes. What a sweet, funny, talkative, thoughtful, active, loving, "bull in a china shop" child we've been given. And OH MY we are so very thankful!!!!

Our weekend was full of family and fun, playing and laughing, eating and opening presents..... and last night we were EXHAUSTED! But, it was a good exhausted feeling and we are more than thankful for all the craziness that a family weekend brings to our home.

And not only did we celebrate Hayes' 4th birthday, but we also celebrated my dad's 65th that is coming up the 1st of October. It was fun to celebrate my dad because he is not one to draw attention to himself. And we decided to give him LOTS of attention by reading/singing a poem that I had written for him and by pelting him with water balloons at the end. He was such a trooper! We love you Dad!!!

I did a terrible job of taking pictures Saturday. I guess I was too busy talking and having a good time.

So thankful for our families, though. God is so good!

Numbers

2011-09-19T10:34:00.000-07:00

Our September Numbers.....

For a BOY we are #

And for a GIRL we are #

Another post on Hayes' birthday weekend to come!

Hello!

2011-09-16T07:58:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a week since my last post and this might be the first time I've sat down at my computer to get on-line since last Friday. We spent last weekend at my sister's house to celebrate two of her children's birthdays. It was so much fun, as always! Then we came home to a finished basement (we got our car back last week, too! woohoo!:) But we've been racing against the clock to actually put our house back together since this is the week of Hayes' 4th birthday. Whew! That's why I have not sat down in almost a week and that is why it feels great to sit down right now and write a little blog entry.

Look at this precious picture of Hayes with his cousin Sam. We kept finding him snuggled up to one of his cousins throughout the weekend. So sweet!

Yesterday we had a little party (or a "glorified playdate") to celebrate Hayes' birthday with a few friends. It rained so we had to do it all inside, which was a little disappointing. But the children didn't seem to care and Hayes definitely had a ball!

Here are a few pics to give you a glimpse. The theme for the birthday this year is cowboys, of course! I'll post more pics after the weekend!

A little "pop the pig" action!

Thank goodness our basement is fixed!!!

Today is low key. But tomorrow is the family party at our house. And it will be a house FULL, I can assure you! Can't wait!

I will write about my little 4 year old when I have more time.

And I was hoping to have some September #s to post since I know most people have gotten theirs. However, we have not and hope to get them today. If we do, I'll post them!

Have a great Friday!

"Firsts"

2011-09-09T08:35:00.000-07:00

This has been a busy week with lots of "firsts" for Hayes. He started back to school, which was great.

This picture made me laugh because, although he was excited, when we got in the room, this fake, nervous smile was plastered to his face!!

And he also had his very first soccer practice. This was a BIG deal, folks! This boy has been asking to play on some kind of sports team for the last year AT LEAST! To say he was pumped up would be an understatement. He was bouncing off the walls, counting down the hours and minutes until he could put on his gear and play soccer!

So much fun! I can't believe I have a child playing soccer, though. The funniest thing of the night was that any time another child's parent would introduce themselves to us they would say, "And which one is your child?" We would say, "There he is on the end." And they would answer, "Oh, the big one!"

Yes, the "big one" is ours.....and we LOVE him!!!:)

Hope you all have a great weekend. I'll leave you with the scripture I am praying right now:

Psalm 25:4-5

"Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long."

Hoping I pray that verse with trust in my heart and I hope you can pray it with trust, as well.

Happy Friday!

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-06T06:57:00.000-07:00

We had a good long weekend as a family. On Friday we went to my parents' house so that we could get some flooring from my dad's store Saturday morning. We stayed and watched the Auburn game (that AU barely won.....War Eagle anyway!) with the fam and then headed back home. The rest of our weekend was pretty lazy, especially with all the rain. Yesterday we took Hayes to the dollar movie theater to see Rio, which was cute, and then spent the rest of the day playing and resting. Great day!

I know I haven't posted any pictures lately and that is because my camera is in a pile somewhere in our house. I'll try to post some pictures of our basement soon. The flooring is being put in today and by Thursday it should all be finished!! YAY! I have to say that even though this has all been a big headache, we have gotten to do some updates to our basement that were needed and that has been kind of nice. We think the insurance company gave us the bare minimum to cover the damage, but with some good deals and some great contractors, everything has really worked out! Praising God for that!

Hayes just came running in here asking me for hot chocolate. ha! Can you believe how cool it is outside? (at least around here, anyway) But before I go fix it for him I have to share a little bit about that almost 4 year old stinker.

You know that song, "Stuck Like Glue" by Sugarland? Hayes loves it! Well, that's been the two of us this summer, totally and completely "stuck like glue". We've been a little dynamic duo for the past several months, traveling, playing.....Doing. It. ALL. Together. And we've loved every second of it.

(I threw in an old picture just to add some color!!:)

However, "school" starts soon for him and we are both looking forward to it! Actually, I have been looking forward to it and Hayes has been saying that he would just rather stay home and play with me. But, today he decided he was excited, too, and we are going to just go with that! :) I'm sure I'll get a little teary when I drop him off (because that is just the way I roll) but my "to-do" list is about a mile long so I think I'll be just fine!

One thing I really love about Hayes right now is the funny things that come out of his mouth. Like how he calls me "girl" and "little lady". "Come here little lady." or "Hey you girly, girl." or "I love you little lady girly girl." (He says that last one with clenched teeth while he squeezes me as hard as he possibly can.) I love it!

The scary thing, though, is that Hayes thinks really quickly and has a response for everything. Sometimes it's cute and sometimes it borderlines with disrespectful. The other night at my mom and dad's house, my nephew and nieces were there, too. Hayes gets VERY wound up around them because they think he is hilarious and well, he thinks he's pretty funny, too. We were sitting at the table after dinner and Hayes was getting pretty wild. I think he was standing in my mom's chair and I can't remember exactly what he did that crossed the line, but whatever it was, it got a laugh. So, I pulled him over to me and asked, "Hayes, was that a good choice or a bad choice?" And he said, "It was bad mommy......but at least my bad choice was funny!"

Scary, huh?

Hope you have a great week!

I appreciate you!

2011-09-01T07:12:00.000-07:00

You are all such a gift! I told Shaun that I think some of you were afraid I was going off the deep end after my last post because I got so many e-mails so quickly!! Ha!Ha! But your e-mails were SO encouraging and I appreciate every scripture, every devotional, every word. Thank you!

I think that the fact that my house looks like this right now is just adding to the feeling that my life is in total disarray!

That is our guest bedroom/future nursery and it is so full of our downstairs furniture that we cannot even walk in there. (Remember my post about our basement flooding?) And if you think that's bad, you should see mine and Shaun's bedroom....packed full!!

Things are looking better, though. Some guys have been working hard on our basement to put it back together and I think it is actually going to look way better than before! That is the upside to this whole situation (because we've definitely been looking for the upside!:)

Hopefully by the middle of next week our basement will be finished and we can put our house back together. That will be a GREAT feeling!

So, thank you again for loving us, praying for us, and encouraging us!

And for all you adoptive mommas out there....I signed up for the Created for Care retreat this morning! Can't wait to meet all of you in a few months! Just please don't be offended that I am praying for a miracle that we will be in Ethiopia instead!!

The good, the bad and the ugly

2011-08-30T06:36:00.000-07:00

Today I would really love to write about some more yummy food that I like to cook. (Did you try those recipes from my last post?) And I would love to write about all the funny things Hayes has said lately, because, trust me, there have been a lot. I would love to write about how much I enjoyed eating sushi with 2 girlfriends the other night. Heck, I would even love to write about the fact that the new haircolor I am using really is covering my grays! (Pretty exciting, right?)

But today, in my attempt to "keep it real", I am faced with writing about things that quite frankly, I am TIRED of writing about.

I don't want to write about how many tears I've shed lately. I don't want to write about how empty my arms feel right now as I long for a baby, my baby. I don't want to write about how angry I've been in the past few weeks, questioning God and his supposedly "perfect plan" for my life. I just don't want to write about it! And you want to know why? I am tired. And it's ugly. And I don't want you all to see my "tired and ugly". Because believe me, it just ain't pretty!

It's been one of those low times lately when things have really caught up with me. I am realizing how long we've been trying to have babies. I am realizing this adoption might take quite a while longer. I am realizing that my precious Hayes is turning 4 soon and to tell you the truth, I just don't like it. That's why the words, "Damn it, I just want more babies!" have come out of my mouth on multiple occasions lately. (like I said, it's not pretty)

But it's true. And for me, it is reality.

I don't like where I've been and I've cried out to God asking Him for help, asking Him if he hears me (and I know he does). I've pouted and I've been grumpy and it's done no good. I've told God that I'm trying. I am trying to be obedient. We are trying to be obedient. He shut the door on fertility treatments. We obeyed. He called us to adopt. We obeyed. He has told me to write about it all. And I'm obeying. So why isn't he giving us our child as quickly as we thought he would? Why does it have to take this long? Why does it seem like he has called us to a life of waiting? UGH! I hate waiting!

(Can you see me right now stomping my feet and sticking my lip out....picture a 30 year old, brown haired Nellie Olsen from Little House on the Prairie. Can you envision it now? Not cute.)

Well, that's the bad and the ugly. Here's the good.

Last week I couldn't have told you any good. That's because I didn't want to hear it. And to tell you the truth, I just needed some time to be sad. My mom and Shaun were sweet to let me cry. They listened well. And my mom told me that it was ok to have those bad days as long as I don't stay there. So that was last week. I was there......in that low place.

But this is now. I'm getting out of that low place. Today is a new day. And this weekend, through the wise words of others, the Holy Spirit opened my heart up so that I could accept some truth.

So here it is:
Jesus is worthy of my trust.
That's it.
The one who laid down his life for me is simply worthy of my trust.
Of course, it's not that simple for me. Because I don't always trust. Because sometimes I feel sorry for myself. And because sometimes I get sad and angry.
So here's the deal,
I am going to recognize the fact that I should be focusing on Jesus and not myself.
I am going to be realistic and accept the fact that I WILL have bad days.
I am not going to expect easy.
And I will remind myself constantly that Jesus is worthy of my trust.
And not only is he worthy, but he's ENOUGH.
Do you believe that?

Recipes

2011-08-26T06:31:00.000-07:00

I've got nothing. Nada. Zilch.
Actually, I have a lot of things going on in my head but nothing I really want to write about right now.
So, I will leave you this Friday with some recipes. These are just a few favorites from our house to yours! Cook and enjoy!!!

Chicken Marsala

(I double this recipe for our family)

2 chicken breasts (I only use the thin chicken cutlets)

2 Tblsp butter

6 large mushrooms cut in half

1 cup Marsala cooking wine

1/2 tsp. salt

dash pepper

1 tsp. lemon juice

3 green onions, chopped

2 tsp. parsley

Melt butter in skillet. At this point I like to dredge my chicken in a little flour. It thickens the sauce. Saute chicken over LOW heat in skillet until each side is golden brown.

Add next 6 ingredients. Simmer until mushrooms are tender and chicken is cooked. The key is to cook on low heat so that the chicken doesn't get tough. It only takes 15-20 minutes.

Serve over pasta!

Spinach Pie

1 unbaked pie crust (I use Pilsbury)

1- 10oz. package frozen spinach, thawed

2 TBLSP. butter

1 small onion (I like the chopped frozen ones)

2 celery ribs, chopped (optional)

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 TBLSP all-purpose flour

3 large eggs, beaten

1 (4 oz) feta cheese, crumbled

1 TBLSP dried parsley

1/4tsp. salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 c parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp. dried dillweed (if you have it)

Pre-bake crust for 7 minutes. Set aside.

Saute onions and next 2 ingredients.

Stir in flour.

Then stir in the remaining ingredients.

Pour into pie crust.

Bake @ 350 for 25 minutes.

Baked Fruit

4 cans of fruit

(I like to use cherries, pears, peaches and pineapples.)

**sauce:

1 stick butter

2 TBLSP flour

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1 cup sherry

Cook sauce until thick and smooth in a double broiler.

(I put one pot over another one that has water in it.)

Then pour sauce over fruit and refrigerate over night (or at least for several hours).

Bake 30 minutes at 350.
(This is a side dish but it tastes like a dessert!)

Hope you have a happy Friday and a great weekend! We are hoping for a quiet weekend around here, to tell you the truth!

My bedside table

2011-08-22T07:21:00.000-07:00

Just a glimpse at what is on my bedside table right now!

Pretty funny, huh? I've got Hole in the Gospel, one I have barely started but not completely tackled yet. Looks great, though. Then there are 2 of the 3 The Hunger Games books. Have you read them? OH MY WORD! Crazy and suspensful. I can't put them down! Gotta get the third to read soon! And on top of those is the book I mentioned in my last post, hoping for something better.

It's kind of a strange combination but I would highly recommend them all. If you are in the mood for a fascinating, totally fictional series, then read The Hunger Games. When I try to describe them to people, they think they sound so weird and brutal, and really they are, I guess. But there is so much more to them, in my opinion. They make you think.

And hoping for something better is also making me think, but in a completely different way. If you are struggling with where to put your hope. Or if you want to know more about who Jesus is. Or if you just want to read and understand scripture better, then get this book! It is a study of Hebrews and I am really liking the author, Nancy Guthrie.

I'll leave you with one of the best things I have been reminded of, so far, in the last book I mentioned. The author, Guthrie, is talking about when we struggle and how sometimes we feel like God is silent. But he is NOT silent. His word is active and he is always speaking to us through scripture. She says, "But when we complain that God is silent, when we're straining to hear the voice of God, what we are really saying is that we have exhausted this final decisive Word he has spoken to us in the person of Jesus and in the pages of Scripture. It's as if we are saying the Bible has nothing further to say to us, that we've seen all there is to see in Jesus and heard all there is to hear in the gospel, that it has no power to speak into our current situations."

So, if you are feeling like God is silent today, OPEN UP YOUR BIBLE!

His word IS active and he DOES speak to us through his scripture. I think the problem is that we aren't always willing to listen.

Hope you have a happy Monday!

We are still trying to put our house back together and I am still trying to have a positive attitude about everything that has gone on. Yesterday Hayes woke up with one of his eyes swollen shut (got some dirt in it the day before and it got really irritated.) He was pretty uncomfortable and very frustrated, not willing to open either of his eyes for most of the morning. He VERY dramatically chose to eat his cereal with both eyes closed (you can imagine how that went). Anyway, I stayed home from church with him and we spent a nice quiet morning just reading books, snuggling, singing, and being together. I had started out the morning a little frustrated about his eye, and praying for patience because he was most definitely playing the whole thing up like he was blind. But as the day went on his eye got better and we were able to have some good, quiet family time. In the end I was kind of thankful for that little swollen eye because it made us all just settle down and enjoy some quiet time together. It was a good reminder that God is in control of every situation, giving us what we NEED even when it comes to us in an odd way (like a swollen eye).

August Numbers and Quite a Story

2011-08-20T09:44:00.000-07:00

Well, we finally got our official numbers for the month of August and we are:

#38 for a BOY

and

#55 for a GIRL

Thankful for some movement and thankful to be in the 30's FINALLY!

I am not sure exactly why it took so long to get our numbers this month but I do know that there are some families ahead of us who needed some attention and that is fine with me. A delay in getting our numbers is not a big deal to me because we are what we are whether we know our numbers or not.

The delay in getting our numbers is NOT the reason for my delay in writing a blog post, however. The reason I haven't written lately is because our life has been pretty hectic and a little stressful and to be quite honest, I have not been in the mood to write about it until today. Here's the story.......

Last Friday:

While Hayes was napping, I was packing up my bags to head to Atlanta with my friend Mallory. I was helping host a baby shower for my college friend, Lauren, on Saturday so Mallory and I thought we would go down a night early and just enjoy a night away. Shaun and Hayes had been planning for a while to come up on Saturday for the Braves/Cubs game that night to meet me, along with my dad and my brother, who were coming, as well.

Anyway, while Hayes was napping I had heard a "BOOM". I glanced around and didn't notice anything unusual, so I really didn't think much about it. Well, about an hour and a half later, Shaun was about to be home and I was putting my last bag in the car when I noticed water POURING out of our basement. (We have a finished basement with a bedroom, bathroom, laundry, and playroom.)

I panicked and ran down the stairs into the basement to find my feet standing in water. Our basement was flooded. And the boom I had heard earlier? Our hot water heater bursting!

Thankfully, Shaun pulled into the driveway shortly after, and I met him in my rain boots, waving my arms and acting like a crazy person. He got the hot water heater turned off and the water company came to turn off the main water line. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon taking every toy, every rug, every piece of furniture out of the basement to store upstairs so it wouldn't ruin.

By 6:30 or so, we were exhausted. We had no water. And no one (plumber, insurance company,etc.) could come help us until Monday. We couldn't stay home and I had to be in Atlanta early the next morning, so what else were we to do, but pack up our things and head to Atlanta to stay in a hotel? The fun part was that Mallory and her family decided to come, too (they boys were all coming on Saturday anyway) and stay in the same hotel. Whew! We would just deal with everything when we got back into town.

Saturday:

Baby shower was great! Fun celebration! Shaun and Trent took all the kids to the aquarium for the morning. They had a ball. We met up with them later and said goodbye to the Wilsons. Shaun, Hayes and I had time to kill before the baseball game that night so we parked the car near Centennial Park so that we could walk around a while. We tried to figure out some fancy, smancy parking meter. We met a homeless man named Daniel (That's a whole other story.) We paid the meter for more than 45 minutes of time. We walked around for no more than 30 minutes. When we got back we had a parking ticket on our car, saying the meter had expired 25 minutes before. Just not true. Bummer. But, of course, this happens to us.
The baseball game was fun. The Cubs won, which was exciting to my boys. More on the game in another post.
Late that night we headed back home, but couldn't go home because we had no water. So, we went to Shaun's parents' house for 2 nights.

Monday Morning:
4am
BOOM! Are you kidding me? Surely Shaun's parents' water heater didn't explode, too! I get up and check the upstairs where we were sleeping. Hayes is ok. No one else stirs. I lay back down with a million things on my mind, wondering if I had actually heard anything at all.
4:45 am
Knock knock.
The police are at the door. Someone had hit my parked car. (I hadn't thought to look outside when I heard the boom!) The other person's car is not driveable, so she had to be towed away. The back of my car is smashed. We can "drive" it but they said technically it is not driveable either because there is no tail light and the way the car was smashed, water could get into the car.
Seriously?
I don't know what to do at this point. Laugh or cry? I think Shaun and I were a little delirious because after we dealt with the car and the police, we just layed in the bed laughing. Then I got mad, then sad, then we laughed some more. It is 5:30 in the morning and I am "homeless" and "car-less".

Monday:
We head to our house to meet the crew coming to dry out our basement. The plumber is coming at some point, too, to turn our water back on (ended up not coming until after dinner time). When we walk in the smell is just disgusting. The house is also really HOT and we quickly realize that the air is not working. WHAT?! At this point, I am at the end of my rope. I am having to potty at the neighbor's house (thanks Julie!). Hayes is "pottying" outside off of the deck. (It's all an adventure for him!)
By bed time we finally have water, but NO hot water. Our house is blazing hot AND it smells like mildew. ~~Almost~~ unbearable.
I have a meltdown.
Shaun tells me to pack up and head to my parents' house on Tuesday for the rest of the week.
(You might wonder how I got there without a car. Well, Shaun gave us his car and he got a rental. It's snazzy!)

So, there's the story. Poor Shaun stayed in the blazing hot house all week (air registered in the 80s even at night.) Hayes and I spent 3 nights at my parents' house being pampered and came back yesterday after the carpet, baseboards, some sheet rock, etc. got torn out, which also removed the smell. An air condition man came by and said that all the equipment the "dry out your basement company" had used had blown a fuse. Also, the company had forgotten to tell us that they would be blowing HOT air into our basement, which overworked our air, you get the picture, blah, blah, blah.
That same company just came today and removed the last of the fans and de-humidifiers. The air is fixed and our house is continuing to cool off. We have a new hot water heater. Our car is being fixed............Things are looking up.
Of course, our house looks like a disaster and we are waiting to hear back from the insurance company before we can fix and replace everything. So, we will just live with it being a mess for a while.

WHEW! Are you even still reading this?

All I can say is that I don't think I handled all of this very well. I was already weak (with the slow time in our adoption) and this just brought me down even further. I wanted to kick and scream and act like a brat, but since I'm trying to teach my 3 year old not to do that, I refrained.

So what have I learned through all of this?
Hmm.....still processing. But I did for sure learn that:
1. I don't want any of this to happen again.
2. There are others in this world with far greater problems than ours.
3. I am putting my hope in things, people, events, etc. instead of in Christ.
4. When you hear a BOOM, look thoroughly for the problem, or heck, just run! It's not going to be good!

The book we are going to be doing in our bible study is called, Hoping for Something Better.
I glanced at it this week and just laughed. Yea, I'm hoping for something better alright. But when I finally made myself open it and start reading I realized that I was in a bad place. After all these "events", I began expecting more bad things to happen. I was hopeless. Then, when that wasn't working for me, I started dreaming up all these great scenarios of what I WISH would happen, the "too good to be true" sort of things. And what I realized is that placing my hope in those things isn't good either. What I've got to do is learn to place my hope in Jesus. He is the "something better". I've already got what I'm hoping for. I just don't realize it most of the time.
So, stay tuned.......more revelations to come later, I'm sure! :)

"For the Lord will take up their case......"

2011-08-11T06:38:00.000-07:00

No new numbers, yet....maybe we will get them before the week is over.

For now, please pray with me for some families who are waiting to go back to Ethiopia to pick up their children. These families have met their children and thought they would be going back in just weeks to bring them home forever. Now, there is a hold up and it looks like (unless the Lord changes the hearts of "kings"..in this case, MOWA) it could be MONTHS before they go back to pick up their children. Total agony.

Proverbs 22:22-23

"Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court, for the Lord will take up their case and will plunder those who plunder them."

Proverbs 21:1

"The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases."

Psalm 24:1, 8

"The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all who live in it...........Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle."

Today, as I feel like we are in a very "blah" place with our adoption, I am reminded that I have the KING OF GLORY fighting my battles. Nothing is "blah" for Him. Our struggles matter to Him and he fights for us.

We are his and he fights for us.

The orphans are his and he fights for them.

The famished are his and he fights for them.

The widows are his and he fights for them.

The waiting are his and he fights for them.

Nothing is too big or too small for our God!

The Solid Rock

2011-08-08T06:54:00.000-07:00

I mentioned yesterday that getting back into "reality" is going to be pretty tough. What I didn't mention is that I've kind of dreaded it. With the drought and famine affecting southern Ethiopia, with orphanage closings in the south, and with MOWA behind on approval letters, plus the fact that the courts are closing now for the rainy season, I am feeling pretty OUT OF CONTROL. I feel like there is still so much uncertainty and to tell you the truth, it makes me want to scream!

Part of me wants to just hop on an airplane, deliver food to the hungry, and gather abandoned children into my arms. But I know that for now, that is not an option. So, what do we do? We wait. We pray and we wait.

Yesterday at church we sang an older hymn, "My Hope is Built on Nothing Less" and I could barely keep from absolutely losing it.

"My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but WHOLLY lean on Jesus' name.

On Christ the solid rock, I stand; all other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness veils his lovely face, I rest on his unchanging grace;

In every high and stromy gale, my anchor holds within the veil."

How sweet to be reminded that God is my anchor in the storms. He's my rock when I feel like I'm standing in sinking sand.

At the end of church we sang another oldy but goody, "Rock of Ages". Think God is trying to tell me something? But wait! There's more!

Today's Jesus Calling devotion:

"I am training you to cultivate a thankful mind-set. This is like building your house on a firm rock, where life's storms cannot shake you. As you learn these lessons, you are to teach them to others...."

vs. referenced: Psalm 95:1-2

"Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song."

Matthew 7:24-25

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock."

Praying that I can put God's words into practice this week. Praying that I will trust in Him, my ROCK, the one who is constant and unshakeable, the one who doesn't sink in the sand or get washed away by life's storms. Trusting that by putting my faith in him, I, too, can stand firm and not be shaken. And thankful for reminders like these that God knows my thoughts, fears and uncertainties before I even voice them! And sometimes, instead of letting me get caught up in them, He beats me to the punch!

Long Time No Blog

2011-08-07T16:34:00.000-07:00

You've probably guessed that we've been on vacation. Even though Hayes and I have been flitting around all summer, poor Shaun has gotten left behind....until last week. Last week the three of us went to Orange Beach to my grandmother's bay house. And my parents joined us for part of the week. It was great!

I grew up going to the bay house and it is so much fun to take Hayes to a place where I have so many fun memories. It was also really neat for my parents to experience the bay with Hayes since my Dad grew up going to the bay, as well. Years and years ago, my grandmother's family basically "discovered" the bay in Orange Beach. They went there by boat (because there were no roads). They used machetes to get through all the brush and they kept their eyes peeled for the wild hogs that roamed there. And did I mention that my Ma-maw used to wear a WOOL bathing suit? Oh my! Anyway, they finally bought up a bunch of land, divided it among the family members and slowly each family built houses. It is a little family compound there on the bay. My Mamaw and Papa built their house in the 70s and well, let's just say it hasn't changed a whole lot since they built it. (except for some furniture changes my aunts have done) But we LOVE it!

I will let the pictures do most of the talking. But in general the mornings started off with coffee and a walk down to the dock where we checked the crab traps. (We caught fish each afternoon to bait the traps every night.) The days were spent either bumming around the bay, jumping off the dock and catching critters. Or we went to the beach to brave the heat, jump the waves, and play baseball in the sand. After naps, there was the fishing for bait, a little glass of wine (a capri sun for hayes, of course) and dinner either in or out. Oh, so nice. We also had dinner with my aunts, uncle, and cousin one night and enjoyed catching up with them. They shared "bay stories" with Hayes and he loved it. We even did a little late night fishing with flashlights......I love making memories!!

Hayes got stung by a jellyfish, so I took him for a little ride in the raft.......He was not a happy camper at the moment.

Had to get in a round of putt putt, of course!

Look at the size of these jellyfish. They were massive! Thankfully, we saw them mostly on our last morning at the bay and we didn't get any stings from these!

I know we can't vacation forever but man it is nice while it lasts!

I mentioned earlier this summer that all of our business and traveling has been a great distraction from the adoption and other every day stresses. Now that we are back I know I am going to have to face reality head on and to try to do it joyfully. That might be hard, considering that Ethiopia seems a little behind on adoption approvals (slowing down the process) and the fact that the courts are closed now for 2 months for the rainy season. (And yes, that happens every year.) I know there are families who have met their children and may not get back to bring them home for months because of this delay and this week as we get back into our routine I hope to spend a lot of time on my knees praying for Ethiopian adoptions and for these families in particular.

Hoping and praying that next summer we have our little Ethiopian babe in tow as we vacation at the bay house once again!

The Horn of Africa

2011-07-27T13:07:00.000-07:00

I want to say thank you for all the sweet comments and e-mails I've received over the past week or so. Your encouragement means so much to me and I appreciate all of YOU!!

********************

I was going to post a recipe today but to tell you the truth, my mind is not on food. It's actually on the severe drought and famine that is killing so many people (children in particular) in parts of Africa right now. The "Horn of Africa" is the main part affected and you can see in this map that "the horn" includes parts of southern Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya.

Thousands have died. Millions need assistance. Women are abandoning the bodies of their dead children on the side of the road as they try to get to camps where they can find food and clean water. It is a desperate and seemingly hopeless situation. And it makes me sick to my stomach. Have you seen the images of these children dying? Does it break your heart like it does mine? Please pray!

Some of the scripture I am continually reminded of that seems so appropriate in this situation is from Isaiah 41.

vs.17-18, "The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the Lord will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs..............vs.20 SO THAT people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it."

This doesn't necessarily mean that the Horn of Africa is going to have rivers flowing through it tomorrow (although we pray in faith that it will). It doesn't necessarily mean that thousands more won't die (although we pray in faith that they won't). The harsh reality is that for many of those starving children, their rivers and springs await them not on this earth, but in Heaven. And to tell you the truth, that's really hard for me to understand. I hate what sin has done to this world.

These verses do bring me encouragement, though, because they make it very clear that our great God is in control. He has not forgotten the people whose "tongues are parched" in the Horn of Africa. He never forgets the poor and needy. He hears their every cry.

~~I think~~ I know we are the ones who don't.

So pray that God will provide food and water for these starving people. Pray that this situation, as desperate and grim as it is, will bring GLORY to his name, as we know in some way it will.

And pray that your heart and my heart will be broken for people in need, that we will give thanks for what we have, and ask the Lord with an open and honest heart to show us what our role is in helping the poor.

On the road again....and again....and again......

2011-07-25T07:36:00.000-07:00

We have literally been living out of our suitcases this summer....and having a blast! Poor Shaun has gotten left behind during the week some but he always joins us for weekend fun! I just keep throwing Hayes in the car and driving here, there and everywhere! To the lake with college friends, to my parents' house, to my sisters' house, and I even managed to slip away for one girls' night at the lake without my boys! Fun! Fun! Fun!

I knew at the beginning of the summer that we would be busy but I truly believe that God's goodness has allowed us to be even busier than I had imagined. Hayes is at a great age just to pick up and go and I have loved spending so much carefree time with him. And having very little "down-time" has been a blessing. Now, there are a few negatives to being gone so much, like the fact that I am behind on housework and I have gotten completely out of my regular exercise routine. Oh, and I've eaten a lot more than normal because, well, there has just been so much good food to eat! But all in all, it's been great!

Last night we came home from my sister's house, which is like a resort for Hayes. Lots of space, lots of dirt, a pool, and some ponds nearby for fishing. Oh, and COUSINS galore! We had so much fun!
I love this picture of my cute, cute parents with 5 of their 8 grandchildren (wish the other 3 had been with us!).

But this picture of the 3 of us cracks me up. Why do we try so hard to get these stiff, yet "happy" "in front of the fireplace" pictures? Especially when I can remember exactly what I was saying the whole time we tried to take this....."Hayes, please be normal! No. Not that goofy smile. No. Please don't hold my hair. I want to look at least sort of cute for once! Come on guys. Let's get one good picture out of this."
Yep, that's the truth. And all for this.........

And I can't leave out one of the best parts of the trip. Hayes had his first coke (he's had sips but never a whole can of caffeinated coke) and you want to know what it was?

BUBBA!? Leave it to my bro-in-law to bring home a 12 pack of Bubba Zero for the family to enjoy. Hayes walked around asking everybody if he could have some "bubba" and it just cracked me up!

So, have a happy Monday and go enjoy yourself some Bubba if you can!

"What then is this child going to be?"

2011-07-20T13:06:00.000-07:00

This morning Shaun had to leave the house pretty early. I had been to bed really early the night before with a migraine and so when Shaun told me goodbye at 6:15 I was ready to wake up. I knew I had a good 45 minutes before Hayes would get out of bed so I fixed my coffee and thought about what to do next. It would have been a great time to read my bible but instead I turned on the news. I am never watching TV at that hour, so I flipped around to see what else was on and I landed on Beth Moore on Life Today. She was talking about Elizabeth, who was barren, and her husband Zechariah (in Luke 1). Of course, my ears perk up when I hear about a fellow "Infertile Myrtle." And in this story, you know, an angel appeared to Zechariah and told him that he and Elizabeth would have a son. Remember they were old and even though this didn't seem possible it was so. And months later Elizabeth gave birth to John the Baptist, whom the angel had said, "would be a joy and a delight" and "filled with the Holy Sprit".

So what was Elizabeth's response to God's great work in her? To her pregnancy she responded, "And the Lord has done this for me." Elizabeth knew she had found favor with God and she recognized him for his goodness. And when the baby leapt in her womb she proclaimed, "Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"

And how did others who witnessed this miracle respond? "They shared her joy." And they said, "What then is this child going to be?' For the Lord's hand was with him." Of course, we know who that child came to be.....John the Baptist, the man who "prepared the way" for Jesus.

In Beth Moore's talk today she said this phrase over and over,

"Blessed are YOU when something that comes naturally to others comes supernaturally for YOU."

Thank you Beth!!!! I have always struggled with the fact that for most people having babies is a very natural thing. As women, our bodies were made to conceive and carry babies. So why won't mine do what everybody else's does? Why is this "natural" thing not so natural for me?

Well, for the past several years, I've been learning the answers to those questions. I got to see God's supernatural powers firsthand in the conception and birth of Hayes. (You can read that story HERE) How obvious that God had given us that child for a reason! And we knew he would do great things with Hayes' story (and He has). So as we pray for Hayes today we ask, "What then is this child going to be?" We KNOW God will continue to do awesome things with Hayes. And everyday as I look at that beautiful boy I should say to myself,

"Blessed am I when something that comes naturally for others came supernaturally for ME!"

And now, as God has called us to adopt, we are once again adding to our family in a way that is not "natural". We are "having a baby" that has been conceived by another woman. We are "having a baby" whose skin is going to be many, many shades darker than ours. We are "having a baby" that we will not meet in a hospital, but in Africa, in an orphanage, thousands of miles away. And what keeps racing through my mind is......."This is NOT natural!!" And you know what? It's not natural. It's SUPERnatural!! And as we pray for our Ethiopian babe, we ask God, "What then is this child going to be?" And we trust in God's goodness.

"Blessed am I when something that comes naturally for others will come supernaturally for me!"

As I turned off the TV this morning, Hayes crawled in the bed beside me. I grabbed a few seconds to read from Jesus Calling and this is what it said, "Do not be afraid to be different from other people. The path I have called you to travel is exquisitely right for you."

So on the days that I feel like a weirdo, like my life looks so different from others. On the days that I am tired of things not coming naturally, I'll remember these words,

"Blessed are YOU when something that comes naturally to others comes supernaturally for YOU."

And you know what else? I'll delight in God's goodness!

What's for supper?

2011-07-14T14:36:00.000-07:00

A conversation I have frequently with other moms is this: "What do you cook for supper at your house?" Everyone wants to know quick, easy, but healthy dishes to fix. We all have those nights where we stare at the refrigerator wondering what in the world we can pull out to serve our families. And let's just face it. Sometimes the healthy part goes right out the window.
Now I love to cook, so it is not something that stresses me out. I do, however, get tired of cooking the same old things. And there are definitely days that I would prefer to go out to eat. We also have at least one leftover night at our house every week and/or a breakfast food night. Gotta have those nights, in my opinion!
**And before I go on, let me add a little (but very important) note here.
If you do NOT like to cook, that is OK! You have other gifts and interests that I don't have so DON'T compare! We women spend way too much time comparing ourselves to others and feeling guilty if we can't do one million and one things in a day like super mom down the street. Let's get real! "Mom A" might be the best seamstress, while "Mom B" can get a gourmet meal on the table in no time. And "Mom C", well, she might be able to scrub a toilet like no other!! My point is, we all have different gifts (none less significant than the other) that we need to embrace.

SO....my point in writing all of this is to say that even if you are not a lover of cooking, you can still get a good, healthy meal on the table without going into a tizzy or spending all day in the kitchen. We have to feed our families (when we are home) so I am going to start sharing some easy recipes I like to use, even when my time is very limited. Doing this will allow me to write about something I enjoy AND it will hopefully give you some easy meals to add to your list of "go-to's"!

I'll start with one of my favorites that I "cook" all the time.

Pesto Focaccia Sandwiches
I got this recipe from my sister who got it from Southern Living (I think).
You will need:
-1 large deli loaf focaccia or ciabatta bread (I like focaccia the best and you can find it at Brunos, Piggly Wiggly, and Western for sure- in the bakery or deli section!)
-1 (3.5 oz.) jar prepared pesto sauce (or submarine dressing near deli counter at Publix)
-1/2 lb. thinly sliced ham (sometimes I use less meat than this)
-1/2 lb. thinly sliced turkey
-6 provolone cheese slices
-1/2 small red onion, sliced thinly (optional)

Cut bread in half. Spread pesto (or sub. dressing) over sides. Layer ham and next 3 ingredients over bottom half. Top with bread. Wrap in foil. Bake @ 450 degrees for 10 minutes (or until cheese is melted.) Cut into 6 wedges.

**Sometimes I just use one type of meat. It's up to you.
***One loaf is enough for our family. You might do 2 if your family is larger.

Serve with fruit, salad, chips, or raw veggies and VOILA! You have a meal in minutes!

Links to 2 other EASY recipes I've shared in the past:

Chicken Vermicelli Soup

Pizza Bread

I am not going to put pressure on myself by claiming that I will share recipes on a regular basis. BUT, I am going to try to share what I am cooking more often. And if I can find the time, I'll add a page at the top of my blog with some of my favorites!
So happy cooking....or not :)!!!

New Numbers

2011-07-13T14:30:00.000-07:00

The July Numbers are in and we are thankful for some movement.

On the BOY list we are #

And on the GIRL list we are #

That is 6 spots down on the boy list and 7 spots down on the girl list.

But, COME ON 30s.....or maybe 20s!?!?!

Seriously, I'm still praying BOLDLY!

I just can't help but think today.....What stage of life is our baby in? Is he or she in the womb? Is he/she born yet? What does that precious face look like? HOW MUCH LONGER!?!?

Trying to trust in the God who knows the answer to ALL of these questions plus so much more!

One little Hayes funny:

The other day I saw on the AGC listserve that there was another referral. I said out loud, "Yay! A referral. We'll move another spot on the list."

Hayes replied in his toughest voice, "We need to pound everybody!! Well, not really pound them. But let's try to get our baby first."

Ha! Don't worry! I explained to him that we are not trying to "pound" any of you. We are just going to keep praying that everyone on that list gets referrals ASAP!

4th of July Week

2011-07-11T13:16:00.000-07:00

We go on vacation with my family about every other year. This year was an "off year" but we all still wanted to get together. So, after the U2 concert in Nashville, Shaun, Hayes and I headed to my parents' house for the week. My sister's family went, too, and my brother's family already lives there. So it was quite a crew! And we had a ball!

Here are the highlights:

Our annual July 4th War Game:

The British vs. The Americans

It's basically capture the flag with some twists, created by my husband, aka Lord Cornwallis, aka Leuitenant Washington, (better known as Daddy and Uncle Shaun). He seriously puts so much thought into it, places phone calls to the oldest nephews to discuss plans, and tries to make it better every year! Hilarious! And so much fun!

And here it is:

We combine over 200 of these (thanks a lot to Granddad):

Water guns:

Some bunkers for hiding and protection:

And a bunch of crazy, yet creative kids:

And you get the BEST war game ever!!

Other highlights:

EATING

From a million popsicles to all the YUMMY food that my mom cooked:

Staying Wet and Filthy:

Fishing:

Spending time with extended family....

My cousin Leslie came over for a day with her daughter, Nora.

We spent time with other extended family, too, but they wouldn't let me take pictures of them bc they were in bathing suits!! :)

Other highlights without pictures:

-Hayes called everyone "Connie Hairball" (???) the whole time (became the phrase of the week)

-We canoed and kayaked down Little River, swam, and swung into the water on an awesome rope swing. (Some of us dropped like a rock the first time on the swing (me) and some of us have sore arms today!(me) :)

-And the last highlight.....a VERY interesting visit to the nursing home to see Ma-maw! Let's just say that one particular alzheimers patient got a little too close for comfort!! Hoping Hayes isn't scarred for life!!

Such a fun trip and now we are back, trying to get back into a routine. But our sweet, funny Hayes is missing his cousins, for sure! (I don't think Shaun and I can laugh at him as much as they did. Nor do we need to!:)

Hope you have a great week! Maybe we'll have some July #s to report soon!!

U2, Bono, The Edge, OH MY!

2011-07-06T09:32:00.000-07:00

For Christmas Shaun's parents gave us tickets to the U2 concert in Nashville. I was excited about it but my husband, well, he was giddy! And last week he kept telling me the stories behind all of the songs....ALL of the songs. To say that Shaun was excited is an understatement. And I was kind of playing it cool, like "yeah, U2, it will be fun...."

So, Saturday we drove to Nashville (Hayes stayed with Shaun's parents). We met up with our friends, Ryan and Heather, who we were staying with, and we all headed to Vanderbilt's stadium. It was blazing hot! But OH MY WORD!!! It was an awesome show and I am now the biggest U2 fan EVER! I want to be a groupie!!! I knew I liked Bono before, but seriously, I think he is one of my new favorite people. And The Edge, oh, The Edge...........

I will post a pic later of what the stage looked like and I'll share more about why I loved the concert so much. But for now we'll just say that, yes, at one point during the concert, I was moved to tears. Yep, tears.

Hope you all had a happy 4th. We are still celebrating a little so I'll be back later on to share with you what all we've been up to.

Have a happy Wednesday. Be back soon!

We're back!

2011-06-30T07:36:00.000-07:00

Where have we been?

I didn't plan on taking a brief break from blogging until God brought some things to my attention about 2 weeks ago.

On Father's Day the prayer requests in our KC (sunday school) class were really heavy. And I left church that Sunday feeling weighed down by some of the problems people inside and outside of our church were facing. We went on to have a great Father's Day with Shaun (I'll have to share about the AWESOME meal I cooked him in a future post!!:) and that Sunday night was Shaun's turn to go downtown to the homeless shelter our church has partnered with. Shaun goes there once a month and this time, since it was Father's Day, he asked Hayes and me to go with him. So, we picked up the BBQ and headed down there to eat and talk with the men. My only concern about going was that I was afraid Hayes would say something out loud about one of the men. Some have had strokes. Some have abused drugs. Some have obvious disabilities.......And with Hayes, well, you know!!!

So we told him that if he had a question about someone to please wait until we were back in the car and headed home....He did great!

The men were happy to see us (along with another family). They loved Hayes' cowboy boots and several made a point to talk to us while we ate. Then the other man from our church did a bible study and we sang hymns together. Some of the men sang out loud, while others mumbled something under their breath. But I just loved every second of being there in that room with men of all ages and ethnicities, singing praises to the Lord. It was a really up-beat time until the end when prayer requests were shared. That's when my heart broke. I listened as a 60ish year old man, new to the center, wept over the fact that his daughter had died a few years before in a car accident. (Remember it was Father's Day). This big, white haired man was completely broken and I wondered if he would ever find joy again.

I listened to the man who'd had a stroke not long ago, tell me that someone had given him the most beautiful bible he had ever seen and that he could hardly let it out of his sight. He just had trouble memorizing the scripture. I told him that the Holy Spirit would help him and then I thought to myself, "Do I treasure my Bible, the word of God, like that?"

Throughout the week, God placed in front of me friends and acquaintances who needed prayer. Prayer over health concerns, adoptions, jobs, and the list goes on. I even got to spend time with a beautiful Kenyan family who are struggling in life far more than I probably ever will and the words that came out of the sweet mother's mouth were, "This life is hard. I wouldn't have chosen it for myself. But God is good."

Do I believe in God's goodness like she does?

So, instead of spending my spare time blogging, I decided to spend it praying. Do you know how much time I've spent praying for MYSELF over the past 6 1/2 years? Well, God revealed to me some major self centeredness as I began to pray for others. Because as I did that, my problems seemed to become so much smaller. The Holy Spirit worked in me, hopefully made my words pleasing to God, and convicted me of some rotten selfishness that I'm not very proud of.

Now, did I still pray for our adoption and for that precious baby we long for? Did I still pray for Ethiopia and all the other families waiting to adopt? ABSOLUTELY! That is an every day prayer and I believe with all my heart that God wants me to present those requests to him without fail. But for someone like me, who has pleaded with God for the same thing for 6 1/2 years (at least), this wake-up call was long overdue.

What a gift and privilege it is to be able to pray for others! Of course I have prayed for other people throughout my life. In fact, I've prayed for every single girl who has ever e-mailed me about her infertility. And I've watched God answer almost every one of those prayers with pregnancies out the wazoo!! And I've prayed for sick friends and family members, most definitely. But rarely had I taken time to sit and pray for others during a block of time, day after day without fail. And I'm thankful for the Holy Spirit prompting me to do that.

John 13:34, "A new command I give you; Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

James 5:16, "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."

Now, during the past couple of weeks, I've also taken some much needed naps, spent time with family and friends, gone on long walks, and celebrated 8 years with my husband!!

And the last few days we've been at the lake with one of my best friends from college and her two children.

When you combine my rough and tough, big 3 1/2 year old boy with her precious little, GIRLY (but can hold her own) 3 year old girl, sometimes you get this:

A boy who never wants to stop swimming and "fishing" and a girl who wants to wear her dress, ring, lipstick and flip flops. They may have been a little puzzled about the other one at times......

But all in all, they had a BLAST! And loved each other VERY much!

And I mean, who ISN'T puzzled about this crazy kid sometimes!?!?

Colley and I didn't wear make-up the whole time, so no pictures of us! And I'm bummed that I didn't get a picture of all 3 kiddos (including her other CHERUB!!)

It was such a fun time and we loved every second of it! (Also spending time with her mom, Candy!)

But, like it or not, we are back now and I am back to blogging. Still praying. Still trying to listen to what the Lord is teaching me. And striving to be joyful even when life isn't exactly what we thought it would be!

Have a happy Thursday! Be back soon!

Hello

2011-06-27T06:02:00.000-07:00

We're in hiding. Going Incognito. And it's kind of nice!!

(haven't even used my real camera much, which is the reason for the poor quality of this picture I took on my phone.)

I kind of took a little unexpected break from blogging last week and it ended up being great!

Just wanted to pop in to say, "hello" today! I'm sure I'll be back by the end of the week.

And I'll share with you what I decided to do with my all of my "spare" time last week.

Have a good Monday!!

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-18T14:03:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day, Shaun! We love you!

You are an awesome daddy to Hayes and I can't wait to watch you with our Ethiopian babe. Maybe next Father's Day!?!?

And your son wants to be JUST LIKE YOU!!!

(in case you didn't notice)

And to my Dad, we surely do love you, too! Thanks for being such a fun AND Godly man! You are such a great example for all of us!

Don't forget to get a Frosty at Wendy's this weekend to support adoption!!

I tan't feel my tongue.....

2011-06-17T08:14:00.000-07:00

Well, I survived the root canal and it actually wasn't too bad, after all! Shaun went with me for moral support and I was quick to tell the doctor and hygienists how nervous I was. I told them, "Just don't let me hurt!" And they didn't! I put my I-Pod on my ears, cranked up the music so I couldn't hear all the awful sounds as much, (recommended by a couple of friends:) and let them do their work. I did pray the whole time, "Please Lord, don't let the numbness go away. Please don't let me feel anything!" And let me tell ya! He definitely answered that prayer! Actually, I didn't feel a thing for HOURS after the procedure either!!

When it was all over, they gave me some Advil and a cup of water. I took one sip and the water came right back out of my mouth and rolled down my chin!! A little embarrassing but kind of funny. Then I walked out into the waiting area and tried to talk to Shaun. He looked a little freaked out by my appearance. I knew I couldn't feel the right side of my face but I didn't realize that I couldn't move it AT ALL! We laughed all the way home because I could only use half of my face and I could barely talk. I think I sounded something like this: "I tan't talk. Y i my fay no movin?" (did you catch that!?:)

4 hours later, the right half of my tongue was still as numb as it could be and even though I got dressed to go to Shaun's work dinner, we both decided it would be better if I stayed home....since I couldn't talk and there was the chance of drool and all. It sure would have made for an interesting evening, though! But to tell you the truth, I think Shaun was relieved when I agreed to stay home!:) He would have had to "explain" his wife all night!!

So, I did stay home, relaxed, and today I am doing much better! I can talk, drink, and eat and there is no drool running down my chin. OH, and I have all my teeth! All is well!

***********************

And while we are talking about being numb.......

Lately I've really been numb to our situation. Actually, I've been a little numb to life in general. I haven't really allowed myself to have quiet time to think, read or pray. And my perspective has been all out of whack.

Well, yesterday I had some time by myself and it ended up being really therapeutic.

I forced myself to spend a good bit of time in prayer and what I realized is that I have been pretty distant from God for the past couple of weeks. I think that when you pray for the same thing for so long and nothing seems to be happening, it is easy to fall into this kind of "blah", empty place.
But after some time in prayer, I realized that what I needed to do was to recite to myself the truths that I know but haven't actually believed from time to time. Simple truths like:

"God loves you."

"You are not forgotten."

"God hears your prayers."

"God will give you what you NEED."

The Holy Spirit brought to mind scripture like:

Phillippians 4:6, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Philllippians 4:19, "And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus."

Isaiah 58:11, "The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail."

Psalm 139:5, "You hem me in- behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me."

Psalm 139:14, "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."

You know, this month marks a year of our adoption process. Yes, a year ago this month we felt the call to adopt and began the paperwork process. I remember that month well because it was a time that I felt such relief and hope since God had revealed to us what He wanted us to do. We were thankful to be finished with fertility treatments, but at the same time, anxious about starting a new process. Anxious about the unknowns. And that's a place I still find myself at times. Anxious about the unknowns. In fact, I've been in that place off and on for the last 6+ years as we have tried to grow our family.

But times with the Lord, like yesterday, remind me that He is present. And though our situation may not be at all what I had hoped for, it has always been what God has had planned for our family. And it's good. I may not understand the delays but I can trust that God is going to give me everything that I need to not only handle it, but to grow and find joy in the midst of it. And although there are times that I feel alone, I NEVER am. Never!

So, today I am remembering the truths of scripture and not falling prey to Satan's lies. I WILL trust in God's plan and I WON'T stop praying to the God who made me and loves me.

I hope you have a happy Friday and a great weekend! And if you find yourself "numb" like I was, then remind yourself of the ONE who gave you life. He does hear your prayers. And you are never out of his sight!

And one more thing.....Go treat yourself to a Frosty from Wendy's this weekend. A percentage of each one sold will go towards helping orphans.

Monday

2011-06-15T07:04:00.000-07:00

Just another manic Monday........

7:30am: I think I've chipped a filling or a tooth.

8:15am: Get an appointment at the dentist.

9:00am: After looking back at last month's wait list numbers I realize we didn't move any spots on the girl list. For some reason I thought we had moved a spot or two. Major disappointment.

11:00: After walking and going to the grocery, get a call from Shaun. He has a flat tire.

12:15: Pick up Shaun at the office.

1:00: After searching the house and turning it upside down, looking for my driver's license (that's been missing for 2 weeks) I find it!! Woohoo! First little bit of good news today!

2:00: Dentist appointment. Worst nightmare (for me, anyway). I'm sweating in the dentist's chair because I am so nervous when she says, "Are you in a lot of pain?" I told her that I wasn't. Puzzled look by the dentist. "You need a root canal (this Thursday). And you need to be very careful until you get it so you don't lose your tooth."

WHAT!?!?! PANIC! No way am I losing a tooth!

2:30: In tears. Shaun is sweetly comforting me, reassuring me that we will be ok and that I will survive.

5:00: Cook dinner so that we can eat early. Shaun still needs to put a spare tire on his car that is still at the office. (He'll get 2 new tires this week, which means we will have replaced 6 tires between our 2 cars in the last 2 months.)

7:00: Sitting outside Shaun's office watching Shaun (and Hayes) put a spare tire on his car.

(By the way, we are SO thankful none of this happened during our trip to New Orleans!)

8:15: Finally home, put Hayes to bed.

8:30: Work on moss letters and run a tally in my head of what this week is going to cost us. A little sick to my stomach.

9:30: How do I choose to wind down?

By eating a banana (soft foods only right now) and watching the Bachelorette on DVR, of course!

And guess what!? Tuesday was a MUCH better day!!! (except that while the rest of the state was at the Bama Rising concert last night (yes, I'm jealous!), I was at home chewing a soft taco on the left side of my mouth......very......carefully!)

Have a happy Wednesday!

Praying for LOTS of referrals! That would definitely make my week WAY better!!
And if you think about me, pray for my root canal tomorrow! Definitely not looking forward to it!

New Orleans and New Numbers

2011-06-13T07:42:00.000-07:00

Well, first of all, New Orleans was MUCH better than our NEW numbers.

For the month of June we are officially

#66 for a GIRL and

#48 for a BOY.

Yep, that's right. Very little movement, actually NO movement on the girl's list and only 2 spots on the boy's. Pretty stinky, huh!? So, no cute pictures for these numbers. But my devotional today reminded me to be joyful, so that is what I am going to try to be--- joyful! I will let you know how that's going later on!

Now, on to New Orleans!!!!

One of the things that Shaun and I found out very quickly about each other when we started dating is that we both LOOOOVE New Orleans. Shaun's mom grew up there and so all of Shaun's cousins still live there. I, on the other hand, used to visit there some because, well, my family loves to eat good New Orleans food. But I also spent a summer working at Desire Street Ministries (following in the footsteps of my sister and brother-in-law who met there) and so I just love everything about the city (except maybe the smell!)

So, last Thursday we loaded up and headed to New Orleans for a long weekend. This was our first time to take Hayes and we were excited about showing him all the places we love.

Of course, each day started with beignets at Cafe Du Monde. YUMMMMM! Hayes scarfed down chocolate milk and beignets until he had a tummy ache and I just might have eaten a few myself!!

We walked by the river and watched the boats.....

Look at how high the river was.....

Of course, there were the interesting characters lining the Quarter.....

Yummy restaurants......

And dancing to jazz bands in the streets.........

We spent a full day at Shaun's Uncle Harry's house, swimming and eating crawfish. It was so much fun being with all of the family and Hayes loved playing with Shaun's cousins' children.

We were also invited to a birthday party at the Audubon Zoo, which was such a treat! Look at how close we got to the elephants!!!

And included in our FREE trip to the zoo was ENDLESS rides on the carousel. I think we rode it 100 times!

Sue Sue, DD, Jen, Adam, Harry and Margaret made the trip, too.....

Look at this dinosaur exhibit. These dinos were so life-like. They roared, moved, and some even spit water! We all jumped a few times as we walked past them. This exhibit was a little gory, but the boys loved it. The T-Rex had killed a Triceratops and there was lots of fake blood. Who wouldn't love that!?

Such a fun trip. It was great to get away and just be together as a little family. Now it's back to the real world. This day has already been interesting. Since we have been stuck like glue and sleeping together for several days, I am having to force Hayes to play by himself. It's not going well.........I also just realized that a filling on one of my teeth is chipped so I will be going to the dentist this afternoon. Did I mention that I HATE going to the dentist? I would rather go to the OBGYN (and we all know I've had plenty of experience going there!). I know. It's weird but it's the truth. I'll let you know what happens....

Have a Happy Monday!!!

Fishy, Fishy!

2011-06-08T07:20:00.000-07:00

I'm telling ya, this little boy is LOVING the pool this summer! These are pics from swim lessons:

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And is anyone else crying right now over Meredith Vieira leaving The Today Show? Random, I know. But it's killing me! And as I post this, she is saying her goodbyes.

And while we are talking about TV......Did you see The Bachelorette Monday night? Yes, I watch it and I know it's trash. But, OH MY GOODNESS!!!! This is the craziest one ever! That poor girl is going to need some counseling.

That's all for now! Have a happy Wednesday!

Lately around our house....

2011-06-06T06:58:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a fun weekend with family. We went to a cookout, a dance recital, and to hear my cousin, Rachel, talk about her mission trip to Haiti at her church. But other than that......

Around here lately we've been:

Swimming!

Gotta beat the heat somehow! And guess who has turned into a little fishy!? You guessed it! Hayes has learned how to swim (in a beginner's sort of fashion!:) and he is so much fun to watch! In fact, it has been so much fun that I don't have a single picture. Hopefully I'll have some from swim lessons this week.

Going to Softball Games!

Shaun plays for his firm every summer and Hayes and I are the #1 supporters. We are always there to cheer on the team and Hayes is usually decked out in some of his own baseball gear. The first week he wanted to wear the following all together: baseball pants, cubs shirt, shin guards, gardening gloves, baseball glove and baseball helmet. Hmmm.....

Instead we found some $5 cleats at a consignment store and he was happy in those. So happy, in fact, that now he wears his cleats almost daily.

Exercising!

I've always enjoyed walking (a lot) and/or jogging (a little). But lately, I have really gotten in a groove and I have realized that exercising is the key to me staying sane right now. It is stinkin' hot outside but that's ok. I am feeling good and starting off my day the right way. And when I get tired and don't feel like I can go any longer, I seriously just think about our birthmom and tell myself, "If she can carry our baby in Africa in who knows what kind of conditions, I can keep going, too!" It also reminds me to pray for her and for our baby (that is, whenever I can get Hayes to give me a couple of minutes of quiet time.)

Working on Tact!!!

This is serious business. How do you teach a very verbal 3 year old how to have tact? Lately he has truly had no filter whatsoever and that has led to some very embarrasing moments. You know, there's the typical loud comments, "Mommy, is that a man or a woman?", (honestly sometimes I don't know!!) or passing the man in a wheelchair, "What happened to him?" And then he feels the need to share his opinion about people like, "That man is really hairy!" or even to Shaun and me, "I don't really like your shirt, shoes, etc."

But even with his lack of tact, he still has the quality of honesty. Yesterday he made a confession about his lack of tact. He said that when we were at the track the other day (he wanted to be timed on a lap like mommy and daddy), he passed an older man and said, "Watch out Old Man!" I am still pretty mortified about that one. So we just continue to talk about thinking of others, only letting kind things come out of our mouths, etc. It's a work in progress..........

Reading People Magazine!

I just haven't wanted to read anything deep lately. And I saw the movie "Something Borrowed" so I might just have to start reading the sequel, "Something Blue". I'm sure I'll have some profound quotes to share after that one. Right Amanda!?:)

And finally, Lately I've been having.....

Some Ups and Downs!

It's been kind of weird. Some days I am doing well, hopeful for good news, somewhat content about where we are. And other days I am sad and grumpy, wishing this whole darn waiting process was behind us. I know this is normal but I just want to keep it real with you all. We are definitely super busy and having fun. I am LOVING this summer time with Hayes. We are just soaking up every second of hanging out because, Lord willing, next summer we will have another little one to tag along! But not knowing a time frame right now is about to do me in. My mind goes to "Is this EVER going to happen!?" And deep down, I know it will. But when I see everyone else around me adding to their families I grow impatient. I pout. And I'm not that much fun to be around.

So we take each day, one day at a time. And I try to remember God's faithfulness to us, and to others. I try to remember scripture about his goodness and love. (guess I had better stop reading People magazine and pick up my Bible!) And I try to remember that all my joy should come from Him. He created me and He loves me (I'm preaching to myself right now). He planned our family long, long ago. And He is doing a mighty work in us FOR SURE!

Praying for a reason to celebrate this week! Praying for all the waiting families and that this week will bring a RIVER of REFERRALS like no other! We have definitely not jumped into the 30s yet but God is bigger than any number on any waitlist and I am hopeful that He will show his power in Ethiopian adoptions THIS VERY WEEK!!

God keeps bringing me back to Isaiah 41 (when I am not reading trash):

vs. 10, "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

vs. 17-18, "The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the Lord will answer them; I, the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will MAKE RIVERS FLOW on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs."

Is it still a holiday?

2011-05-31T06:38:00.000-07:00

That's the question Hayes asked this morning when he woke up. It really is an understatement to say that WE LOVE HOLIDAYS! We love when Shaun is home and we can do everything together. We love bumming around, visiting family, being outside, cooking out...you get the picture. And I have to admit that I love a little break away from my computer.

We had a great Memorial Day weekend. We spent a little bit of time with my parents, which was so much fun. We spent a fun day at the lake with Shaun's family and good friends (I have no pictures from the lake, which is a bummer.) And we spent yesterday doing yard work at home and cooking out with friends, which is always fun.

Scheming over who to "run over"!

Fully equipped......

We love our sweet little friend Kathryn who is moving away...boohoo.

Hope you all had a great weekend, too!

Praying for some good news out of Ethiopia this week!!! :)

Yard Sales

2011-05-25T07:07:00.000-07:00

Yes, yard sales. I love 'em! So much so that I added a page at the top of my blog dedicated to them. Check it out and be inspired!! :)

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Verse for the day, referenced from Jesus Calling for May 25th:

"The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." Zephaniah 3:17

Have a great Wednesday!

2011-05-23T07:19:00.000-07:00

Hayes' prayer the other night:

"Dear Lord. Why is our baby not coming? I want it to come really soon. I pray we will get past the 30's, past the 60's and into the 80's. I pray we will get INTO that river of referrals. And thank you for all the fur I'm getting on my legs......."

Happy Monday!

And unlike Hayes, we are actually praying that our numbers get smaller instead of bigger. But man, do we have a LONG way to go! It has been a SLOW month of referrals and I don't think we have moved a single spot since last month. Still praying for the 30s though!!!

(And on a good note, it seems that all the AGC families who have traveled to Ethiopia recently have passed court! So, although things are slow, it is still an active program, for sure!)

School's Out!

2011-05-19T14:27:00.000-07:00

School (or in our case, 2 day Mother's Day Out) is over for the year and we are gearing up for summer! Of course, Hayes has already planned out the next few months, and if we stick to his schedule, we'll be pretty busy!

He is such a little character and it is a good thing we love eachother so much because we really do spend A LOT of time together! It's funny because as much as I long for more children, lately I have been making a conscious effort to soak up all this one on one time I'm having with Hayes. It's precious time and I don't want to waste it! (Although I might be completely worn out by the time this summer is over!)

The last day of school was only yesterday but we've already packed a lot in! We've played with some friends, been to the park, and even met a beautiful Ethiopian baby who just came home to his forever family! So exciting!

This week we started planting some flowers......(By the way, he wears these gardening gloves almost every day. Just in case he needs to "do some work" or "pick up some dead animals"...hmmm....)

And Frodo finally got a haircut.......so he could see all his friends better on the last day of school.

And then last night was movie night......with Spiderman......in a "koboggan" (toboggan)....in a flood??? I think it's time to retire these pjs, don't you?

Happy Summer time!!!!

Help Storm Victims with the Jesus Storybook Bible

2011-05-16T12:02:00.000-07:00

If you are still looking for a way to help out storm victims, here's an easy idea!

So many children lost their homes, including toys, books, etc. when their houses were blown away by tornadoes just weeks ago. There is a group called Sharing His Story and they are collecting the Jesus Storybook Bibles to pass out to children who are victims of the storms. (And you know I LOVE the Jesus Storybook Bible!!!)

The reason they are doing this is because:

"We are all simply lost children yearning for our home. These children who have lost their earthly home need to know this good news - there is hope in Jesus alone. He is on a rescue mission to bring His children to Him - our true home."

Check out the website! If you live in the Birmingham area, there are lots of drop-offs (including our church). If you live outside the area, you can donate on-line OR order a bible and send it to the address on the website.

http://sharinghisstoryal.blogspot.com/

Just a simple way to help the precious children who lost everything WHILE sharing the gospel with them, too!

May Numbers and.....Opinions

2011-05-13T11:57:00.000-07:00

We received our May numbers and they are:

#50 for a BOY

and

#66 for a GIRL

Moving painfully slow, but moving none the less! Please, prayer warriors, pray for some MAJOR movement soon. I am praying some BOLD prayers right now that we will skip the 40s and the 50s and move right into the 30s!

I am really having to preach to myself right now so that I don't go crazy! We've been told by AGC to expect increased wait times but I am really praying against that! We've seen God's work throughout our adoption and we know it is not stopping now. Maybe he has called us to a long waiting period and if that's the case, He'll give us the strength to endure. But we are going to continue to "present our requests to God" and hope for something awesome!!

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OPINIONS

We have learned throughout our infertility and this adoption process to take people's opinions with a grain of salt, and then to decide what is best for our family. We've also learned how to have thicker skin and to stick to what God is calling us to even when it is obvious that people around us either don't understand or just plain don't agree.

We have been spared some of the strong opinions that I know some of you have faced with family and friends but we have definitely faced some contradictory opinions, none the less. Some people state their opinions indirectly, while others just give a look, and then there are those who give their opinion with silence, you know, the ones who don't even acknowledge our adoption (and there are more of these than you would think.)

For example, some of the "indirect" statements we have heard are:

"Africa? Huh. Well, are you going to get a full medical report on that child? Because you never know....."

(In other words, I can't believe you would adopt from Africa. Your child could have diseases!")

And the one that topped that,

"I mean, how picky are you guys going to be?"

To which Shaun and I responded at the exact same time, "NOT picky at all!!!"

But what I really wanted to say was, "You #$%*@, what do you mean, 'how picky'? How picky were you with your children?" (Obviously, I still have issues showing love towards ignorant people!!)

As for the opinions given with a look, those always crack me up!

Someone will hear that we are adopting and get excited for us and then they ask, "Where are you adopting from?" To which we answer, 'Ethiopia'. Silence. Strange look. "Oh, interesting."

Hahaha! Those make me laugh every time.

And of course, there are people who obviously don't agree with the fact that we are adopting interracially. Usually, these people don't acknowledge the adoption at all, or they start squirming when we talk about it, showing their disapproval by not knowing what to say AT ALL. Or maybe they make racist comments in front of us. Anyway, you get the picture.

God is teaching us how to handle differing opinions. We are learning how to respond (or in some cases, not respond) to people's comments. And we are learning to take what we hear to the Lord and pray for patience and peace!

It's a big world with lots of people with different views, some right and some wrong. You all know what I am talking about, right?

But what I bet most of you don't realize is that there is an adoption community out in "blog land" and we really stick together! That has actually been one of the greatest parts of this adoption process, just getting to know other families, especially the mommas! We can encourage each other, understand each other and pray for each other. It's awesome! But even within the adoption community, there are strong opinions about things such as WHERE people should adopt from, HOW MANY children to adopt, SPECIAL NEEDS or not, etc.

(And let me clarify before I move on...I struggle with being too opinionated at times, too. But God has used infertility and now adoption to teach me more about compassion and understanding. He has taught me that it is not "my way or the highway" and as hard as it is, I am working on thinking before I speak. Easier said than done!)

I have just been struggling lately with reading some of the stronger opinions and convictions that people have and second guessing what I KNOW WITHOUT A DOUBT God has called us to do. We have been called to adopt our child from Ethiopia and unless God changes that course, we are sticking with it. Believe me, it is not the easy route. It is not the fast route. It is simply the path that God has chosen for our family and we are going to be obedient.

There are a lot of families with that exact calling, to adopt an infant from Ethiopia, but not just any infant, the ONE infant God chose for that family since the beginning of time. There are other families who have been called to adopt domestically, or who have been called to adopt older, special needs children. There are even families who have been called to move to another country to serve the Lord, while others of us are called to serve the Lord right where we are.

Isn't that one of the neatest things about our God!? He's so creative!!!! I love that we serve a God who knows each of us so well and has called each of us to different things!

Of course, we are ALL called to serve the poor, the orphans, the widows. He commands it in James 1:27, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

But do you know what He also says in 1 Cor. 12:4? "There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men."

As Christians, aren't we all working for the same God? We work in different ways and in different places. But if we are committed Christians, we are all working for the same Lord! And as Christian adoptive parents, aren't we all serving the Lord through our adoptions? We are serving Him in different ways, but we are all striving to serve the very same Lord.

I am thankful that we all have different callings and convictions! And I definitely think we need to challenge eachother. But I also think we need to be careful not to push what God is calling us to do on others who are called to something a little different. Let's encourage eachother to be obedient, to stay in the Word, and to stay on our knees. We have a unique little community here and such an awesome opportunity to love each other and to carry eachother's burdens.

Galatians 6:2, "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ."

So whether you are adopting from Ethiopia, China, or the USA, whether you are adopting special needs or healthy, black, white, or hispanic, whether you are adopting one or two at a time, praise the Lord! Or maybe you don't feel called to adopt but you are obeying God's command by supporting adoptive parents through prayer and finances. Or maybe you visit orphanages and love on the children and special mothers. Praise the Lord!

Let's all just be obedient to what God is calling us to do. Let's open our hearts to God's voice and let's continue to encourage eachother on this emotionally draining, yet wonderful journey called adoption!

Mother's Day

2011-05-09T07:54:00.000-07:00

Shaun picked those flowers out for me to start off the Mother's Day weekend. Aren't they pretty?

We had a great weekend just hanging out together. Sunday afternoon we ate lunch with Shaun's family, then took naps, I took a walk (in my new workout clothes my boys gave me) by myself (aaaahhh) and then Shaun cooked a delicious dinner for us! (I only had to help with a few things since he is not normally the cook!:)

I am one thankful momma who got LOTS of hugs and kisses throughout the day!

On my walk (did I mention it was BY MYSELF!?) I had some time to think and pray. It was so nice and I will tell you who was on my heart: the birthmother of our baby AND all the ladies who want to be mommies, the ones who probably had a hard time yesterday because they would love to be celebrated as a mommy, too!

So I prayed.

I prayed for some wonderful lady in Africa who will carry and give birth to our child. I just love her so much and want to tell her how thankful we are for the gift she is giving us.

And I prayed for all the women who so desperately want to be mommies. Some of you I prayed for by name (whether you know it or not). Others of you, feel free to e-mail me so I can pray for you by name, too. I remember that feeling years ago when I couldn't get pregnant at all. And I remember that feeling just a year ago when we were trying to decide how far to go with fertility treatments, what our next step should be.

So yesterday, I prayed for each one of you sweet women that you would gain peace from the Holy Spirit. I prayed that you would be able to put your trust in the Lord. And I prayed that He will give you the desires of your heart. I understand the longing you have and I want for you what you so desperately want: to have a baby (or in some cases, more babies).

I have been re-reading Jesus Calling by Sarah Young and I realized the other day that it was this time last year that we were facing some big decisions. We were in the middle of fertility treatments and I was pretty miserable. I was feeling some tugging on my heart to adopt but I was rejecting it. And these are some of the words I was reading in the devotional,

"Come to me for all that you need."

"Relax in the knowledge that the One who controls your life is totally trustworthy."

"Do not fear what this day, or any day, may bring your way. Concentrate on trusting Me...."

"Do not long for the absence of problems in your life...You have an eternity of problem-free living reserved for you in heaven. Rejoice in that inheritance, which no one can take away from you, but do not seek your heaven on earth."

These words meant something different to me last year than they do now but I am still clinging to them just as I did a year ago.

You might be in a tough place right now but you are not forgotten. Put your trust in the Lord and cling to His words:
"You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the ROCK eternal." Isaiah 26:3-4

2011-05-06T12:50:00.000-07:00

Last night I attended this event:

I know it is kind of hard to see, but it was the "all these things" event Lifeline (our homestudy agency) put on. A night of dessert, coffee, testimonies and music for women based off this verse:

"We set our hope on you, for you do ALL THESE THINGS." Jeremiah 14:22

My small mind thought that the reason I was going to this event was to sell some of my crafts (which I did and am SO thankful). However, God's purpose in me going to this event was to encourage me and convict me through the testimonies of 4 women. We heard from a foster mother, a birthmother, and two adoptive mothers. I cried from start to finish (no shocker there, right?) and enjoyed every second of it! I got to meet some great women, more adoptive moms, and I came away with two new songs that I just love! (I think they were written for me!:)

So what did I learn (or have reinforced) through these testimonies?

::We are called to a life of giving, a life of sacrifice. Life is sometimes hard and sometimes messy, but God is always so good!

::The waiting is hard, but so worth it!

::God sees the whole, big picture while we only see what is right in front of us.

::God loves adoption. Afterall, he is the ultimate adoptive parent isn't he?!

And some of words from 2 of the songs that were sung:

"Blessings" by Laura Story

We pray for blessings

We pray for peace

Comfort for family, protection while we sleep

We pray for healing, for prosperity

We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering

All the while, You hear each spoken need

Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

And what if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You’re near

What if my greatest disappointments

Or the aching of this life

Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy

And what if trials of this life

The rain, the storms, the hardest nights

Are Your mercies in disguise

"Make Something Beatiful" By: Laura Story

When Im at the point of breaking at the place where I resign,

And Im at the stage of shaking my head as I look back on my life,

When Im halfway through the grieving, but not quite through the ache,

When I cannot see the ending, Or which road Im supposed to take,

All i know to do is lift my hands to you..

Chorus:

Take all of my life, all of my life,

All I know to do is lift my hands to You.

And make something beautiful.

I open my hand, trusting Your plan.

Make something beautiful so all will see

Your work in me, as You make something beautiful

Verse 2:

When Im tired of pretending, and I cant recall my lines,

Do I say, Im barely breathing., or just say, Im doing fine.

I admit there is a yearning, for the hurting to subside,

But not at the risk of missing what Your doing with my life

All i know to do is lift my hands to you

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Hope this weekend is a happy one for you! I know I will enjoy celebrating Mother's Day with Shaun and Hayes. I just told Hayes today how VERY thankful I am for him. What a precious gift he is! He brought home a picture of himself with his handprints around it that he made for me at school.

On the back his teacher filled in things about ME that he loves. My favorites were:

"My favorite thing my mom cooks is carrots." (He only eats them raw!)

"My mom looks pretty at church."

and "My mom is good at cartwheels."

(Bet ya'll didn't know I was so good at cartwheels, did ya!?)

Oh, how I hope Hayes has a sibling next Mother's Day!!!!!!

And to MY MOM.....Happy Mother's Day! We love you so very, very much! You're the best!

Frequently Asked Questions

2011-05-04T07:45:00.000-07:00

I get so many great questions on a daily basis that I thought I would just take the time to answer a few of them here. But PLEASE do NOT stop asking me about our adoption. I truly appreciate your interest. I just thought that maybe some of you who are not "brave" enough to ask might be wondering these same things!

:: How's the adoption going?

Well, it's going! Sloooowwwwly but surely, it's going.

::Do we have a timeline? How much longer?

Great question. Wish I knew the answer. We have been told that the Ethiopian program is an active one, still moving. They (AGC) say to watch the next couple of months to see how quickly new cases are processed. Time will tell!

::Why don't we just adopt a baby domestically in the meantime?

Another great question! We have actually explored this very recently and here is what we found. First of all, it is our agency's policy that we can only do one adoption at a time. In order to adopt domestically (which may or may not be quicker) we would have to get out of the Ethiopia program all together. Shaun and I have prayed A LOT over this and still feel 100% without a doubt that we have a baby in Ethiopia. We feel a deep connection with that country and long to travel there. God continues to reaffirm our calling to adopt from Ethiopia and we just have to face the fact that it could be a while. Over the past few weeks we have been reminded that God called us to adopt our child from Ethiopia whether it is fast or slow, easy or hard. And right now, it seems we have been called to a challenging waiting time. Honestly, it stinks! But we know it will be worth it and we know God arms us with what we need to continue our journey.

One friend sent me these verses just this morning:

"As for God His way is perfect. The word of the Lord is proven. He is a shield to all who trust in Him." Psalm 18:30

"For you have armed me with strength for the battle." Psalm 18:39

And another friend sent me these song lyrics by Sara Groves. She is referring to a mission trip to Rwanda (I think) and I love the words.

I saw what I saw and I can't forget it

I heard what I heard and i can't go back

I know what I know and I can't deny it

something on the road, cut me to the soul

Shaun and I haven't been to Ethiopia. We haven't seen our baby. We haven't heard it's cry. But we do know what God is calling us to. We've seen pictures of the people and the lands. Our hearts have been broken and changed. And unless God changes our course, we are going to adopt from Ethiopia no matter how long it takes.

The struggle is not with our actual calling. The struggle is with the waiting. With finding joy in every day. With not allowing ourselves to be defined by infertility or by our challenges. And our prayer is that we embrace every day that God gives us and use it to serve Him in a mighty way.

Ways to Help!

2011-05-02T06:51:00.000-07:00

This week has been weird and draining, for lots of reasons really. I don't have much to write about so I thought I would just give some links of ways that you can help with tornado victims. There is so much devastation across the south that cannot be described with words so I thought I would post a couple of pictures I found. (I did not take these. I found them on facebook and other sites.)

The first two are from Dekalb County in Alabama, the county that I grew up in and one that has not been mentioned in the news as much as others. Small towns have been wiped out and at least 33 people were killed.

And then there is Tuscaloosa (I think):

And areas of Birmingham:

Not to mention areas of Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee and other parts of the South. Total loss.

So please help. Donate money. Give blood. Take supplies to a shelter. Make sandwiches for workers. Take a meal to someone who is or has been without power. And don't forget to PRAY!!!

Here are some links to check out:

United Way of Central Alabama

Help and Donate

Red Cross: Give blood!!

Our state needs your prayers

2011-04-28T19:22:00.000-07:00

Lamentations 3:22-23 "for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

Our state has been absolutely devastated by tornadoes and my stomach is just sick over it. From the county I grew up in (and where my family lives),Dekalb County, to parts of our very own Birmingham, to the city of Tuscaloosa where some people I love -oh so very much- live......destruction, death, and sadness. My heart aches.

Shaun, Hayes and I are fine and thankful for God's protection. And the only encouragement I can give to anyone right now is that God's compassions and mercies "are new every morning." Tomorrow is a new day. A new day to grieve. A new day to recover. A new day to seek God's face.

Please pray for everyone (in every state) affected by these storms and don't hesitate to give. This is a time that we can show the love of God to others.

John 13:34-35

"A new command I give you; Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

Easter

2011-04-25T07:21:00.000-07:00

Well, our Easter weekend didn't exactly start as planned. Hayes got sick Friday night and so he and I spent most of the night awake. I tried to help him get comfortable and he acted like the sweetest little sick boy ever! At about 1:30 am, he asked me to read him some books so I ran to his room and grabbed the first books I found. A few minutes later (after Curious George and the Runaway Bunny) I found myself reading these books:

Over in the Meadow: I used to read this at my Grandmom's house. It was the first book I ever memorized and I would "read" it out loud to Grandmom when I stayed with her.

At this point I'm thinking about how precious that time with my Grandmom was and how precious this time reading with my sweet, sick baby is. Even at 1:30 in the morning!

Tears.

Whoever You Are: We bought this one for Hayes at Christmas time. It's a great book if you are adopting, especially from a different country or race. A line from the book: "Their hurts are like yours, and they cry like you, too, whoever they are, wherever they are, all over the world."

At this point I'm thinking about how precious it will be for Hayes and his sibling to look so different but be so the same, too! And then I'm thinking that if our baby gets sick in the night before we bring him/her home, I won't be able to snuggle up in bed with them like I am with Hayes. (You know how thoughts go in the middle of the night.)

More tears.

On the Night You Were Born: We bought this book at Christmas time for our baby. It is a book about celebrating the night a child is born. Something we won't get to experience with our Ethiopian babe. But a great book that will remind our child that on that night, there was celebration even if we weren't there.

"Heaven blew every trumpet and played every horn on the wonderful, marvelous night you were born."

At this point I'm thinking about the night Hayes was born, loving holding him close to me and longing to witness the birth of our future children, knowing that probably won't happen.

Oh, the tears won't stop flowing!

So, yes, our Easter weekend started out differently than we had planned. Poor Hayes was sick. He missed out on some Easter egg hunting on Saturday and was pretty bummed about that. But he definitely got some pampering from mommy and daddy. And although I was tired, I definitely had some special time in the middle of the night that I wouldn't trade for the world!

We did manage to go to church on Sunday for worship and then to Shaun's parents for a little while after church. We just told Hayes not to touch anybody!!

Feeling much better, can't you tell!?

Hope you had a great Easter celebrating our Risen Lord!!!

Fundraising update

2011-04-21T07:34:00.000-07:00

Do you "Just Love Coffee"?

Well if you do, then you can go to this website and order some delicious coffee:

http://www.justlovecoffee.com/Decoudres

$5 of every bag sold in our name will go to our adoption fund. Isn't that great!?

(Thanks to my bro-in-law for recommending that we do this!:)
The cool thing is that Ethiopian coffee is supposed to be awesome and I love being able to support anything out of Ethiopia, while raising money for our adoption!

And speaking of fundraising, I've been spending all of my "free time" making these......

and these.........

and these.......

and I'm thankful for every order that I've had!

I am finishing up a few more orders before I take new ones and I also have another "mossy" idea coming out soon!:) I'll keep you posted.

Thanks for blessing us with your generosity!

YIKES!

2011-04-19T07:06:00.000-07:00

Look what I found behind our house in the drainage ditch.

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I looked it up and I think it's a Cottonmouth which is NOT good.

Does anybody know?

Oh, I have chills and it makes me want to throw up.

Do ya'll remember when I made Hayes wear a helmet to mow the yard with Shaun because of the risk of rocks popping out from the mower? (which did happen, by the way)

Well, what am I supposed to do now? Is something like this appropriate for outdoor play when there are snakes around?

I know. I have issues.

Freedom To Be Imperfect!

2011-04-18T07:55:00.000-07:00

Want to know the "sweet" words I woke up to this morning? After Hayes crawled into the bed with me, he did a little fist pump in the air and yelled, "OK Woman! Let's get this day started!"

I think I laughed and moaned. I was tired and immediately began thinking about all the things I needed to do today. Then I remembered what we are learning about in our KC (sunday school class) about serving and glorifying the Lord where we are, in the every day activities, in the "mundane". (Still working all that out in my head.) Then I started to think about WHY I do so many of the things that I do and I remembered what Candice Ashburn (from this post here) said about how we need to quit trying to live the "perfect life" and realize what God is doing in us (through imperfect situations) to perfect us. And that reminded me of this awesome quote she said, which brings me to my point, I promise!

She said that we, as women, "need to give eachother freedom to be imperfect."

Isn't that so true!? I just loved that!

SO......today I am going to give you the freedom to be imperfect. Don't you think in the blog world people can sometimes make their lives appear to be "so perfect"!? I don't think I am really guilty of that very often (because you probably all think I'm crazy!) But, who knows?

So today I am going to reveal some imperfections in my life and hopefully give you the freedom to do the same.

HAPPY MONDAY!!

The truth:

::How's this for the glamorous life? Saturday there was a plumber in my bathroom. I was stuck in my closet without any clothes on, yelling at Shaun (who couldn't hear me) to take the cookies out of the oven before they burned and Hayes was yelling to Shaun, "Daddy, please get off the phone. Mommy needs your help. She's in the closet!" Don't you wonder what that plumber was thinking?

::Yesterday I found a bag of pepperonis in the back of my fridge that were so moldy I couldn't even tell what they were.

::Last week I yelled, really yelled, at a woman on TV for being a crappy mom. I still struggle with people who don't appreciate the gift of children....obviously.

::I haven't had my hair cut in months........MONTHS!

::As I moved a chair in our living room to vaccuum the other day, I realized my vaccuum was sucking up pine needles.....from our Christmas tree......isn't it April now?!

::Sometimes I wear my workout clothes all day long, even if I haven't worked out.

::The other day when we were trying to get out the door and Hayes put 2 socks on one foot because he thought it was funny, I lost it. And when he started "looking" for the other sock on the ceiling, I mocked him. Yes, I mocked my 3 year old in a really sarcastic tone. Real mature, right?

::Sometimes I look at people (possibly some of you), who appear to have it all together and I wish my life looked a little bit more like yours.

Then God reminds me of verses like this one. Only I had to look up Thessalonians in the Table of Contents because I had a brain lapse and couldn't remember where it was. But here it is:

Thess. 5:16-18

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in ALL circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

So today, Be JOYFUL! Thank God for your imperfect life. And DON'T pretend that your life is perfect because we all know that it's not! Give your friends the "freedom to be imperfect" today and enjoy the freedom you'll experience from letting go!