We have eggs!

If you had walked past our house Thursday evening you would have heard laughter and giggles filling the air. You would have seen my daughter and I running back and forth from the front to back of house giggling. Yes, I giggled.

What had us so happy and giggly....
eggs. Our chickens we've had since they were itty bitty finally laid their first eggs.

Yes, it's the little things in life that make us giggle here :)

A light at the end of the tunnel

On February 9th, 2011 we announced we had committed to  pursuing the adoption of a sweet little girl from Eastern Europe. On April 5th, 2012 we announced we had recieved the referral for the little girl we wanted to adopt as well as another sweet peanut. 






On April 14, 2012 we set off on our first of three trips to meet the girls and accept the referrals. I will never forget the first time we met both girls. The only thing I can compare it to is the first time you hold your bio child. That instant love. We were in the girls country for 10 days and spent two days traeveling there and home. The picture to the right is the hotel we stayed in. 

Over the past 20 months we have jumped through hoops, leaped over hurdles, and rode the emotional roller coaster that is international adoption. We have held just about every fundraiser possible, We've made so many sweet friends and (and lost a few too), we've grown in our faith and strengthened our own family relationships.  It has been 20 months of learning and growing.  

Today we are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. We mailed off the last of our dossier today. Our court dossier has been in country for some time now. The judge reviewed it and wanted a couple things (well 12 to be exact) redone due to dates or wording not being done correctly. So we asked our doctor to please redo medicals for the 5th time (we seriously have the BEST doctor), our home study worker (again the BEST) redid paperwork, and we got the items we needed. We even redid 2 forms (which threw our total to 14) that we knew were going to expire within a month, just to be safe. And they are all on their way to be reviewed again. We are praying for a court date soon. 

As we sit back and think on the last 20 months we see God working in each situation thought couldn't be overcome. Mountains moved that only God could do. We are leaning on Him as we continue following the tunnel of adoption, walking one step at a time towards the light. The past 8 months or so we have felt SO very alone on this journey. The longer the adoption takes the more "supporters" fall away. God has never left us and it's with His strength we keep going. 

We can't wait to hold the girls again. To ask a judge to let us be their parents forever. 

If you felt led please pray for the health of the girls, for their safety and comfort, for their caregivers and orphanage directors. Please pray for our family as we prepare for our next trip.

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.~ Isaiah 41:10

"Born not from our flesh, but born in our hearts, you were longed for and wanted and loved from the start"

Author: unknown

A wake up call.....

Thanks for visiting us on our new cyber home. If you are visiting us from our old blog, make sure you bookmark our new one. When we started our home in blog land it was to focus on our adoption and what God was doing in our lives. Over the past year and a half  has slowly become about everything but what God is doing in our lives. 

It's time for a fresh start. My last blog turned so much into what I "thought" people wanted. I was walking  typing on eggshells with each post. It's time I stop worrying about what people think or say and focus on being me and living my life to please God.  We will include updates on our adoption as things progress and this is where we will post any pictures when we are in country. 

~~ A wake up Call~~

I have been trying to stay off facebook as much as possible. I do just about everything from my phone. On my phone I can post a quick status update and not have to look at anything else. Well today I decided to get on and try to do a quick catch up, skimming my news feed. I came across a post that directed me to a sweet lady's blog. She is the wife of our former pastor. I was saved and baptized at the church her husband pastors in 2004. I grew so much spiritually under their leadership. They have 10 sweet children ( I believe that's correct). During our time in the church my oldest daughter became friends with their oldest two daughters. Well today as I was reading Emily's blog post my heart sank for their family and all I could do was pray. Their 2nd oldest daughter was diagnosed with a form of Leukemia just a week ago today. 

We all hear stories about people who have a loved one with cancer or are fighting a major health issue, but when it's someone you know it is a huge wake up call. We all know it "could" happen to us, but never really think it will. I called my kids into the room and told them about their friend and gave them the updates that friends were sharing on facebook.  I expected them to be sad and worried for their friend, whom they hadn't talked to in a very long time. Their responses were so different. I had read an update about a procedure she had done, a bone marrow tap I believe it's called. One of the girls asked what that was and I explained it best  I could. The next question " Can we be tested to see if we match". Here my children are 11, 12, and 14 and willing to go through something like that for a friend.

It was a wake up call on two levels. One we need to live our lives each day as if it's our last. In the past 4 weeks we have had one of my husbands best friends take his own life, my husband was in a car accident and totaled his car being sandwiched between two cars, and now one of the sweetest families we know is dealing with the diagnoses of their daughter having cancer.  God has shown our family very clearly that tomorrow is not guaranteed, that things happen and in the blink of an eye our lives can change and we could be fighting a major battle.  

He also gave me a wake up call on a spiritual level. As I was reading Emily (Mrs. Houston to us) blog and hearing how through everything their family is holding strong to their faith, how Anna is smiling and holding to the fact that no matter what happens it's Gods perfect will. I had to ask myself is that how I would react? Of course I wanted to say "yep, that's me. 100% steadfast". But God knows the truth. It would be a lie. To have the kind of faith their family has requires a strong relationship with God. Not just an outer image, the true, real, authentic kind. A relationship not a religion. 

It was as if God had slapped me in the back of the head and said "DUH", you've known this. And I did, but I haven't been practicing it as much as I should. I came to the realization that if I want my daughter's to have that kind of faith I, have to live that kind of faith. I have to have that kind of relationship with Christ and live the example of it. Notice I didn't say our pastor, youth director, Sunday school teacher, choir director, it has to be ME. Their mom (and their dad, but this is my blog lol).  I praise God for His wake up call and pray that I can live to be the example my daughter's need. 

I pray one day I can have the kind of faith the Houstons do. Our family is praying for them and Anna, would you join us. A friend of Anna's started a facebook page HERE for anyone who wants to pray for Anna and her family. Please like the page and let their family know you are praying. I know they appreciate all the prayers. 

Hugs & Prayers

~Jenn~