Tea Party

My grandma and aunt visited the week before last from Indiana. The kids were so excited to have them out for a few days. Our big outing was for just the girls and we went to a tea room for lunch. Paige enjoyed the girl time.



My aunt got to spend much of her vacation reading to the kids. As you can see from the pictures below, Drew enjoyed it quite a bit.



The rest of the visit consisted of the kids entertaining us and playing card games. If you know my grandma, you know that she loves to play cards. So we did quite a bit of that. It was great having them out. I am thankful that my grandma can make the trip even though she is 3 months shy of 91! You wouldn't know she was that old if you were around her.

Let the Waiting Begin

We are finished with everything... with the nine 3 hour long foster classes, the three 2 hour home visits, the home inspection, the Drug Effected Infant class, the finger printing, the adoption orientation and all of the paperwork.

So now we wait.

To be totally honest, this is the part I struggle with the most. Up until now I was doing something to work towards this adoption, now I just have to wait.

I went to an adoptions meeting tonight and asked how long could I expect to wait knowing that there is no definite time frame and she said usually she tells people 6-12 months, to look at it like a pregnancy. But looking at what the age and races we are willing to accept, to expect 3-6 months. I have to be completely honest, I was disappointed. I know that in the adoption world, that really isn't that long. But this isn't our first try at it either. We began working on adopting our 4th child the end of '07. So I was disappointed. I don't know why but in my mind, I had this hope that tonight she would tell me that she looked over our file today and she had the perfect match just waiting for us. I know that is silly, crazy really, but that was on my mind.

So I will wait patiently. I will wait trusting in the Lord's perfect timing. And when I get impatient or frustrated with the wait (maybe those two are the same thing), I will pray to God giving Him praise and thanksgiving and ask for His strength to keep on in the wait.

Also in the meantime, I have 3 beautiful children that God has already given me to parent. I want to fully invest in them for His glory to train them in His ways. And I will thank God for those three children that He has given Jathan and I.

I will keep you updated on our wait. You can pray for us too on our wait. I know that I can use it!

Drew's 5th Birthday

Last week we celebrated Drew's 5th birthday with a party at the park. Last year, I decided elaborate birthday parties every year for each child was a a little much for me. Paige's birthday and Drew's are exactly 3 weeks apart, so that makes it a bit more tricky and tiring. So... I told the kids they would get a birthday party for their odd number birthdays. Paige and Drew are 3 years apart so they would never have a party in the same year. If they don't get a party, they will still get to have a fun day. I just won't have to decorate, do games and have party favors.

As the time was approaching for Drew's party, I was getting a little nervous because our backyard is still a bit of a mess because of construction. So to relieve my stress about the yard, I was inspired by a friend to have his party at a park. I talked it over with him and he loved the idea. So we had Drew's Transformer birthday party at the park, with cupcakes and party bags. Here are a few pictures from the day.





Later in the evening, we celebrated as a family by opening gifts.



I think he had a fun day.

Paige has asked to go to the zoo for her birthday and she will invite one friend. We are looking forward to her birthday in just over a week.

Still Here

I am still around. Haven't posted much. Not because there isn't anything to post, just because the schedule has been full.

I have lots of pictures to share. Pictures from Drew's birthday, my aunt and grandma visiting and other happenings in life.

I have lots going on in my mind to blog about. Blogging on adoption, what God is teaching me, and everything else that is going on in life.

So it will come. I will try to post something interesting in the near future, hopefully!

Just not tonight. I really, really, really need to clean the bathrooms, deep cleaning. The kids are doing a great job on a surface level, but a little more elbow grease is needed once in a while. I planned to do it this afternoon. I thought, silly me, that I could do it during commercial breaks of the Purdue game. Seriously? What was I thinking? The majority of the game wasn't on tv. Jathan and I watched it on the computer. I got a little done during breaks. But then towards the end of the game (when it was finally on tv) I was too excited and nervous all together. I am sure that my blood pressure was way higher that it should have been. And one time I let out a scream that had my throat hurting for a while after. So the bathrooms didn't get done. And now I have spent quite a while on a post telling you that I don't have the time to write about anything interesting right now because I need to clean the bathroom.

Sorry about that.

The good news is I am off to clean and Purdue is going to the Sweet 16!

Good night!

Happy Birthday Drew!

Wow, 5 years old! My baby is 5 years old! Where does the time go?

Five years ago, Jathan and I were in the middle of our homestudy with Bethany Christian Services. We were learning about all of the ins and outs of the adoption world, filling out paperwork, and preparing Paige and Clay for a new sibling. Meanwhile, halfway across the world, in a hospital in Pyongtaek, South Korea a young lady was saying goodbye to her newborn son, Tae Hwan. Her newborn son became our son several months later. I looked at him today as he was eating his dinner. So excited about being a 5 year old. He got a few transformers for his birthday, so he was thrilled. For him life didn't get any better. I wondered if that young lady realized what today was. Does she remember? Does she feel pain? I've written several letters to our agency for Drew's file telling her what a joy he is to us. How much he has grown and what he loves to do. I wonder if she has read them? Every year on Drew's birthday, I think about the hard decisions she had to make and the goodbye she had to say. And I look at him and thank God that she choose life for her son, our son.

I just wanted to share my thoughts today.

We celebrated with a party at the park, (I'll post pictures later) presents at home and lots of playing with the new transformers. It has been a busy day, coming off of a busy weekend, so we are beat. Early to bed for the kiddos. (Hopefully, I won't be too late getting to bed either)

Found: One Crib and One Mattress

Well God has truly blessed us. This week, I was on crib search. I checked Craig's List, with not too much luck. I also went to a special town sale with my friend, where they had used baby and children's items for sale. They had one crib. And it was $450. For a used crib! I thought that was a little high and a lot out of my price range. That night, as I was once again on Craigslist, I get an email from my friend (the one that I went to the sale with) and she found us a crib. Not just any crib though, a free crib! She had a friend who had given a crib to another friend that didn't need the crib anymore and was getting rid of it, so the friend called the other friend and found out that she hadn't gotten rid of it yet, so she is giving it to us!

Then I just needed the mattress. So here is the dilemma. Do you buy a used mattress that you don't know where it has been? I love buying used, it is just mattresses I am a little scared about. But a new one is a hundred bucks, but what if we don't get a baby and then the crib won't be used and the money would be wasted. But even a used mattress is $25 and that would be a waste too if it isn't used because the child we get is too old for a crib. So what to do? Well, my neighbor calls yesterday afternoon to ask to borrow our bike trailer. So I get the trailer and take it to her. I am in her garage to show her how to hook it up and there against the wall is a crib mattress. I asked, "Is Nolan out of the crib already?" He will be one next week, so I was a little surprised. She said, "No, one of my clients gave me a bunch of baby stuff including the mattress but we didn't need it, do you need one?" I said "Well, actually I was going to ask to borrow it if you are not using it for our inspection." She then said "You can have it, it is a very nice mattress, we just already had one."

Praise God!!!!!

We will get the crib Tuesday, get it set up and call our social worker to come out and look at it so she can put on our file that we can take a child under the age of two! Then we will most likely take it down, because I do not want to look at an empty crib not knowing when or even if it will get filled. But I am praising God for providing in such a neat way.

Home Inspection Update

Well we survived. The nerves got worse as the appointment time approached and then passed and then an hour went by and she hadn't arrived. Jathan finally got a hold of her and she came closer to noon. Still not sure what happened, but it really doesn't matter now anyways.

Our home passed with nothing to change except we need to go ahead and get a crib to be able to accept a placement of a child under the age of 2. Me being the practical one thought that a pack n play would be a fine temporary thing and we could get the crib after we knew that we were in deed getting a child under 2. But we have to have it now. And it has to be set up.

Anyway the inspection was a piece of cake. She was only here about 35 minutes and most of that time was going over paperwork. She didn't even look at the garage, and we worked hard on the garage on Saturday. I kinda wanted to tell her about it, but then I thought it was best to leave it be.