Care Package

I wanted to show all my blogging friends this blanket I'm sending to "A". A friend of mine made it. She has a website business called sew adorable. The blanket has "A's" name in the corner folded down. The brown material has textured little bumps for him to feel and the edging is silk. If you want you can have a verse, saying, message put around the edging. I have ordered larger blankets for friends who have had babies with all their birth information and a verse. I just love them. I think this little one will be a perfect lovey for him to have while we are waiting.

Details and Extras

I was folding laundry when the phone rang at 1:31. When I saw the 817 area code my heart skipped a few beats. It was so funny how I tried to answer the phone with a normal voice. I even said, "Hi Jessica, how are you?" When Jessica said she had a referral ready I literally started shaking and told her I would have to get a hold of Brad. I'm glad she had me write her return number down because in my state of mind I'm not sure how long it would have taken me to find her direct number. I called Brad and he says, "I wasn't ready for this and I have patients back to back all day. I can't come home!" Luckily, he had a break in his schedule at 2:20 and we decided it would be best if I went there. I quickly called her back and she said that would be fine. I kept thinking in X minutes I will see my child. I had promised Brad I would not ask any questions. I was absolutely dying to know how old he was! So we jumped in the car and rushed to Brad's clinic in Elroy. This is about 15 minutes away from us. I was shaking the whole way and my youngest son was so oblivious pointing out cows along the way. Below is a picture of my kids waiting for Daddy to finish with a patient. I was pacing back and forth. His nurse must think I'm nuts! We called Jessica back at 2:31. The first question I asked was how old is he? I was so shocked when she said 18 months. I was so sure we would get a referral for a 3ish age child. All I kept thinking is that he is a baby! I mean 18 months is still diapers and a crib! I was stunned into complete silence. Then the pictures popped up and I think my throat swelled shut and my eyes welled up. I'm not sure if other people scream or cry or what, but I was silent except I remember saying, "Look at that button nose". He was so small compared to what I was expecting. All I could think was that I just wanted to scoop him up and snuggle him! Then I remembered back to when we were waiting for our homestudy and it seemed to take so long. I was trying so hard to remember that it is all in God's timing. Now I can see the whole picture. "A" was 18 months and two days old on our referral day. We were only requesting down to 18 months. Had our process happened any different, we wouldn't have received his referral. So, for everyone still waiting, I know the timing will work out perfect for you with the child God has planned. Hang in there the moment is absolutely worth it! I am still not down from my mountain top of excitement. He is so precious and I can't even explain to you how much I have fallen in love already.

Below are a few more pictures of what we have been up to in the past few weeks.

We finished helping out with a neighborhood house painting project.

We had our home school end of the year program and graduation.

We celebrated Dad's birthday with a bow hunting cake!

REFERRAL!!!!!!!

Referral for a beautiful 18 month old boy. We were very surprised as it is only week 7! Our caseworker told us that no matter when we got the call, we wouldn't have been prepared. Chatty me was literally speechless. I feel so honored to be his Mom. Praise God for answered prayers!

Random Thoughts

We enjoyed spending time with our cousins from Ohio and their two little girls. I must say these two little girls are so precious. We always wish we lived closer after spending time with them. There are just some people who you really connect well with. I feel this way about this family. We so appreciate their efforts to visit each year and feel so blessed to have them in our family.

My pictures are a little out of order. The middle two are from our church service Sunday evening. Emma, Niah and a friend named Annie sang "Trust and Obey" as a special. They did wonderfully and I could hear them all the way in the back without a microphone. It was an emotional service as we said goodbye to our youth/assistant pastor and his family. They have been called to serve in Tennessee. We will miss them and their little boys. They have had a huge impact on our family as we have grown in Christ during the last three years. We are excited to see how the Lord will use them as they continue to serve Him.

I checked the FBI list today and am excited about new referrals and court dates for all the Gladney families. I noticed that the Fournet family has a court date tomorrow and urge everyone to pray. This family has been waiting so long. I admire their faith through these difficult times. During our service Sunday our Pastor referenced Isaiah 41:10. I thought this verse was encouraging as we wait during all stages of this process. It says, "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." I also really appreciated 2 Tim. 3, "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." As Christians we are reminded that through our suffering comes far greater rewards. I'm sure this is similar to what my husband and his brother are going through with training for their triathlon this Sunday. It takes a lot of painful training to win! Maybe adoption is like a triathlon with three stages, paper chase, waiting, passing court. Well Fournet's you are nearing the finish line and God is at your side! May tomorrow be the day! To Brad and Brian-Good Luck!

Feed the Forgotten

FEED THE FORGOTTEN

Too often we hear heartbreaking stories like this and do nothing. We feel helpless. . . and so we move on. Not this time. There are people DYING in Uganda right now. There are children who's bellies are hungry and aching. There are mamas who are too weak to stand and babies begging to be held. There are people trapping termites hoping for food and eating dung in helplessness. DO NOT CAVE TO DESPAIR. YOU CAN DO SOMETHING.Join us and Children's HopeChest to Feed The Forgotten... (CLICK HERE to give now) (note: please write FEED THE FORGOTTEN in the notes section)

For $0.14, we can feed someone a meal of posho and beans. (posho is cornmeal, which is filling and beans are protein).
Take that in for a moment. . .
$0.14 a meal
$2.86 for 20 days
$1 per FAMILY
$20 feed a family for 20 days. How much was my cappicino and newspaper yesterday? The bigger question is how much am I willing to give up so that others might eat? Remember Jesus story of the Good Samaritan? Remember how his very neighbors walked right by him? They probably looked at him with pity. . .probably thought "oh poor guy, that breaks my heart" but the fact is THEY DID NOTHING!

Will you help? The money raised will feed those precious children. There are 3 - 4 villages that Hope Chest is targeting (They are hoping for more after they see how much money we can raise!) to bring food relief to asap. These people are literally starving. . and waiting for you to act. Will you help? Even with paypal fees (2-3%) even $1 will feed 6 people! You CAN make a difference.Spread the word, blog about it, facebook it, twitter it, ask your church or school or business to give, post the blog badge anything. Truly, we are begging you. . .on behalf of these children not to forget this post and move on to the next in your google reader list. Stop, pray, act.GIVE TO FEED THE FORGOTTEN CHILDREN! (note: please write FEED THE FORGOTTEN in the notes section when you give)

To get the blog badge and spread the word, go here to Brandi's Blog.

Neighborhood Project

We had a busy weekend. Saturday we spent the whole day working on a neighbors house. The people who own this house are elderly and the husband lost both his arms four years ago. Their house was in need of some clean up, repair and paint. One of our neighbors is the pastor of a local Baptist church. He organized some workers from church and us neighbors. We spend one Saturday cleaning brush and then this past Saturday scraping and priming. I was so proud of my kids as they hung in their all day helping with the priming. Jason took a mid afternoon rest on a blanket and we all stopped for a lunch which other neighborhood women organized. It was a fun neighborhood project with a valuable lesson for my children. Projects such as these always seem to grow though. We had to run for more primer halfway through. We had intended to prime and paint on one day, but only finished the priming. This just means we get to spend another fun day painting in two weeks!