Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Application Complete!

I just got back from the post office... I sent in our completed application!  Dan spent all last night finishing his questionnaire, what a guy!  Seriously, there are a TON of questions.  We both probably spent about 5 hrs each completing those things!  It feels INCREDIBLE to have that finished!  What a huge weight lifted off!  Now all we need is our references to send in their letters, and our Dr.'s to send in their forms after our Dr. appointments in a couple weeks!  Things are moving right along!

Friday, May 20, 2011

A Get-Away

Dan had a few days off this week, and we went up north for a little get-away!  We have both felt really stressed and ultra busy, so it was nice to just hang out and not do a whole lot!  We stayed at a nice place in Cross Lake.  It is so beautiful up there!

We also went on a 10 mile rollerblading expedition.  The weather was perfect!
He can't resist making goofy faces!


When we got home, we got a bunch of yard work done, and some work done in the basement bedroom.  I am thankful for the time we had to spend together!  

                    In adoption news:  We are nearly finished with our application through LSS!  We got fingerprinted and a document notarized yesterday!  Now all we have to do is finish our questionnaires, and we can send it in!  We can't believe how fast things are moving with LSS!

Friday, May 13, 2011

What a difference!

Wow, what a difference a different agency makes!  Dan and I sent in an application to Lutheran Social Services adoption program on Monday, and yesterday, Thursday, I received approval on our application and they sent us our next and final application!  Wow!  We are shocked at the difference!  We still haven't even heard anything from Bethany and it has been over 7 weeks!   Needless to say, we're planning on not continuing with Bethany.  LSS will probably cost more, but we feel it is worth it to have things go quickly and smoothly.  So I'm over half way through the application papers so far, and I think we can probably get it sent out next week.  They said that they usually take a month to process with background checks.  We're scheduled for an all day training class in June.  After approval on our application and completion of the class, we will start the home study!!!  It feels so great to finally be getting somewhere! 

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

One Down...

So I have a ton of cute ideas for the baby room and I finally got my first project complete!  I saw a few of these butterfly mobiles online, and I knew I had to try making one!  This was my inspiration...
Our room is going to be tan and cream, so I went with that color scheme for mine.
My home-made butterfly mobile

It is hanging from the ceiling fan in our kitchen right now.  I'll get it hung in the nursery once the ceiling is finished in there.
I'll leave you with a cute picture from the other day of Dan and our little buddy, Abbie.  I was still babysitting my cousin's four kids when Dan got home from work, so he got to play with the kids for a while.  Hopefully soon we'll have a little one to greet him every day he gets home!




Saturday, May 7, 2011

Grand Total

Dan and I feel so blessed!  The Lord has been providing above and beyond anything we've imagined! Here's  a testimony of what the Lord has done recently.

We recently sold our 2 door Honda for two reasons: in preparation for having a baby (a car seat in a coupe =  no fun), and to cut down on debt.  We were able to sell our car, pay off our loan and have money left over to buy a cheap car. We were praying for the Lord to provide in this area, and He did!  Some good friends of ours had a car that they wanted to give to us, but it had a potentially serious problem that could have a simple fix.  (Can you tell I know nothing about cars?) We were really praying that the simple fix would work and praise the Lord, it DID!  We picked up the car today, and it has been running perfectly! We can now save the money from selling our car for the adoption! God is so good to His children!

Another blessing/testimony is the Garage Sale.  It did far better than we thought possible!  Praise God for all of the people that helped out with this!  Garage sales are a lot of work, and we are so thankful for all of the work that was put into this!  Dan and I were able to help out at the sale today, and were able to help take things down.  We were all shocked at sale's grand total.  $933.55!   We still have a garage full of stuff, so we're planning on running it one more day, as there will be an all city sale next weekend.

We feel blessed beyond words! 

"O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever." Psalm 107:1

Friday, May 6, 2011

Sale Day

   So the first day of the sale went great!  (Except for a little rain)  We had a steady flow of people all day, and a lot of stuff sold. (There is still a ton of stuff left though!)  I was unable to help out today, as I started feeling sick last night, and woke up with a full fledged cold/sore throat.  No fun!  I'll let you know how it went after the final day of the sale, tomorrow!

   In other news, Dan called the adoption agency today because we didn't receive the pre-formal application as expected.  I was told last Friday that the pre-formal application would be sent out that day, or the next.  So today she told Dan that it had NOT been sent out, and won't be until the supervisor is back from vacation and writes the letter to the new applicants!  She had no idea how long that would take.

   This is really frustrating for us.  We have been waiting for almost 7 weeks, with no idea when we can even start the next application. (Not to mention another application after that!)  We are really disappointed with Bethany's lack of communication and for not keeping their word on things they said they'd do.  Please pray for wisdom for us, as we may be searching for a new agency.  Perhaps the child that the Lord has for us is coming through a different agency, and he is closing the door on Bethany.

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him" James 1:5 

We appreciate your prayers!