Nearly Finished...

We're nearly finished with the baby's room!  We're so happy with how it has turned out! It was so much fun ordering the crib, and it is so beautiful in the room!  The changing table was a desk I had refinished a while back and I was using it as a sewing desk.  I realized the other day that it would be perfect for a changing table, and diaper storage!   Here's a few pictures...

Setting up the crib (My sister Rachael helped me set it up, but Dan came in for the pose!)

(My bird mobile turned into a wall decoration)

Our friends found us a brand new crib mattress at a garage sale.  I am excited to get the crib set up with bedding!

The butterfly mobile could finally get hung! 

Changing table (without the pad)

Also, Dan and I have finished our adoption profile and we're now viewable online!  We're excited to see how God writes the rest of this adoption story!  Please pray for us during this waiting phase.  I can already tell that a long wait would be difficult, but the Lord has His perfect timing, and we know that He has a particular little someone in mind for us!

Home Study Approved!

I am happy to announce, as the title of this post says, we're officially home study approved!  We had our final visit with  our social worker today at our house, and she gave us our approval!  She even said we can post our profiles online already!  It is crazy how fast this has all gone, and to know that now, 'any day' could be the day!  Please pray for us during this time!  It is a difficult thing not knowing when our little blessing will come, but we know that God knows, and His timing is perfect!  We're so excited to see the Lord continue to work in our adoption journey.  We don't know what tomorrow holds, but we know who holds tomorrow!

Mercy

God has been showing us His GREAT mercy lately.  We had been stressed with car issues, and with that, financial stress.  We had not handled the transmission news very well when it first happened.  We were both frustrated and confused why God would allow this to happen.  But after a couple days of stress and worry, we really just started trusting God!  He's got control of everything, and He wants to show Himself strong on our behalf!  (2 Chronicles 16:9) If you're worrying about things, you're not trusting God!
Let me tell you, He really has shown Himself strong!  After receiving some council from friends and family who have had transmission issues before, everyone was really encouraging us to try flushing the transmission and getting a new filter before replacing the transmission.  We were hoping the auto shop didn't already pay for the transmission so we wouldn't put them out the money.  Thankfully, the auto shop could cancel the transmission without a problem, and we scheduled a tranny flush instead!  (a 300 dollar fix as apposed to 3,000) Well, so far, the car is working really well!  We're praying that it will continue to run for a long time this way!
Also, just the other day we received a large financial blessing in the mail to help with our adoption expenses!  Praise God!  He continues to show Himself strong on our behalf, and has been blessing this adoption since we made the decision!!  He knows what He is doing!  I feel silly ever being worried!  Our God is so GOOD! 

Cloth Diapers!

I am hoping to use cloth diapers with our baby, the main reason being to save $$!  There are a lot of options out there that make it much like using a disposable, with a couple extra loads of laundry to do each week!  I was hoping to buy some nice one sized diapers that are adjustable as the baby grows, but Dan wasn't too excited about spending $20/diaper!  So I made about a dozen one sized flannel diapers and a whole bunch of inserts, and bought a few one sized covers to use with those.

My homemade diaper

I found the pattern here:
http://handmadebyrita.blogspot.com/2007/10/classic-rrp-ritas-rump-pocket-pattern.html

I knew I'd need more than the ones I've made so far, so I was trying to figure out what I should do. Just the other day, my friend from church said she was at a garage sale and bought a huge box of cloth diapers for me!  She said they looked like really nice ones, so I was really excited to see them!  (Dan gets a kick out of the fact I actually get excited about cloth diapers!)  Here's what was in the box...

13 Fuzzi Bunz one sized diapers with inserts (I think that's the brand, they don't have tags)
11 G-Diapers, with a pack of disposable liners
6 covers (possibly home-made, no tags)
1 snug to fit diaper
1 kissaluvs diaper
1 Mother-Ease one sized diaper
1 swim diaper

   Had we purchased these all new, it would have cost about $550!  What I paid at garage sale price???
$13!  I can hardly believe they sold them for that cheap!  They are all in really good condition, too!  Also, I have another friend from church that said she'd let me use her nearly new bumgenius cloth diapers too!  So I should be set for cloth diapers now...  We've probably only spent $70 total for diapering our baby!  Not bad!

So praise God for His provision, yet again!  Even in the little things, like providing cloth diapers for ridiculously cheap!  God is good, all of the time!