Other Finished Projects

Another house project update, since that is the only thing I have to update on...

One of our other projects was putting in new flooring (since the carpet had pet stains from the previous owner) and closet doors in our upstairs bedroom.  The walls were a nasty green color when we bought it, and we painted it a light blue then.  I really wanted a grey (and yellow) room, so we decided to redo the walls grey in here! I've still have to make my yellow curtains...

Here are the before pictures:

Our door-less closet

Dan painting the grey over the blue walls

The grey paint is finished, next we ripped out the nasty carpet!

Here is the after with the new flooring in!

YAY, closet doors!

I love this little room....  Even though it is just used for storage right now.

Finished Bathroom Pictures

We finally finished our bathroom renovation!  We actually did a few weeks back, but I completely forgot to post the pictures of the finished product!   I originally posted the 'before' pictures and progress pictures here.  Here is a look at the finished product...  It was a LOT of work, but we are really enjoying having this bathroom finished and functional.  We are completely done with house projects now!  :)

How We're Doing...

I wanted to check in with everyone after my last post that shared our news of our failed adoption.  We're doing good! We've been SO encouraged by everyone who has sent cards of encouragement, flowers, and emails!  We've felt God's love through the body of believers. We feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family!!!  We know we will find our baby.  It may take a little longer, but that’s okay.  He or she will definitely be worth the wait!

I've been so encouraged by the psalms lately, and this verse really stuck out to me the other day in my reading, and it describes how we've felt during this trial.  Psalm 29:11  "The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace."  We've been given strength and peace from God, when it seems like we should have lost all hope in this adoption process.  It is that peace that passeth understanding!  I thank the Lord for that...

Also, I really felt a burden from the Lord to write a letter to the birthmother.  I really felt like she needed to know that Dan and I were not angry at her for changing her mind.  I wrote her a letter explaining that we didn't have any hard feeling toward her, and that we still cared about her and her son and were praying for them.  I sent a bunch of verses of encouragement as well. She responded right away, which I was surprised by.  She said she couldn't thank us enough for that email.  She said she thought for sure we hated her, and the fact that we didn't, proved to her that we really are who we say we are. Baby boy was born early, too!  He is already a month old, and he is adorable!  She is really struggling being a single mom and she is still trying to decide if parenting was the right choice for her.  Please pray for her.  She is in a tough spot right now. I know that the Lord brought her into our life for a reason, and if it is simply so I can be an encouragement to her, I want to be that.

We've been super BUSY!  We're trying to finish all of our remodeling projects, especially our exterior work before the snow starts falling!  We've been in our house for over 3 years, and have focused all of our attention on the interior, and haven't done a thing with the exterior.  (Sorry neighbors!)  But we tackled replacing siding and painting our house, and we went from the worst looking house in the neighborhood, to one of the best.  We're so happy with how it turned out!  It was a dramatic color change, but we're very happy with it!

Here is the before picture:

And here is the finished product!

Now we need to do some much needed landscaping!  We'll see if we get to that this year...

Thanks again for everyone's support.  It means so much to us.

Update

This isn't the update I was hoping to give...  We heard from our social worker last night that the birth mother has changed her mind, and has backed out of the adoption plan.  We're disappointed.  It's an odd feeling, mourning something that was never ours; more like mourning the idea of something, and dreading having to go through this process again.  We've definitely hit a low valley on the roller coaster ride, but we will continue to trust that the Lord does indeed work everything together for good, even when it is hard to see how, we continue to trust that He will.

We appreciate your continued prayers for us, as well as this young woman who will be a new mother in less than 2 weeks.  Adoption is not easy.  It takes a lot of vulnerability.  It can bring so much joy, but there are times where there is a lot of pain.  But, God continues to be good, all of the time.

"...The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." Job 1:21

Announcement!

It is with much joy and excitement, we want to announce........

We're expecting a baby boy!!  AND, he will be here in less than 3 weeks (unless he decides to come early of course)!  We've been waiting to share the news, because with adoption, things can always change, and obviously still can, but we want everyone to be praying for everyone involved.  God has been working mightily and He has answered our prayer, as well as the prayer of this dear, young woman, who is blessing us with this little life.  God's timing is truly perfect.  We are extremely excited, and honestly, a little nervous too!  I can't wait to share the whole story with you all!

Please pray for this young woman (she is amazing by the way!), as the next few weeks will be very difficult for her.  That the Lord would give her comfort and strength. That she would have a safe delivery, (I know she is quite nervous about that part).  For the baby, that he would be strong and healthy. Please pray for us too.  We will have to be out-of-state for 1 week (or more) after the baby is born, living in a hotel room until paperwork can be processed between her state and ours.  Dan won't leave me in another state, alone in a hotel room with a new baby; so he has to take unpaid time off of work.  Pray for the Lord's continued provision.  Also, pray that the paperwork can be processed QUICKLY between the two states, so we can return home quickly.  Also, that the Lord would give us wisdom in raising a son.

Again, I want to thank everyone who has been praying for us, supporting us, encouraging us, and those who have donated to help ease the financial burden that comes with adoption.  (There are a lot of you!) We are truly blessed!!  We cannot wait to share the rest of this story and introduce you to this tiny, yet HUGE, answer to prayer. :)

Yellowstone Pictures

 I am finally getting around to posting our Yellowstone pictures... 

We stayed in Cody, Wyoming and traveled 1 hr to the park each day.  The park is HUGE, 2.2 million acres to be exact.  So we spent a lot of time driving through it each day, stopping here and there to check out cool things, and we covered a lot of ground on our short time there.  We saw a lot of animals the morning we went at dawn, but no bears, Dan was bummed about that.  It is an amazing place, and we would highly suggest a visit at some point in your life!  We were really glad that we were able to go for our 5 year anniversary.

THANK YOU!!

This is overdue because we've been on vacation... (I'll be posting about that soon!)  We wanted to thank everyone for your part in our Give1Save1 week!  We've raised $126.85 so far (and since the blog has no other families this week, we are being left up for another week!), which will be used to pay off a chunk on our adoption loan.  We were really amazed at the generosity of friends and strangers, and we are blessed, and thankful for those who have passed our link on to others, and would continue to the rest of this week!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  God is good.

Today, my husband and I celebrate 5 years of marriage!  It is crazy how fast time goes...  It seems like we just got married!  Marriage is so wonderful, and I am so thankful to have spent the last 5 years of my life with my best friend, and look forward to spending every day we are blessed with, with each other.  We went on a road trip to Yellowstone to celebrate, and aside for the ridiculously long drive, we had an awesome time!  (I will post some pictures soon!) Looking forward to this next year of marriage...

Our Week as a Featured Family

Hello everyone!  Dan and I are so excited, and feel truly blessed, to be a featured family on the Give1Save1 blog! Starting today, we will have a video about us, and our adoption journey, on their website as the weekly "Featured Family!"   

I love the idea behind this ministry!  The idea began with a girl named Beth. She was in the adoption process herself and knew how expensive it was and created a blog that could help families who were in the adoption process. She wanted to feature a family per week and allow others to donate to that family's adoption fund. Encouraging others to give $1, the adoptive family could quickly raise money to help bring their child home.  (So give $1 and Save1 orphan, or in our case, a baby that needs a home so that they never experience being an orphan!)

So every week they feature a family in the adoption process, both adopting internationally, and recently, domestically!  The featured family makes a video introducing themselves, and sets up a family fund that is used to help pay for adoption expenses.  Family, friends, and strangers are encouraged to donate $1 to the family fund, and spread the word to everyone they know!  Pretty cool, right?

We would appreciate any donation, and would greatly value continued prayer on our behalf, as well as for our child's birth mother!  That the Lord's hand would continue to be in this adoption process, and that He would get the glory!

Check  us out here, and share the link with anyone who may be interested in helping us out!

Updates

I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I'd give a little update on what is going on in our lives.  We have been crazy busy working on house projects!  We finished grouting the bathroom floor, and installed and grouted the kitchen floor, and it looks awesome!  Wow, is tiling a LOT of work.  So many steps, and all of them back pain inducing!  But I think it was worth the effort and pain.  We have several things that we have to tackle yet, and I can't wait to show pictures of all of the changes we're making!

In adoption news, we had 3 "situations" arise this week!  After MONTHS of silence, we actually heard something (although none of them were actually from our agency)!  We received an email from a girl expecting a boy, she said she liked our online profile and wanted our agency's contact info.  (Haven't heard anything back on that yet though).  We also received an email from an adoption agency in Missouri looking for a Christian family for a 3 day old baby girl.  We would have said 'yes' in a heartbeat, but unfortunately this agency has much higher fees than we are expecting to pay through our agency.  That was frustrating.  Also, we heard, through a friend, about the possibility of a baby girl, currently in foster care that may become adoptable soon.  We would greatly value your prayers!  All of this has definitely renewed my hope that our baby is coming.  :)  Please pray that the Lord would make His will known and give us guidance and direction as situations arise!

Sermon Audio Clip

I received this audio clip this morning from a friend, and I was really blessed by this sermon and want to share it with you.  It is from a man who is a missionary in Ukraine.  He and his wife recently lost a baby mid-term due to a genetic disorder.  The title of the sermon is called "Patient Faith."  Praise the Lord for His word and for encouragement through life's trials.

http://www.ofreport.com/2012/07/patient-faith/

Home Study Update

So yesterday Dan and I had our home study update.  It was super casual; our social worker basically just asked us questions about what we've been up to the last year.  So we are glad to have that behind us now, and we're still hopeful the right baby will come soon!  In the mean time, we've been doing a lot of house projects!  I am so proud of my husband, he tiled our bathroom floor all by himself, never having done it before and with nobody to help!  (Well, I 'helped' by bringing him things he needed...)  It is really looking nice down there!  I'll post a few 'before' and 'almost after' pictures.  We've also ripped out carpet in the upstairs bedroom, and we're installing laminate flooring in there.  We are also tiling the kitchen floor!  So, needless to say, it has been a great distraction from the wait!

Here are a few pictures of the bathroom before we got at it!  It was a really small room with a door leading to a small, unfinished cement room.  Weird.  We tore down the wall to make it one big room.

I was able to refinish the vanity to save $$ and we replaced the vanity top.  I LOVE how it turned out!
Here are the recent progress pictures.

We still have to grout the tile, trim the window and door, and finish the tub surround, but it looks a lot better so far, no?!  I definitely don't miss the horrible teal walls. Some people's color choices I will never understand.  Well, that's it for now!  Hopefully soon I'll have more before and after pictures.

Prayer

This Sunday at church, the topic of prayer was preached about.  I was definitely convicted that I do not pray as often as God wants us to!  I thought I would post a few of the verses that were an encouragement to me.

Luke 18:1-8
And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:
And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;
Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. 
And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.  Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

1 Thessalonians 5:17 Pray without ceasing. 

1 John 5:14-15 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

John 14:13-14 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. 

James 1:6-7 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.  For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.  For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

There are a lot more verses on prayer, and I confess that I don't always understand all of them.  But, I do know that God wants us to pray, and not to faint!  To pray in faith, believing you will receive them.  God knows what we are going to pray before we even open our mouths, so why does he want us to pray?  Well, prayer is an act of faith!  I have been convicted by the 1st parable in Matthew.  To always pray, and to faint not, because God will avenge speedily his word says!  To cry out to him day and night! 

So as we continue to cry out to our God for this adoption, we ask that, if you would, join us!  Prayer is a powerful tool we have to come before the creator of this universe, and he HEARS us!!!  Our specific prayer request is that this adoption happens speedily.  For many reasons, having this miracle come to us soon is our hearts desire.  Thank you for those who have been praying for us on our journey, and those who will join with us in making this request known unto God. 

Summer Fun!

We still don't have any adoption updates, but I wanted to post something fun since my last post was a downer!  :)  Dan and I have been loving our summer and are making the most of what might be our last summer as just the two of us!  I finally got a new camera, so I have been taking a lot more pictures now...

We had a great camping trip with our friends in early June. We went to Savannah Portage State Park.  We had a canoe-in campsite, so it was super quiet, peaceful, and beautiful being right on the lake! 

The men fishing. We enjoyed a few meals from their efforts!

Trying to put a worm on a hook

Yummy lunch!

Waiting for lunch

 I came across this huge spider (he was eating a moth!) while washing my hands in the shelter.  Dan and I both hate spiders, so the guys came up with a plan....  Enter the Air-Soft gun!

Early morning canoe ride with my love

 We came across this turtle on our way home.  He was huge and was hissing at Dan when he picked him up!

Dan and I both enjoy fishing, so we've been going a lot more lately.  Here are a couple fish Dan caught on our latest trip.

I have had a few days that I babysat for some friends.  Here is Dan  playing our piano with my little buddy, Emma.

We recently had a get-together at my parents.

Wesley is getting so big!

 Mom broke out the 'miracle' bubbles and the boys had so much fun trying to pop them.

Grandpa's tractor rides!

 I can't believe June is almost over!  Summer is going by fast, but we have lots of fun to look forward to!  Birthdays, weddings, showers, camping trips, vacation, fishing trips.....  I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!