Deja Vu

We found out this week that the young woman we were matched with is deciding she wants to parent. Happy that it happened sooner rather than later...Trying to make sense of it all and trying to decide where to go from here, to continue trying or just stopping. Please pray for us, as we need direction.  I heard the lyrics of a song today that helped put things in perspective.  "We can trust our God, He knows what he's doing, though it might hurt now, we won't be ruined"  I doesn't always make sense to us, but we have to rest in that.

News

Well, once again we have some news to share with everyone! Things have been busy and lots of changes are in the works... Dan just put his notice in at work and will be starting a new job in a couple weeks!  We are excited for this new position for him. The owner of the company is a born again Christian! Praise God!

AND...... Although things in adoption are never a "for sure," (I suppose nothing in life really is...) we are expecting a baby boy in January! We are matched with a beautiful young woman from the city we just moved from! Small world.  We've really been enjoying getting to know her and her family; they are so great! Please pray for them, as the next 4 months are sure to be very emotional and trying. Also, please pray for Dan and I. It is so difficult balancing our excitement with the fear of being disappointed again.  This situation is definitely the most positive one we've been in so far!

Thank you to everyone who has continued to pray for us and give us support! It has been a LONG, emotional journey and we look forward to seeing how it all unfolds! We'll keep you posted...

Kitchen Pictures!

A lot has been going on at our house!  I finally got around to taking some pictures of the kitchen, however, there are still trim pieces missing, some drawer pulls that have to be installed, and eventually granite counter tops and a subway tile backsplash.  But here it is before, in the middle of the floor sanding process.

And AFTER!

 We are so happy with how it turned out! And I can't wait to see the finishing touches completed!

In other news, we have 9 new babies at our house!  We got a kitten, named Phillip.  He is adorable and is annoyingly cute.  Here he is resting on Dan.

  The other 8 babies are our tiny chicks. They are strange creatures and are so funny to watch! (Falling asleep with their heads in the food bin, sprawling out their legs as they sleep, pecking each other's eyes...)  They are hanging out in our basement for now, since it is to cold for them to be outside yet. We ended up finding a chicken coop on craigslist!  I'm so happy Dan doesn't need to build one.  Here are the little ladies.  We are going to have a colorful brood!  (This picture is a couple weeks old, so they are much bigger right now, and have a lot of feathers already.)

In adoption news; we updated our home study last week because of our move (and it was coming due in July anyways.)  We got a new social worker and have been happy with her so far!  We are hoping this is the year for us, because I don't think we will renew our home study again...  Please keep us in your prayers!

Big Move!

Hi poor, neglected little blog.  I realize it has been a super long time since I last posted, and a TON has happened between then and now.  Brief rundown.  We put our house on the market and it sold the first day!  Surprise!

 We had been wanting to move to acreage since we've been married.  We both grew up living in the country and we really missed that living 'in-town'.  We also had a lot of equity into the house that would be nice to benefit from.  Well, our move went as smoothly as possible!  We found a house we loved on 6.25 acres a little north of where we lived.  We were able to close on both houses the same day!  It was a very smooth transition, and we absolutely LOVE our new place! I didn't realize how much I missed living in the country...   Every morning, while we eat breakfast, we look out on our land and watch a family of bunnies, playing and eating grass, watch all sorts of beautiful birds fight for their spot at the bird feeder, and witness all of the trees turning from death, to vibrant green!  It is so peaceful.

I have completed a ton of projects already!  The kitchen has been completely transformed.  We sanded and re-stained the floors from a light oak color, to a deeper dark color. (the day after we moved in we took on the floors.  Crazy much!?)  Plus a suprise ER visit the next day when Dan got a weird stomach bug.  (The first week was a little stressful...)  :) We painted the oak cabinets white and added hardware.  It is amazing what paint can do to brighten a place up!  I'm a sucker for white trim, so I've been converting the whole house.  (Which is quite time consuming!)  I've made curtains and painted doors...  I honestly love home renovations!  I think I would enjoy having my own HGTV show (OK, that's a stretch) or start a hobby of flipping properties...  Maybe one day.

I met one of our neighbors so far.   Such a nice family!  She asked if we had children, to which I responded that we're in the adoption process for our first child.  She shared with me that they have 11 children that are adopted!  I couldn't believe it!  How neat to have another family formed through adoption right down the road...

On June 4th we have 9 baby chicks that are joining our family!  I am so excited for them to grow and start laying.  We have plans for a chicken coop in the works...  Poor Dan, he has so many projects!  I am starting my garden right after I finish this post!  I have a big area this year, and I am so excited to get my hands in the dirt! I look forward to the day I can teach our children about how to grow plants and help me gather eggs.  There is just something about growing up learning these things...  It is a lost art.  I am thankful that my parents taught me these valuable things when I was young.

I will post some before and after pictures of the kitchen soon!