Hello again...

I've been horrible at blogging as of late!  Life has been busy.  Dan and I celebrated 4 years of marriage September 8th!  It's a bit scary how fast life is going!  Dan had the week off of work, and we had a fun time hanging out, going to the zoo, mini golfing, and working on a 1,000 piece puzzle.  Dan had some health scare issues come up, but praise God, he is okay.  We haven't heard anything yet in the area of adoption.  We've had our profile up for about a month now...  I ordered some adoption cards yesterday (almost like business cards) to pass around and post on bulletin boards around town and in churches etc.  A lot of people have had success with those.  I've also been working on adoption grant applications, which are actually quite a bit of work.  We're hoping we could receive a grant to help with the second leg of the adoption, or if need be, to go into our agency's waiting family book! 
  I'd really appreciate your prayers, that God would give me the patience needed for this process.  I didn't realize that the waiting would be so hard.   It is so far out of my hands, I need to rest on the Lord!  I am thankful I have plenty of things to keep me busy though!   Also, please pray for the Lord's continued provision, for these grant applications we're sending out soon, and for the birth family that must be dealing with some tough situations.  I try to imagine what the woman considering adoption for her child must feel, and I honestly can't imagine it, so I just pray for her, whoever she may be.  I really appreciate your prayers!

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!

Our 1st Homestudy Visit

   Dan and I had our 1st of 2 home study visits yesterday!  We met at her office this time, and she'll come to our home for the next.  (Then we're DONE!)  Dan and I weren't really nervous, but we didn't really know what to expect.  Our social worker said she thought she had recognized me at the training session, and then figured out who I was!  So we had the same home town and high school in common, and she knows what kind of family I came from!  (I still can't get over how crazy that is!)  She is really nice, laid back, and we're glad to be working with her!
   So for our first visit, she basically just asked us many of the questions Dan and I answered on our individual questionnaires for our application.  It didn't feel like a job interview, where you're hoping you answered it right, but just basically like she was trying to get to know us, while also taking notes!  When she'd ask us a question about what we'd do in 'such-n-such' situation, we'd say "we've already talked about this situation, and this is our thought".  She said, "Wow, you guys must really talk a lot!"  We really do, and I am thankful for it!
   So all in all, it went GREAT!  We're scheduled for our final visit at our home for next Friday.  She said at that time, she'll give verbal consent, and then she'll type up our home study and pass it on to her supervisor for approval.  Once it is approved, we're OFFICIALLY home study approved to adopt!!!  (Paper pregnant) She said it will probably take about a month for that to happen.
   Dan and I can hardly believe how easy this has been!  God has been so good through it all!  We're just praying for patience now that we're going to be entering the waiting period.  Many people say that is the most difficult part of adoption.  We're really curious to see what kind of response we get through our own outreach efforts!  We wish we were just able to go into the waiting family book, but we're praying that things work out with our own outreach efforts.  We know one of the biggest outreach efforts is 'word of mouth'.  So please, tell everyone you know that we're hoping to adopt! :)  I know my mom is pretty good at this, out of her excitement, she tells just about everyone she knows (and doesn't know) that we're adopting!  That is such a great, free tool!  We're working on a website and profiles that we will have online to hopefully connect with birth parents.
  Also, our car is going to get its new transmission on Monday!  It comes with a hefty price tag, but it also comes with a 3 year part/labor warranty.  So that is nice to know that if it dies again in the next 3 years, we won't have to pay for it!  It will be a really nice car once its replaced, and we're excited to have a working vehicle! 

Grandma

I just wanted to update on my Grandma's surgery and thank you for praying!  She made it through the surgery!  She had quite the team of doctors in the 4 hour surgery.  They are confident that she isn't paralyzed and that her neck pain should be gone.  Praise God for an answer to prayer!