Our Family is Growing by FOUR Feet!

I never thought I'd be able to do a post about this... But here we are, 5 years into trying to adopt, a couple weeks away from bringing our babies home!  We are so thankful for the doors that were closed so that God could open another which led us to our children. They're beautiful.  I can't share their pictures until after the adoption is finalized (which will be a while as it is through foster care).  Two year old little man and his 7 month old baby sister.  I am blown away by the love and support that has come in, the gifts and well wishes from people we know and love, and also strangers.  God know's what he is doing, even when we feel like there is no hope, no plan, and no reason for things.  He is GOOD ALL THE TIME!  I will share more of the story when I have time!

Hello again...

I am sorry to admit, I pretty much forgot about this little blog I started a few years ago!  So much happened during the years I wrote and so much has happened since my silence.  I thought I'd throw an update up for those who may pass by and wondered what happened to us!

Well, after our last failed adoption; we were done.  I couldn't stand the process of adoption anymore. Getting super excited only to have our hopes dashed yet again.  We needed to step back and re-analyze what we should do.  We came to the decision we weren't going to try anymore and "gave it back to God."  We prayed that if God wanted us to have children, He'd have to make it happen how ever he saw fit.  We weren't going to try to force the doors open, He'd have to open them for us.  We made the decision to not go back into our agencies book and we let our home study expire.

Fast forward a few months...

Two days before our home study was set to expire (June 2014), I received a call from a friend who had adopted 4 children from Foster Care.  Her previous case worker was looking for a potential adoptive home for a sibling group. She asked if we'd be interested, and, ultimately, we said yes.  Dan said if we prayed for God to open doors, he didn't want to close this one by saying no. I was a mix of emotions/feelings from having come to terms with being done with the adoption process, and opening ourselves up to it again, in this new avenue.  Since our home study was about to expire, we had to start the whole process over...  YAY!  :) The situation my friend called about didn't end up working out, but it lead us to where we are today.

We started the many, many classes, training's, and home study visits for the MN Waiting Child Program (Foster Care Adoption) in August and we became licensed this January.  (We used a different agency this time around and are SO happy we did!)

Let me tell you, this program is eye opening. Some of the stories that we heard are unfathomable. The Foster Care system and what these children experience is something I was very uninformed about.  The need for foster families is great. The need for permanent homes for those who can't return to their parents is also great.  I never thought we'd be here, adopting through Foster Care, but I am thankful God led us here!  There is a great need and we are excited to find the child/children that we are meant to love on, protect, earn their trust, and teach about Jesus!

We're in the matching process now, which can take long or can go quickly!  We are presented with a child or sibling group and we decide if we want our profile shown to the county representing the child.  The county looks over the home studies submitted and picks a family for the child/ren.  After being picked, you start a transition to ease the children into your home.  Once they are living with us, it takes 6-9 months of monthly visits from the county and our agency until things can be finalized.

Finally, I want to share a blog that has encouraged me greatly on this new walk we're on.  I love his quote below and it changed how I think about adoption.  It is why we are here now.

"Adoption is less about getting a child for your family and more about giving your family for a child. Caring for children without families does not begin with what they have to offer us but with what we must be willing to offer them, no matter what, at all costs."

http://jasonjohnsonblog.com/#theblog

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!

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.