Waiting List

We haven't heard a single thing regarding our outreach yet, and I am trying not to get too discouraged!  I am thankful that we've been busy, as it helps keep me distracted.  We aren't feeling too optimistic about the outreach program, so we've decided to join the waiting list for the Profile Book through our agency!  The waiting list is really long, we're 23rd on the list, so it would be a few months until we could even have our profile in there.  We were hoping we wouldn't need to spend the $$ to go into the book, but we're beginning to feel that it may be the best option for us.  We still plan on continuing our outreach while we're on the waiting list, and we're still hoping something would come up before we enter the book!  We'd appreciate your prayers for us during this time.  The unknowns are so difficult, and we need wisdom from the Lord throughout this process! 

I love autumn...

We've been pretty busy here at our house...  Dan and I have been sick with colds the past couple weeks, so we're excited to finally be feeling better!  After being home bound for so long, we decided to go for a walk last weekend to get some fresh air.  It is such a beautiful time of year to be outdoors! We've been enjoying the cooler weather (although the past few days have been pretty summer-like) and the beautiful fall colors.  We are also going camping this weekend with some friends.

 

One of the two snakes Dan caught on our walk

No news in the adoption process.  We received our adoption cards and we began handing them out and posting them on bulletin boards. We sent them to churches in the area as well.  Also, on Monday, Dan met a woman at work who had adopted a baby a few years back, and she connected with the baby's birth mother through her own outreach efforts!  She was so excited to help us out, she said she knows 'everybody' and would be talking with them about us.  She took a few of our cards and even made a phone call to someone she knew when Dan was still there.  :)  We're excited to see the Lord continue to work with all of these opportunities!

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!