Life is about to get really interesting!!

I said last week that we were possibly taking an unexpected detour on our adoption journey. This detour is actually the very situation that got us thinking about now being the time to adopt. I mentioned in one of my first posts that my sister, Crystal, and her husband, Chris, had contacted us about a child but it didn't work out and we were moving on. Well, about a month ago God re-opened that door. There is a child that is in foster care right now-he is 5 months old. We were contacted by my brother-in-law, Chris, about social services needing to have a Plan B (adoption plan) in place for this baby boy in the event that he would not be reunited with his parents. This Saturday we are going to Eyota, MN, to have the Plan B meeting. This meeting will determine who will adopt this little boy if his parents don't do what they need to do in order to get him back. If we leave that meeting with Travis and I being chosen to adopt him then we will work with social services here in SD to complete background checks and a home study and I'm sure lots more! That won't guarantee that we will get him even if we are chosen because it all rests on his parents and what they do/don't do. Oh, and his mom is pregnant again and so we would need to agree to take that baby as well (which we SOOO do)! So, that in a nutshell is the other situation without giving away too many details since we don't want to be too forward with all of this since it is a sensitive matter.

Another thing that will make things A TON more interesting is Travis and I will be caring for my niece, Izzabella, starting next week. I fly down from Rochester to AZ on Tuesday and then I will fly back with her and my mom, who is down in AZ for work right now, on Wednesday. I am closing daycare all next week to help her adjust as much as possible before I have to jump back in with caring for other children. Travis is also taking off of work (both jobs) as well to make the transition as smooth as possible. Izzabella is 4 months old and has been through plenty in her few months. We really feel lead to take this step and know that our families are supporting us in this. My family, since it is my sister's daughter, knows this is the step to be taken and Travis and I are in the best place right now to take on a 4 month old since both of my other sisters just had babies within the last year. It will be for an indefinite amount of time-basically until my sister does what she needs to do and can have her back.

I am definitely having some anxiety and stress along with peace that this is God's plan and His will for us right now. I'm stressing about finances because we've never had the cost of formula and we will now for Izzabella and diapers again. Then we are looking to get this other baby and his sibling. We would have to get a minivan. And for those that have them-NO OFFENSE INTENDED but those that know me really well know how much I don't like them!!! They have great features but I want to be a SUV mom, not a minivan mom!! I will have to surrender to it though. Then Travis's F/T job is becoming less and less stable. We are actually heavily looking at any accountant positions here in Sioux Falls, the Twin Cities and Des Moines-we have ties in all of those places. Travis's family definitely doesn't want to see us go and we don't want to leave our friends and family either, but we feel we need to be sensitive to where God may be taking us. We have just so much uncertainty in our lives' right now that we know God is working on something big and they are all kind of associated-all of the uncertain things God is working for one main goal and one big picture...I don't know how much sense that makes being written out but it makes sense in my head! All that being said, we do have a peace because we know it isn't a coincidence that all of this is happening all at the same time...it is clear God is working!! It's an awesome feeling to be in a situation and to feel Him at work...like nothing else!! :)

So, that is 'us' and where we are right now. I'm excited to see where God takes us in the coming months!!! One of my sisters-in-law said yesterday "When it rains, it pours...babies!!" We laughed because this is such a crazy, wonderful situation to be in right now. Having been faced with infertility and the idea that Landon's feet would be the last to do the little 'pitter-patter' on our floors just broke our hearts. Now we are almost being faced with too many children...what a blessing! We know God will work out the finances and give me the patience that I will need to watch so many little ones if that is the route this goes. We are just waiting....anxiously waiting, but waiting nonetheless.

Mother's Day

My Mother's Day was wonderful! My hubbie got up early and made french toast, sausage & eggs for breakfast. Then Landon and Travis gave me my presents-which were a new coffee rug for the kitchen, red canisters for baking ingredients and wall plaques with the coffee theme (I'm changing the theme of my kitchen from roses to coffee). I was so excited!! Then after church we went over to my wonderful sis-in-law's, Karla and her hubbie Kelly, for some ribs & chicken, cheesy hashbrowns, rolls, an awesome salad and I made some cute spring themed cupcakes. We spent all afternoon over there with Karla & Kelly and Trav's brother, Darin and his wife, Jerilyn. Karla, Jerilyn and I spent the afternoon talking labor and babies because Karla and Jerilyn are both expecting their first children this summer. It was lots of fun! It really was a great day!

Even through all of the goings-on of the day, one main thought kept running through my head. That thought was about how blessed I truly am. I started thinking about it that morning when my husband was praying for our breakfast and thanking the Lord for me and all that I do and he had so much praise for me. In that moment, I was truly humbled. I felt humbled because it was through that praise for me that I realized just how inadequate I was and how gracious my husband was for saying I did this and that and was this and that but I really didn't see that. All I could see was my intense need for Christ and how I am utterly dependent on Him to try and fill the shoes that my family needs me to fill. I see my need for a Savior even more because I know I can't live up to the expectations put on me without my Savior. I fail every time when I try to be a wife and mother in my own strength. When I complain, gripe or have a bad attitude about serving or ministering to my family, I pray that God will work in spite of me to show them Christ. I feel unworthy of the praise and feel even more of a need to praise my God, who is worthy and who is everything that we sing about. One song that demonstrates this is the Aaron Shust song, "My Savior, My God". So, now you can see why I am so humbled and so blessed-I have a wonderful family and an Awesome God!!

'Labor Pains!'

So, I was told by a friend that was adopting that there can be frustrations, problems, delays, etc. during the adoption process and she dubbed those hiccups as 'labor pains'. I can say that last week I experienced some of those 'labor pains' for the first time. The last time I gave an update about the adoption I had mentioned we had to wait 6-8 weeks for our FBI fingerprinting to come back and there may have been a problem with them since we left 3 fields blank on the cards and so it could take a little longer.

On Thursday last week our adoption social worker contacted us to let us know that we only had 4 forms left to turn in. We were aware of that and even had all of them filled out but were waiting to turn them in just in case we left something off of the other forms then we could turn it all in at once; besides, we had the time to wait to turn them in since last Monday just marked the 6th week of our fingerprinting being received...or so we thought! I was curious about her wording in saying that we only had 4 forms out and so I asked her if the FBI prints had come back yet. She responded and said that yes they were back and have been since April 7th!! Seriously??? 21 days?? They had been back for 3 full weeks and no one contacted us to make us aware of that even though they had commented on how on top of things we were and how we were just flying through the paperwork and getting it all turned in very quickly.

So, I had me a little bit of a breakdown and cried for moment. Then after some encouragement from a dear friend, who has been through the adoption process and could relate, I gathered myself and realized that everything was working out how it should. It was hard for me to swallow that, and you may be thinking "So? What's the big deal? Get over it!! At least they came in after 3 weeks and not 6-8! Be thankful!" (If you are thinking that then you aren't alone because I was telling myself all of that!) The reason it was difficult was because from the start of the adoption we asked just how long each step would take and how long would it take to get to the 'waiting phase' to be picked by a birthmother. What I loved about the response was how we could dictate the amount of time it took-so we could be waiting to be picked 2 1/2 months out! I loved that it could take so little time since we had been already waiting to add to our family. This was also good news to me since I like to have control of things(it's scary how much I'm realizing that to be true!) and can get things done in record time when I'm excited about something (and I am excited about this!!). So all of that careful rushing to complete the other paperwork and the first phase did me no good, or at least it felt that way. Plus, we could have started our homestudy 3 weeks ago!! So that was frustrating as well since my timeline was all messed up now! I realized that even in the phase that I thought I was in control of that God really was the one in control! I was served up some humble pie, you could say! :) I'm thankful that God has it all planned out for His glory and His timing and that I'm really not in control. If I was in control then we may have missed out on an unexpected detour that we may be taking. I will update you on that later! :)

I'm back..finally!

Well, it's been a few weeks since my last post but it isn't for a lack of things to write about or a desire to write, rather a lack of time! Since I don't have the time to devote to an all-out update then I will just include pictures and tell you about our Easter.

We went to the early service at church since Travis is in choir and had to be at both services. Then we came home and took some family pictures using the timer on our camera. After picture time, we enjoyed a nice roast with potatoes, grilled asparagus and homemade dinner rolls. Promptly following lunch (since Landon was so anxious), Travis hid the Easter eggs and Landon got to find all of them, along with his basket.

It just so happened to be a beautiful day in Sioux Falls on Easter and so we spent quite a bit of time outside playing with bubbles and a toy rocket. Since Landon got two new swords in his Easter basket then daddy and Landon got to play for a while as well. :) We watched a movie together that evening and that's about it! It was a perfect family day! We had many opportunities that day to drive home the reality that Easter is really about Jesus rising from the grave and how we serve a risen Savior! It truly was a wonderful, blessed day!! Oh, Landon wanted to do a silly picture-so this picture to the right was the result :)