Our First Halloween!!!

I know it's a little late but I've been sooooooooo busy just playing with & being "Mommy" to my 2 beautiful babies & my 1 handsome young gentleman.

My little frog prince...

My little witch...

Abbie got mad at her brother & turned him into a frog! LOL

And last but not least, my hobo...

Long time no see... um, write I mean! =)

Sorry I haven't updated my blog in so long but soooooooooo much has been going on.

God is good... all the time! They're ours!!! After 5.5 years of infertility & many, many prayers for a baby God has blessed us with 2 beautiful toddlers (Charlie, 2, & Abbie, 3). It was May 22nd that we were first approached about possibly fostering/adopting these 2 children (News!!!) & on June 21st we became their legal guardians. We actually brought them home on Thurs, June 23rd, & I'm telling you I can't get ANYTHING done unless they are asleep. It was like BAM & their ours... it all happened so fast & there was a definite period of adjustment in there. So we are their parents for as long as God allows... we are guardians which means their parents still have rights & could actually petition the court for them at any time unless we hire a lawyer to discuss possible adoption.

God is soooooooooooo good & sooooooooooo faithful & He has really taken a horrible situation & has done something really beautiful with it, not to mention that He brought 2 completely unrelated families together to become one family... I love this family so much; as if they were my own. But still please remember the family in your prayers & these children who just lost the only mother they have ever really known about 2 months ago. Their grandmother died Sat night, June 25th. The children are doing well... I honestly think they are too young to really comprehend what's going on.

I do have to add that the home visit went really well... I fully believe that the reason it went as well as it did was because God was/is in this. Though I don't want to sugar coat it, the home study was emotionally difficult on me... if I wasn't fully committed to the Lord & HIS will above my own, I would have quit right then & there - that's how difficult it was on me but I KNOW God knows better than me & I fully trust Him so I will follow Him no matter what. I have actually seen God literally move mountains over the past 2 months. And now that they are here, I LOVE these 2 precious babies so so much. I can't imagine my life without them & I hope I never have to.

Oh & remember my post about my fears & why I felt adoption wasn't a good option for us, 2nd injectables cycle RE follow-up appt update... well, Rex is a big baby with them. I was so scared & for no real reason at all. He is AMAZING with those children. Yeah, he did bark in the beginning but now they hug, kiss, pet, & play with him ALL THE TIME & he loves them just as much as they love him!!! Praise the Lord because it was Him & Him alone that moved sooooooooooooo many mountains to bring these wonderful, beautiful children into our lives.

And can I add that God is teaching me so much about Himself through these little children. I once heard Beth Moore talk about how love comes from God first & when we feel like telling Him we love Him we should really say, "I love you too" because it came from Him first. Anyway, I tell Abbie & Charlie, "I love you," like 100 times a day. Okay not really 100 times a day but I tell them A LOT. And then a week or 2 AFTER I started telling them soooooooo much that I love them, I caught Charlie telling everyone he loves them. Not exactly the same but it just reminds me of what Beth Moore said anyway.

And the other thing that I have heavily reflected on since God has blessed us with their care is just how beautiful & perfect these children are in my eyes (beautiful eyes, hair, noses, ears, toes, lips... you name it & I LOVE it). I can't imagine just how much God loves us if I love these children as much as I do. And I know God thinks the same way (only times 10!) about us... we are beautiful to Him, imperfections & all.

And now my beautiful babies...

Brother & sisterly love!


Being silly before church!

For this child I prayed, and the LORD has granted me my petition which I asked of Him.
~ 1 Samuel 1:27

He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the LORD.
~ Psalm 113:9

Thank you Lord!!! You have blessed me beyond measure!

Faith

I think God has really been focusing on building my faith since it seems that "faith" has been a recurrent theme in my life lately...

For my birthday a good friend gave me one of the sweetest birthday present's ever, a photo album with one of my all time favorite verses, Hebrews 11:1.

Isn't it absolutely beautiful & just the perfect shade of *baby* green?! I've decided that I'm gonna save this album & use it as my newborn photo album of our baby whenever the Lord so blesses us!

And then just a few days later (on March 17th) my other best friend bought me 3 decorative flower pots - Faith, Hope, & Love! But the story she tells is that when she walked in to this particular store, she saw the Faith pot clear across the store. That particular pot caught her eye & she HAD to get it. It was only when she got closer that she also grabbed the Hope & Love pots as well since the 3 just go together!

These are decorative pots & apparently, aren't meant to hold real plants (there's no drain hole in the bottom) but after my friend & I talked a little about faith (how you plant a little seed of faith in your heart & then care for & nurture it for it to grow) now I want to come up with a way to use them to grow real flowers. I'm bound & determined to do this & already have a few ideas up my sleeve! If you do have any ideas as well, please share (all ideas welcomed & appreciated ).

And then just a few days after that (March 19th), when I was watching Beth Moore on LIFE Today, guess what she was speaking on?! FAITH!!! I know He's preparing me for the journey ahead. I even took notes (which I typically don't do) & the one note that I took that really stood out was... "There will be plenty of opportunity to doubt & fear & disbelieve -> It's got to to appear as if this one is NOT going to come through - that is exactly when you have an opportunity to have a story that turns itself into a song."

Here's the entire video of Beth Moore, for your viewing pleasure... A Story Fit For a Song. I'm so excited to be walking this journey with the Lord!

And a few days after THAT, I heard a new song for the first time. I know it doesn't really speak about faith per se but it is such an AWESOME song & it really just speaks to me so much that I had to include it here as well...

Wow, that the Lord would speak to me the way He does simply amazes me sometimes!

God's Perfect Timing!

God is so good!!! I can barely believe it but as of today, we have the most beautiful crib in the world! Well, the most beautiful crib in my eyes anyway!

A close up of the headboard/backboard...

I bought this crib for my sister back when my niece was born years ago & now it's mine! And it's all thanks to God & HIS perfect timing...

My mom & sister (who live together) were moving & have been trying to move into this new place for MONTHS now. They wanted to be in before Christmas but alas that didn't happen... God's timing is never our timing, is it? So they finally got to move in just a little over a week ago. Well, my niece's birthday party was last weekend & after the party I dropped by their new place to look it over & I noticed that my niece's bed wasn't set up & instead another bed sat in it's place. I was, of course, a little confused. Long story short, the crib is a convertible crib & is supposed to convert to a full size bed but they couldn't figure out how to do that so they just set up ANOTHER bed & was going to get rid of the crib/bed but thankfully God worked it all out so that I'd show up when I did, notice that the bed was missing, & inquire into it which led to ME getting the bed. If they would have moved in earlier I may never have known about the crib & may never have gotten it but God knew & He worked it all out. Praise the Lord! We picked it up today & it isn't fully set up yet... we're still missing a few screws but I'm sure we can find them from a local hardware store or Babies R' Us (where we originally bought the bed in the first place).

One of the amazing things about this story though is just how much I ADORE this crib. I have ALWAYS loved this crib from the very beginning but I wanted to do something really special for my sister so I bought her the crib that I secretly longed to be buying for myself. And ever since buying this crib for her, every time I'd look at cribs online, dreaming of the day I'd finally get to buy one for myself, deep down I always kinda compared my sister's crib to whatever I might be looking at/dreaming of. I have never once been jealous really (I have always been very happy to have bought her such a beautiful crib) but this one has always been that "dream" crib for me... you know the one that you use to compare all other cribs to. Anyway, little did I know that I was actually buying that crib for myself way back when.

God is so good & this is a huge reminder that we are just one step closer to the baby that I know He is preparing JUST for us. Praise the Lord & thank you from the bottom of my heart! Only He knows what this truly means to me!

By the way, I know it's been a little quite around here lately... we are into the 2nd month of trying to conceive naturally. I will def update you when there is more to update.

And speaking of perfect timing, Elaine over on God's Faithfulness Through Infertility wrote an awesome post on God's timing & our asking "WHY?" It was just what I needed to hear last weekend & is a GREAT reminder of just how perfect His timing truly is... We always want answers as to “Why?”. Here is one.

I won my very first award!!! =)

Thank you, Ashley... this is the highlight of my day!

Here are the rules for the acceptance of the award:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you the award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Award 15 other bloggers.
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award.

Let's see, 7 things about me...

1. I LOVE lizards & am often called the lizard paparazzi by both my husband (Mike) & son (Austin) in the summer b/c I am ALWAYS taking pictures of them.

Here's just a few of my favorite pics that I have taken...

2. We (Mike, Austin, & I) love all kinds of animals & we do our very best to live alongside God's beautiful creatures. We had a family of snakes living under our porch over this past summer. I know most people would kill them but not us... we loved our little neighbors & would often go out looking for them, hoping to catch a glimpse of them sunning themselves. By the way, these were King snakes & not poisonous at all. Actually if you are going to have a family of snakes living nearby these are the ones you want b/c they eat the poisonous ones! LOL Oh & we even use mice cubes b/c we would prefer to not kill mice. We are just big animal lovers.

Here's a pic of one of our *neighbors*...

3. I'm a very crafty person. I love to paint & draw & other general crafts. I can do very basic knitting & want to learn to crochet as well. (Austin & I actually have an Arts & Crafts (business) blog if you wanna check out our *craftiness*... A&A Art.)

4. We homeschool... this is our 2nd year homeschooling & Austin is in 9th grade. I LOVE it & my only regret is that we didn't do it sooner.

5. I once dated a guy who was invited to appear on Jerry Springer!

6. I have recently gotten interested in America's Next Top Model (though not one of my absolute favorite shows). Now, if you know my personality, this show is a little out of character for me (I am so not a girly girl or even care about girly things like fashion, make-up, etc). I'm not sure why I like it but I do love to watch the models "do their thing" & see the results. It's art to me & it is kinda fun to see if I can guess who's going to get eliminated next.

7. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Uno & all forms of it. We have the original Uno card game, Uno Attack, & Uno Spin (probably my favorite of the 3). And I sooooooooo want Uno Flash!


And those who I am passing this award on to:

Adair
Amber
Augie
Brandi
Crystal
Elaine
Kari
Kristine
Mattie
Melissa
Melissa
Patti
Sibi
Stephanie
Tiffany