WE’RE LICENSED!

2nd period. I see I have a phone call from a strange number. This in itself is a miracle. My phone is usually on silent, vibrate off, or dead, in the bottom of my purse. I fully acknowledge that I’m the worst at answering, or replying to calls and texts.

I always answer strange numbers though. You never know who it might be. What if it’s important?! JJ drives me crazy when he screens strange numbers.

My students are taking a test, but I can’t not answer, so I step out in the hallway. I’m so glad I did! It was Travis, our current caseworker at Covenant Kids. He called to let me know that we’re a licensed foster home!!!!!!!!!! I started crying in the hallway as I was watching my kids test through the door window.

All there is to do now is to pray. Pray for our daughter like the air I breathe. A constant prayer. Pray that she’ll be safe, and warm, and loved. Pray that God will lead Al (from CK) as he matches us to available children. Pray that God will be preparing her heart to join our family. Pray that all the details will fall in to place. Pray for her birth mom and birth family. For the foster family she’s proabably living with now.

Al’s working on finding her and matching her to us. I have no idea how fast this will be. If the girl he matches us to is in a bad place, he could place her with us extrememly quickly. If she’s in a safe foster home, the process could move slowly. Truly no idea.

All I know is that JJ and I will both be keeping our phones close to hand, ringers up!

We did it!

The gas inspector just left. We’ve done every, single, tiny thing on our adoption to-do list!! Before you know it we’ll be a licensed foster home and matched with our daughter. Hurray!!!!!!!!!!

I’ll let you know timeline as soon as I hear from our case worker.

Home study Deets

Yesterday afternoon was our home study. Yikes! We spent days going though checklists and cleaning house to get ready. It went so well! Our worker was only there for 2 hours instead of the 6 estimated. We were assigned a bit of homework- mostly home improvement projects for JJ.

He told us that in about 6 weeks, he’d have our report written up, it will have been approved, and we’ll be a licensed foster home. After licensing he thinks 2 or 3 weeks until placement. That means in 8 weeks, we could meet our daughter.

8 weeks!!!

It’ll be March. Goodness gracious.

Lord, please prepare our hearts and hers.

Homestudy scheduled!!

Out homestudy is scheduled for December 30th!! Please pray for us- we have a lot of projects to take care of before then and our plates were pretty full as it was.

Other news- Holly & Keith will be playing with Silas in Ethiopia while we’re taking care of the homestudy. Please pray for them! Pray that their travels will be safe, that court will go well, that God would begin to prepare Silas’ heart to come home, that Angels would surround that sweet boy and keep him safe, pray for Keith & Holly as they have to leave him there and come back home.

Thanks friends.

Soooo…

It’s been a year, a whole entire year. I would try to explain or make excuses, but I’m not the least bit sorry. Life’s been perfectly, wonderfully ordinary and truthfully, I decided to stop blogging (did I really do that much to start with?). I didn’t seem to have much to say that I couldn’t just say on Facebook. Big things are about to happen in our family though.

Big, huge things.

We’re adopting again! Hopefully, in the spring, Anne, Nick, & Joel will have a big sister. A sister. I can’t wait. Seriously.

What will she be like? Will she call me mom? Is she safe and loved now? Will she be shy or rebellious? Will she like us/me? Am I ready to parent a teenager? A million other questions. I wake up in the middle of the night praying for her. If you wake up, please pray for her too. Please. Pray that she’s safe and God will start preparing her heart to join our family.

We’ve turned in our paperwork, completed all the trainings, and are waiting for the agency to schedule a home study. I’ll keep you posted!

A day with Grampy

This morning Gaba, Laynette, & Denise picked up Anne & Joel for a fun-filled day at Lego land! They were so, so, so excited! Nick was sad at being left behind, so we headed over to Dad’s house to have some outside fun. Dad was having some calves delivered, and Nick was instantly smitten.

After they were safely corralled, we loaded up for a trip to Sulphur Springs with Dad. We ate lunch and played at McDonalds with Granny, Jenn, Taylor, Abby, & Brynn. After lunch we visited with Linda, Jonathan, Brooke, & Randa for a bit  & Nick got to dig in the dirt while Dad & uncle Donny worked on Alvina’s waterline. We had a fun day, filled with family!

The Call

It’s been months since my last post, and there really is no excuse. Since Christmas we’ve been in a kind of fog. JJ’s been working hard and nonstop. He’s been working overtime and freelance trying as hard as he can to pay off debt and loans. I haven’t written much, because it doesn’t seem like anything big has happened, just all the small things that seem to little to write, but add up to be day to day life. So, here’s a post about the small things…

“It started out as a feeling,
which then grew into a hope,
which then turned into a quiet thought,
which then turned into a quiet word.
And then that word grew louder and louder
until it was a battle cry!” – The Call.

Beautiful. I was just listening to this song and I think these lyrics perfectly describe the Holy Spirit leading us toward adoption. Every time people meet Nick they ask us, “Why did you decide to adopt?” and it’s always hard to explain simply. We didn’t really choose, God led us to Nick.

Anne and Joel are playing Spring Soccer. Nick was 4 days too young, which is a shame because he’d have loved it. Anne’s team is Blaze and Joel plays for the Flaming Cheetos. They had their first games this past Saturday.

Nick’s still working on learning his colors, body parts, and 123’s. Joel’s learning sight words and is doing so, so well! While Anne’s at school our days are filled with nerf gun fights, wrestling, and pretend puppy dogs. I just can’t even keep up with Anne and how fast she’s growing up and maturing. She’s started helping cook dinner and assembling her own cookbook of recipes she likes. She’s decided she wants to be a painter when she grows up and is begging to take art classes this summer.

December

December 3rd JJ had to work, but I took the kids to the Arboretum with Laura, John, Kate, Dad, and Matt.

This year we went with Misti, Riley, & Jack to see ICE at the Gaylord Texan. We went snow tubing (SO MUCH FUN at first & then quickly exhausting), took photos with Santa, and then toured the ice sculptures. 1 room into ICE with the freezing temps, Anne yelled “I can’t stand it! Get me outa here!” I took her outside and JJ followed with the boys.

October & November

We started Halloween off by going to our church’s fall festival on Friday.

Anne favorite part is always the pony rides.

Next up- face painting! I absolutely loved Joel’s whiskers.

By the time we rode a few rides and toured the petting zoo, the kids were worn out and starving. Chiloso!

Halloween day was jam packed! We began at the arboretum and pictures with the pumpkins. We took so many good photos, it was hard to choose which ones to post.

We did quick-changes into our costumes and headed to the Magic Time Machine for dinner. The kids absolutely LOVED getting autographs from the waiters, touring the restaurant, and drinking magic potions. After dinner, we took the kids trick-or-treating in a swanky nearby neighborhood and they brought home buckets of candy.

November 11th we threw a party to celebrate Nick’s adoption and to say thank you to everyone that supported us. We strung lights and decorated tables on our land for a chill dinner. Lion King was playing on an outdoor movie screen, we had bounce houses, hot chocolate, and a hayride.

The next week was Joel’s birthday. We had a party at Laura’s for him & a cake at Gaba and Papa’s during Thanksgiving. We also took a few of his best friends to see The Muppets at the theater and then out to Twisty Treats for birthday ice-cream.

On Thanksgiving, Anne wore her first pair of dangly earrings instead of studs and she also baked a pecan pie all by herself!

Lastly, in November, Nick helped decorate his first Christmas tree!

Football & Bowie

Last week was Joel’s last flag football game. This is the first year he’s played and he LOVED it! He had such a good time- running the ball, grabbing flags, and trash-talking the other team. He’ll be playing again next year for sure!

This week Anne began school at Bowie. To celebrate her last day, we went out for doughnuts, went to the zoo with Laura & Kate, and then had a movie night at the Brysons. It was such a good day!

She’s loving her new class so far. She’s making friends and doing well in class. Her favorite part of the day by far is getting to go through the lunch line.