Oh, friends!
It has been a crazy couple of weeks. However, today God knew JUST what I needed!!! First, I had a wonderful morning out of the house at a great little play place on post with some fantastic friends and fellowship.
This afternoon I got to RUN. I have begun running again in hopes of doing a 12k this summer with my sweet hubby, but over the past week or two with all the crazy weather I haven't been able to run outside. Luckily I have a sweet friend just a few doors down who has graciously let me "borrow" her treadmill AND watch Hunter for me while I run. God is sooooooooooooo good! Anyway, today is the first day that it has been sunny since our winter storm and my same sweet friend took Hunter for me so I could run outside in the sunshine. Now, I don't know about all you other runners, but I don't run with an ipod or anything. It's just me and my thoughts. Sometimes that's good, sometimes it's bad, but I really enjoy just spending some time alone with no distractions.
Today I only got about a quarter mile into my run when I saw the most beautiful bald eagle soaring above me. Immediately the hymn (based on Isaiah 40:31) popped into my head;
"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up on wings like eagles.
They shall run and not be weary;
They shall walk and not faint..."
But the BEST part of this little story is the next line of the verse;
"Teach me Lord, teach me Lord, to WAIT"
Oh, wow! What a reminder that God is always looking out for us. He so clearly sent that verse straight to my heart to let me know that he is always here, even in the waiting. Isn't that just beautiful?!?!?
I was also reminded while I was running just how important it is for all of us to have this wonderful balance between our minds, bodies and spirits. I feel like I really saw the effect of this while we were stuck at home with the snow. Without a physical outlet we were all going a bit crazy in the house! Isn't it so amazing to think that our bodies are a trinity, just like God is? Without the mind, body, spirit combination we are not human. So awesome!
Anyway, we are still waiting, but I know that it is just where God wants us to be! While we wait on the Lord we will work on renewing our strength so that we can be prepared for whatever it is that God has in store for our family.
I pray that God gives you just what you need today!!!
Love,
B, E & H
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Inspiration
This song was the inspiration for the title of our blog. I heard it on the radio today and thought that it might be fun to share it with all of you. So, watch if you want, and if not, that's okay too!
Love,
B, E & H
Monday, January 23, 2012
Phew!
Today I'm breathing a big sigh of relief for lots of reasons. First, it is so great to know that our home visit is complete! It seems like everything went well. Now we just have to wait for her to finish writing our home study (not sure how long that will take) and then after our home study is written we should have our foster license 4-6 weeks later. I'm praying that it will all move quickly, but I know that it is all in God's hands. So I guess we don't have a definite timeline, but we are moving forward and that is the best we can do for now!
In other news, our snow is melting and Hunter FINALLY had school today - woohoo!
I guess that is all for now, right now we are just waiting to see what will happen next. I promise to keep you posted when we find out that our home study is complete!
Love,
B, E & H
In other news, our snow is melting and Hunter FINALLY had school today - woohoo!
I guess that is all for now, right now we are just waiting to see what will happen next. I promise to keep you posted when we find out that our home study is complete!
Love,
B, E & H
Saturday, January 21, 2012
It's almost time...
Tomorrow is the big day - our home visit! It has been a CRAZY week leading up to this. My plan was to take some time on Wednesday and Friday while Hunter was at school and do some cleaning, organizing, etc. HA! Apparently I neglected to take into account the incredible weather. I don't have an official measurement, but I know that we have probably gotten close to a foot of snow over the past week. Top that off with about 3/4 inch of ice and a severe lack of salt and snow plows and you have got yourself a major disaster!
We have been so blessed because we didn't lose power for any significant amount of time, but there were over 230,000 people in our area who didn't have power. As of today it seems like most of our friends have their power back, but it's hard to really say. In light of all of this, Hunter hasn't had school all week and Ben hasn't had work either. Needless to say, preparing for our home visit took a backseat to helping friends clear snow, have a warm meal and a place to hang out. I think that through all of this God is teaching me that I need to just let go of all my worries and let Him take control. Honestly, I'm sure that having my bathroom sinks sparkling clean and having the couch free of cat fur isn't going to make that much of a difference to our social worker. In fact, I really hope that she would prefer that we had friends over for dinner since they didn't have power and so I haven't had a chance to scrub my kitchen floor. I guess everything just needs to be put in perspective sometimes!
Today the snow is melting and the trees have stopped falling. Hopefully the weather will behave and we will be able to have our home visit tomorrow and get one more step closer to bringing home our kid/s! We did get a mattress and the store we purchased it from was so sweet. They told Ben over the phone that they had the one we wanted in stock but when he got to the store they didn't have it - so instead they gave him a much nicer one for the same price! What a blessing! Now we have a full and a twin mattress which should allow us to be licensed for two kids. We have opted not to worry about a crib, so we won't be licensed for infants. I'm not really sure what age is considered "infant" but I will find out tomorrow.
Please pray that everything goes smoothly and I will update all of you as soon as possible!
Love you all!
B, E & H
We have been so blessed because we didn't lose power for any significant amount of time, but there were over 230,000 people in our area who didn't have power. As of today it seems like most of our friends have their power back, but it's hard to really say. In light of all of this, Hunter hasn't had school all week and Ben hasn't had work either. Needless to say, preparing for our home visit took a backseat to helping friends clear snow, have a warm meal and a place to hang out. I think that through all of this God is teaching me that I need to just let go of all my worries and let Him take control. Honestly, I'm sure that having my bathroom sinks sparkling clean and having the couch free of cat fur isn't going to make that much of a difference to our social worker. In fact, I really hope that she would prefer that we had friends over for dinner since they didn't have power and so I haven't had a chance to scrub my kitchen floor. I guess everything just needs to be put in perspective sometimes!
Today the snow is melting and the trees have stopped falling. Hopefully the weather will behave and we will be able to have our home visit tomorrow and get one more step closer to bringing home our kid/s! We did get a mattress and the store we purchased it from was so sweet. They told Ben over the phone that they had the one we wanted in stock but when he got to the store they didn't have it - so instead they gave him a much nicer one for the same price! What a blessing! Now we have a full and a twin mattress which should allow us to be licensed for two kids. We have opted not to worry about a crib, so we won't be licensed for infants. I'm not really sure what age is considered "infant" but I will find out tomorrow.
Please pray that everything goes smoothly and I will update all of you as soon as possible!
Love you all!
B, E & H
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Getting ready!
Woohoo!!! We have an appointment to get our fingerprints done! Saturday is the big day. Again. Ha! I had never been fingerprinted before, and now we have had it done four times in less than a year. Ben is a little more used to it I guess, getting security clearances and such. For me though, every time we have to go have it done it just feels weird! But, I'm super glad that we were able to get appointments so quickly this time, and on a Saturday too! God is GOOD!!!
This Saturday we spent most of the day running from store to store, pricing mattresses and trying to round up all the items that we needed to complete our home visit. We now have a first aid kit (complete with a one way resuscitation mask!), mattress covers for every bed - including the one we still need to buy - and a few other odds and ends that we needed. I think that we visited about 10 stores, but we got it all accomplished AND had a nice dinner out afterward :)
While we were at a furniture store pricing mattresses we happened to find these super great bunk beds that would allow us to keep the full size mattress that we already own on the bottom bunk and loft a twin mattress. We were checking them out and explaining to the saleswoman helping us why we may possibly need bunk beds, etc. She said that she and her husband were also considering being foster parents and had gone as far as taking the classes and everything but then decided against it because they didn't want their two boys exposed to the children that were in the system. At the moment I know that I must have nodded in agreement and didn't really process what she had said, but later on I couldn't get it out of my mind. I know that not everyone is called to be a part of what we are doing, and I fully realize that it is a calling. However, I have to admit that I think that this woman is thinking about it all wrong.
I understand her need to shelter and protect her own children, but when you look at the bigger picture, what makes her children superior to the children that are needing a foster home? Each and every child is deserving of a loving home, regardless of what they have experienced in the past. I know that it won't be easy, but any child that enters our home will have to be treated JUST THE SAME as our own child. There can't be any preferential treatment simply because I gave birth to Hunter. Each of us is a precious child of God, and we all deserve to be treated as such.
Anyway, I will get off my soapbox now and ask you for prayers. Our biggest need right now is time. Ben will finish command sometime around June or July and we are just praying that the Army sees fit to let us stay here so we can finalize an adoption. Since the state requires 6 months between placement and finalization, I really feel like it would be best if we could stay here at least through 2012. However, God knows what is best and He has it all under control. We both feel strongly that God wants us to pursue this, so we know that if it is really His will for our family there will be a way to make it work! So please be praying that we have a peace about all of this. Right now everything concerning moving is up in the air. We definitely don't have orders to anywhere else, so that is a very good sign!
Love you all, and THANK YOU!!!
B, E & H
This Saturday we spent most of the day running from store to store, pricing mattresses and trying to round up all the items that we needed to complete our home visit. We now have a first aid kit (complete with a one way resuscitation mask!), mattress covers for every bed - including the one we still need to buy - and a few other odds and ends that we needed. I think that we visited about 10 stores, but we got it all accomplished AND had a nice dinner out afterward :)
While we were at a furniture store pricing mattresses we happened to find these super great bunk beds that would allow us to keep the full size mattress that we already own on the bottom bunk and loft a twin mattress. We were checking them out and explaining to the saleswoman helping us why we may possibly need bunk beds, etc. She said that she and her husband were also considering being foster parents and had gone as far as taking the classes and everything but then decided against it because they didn't want their two boys exposed to the children that were in the system. At the moment I know that I must have nodded in agreement and didn't really process what she had said, but later on I couldn't get it out of my mind. I know that not everyone is called to be a part of what we are doing, and I fully realize that it is a calling. However, I have to admit that I think that this woman is thinking about it all wrong.
I understand her need to shelter and protect her own children, but when you look at the bigger picture, what makes her children superior to the children that are needing a foster home? Each and every child is deserving of a loving home, regardless of what they have experienced in the past. I know that it won't be easy, but any child that enters our home will have to be treated JUST THE SAME as our own child. There can't be any preferential treatment simply because I gave birth to Hunter. Each of us is a precious child of God, and we all deserve to be treated as such.
Anyway, I will get off my soapbox now and ask you for prayers. Our biggest need right now is time. Ben will finish command sometime around June or July and we are just praying that the Army sees fit to let us stay here so we can finalize an adoption. Since the state requires 6 months between placement and finalization, I really feel like it would be best if we could stay here at least through 2012. However, God knows what is best and He has it all under control. We both feel strongly that God wants us to pursue this, so we know that if it is really His will for our family there will be a way to make it work! So please be praying that we have a peace about all of this. Right now everything concerning moving is up in the air. We definitely don't have orders to anywhere else, so that is a very good sign!
Love you all, and THANK YOU!!!
B, E & H
Friday, January 6, 2012
Amazed
I have probably mentioned this before (I sure hope that I have!) but I just wanted to take the time to say it again. We have just been blown away by all of the support that we have been given so far. At the beginning of this process we were really reluctant to even tell anyone that we were wanting to adopt because there is a real fear of what people may say or think about it - especially when you decide to adopt older children who have often had a pretty rough life. By the time we began to tell people we were wanting to adopt we were very committed to the idea, so we felt like we were better prepared to deal with any rejection that we may come across. I know that it's not the case for every adoptive family, but we have been met with nothing but support from everyone we have encountered. What a blessing that has been!!!
Our families, friends, neighbors, church family... everyone has been so wonderful in praying for us, helping us through all of the ups and downs, watching Hunter when we had to go to training, letting us watch their kids so we can be assured that we CAN deal with more children and generally just being there for us each step of the way. I am not crazy enough to think that we will ALWAYS get 100% support as things progress, but I am still so amazed at how wonderful it has been so far.
So THANK YOU for being a part of our journey and for your support just by reading this blog. I know I can tend to ramble on and on and I really do appreciate you taking the time just to see where we are at and how things are going. I know that we will need the support more than ever as we get closer and closer to getting placements, and even more after we have our child/ren!
Thank you for being there for us!!! If I could hug each of you I would!
Love,
B, E & H
Our families, friends, neighbors, church family... everyone has been so wonderful in praying for us, helping us through all of the ups and downs, watching Hunter when we had to go to training, letting us watch their kids so we can be assured that we CAN deal with more children and generally just being there for us each step of the way. I am not crazy enough to think that we will ALWAYS get 100% support as things progress, but I am still so amazed at how wonderful it has been so far.
So THANK YOU for being a part of our journey and for your support just by reading this blog. I know I can tend to ramble on and on and I really do appreciate you taking the time just to see where we are at and how things are going. I know that we will need the support more than ever as we get closer and closer to getting placements, and even more after we have our child/ren!
Thank you for being there for us!!! If I could hug each of you I would!
Love,
B, E & H
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
We have a date!!!
Thanks for all the prayers yesterday! I got a phone call in the afternoon to schedule our home visit. January 22 is our date. I sure wish that it were closer, but I am so excited to have it on the calendar! Now we need to get the last things put together and finish getting all ready for our visit!
The biggest thing we need to figure out is the bed situation. We can only get foster licensed for the number of beds we have. So... we need to get another bed. We just don't know if we should buy a twin mattress or borrow one. If we only end up taking in one child we don't need to have another bed, but we really want to be able to be open to a sibling set of two. Decisions, decisions!
It is still going to take a miracle to get all of this completed on the timeline that we expect to have, but I know that our God is ABLE! And I don't want to live my life based on some assumptions about where or when we may move. I have to admit that it is scary, especially because we have to be quite vulnerable, but I know that in the long run a life worth living must be LIVED. I don't want to sit back and let life pass us by.
Praying that we all have the courage and strength to go out on a limb and follow whatever we have been called to do!
Love,
B, E & H
The biggest thing we need to figure out is the bed situation. We can only get foster licensed for the number of beds we have. So... we need to get another bed. We just don't know if we should buy a twin mattress or borrow one. If we only end up taking in one child we don't need to have another bed, but we really want to be able to be open to a sibling set of two. Decisions, decisions!
It is still going to take a miracle to get all of this completed on the timeline that we expect to have, but I know that our God is ABLE! And I don't want to live my life based on some assumptions about where or when we may move. I have to admit that it is scary, especially because we have to be quite vulnerable, but I know that in the long run a life worth living must be LIVED. I don't want to sit back and let life pass us by.
Praying that we all have the courage and strength to go out on a limb and follow whatever we have been called to do!
Love,
B, E & H
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