Yay! We're approved and waiting!!!

Wouldn't ya know it -as soon as I throw my little fit we would get a call that makes me feel silly for not being patient enough. Justin got a call from Gladney yesterday letting us know that we are officially approved and waiting!! Apparently they have had some trouble in the office and that is the reason they are about 3 weeks behind in getting back to us. They were very apologetic and said they were putting our certificate in the mail. Yes -we get a certificate. I will post a picture of it when we get it. We're so excited!! Forward progress -always a good thing!!!

UGH!

Well I haven't posted in a while 'cause I was waiting to do a "Yay! We're approved and waiting!" post but it's been almost 2 months since our homestudy office visit and we still have not heard a word! I probably would not think much about this except when we were there we were told that we would receive our "approved" letter in the mail in approximately 3 1/2 weeks so you can imagine my frustration. I told my husband last night that I am emotionally exhausted on this subject and ready to jump off a cliff. He told me to let him know when I do 'cause he was gonna jump too. I mean do they not realize that we are hangin' on by a thread here?!!!

One down. One to go...

Well we survived our home study office visit in Ft. Worth yesterday. It was relatively painless. Just a whole bunch of talking about my least favorite subject...ME! It was supposed to take around 4 hours but it only took just over 2 hours. Justin and I really aren't huge talkers so all of our answers were really short and to the point. Seriously, it took longer for us to drive there than our interview took! After we left there we stopped by to see some of our good friends in Wichita Falls, TX. We had so much fun hanging out and catching up. Now we just have to survive the home visit next Monday and we will be on our way to "approved and waiting"! So exciting!!

A few things...

We are headed to Ft. Worth on the 18th for our home study office visit. I am very excited to have some forward motion going on but I am nervous too. I am super shy so this whole adoption thing is kicking me waaaay out of my comfort zone. My comfort zone is flying under the radar -not drawing any attention to myself. See my predicament? I just keep telling myself that in the end it will all be worth it and I know it will.

The listing on our house ends today. At our realtor's recommendation we are taking it off the market until the end of January when we will re-list it. I don't understand. It's a perfectly likeable home! But God is in control so we shall remain here for now.

On a funny note...here is my brother borrowing one of the kids costumes and showing off. I think this a good look for him don't you?



Here's Tre' sporting the same look...



I'm thinking he can pull it off much better than his dad.

Slow down...

Ummm....it's October!! Craziness. Well to catch everyone up...(not that anyone even tries to read my blog anymore since I NEVER post on it!!) We are now youth directors at the church I grew up in. We took this position sometime in February I believe. This is one of the reasons I never post -we're just so crazy busy all the time. We are selling our house and moving into the church parsonage which is another reason we are crazy busy.

Adoption update: We are about 6 months behind where I hoped we would be in the process. We had a little detour but now we are back on track. We sent our paperwork in a couple of months ago and we are still waiting on a couple of referral letters to come in. We have received our FBI clearances so hopefully not too much longer and we will be smack in the middle of our Home Study.

What else? Oh -I have a new nephew! His name is Deakon and he's so adorable! He's a little over 5 months old now. This is obviously an old picture but he just looks so sweet.
Isn't he cute?

My sister's twins turned one in June!! I can't believe it! They are now walking around EVERYWHERE.

I am working at my mom's shop while we are making all these transitions.

Oh yeah -we bought a new puppy! Her name is Lexi.



Well I think that catches everyone up for now. I will post again later. HOPEFULLY not 10 months later!!!

Sons and Daughters of the Living God

Justin and I have been married for almost 15 years and through those years God has spoken so many words to us regarding our children. And while I do not understand why it is taking so long (13 years and counting) for us to see those words come to pass, I know those words will not return to him empty without achieving his purpose. (Isaiah 55:10-11)

Yesterday I stumbled across this song (which is playing in the background) by Jason Upton and I love it!! I hope you can hear it but in case you cannot, here are some of the words...

Do you know? You're a word from Heaven?

Do you know? You're a Child of God?

Do you know? You're a word from Heaven?

Do you know? You're a Child of God?

Do you know? Do you really know?

Every word sent down from Heaven

Won't go back up

Until it's succeeded

In what he sent it to do.

Every word sent down from Heaven

Won't go back up

Until it's succeeded

In what he sent it to do.

Do you know?

You're a word from Heaven?

Do you know?

You're a Child of God?

Sons & Daughters of the Living God

Do you know?

All of Heaven's waiting.

All creation

Creation is groaning

Crying out

All of Heaven's waiting.

Creation is groaning with eager expectation.

Sons & Daughters of the Living God.

Do you know?

You're a word from Heaven?

Do you know?

You're a Child of God?

Do you know?

All of Heaven is waiting?

All of creation is groaning?

It's time...

So sweet!

This is my song to our future Sons and Daughters...

I'm still here....

Wow. Ok so I'm not that great at this whole bloggin' thing -obviously. I will try and do better. To catch everyone up since my last post: Let's see...we're still working on our application paperwork. I know what you're thinking -"you haven't finished that yet?!" The answer is "NO WE HAVEN'T" It is a lot of work. Aaand we've been really busy during the holidays...and yes, I am making excuses now. We are super close to having it all finished so we can send it in. Don't worry, I will let everyone know the moment it is out of my hands!

We survived the "Ice Storm 2007". We live in a fairly new neighborhood so there are no trees (large enough to do damage) to worry about. Our power stayed on much longer than everyone elses' so we said "sure come on over! We have power and heat. You can just stay here!" Approximately 20 minutes after they got here our power went off! I laughed. It wasn't really funny but the irony of it all just cracked me up! Fortunately it came back on about 6 hours later and stayed on. So we had a house full: My sis & bro-in-law with their kids (including their 6 month old twins & all their gear), My friend Laura (whom I told could come over to use my computer so she could work on payroll -ooops!), and my mom. We made the best of it. I mean who wouldn't like having these guys hangin' around?




The Holidays have come and gone....

We spent Christmas day at my mom's house with the rest of the family. I sat in complete and utter amazement at all of the paper flying everywhere as the kids were opening their presents. It was like there were 4 Tasmanian devils in the room. I'm pretty sure if you could see my face my jaw was on the floor. I mean can you even believe that not one of them said "auntie, my presents are so cute! I love the neon green bows you spent so much time making! They are just so cute, I don't want to open them!" :) -Yeah right! Like that would ever happen.

The weekend after Christmas we had our Christmas with Justin's sisters and nieces and our new great niece. Yes I am a great Aunt. & yes that is very surreal. Our niece was our flower girl in our wedding almost 15 years ago and now she is a mommy. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around that. She's making me feel very old!

I'm still not sure how it happened but, after the first of the year I went back to work at OTL part time. They asked me to come back to help them out while they are going through a system conversion and some staff changes. I don't mind helping out at all but I still find myself sitting at my old desk and thinking to myself..."I distinctly remember packing up my desk and leaving with no intentions of coming back." I think my aforementioned friend and cell mate, Laura, tricked me. I'm not sure how but I'm pretty sure she did!

Well I think that's pretty much all that is going on right now. We are looking at some changes and taking a different direction in our lives but, I'm gonna wait until it is a little more "official" before I mention any of it. But, I promise -I will post again soon.