Rough Week

This has been a rough week around our house. My parents are on a cruise, which leaves me in charge of my mother's aunt who lives in a nursing home here in town. She took a turn for the worst on Sunday, so I have been sitting by her side ever since. This isn't the first time I've been with someone when they're dying, but it never gets easier to do. My parents are due to return tomorrow evening and my prayer now is that DeeDee will hold on long enough for mom to get here. I think that's what she's been waiting on all week.

With all of the time I've had to sit this week, I've definitely been doing A LOT of thinking and praying. I've been thinking a lot about my family and what a legacy of faith they have passed down to me. Although I know now that DeeDee will never meet our adopted child, what a blessing it is to bring him/her into this family that has such a long history of deep faith in Christ. Although we will mourn, we mourn with hope because another member of our family will be entering into eternity with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It's amazing to me how death can be so sad and yet so peaceful and full of hope at the same time. I don't understand why I've had to spend this week the way that I have, but I know it's for His purposes and for His glory!

I don't have much to report on the adoption front, because I haven't been able to anything this week. It has been disheartening to let a week go by without getting more things done, but God has seen fit to place me here with DeeDee and there's no other place I want to be. I know that our adoption is proceeding according to His timing and because of that I will rest easy.

I do covet your prayers, though. This has been an emotional roller coaster that I wasn't prepared for, but God's mercies are new each day and of that I am definitely certain!

T-Shirts

As soon as we first began our adoption journey, I knew that at some point I wanted to design some t-shirts for friends/family to wear in support of our adoption. I absolutely love seeing people wearing t-shirts around town that support adoption and orphan care. There is such a passion burning inside of me for orphans and nothing warms my heart more than seeing others share that same passion. Well....drum roll please....I have placed our first t-shirt order. I don't have the final graphic design yet, but as soon as I do, I will post it in on here. Please let me know if you would be interested in purchasing one. We would LOVE to see you around town wearing our adoption shirt!!!

Small Blessings

I just wanted to share an example of small blessings we keep experiencing along our adoption journey. This weekend, Troy and I attended a Love and Respect conference at our church (which, on a side note, was FANTASTIC!!). The cost of the conference was $40.00. Troy had registered us, but had noted that we would pay at the door. We received an e-mail Friday afternoon that informed us that our registration fee had been covered and that we should put that $40.00 in our adoption fund. In the grand scheme of things, $40.00 doesn't seem like much in our adoption costs! However, right after Troy received that e-mail, he was on the phone with a fingerprinting company. He was calling them because he had been fingerprinted with this company before, but our adoption agency had informed us that Troy needed to be fingerprinted again. He wanted to find out the ins and outs of why his last fingerprinting didn't count for the adoption. After talking to the woman for a while, she informed him that he would indeed have to be re-fingerprinted. Troy asked how much it would cost.......$44.00! I am amazed at how God is providing for us even in the small details! Please continue to pray for us as we trust God daily to supply our needs.

What a Week!!!

Our kids with their cousins on the 4th of July


The last week was crazy busy, but lots of fun! We had our home study last Wednesday and it went great! It just confirmed how much I love our adoption agency (Gladney Center for Adoption). I HIGHLY recommend them to anyone out there considering adoption!

Besides the home study, we spent the 4th of July weekend at a family reunion in Austin and then drove down to Bayside, TX (near Corpus) to spend the actual 4th with family and friends. We had such a good time! Lots of driving, but GREAT times! Troy and I drove back to San Antonio after our 4th of July festivities so that we could get ready for the home study. Once that was complete, the kids and I headed back to Corpus Christi so that we could spend time with Troy's brother, our sister-in-law and our adorable niece and nephew. (They live in South Dakota, so we don't get to see them often.) We celebrated Caleb's 4th birthday on Saturday and the kids and I headed back home on Sunday. I feel like we've lived in a car and out of a suitcase for the last 10 days, but the time with family made it all worth it!

Since returning home, I've hit the ground running getting things ready for our dossier. I can't believe it's already time to get things together to send to Russia. We got some business cards in the mail today that I ordered to give to people when they ask about our adoption. It has our family name, blog address and e-mail address on them. I LOVE sharing our story with people and our passion for adoption. Please pass our blog address along to your friends or family that have a heart for adoption. I love getting to meet and talk to people who have traveled this road or just have a heart for orphans! I am amazed everyday at how God is using this journey in our lives to draw us closer to Him and to people who share the same passion we do. I wake up each morning wondering what awesome thing God is going to do next. At times I want to shout it from the rooftop (loud enough for our child to hear in Russia.....I know what you're thinking...I'm loud enough to probably get sound all the way to Russia!!). I know Troy and I alone cannot bring all the world's orphans into our forever family, but we can ensure that there's "ONE LESS".