Why Blog?

I have been reading blogs for about 4 years now. It has always been amazing to me how people basically bare their souls for the entire world to read. I am the type of person who loves to know things. I research everything and I mean everything. When the hubby and I started to think about adoption I turned to google and the blog world. I found oodles of insightful info. I feel like websites you can find on foster care/adoption (or any topic you desire) is more politically correct facts on the topic. But blogs are real life stories. What its like day in and day out, the good, the bad, the ugly, the joyful. When we went to our GPS orientation I felt like I knew everything there was to know that was available to me at that time. So it blew my google/blog lovin mind when the majority of the people there admitted to not knowing much about foster care and adoption. To me the more I know the more confident I feel. So reading blogs these past few years led me to wanting to start my own. Years ago when Micah and I realized that becoming parents was not going to come easy to us we made a decision to keep God in this and to give Him the glory as we travel this bumpy road. We wanted God to use our story to help other people in the same place if He saw fit. Its not always easy to talk about. Its painful and uncomfortable at times but it is also exciting to see God work in this season of our lives. I also wanted to document this journey and I don't scrapbook and have never been good at keeping a journal. So far not much has happened to blog about so I may sometimes just blog about our life. I plan to blog more regularly once our GPS classes start. 

Charlie & Jake

I've realized that I haven't blogged about my fur-babies....AT ALL!! Shame on me. This is Charlie & Jake:

Charlie is our Basset Hound. He will be 8 years old in October. He was born one week after our 1st anniversary. So he has been apart of our family for almost our entire marriage. He is absolutely spoiled rotten and its 100% my fault!! He has the funniest personality!  Until Jake he refused to drink out of a water bowl, he wanted it straight from the bathtub faucet and he prefers to nap completely covered with a blanket. He is a sleepy head and sometimes I don't even see him in the mornings before I leave for work. I just rest my hand on the mountain of blankets to make sure hes still breathing under there!! He definitely keeps us on our toes!

Jake has been in our family for a year. One day I decided that Charlie was "lonely" and he needed a friend to "keep him young"! This time I really wanted to rescue instead of finding a breeder. I searched our local animal shelter's website and found our Jake. He was called Bagel at the time(we changed that asap). It was a rough go at first when we brought Jake home. He was 5 months old when he got him and he had been owner surrendered to the animal shelter at 3 months old. We believe that he had been abused during his first 3 months. He suffered from extreme separation anxiety and was extremely fearful of Micah. To be honest at first I wasn't sure how it was going to work out. But we refused to give up on him. It took a good 5 months with us before he started to be comfortable with us and now a year later its like he always been here. We cant imagine not having him. Jake and Charlie are the best of friends. Jake is extremely loyal  and loving. He now is so excited for "daddy" to come home everyday .....a big change from growling at him every day a year ago!! 

Updates

So, I have pretty much disappeared for about 3 months. Sorry. Last time I updated we had just had our orientation for our GPS classes. At the orientation they moved the start date for our classes about a month out. Then the Friday before our classes were supposed to officially start (again) I received a phone call. Apparently one of the ladies teaching the classes had changed jobs so the classes will be put off again. As of today they have hired someone and hope to start classes in August. Thanks to my husband to making several phone calls to DHR to ask questions about when they would hire someone and start the classes. Without him I would have went crazy...I wanted to know the info but didn't want to call. I do not like confrontation of any kind and was afraid I would become upset with their lack of concern. What bothers me most about this mess is all the kids that need a home. Where is the concern for them? You always hear how foster families are needed because their are more kids than families. I just don't get it and to be honest it has made me so angry on their behalf. This has made me a little afraid of what working with the state is going to be like. I feel like we have been pulled back in forth like crazy and we haven't even had a class yet!! I have to remind myself daily that my God is the same God today as He was yesterday. He never changes. My life may give me whiplash sometimes but He is always there by my side and sometimes with me in His arms never changing. He knows how all this is going to look like in the end and I have to have trust in that. And in addition to that any child that needs me is worth all the back and forth we have to go through. 

GPS classes and a Kitchen Remodel

Tuesday night we attended orientation for our GPS classes. I was so nervous about going but it was great! The two ladies teaching the classes were so sweet and laid back. There were about 8 other couples and 2 single ladies. It was very interesting to hear the different reasons they were all there. Our official classes were scheduled to start next Tuesday night but they had to change the start date to April 1st. At first I was disappointed but then I felt relieved. Right now we are in the middle of a complete remodel of our kitchen. About a month ago we had below freezing temps in Alabama and we had a pipe to burst and ruin our wood floors in the kitchen. So we have gutted everything and are starting over. So if the classes would have started next week I would have been looking at our 1st homestudy in 3 weeks and no way would I have been ready!! So I have plenty of time now. I honestly believe that God has His hand on all of this even down to the smallest detail and that He knew I would have probably had a complete meltdown from the stress! Remodeling a kitchen is ALOT more stressful than I ever thought it would be. Have you ever seen Property Brothers? The people would choose to live in the home during renovations and then whine about it. I always thought they were such babies! HA! I am singing a different tune now! This is tough stuff! My house is a nightmare, I have bins full of my kitchen stuff in the dinning room and my OCD is out of control! Not to mention the decisions you have to make. I am a very indecisive person (just ask Micah) and this has been so hard for me. I want to make the right choice and am scared Ill regret it. Paint is an easy fix but tile, counter tops, and back splash not so much. I am embarrassed to admit I had a baby meltdown in Lowes the other night in the back-splash isle. But the floor is down and it looks beautiful! So hopefully by the end of next week we will have a kitchen again! So in the mean time I am filling out mountains of paper work for DHR. Exciting stuff happening around here!!

Finally!!

Valentine's weekend Micah and I went away for a much needed relaxing get away! Micah planned for us to go to dinner and reserved a suite at a very nice hotel in a nearby town! When we got back home we found that a letter had come from DHR!! We are so excited! We have orientation this Tuesday and our GPS classes start March 4th!! Finally!! I am a pretty impatient person so waiting these past few months has been pretty tough but it's all getting stared now & I can't wait to see how God will work through these next 10 weeks!

A little Update

Not much has happened. I called DHR and found out that our classes will begin sometime in March and that we will be receiving a letter in the mail. We are still very excited to begin this process but I have to be honest and say the waiting is hard. VERY hard. We are so ready and being on someone else's timeline can be tough. With that being said we have done a few things. We have bought a tool box that we can lock for our meds!! WOO HOO!! Never thought I would be so excited about a tool box! HAHA!! We have also purchased a twin sized quilt for the bedroom (I've roughly decided on the look I want for the kiddos room...thanks pinterest!). I have also started buying plug covers for all of our outlets!! 

I have to say that through all this I have been shown over and over that this is Gods plan for our family. The past 8 years have been tough but we are starting to see that HE has had His hands all over the past 8 years preparing our hearts.  He has also put people in our lives that have been so supportive and excited for us. I love getting to look back and see how God doesn't leave one detail out of His plan! We are so blessed!

This is the quilt & a pillow we picked up at T.J. Maxx. We are going to not do a theme since we only have 1 extra bedroom and we will need to have a twin and a crib in there. Instead we are going to use different colors and patterns. Grey, yellow, turquoise, and red!

This is the tool box!!

And....the outlet covers. These make me so happy when I see them....they scream K.I.D.S.!!

Hopefully we will have more updates soon!! 

Caution....Pity Party Ahead

Its that time of year again.....Christmas Time!!! Its so much fun to spend time with family and rejoice in the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. But if I'm being honest along with these things this is also a tough time of year for me. It becomes glaringly obvious that we are childless. We have no child to take to see Santa, to the church children's Christmas party, to play "Santa" & every sermon seems to be about birth of babies. Its SO hard!! Oh...and we are also still waiting to hear from DHR. .............Now that I'm done with that pity party. I can say that this past few weeks have also been filled with affirmation from God that we are on the right path. For that I am so thankful. Its so easy to get down and to have God right there reassuring us is an amazing thing. Micah and I both had a conversation with a young boy in foster care that is so hopeful to be reunited with his parents before Christmas. I pray that he is. Also during a sermon it was stated that "there are so many children that are unwanted and just need someone to love them." Sad but so true. I'm so ready to be a mom, I'm already planning for next Christmas! All the stuff we want to do with a child. For now I will be still and wait on My Gods plan to play out and pray that He keep my babies safe until they can come home to me.