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.

WAITING PART 1

So, 2 weeks ago we turned in our application to our friend that works for DHR. She said someone would be contacting us. That was 2 weeks ago and we haven't heard anything. Oh the FRUSTRATION in waiting. We know that classes and home studies will not start until after the first of the year but it would still be nice for some contact. Just to feel like this is really happening. It has taken so long for us to come to this point. We KNOW we are moving in the direction that GOD is guiding us. We KNOW that we are meant to be foster parents and to adopt. We are ready to move forward and now we have to wait again. I know that this is just the first part of the waiting game and there will be a lot more waiting to come in our future and we might as well get used to it. I also KNOW that all this waiting and having our future as parents in the hands of others will be worth it.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

What this Blog is about.....

This blog is about our journey through foster care and adoption. It has taken a long time for us to arrive at this decision. We have known for a couple of years that we would adopt but we have been unsettled with figuring out the how. We originally planned to go with an adoption agency that specializes in domestic infant adoption. I spent a lot of time researching and found an agency that I loved. We decided that we would use them and even filled out an application online. We still felt like something was "off" so we kept putting off sending in the application. In the mean time I kept telling M that "maybe we should adopt an older child" or "do foster care". While all this was going on Awanas started back up at church. M and I both teach T&T boys. This year we have 3 siblings coming that are in foster care. The middle is in our class. These kids are so sweet and try so hard to make you happy, it really broke both our hearts and they stayed on our minds all the time. This is when we started to  really consider foster care. We both feel like God has been leading us to this and He has in the past couple of months made it obvious to us that we need to look into this. Fortunately we go to church with someone who works for DHR, specifically in foster care. Coincidence? I don't think so. (I love how God works!) So we went into a meeting with her to learn more about what it entails to be a foster parent and to adopt from the state. We learned a lot! To be honest we felt a little like a couple of fish out of water walking into DHR. It was pretty awkward for us. If you've never been its pretty much just like it looks on t.v. The meeting went great she answered all our questions and gave us a lot of info to take home and an application to fill out. We both feel blessed to know her. She is a blessing to all the kids she works with and we are looking forward to maybe working with her in the future! So after lots of prayer we filled out the application and gave it our friend at church and now we wait. She said someone will be contacting us! We are both so excited for what God has in store for us!