Thursday, April 30, 2015

a year in review

Since it's been over a year since I last wrote, I will give you a quick recap. In the past year-ish, we:



1) Sold our house.





2) Moved in with friends because we didn't have a new house yet (Thank you, Martins!!!).



3) Bought a new house.




4) Made lots of changes to our new house.











5) Started a new "school" year for our kiddos at Mom's Day Out.


6) Welcomed new babies to our extended family & friends' families.

7) Experienced some things within our family that I hope & pray NEVER happen again.

8) Had some pretty significant family changes - both good & bad.

9) Hosted my extended family Christmas at our new house.


10) Celebrated our kiddos' birthdays in a much-scaled down fashion from previous years.



So...there you go! Our year in review. Hopefully I will write again soon, with more detail. I've got some things I've been thinking about that y'all should hear. :-)

Keep in touch!



Thursday, February 20, 2014

my call to adopt.

In 2006, my husband & I decided to try to have a baby. Well...I decided, and I somehow convinced him. Because we were also building a house at the time, and "What if you get pregnant during the move...", yadda yadda. So I came off The Pill, and thus began the "trying". After a few months, we were starting to get a little antsy, but also knew that technically we weren't considered "struggling with infertility" until we'd been trying for a year.

I won't go into the details of the "trying" years (I have written about some of my struggles at the time); just know that it involved "home remedies", ovulation calendars, Clomid, ovulation tests, pregnancy tests, bloodwork, an HSG, testing for the hubs, unwelcomed advice from random people, and lots of crying. Most of my friends were getting pregnant & having babies, and I was not. It was a very difficult time, and I struggled spiritually & emotionally. Every time a friend announced she was pregnant, the bittersweet emotions I felt were so overwhelming, it exhausted me. I was genuinely happy for my friends - I really was. And yet I was also so discouraged that it wasn't me. It was tough, y'all.

In 2008, we decided to consider adoption. I won't lie: at this point, adoption was a back-up plan. It was my "I guess if I can't get pregnant, I need to consider adoption" plan. Don't get me wrong; I clearly felt as if God was calling us to adopt. But I also still strongly desired pregnancy, and would have been totally ok if God wanted to go on & proceed with our Plan A. Then, in 2009, I became pregnant, I found out I'd lost our baby, and we once again got back into the adoption process, only this time with more passion than before. I cannot put into words what happened to me between the pregnancy/miscarriage and the decision to once again pursue adoption, but I know it was God leading me, growing me, and assuring me that this was His Plan A.

Fast forward to 2014. I have two amazing children. God chose to send them to us through adoption, and each of their stories is beautiful. (Read about their stories, and our adoption journey, here.) Relationships formed with their birthmothers have blessed us more than we could have imagined. Technically, we are still infertile, since we have not gotten pregnant. But honestly, I do not long for pregnancy anymore. At some point in my journey, God turned my desire for pregnancy into a desire for a child. And that is when I realized that I wanted to be a mommy - not necessarily a pregnant woman. I said goodbye to pregnancy, and fully embraced adoption. It is my heart now. This is not to belittle the miracle of pregnancy & childbirth, but to highlight the beauty of motherhood, however it may come about.

God desires for us to take care of orphans, and I feel so inadequate, but want so badly to fulfill this desire He has for these children. If you are a believer in God's word, you know He wants you to love Him & love each other; act justly & love mercy; never stop praying. Taking care of orphans and widows fits perfectly with God's overall desire for us to pursue relationships that glorify Him. That is what God wants for all of us - to develop & nurture relationships that glorify Him. I won't try to argue that the bible specifically commands all Christians to adopt a child. I don't believe God has that plan for each & every one of us. But I do know that God loves adoption, He loves all of His children, and fostering/adopting children is such a beautiful way to express God's love for everyone.

Everyone's path is different. God does not make missionaries out of everyone; He does not send everyone to the inner city; and He does not make foster or adoptive parents out of everyone. But is He calling YOU to adopt or foster an orphan? And if He is, are you listening? What will you do about it?

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In writing this post, I came across this article, A Biblical Framework for Adoption. Please read it when you have the chance; I think you will enjoy it!
 

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Tuesday, December 17, 2013

another kid had a birthday! queue the blog post!

Apparently, I have forgotten how to type.

Or maybe I have just become so accustomed to Instagram & Facebook - aka, the mini-blogs - that I just don't think about my real blog anymore. I was reading an article the other day about introverts (for some reason I have been seeing a lot of those lately; not sure why). As I was reading along, thinking "Oh, that is SO me!", I noticed one point made in the article; that introverts tend to constantly run an inner dialog (me) and enjoy writing (me). Except when I thought that to myself, I realized I hadn't written anything on my blog in a long time. Other than my last post, which was really a sad excuse for an update in my life. But it did kinda sorta get me caught up - in that you are all now aware that my daughter is three. So, having said that...

Tyson is ONE!!

Well, actually, he is now almost 14 months. But he did have his first birthday, and we did celebrate, and there were pictures. My nephew's birthday is on Halloween, just 2 days after Tyson's. So we celebrated the boys' 1st & 2nd birthdays together, with a Superhero party. Here are a few shots of the fun day! (That occurred almost 2 months ago...whatever.)







Happy 1st Birthday, Tyson!!

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

a jolly holiday

So...this kid turned 3.



In March.

And I forgot to post pictures of her awesome party.

For the past year or so, she has been a Mary Poppins fan. I decided that her 3rd birthday party would be her last "big" party, so I did it up Mary Poppins style. I actually think I spent less time & money on this party than her first two, but I was happier with the theme than I have been. Maybe because she actually knew what was going on? Perhaps. :-) Anyway, here are some shots of the fun day!











  






Friday, April 12, 2013

an update - finally.

This blog has been neglected. As if you couldn't tell.

I love to write, and I enjoy it. But it is just not a priority for me right now. What takes up my time, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. Better yet, I'll show you.



I know you already knew I would say that. You already know that parenting two small children takes time away from blogging. On the other hand...I read blogs of moms of young kids all the time. I honestly don't know how they do it! I guess blogging is just more of a priority for them in what little free time they have. I also work part time at a job that I absolutely LOVE, so blogging during naps isn't usually an option since I'm at the office as much as I can be. Hopefully someday I will get back into the swing of it. I occasionally have some jumbled up thoughts come to mind, regarding adoption, or religion, or parenting...and it's usually when I'm in the shower or driving down the road, and by the time I get anywhere near a computer, I'd rather be reading or eating or napping. Such is life!

To keep some resemblance of a journal of my kids, I'll post a few pictures of them that our good friend Allena Burbage took. These are Tyson's 3-month pictures, and a few of Natalie just before she turned 3. [Oh yeah...by the way...Natalie turned 3!! Pics of her party to come. I kinda forgot to post about it. ;-)]











Have a great weekend, y'all!!