Preparing for 13!

Merry Christmas!!!  I’m so excited for the holidays.  Daniel and I both have a week off of work at the end of the year and are excited to eat, sleep, and be merry (a.k.a. curl up on the couch and watch movies).  We also got to celebrate Daniels birthday earlier this month which is always fun to do.  

The pregnancy is going well. I’m due in 11 weeks.  It’s been a little miserable but I feel very blessed that the baby and I are considered healthy and progressing on track.   Baby boy is still nameless.  From the beginning I've called him 13.  Odd nickname I know but 13 has always been my favorite number, he will be grandchild number 13 on Daniels side of the family (as was Daniel) , the first opening the doctor could see me was the 13th (Friday I might add), will be born in 2013, etc.  Although it works as a nickname, we obviously can't stick to that so we’ve come up with a list of about five names that we’re both okay with but haven’t found one that we are both ready to commit to.  We want to choose a name that has a great meaning as well as sounds good. We’re starting to think that we need to see what he looks like before we pick.  The nursery is semi together.  We have the crib put together and the furniture in its’ place.  Once the holidays are over and the new year begins we plan to jump into full force baby prep.  We have multiple classes scheduled but more excitingly we’re going to start getting the nursery and house ready for baby.   We can’t wait for 2013 to arrive!  There is so much to look forward to and we feel incredibly blessed!

Journey to Three...Or so

We got the first part right but the second...well, not so much.  This is no doubt a journey but three has now become four!  I'm sure you all thought I'd fallen off the edge of the earth but rest assure that I'm alive and well.  I just came down with a very mean and ferocious case of morning sickness.  Did your jaw just hit the floor?  Yeah, it's taken us a few months to reel ours back into place.  We always planned to have both biological as well as adopted but nothing prepares you for a positive pregnancy test.  The other thing that no one can prepare you for is morning sickness.  I thought the flu was the worst it got but I now know that's false.  I never realized how utterly miserable I could feel.  I've never been so happy to wake up feeling normal!  Anyway, enough about that.  On to the more interesting facts.  I'm four months pregnant.  Due date is March 4th.  We don't find out gender until next month.  Yes this affects our adoption (sniffle).  Our agency thinks it is important that we focus on one baby at a time so our name is pulled off the wait list until our bio baby is four months old.  At that time we have the option of going back on the list whenever we feel ready.  Luckily, we do not have to start back at the end of the line, we get inserted back into line with others that are in the place we were when I got pregnant.  Therefore, we got pulled out of line after waiting 15 months and we will be re-inserted into line with others that have been waiting 15 months at the time we return to the line.  We loose no money in the process other than a few more update fees here and there such as updating our home study and medicals.  Nothing substantial.  I'm heart broken to have the adoption put on hold yet excited to welcome the child growing in my belly.  It's been a roller coaster of emotion.  My life as a whole has been a different journey than my ideal plan but I can say with confidence that the Lord has proven his ways are better than my ways.  I could never have planned a life so full of joy and surprise.  I laugh at how vanilla my plans are in hind sight.  I will try to continue to post occasionally but with the adoption on hold it won't be every month. I will let you know of the big happenings but am hoping to spend the next several months enjoying rest and quiet with Daniel as we prepare for the changes and journey ahead.

May 2012

Daniel and I decided to take a quick road trip to the Wichita Mountains.  Yes, hard to believe but Oklahoma does have a mountain range.  They are actually very cool.  It's about an hour and a half south of OKC.  Daniel had taken me once before.  It was when we were dating.  For his birthday we drove to Elk Mountain, hiked, climbed all the way up the boulder field to the top of the mountain, & picnic-ed. Oh, and.... I fell into a cactus, walked around a boulder and nearly bumped into a buffalo,  very slowly backed AWAY from the buffalo,  lost a toenail jumping over a HUGE crevice that I was sure I was going to fall to my death into, and then limped all the way back down the mountain through a sea of weeds, thorns and underbrush because we couldn't find the trail head down.  I know this sounds facetious but it was a blast.......with a few rough spots.  So, since we had a free weekend, back to Elk Mountain we headed.  Here are a few photos..... 

Super cool lizard.  They seemed to be everywhere!

Starting out.  We're headed to Elk Mountain behind Daniel.

                         At the base of the boulder field.  Photos just don't do it justice.

                                              In the valley surrounded by tons of gorgeous wild flowers!!

 

I don't know what this purple plant is but it's   awesome!  Sad it's blurry.  A purple puff with yellow tips.

                        No this isn't zoomed in but don't worry, we're in the car ready to punch it if this guys   decides to stand up.

We both made it through with nothing to report other than minor scrapes.  It was super hot but we had a lot of fun enjoying the vast beauty & wonders of all the Lord has created!   Of course we can't forget......A long day of hiking in the sun deserved a meal at Meers.  It was an hour long wait in the middle of nowhere but we got our longhorn burgers and homemade ice cream before hitting the road back to OKC.   MMMM!!   

13 wait listed 21 total

Another busy month. Daniel's playing in a softball league, two soccer leagues, and a football league. In addition we have been remodeling to make space for our future baby. We used to have a room we called the shop that we've redone to be a laundry/ storage/ drum room. It's taken a long time to get it done but it's so great to have it finished. It's been on our list of plans since we bought the house. 

Daniel drywalling




cooking by flashlight

 Our kitchen light broke and it took the parts a month to come in. I got so used to cooking in the dark or by flashlight that once we fixed the light I still kept catching myself not turning it on. There's nothing like living in a dark construction zone! As for the adoption, still patiently waiting.

Life, Death, and Somewhere in between

February has been a roller coaster of a month.  We've covered it all...life, death and somewhere in between.

To start, my BEAUTIFUL niece was born on February 8th (same birthday as my wonderful mother-in-law, and niece on Daniels side). Her name is Isabella Grace and she's ADORABLE. 

Then, my grandma Frieda got sick. I made a mad dash to Columbia,MO to see her. I got to spend some precious time with her and my family. She passed the next weekend so Daniel and I made another trip back to Missouri.  I got to enjoy time with my family as we celebrated Grandmas life and legacy. Although we will and already do miss her like crazy, it was time. She had 97 years of life well lived. One of my favorite things about my grandma was her laugh. Growing up, we spent every Friday with grandma. I remember her and my mom sitting at the kitchen table laughing until tears would stream down their faces. She was definitely a woman with spunk and a mind of her own!

To round out the month, my dad turned 60! Unfortunately, his surprise party was cancelled due to everything else going on with Grandma but he's a great sport. I think he got more joy out of showing off his newest grand baby to everyone than a party would have been anyway. There's no doubt that he's a proud Grandpa to his fab five grandkids.

Oh, and not to forget Hailey, our beloved dog!  We celebrated her "gotcha day" (as I like to call it even though Daniel thinks it's lame) this month as well. It was earlier this week so it's in March not February but whatever, it's before I got around to posting this. Her gotcha day is the day we officially adopted her and got to bring her home.  She's been an expensive mess but we couldn't love her more.  She is truely the best dog in the entire world!

Gifts

Once again, Nothing new.  It's hard to update when there is nothing to update but I want to keep every one up to date on the fact that there's no update.  lol.  Read that one a few times fast.  You're all so kind to continue reading when it's the same over and over each month.  We’re still at an expected wait time of 9 more months.  Of course, every month that goes up so 10 months ago we were told 8 months and the wait time has increased every month. (current 19 month estimated wait time minus the 10 months we’ve currently been waiting =9 more months)  We’ve given up trying to guestimate a timeline at this point which is actually very freeing.  I’ll be thrilled when it happens but the Lord has blessed me with the ability to stop fretting over it and enjoy life today.
On a very cool note, Last week Daniel and I were listening to a talk about listening to God.  At the end we did a very brief exercise in which we were to write down everything that came into our mind.  I kept thinking of the song that I learned as a little girl.  (Side note….I’m quite aware that many of the songs that I thought I had learned as a kid Daniel has pointed out that I’m singing completely wrong words to so yes, I later realized I was once again singing the wrong words but thats beside the point……on to my point.) “There will be showers of blessings, showers of blessing we need. There will be showers of blessings, showers of blessings indeed!”  The picture in my head was of me standing under a waterfall.  I hadn’t thought much of it but over the past 10 days it has become clear that my spiritual ears were right.   We have been bombarded with an out pouring of love from the Lord!  So many people have given us encouraging words, letters, gifts, and prayers this week!  We’ve been given passages of scripture that are so perfect for what we’re dealing with this week that it’s crazy!!  I had read a blog post that my cousin Amy had written and was struck by the Extravagance of the Lord only then to turn around and be slapped in the face with his extravagance!!!  It’s so good to be reminded that the Lord loves his people and desires to bring us joy!  We just have to remember and trust that his timing is ALWAYS perfect and his gifts arrive on time.  He desires the best for us and many times that means waiting.   It makes me so excited because I know in the end it will be SO worth it!!    

Matthew 7:9-15New International Version (NIV)

⁹ “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹ If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Another day. Another year.

      We've now been working on our adoption 15 months and been on the waitlist 9 months.  Each month the average wait to to get a child referred to you has increased so we have increased from an eight month average wait time when we began to now an 18 month average wait time.  Once we recieve our referral it is an average of 5 months before getting to bring our baby home.  So realistically it doesn't look like we'll be getting our daughter next year,  *Sigh*, but we're hopeful.  You just never know what to expect in the world of adoption.  We're in it for the long haul though so if we have to wait five years we'll do it.   I've come to a place of peace with that. 
      Our holidays have been VERY fun.  We've enjoyed both Daniels family and got to go to Missouri to be with my family for a weekend.  We had the flu all of last week but feel blessed that we got it during the time we had off of work so that we had time to fully recover before jumping back into work.  We've been hunting for a new vehicle since I totalled mine but still haven't found "the one".  Daniel and I are both tight-wads so it may be awhile before we can find one that we agree is a good deal.  We've had a very very blessed year and hope the next year treats everyone just as great!