Morning Conversation

The other day, Ivy, came into our bed to snuggle and our conversation went something like this....

Mommy: Ivy, do you think I am pretty?
Ivy: ,Ummm, Nah.
(The bed started to shake as Matt was trying to suppress his giggles.)
Mommy: Ivy, do you think Mommy is pretty? (I thought I hadn't heard her right the first time.)
Ivy: Nope (with a smile on her face)
Mommy: Why don't you think I am pretty?
Ivy:(really serious) Because of the yucky stuff.
(Now Matt was dying laughing in bed!)
Mommy: What yucky stuff are you talking about?
Ivy: Right there. (pointing to my cheek...I didn't even have a pimple on my cheek!)
So I did what any mother would do in that situation...I started to fake cry and tell her that she hurt my feelings. She started to get a little upset.
Ivy: I think your pretty Momma.
Now....that's what I thought!

Ephesians 3:20

" Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us."


As I sit down to blog, I have put a picture up of my 2 beautiful girls to look at. They remind me of this verse. I think of the stories of how God allowed them to come into our lives and I am thankful, humbled and blessed. Each one of their stories is such a great testimony of God's goodness in my (and Matt's) life. As if I would even dare ask the Lord for more.....


When the verse says "...far more abundantly than all that we ask or think..." I couldn't have imagined that He wasn't done with Matt and I yet but that is exactly what has happened. I wish I could share every detail but I can't, I will however share the important ones in hopes that we can all pray together and as I detail through my blog, we can all share in the excitement.


Things with Sissy are far from over, our next court date is March 2 and we are still praying that the grandparents are out of the picture, that they won't take her on that date and the weekend visits stop. However, someone that is very close to Matt and I, someone who we love as much as our own family, someone who (rightly so) wants to remain anonymous, sent us an email last Saturday and asked us to adopt her baby boy (due in June). Now....we would normally say "Are you crazy? We are going through a lot with Sissy." But this is someone who we feel like we shouldn't/ couldn't/wouldn't say no to. I know that this person had an appointment to abort the baby and I prayed daily that she wouldn't. She said that she wanted to but that Matt and I were heavy on her heart. We told her right away that we wanted the baby but we would have to pray about it because we have no money to adopt this baby! (That is why we went through the foster system to get Sissy, because it was free.) I fought right away the thoughts of being anxious about the money, knowing that the Lord has shown me with both of my girls that all things are possible through Him.


Matt and I began praying, called our shocked parents, called our adoption lawyer, talked to Sissy's social worker to see if we could do it. In the first week (through some really sweet and generous friends and family.) We have almost $3,000. We estimate that it is going to cost about $10,000. With that money coming to us in less than a week, we felt that we could call our birth mom and tell her that we would adopt the baby. I got the sweetest email from her afterwards, saying how much she was in tears at our response and overwhelmed by the love that Matt and I have shown her. We have only been able to email but we are both excited to talk on the phone.


Prayer Requests: Needless to say that one request is our finances for the adoption.


Our 2ND request involves Sissy. It is against the law to have 2 adoptions go on at the same time. That means Sissy needs to stay in foster care until the baby's adoption is final. (The Judge could take her out of foster care and move it to adoption at any time.) But now we don't want that. We want her to stay as a foster child in our home until the baby is adopted and then have her move to adoption. That is really possible as the court takes forever in terminating parental rights.


Whew! That is alot but we are so thankful for all of the prayers given to us so far across the country. I am excited to blog about this and have you take another adoption journey with us. We will have 2 going on at the same time! I hope it is in His will for us to have this baby and Sissy, either way, we are trusting Him! Love you all!

Happy Birthday Matt!

Matt, Happy Birthday! I think that you have grown more this year than any year I have known you. Your obvious love for the Lord is etched all over your life, whether it is playing legos for a couple of hours, getting up early to study the Word, changing diapers, challenging me with Scripture, putting others above yourself, giving baths, loving and encouraging your friends, and loving me more than you love yourself...Your girls are proud and thankful to have you in our lives. We love you daddy!

Seriously.....

Keep praying!

1st Day of Preschool

Today was Ivy's 1st day of preschool. I had her tested in November for her speech articulation and she was behind like I thought. They wanted her to come to preschool when she turned 3 where all the kids in her class have her articulation problem so they can work on it. She goes twice a week and then a speech therapist comes in once a week to take her out of class and work with her one on one. It is all free through the state and it looks really nice. They do everything that a normal preschool does and I think she will love it.

She was so excited when she woke up and knew she was going to school. It took her awhile to understand that Ty and Jaden weren't going to be there. ( I think she must have heard them talk about school because she kept saying that she was going to play with Ty and Jaden there.) She gladly posed for pictures outside. Then...it started to hit me...my baby is already off to school. I called my mom after I dropped her off (when she saw the playdough on the table she was in heaven!....didn't even really say goodbye.) My mom didn't answer so I just cried a little on her answering machine. At least I still had Sissy in the back of the car. I can't wait to pick her up and hear about her day. I really missed her. Time goes by too fast!

Happy Birthday Hollie!

Hollie, We love you and hope you have a great day! You are one of our favorite people. We love Our Hollie!