I'm a little ashamed...

I am a little (..ok, a lot) ashamed at how long it has been since I updated last! Not only has a lot of time passed, but we have had TWO major things happen in our lives!

The first one, and most important is that we went to court on February 3rd for finalization!!! For those of you who are not familiar with the term, basically it means that the judge signs all of the final paperwork and legal documents to make T legally OURS! He was "ours" from the beginning, and I have no doubt that this was the plan all along, but it sure felt good to breathe that sigh of relief! My sister in law and brother in law, and two of my best friends, along with my dad and Richards parents, all traveled about an hour away to go to court. It took all of about 2 minutes, but it is 2 minutes I will never forget. It is pretty indescribable…its like letting out the breath you didn't even realize you were holding in, its putting the final seal on everything,and its making his name legally what we had called him from day one. We were in and out so quickly, but of course I had to trouble the judge for a picture before we left :)

Since court, not much as changed except for his name, and no more DCF visits or meetings! WOOHOO! The birthmother had been requesting pictures, but we wanted to wait until finalization before sending them. Once that was done, we wrote her a letter and sent some pictures. It felt very strange writing that letter…I didn't know how to word it…so we wrote it from his perspective and just updated her on what he was up to, along with some pictures. People have very mixed reactions about sharing pictures and letters with the birth mom, but for us it felt right. If it gives her peace of mind that she made the right choice and she can see that he has a good life, then thats what matters to us.  Life continued on as normal, but it was getting harder and harder to leave him every day. I was leaving my house around 7am, driving him to my sister in laws, and then back down to work, and not getting home until around 6:30 every night. I felt like I had no time with him and he was growing so quickly. I know so many parents (most) do this, and can relate. 

So after a LOT of talking, and even more praying, budgeting and more praying, we felt God was leading us to have me stay home with him. We knew it would take a lot of sacrifices and a lot of discipline, but really felt God pulling us in this direction. It was a very hard decision and I felt so torn. I wanted more than anything to be home with my baby, but my family had given me such a great opportunity to work for them. I was so nervous to tell them our decision, but of course they were more than supportive (I should have known they would be). I told them I would stay until they found the right replacement, and then I would stay and train her. I will also be filling in when people are on vacation, so about every month or every other month, which will be a nice change of pace and will help supplement some income! 

We just entered into our third week of me staying home, and I LOVE IT! I feel like this is what I was made for. I am working from home a little to supplement some income as well. That part has been a little challenging, but totally worth it. I just love seeing him all day, watching him advance and grow, and not feel like I'm missing every little thing. We did all that we could to prepare financially, and we have gone to a cash budget (using the basic principals of Dave Ramseys system). I get a set amount for groceries, a set amount for gas and a set amount for entertainment each week…and when its gone, its gone. It definitely makes you rethink every little thing you buy! It also makes you realize what you can live without. We decided to see if TV is something we could live without, and it turns out, we can! It's been an adjustment, but its 100% worth it. I am a lot more productive than I think I would be if I had the TV to distract me, and it saves a nice chunk of change each month! I got rid of my beloved iPhone that I had with AT&T, which was costing me $112 for JUST ME per month, and switched to a Android, prepaid plan with Boost Mobile. It is saving me OVER $60 a month! As silly as it sounds, I was nervous that I would have a hard time switching from the iPhone to an Android, but I have lived through it, haha. The only thing I miss is FaceTime and the camera on the iPhone…but I certainly don't miss the bill :) It all adds up! 

I still can't believe he is 7 months old now….never did we imagine knowing a love like this. It is better than we could have ever thought, and more fulfilling than we knew it could be. It's like we filled a piece that we didn't even know was missing. 

And last but not least, I have super exciting news regarding our adoption buddies (the ones we did our ginormous yard sale with)…..THEY GOT A BABY!!!! The sweetest baby girl EVER. They brought her home a couple of months ago and she is just precious. I just know that her and T are destined to be married. Her mama and I have already talked wedding bells…we just can't help it :)

Anyways…that's all I've got for now :)

Long overdue update!

I am officially the worst "blogger" ever {am I even considered a "blogger"?}. Regardless, it has been TOO long since I've updated! Most of you already know, WE GOT A BABY!!!!!!! 2 months ago today to be exact. The past two months have been a complete blur, so I will try and summarize it without boring you to tears. 


In the beginning of October, our caseworker called us to tell us of a possible match. The birthmom was only about 2-3 months pregnant, due in April, but was considering the adoption route. She had some health problems that were a risk of being passed to the baby, but after some in depth research {and time on our knees praying} we decided it was worth the risk. We believed that if this was the baby for us, then it would work out the way it was supposed to. It was only a 5% chance that this particular disease would actually be passed to the baby. 

Just over a week later {October 15th}, the caseworker called and said she needed to speak to both Richard and I. {For those of you who don't know, my new job that I started since my last update is working for my dad, where my husband also happens to work}. So I immediately called Richard and told him he needed to come to the office. Both of us assumed that it was regarding the April baby, but boy were we wrong! Our caseworker asked if we were sitting down…and then dropped the bomb. There was a match for us, and this baby was already born! She told us that he had been born on October 1, he was healthy and ready to be placed. WHAT?! 

From here it was a whirlwind. Faxes, phone calls, praying, maybe a little shopping, more praying, waiting, lawyers, praying, and more praying. 

Our case was a bit of a complicated one. This baby had been born, and the birth mother knew from the get go that she was not going to parent him. However, she had a close friend that wanted to adopt him. That was their game plan. Unfortunately for them, but fortunately for us, they did not have their ducks in a row, and no one in that circle needed to be parenting any children. The friend had good intentions, but just didn't have her life together in a way that was suitable to raise a child. They brought the baby home from the hospital and from my understanding, he was home for a VERY short while before the cops were called out for a domestic dispute, and upon their arrival, found drugs in the home. DCF was immediately called, and they removed the baby. From that point on, he was in foster care. 

Typically, when a baby is in foster care, there are options such as the birth mom getting a court appointed case plan {which often includes substance abuse classes, anger management, parenting classes etc..} and gets a chance to get herself together and get her baby back. After a certain amount of time,  her rights may be terminated if she does not comply. Or, she may surrender her rights, and the child becomes available for adoption through foster care. With this situation, the friend and birth mom both decided they wanted to choose where he ended up. Enter, our adoption agency. The friend and birth mom chose us to parent this child. That's when we got the phone call. 

To further complicate things, the birth mom was still legally married, making the "husband" the legal father {but biologically, there was no way it was him. She was here, and he was living in a different state}. So we had to jump through some hoops on this one. Our caseworker had to mail him some paperwork to sign stating that he did not want custody of this child. She told me this was going to take a few weeks between court hearings and having to mail the paper work for him back and forth. She told me "if it happens by Halloween, it'll be a miracle". So my reply {naturally} was "Well, I don't know about you, but my God is a God of miracles, and I am believing that we will have a miracle". 

There was a court hearing scheduled for Halloween, and thats when we would know for sure if we were getting him. The judge would have to grant access for the baby to be released from DCF custody, to our agency and then to us. So the outcome was unknown. But Halloween morning, at around 10:00, we got the call that changed our lives forever! It was our caseworker and she said "Can you be here in 2 hours to come pick up your baby?" OMG. 2 hours. The place we had to go to was just over an hour away. We rushed home from work, got our stuff together and hauled butt up there! That was the longest drive of our lives! The last time we would be just the two of us. With butterflies in our tummies, we parked and quickly walked into the building. Prior to this day, the caseworker had kept telling us that the birth mom did not want to meet us, but that her best friend did. We had agreed to that. The morning of, when she told us court was over, she also told us that the birth mom did in fact want to meet us. I was nervous, scared, and hesitant. I didn't know how I would feel seeing her face to face. It's such a strange feeling, caring about this person you've never met, and will probably never meet again, because she is giving you the biggest gift anyone could ever give you. She gave us a family. She chose better for this precious baby. She chose us. I knew it would be hard to see her. What do you say? I can't imagine what she must have been feeling. Nervously, we walked in, and saw her sitting there, with our son, and her best friend. She handed him right to us. We talked, mostly about the baby, took some pictures all together, she showed us pictures of his siblings (2 others, who were adopted by family members), and then they were on their way. Just like that. We signed some papers, and then were told we could go.

It was such a strange feeling, showing up to an office with just the two of us, and leaving an hour later as a family of 3. 

Since it was Halloween, we headed straight for the pumpkin patch! I know it may seem ridiculous, but I couldn't think of a better way to document his first Halloween! We took a few pictures, went to meet some family and then to a small gathering with our closest friends and trick or treating. I was able to have two weeks off work, and my sister and mom came into town. He was big news in our family…he's the first baby in years! 

A week and a half later, my friends and family threw me the most beautiful baby shower ever! I still can't wrap my brain around how they threw it together so fast! We were beyond blessed with every gadget, toy and cute article of clothing that they make! So many of our friends and family just rallied around us and made sure this baby knew he was loved! That is one thing he will NEVER have to doubt! 

Soon after that, we hit the ground running trying to get into a routine. We had to leave out of town for a wedding in the Keys that I was in, so that was interesting traveling with him after just having him for 2 weeks, We were still trying to find the right formula, and then he got a cold on top of it. He was gassy and miserable. Thank God he has an amazing daddy who took great care of him, while we did girly wedding stuff :) We made the best of it and had an amazing time and the most beautiful wedding!! 

We returned from the trip and I went back to work. My amazing sister in law watches him full time while we work. She has a 6 year old, a 4 year old and at the time of his arrival, her youngest baby was 3 months old. They are exactly 2 months apart to the day! {He was already a month old when we got him.} She has been watching him everyday since then, and I'm pretty sure that her daughter and him think they are twins! They hold hands and reach for each other. Sweetest thing EVER. It gets harder and harder to leave him everyday, but if he isn't going to be with me, being with them is the next best thing. 

We have settled nicely into a routine, and I just can't imagine life without him! My hubby is the most amazing daddy. He changes diapers, makes bottles and helps without having to be asked. I hit the jackpot in that department! Right now, we just wait until we get finalized, and then he is legally "ours"! That should be happening in the beginning of February. I can't wait until that day, because that means no more DCF visits, no more visits from our agency, no more court dates, no more questions. We will be able to make all decisions from there on out. Right now, the state still has a lot of say regarding different things, which don't really coincide with what I want. One more month. I can do it! 

I know this was extremely long, and I'm sure I've lost about 98% of you by now, but I just want to say….GOD IS SO GOOD! I can't even believe that this is OUR story. The ways God has  moved through this, how it was strengthened relationships with people and with Him, how He has revealed Himself through the process is just amazing. He has proved Himself faithful, once again. 

Needless to say, 2013 was a great year. It's coming to an end in just a few short hours, and I wanted to get everyone updated by the end of it :) Here's to an even more amazing 2014!

"Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion…" Philippians 1:6

“'What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived'  the things God has prepared for those who love him" 1 Corinthians 2:9

"For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen." Romans 11:36

Progress! Lots of progress!

First things first! WE ARE OFFICIAL! We got our Homestudy packet in the mail on Thursday telling us that we are approved! It was basically a summary of every reference letter, meeting, test, background check and home inspection that we have endured over the past few months (3 months and one day, to be exact). The feeling of joy overwhelmed me when I opened that envelope. I was on the phone with my sister when I checked the mail, and I told her I got an envelope from them, and when I opened it, I immediately started crying. I imagine the feeling was a little like seeing a positive pregnancy test. So we cried together a little, and I hung up with her to call Richard. His response was typical Richard...he said "Cool...when does the baby come? Tomorrow?"...if only :) So now we could literally get a call any day...could be tomorrow, or it could be next year...there is just no way to tell. God knows when and how. He knows our baby already, and He is always on time. I'm sure a lot of people say this to waiting adoptive parents, but I've had countless people tell me that they really think it won't be long. I keep getting the feeling that it will be before Christmas, but I am trying with all i have in me to not get too excited not getting my hopes up. 


I guess that approval letter lit a fire under Richard, because last night (yes, we've turned into that couple) we spent 2.5 hours at Home Depot. We had a super exciting Saturday night. We picked out carpet, bead board, a light fixture, blinds and PAINT! Which is clearly my favorite part! We got home around 9:30, and he started watching a movie, so I thought for sure that he was done for the night. So I decided to go to bed. When we woke up this morning, he told me to go check in the "guest room" (I guess now we can call it the nursery?) for something. I went in, and found that he had painted! Evidently, he stayed up until 4:30 in the morning to finish! The colors came out exactly as I had imagined! My best friend's step mom, Pam, is super talented and is making us a crib set with bumpers and a blanket. I told her a very basic version of what I had in mind, and she sent me a few sample ideas, which were even better than I imagined. I can't wait to see the finished product! I just know it will be gorgeous, but more importantly, it's being made with love. What a blessing.


On a totally different note, I have sort of big news (no, I'm not pregnant, LOL). I am making a big career change. As much as I love my two jobs, I'm just not making a stable income. I hate that it has to come down to money, but with impending parenthood, it makes you prioritize. I need steady income. All I've known for 8 years is hairdressing. I love it. I love my clients. I love making people feel beautiful. I LOVE my family that I work with at the salon. I have been blessed for years with my clients and my coworkers. I have been praying over our finances, faithfully tithing and trusting that God will make a way for us. I feel like this is the way I am supposed to go, as hard as it is, but I know that financially it is the right thing. It is the break we were praying for. I don't think I've ever had to make a harder decision, and I don't think I've cried more tears over a decision. Tears well up in my eyes as I type this out, but I know it's the right thing to do. There are a lot of factors that go into this decision, aside from finances. I have never worked a "9-5", and this will be that. No more nights and weekends. Which means more time with my husband. Dinners at home before 9 pm. Weekends for family time. I'm not quite sure how I'll adjust to that schedule, because I'm used to so much freedom, but I will keep the goal in mind. The place I am going is a great fit on so many levels. My girls at the salon have been super supportive and are making the transition so much easier. I know my clients are in more than capable hands, so that certainly helps ease my worry. I will take this in stride, remaining grateful for all the years I was blessed with the freedom right when it was needed. I have very mixed emotions as this chapter comes to an end, but I know great things are in store for our (hopefully VERY near) future! 

"Not to us, Lord, not to us
    but to your name be the glory,
    because of your love and faithfulness." 

Psalm 115:1

Fundraisers, fundraisers, fundraisers!

We had our photo shoot fundraiser this past weekend, and it went better than we could have expected! The weather had been SO rainy the entire week leading up to it, but the rain held off until about 15 minutes after our last session ended! Thank you God!

My talented friend (and Mama-to-be!) Sarah donated her time and skills to our cause. We set up 14 mini sessions. Each family had a 20 minute slot, paid $50, and gets to have all of their (edited) photos on a CD to print! We were fortunate enough to be able to use The House Of Refuge as the location, and it couldn't have been a more perfect spot! We were able to be on the beach, without having to be ON the beach. This way we could still utilize the gorgeous setting, but skip out on the sand factor and enjoy the air conditioning between sessions. Mrs.Preggo photographer was especially thankful for that part :) Our sessions ran from 10am-12:20, and then we took a 3 and 1/2 hour break while the museum was open, and resumed sessions from 4-6:20. It worked out nicely because we got to leave and enjoy a delicious lunch at Benihanna. 

Sarah posted a sneak preview of some of the pictures on her Facebook page, so you'll have to check them out!! (https://www.facebook.com/pages/SJC-Photography-Sarah-Curtis/331412960849) Here is one of the Brinson side of our family (minus the parent in-laws). We made these chalkboard signs (I made Sarah write on them with her good handwriting!) that said "Growing In Our Hearts". The best way I can describe to my little nieces and nephews about adoption is by telling them that Auntie's baby is growing in our hearts, instead of Auntie's tummy. Sophie (my 4 year old niece) loves to "kiss" my baby and "talk" to it by talking into my "heart". She always tells people that Auntie's baby is in her heart. SO adorable. 

We can't thank Sarah enough for all she's done with this project, and because of her and our wonderful models, we raised over $700! We are so grateful! If you ever need family pictures done, this is the girl to see! She's quick, affordable and creates beautiful photos. 

As we wrapped up that fundraiser, I got a very unexpected (but awesome!) message from a girl who had read our story from a friend who had shared our blog. She said that she was so touched by our story that she wanted to help in any way she could. She sells Mary Kay cosmetics, so she offered 100% of her profit from any of our friends and family that ordered this week to go directly to the Baby Brinson fund! I was so blown away, that a perfect stranger would want to help us in such a generous way. As it turns out, we are connected in about 7,232 ways, LOL. God is cool like that :) So I get to meet her tomorrow and I am excited to get to meet the face behind this! Here is her site, so if you need any skin care or makeup, now is a great time to shop! http://www.marykay.com/baten

The next fundraiser on the list is a Cut-A-Thon!!! We are tentatively planning for Sunday, August 11th (most likely). The girls (and guy!) from Shears of Joy are donating their time and skills to help us raise money! I am so excited about this!! We will probably be doing some raffles and other fun stuff, so keep your eyes out and mark your calendar! A great way for you to get a good haircut for a good cause :) I have been slacking on getting the word out there on this one, so I need to get with it before it gets any closer!

That's a wrap on the fundraiser news for now! Whew! I feel like I am bombarding people with fundraiser after fundraiser...but don't worry, soon I'll be bombarding you with pictures of my adorable child :)

Quick update on the process: We have one more quick meeting with the social worker, to finish up a little bit of paper work, and then we just wait for our Homestudy (that's all the paperwork, meetings, background checks, bloodwork, etc...) to get the final stamp of approval and then we WAIT! I pray we won't have to wait TOO long, but I know that God's timing is way better than what we can hope or imagine, and in His time, the perfect baby, our baby, will join our family. (Feel free to remind me of this when I get anxious:)

The World's Biggest Garage Sale!

To say our garage sale was a success is an understatement! We are completely overwhelmed and humbled by the amount of items donated, the man hours our friends and family put into pulling this off, Mandie's hospitality, opening her home to all of this chaos for over a month, and for the shoppers who came and supported our cause!

We spent over a month collecting donated items, organizing and pricing them and preparing for this gigantic beast of a sale.

As the sale was getting closer, and donations were pouring in, we came up with the idea to do a presale for the friends and family who have supported us, prayed for us, and donated. We wanted them to have first dibs on the goods, and also wanted to be able to spend a little time with them. This turned out to be such a fun night! Despite the torrential downpour, we had a fabulous turnout and so many people were able to come that were not going to be able to come Saturday. I am so not a morning person, so a night time garage sale was right up my alley! We "opened" for about 3 hours, and during that time, we raised just about $1,000! We were blown away!!! Most everyone who shopped paid over and above what the stickers said, and graciously donated their "change" that they should have gotten back. Boy did it add up quick! 

The next morning we got started at 5:30 (UGH! Did I mention that I'm not a morning person?). We hit the ground running! We had 50 foot of tent set up in the driveway full of stuff, the entire garage packed, and the back porch was our "clothing department". We had well over 1,000 items of clothing, at least 500 books, a couple hundred DVD's, more toys than we could count, and housewares coming out of our ears! By about 10 min to 7, people started showing up . From then on out, it was a constant flow of people! Our friends Brittany, Ashely and Reggie came and set up a tent with hot dogs, baked good, snow cones and popcorn. How cool is that?! That seemed to be a favorite among our shoppers!

We decided to pack up around 1ish. We started the final tally on cash and it was $2,784 (presale and day of)!! We were completely blown away!! This went way beyond our expectations.

A couple of months ago, my adoption buddy Karen (http://smithfamilyimport.com/) and I sat down to brainstorm fundraising ideas. The garage sale was the big joint one we decided focus on first. Sitting at The Blue Door coffee shop, with our sweet little nieces (Sophie kept calling it a "tea party" with her "friends"...her "friends being Karen's nieces, who she was too shy to speak to), we took notes and on my piece of paper, I wrote down $2,000. I was claiming that we would make $2,000 to split at our garage sale. I was being very ambitious with that number, but figured it wouldn't hurt to put it out there. Well, God had a lot to teach me with that number...

My goal was $2,000 ($1,000 each). When someone asked me what number they could specifically pray for, that's the number I gave them. The sales from the garage sale added up to more than that, roughly $2,800. We split it down the middle equaling $1,400 each (WOW!). After things settled down, I opened a few cards that people had come by and dropped off for Richard and I. Little did I know, those cards contained checks and cash in them. I counted those up, and the total of that was $675. WOAH. So, we had our $1,400 from our half of the sale, and an additional $675 in personal donations....bringing us up to right over $2,000!!! I feel like God was showing us a few different things here. He was showing me that if I pray with an expectant heart, He will deliver. He was showing us that His provision is beyond perfect, and goes exceedingly above what we can ask or imagine. Most importantly, He was just reaffirming that HE'S GOT THIS. Anytime worry creeps in, I need to cling to this. 

But wait, it gets even better...Richard and I talked about it and decided we wanted to tithe 10% of our profit. $200. Part of me felt a little sting, to be honest. But we both felt it was the right thing to do. Roughly 30 minutes later, someone very generously pledged a $200 gift (which I received in the mail a few days later!! THANK YOU!!!). Brings us right back to $2,000. Obviously this is not all about math equations and numbers, but about God showing His hand here, teaching us and reminding us that this is His plan. It's always been His plan. He has the finances worked out, He has our baby picked out...He knows all of the details. This isn't about us. Of course, we are reaping the benefits by expanding our family, but it's about so much more. It's for His glory. It's about reaching people for Christ. It's about the body of Christ, His church, coming together. That has been one of my favorite things so far. Seeing how people have rallied around us, donated, prayed for us, and supported us. People that have been a big part of our lives for years, new friends, people we are really close to, and the ones who take you by surprise with their encouragement and donations. This precious baby, a stranger to us right now, is already well loved and prayed for before he/she is even here. We want to be a blessing to this child, and we are already being blessed beyond measure by the process, and can't wait to see what is in store next!!

Application approval, Home Visit and Miracles!

First of all, we got a letter stating that our application was approved! Woohoo! This is just saying they approved our application, and will move forward with our homestudy, not that we are officially "approved" and waiting to be matched. Nontheless, we were thrilled :)

Now, we had our home visit this past Saturday, and we even lived to tell about it! Of course, everyone tells you not to be nervous and that it is no big deal. So I took their advice and didn't worry one bit! I wish that it was that easy! I was nervous, and felt a little overwhelmed leading up to it, but held myself together, for the most part. One mini meltdown was just par for the course in my opinion! I think because we were running around like crazy people trying to pick up donations for our yard sale, organize that stuff, prepare for our home visit, complete paper work, and squeeze in trying to celebrate my mother in laws, father in laws and hubbys birthday, as well as Father's Day, it was just a bit much. Oh yeah, and the work thing.

Anyways, the caseworker showed up right on time and began her inspection. She made us feel so at ease and just kind of looked around and took notes about the set up of our house. Believe it or not, no white glove test! (Which, BTW, we would have passed with flying colors! I don't think my house had ever been that clean! Ha!) That lasted all of about 5 minutes, and then we sat at the table and chatted, went over paperwork, and she gave us our homework (MORE paperwork). A lot of the time was just spent chatting in general, which made us feel so much more comfortable. She was there around 2 and a half hours, but it didn't seem like it was that long at all. She told us that we gave her some ideas about how she wants to remodel her home in NY, and that she wanted me to decorate. I'm sure they are trained to say this sort of thing to put you at ease, but it made me feel better, so I'll take it :) Of course, Misty (our dog) decided that it would be a prime time to vomit all over the floor. Poor pup! Richard cleaned it up right away and the caseworker seemed amused by it. Hey, one thing had to go not according to plan, and I guess this was it. Oh well, no biggie!

 
I can't even express the gratitude we have for all of the people who have donated items for our yard sale. We have more than we could have imagined, and it is so humbling to be on the receiving end of this. I can not thank everyone enough for their donations, and I have been trying to stay on top of thank you cards, so I hope I haven't missed anyone! Bear with me :) 


My friends have been collecting, and organizing our items. We are hosting it at our good friend Mandie's house, and thankfully for me, God made her OCD and she has been organizing this mountain of items like a crazy person! She just can't help herself, and I'm not gonna fight her on it! Our other friends have been troopers, braving the heat of the garage to deal with our mountain as well. I don't know what I would do without their help! Thankful doesn't seem to even describe it!

I have made it known that our belief is that this journey we are on is a total God thing. This was never something that was part of "our plan", but God planted this seed and we are going at it full of faith that He will make a way, even when there seems to be no way! I can't even describe the feeling of watching and knowing that God is moving in big ways to make His plan come to life. I don't like this to be all about money, because at the end of the day, this is about bringing a child into a forever home and expanding our family. BUT, I just have to share the way that God has led people to give in ways we never would have imagined.

We set up a savings account designated for adoption funds only. We raised $412, through loose saving loose change and a side job or two, before we mailed our application. Our application fee was $400. We paid that, and had $12 left over in that account. We were hoping that the yard sale would raise enough to pay for part of our homestudy. That fee is $1,800. Well, in the past two weeks, that account has gone from $12 to over $1,400!!! And we haven't even held our yard sale.  One very generous couple has felt that God has led them to give their tithe money to us while they are currently between churches. Someone else cashed in an investment, and out of that, gave us an extremely generous donation. Others have mailed checks and put cash in the jar that sits on the counter at the salon.  God's provision is perfect and He is faithful! 

This past weekend at church, Pastor Todd spoke about miracles. He talked about how sometimes God takes us the long way around, because that will make our miracle all the more rich. He teaches us lessons along the way, puts people in our paths that we would have never come across otherwise, and helps us form our testimony. He talked about how we need not to despise the journey, because during that time, we come to know Jesus in a way we never would have experienced otherwise.  He said "Sometimes the greatest disappointments in life are just a setting for the biggest miracle of your life." WOW. WOW. I just had to share that because I feel like it is so fitting to our story. And so many other stories of people who are on all walks of life and going through all different things. I am posting a link to his sermon, and I highly encourage you to watch it. It was a perspective I hadn't thought of before. 

Pastor Todd on Miracles <---- Enjoy :)

Well, that was quick!

We sent our application into Children's Home Society one week ago. During the last week, I have completed my "Life Story" (its a lengthy question and answer type packet) and all of the other paperwork that I currently have. Richard is about 1/2 way done with his "Life Story". I spoke with our caseworker yesterday, and they received it and we are moving forward (officially!). She told me that she wants to come do our home visit in the next TWO WEEKS, before she goes on vacation. I have no idea why, but for some reason, I thought there would be a lot more time in between the application and a home visit, so I froze up a little and got nervous. I don't know why I want more time, but for some reason, I was so scared! We need to put carpet in our guest room (future nursery), but other than that, there isn't anything major that needs to be done before we are baby ready. She assured me that the non carpet would not be an issue, and that she isn't even looking at that sort of stuff. Just making sure that we don't have any dangers in our home (pool without a fence, exposed wires, making sure we have a fire extinguisher and proper smoke alarms). I would be lying if I said I still wasn't freaking out   a little nervous. Now, I am just waiting to hear back from her to schedule the date. I need to keep this verse at the top of my mind "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you." Deuteronomy 31:6. 

Other than that, we are just focusing on our fundraising events that we have coming up.

• We have our BIG garage sale coming up June 29th in Stuart. This will go to support Richard and I, and Karen and her husband Matt as they go through the process as well. We are so humbled by peoples donations. I have been picking up items from people for the last two weeks, and have quite a few more stops to make! We have a wide variety of items, ranging from baby toys and clothes, adult clothing, dishes, books, furniture, household items and much more. THANK YOU to everyone who has and will be contributing!!! Now we just have to pray for cooperative weather :)

•  Karen Smith (her and her hubby's blog is http://smithfamilyimport.com), and I are organizing a super fun event called a Quarter Auction. If you haven't ever been (or even if you have!) to one, you will want to make sure you don't miss this!! Basically, you purchase a paddle (like an auction) at the door, and sit at a table. In the middle of your table there is a bowl. There are numerous vendors auctioning off all sorts of items. They stand up front, tell about the item they auctioning off, and how many quarters they are asking for it (usually 1-3 quarters per item). If you are interested in that item, you put the amount of quarters they asked for into the bowl on your table and hold up your paddle. Then the announcer draws a number from a basket and if it matches your paddle, you win the item! So you can potentially win some great items for very cheap! Oh, and you will be supporting a great cause :) We are planning, as of now, for Thursday, July 18th. Start saving your quarters!

• Sunday, July 21st, I am hosting a day at The House Of Refuge for people to come have mini photo sessions. My sweet friend Sarah Curtis is donating her time and photography skills to take the pictures. We had 14 slots available, and filled them all!! The sessions will last around 20 minutes, the cost is $50, and you will get a CD with print rights of your pictures. 

So, mark your calendars! I am so thankful to everyone who is helping these events happen behind the scenes!! I wouldn't be able to do any of this without all of the support and prayers from my sweet friends and family!