Whoaw am I ever thankful!

At the beginning of January someone asked hub and I what were our "goals" for 2009. Hub quickly responded "we want to have a child in our home by the end of the year." At the time this seemed like a lofty goal given our fertility status. At that time we had just begun the foster process but we had no idea what that was going to realistically look like.

Fast forward just 11 months and we not only have one child in our home, but 3! Even more remarkable is that the girls were only suppose to stay with us a very short time and yet we still have them, almost 7 months now. The Psalms says that "children are a blessing from the Lord." We are so blessed to have experienced that blessing this year, not only with 1 child but 3. The countless hours we have poured ourselves into these children we have by far received so much more from them then we've given them.

This year has been by far the most crazy year of my life. It has been a roller coaster to say the least but it has been a thrill to ride. I am so thankful the Lord not only let me ride it, but he was sitting next the entire time. This year isn't even over and so much could still change before we enter the new year, but for now, we are enjoying every moment we can.

For a quick update on all our kids, their status' change all the time. Right now we are literally month-to-month with the girls. They could leave at anytime or they could be with us for quite some time. We'll have the baby for a while still. His adoption status is still unknown and we won't know for a while. We count every day we get with them such a joy and we trust the Lord will comfort us if/when they depart from our home.

My thankful list this year is virtually endless. I am astonished and blown away at what the Lord has let me experience this year.

Foster Parents!...Almost

I've been wanting to write about this for MONTHS but I couldn't until I let my work know what was going on.

About 6 months ago we started looking into adopting. We looked at everything available, private domestic, private agency domestic, international, and foster-to-adopt. We met with a couple who heads up Tapestry, an adoption and foster ministry, at Irving Bible Church. They have walked through this process with hundreds of families and are a wealth of information.

For this first adoption we've decided to go the foster route which is by far the most 'risky' and complicated but it's where we feel the Lord wants us right now. The process to be licensed foster parents is rather lengthy and involved a slew of things including lots of paperwork, classes, various inspections, the home study, and a ton of random things (like putting a thermometer in your refrigerator....). Everything will be finished by the 4th and then it will take about a week to get our license in the mail to make us official. At that point, we wait. How long? Only God's knows.

The agency we are working with primarily gets infants from women in prison who deliver while incarcerated. Since our heart is to adopt and not necessarily be a revolving door, we have put a few limitations on what kids we will take. We do not care what about the gender or race, in fact, I've always wanted a 'rainbow' family. It is very possible that in just 2 1/2 short weeks, we could have a baby in our home. Crazy! But then again, it could be months and we are totally willing to wait.

We worked on clearing out our second bedroom several weeks ago to make room for a nursery of sorts. We are only getting the vary basics for now because we have no idea if we are getting a boy or girl or even when we are getting a child. We don't know if the first one we get will actually become adoptable or if we'll have to through several babies. There are so many unknowns so we'll just have to take it one step at a time and trust the Lord big time! Some sweet friends gave us their changing table and stroller. We still need to get a crib, bottles, and a car seat at the minimum before April 10. We will get a call one day and need to pick up the infant that same day so there isn't much wiggle room to collect stuff.

We are thrilled and excited for this new adventure. I start to get a little anxious when I think about all the unknowns. I'm scared to give up a baby after we've had them in our home for 6 months or more. I'm selfishly sad that we can't plan much for this child, pick out nursery colors, have lots of baby showers, experience a birth. But I know the Lord has us going in this direction for a reason and we have longed to be parents for a long time now. Please pray for my heart during this journey. I have no idea what to expect and desire to trust the Lord and rest in Him through it all...whatever may come.

I gave my 2 week notice today. I'll be finished April 10. I've offered to work 1/2 days the following week unless we get a call with a baby. I'll still need to bring in some income during this time so I'm officially getting my cake business up and running. I found a commercial kitchen to work out of and will be getting my food handling licence soon. This means I can actually start charging for my cakes!!! The business name will be 'Cake Me Bakery'. I'm working on a website, logo, and business plan. If you need a cake or know someone who needs one, let me know!!! I've got several to do next month and a couple wedding cakes to do this summer.

I've got more to update you all on soon but this post is already lengthy. I'll let you digest all of this before the rest comes.

Things the Lord is teaching me

I've been hesitant to post about this because it is so controversial, especially among Christians. I post the following links in much love and with the intent to inform so that you can know what I wished I had known 3 years ago. When I've brought up this topic with some, it has been met with disbelief so instead of me trying to explain, I'm just going to post links so that others can do a much better job of explaining what the Lord has been showing me. Please please please go to these links, listen, read, and then bring it before the Lord.

You can download the entire book (which is actually really short) on the right side of this sight for free.
http://www.epm.org/books/does_the_birth_control_pill_cause_abortionsDetail.php

This is a video from a professor at Southwestern Theological Seminary.
http://www.swbts.edu/dashboard.cfm?dateString=20081007&dateToLoad=October%2007,%202008

Finally, to bring it all home listen to Voddie Baucham.
http://www.voddiebaucham.org/vbm/Podcast/Entries/2007/1/17_The_Centrality_of_the_Home.html

If you want other links, I've got a lot. These are just the three that sum it up the best.

Family Goes to Six Flags

Chase's brother and sister-in-law, Tony and Melissa, came into town this weekend. Tony is in the army so they were/are moving from North Carolina to El Paso and Dallas just happens to be on the way. They stayed with us a couple nights which was GREAT because I haven't seen them since our wedding...almost 3 years ago! Tony was deployed to Afghanistan for 15 months and returned this past May.

Tony loves roller-coasters so he had the great idea of going to Six Flags. We googled 'six flags promo code' and found one that made the ticket price $24!!! It was a BEAUTIFUL day outside and we walked onto to almost every ride...no lines! We had a great time...well, except for the Texas Giant...you couldn't pay me to go on that ride again. It's the largest wooden roller coaster in the world, and I think it should be re-named something like 'Whip Lash'. The last time I rode it I was in high school and I didn't remember it being that bad. I left the ride with a few bruises!

Chase and Tony deciding where to go next... I believe Batman was next.

Wow, don't they look a TON alike! But guess who's older.......nope, Tony is!

This was Batman for the second time. I like the ride but not enough to do it twice in one afternoon so I opted out.

There they go! Chase, Tony, and Melissa are in the very front.


My hubby and Tony are a sucker for games. I was amazed they only played one the entire day. Read the rules...

...okay, that sounds easy enough. I mean the guy working it did it with no hands! Surely it can't be that bad! Tony's up first...
...LOOK! There's the RED Rung! SO close!...
....Almost there.....wait! I think he's falling left! Oh No!
Okay, now it's Chase's turn. GO HUBBY!!!! Win that fish for me!!!

...getting closer!....

....Look at that determination and focus. But alas, he didn't quit make it....
...Let's take a look at the prize that I didn't get...
There you have it, a big. blue. fish/shark/thing. Bummer! I had a spot for it all picked out...sad face.

Yep, these pic's are still Six Flags.

family, food, and editing

Family: Life finally slowed down for us a bit this week. Phew! Chase's brother and sister-in-law are coming to town this weekend which I'm really excited about for several reasons. I haven't seen them in almost 3 years, since our wedding!!! Yikes. They live in a land far far away so the only time we would normally see them is at Christmas. Chase's bro was serving in Afghanistan the last time we went to Idaho for Christmas and just got back in May. I'm also excited they are coming because it is forcing us to get the second bedroom together. Got to love deadlines!

Food: Todd, our pastor at Watermark, gave a message called "Why Storehouses are Stupid" this past Sunday. It was a good one and if you missed it, I highly recommend you listen to it. The gist of it was on giving and our heart behind it. Chase and I absolutely LOVE to give. Many times we have the "what if we won the lottery" conversation and dream about how we could give. We love to give things that are important to us, like date nights.

We re-evaluated our budget about a year ago and had to make a really hard decision. We have a TON of student loans...and when I say a ton, I mean a ton. Think of a really big number and add some more. We saw that our giving was actually pretty large but our debt payments weren't much more the minimums. All that to say, through much agony, prayer, and counsel we decided to significantly reduce our giving so that we could make larger debt payments.

After Todd's message on Sunday, Chase had a great idea. We could reduce our grocery money to next to nothing for one month and use that to give. We budget $250 a month for groceries which I'm normally able to do for even less...one time I'll post about all the grocery stores I go to to save money. So our goal for one month would be to live off of $50 for all our groceries. This would mean a lot of oatmeal, beans, and rice. Don't worry, we'll take lots of vitamins to get our needed nutrients.

The reason why I'm even sharing this here is that I need some good beans and rice recipes. Do you have any you can share with me? Or another recipe idea that is really really really cheap to make.

Editing: I've never edited my photos but I'd like to start trying. I don't want to purchase anything yet so photoshop is out. If you know of a free editing website I'd love for you to share that with me.