A big day

So yesterday was a big first day of summer at our house. We had our little friend C for half the day and were completely entertained by his obsession with cars, anyway. Jonah learned how to tie his shoes and was so very proud of himself. And Lydia learned how to ride her bike without training wheels! What a big girl. 

The perfect day

Yesterday was one of my favorite days. . .why you might ask because I got to plant my flowers!  I don't know if it's the farm girl in me or what but I LOVE getting my hands in the dirt, the sun was so nice and hot yesterday ( as long as I stayed out of the wind) and I had my favorite little gardeners as helpers. Jonah loves it and stayed with me until the end. Lydia decided after the first flower she didn't really want to get her hands dirty. It was more fun for her to ride bike and play with her neighbor friend. Some of my favorite quotes of the day:

Jonah looks at me with this uncertain look and says,"Mom can I get dirty?" I said, " Of course"

He took his shoes off and walked in the soft dirt and then kept squishing it in his hands,

 "I just love the feel of dirt!"

When I explained to Jonah that when we plant the pots we get to be 'artists' with the flowers he said," You mean like expert on guitar hero!"

"Grow, grow grow little flowers!"

Ready for 1st grade!

I'm back just like I promised. Here's my sweet boy at his kindergarten graduation. He had such a good year and has learned so much. I"m so proud of him. I keep thinking about the quote I posted earlier today "Be the person you want your kids to grow up to be." It makes me be more intentional about how I pray for him and Lydia, and how I pray for myself. My prayer for Jonah is that he grows up to be caring and funny like his daddy, sensitive and outgoing like his mommy and most of all that he grows up to love Jesus and know that he is a perfect creation in him!

"Train up a child in the way he should go, 

and when he is old he will not turn from it."

Proverbs 22:6

Be the person. . .

"Be the person you want your kids to grow up to be. . ." 

I was listening to a Christian talk show this morning and some guy had a great message on this statement, I've been pondering it all morning and needed to share. Last night was Jonah's kindergarten graduation and those kinds of moments always make you step back and think about where you've come from and where you're going. I'll post pics later of the cute graduate.

Ethan's graduation

I can't believe sweet little Ethan graduated from high school this weekend. He's like my little brother and I was so proud of him! It was a great day and only in my little home town would they have hunting camo gowns. You gotta love!

 
On Friday, Jessie and I worked all day at the hunting lodge where Ethan's open house was. We cooked and cleaned and got things ready. Here is a picture of me, cousin Mary Ann, and Jessie after we finished frosting 150 cupcakes. We put frosting on our noses to be silly and decided we were "brown nosers."

 

We did all the fun farm stuff too, like feed cows and play with kitties, just couldn't resist putting their cute picture on here. 

Weekend Fun

We had fun having the first driveway campfire of the season with our neigbors. Lydia and her little friend B ate like 12 marshmallows. 

On Mother's Day we went fishing. Don't worry it was my choice. Some people at church thought that was crazy, but I really did pick fishing for mother's day. We didn't catch anything but we had a fun time playing at the playground, counting ducks and having a picnic. 

Adoption journey = Roller coaster ride

I've read enough blogs, heard enough adoption stories and experienced enough myself you think I would be somewhat prepared for the adoption journey roller coaster. Sometimes your up sometimes your down and most important you NEVER know what's around the corner. 

So here goes. . . Wednesday evening on our way to our church banquet we get a call from our social worker, it's "the call" everyone talks about. They know of a baby for us. The baby is not born but it was up for us to consider. My heart was pounding, my body was sweating I was terrified and Aaron said it best, "I feel so unprepared"  She said I need to know by tomorrow at 4pm. Ok here we go, we stayed up late Wed night and took off  work on Thursday morning, made some phone calls, prayed some more, we'd talk through so of the issues and then just stair at each other and so one of would say, "OK let's just pray again." Thursday at noon we had made some progress with our decision but just needed more time, so we called our SS back and said we needed until Friday morning. I went back to work and b/c the girls I work with know me so well, many people asked and I tried to keep it cool, not saying too much but just letting them know that yes we had gotten a call about a baby! I have to say Thursday afternoon and evening a great thing happenend. I felt completely carried in prayer. I know there were many of you praying for us and I could honestly feel it.  So thank you for that and please keep praying (read on) I had this incredible peace that whatever we decided it would be the right decision, a peace that could only come from God because it was so out of character for me. So last night (Thurs) after more prayer and talking we were not united on the decision. Something was not right and so we decided to decline. We talked to our SS this morning at around 7:15 and Aaron told her that in fact we were saying no.

I told Aaron that if there was any even tiny little inkling that is was the wrong decision he needed to tell me, he said, that he could confidently say that this was the right decision, and so there we were. . . then 20 minutes later our SS called us back with ANOTHER BABY to consider! Holy cow, is this really how this works! All I could think was God you are so good an so in control and if I ever doubt that again, please forgive me. Aaron was walking out the door for school while I was taking down the info. He called me after he got to work and I presented him the info. And so WE SAID YES!

The baby is due in July, it is a girl and we are cautiously excited. We know that July is a little ways down the road and lots can happen but for now we are dreaming about adding a baby girl to our family. We have stepped out in faith and God is teaching us so much. We are leaving it in his hands and surrendering the details to him!

Please pray for this tiny baby not yet born, pray for her birth mom and pray for us. Pray we will be able to come up with enough money for this adoption and that the steps go smoothly. 

Please continue to pray for us on this roller coaster ride and know that right now we wouldn't want to be anywhere else.  

To our sweet baby girl: "I am writing these things to you now, even though I hope to be with  you soon..." 1 Timothy 3:14

Prayer

When I started this blog, I thought it would be fun to update people about our adoption, our lives and maybe share and inspriation or opinion now and then. I hope this will be a look at my heart and hopfully and encouragment for you.

I've been thinking about prayer a lot this week. It was the National Day of Prayer on Thursday. I've been thinking about all the different kinds of prayer, the scheduled prayer before bedtime and meals, the sentence prayer when God brings someone to mind while you're at a stoplight, the desparate prayers in the middle of the night when you have a sick baby.

I love to pray. Once when I was at Bible camp in the 8th grade I was meeting with one of the counselors and I was struggling with something, we went for a long walk and then stopped and she prayed with me, then she asked me to pray. I had never really prayed out loud, but that day I was real and true and talked to Jesus like my friend. When I was done the counselor looked at me and said, "You are a women of prayer." That was HUGE to me, and something I 've never forgotten and I it became part of my identity as a women in Christ. So I'm a prayer who loves to pray... so what do I pray about. . .

-I pray God gives me the strength, courage and wisdom to raise children who know and love Jesus.
-I pray I can be a Godly wife, you know like the Proverbs 31 women, ( She really is superwoman isn't she!)
-I pray for protection and strength for them as they live and grow.
-I thank him for the blessings in my life like my friends and family, my house and for providing.
-I praise God for good health both physically and emotinally
-I pray for my friends, that God will surround them today with his love.
-I pray for the people I come in contact with who don't know Jesus that they will know him and love and I will see the opportunities to share Him with them.
-I love to pray for you my friends and family and the details of your life.
-And one of my favorite prayers is when God just brings someone to mind and I pray for them and then I find out later that they really needed it.

So what do you pray for? Have you spent some nice quiet time with God and not only requested but really listened to hear what he had to say? I have trouble being quiet enough to do the listening sometimes. Thank you God for being the kind of God we can come to anytime, anywhere and have a realationship with You.