too cute

She is Too cute for words!

Anna Belle Faye

Wow what an amazing life change! It is no mistake that the Lord set Anna Belle apart for His purpose and for our family!

Today makes 11 days of having her in our life and words cannot truly express how great it is to hold her in my arms. She is so EXPRESSIVE! So very lovable, observant and tiny. She loves to crawl around and will probably be walking this month. She loves to be held and talked to. The great thing is she hugs and kisses! The kisses are more like licking vs a lip smack ;-) She is very content and enjoys reading books with me. I have attached some pictures from the shower my family and friends had for us. She literally opened presents with me for almost an hour. It was the cutest thing ever! Thank you Brittany for such good pictures!!

**Disclaimer: she was having a bad hair day so please don't judge the fro. Also her little head band was a little too big and continued to fall off.

admiring the quilt Aunt Marcie MADE!!

she loves to sit on her knees it is so cute

playing "peek-a-boo" under the dinning room table

so sweet and serious

Below are some random snap shots:

mommy's first try at pigtails

day 2 she started to smile and laugh with us

That's all for now. I have been at home this whole time and not at work and our Internet is not reliable so I have not been able to get on and post. Hopefully that will change soon.

Major Adoption Update

In a nut shell our lives have turned upside down in the best way possible in a matter of 2 days!!

On wednesday morning (yesterday) we were contacted by a couple we know that recently adopted locally. They were calling to tell us about a 9 month old baby girl that was being placed for adoption and needed a home quickly. Their social worker had called them to see if they knew of anyone who was looking to adopt. Come to find out their social worker is the same lady that we have met with for our homestudy. I will call the social worker D* for now. We immediately called D* and got the details which I cannot go into on the Internet at this time due to confidentiality, but will share more details as soon as I can. Johnathon and I prayed a lot about it. Talked a lot about it. And believe this little baby is an answer to a lot of our prayers. So on Monday November 10th we will get to meet her. Her name will be Anna Belle it means Grace, Favor and Beauty. As we believe through her - God's Grace, God's Favor and His Beauty is being revealed. 

We are in TX right now visiting my sister and just received the phone call tonight that the birth mom did the most courageous selfless act possible and signed the papers to place her baby for adoption.  Please pray for this birth mom because I'm sure she needs the Lord so much right now to comfort her. 

We cannot post pictures right now mainly because we don't have any and because of confidentiality. But don't worry you will see pictures as soon as I can post them! 

We are very excited and cannot wait to meet our baby Belle!

I am going to try and get some sleep now.

More to come

I know it has been a while I plan on updating soon!

Adoption Update

Well there is not much to update just a few logistics.

We got our finger prints back from the FBI! I was told that it could take up to 8 weeks so when we got them back in less than 2 I was shocked. We both had our physicals done. Tomorrow we go to the health department for: Drug, HIV and TB testing. Once the results are in we will send it all off to Bethany and that will complete all the paper work (for now).

Next steps:

• Joint Interview with Bethany Christian Services
• Complete book reading assignment: Dear Birthmother
• Second Group Meeting (TBA) with other couples and BCS facilitator
• Begin working on Profile and Birth Mother Letter

It has been really great talking to friends and family and receiving so much support and encouragement. I didn't realize how impactful it would be to hear all the positive support. It really helps and makes me feel like we are not alone while trying to navigate through some very uncharted waters.

A BIG thank you to everyone for your encouragement and support!!

Thoughts

Proverbs 31:25-27

25 She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. 26 When she speaks, her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness. 27 She carefully watches everything in her household and suffers nothing from laziness.

sounds easy enough, but it's not. I have been meditating on these verses everyday -trying to keep them before my eyes and in my heart. Hoping God's grace will instill in me all of the above. I just can't shake these verses...there is just too much to gain from them. Every word in everyone of these verses is just so powerful.

"Clothed with strength and dignity", "laughs without fear..." "...words are wise..." "gives instructions with kindness" "suffers nothing from laziness"

O' how I would love to have victory in all of these areas at the same time! And if/when I do I think I will purchase a cape and a really cool super hero leotard to go with it. Until then I will remain covered in grace and determination.

New schedule

Today:

Alarm: 5:30am
Out of bed: 5:39am
Brew Coffee in the dark, feed cats: 5:42am
Quiet Time: 5:45 - 6:40am
Out of PJ's into running clothes: 6:45am
Stretch/High intensity walk/jog/stretch/Abs: 6:50 - 7:30am
Shower/get ready/straighten house and off to work 8:20am

We will see how tomorrow goes. =)