God's perfect timing

 

so we have been officially waiting since last monday afternoon...so about 5 days. this type of waiting is hard. so hard that it makes me wish i had never complained about the other times we were waiting on things...like fingerprints and such!
i think the reason im finding it so hard is because at some point we know that our phone will ring and someone on the other line will tell us all about our baby girl or baby boy....they will let us know if they have already been born or if they are still waiting to be born...they will tell us when to hop in the car and make that 18 hour drive to michigan. BUT WE HAVE NO CLUE WHEN THEY WILL CALL. :)
so every morning the FIRST thought in my head is..."will today be THE day???" and then throughout the day i check my phone and then check it again...blahhh

even though its crazy hard, it is also very exciting and i know that this will be a time in my life that i will always remember. its fun to have something so huge & life changing to anticipate! and i have been praying for God to use this time to teach me patience and to trust that this will all happen in his perfect timing!! and just to be honest this has to be a constant prayer...because my mind really would love for it to happen on MY TIME...but i know that wont happen. there is a reason behind each day that passes that my phone doesnt ring...!  (ouch, that was almost hard to type...no just kidding, i really believe that)

so far now we will continue to wait...we are ready for that magical call to come at any time! we have (most) of the essentials for the baby, we have a list made of things we will need to bring for our stay in michigan, our jobs know that we could leave at ANY time, the carseat is ready....

please continue for us (me) to have peace and patience as we wait for our first born child!!!


***here is a picture of the 2 youngest grandbabies playing at lovey & poppas house last week...cant wait to see our precious baby playing with his/her cousins!!***

it smells like a baby in our house...!

as I announced in my last post, starting tomorrow our family profiles will be being shown to expectant mothers...so that means starting tomorrow we could get "the call" to head up to Michigan and meet our baby for the first time...   since we may be traveling without much or any notice we decided it is best to be as prepared as we can be so we gathered a few essentials and are preparing ourselves the best we can!

so tonight, after i bought some Dreft :)... I washed the first batch of the baby's laundry, i actually had a blast folding & washing clothes! as i folded it, i held each sweet piece up to my nose...there is NO better smell than the smell of a baby!

here are a few of the precious pieces of clothing just waiting for our baby boy or baby girl...

i already know that i will be jumping EVERY time my phone rings from now on! and if i see a michigan area code i might pass out...im just being honest!

im also very excited because we have saved enough money for me to take my full 6 weeks of maternity leave!!! this was very important to us and we feel very blessed to be able to take that time with the baby!

PROFILES ARE DONE!!!!

today at exactly 5 o'clock the UPS man knocked on our door and delivered a box that held our 25 family profiles...just waiting to be filled with pictures!!! karl and I quickly headed to my mothers house where my sister was waiting to help us with the profiles! it took a couple of hours but i am so happy to say that they are done!!!! first thing in the morning i wll go to the UPS shipping center and see if I can get them there by monday :)

it is starting to feel real that these precious books we made could be in the hands of expectant mothers who are considering us to adopt their baby!! gives me goosebumps!

so now we have done EVERYTHING that we can do...and now we must sit and wait. i have heard from other adoptive families that this part of the waiting is the hardest...i guess we will see!

now here are a few pictures from our night of picture gluing!

below is my sister holding one of the completed profiles

(thanks for all of your help)

and my nephew who wanted so badly to help with the profiles!

even the my sisters baby was offering support :)

and finally...here is the completed profile

we can't wait to see what is in store for us in the coming weeks! maybe a tiny bundle of joy!?!

it must be christmas eve...

because I feel like a child who is waiting for santa to arrive :)

tomorrow our profiles are scheduled to arrive sometime before 4 pm!! my mom and one of my sisters already cut all of the pictures and they put them in stacks...so tomorrow night everything will be ready for our picture gluing party tomorrow night!!

and then my other sister and her husband are treating us to an overnight return delivery of our profiles to our agency!!

so that means that starting monday our profiles could be shown to expectant mothers :)

oh my oh my...

mother's day

last year on mother's day my cheeks were flushed and my eyes were red from tears. i went to church and my husband held my hand as our pastor recognized all of the mother's in the crowd, i sat in my seat trying to stop the tears as they flowed down my cheeks. another failed fertility treatment was all that i could think of that day, another pregnancy test with only 1 line. my heart was so full and so sad. i felt hopeless and that was an awful feeling. all i ever wanted in life was to be a wife and a mother and last year i wasnt sure when that was going to happen...it felt like it never would but i knew God had a plan for my journey to motherhood.

this year was different. there is no baby growing in my belly and there is no baby in my arms...but there is a baby growing inside of his/her first mothers womb. there is a baby who is so loved by his/her first mother and she will want the very best for him that she will one day soon make a plan for her child...a plan that involves me. a plan that will forever join two families together...a birth family and an adoptive family. two mothers...one that gets to feel this baby grow in her womb, kicking and moving as the months go on...one that will see the baby moving on a screen and hear its a boy or its girl...one that has to make the most difficult decision of their lives as she decides that she can not parent this child she is carrying...one that even after making this hard hard decision she still has to endure labor and then experience the loss of a child.

and then the other mother...me. though i had no baby growing and moving in my tummy i get to be a mom. this year i will get the blessing of becoming a first time mom. while one mother will be grieving the loss of her child, we will be celebrating the life of our first child. this is hard for me to think about. i pray for her so much. that she will have loads of support as she makes this choice.

so today as i celebrated my mother, and all other mothers...i was also thinking alot about our babys first mother. i wonder what this day was like for her. i wondered if she has other children that were able to celebrate her today? i wonder if this baby in her womb is her first child? i wonder if she cried today...i wonder if she doubted her decision of adoption today? my heart literally aches to think of the possible heartache she could be feeling. i hope someone made her feel special today, i hope someone lifted her up and told her happy mothers day! i hope someone wrapped their arms around her neck and hugged her tightly.  i hope that someone offered reassurance and support of her plans of adoption for her child. i hope that someone showed her how much they love her today.

EVERY mother deserves to feel special today. no matter if you are a mother who gave birth, a mother through adoption, a first mother...a mother who lost a child...or a mother who is still waiting to concieve or to give birth...HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO YOU!!!

family profile sneak peak :)

well, we were told by our agency today that our first draft of our family profile book is in the mail!! so i am hoping that we get it thursday or friday! once we recieve it and review it...we have to let them know if everything is ok, and once they get the ok they will print the profiles and mail them all to us!

so it is LOOKING like we should get our completed profiles early next week...so if that happens next we will be an official waiting family :)

this would mean that starting next week i will officially become a crazy person who keeps her phone on her 24 hours a day! ive been dreaming of "the call" for the past 5 1/2 months and it is hard to believe that it could be right around the corner!

our agency, Adoption Associates Inc, has been wonderful so far! we feel blessed to be working with them. we have been doing a little research on the costs of flights to michigan as we have to be prepared to travel with NO notice :)

i decided that i would share what our family profile will be like, except of course it will be much nicer on the real thing!

(the close up picture will be on the front cover and the "jumping" picture will be the last picture and will be by the paragraph about our promises to the expectant mother)

(this picture will be on the inside)

(the top picture didnt make the cut but i couldnt figure out how to delete it :) and the one of me and our beautiful neices will go by the section about me)

(these are our other 2 pictures!!)

Dear Expectant Mother,


Thank you so much for taking the time to get to know us! Although we have not met you yet and we don’t even know your name, we have been praying for you and the life that you are carrying since the day we decided to adopt. We believe that God brings people and families together and that He brought us to you…and you to us! We admire your strength and respect your choice as you are faced with this difficult decision for you and your child.

Ever since we met we knew that adoption would be in our future. Even as a little girl, Christina’s heart was burdened for children without a home of their own. She often urged her parents to adopt children. Karl says that he believes God was preparing Christina’s heart so that she could prepare his heart for the day that we would get an infertility diagnosis that would lead us to adopting our first child. Adoption has never felt like our second best option…it came with lots of joy and excitement, trusting that God has a big beautiful plan for our life and our family.

About Us

We are excited to share a glimpse into our lives!

We met working for the same company and immediately fell for each other. It did not take long for our friendship to progress into something deeper and a few months later we were inseparable. Our first date was spent watching home videos at Christina’s parent’s house. As soon as we met each others’ families both of our mothers knew that their children had met the person they would marry! And they were right, only 9 months later we were engaged! We were married in the spring of the next year in a beautiful outdoor ceremony surrounded by our family and friends! We love to spend our time together cooking, fishing, going for walks, swimming, traveling, and spending time with our families.

Our Home and Extended Families

We share a two bedroom apartment with our dog Sammie. He is a 2 year old Shih Tzu and he loves everyone, he is very laid back and friendly. We live in a fun and diverse city that is known for its “Cajun” food and friendly people! We live near parks, great schools, and by lots of family! Family is very important to both of us and we feel blessed to live so close to so much of our family. We live fifteen minutes away from Christina’s parents as well as one of her sisters and brother-in-law and their three kids. Christina has another sister who currently lives out of state because her husband is in the military, but we still see her very often. Karl’s parents live only 2 hours away and we visit them every couple of months! His two sisters live out of state with their families, but we still see them as often as we can throughout the year. Together we have six nieces and four nephews ranging in age from nine months to age 16. They are a huge part of our lives. All of the kids cannot wait to welcome their new cousin! We often spend Sundays going to church as a family and then cooking at Christina’s parent’s house while the kids ride bikes, swim or fish!



Christina (written by Karl)

Christina has the biggest heart of anyone I know. Second to her big brown eyes it’s what drew me to her. She is compassionate and will always take an opportunity to help someone. Christina is funny and fun loving and loves to try new things. She loves children and I know her patient and nurturing way will make her an amazing mother. I can’t wait to see how great a mother Christina will be and how much joy and happiness our family will share when we welcome a baby boy or girl into our lives.



Karl (written by Christina)

Karl is my best friend. I was drawn to his handsome face, his gentle spirit and his amazing sense of humor. He is uplifting and encouraging and can always make me smile even when I’m feeling down. He is kind and forgiving and his faith in God is beautiful. When he loves someone, he loves with his whole heart and will stop at nothing to demonstrate that love. The same passion that he has for me spills over into every other aspect of his life. He is a dedicated and hard worker, a devoted son and friend, and a motivated student. I know with all my heart that he will be an amazing father and I cannot wait to see him take on that role!

Our Promise

We know that we are not perfect but we promise to love your baby with all our hearts. We will give your baby a life of love, happiness, family, and faith. We will raise your baby to know he or she is loved simply for who they are and to know that they may become anything they want to be. We will want your baby to always know that your heartbeat was the first lullaby that they ever heard. And that your decision was made with love, courage, and faith.

Thank you again for considering us and remember that you are still in our prayers.