October #'s!!

Yep, we got 'em!  Finally!  I don't have much to update on other than numbers right now.  Hubs and I just got back from a wedding in Charleston.  I don't know about you, but I love weddings :)  Here's the numbers:

For a girl:

For a Boy:

That's down 5 on the girl list and 3 for the boys!  Happy to still be seeing movement, but praying for lots more!! Happy Monday!

Passing the Time with a Past Time

While we've been anxiously awaiting our October numbers (is it really almost November and no numbers?!! There has been good news lately though and I'm hoping those numbers will be in my inbox tonight but I'm not getting my hopes up) we have been getting some things done around here.  Our new goal, since we(i.e. my hubby) have such busy schedules is we have decided to pick 1 or 2 small things that need to be done around the house each weekend and do them.  This weekend we tackled cleaning out our closet(fun right?)...it was horrendous and it was beginning to scare me to open it! So with that getting done, we decided we needed some fun afterwards.  Monday's are now my hubby's day off so we include that in our weekend since he works Sat. and Sun. We've had our pumpkins and mum sitting on our front porch since oh, about the end of September! Those are 2 of my favorite things about fall, and Monday we decided it was high time to carve that pumpkin!  We've made this a tradition in our family and we can't wait to have a little one join us in the fun, but for now as you'll see in the pictures, we enjoyed our 4 legged child getting in on some action.  He was eating the pumpkin guts out of the bowl at one point, pretty gross if you ask me, but he seemed to enjoy it and we spent the rest of the evening trying to get him to quit licking the pumpkin lid!  So, this was us passing some more time waiting with a fun fall night :)

For some reason hubs decided to name our pumpkins George and Phyllis, respectively

1 Year

Today marks one year since we officially started down this road of adoption!  I can't believe that this time last year we had just said a prayer and sent in that pre-application to see if we would even qualify to work with AGCI.  This year has literally flown by, and for that I am grateful.  I know when we started out last year that we were extremely optimistic about where we would be in the process this year, we thought we would be a lot closer to seeing that precious face.  But...the paperwork took longer then we anticipated, and we ended up getting in the official waiting game a little "late" according to our timeline.  However, God placed us exactly where we needed to be on that list, and all those little bumps we hit leading to the paperwork taking longer, are eventually going to match us with the child God had picked out before time even began; before adoption was even a thought in our mind.  How awesome is that?  That is what we are clinging to right now.  We know we still have a long road ahead, and this year we are still being optimistic, that we will have seen that face by this time next year.  We(really me) is praying that this year goes by just as fast, even without all the paperwork and deadlines to look forward to and keep us pushing on.  I know I shouldn't wish the time away, and I'm really not, because of my last post. I know that God is teaching us right now, and has designed this so that we would seek to have more of Him during this time.  So I'm not wishing the time away, just that we would have much to keep us busy, and that we would get as much out the time as possible, all the while making it go by fast :)  And judging by life lately, that shouldn't be a problem!  We have learned so much in this one year, and we can't wait to see what God has planned for the next!

More of Him

Life is busy, as usual.  At the moment, I am thankful for this busyness.  I am thankful that we are going full speed ahead, living life right now, because if we weren't I would constantly be dwelling on the fact that my heart is on the other side of the world and there's nothing I can do about it.  If we weren't I might be a sad person dwelling on the fact that our baby isn't home yet and we still have a long way to go.  But...I'm not.  Yes, those things do creep into my mind more often than I would like right now, but having never done this before, I assume it comes with the territory.  I was listening to a sermon on prayer a few days ago, one that I have heard several times already(it's just that good!) and I am amazed that every time I hear it, something different jumps out at me.  This time, it was that during this waiting time, God is seeking to give me more of himself.  And I desperately want and need this.  It's the only way I can get through the weeks and months ahead.  God has specifically designed this circumstance for my sanctification, and to allow me to experience more of him.  How awesome is that?  I am just more and more amazed by the love we have from the Father more and more every day.  My heart continues to be full because even during this time, when some days I think it's about me getting a baby, God continually shows me that it's about me getting more of Him, and out of that flows my love for the orphan. Seriously? SO GOOD!! So today, I am thankful for the busyness, I am thankful that God is revealing himself to me a little more each day, and I am thankful that I am learning.  Learning what it's like to truly lean on Him, learning to truly make Him my strength and my portion.

PS- courts opened on Wednesday after being closed for nearly 2 months for the rainy season, yay!! Hopefully this means that things will pick up a little now, although there has already been a bit of a buzz around our list serve over the past week, including some very good friends of ours making it to the number one spot! Can't wait to hear of their referral! And we're also pretty excited about our October numbers that we will hopefully be posting soon! Happy Weekend :)

3 Years!

This post is a little late to the party, but I wanted to get it on here anyway.  Tuesday my awesome hubby and I celebrated 3 wonderful years of marriage!!  I can hardly believe it's been 3 years since this moment:

So much has happened over the past 3 years.  It's amazing to look back and see all the blessings that God has given us.  We have been in ministry, shared the Gospel on the other side of the world, moved our lives 8 hours away from our family to follow a calling to seminary, become part of an awesome church and involved in more ministry, bought our first house, made some amazing friends who push us deeper into the Gospel, started the adoption process to grow our family, seen God provide in ways that only he can, and those are just the big moments!  There are countless other small things that are a part of our story, and I love the evidence of God's hand all over our lives.

When I said "I do" 3 years ago, I had no idea that this is what our life would look like 3 years later.  Now, I can't imagine it any other way!  We have learned so much about ourselves, about the Gospel, about the beauty of marriage.  I never thought we would be this close to adding a little one 3 years into this(but i hoped!) and here we are, right in the middle of this process, trusting God with hearts changed.  I can't wait to see my husband become a father, it's going to be so good!  We are praying that we don't celebrate another year without our little one home, and that this post next year will include pictures of that precious face!  I'll leave you with some of the fun we've had over the past 3 years!

Our rehearsal!

First Fall!

Greece Mission Trip 2009

Our first addition :)

Our house!

 First "big" snow at our house!

Cruise, Spring of 2010

Starting this crazy adoption process!!