Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage,

And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord! Psalm 27:14

We are still working on our home study paperwork as well as waiting for our appointments for Psych evaluations, Expectations consultation with the agency (not sure what that even is!) and our physicals.  We can’t turn any of the paperwork in until those appointments are completed and the doctors submit the paperwork to the agency. That means more waiting….

[Insert Jeopardy “think” music here]

Now Y’all know how I feel about waiting…… Of course I remind myself again and again about Abraham in the Bible.  He trusted God and waited faithfully, and 25 years later, God was faithful to him and gave him a son. Now that’s some serious faith and patience right there…….

And we are not even through our homestudy yet!! 

I TRUST GOD, it is that simple. However, I have to learn to trust him to the point that I am no longer anxious.  Waiting and trusting go hand in hand, what a valuable lesson our God is teaching me!! 

But those who wait on the Lord

Shall renew their strength;

They shall mount up with wings like Eagles,

They shall run and not be weary,

They shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:31 NKJV

Dear Heavenly Father,  I have asked you to direct my path, please give me the patience to stand on your promises.  Strengthen me as I wait.  I trust you and I will follow your lead.  In Jesus’ precious name, Amen. 

My sweet daughters.....

Just a note about my girls…..

I don’t know who does and who doesn’t know, so I am just going to put it out there all over again.  I have one bio DD who is 13 (I will refer to her as DDC) and one Step DD who is 15 (almost 16, refer to her as DDM).  These young ladies (my little girls) mean the world to me! 

They are very excited to become big sisters.  I have to say that I couldn’t have picked better big sisters.  DDM is already a big sister to DDC, and she is fiercely protective of her. NO ONE messes with her little sister!  I have seen DDM get mad at me when I have disciplined DDC in the past….that is how protective of her she is.   DDC has always been the little sister, so this will be her first older sibling experience, but if she is anything like her big sister, and she is, she is going to be an awesome big sister! 

Now, when these 2 girls are together, it is like no one else in the world exists.  They are so wrapped up in each other, giggling, talking, tell each other secrets, and sharing stories.  I have 3 sisters, so I know how it works.  When I was young, my sisters and I fought quite often.  My girls rarely fight.  I am REALLY blessed and I know it!! 

I want nothing but the best for them. I want them to grow up to be strong, confident, courageous, independent, Christian young ladies.  Among being all of those things, I also expect them to be respectful.  It is ok to disagree, or have your own opinion, but it is not OK to be hateful or angry.

I remind them quite frequently, I am NOT your friend, I am your Mom.  I do not care if you like me, but you will respect me.  They always know what to expect from me.  As much as I said growing up, “I will NEVER treat my kids the way MY mom treated me…”

***Here it goes…..

I have become my mother….

And I could NOT be more proud!  What an awesome role model I had…And guess who is my friend now?? My Mama!  When I need advice, I call her.  She raised 4 daughters, so she knows the drill pretty well!  

Even if we are not able to adopt, I can truly say that I have known all the joys of motherhood because of these two girls.  They both have big hearts and big dreams.  I am so incredibly proud of them and the way they handle themselves. 

I Love my daughters!!!!! 

Dear Heavenly father, I pray that my children always be strong and courageous in their character and in their actions.  Please clothe them with the virtue of compassion. Let love and faithfulness never leave them, but bind these twin virtues around their necks and write them on the tablets of their hearts. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6

Orientation was a success!

Friday we attended our orientation with the adoption agency. I was SO prepared to feel overwhelmed, but I feel even more peace about our decision to go with this agency.  You all know how I feel about birthmother's, and this agency has such an amazing ministry for birthmom's regardless of whether they decide to parent thier child or place it with another family.  No matter what the decision this agency offers them a lifetime of counseling.......at no charge!  Isn't that AWESOME?  What a way to bless these mothers. 

We left our house early to drive down to Nashville, so that we would have enough time to stop and grab some breakfast.  We stopped about 3 minutes from the church that was hosting orientation.  I wolfed my breakfast down and then sat there, ever so patiently ;) while my DH SLOWLY ate his breakfast.....I was so anxious to get there and make sure we had a seat up front.  Of course we were about 15 minutes early, and I was able to grab the oh so coveted front table....Ahhhh....breathe...seriously, I had to remind my self to breathe.
Now, to those who know me they will tell you that I am goofy, fun, outgoing and quite personable. However, itinitially, I am kind of quite and shy.  We had another couple (whom I will refer to as the Nix) that sat at the table with us, and they were so incredibly nice.  Mrs. Nix introduced herself and her husand to me, (first, of course, because I was just gonna sit there like a bump on a log!).  Once the orientation started, all the couples in the room had the opportunity to introduce themselves. There were approximately 15 couples.  So it started out with several different people who were in different adoptive situations, the adoptee, the adoptive parents, adoptee adoptive parents, international adoptions, special needs, and even embryo adoptions.  It was all very informative and it covered so many different aspects.  I loved it!  I like to hear people tell stories, so this was a treat for me. 

When we took a break for lunch, Mr and Mrs Nix asked us to join them.  We headed over to the Cracker Barrel and had an awesome lunch.  The food was good and the company was great!  They too are homeschoolers, and that is awesome for me, because I have no other friends in this area that I can talk to about homeschool.  I really enjoyed talking about the adoption and what we had learned that morning in the orientation. 

After lunch we went back to the church for the afternoon session of the orientation. It began with a little Q & A with the social workers.  We then received our homestudy paperwork....UGHHHH.....it is alot!!  We have to have quite a bit done for this package.  We have no due date though, it is all in our own time.  We reviewed all the paperwork in the package as a group.  We also have required reading.  They gave us a list of books and said we have to read 3.  We bought one at the orientation.  I narrowed the rest of the list down to four.  I could not pick only two out of the four, so I bought all four.....!!!! I have come to the realization that my little expandable file I bought for this journey is just not going to work.  I am already busting out of it....Oy vey! 

We are still praying and seeking God every step of the way through out this process.  We can not do this with out his hand guiding us every step of the way.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.   Proverbs 3:5-6