The Journey Continues...

Life is such an amazing thing.... I know that's such a corny opener to a post but I was just thinking about this.  I mean it's hard, messy, painful and can really leave us beat up sometimes... but even those times usually leave such a beautiful conclusion.  When all the dust has settled, the bruises have healed and we are able to see clearly again we can usually look back and see a very clear footprint on our life.... I believe with all my heart that God is in the ugly, gut wrenching moments as much as the beautiful, breathtaking ones.  I look back at a time in my life when everything and I do mean everything had fallen apart.  I can see so clearly that we went through those things because one day in the not so distant future we would meet wonderful people who would be going through very similar things and we would know what to say.  We experienced pain and infertility so that when that beautiful baby is placed in our arms we will cherish it, love it and hold on to each moment.  I guess what I'm saying is we came through years of famine... years of confusion and loneliness.... years of pain and frustration.  We are on the other side and I can see so clearly how God lead us each step.  How he strengthened our marriage.  How he molded our hearts.  How he brought us amazing people to be our support group.  How he molded our families and how they've grown.  We are experiencing why he did these things... and I'm sure there are more reasons we have yet to see but I'm thankful.

This week on the adoption front we had a form to fill out... it was a very important form.  When you are first starting out as a couple you dream about the future and the babies you're going to have.. you think about all the beautiful things that will happen and you don't stop to consider anything different.  Well the form we just finished filling out had all kinds of questions about what adoption situations we would consider.... if there was no prenatal care, if there were mental illness in the family, if we would do visitation, if there was a rape involved.... the list goes on and on and it was very daunting.  I long ago decided that I would talk in general details about these things and when our baby comes home those details are my families business and no one else's.  It was hard to fill out this form and I believe it's a very private thing for everyone who does it but I found myself the whole time thinking about how this is all in God's hands and while it's very scary to think about all the different scenarios and things that "may" be a factor I am choosing to trust what Steve and I feel God is telling us... check those boxes and trust.  He has been so faithful every step of the way.  But I will say it again.. the situation my baby comes to us from will not be shared.  If it's a hard situation or an easy situation... those are incredibly personal details that we will not answer questions about or share on this blog.  Please understand that!

Tonight we are keeping one of my favorite people's babies over night.  This is the first time we've kept the girls and I'm really excited!  We love keeping other people's kids.  We love getting to "play house" for a little while.  We really do :).  We often don't get to because our schedule is so crazy so it's fun when we get to "borrow" someone's kids for the night, give them a night off and get to have some fun!  Tonight will be full of popcorn, Tangled, giggles and all sorts of girlie-ness!!

One last thing... please go vote for our blog.  It literally takes 2 seconds to complete and it's fun :).  You can even go back every day if you feel like it and vote!  I really just entered for fun but how cool would it be to have a chance at being one top 25!!  I know it's a long shot but why not?

I hope you all have a wonderful day and find a way to stay cool in this heat!!

love to all!