What "R" We Up To?

• Rejoicing with Rach and Josh who received their referral for a beautiful baby boy last week!
  
  
• Running again - I somehow managed 3 miles on Sunday!  It is good to be feeling well again.
  
  
• Reorganizing and pricing this:

• Relieved beyond words to not be tackling this garage sale alone!!  Thank you to everyone who is helping with this - we could not do it without you!
  
  
• Rescuing a few items along the way and setting them aside for baby :)

• Ready to see my baby's face and squish my baby's cheeks and hold my baby close
  
  
• Resting in the Lord, learning to not stress about the garage sale, and trusting His timing for our family
  
  
• Rushing back to work after my lunch break!  Good-bye!

Overwhelmed...but in a Good Way!

It has been about 3 weeks now since we put out the word that we are adopting and let everyone know about our upcoming garage sale/bake sale fundraiser. Initially, I must admit that I was a bit nervous about it.  I wondered how people would respond, and I wondered if we would end up having more than just our 10 items to sell.  In fact, I was really worrying about it.  Early on, though, I realized that I had to give this over to the Lord.  He has provided everything we've needed so far, and I know I can trust Him with all of my worries about this sale.  So, I let it go, and have really not been too anxious about it since.

And let me tell you something.  These last few weeks, I have been blessed beyond what I could have ever imagined by our friends and family.  It is so wonderful to have people rejoicing with us about the adoption, excited to meet our baby, and eager to help us with the financial aspect of it as well.  People have been donating items left and right!  In fact, this is what our garage looked like as of yesterday:

We had already gathered quite a bit of stuff and were thinking the sale would be okay.  Then today, we spent about 5 hours driving around with our friend, Chad, who graciously helped us pick up load after load after load from our friends who have donated tons of items - even big things like desks and a grill!

This is what our garage looks like now!  And we're still not done collecting stuff - several people told me they have things for me that they are bringing to our house this week!

I am so humbled and amazed at how everyone has come along side us to help us with this adoption.  It has meant so much to me.  And for the very first time...I kind of feel like I'm "pregnant" :)   

I have a lot to do to get ready for the sale, but thankfully friends and family have offered to help and I know that one way or another, everything will get done.  Now I must go and make some signs for the garage sale...cause it's almost here!

In Today's Headlines...

"Doggie Learns to Open Lazy Susan Cupboard and Helps Herself to Contents while her Unsuspecting Owners are at Work."

Thanks, Daisie - what a nice welcome home present you left for us today!

What you can't see in the picture:

Pots and pans she dragged around the house

A previously half-full bag of ritz crackers - currently empty

A previously full bag of plain potato chips - currently empty

A previously full bag of french onion Sun Chips - still full but in the garbage due to doggie drool (apparently french onion is not her thing)

A very cute little hound dog with quite a guilty look on her face...and a full belly!

Happy Thursdsay :)

Crazy Eights...A Borrowed Idea!

Rachel had a great idea for a post today, and since I was completely blank, I decided to use her idea!  

8 Things I Did Yesterday

1.  Went to an adoption meeting and learned about stress reactions in adopted children.

2.  Took a glorious after work nap :)

3.  Went to the post office. (Hey, it didn't say they had to be 8 exciting things!)

4.  Read 1 Peter chapter 3.

5.  Listened to my new Hillsong CD...many times!

6.  Blogged about a nasty picture of myself...and then wondered why on earth I had put that on the internet.

7.  Hung out with my sister and her husband for a few minutes.

8.  Read a couple of chapters of the book "An Echo in the Darkness" - an all-time favorite book by Francine Rivers that I am re-reading.

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To

1.  Seeing my baby's face for the first time.

2.  Finding out if we will have a son or a daughter.

3.  Going to South Korea.

4.  Coming home a mommy :)

5.  Vacation in June with my family in Tennessee.

6.  Starting to train for the half marathon (mixture of looking forward to it and dreading it...)

7.  Going to bed early tonight.

8.  The garage sale.

8 Things I Wish I Could Do

1.  Go hiking in the mountains right now.

2.  Take a trip to Europe with Brad.

3.  Stop worrying about what everyone thinks of me.

4.  Go kayaking.

5.  Ski every weekend in the winter.

6.  Serve at an orphanage in China (and yes, I have one in mind...so maybe one day!)

7.  Complete a Duathlon or Triathlon.

8.  Finish this list sometime tonight...

8 Shows I Enjoy

1.   Family Ties

2.  The Fall Guy

3.  Everybody Loves Raymond

4.  American Idol

5.  The Biggest Loser

6.  The Mentalist

7.  24

8.  Flashpoint

8 Final Words

This was much harder than I had expected!

Good night!

When "Yikes" is All You Can Say...

This weekend while at camp, I wanted to see the back of my head (to see if my hair was sticking out of course!) but I had not brought a mirror with me.  There was one mirror in the room, so I decided to get creative and take a picture of my head in the mirror.  I didn't notice until much later when Brad was looking through our camp photos that my face was in the picture as well!

Yikes!  Not too flattering, but pretty funny stuff!  And you have to give me credit for my creativity...except for the fact that I still couldn't see my hair.   Oh well, it was almost a good idea!

Deeper '09 Youth Camp

What a weekend! Being away at camp is so interesting - time seems to fly by, but at the same time it seems like you have been away for ages. We had a wonderful weekend and I am so thankful that Brad and I were able to go. I have tons of great pictures...but most of them have students in them and I think I'd better not post them on here :) I do have a few to share, though...

The best part of the weekend (in my opinion) was the teaching.  We are so blessed with a Pastor who loves the Lord, knows the Word, and loves these students so much.  

This was Brad's first time at camp and he admitted on the way home that he was surprised by how much fun he had.  Here is Brad and two of the other leaders...looking like scary biker dudes! 

My second favorite thing of the weekend was a group activity we had called "Go-Kart Wars".  The students had to work together to build and decorate go-karts, and then they got to race them down the hill!  It was so great!  Brad helped to lead this event and he did such a good job.  The kids really got into it and did an amazing job building the go-karts.  

Of course, before we could let the students go down the hill on the go-kart, Brad had to test drive it to make sure it was safe (they all wore helmets too...which turned out to be a very good thing!).  Brad took a tumble out of one and he is still feeling really sore today from it.  I am very glad I told him to tuck and roll should such an incident occur...

Brad and I had been planning to leave camp, drive the hour home, pick up the dog, unpack the car, and drive an hour to the Korean festival.  I think we were a little overly optimistic in our planning and unfortunately we were unable to make it to the festival.  I was pretty disappointed about it but we were both so wiped out from the weekend, and Brad had an early day today, and even though we left camp early we ended up realizing that we were not going to be able to make it.  We do have another adoption meeting tomorrow night, though, so we are looking forward to that very much!  Yesterday was the 8 month mark for the waiting list! Yey!

What Lies Ahead...

40 hours

2 nights

60 teens

18 leaders

6 meals

1 crazy talent contest

11 worship songs

3 teaching sessions

and I'm guessing a whole lot of laughter...

It's youth camp time again! As a youth leader, this used to be something I dreaded. Seriously, I have to go away with these kids ALL WEEKEND? Sleep in bunk beds and stay up late...come on, don't you know I need my sleep? We're going to play games, too, aren't we? I knew it!

Yeah, I know, truly the attitude of a servant.

This year, I must admit that my excitement about camp is just growing and growing. I get to spend ALL WEEKEND with these kids! And I can't wait! I'm still not all that thrilled about the bunk beds part, but hey, it is just one weekend. And all of the stuff that happens when we're awake more than makes up for it!

Friday night Brad and I will be heading to camp until Sunday afternoon. We have the priviledge of walking through life with these teens, being there for them and teaching them, and we do not take that lightly. We also get to have a ton of fun with them :)

We do have to leave camp a bit early on Sunday because we are going to a Korean festival in the afternoon! There will be families who have adopted, or who are in the process of adopting (that would be us!) and I am so excited to go and try Korean food and learn more about this beautiful culture. I will hopefully have tons of pictures to post when I return. Have a great weekend!

Trusting

I've been in a most reflective mood lately. I have been thinking so much about all that God has brought Brad and I through. The tough times and the tears, the not knowing and the questions about what we should do. A few years ago, it seemed like there would never be a light at the end of the tunnel. It seemed like I would hurt forever and I would always be thinking about the fact that I could not have children.

In the last few months especially, the Lord has done such a healing work in my heart. I cannot claim to be a person who responded to this trial with complete faith and trust. To be honest, it shook me to my core. It put to the test everything I said I believed, and I sometimes wondered what the outcome of that would be. I often felt that God was far away, that He couldn't hear my cries, or that if He did hear, He didn't care. I asked Him frequently why He didn't do something. I knew all the answers in my head, but it took me a long time to process what we were going through and to wrestle with the question I knew the Lord was asking me: Do you trust me?

Before this happened, I thought I knew the answer to that question. But when hard times came, I was shaken. Did I trust Him, even though I didn't understand? Did I trust Him, even though I could not see what the outcome would be? Did I trust Him, even though I did not like what was happening? I can look back now and see how faithfully and patiently the Lord was working in me. He did not give up on me, even when my faith was weak.

These last few months, I have felt such a new freedom in my walk with Him, a closeness with Him that I have never experienced, and a confidence in knowing that come what may, I will trust Him. I know that I follow a God who is good, who does all things well, who sees infinitely more than I do, and who loves me completely. There is such peace in trusting in Jesus.

One of Those Days

I just sat down and was getting ready to post when the dog came up and was being a little stinker, trying to get into something she shouldn't...

And I turned around to stop her (in my swivel chair)...

And somehow managed to tip the chair over and flip the chair over ON TOP OF ME. Hmmm.

So I told Daisie "Ouch - that hurt" because she was looking very concerned, fixed my chair, and now I am going to try again.

It's been one of those days.

Tonight I was planning to work on signs for the yard sale, but I left the poster board in the car, which is with Brad, away for the evening.

It's been one of those days.

So I thought I'd come and blog, maybe share some pictures...but they're on the camera, which is with Brad, who (as I mentioned before) is away for the evening.

It's been one of those days.

While I don't have any of those things to work on tonight, I do have this to say: today has been a day of blessing. I have had probably 6 or 7 people JUST TODAY tell me that they have things for the yard sale, or that they are baking something for the bake sale. I have been humbled and blessed by our friends and family coming around us to help us with this. I am seeing the body of Christ in action, helping us with something that has seemed so insurmountable and impossible, and I have been encouraged and blessed beyond words.

So thankfully, I can say,

It's been one of those days, too :)

Pain Relief!

It's been a while (again) but I am back (again!). I've not been able to blog very much for the last few weeks for a couple of reasons. I have been having terrible headaches and have found myself pretty firmly planted on the couch most hours of the day. This last week has been extremely difficult as no medication has been working and I have just been in a lot of pain. Last Thursday I started having pain in my face as well and I spent all day on the couch Friday and Saturday with an ice pack, spontaneously bursting into tears and feeling rather sorry for myself.

It's been a fun week.

That last paragraph, combined with the fact that I knew that if I got on to blog I would just complain about the pain, was the reason I stayed away from blogging!

Today I am praising the Lord that I am up and about, feeling much better, and able to actually do things! It has surprised me that I am thankful to be able to clean again...!

In a strange way I believe the jaw pain is an answer to prayer. I am thinking now that something is going on in my jaw which is causing the headaches - which is very helpful to know! I have been wearing my bite plate and icing my jaw and it seems to be helping my headaches. So thankful about that!

The Lord has been very close in these difficult times and I am gaining a greater sympathy for those who struggle with chronic pain. It is hard to go on day after day not feeling well. I have not understood that before and I hope that I do not soon forget that lesson.

I am looking forward to hopefully being a bit more upbeat this week :) And for now I am off to run about a million errands that I have put off for the last few weeks.

The Proposal, Part 2

So...guess who gets to go to South Korea????

Yep, it's me!

My dear husband told me last night that he too very much wants to travel to pick up our child! I am so glad we are on the same page and in it together for this adventure!

And I'm absolutely scared to death!!!!!

But isn't that the fun of life?

God is good!

The Facts of Life in the Middle of the Night?

It is midnight, and I am having trouble sleeping. Again. The last few nights I have gotten into bed, laid there for at least an hour with my eyes wide open, before getting up again for a while to do something else to try to get "more tired." This usually doesn't come until 1am or 2am for some reason.

Anyway, so I'm up again, and I am watching old episodes of the show "The Facts of Life" on the website www.hulu.com which I just heard about this week...and I'm pretty excited about it!

I am very excited to watch all the old Dick Van Dyke Show episodes! I love old shows! Tonight I also watched an episode of the Fall Guy which I hadn't seen in over 20 years. That took me back!

Which old shows do you miss?

Pray it Doesn't Rain!

This week Brad and I started planning for an exciting event we are looking forward to in May. As you may or may not know, there are quite a lot of fees that go along with adoption. To help with this, we are planning to have an adoption fundraiser!

On May 2nd, we will be having a garage sale and bake sale in the parking lot at our church. We already have some donations rolling in of used items our friends and family wanted to get rid of, and people have been signing up to bake items for the sale. Brad and I have truly been blessed and humbled by people's response to this and their willingness to help. It was wonderful to be asked about the adoption today at church by so many excited people :)

If you know us in real life, we hope you will stop by the church on May 2nd for some baked goodies or who knows what else (garage sales are always interesting that way!). If you don't live nearby, please pray that it doesn't rain...or snow....that day!!!

Ta-Da!

Last night at precisely 11:59pm, I completed my knitting project!

It feels so good to finish something I started for once :)

I am ridiculously proud of myself for sticking with it and not getting frustrated.

I am crossing my fingers and hoping that it doesn't fall apart any time soon...

All I need now is the baby!!!!

I'm Back!

We are finally back online! We don't know what happened, but our internet was not working for almost a week. After a short power outage yesterday, we are now miraculously back online. Don't you love technology?

I've been keeping pretty busy lately, and one of my favorite recent memories was introducing Daisie to a new friend. They are both friendly dogs and seemed to get on okay. It was funny to see how little Daisie looked next to Coby. I think they are going to be good buddies :)

Speaking of good buddies...I was glad to be able to spend some time this week with my dear friends, Rachel and Kristy. I work with the Jr. High girls at church, and regularly hear about their daily "drama" between friends. I am so thankful to be all grown up and to not have to deal with drama anymore! And to have friends who love me just the way I am, craziness and all :)