Waiting on the Lord

I had an unexpectedly quiet Sunday morning today.  Abigail was up in the middle of the night a lot with a fever and just a very unhappy little girl.  I don't know what was going on, but her fever was gone by this morning although she still seemed to be feeling a bit off.  In any case, Jeff took the big 2 to sunday school and church with him while I stayed back with Abs. 

 

 During her nap, I enjoyed a few cups of coffee and my favorite devotional book...

Jesus Calling is an awesome little book that is written kind of like Jesus is talking to us.  I really love it and always come away refreshed and feeling like I really heard from the Lord.  Here is some of what I read today...

Waiting on ME means directing your attention to me in hopeful anticipation of what I will do.  It entails trusting me with every fiber of your being, instead of trying to figure things out yourself.  Waiting on me is the way I designed you to live: all day, every day.  I created you to stay conscious of me as you go about your daily duties.  I have promised many blessings to those who wait on me; renewed strength, living above one's circumstances, resurgence of hope, awareness of my continual presence.  Waiting on me enables you to glorify me by living in deep dependence on me, ready to do my will.  It also helps you to enjoy me; in my presence is fullness of joy.  

Then I read Lamentations 3.  I was really convicted of how little I truly wait on the Lord...not just during difficult circumstances...but every moment of every day.  I realized that I live a lot of my days just trying to survive.  I also live a lot of days waiting for the bottom to drop out.  I definitely have more of a melancholy personality so I tend to believe the worst and/or get down easily.  Reading blogs around the internet doesn't help either sometimes.  I just get down about how much sickness and sin is around me.   I can't understand why babies die, or why marriages fall apart, or why couples struggle to have children.  It all hurts and I honestly wonder when my time will come.  Instead of living in dependence and in communion with the Lord, I live in fear of the unknown.  Right now, life is pretty darn good.  I have 3 healthy children...a nice house...a wonderful husband and great family and friends.  I don't want any of it to be taken away...and yet living in fear and worry will just eat away at my soul.  I can't live like that.  I pray that I would learn to truly wait on the Lord and be conscious of Him in every moment.  I want to have a peaceful quiet spirit throughout my days. 

"'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will put my hope in Him.'  The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.  

Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?  Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come? 

Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven!"  

Lamentations 3: 24-25, 37-38, 41

Oops...I did it Again!!!!!

Y'all know I can't keep it the same way for long! I just love changing things up every once in awhile.  I also changed my Uniquely Yours site as well!  I'd love to makeover YOUR blog too:)

Hope everyone is having a good Saturday! 

Samuel's Story - Part 5

Samuel's Story PART 1

Samuel's Story PART 2

Samuel's Story PART 3

Samuel's Story PART 4

Sasha accepted the referral for us and we went into this whole little situation just trusting his judgement and of course trusting that the Lord was leading us and guiding us every step of this journey. Were we frustrated? Sure! But, it was really neat, even looking back now and remembering, how God sustained us and gave us such incredible peace during the process. We figured we would go see this boy in the hopes that it would appease the adoption authorities and they would give us another appointment soon and then give us a referral for a healthy young boy. We had to wait a few days until we could see the little boy as he had just had OPEN HEART surgery and they wanted him to be out of the ICU or whatever they called it over there. So, we did some sightseeing and prayed A LOT.

Here is an excerpt from our blog at the time...

“Please pray for us as we try to see what God wants us to do about this child. There are some medical issues and he is a little older than we had originally thought we wanted. We will need clear direction from the Lord and we appreciate all of you who have written and said you are praying for use. We are overwhelmed by all of your support and we feel so loved. God really has given us a peace about the whole process and we know that even if this child is not Samuel, that we will find him eventually.”

November 2, 2005 was the day we drove to the orphanage to find our more about this referral.

It was a long day of lots of paperchasing and waiting (they just don’t do things as efficiently in Eastern Europe) and then finally talking with some of the ladies in the orphanage. Oh, and would you like to know if we ever stopped for lunch or a snack or anything? Well, the answer would be NO!!!! We were so hungry and thankfully I had packed 2 granola bars. It’s just so funny how different people do things in other countries. Anyway, at the orphanage they went over his medical records and told us all about the little boy. The whole time there was just a stirring in our hearts towards him. God was at work. While Jeff was away at the bathroom, the lady asked if I would like to see this boy’s picture. I got all nervous and said “YES!” So, we walked right outside of the conference room and out in the hallway were about 5-6 framed pictures of some children. We walked up to one and she said... “This is Dima.” I just smiled and laughed at God. Little Dima was the boy in my dreams....a little bit of blonde hair and blue eyes and the most adorable smile!

I feel like in that moment, I knew this little boy was ours, and yet...there was still so much unknown. So much that scared us. How serious was his heart defect? Could we handle an older, special needs child?

After we finished at the orphanage we drove back to Kiev and directly to the hospital where Dima was. We met a local missionary there who was a pediatrician. He worked with Lifeline to help adoptive couples answer any medical questions about the prospective child they were adopting. Dr. Piepon was a huge help in explaining more about Dima’s heart defect and what he thought about it. So, then we were able to go and meet the precious child. His nurse (who was from the orphanage and had traveled with him) brought him out to us and he was so scared. He thought he was about to have something done by another doctor or nurse. It was so sad and yet he was truly precious. My heart broke for him that he had to endure such a serious surgery and all this pain without the love of a momma. I wanted to take him into my arms and never let him go...and yet I couldn’t.

Then, we met with the team of doctors and surgeons who headed up the cardiology division at the hospital (just so you know...do not imagine a western hospital...I should have taken pictures, but it was not anything close to what we are used to in America). Through a translator, they told us the surgery went well and that he would actually require one more surgery to correct his defect (VSD - ventricular septum defect - hole in the heart). They assured us that this was a defect that should not affect his life span.

We got back to our little flat, exhausted emotionally and physically. Of course our parents wanted to know every detail so we had to call them and go over things with them. I know it was hard for our parents to not be there with us and help us make the decision. It was probably scarier for them than us. My dad was able to get us in contact with one of his friends who was a general surgeon. This doctor was a huge help in us understanding even further what a VSD was and how if you had a child with a heart defect, this was the one you would want. The corrective surgery for VSD’s is like the bread and butter surgeries for cardiothoracic surgeons. This really helped calm some of our fears. Of course, I scoured the internet for more info as well. Still, we remained unsure if this little Dima was our Samuel.

Another excerpt from our old blog...

“In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” Proverbs 16:9

“I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.” Isaiah 42:16

Please continue to pray for us as we seek the Lord’s guidance on this journey. We are still not clear on His leading about the referral we have told you about the past few days. We are confident He will lead us to Samuel...it is so hard still not knowing and having to wait.”

We had to let the orphanage know by the next day. It was agonizing. Our future...the little boy’s future...all depended on our decision. Jeff and I kept going back to saying, “Who are we to say no? This little boy needs a home. We can offer him the best medical care in America. We are drawn to him!” However, it was really scary and we seriously spent time on our knees beseeching the Lord and his perfect will for our life and the life of little Dima.

November 3, 2005, we wrote this on our blog...

GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY

“He had made everything beautiful in it’s time.” Ecclessiastes 3:11

We have had much to pray about as we have sought the Lord’s direction with something that will change the rest of our lives. We feel confident that He has met us and has confirmed in our hearts the direction we are to take! It might not be an easy path, but it will be one of joy and one that gives glory to our Father! We prayed that God would give us a referral at our appointment that would be Samuel. After our appointment, we thought the referral we took was just a means to get another appointment with a “better” referral. We are so grateful that God is much more powerful and wiser than we are because he led us to a beautiful, sweet little boy who needs a home. We are humbled that God led us to him despite our finite minds and understanding. God has given us incredible peace despite the circumstances of his heart defect. We are reminded of our own adoption in Christ...God decided to adopt us because our own hearts were dysfunctional and full of sin. He did not need us to be perfect before He decided to give us a new name and a new heart. He graciously bestowed His grace to us without condition!”

These are from our first visit with Samuel knowing he was soon to be ours!

If it had not been for that sticky note on Samuel’s file, we might not have ever noticed it. LIke I have said before, God’s sovereignty is woven deeply into the fabric of this story. It is because of knowing this, that we were able to truly trust His plan and follow His lead. And knowing that the Lord is always in control gave us confidence and hope in the midst of the days ahead that held a lot of uncertainty and hardship as we began the process of bringing Samuel into our family. After we let the orphanage know we wanted to adopt him, we began the paper chase again. We visited Samuel everyday in the orphanage from 9-11:30 and from 3-5:30. Sometimes we only got to play with him in this hallway (there was a couch and a little slide thing)...

Some days were really fun, but other days were seriously challenging as we battled the language barrier, and much more. Samuel was confused I’m sure of why we came to see him even though his caretakers explained who we were. He tested us a lot and yet he was just absolutely adorable. We quickly fell in love with our son and were so thankful that God had finally led us to our first child!

to be continued

(I will finish up his story in the next few days and summarize bringing him into our family for good as well as what has gone on with him medically the last 3 years. Then I will open up the comments for any questions you guys might have!)

2 1/2 Years Old

This sassy little girl is 30 months old! I'm serious y'all...she is full of spunk and sass, and she is a handful!!! Ellie Kate is the silliest, funniest, sweetest, most dramatic, strong-willed, crazy, and lovable little girl.  

She loves her big brother and annoys her little sister to no end.  

Ellie Kate still does not know how to be gentle with Abigail.  She is all over her all the time and Abigail pretty much doesn't like it as you can tell in this pic! Ha!!!

The obsession at the moment, is babies.  Ellie Kate loves to play with her baby dolls and sleeps with every single one of them.  She is quite the little momma and sings to them, rocks them, feeds them, changes their diapers, etc.  It's so cute!  And, of course, the sassy little girl STILL loves shoes.  We are going to be in big trouble when she is a teenager.  I mean, she really has a thing for shoes.  It's hilarious! 

It's been 4 months since we began potty training and she still isn't 100% there.  To say it's been frustrating, would be an understatement.  I think she is getting a lot better, but she definitely likes to be in control of it so some days we do really well and other days, not so much.  She also still fights bedtime EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT (going on 6 months now).  Her newest thing is that she is scared of monsters.  That's what happens, I suppose, when you have a big brother. I don't think she even knows what a monster is, but whatever.  I'm pretty tired of dealing with her fits at bedtime and I'm not sure why she keeps it up...because we have never given in and she gets punished and I've always been a bedtime nazi...but like I said, she is strong willed and so she continues to fight us.  I'm just thankful the other 2 go down like a piece of cake. 

There is never a dull moment with Ellie Kate that is for sure! I love her to pieces and am so thankful for the fun little girl she is becoming! 

FYI - I PROMISE, I will finish Samuel's story tonight or tomorrow! 

Thursday Ramblings

Tuesday afternoon, I drug all 3 kids to the doctor for Abigail's 9 month check up.  Surprisingly, it went pretty smooth (I came prepared with suckers and other bribery).  Abs did great and is all around a healthy little girl!

9 Month Stats:

Weight - 19 lbs 2 oz (50%)

Height - 28 1/2 inches (75%)

Head Circ - 17 1/2 inches (50%)

Ellie Kate enjoyed some artistic expression yesterday by painting in the nude (she got undressed to go to the potty and then refused to put her dress and panties back on).  I did take a pictures of that, but it seemed a bit inappropriate (it was before the apron was on).  She had fun using her crayola beginnings set and splattering paint literally everywhere! 

This is what our family room looked like yesterday afternoon.  

We had about 10 students over with their laptops (it kind of looked like a Mac store:)) entering information into an online database.  Jeff and our staff, as well as our leadership students, have been hard at work the last few days meeting incoming freshman and other students at different things on campus.  The database will help us keep track of who indicated they were interested in learning more about our ministry and getting involved and even those who want to know more about a relationship with Christ.  It's an exciting time to be in a college town.  Tuscaloosa is buzzing with activity and we love it! 

In other random news, I sold some old gold jewelry last night and got $120 for just a few small things.  WOO HOO!!! Now, I'm scheming up other ways to make easy money out of things I have on hand.  I think I'm about to try ebay to sell some of the kids clothes that they have grown out of.  

Poor In Spirit

We recently started a sermon series at church on The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-11). Yesterday we studied what it meant when Jesus said "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Basically being poor in spirit is the opposite of self-sufficiency. It's recognizing that we are spiritual beggars in need of God's grace every single moment of every single day. Being poor in spirit speaks of a deep humility and recognizing one's utter spiritual bankruptcy apart from God. We carried on our study of the passage in our community group last night. Near the end of our group, the leader asked what things in life make us realize the most that we are poor in spirit...immediately I thought (and eventually said)...PARENTING! Nothing else in my life right now makes me realize my utter spiritual bankruptcy apart from God's redeeming grace in my life. It's humbling because I cannot parent my 3 wild and crazy kids without the Spirit in my life...and yet most every day (if I'm brutally honest) I really do try to do it in my own power...and then I blow it time and time again. I like to be self sufficient and act like I have it all together...but inside the walls of my house I don't have it together for one tiny second.

Take this week for example. Classes begin at UA so that means Jeff is super busy (translate...from last night until Thursday I'm pretty much on my own). I did my normal routine today which usually consists of:

-6:45am EK is the first to wake up
-make breakfast
-feed kids
-get samuel to school (jeff actually took him this am)
-clean up kitchen
-play with the girls
-take EK to potty (6 times to be exact...she was trying to poop)
-change Abigail's diaper and put her down for a nap
-try to figure out EK's 132nd meltdown of the morning
-wipe EK's runny nose and worry that she has already picked up her first illness one week into her preschool
-play with EK, check email for a minute
-get Abigail up
-take EK to potty (2 more times and we finally have success!!!)
-straighten up some in the kids rooms and let Abigail crawl after me whining for a few minutes until i realize it's 11:15 and she's hungry
-give Abigail her bottle
-make kids lunch
-feed kids lunch
-eat my own lunch while they watch pbs kids
-clean up kitchen
-put Abigail down for nap and hope EK doesn't destroy anything in Samuel's room or come in Abigails room and disrupt us
-put EK down for a nap (which means getting everything just right and having to go back into the room at least 2-3 times to redo my exit according to her 2 year old OCD demands)
-work on a blog makeover, check emails, read blogs
-wake girls up from nap so we can go pick Samuel up from school
-get home and play inside since it's raining today
-change more diapers, take EK to potty
-medaite between EK and Samuel's many disagreements
- serve snacks, feed Abigail her bottle
-listen to Abigail crawl around and whine for no apparent reason
- watch Imagination Movers (I sneak into facebook and a few blogs)
-mediate some more between EK and Samuel
-start dinner and get kids to help
-eat dinner
-give girls baths while Samuel organizes my tupperware cabinet
-clean up bathroom since there is now water everywhere from EK
-give Abigail bottle and hope EK and Samuel don't kill each other while they are downstairs alone (it sounds like this might be the case several times, but they end up okay)
-put Abigail to bed and come downstairs to see why there was so much screaming and throwing of the toys
-Abigail is currently screaming bloody murder
-Set kids up at table so Samuel can do his worksheet he didn't finish at school, while EK colors
-Go back up to tend to Abigail's wailing, rock her for awhile and put her down again
-Abigail is still screaming bloody murder
-Help Samuel finish his homework
-Try to get kids to play with some toys in family room
-Try to ignore Abigail still screaming bloody murder and Samuel telling me "Just go get her...she wants her mama" and EK telling me in a super whiny voice "Agail's crying. Agails crying. Maaamaaa...Aigail's crying"
-Send Samuel up to his room to get ready for bed
-Give EK some zyrtec hoping it will make her nose stop running so that I'm not up with her all night since she's probably getting sick
-Try to take her to potty and then start the trek upstairs all the while she is saying "Ellie Tate not go night night."
-Abigail is still screaming
-Read to EK, sing, and try to get her situated in bed. Have to redo my exit 3 times until it is to her satisfaction (she has a very specific way she likes for us to blow each other kisses as I leave her)
-Finally hear quiet coming from Abigail's room
-Go into Samuel and he wants to read from his new Bible that he got at Church yesterday so we do that and my heart is softened to see his fresh love for God and His word.
-put Samuel to bed and then go downstairs and collapse on the sofa ( I briefly thought about a glass of wine, but decided to use my weight watcher points on a bowl of cereal instead).

Yes, there is a point to my long list (and kudos to you if you actually read it all). While it certainly wasn't one of the worst days ever, it was a long day by myself with the kids. I did not handle the day with much graceful and patient mothering. I raised my voice. I did not point my kids to Christ. I did not depend on Christ myself. Days like today are like huge blaring megaphones in my ear...reminding me of my utter spiritual bankruptcy. I am a beggar in need of more grace. At the end of the day, I am humbled and in need of a Savior. I am so thankful that I do have Jesus and that he promised...

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:3

Suweet!!!

Ann over at HalesBelles gave me a blog award! She is always so sweet to comment on my posts, and I'm glad she enjoys my blog. Thanks girl!  Oh, and I'm not even sure how we found each other...I do love the blogworld and how that happens! 

Anyway, the rules are to list 5 Obsessions and then tag 5 People (I think I'm going to skip tagging 5 people just because I'm lazy today).  

So, you all can probably guess these but here goes...

1. My Camera (duh!!!)

2. Coffee (LOVE it)

3. Publix shopping (seeing how much I can save each week)

4. Blogs (I love reading friend blogs, photography blogs, mom blogs, decorating blogs, thrifty blogs...really it has replaced television shows for me.  Real life is so much more interesting)! 

5. My family (I really am obsessed with my kids and I have a pretty darn good husband too:))

A Little Comparison

I know I do this alot...but I came across a picture of Ellie Kate when she was 9 months old and I was BLOWN AWAY on how much she and Abigail resemble each other at this age!! 

Abigail is on the left and Ellie Kate on the right....

Samuel's Story - Part 4

Samuel's Story PART 1

Samuel's Story PART 2

Samuel's Story PART 3

We were picked up at the airport in Kiev, Ukraine by our facilitator with Lifeline, Ben. He was awesome and we could not have made it through our adoption without him!!! We actually even stayed at his flat in Kiev.

view from the flat

Pretty sweet, huh?

Our time in Ukraine really was an adventure. At the time, it was a nerve-wracking, faith testing, mind boggling adventure...but an adventure none the less. Eastern Europe is not very westernized, so not a lot of people speak English and not much around the capital city even is translated to English. But, we learned our way around...using the metro and figuring out a few words to be able to order food and much needed Coca Colas:). The first few days we were there, we got to sight see a bit. There are some beautiful old churches in Ukraine.

Not much else is really that pretty. Ukraine was part of the former Soviet Union and has only been independent since the 1990’s so you still see the mark of communism all around especially as you get out of the city.

Eventually, our much anticipated appointment with the National Adoption Center was upon us. October 31, 2005. The day we had written in our minds and hearts for months. The day we (and plenty of others) had been praying for.

The day we hoped to find Samuel.

Here we are all bundled up (it’s much colder in Ukraine than in the south) and ready to go in and find our son.

So, we went in with our translator and Ukrainian facilitator, Sasha. Sasha is truly amazing and had a lot of rapor with the officials. He was a funny guy too...and a pretty scary driver. Driving around town with him was an adventure in and of itself.

There were several other couples there too. All looking for children to welcome into their family. I was really hoping and praying that there was a file hiding somewhere that held the info for a healthy little 1 year old, blonde headed, blue eyed boy. That was the picture I held in my dreams. We knew to expect them to hand us the files of special needs kids first. We knew it might take a bit of negotiating and talking by Sasha for them to offer us the child we had requested in our Dossier (the official paperwork that we worked on in Part 2). We looked through notebook after notebook after notebook of children who suffered from all kinds of diseases. We saw sibling groups who needed a home...we saw teenage orphans who were about to be thrown out into the streets. Y’all, we saw it all. To say it was heartbreaking would be an understatement. The files represented real children....human souls...most of them would never know the love of a family...the love of Christ.

They kept pushing the file of a 6 year old little boy who was healthy besides a crossed eye. We kept saying no since we had only been married 4 1/2 year at the time. That just seemed weird to us to even consider him. Sasha continued to look through the notebooks. I was crying out (silently) to the Lord. Beseeching Him to answer our prayers. Beseeching him to move these officials to bring out the good file. That was what was supposed to happen! It was very frustrating. At some point, Sasha stopped briefly at a file that had a sticky note on it. He read the note and chuckled, then noticed that the child was from his hometown, about an hour away from Kiev. We asked Sasha what he was laughing at. He told us the sticky note informed us that the boy had just had surgery, but that he would live. It wasn’t really funny, but just the way it was worded so nonchalantly was what struck Sasha I suppose. He continued to read about the child out of curiosity and then set the file aside. After looking through many more pages, he came back to that file and turned to us.

“I think you should go see this boy.”

He told us that the surgery had been a heart surgery and that he had some sort of heart murmur. Having had a heart murmur myself as a child, I knew it had to be more serious than that. Sasha had the lady helping us call to find out more about the child. He was actually still in the hospital in Kiev and they felt like this child was pretty healthy aside from the heart issue. To us, heart issues seemed like a pretty big deal. We said thanks, but no thanks and moved on. 2 hours later, it was close to lunch and they were pressuring us about the 6 year old again. Sasha explained we had about 10 minutes before we had to leave and if we didn’t at least go see a child, we might not even get another appointment again for along time...if ever. SERIOUSLY?! It felt a bit hopeless and I was very close to tears...not to mention hungry myself (me and hungry don’t go well together). However, we really could feel the peace of Christ. His spirit sustained us and continued to guide us. We held fast to the words in Psalm 145:13 “The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all He has made.” God has called us on this journey and we remained confident that He would lead us to Samuel in His timing and His own unique way (that usually always brings Him the most glory).

So, we left the appointment without a referral. After getting in the car, Sasha again encouraged us to go see the boy who had just had the heart surgery. We trusted him so much and knew he was much more experienced in all this, so we finally said okay. He ran back in the building to set up a time for us to visit the child at the hospital.

to be continued

Okay, so it looks like there will be 2 more parts to the story. I’m sorry to keep leaving y’all hanging. I promise the next installment is when you will get to hear how we finally met Samuel!!!!

Her Turn!

Ellie Kate started her little K-2 preschool today (she's going 2 days a week this year).  To say she was excited is an understatement!!! She was so glad she could go to school like Samuel.  I can't believe how big she looks in these pictures.  My little girl is growing up!!! 

He's Off!

My big 1st grader before school this morning!

And here is a look at the last 3 years.  He is growing up so fast! 

preschool...kindy...1st grade

We got to school a little early (that's the type A OCD coming out in me) so we sat in the car and prayed that he would have a good day.  It was special moment.  We trust that the Lord has hand picked His teacher and is continuing to direct our precious Samuel's every step even when he is away from us at school.  

Weekend Fun!

It was a nice quiet weekend around here (thank goodness) - well, as quiet as it can be with 3 small kids.  We stayed busy though continuing to unpack and organize the house after being gone all summer.  I think I'm finally finished. Friday night we ate out with some friends and the kids were surprisingly pretty good.  It's always pretty chaotic when we try to eat out, and yet we still do it (who knows why).   

It's so stinkin hot in T-town.  I really miss the Colorado weather and I pretty much say it like every single day since we've been back!  The kids have been playing in our little pool a lot. Saturday, they had a blast playing pirates, "surfing", and playing under the "shower" Jeff rigged up. 

Abigail watched longingly from the door.  

We did eventually let her go out and splash around in a small plastic bin, but it didn't last long because Ellie Kate poured water all over the poor baby. 

Pepper crawled in the dryer after I had left it open after only getting a clean pair of panties out for EK (yes, she is still not fully potty trained after 3 months of working on it).  

We also played baseball in the backyard one evening.  I got some great hits and Samuel laughed at his silly daddy a lot (and got some really good hits too).  

The girls had fun swinging.

And today after church, Jeff took Samuel to Fan Day.  

They "got" to watch Alabama practice in Bryant Denny and then go down on the field afterwards for some autographs.  I'm glad I didn't go since it felt like it was 150 degrees outside. You couldn't have paid me to go.  Instead, I sat on my couch in the cool air conditioning and read a book while the girls slept.  It was heavenly.  I think Samuel would not have enjoyed it either but he found a friend and they played with her doll together (yes...you read that right...but he's still only 6 so we'll let it slide this time).  

School starts this week so we are back in the grind. 

Oh, and I think there will be 5 parts to Samuel's story.  I'll try to get the next one up soon:)

Samuel's Story-Part 3

Samuel's Story Part 1 HERE

Samuel's Story Part 2 HERE

On July 22, 2005 we were celebrating at Jennifer and Buddy’s (Jeff’s sister and soon to be brother-in-law) rehearsal dinner. My cell phone rang and it was Donna Houston (the Ukraine facilitator for Lifeline). She had exciting news for us!!!!! The National Adoption Center had granted us an appointment with them for October 31st! I was blown away.

We finally had a date.

In a way, it was like my very own due date at last. Ukraine, at the time, was a little different than most countries in that their adoptions were done by blind referrals. This meant that we wouldn’t get a referral until we set foot in country. Most other programs/countries send you a referral for a child before you travel. It was seriously a test of faith to do it this way and go all the way across the ocean to Eastern Europe and not even know who our child would be. We were pretty sure we would be getting a little boy so we named him. We chose the name Samuel Gibbs. Samuel comes from the Bible. It means “asked of God.” Much like Hannah in the Bible, (who named her first son Samuel after years of infertility) we had prayed so much and begged the Lord for a child. It seemed only fitting that His name be Samuel. Gibbs was my mother’s maiden name. Not only did we want our child to have a biblical name, we also wanted him to have a family name other than his last name. We chose Gibbs because much of our adoption expenses were paid for out of my grandfathers estate which settled the summer of 2005.

God provided in such cool ways to make Samuel’s adoption a reality. He truly raised up people who believed in what we were doing and had a desire to help. There was no way we could have funded this adoption on our own.

So, from July to October, we stayed super busy. I had baby showers and we prepared the cutest little cowboy nursery you ever did see.

precious friends who grew up with me threw me such a nice shower in Atlanta

(Carey, Dani, me, Rachael, and Jaillene)

my sweet sweet college friends threw me and Kelly (who was also adopting) such a fun couples shower in Birmingham

(Deborah, Meredith, me, Kelly, Julia, Sarah, and Susie)

SAMUEL'S ROOM

It was exciting to FINALLY be getting ready to welcome a child into our home. I loved walking into his room and imagining what it would be like to have Samuel home. I loved installing the carseat and looking back into my car, wondering what it would be like to finally be a mom running errands around town with him in tow. I loved washing and folding all his little clothes and dreaming of a little blond headed, blue eyed boy. It was truly surreal.

As the time approached, I began to get kind of nervous. The news out of Ukraine was a little unsteady. It seemed that it was getting harder and harder to get a young healthy child. Still, we prayed to that end. We prayed that the Lord would lead us to exactly the child He wanted for our family. We prayed it would be smooth and easy and that he would be healthy. After all, we were first time parents and weren’t sure of what we could handle. We read all kinds of books about adoption and knew the reality of what we could face bringing a child who had been institutionalized into our home. We knew about attachment disorders, fetal alcohol syndrome, behavioral problems, learning disabilities, etc. God had assured us though that this was the path for us and surprisingly we really weren’t worried about any of the issues we might face.

So, the day finally arrived.

We boarded the plane in Atlanta on October 28, 2005 and arrived in Kiev, Ukraine about 10 hours later. The adventure had begun!!!!

to be continued