Today I find myself feeling overwhelmed with thankfulness. God is so good. I have this whole week off of work for the Thanksgiving holiday (I know, amazing!!). So today I had some errands I had to run. Normally this wouldn't fill one's heart with gratitude. The thought of running from place to place, buckling and unbuckling car seats, hungry kids, little boys who miss their nap, little girls who like to antagonize said little boy, you get my point. Most moms cringe at the though of these days, usually I do to. But today I realized that all of the errands that I had to run were because my God has blessed my family so much!!
My first errand was to the bank to make several different deposits. I had to make a deposit for the Pampered Chef party that I just closed out. It was my biggest party yet! I was so excited about the amazing response that I had toward this show!! I also had to deposit my paycheck and Jayson's paycheck. We both have jobs and are able to work. God has provided extra income through The Pampered Chef, and blessed my work through it!! Praise Him!
Then we had to go and do my most favorite errand of the day, we got to submit the first 1/3 of our Home Study paperwork to the agency!!! While I was there, the office manager said that she would call us in a couple of days to schedule our first training and our first meeting with our social worker. But while I was packing up the kids to go, she called me over and said "How about we just get you all scheduled now?" I was so excited!! The training is a week from Saturday, and our meeting is a week from today!! I had to contact my boss and see if I could get the day off and she got right back to me saying that I could! I am so thankful for such a supportive work place. I have been blessed with my job, boss, and coworkers who have all been so excited and supportive of our adoption.
After this we went over and had a good visit with Jayson's grandparents. They are such sweet people who have been a blessing to me. The kids love going to their house and visiting.
Our last errand of the day was to pick up some craft supplies because we have some sweet friends coming over tomorrow for a play date and lunch! These friends are about to finalize on their adoption of their sweet little boy. I am so excited to get to pick her brain about the whole process!! Ava and Ryan are excited to have friends over.
I am ending my evening with one of my friends coming to dinner and having a movie night! We both have a deep love and devotion to good popcorn, so we are going to indulge tonight!!
-Andrea
Monday, November 25, 2013
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Sooooo... What are you doing?
I decided to do a blog post about what our current plans actually are. I have received this question from several different people and thought that this might be the easiest way to answer this question. I don't actually know if that many people are reading this blog, but I figured it was worth a shot :).
We are currently pursuing adoption through the agency or through private adoption. We are also doing foster care for the sake of doing foster care. If the child that God has picked out for our family comes through foster care, that would be great! But we also understand that the primary focus of foster care is to reunite the children with their birth families when they are able to do so. I read on an adoption blog who was quoting another adoption blog (how's that for confusing?) that God never designed this child for our family. He designed them to be with their birth family. We are a distant plan B. This makes sense to me. We are seeking to adopt a child because we know that we are meeting a need for the birth family, and for the child. We are leaving our options open as to how this will happen because we just don't know how it is going to happen.
So, for the time being we are still pursuing our adoption home study through the agency, A New Beginning. We are also pursuing our foster licensing through the state of Idaho so that we can do foster care. We are preparing for the situation where we would be placed through the agency because that is the "worst case" scenario as far as how much money is involved. Not that it is the scenario we don't want, we just want to make sure that we have made every effort to plan for that so that if that time comes, we can write the check and leave the hospital with our new little one!
That being said, we have sort of taken to selling everything from Pampered Chef, to re-purposed drinking glasses, to our possessions. We just sold our living room furniture. A friend made the comment the other day "I like your furniture, have you ever thought about selling it?" I know she meant this jokingly and we laughed about it and moved on with the conversation. But then I just couldn't get the comment out of my mind. We could buy something cheap to replace it and put the extra in our adoption fund... So I asked Jayson thinking he would tell me I was nuts and that would be the end of it. Much to my surprise, he was all excited about the idea! So now I am sitting here looking at an empty room with a freshly washed floor (because I really had no excuse not wash it now), pondering this new development.
I think my mom thinks we are crazy :). We probably are. But, if in the next few months you find yourself thinking "Self, I wish I had _____. I wonder where I could get it cheap?" Try giving us a call, we may have it and be willing to sell it to you :).
-Andrea
We are currently pursuing adoption through the agency or through private adoption. We are also doing foster care for the sake of doing foster care. If the child that God has picked out for our family comes through foster care, that would be great! But we also understand that the primary focus of foster care is to reunite the children with their birth families when they are able to do so. I read on an adoption blog who was quoting another adoption blog (how's that for confusing?) that God never designed this child for our family. He designed them to be with their birth family. We are a distant plan B. This makes sense to me. We are seeking to adopt a child because we know that we are meeting a need for the birth family, and for the child. We are leaving our options open as to how this will happen because we just don't know how it is going to happen.
So, for the time being we are still pursuing our adoption home study through the agency, A New Beginning. We are also pursuing our foster licensing through the state of Idaho so that we can do foster care. We are preparing for the situation where we would be placed through the agency because that is the "worst case" scenario as far as how much money is involved. Not that it is the scenario we don't want, we just want to make sure that we have made every effort to plan for that so that if that time comes, we can write the check and leave the hospital with our new little one!
That being said, we have sort of taken to selling everything from Pampered Chef, to re-purposed drinking glasses, to our possessions. We just sold our living room furniture. A friend made the comment the other day "I like your furniture, have you ever thought about selling it?" I know she meant this jokingly and we laughed about it and moved on with the conversation. But then I just couldn't get the comment out of my mind. We could buy something cheap to replace it and put the extra in our adoption fund... So I asked Jayson thinking he would tell me I was nuts and that would be the end of it. Much to my surprise, he was all excited about the idea! So now I am sitting here looking at an empty room with a freshly washed floor (because I really had no excuse not wash it now), pondering this new development.
I think my mom thinks we are crazy :). We probably are. But, if in the next few months you find yourself thinking "Self, I wish I had _____. I wonder where I could get it cheap?" Try giving us a call, we may have it and be willing to sell it to you :).
-Andrea
Friday, November 15, 2013
Baby's First Present
I had the opportunity to go to Winter Jam last night with two lovely ladies. It's because of sweet young girls like them, that give me hope for the world that my kids will be growing up in. They are kind, courteous, pure, compassionate, energetic, loving, and precious. I had so much fun with them!
Ironically (or maybe not so ironically) the ministry focus of the evening was adoption. They were featuring Holt International which is an international adoption and child sponsoring agency. They talked about the beauty of adoption and how God has planned for adoption to meet the needs of His children. Needless to say, I cried frequently, although I tried to hide it from the girls :).
The evening was an amazing night of worship. I love feeling God move in such a huge crowd of people. This is surely a glimpse of Heaven. Many, many different people gathered together worshiping the one, true God. The lights, the loud music, the intensity was what my soul needed. I know that God is not in the storm and the noise, but I couldn't help but think last night "Doesn't my God deserve this? Isn't He worthy of such a performance?" YES!! It's important to find God in the quiet and meet with Him there, but I think it is also appropriate to give Him such a huge display!
One of the performers was Plumb. She is truly gifted and I love her voice. She created an album of lullabies and sweet songs for her babies. Each of our children has had their own music that we have played for them as they fall asleep. So I picked up her lullaby album for our sweet little one. I can't wait to hold that sweet thing in my arms and rock them to sleep as we listen to those songs together. I can remember picking out a gift for each of my children before they made their entrance into our family. I am so excited to give this to our new little one.
-Andrea
Ironically (or maybe not so ironically) the ministry focus of the evening was adoption. They were featuring Holt International which is an international adoption and child sponsoring agency. They talked about the beauty of adoption and how God has planned for adoption to meet the needs of His children. Needless to say, I cried frequently, although I tried to hide it from the girls :).
The evening was an amazing night of worship. I love feeling God move in such a huge crowd of people. This is surely a glimpse of Heaven. Many, many different people gathered together worshiping the one, true God. The lights, the loud music, the intensity was what my soul needed. I know that God is not in the storm and the noise, but I couldn't help but think last night "Doesn't my God deserve this? Isn't He worthy of such a performance?" YES!! It's important to find God in the quiet and meet with Him there, but I think it is also appropriate to give Him such a huge display!
One of the performers was Plumb. She is truly gifted and I love her voice. She created an album of lullabies and sweet songs for her babies. Each of our children has had their own music that we have played for them as they fall asleep. So I picked up her lullaby album for our sweet little one. I can't wait to hold that sweet thing in my arms and rock them to sleep as we listen to those songs together. I can remember picking out a gift for each of my children before they made their entrance into our family. I am so excited to give this to our new little one.
-Andrea
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
"You're Gonna Buy A Baby!?"
I had to take a second before I could respond to these words that were uttered by a teen in my youth group last week. He said them with a smile on his face, but from my perspective, it couldn't be any less than true. To a degree, I am going to sacrifice emotionally and financially to bring a new member into my family.
Everything comes with a cost. In accounting (which I got a B minus in, so I make no guarantees on the accuracy of this information), I learned about a concept known as opportunity cost. Every choice you make entails an opportunity cost; that cost is whatever you give up for the sake of making that decision. If I choose to eat at Subway, my opportunity cost is every other restaurant I could have chose to eat at. If I go to the gym, my opportunity cost is sitting at home eating ice cream. Every choice we make comes with a cost. Some of them are insignificant, while others can have great impacts on you and those close to you.
What are the opportunity costs of adoption? What am I willing to sacrifice for the opportunity to bring someone in to my family that has no blood ties? What things must I put off today and for the near future to make this possible? What must my children give up to bring a new sibling into our home?
As I struggle to find the answers to these questions, my mind turns towards alleviating the sacrifice and increasing the assets. If I can come up with ways to increase our liquid assets, I can ask less of my young family. Life can go on as "normal", if you will, while we seek to meet the challenges that lie ahead.
So we are being proactive. Andrea has busted out her Pampered Chef apron, and the cooking parties are back in full force. If you have ever had the food they make at those parties, it is a cause for excitement in and of itself. I have dabbled in making drinking glasses out of bottles, but this month I am going to try to sell them at a Craft Bazaar at a local school. I am picking up odd jobs and general labor, whatever I can do to supplement what we already have. And I am praying. Praying that God provides not only for our financial needs, but for wisdom, power, and courage as we go through this process. I know that even when my checkbook holds little, I have a direct line to the guy that made everything. He is looking out for us, and he will take care of us. He is so good.
-Jayson
Everything comes with a cost. In accounting (which I got a B minus in, so I make no guarantees on the accuracy of this information), I learned about a concept known as opportunity cost. Every choice you make entails an opportunity cost; that cost is whatever you give up for the sake of making that decision. If I choose to eat at Subway, my opportunity cost is every other restaurant I could have chose to eat at. If I go to the gym, my opportunity cost is sitting at home eating ice cream. Every choice we make comes with a cost. Some of them are insignificant, while others can have great impacts on you and those close to you.
What are the opportunity costs of adoption? What am I willing to sacrifice for the opportunity to bring someone in to my family that has no blood ties? What things must I put off today and for the near future to make this possible? What must my children give up to bring a new sibling into our home?
As I struggle to find the answers to these questions, my mind turns towards alleviating the sacrifice and increasing the assets. If I can come up with ways to increase our liquid assets, I can ask less of my young family. Life can go on as "normal", if you will, while we seek to meet the challenges that lie ahead.
So we are being proactive. Andrea has busted out her Pampered Chef apron, and the cooking parties are back in full force. If you have ever had the food they make at those parties, it is a cause for excitement in and of itself. I have dabbled in making drinking glasses out of bottles, but this month I am going to try to sell them at a Craft Bazaar at a local school. I am picking up odd jobs and general labor, whatever I can do to supplement what we already have. And I am praying. Praying that God provides not only for our financial needs, but for wisdom, power, and courage as we go through this process. I know that even when my checkbook holds little, I have a direct line to the guy that made everything. He is looking out for us, and he will take care of us. He is so good.
-Jayson
Sunday, November 10, 2013
My soul doth magnify the Lord!
I have now started writing and deleted this post three times. I am not sure how to accurately portray and give credit to the things and people that have helped us the last few days. One thing is clear, we have amazing friends and family. I would like to tell you details of all of the things that have happened, but I also want to protect their privacy.
But I do want to tell you about today. We have another family in our church who is currently fostering and are hoping to be able to adopt one day. We have really bonded over this shared experience and we just love them and their adorable kids. We had the opportunity to go to the alter with them today and have our church family lift us up in prayer asking for the Lord to bless our adventure. It was such a powerful moment and the Spirit of the Lord was heavy.
Let me back up a few days and give some background information. One of the things that Jayson and I have been working on is trying to figure out the first financial payment that we needed to come up with to complete the first big step in the process. We figured out different ways that we could come up with it and although things were going to be quite tight, we felt good about it. We had decided that we were not going to ask people to help us financially through this process. We have no issues with other people doing it, and do not feel that there is anything wrong with that, we just didn't feel like it was right for us. We just want people to pray for us. We have also been looking at a couple different options to bring in more income. So that leads me back to today.
As we were praying I just felt God's reassurance once again that He had this, He would provide for us. I left the prayer time feeling so good about everything, so at peace. After this prayer time I was approached by someone from our church who we have known forever and is a friend of the family. They were asking about the process and where we were at in all of it. I was more than willing to answer because I love talking about it all :). This person then told me that they feel that they should help out and told me to sign them up for x-amount of dollars. I quickly assured them that we weren't asking people to donate any money, but they told me to stop. This is what they felt the Lord wanted them to do. Folks, it was the exact amount we needed. I just stared. I didn't know quite what to say so I just hugged this person and said thank-you. I felt God smiling at me and saying "See, I've got this." He is so good. I have been a big ball baby all day when I think about this.
To me this is just another assurance that we are where God wants us to be. Please continue to pray for us. We just turned in our application to foster care and are excited to get all the balls rolling at the same time!
-Andrea
But I do want to tell you about today. We have another family in our church who is currently fostering and are hoping to be able to adopt one day. We have really bonded over this shared experience and we just love them and their adorable kids. We had the opportunity to go to the alter with them today and have our church family lift us up in prayer asking for the Lord to bless our adventure. It was such a powerful moment and the Spirit of the Lord was heavy.
Let me back up a few days and give some background information. One of the things that Jayson and I have been working on is trying to figure out the first financial payment that we needed to come up with to complete the first big step in the process. We figured out different ways that we could come up with it and although things were going to be quite tight, we felt good about it. We had decided that we were not going to ask people to help us financially through this process. We have no issues with other people doing it, and do not feel that there is anything wrong with that, we just didn't feel like it was right for us. We just want people to pray for us. We have also been looking at a couple different options to bring in more income. So that leads me back to today.
As we were praying I just felt God's reassurance once again that He had this, He would provide for us. I left the prayer time feeling so good about everything, so at peace. After this prayer time I was approached by someone from our church who we have known forever and is a friend of the family. They were asking about the process and where we were at in all of it. I was more than willing to answer because I love talking about it all :). This person then told me that they feel that they should help out and told me to sign them up for x-amount of dollars. I quickly assured them that we weren't asking people to donate any money, but they told me to stop. This is what they felt the Lord wanted them to do. Folks, it was the exact amount we needed. I just stared. I didn't know quite what to say so I just hugged this person and said thank-you. I felt God smiling at me and saying "See, I've got this." He is so good. I have been a big ball baby all day when I think about this.
To me this is just another assurance that we are where God wants us to be. Please continue to pray for us. We just turned in our application to foster care and are excited to get all the balls rolling at the same time!
-Andrea
Friday, November 8, 2013
Hmmmm...
There really is nothing new to report as we go through the process. Nothing as far as the process or paperwork that is, but I feel myself thinking about all the things that have to be done and the glorious prize at the end. We have talked to the kids about the adoption and how it is going to take a long time and how we need to start praying for the baby that God has designed for our family. Ava is all about this! She has decided she not only wants a girl baby, she wants a boy baby too. I am not sure she fully understands :). She also thinks we need to hurry up and get this baby so that we can take him/her to Disneyland. I love her sweet spirit. Ryan really doesn't get it. He really has no response whatsoever, but I know that he will love the baby once he/she is home. He has really attached to one of the babies in the nursery and gets excited to read her stories. I love praying with them about their new sibling, it's precious.
I have also been thinking about how excited we all are about this new addition to our family. We (Jayson and myself) are also excited about God's leading, there is just something so peaceful about being right where you are supposed to be and knowing it. But God has been reminding me that for our joy, there is great pain on the other side of the situation. Whether we end up adopting an infant from a birth momma who cannot care for the baby herself, or whether we adopt through foster care (yes we are looking at different options thanks to some friends who have offered some tips and advice :) ), there is sadness and pain for them. I have found myself spending more of my prayer time asking God to be with those people. Whether their child is up for adoption by choice or not, it will hurt. It will hurt badly. Please pray for them with me.
Another thing I have noticed about the process thus far is that there is no real wrong way to adopt. There are so many different avenues, I feel a little slow that I am not figuring them out more quickly. I am thankful for all of my friends and family who have offered advice and insight, PLEASE KEEP IT COMING!!
I see busy times ahead for this family with all of the trainings and home studies we will be doing. Please continue to pray for us, for our new little one, and for their birth family.
-Andrea
I have also been thinking about how excited we all are about this new addition to our family. We (Jayson and myself) are also excited about God's leading, there is just something so peaceful about being right where you are supposed to be and knowing it. But God has been reminding me that for our joy, there is great pain on the other side of the situation. Whether we end up adopting an infant from a birth momma who cannot care for the baby herself, or whether we adopt through foster care (yes we are looking at different options thanks to some friends who have offered some tips and advice :) ), there is sadness and pain for them. I have found myself spending more of my prayer time asking God to be with those people. Whether their child is up for adoption by choice or not, it will hurt. It will hurt badly. Please pray for them with me.
Another thing I have noticed about the process thus far is that there is no real wrong way to adopt. There are so many different avenues, I feel a little slow that I am not figuring them out more quickly. I am thankful for all of my friends and family who have offered advice and insight, PLEASE KEEP IT COMING!!
I see busy times ahead for this family with all of the trainings and home studies we will be doing. Please continue to pray for us, for our new little one, and for their birth family.
-Andrea
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Once upon a time...
I was adopted. Not by my earthly parents, but by my Heavenly Father. He grafted me into His family. He loved me. I believe that through the story of God, we find a map of how to live our lives. Jayson and I always knew that one day we would grow our family through biological children and adoptive children. We looked into the possibility of adoption before we had Ryan, but we just didn't feel like God was giving us the go ahead. He wanted us to have Ryan first. As we have prayed over our family and the direction that God wants us to go, we both felt God's gentle nudge that now was the time. He was ready for us to adopt, and He was going to provide the way to do it.
So Jayson and I started talking about it and praying about it and we both felt this is where we needed to be. But where do you start?! I had NO idea what to do or who to call. So I did what any normal, technologically inundated person does now, I Googled it. I found an agency called A New Beginning located in Boise and I emailed them and asked them what we needed to do. We got signed up for an orientation class and we went.
Before we got out of the car last night to go into the meeting, we prayed. We prayed that God would have his hand on us. That God would direct our path, closing doors that He didn't want us to go through and opening doors that He did want us to go through. We also prayed that what one of us felt Him saying, the other would feel as well. I was so nervous. Jayson, well Jayson was Jayson. Not much shakes him :) . We went in and introduced ourselves and we sat for the next hour and a half listening to what this whole process would entail. It is crazy. Just, crazy.
At this point in time we are pursuing a domestic infant adoption. The cost is approximately $22,000. I am a teacher. Jayson is a pastor. Our God is big. When I said that not much shakes Jayson, there are a few things. One of the things that gets under his skin quickly is not having a sound financial plan. But we both feel God telling us to step out in faith, He will provide a way.
The phrase "it takes a village to raise a child" has always been one that we have whole heartedly agreed with. Especially when the Lord blessed us with Ryan :). But it has different meaning to us now. We would like to ask our "village" to continually lift our family up in your prayers. Pray for God's guidance and wisdom. Pray that He speaks clearly to Jayson and me. Pray that He provides a means to adopt this precious, new member of our family. Pray for His will in our lives. Thank you, for being our village. We love you.
-Andrea
So Jayson and I started talking about it and praying about it and we both felt this is where we needed to be. But where do you start?! I had NO idea what to do or who to call. So I did what any normal, technologically inundated person does now, I Googled it. I found an agency called A New Beginning located in Boise and I emailed them and asked them what we needed to do. We got signed up for an orientation class and we went.
Before we got out of the car last night to go into the meeting, we prayed. We prayed that God would have his hand on us. That God would direct our path, closing doors that He didn't want us to go through and opening doors that He did want us to go through. We also prayed that what one of us felt Him saying, the other would feel as well. I was so nervous. Jayson, well Jayson was Jayson. Not much shakes him :) . We went in and introduced ourselves and we sat for the next hour and a half listening to what this whole process would entail. It is crazy. Just, crazy.
At this point in time we are pursuing a domestic infant adoption. The cost is approximately $22,000. I am a teacher. Jayson is a pastor. Our God is big. When I said that not much shakes Jayson, there are a few things. One of the things that gets under his skin quickly is not having a sound financial plan. But we both feel God telling us to step out in faith, He will provide a way.
The phrase "it takes a village to raise a child" has always been one that we have whole heartedly agreed with. Especially when the Lord blessed us with Ryan :). But it has different meaning to us now. We would like to ask our "village" to continually lift our family up in your prayers. Pray for God's guidance and wisdom. Pray that He speaks clearly to Jayson and me. Pray that He provides a means to adopt this precious, new member of our family. Pray for His will in our lives. Thank you, for being our village. We love you.
-Andrea
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