When the going gets tough...

We knew it would be hard, but how can it be THIS hard?
We knew we would wait, but we didn't know how heartbreaking the wait would be...

When hands are pried open…

If you missed Part 1 be sure to get caught up!


We thought our hands were open and willing to receive anything God had for us when we started down this path.  After all, with Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) there are no guarantees when it comes to race or age or gender or sibling group size.  That was all fine with us, we were ready to rejoice and toil in God's perfect plan for our family.  But then we started to see a story unfold and our hands began to wrap around this one ideal, this one path, this one outcome, this idea that we knew exactly what was coming down the pipe, and our house of cards was stacking up nicely…but, God had a different plan, a better plan.

Why adopt?

The past year and a half have been a beautiful blur…engagement, marriage, honeymoon, moving to a new position at work, starting the process of becoming Foster/Adoptive parents (still ongoing), and purchasing and settling into (and fixing up) our new (to us) home has been amazing, crazy, and (sometimes) exhausting!  I am so thankful for the story God continues to write with me and that he saw fit to bring my story together with my husband's.  I remember when a friend of mine got married several years ago and she profoundly said that she saw their marriage as taking her ministry and his ministry and joining it to be better together than it could ever have been apart.  It took me this full 1.5 years of excitement and emotion to clearly see what our marriage ministry is…adoption! 

Confession for all and all for confession...

Jonathan Edwards' Resolution Number 8:
Resolved, to act, in all respects, both speaking and doing, as if nobody had been so vile as I, and as if I had committed the same sins, or had the same infirmities or failings as others; and that I will let the knowledge of their failings promote nothing but shame in my self, and prove only an occasion of my confessing my own sins and misery to God.


At first pass this particular resolution reminds me of two biblical figures, Paul and Daniel...

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

Jonathan Edwards' Resolution Number 7:
"Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life."


There are decisions we make all throughout our day...choices to get out of bed, what to eat/drink, what to wear, how we will make it to our next destination, how we will respond to people's actions and words...the list goes on infinitely.  But are we fully aware of these as choices or do we treat them as habits, life necessities that are not given much consideration?  What choices really matter?  If this was the last hour of my life would I take what I eat for lunch more or less seriously...

Live free...

Jonathan Edwards' Resolution #6:
Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.


I have been asked before which one of Edwards' resolutions is my favorite and this one typically comes to mind.  I mean, come on!  "Live with all my might!"  Doesn't it just make you want to flex your muscles and get out there and DO something?!?! 

Good to the last drop...

Jonathan Edwards' Resolution Number 5:
Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.

Preparing for a wedding has been, at times, overwhelmingly busy!  I keep asking people to pray for me to really enjoy this season...with only a 4 month engagement I knew it would fly past us and I would be tempted to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of planning, losing sweet moments with the man of my dreams.