OH MY GOSH!

So this morning i was being lazy. I got up and started getting Hudson ready for school and then tag-teamed Daren and he drove him to school. I proceeded to get back in bed and lay there. Falling in and out of sleep I felt Max crawl in the bed with me and we both laid there wondering if we were going to sleep in on this rainey morning or get up and be productive. It was unanimous and staying in the bed won. After breakfast in bed, chai tea in bed, watching cartoons in bed, reading my Bible in bed and checking my facebook and twitter in bed i finally got out of bed. I gave Max the "mommy's gonna get in the shower so dont do anything you are not supposed to do" spill. As i was heading into the bathroom the phone rang....it was the area code i had been waiting for! I answered and it was the sweet lady from Holt adoption agency and she called with great news! She told me that it had been confirmed for us to be at the Oct 21st meeting in Thailand. I believe my response was "OH MY GOSH!" We covered a few topics about traveling and expected dates to arrive and leave, things of that nature and that was it.

So after 20+ months of waiting here we are 3 weeks away from meeting our baby girl. I cant believe it. What is she going to look like in person? Is she going to like us or be scared to death of us? How will the foster family react to us? How will we be able to express our gratitude and thankfulness to them? What will Reese smell like? Will it freak her out that we cant communicate with her verbally? Will we have to hold her all the time or will she want to walk and explore? Will she even want us to hold her? Will she accept me? Will she accept Daren? Will our days in Thailand, my child native home, be filled with excitement and joy or pain and tears. How do you take in everything about the culture and beauty of the country in a few short days so that you can tell her about it for years to come?

I dont know the answer to any of these questions but i have a God who does! He created the universe and the galaxies and the stars and earth, the cells and atoms, protons and electrons. He created me and he formed me and He purposed me for this specific event! Before time existed He chose me to be the mother of a little girl born on the other side of the earth. How can I NOT trust someone who loves me and knows me so intimately?

I will never understand Gods love for me but i bet after holding Reese and making her a part of our family, that i will see His love in a new way. And that is what i long for!

Final Update of Reese

So I had been praying and asking God for the Thailand board meeting of October 21. I want with all my heart for God to bring Reese into our home in His perfect timing. However I am also longing to hold my baby in my arms and watch Daren with his "little girl" and see how the boys are going to like being big brothers.

Well days came and went and more waiting was the name of the game. On Wednesday Sept 16th I got an email from Holt saying that unfortunately we were not going to be able to travel in October but it was hopeful for November. This email also came with a final update on Reese with new pictures. So while I was disappointed I was excited about seeing how much she had grown and how she was developing.

I have not stopped lookin at the pictures of Reese. I study them and try to read into her personality and wonder what she is like. As I was siiting in the pick up line at Hudson's school today my phone rang and it was Daren. I answered and he said "well it looks like we are tentatively traveling to Thailand for the Oct 21st meeting." My response was "SHUT-UP!" We got an email telling us that we were possibly traveling and I could not believe it! We will have to wait(what's new) till the end of next week for confirmation.

Reality is setting in yet at the same time it still doesnt seem real.

Either way God is who he says He is and i believe He will do what He has promised to do!

1st update of Reese

Reese is the name that we chose for this sweet baby girl. Her Thai name is Raronrun, yea thats what we thought too. That may not work well here in the ol USofA much less Arkansas. So Reese it is. The Jury is still out on her middle name.

About 6-8 weeks after we recieved her referral we got another update. We were blown away at how much she had changed. She wasn't a baby anymore she was a toddler.

We have been able to send her little packages with small gifts and a photo album with family pictures in it. She turned 1 on July 26th so we had a little birthday party for her. The guests were me, Daren, Hudson and Max. we decorated with a pink table cloth and pink plates with pink cupcakes. We got her a baby doll and an interactive tea set. After we all shared what we were excited about concerning Reese we prayed for her and ate her hot pink cupcakes.

When i try to imagine what it is going to be like traveling to get her and then bringing her home i get lost in my thoughts and overwhelmed because its hard to imagine. I have nothing to compare this to. The journey of adoption is just that a journey. My faith has been stretched my prayer life has deepened and God has shown me so much about myself and Him that i never knew. It has been exciting, heartbreaking, joyful, emotional, rewarding, scary, refreshing, nerve wracking and fun. I'm not doing it justice with my descriptions but if you want to be apart of God's glory this is an awesome way .

Reese

In January 08 we applied to adopt a little girl from Thailand with the Holt International adoption agency. After 14 months of paperwork and waiting and then more paperwork and more waitng we finally got a referral for a little girl that was 8 months old. We were given a few days to decide if she was the little girl for us. After a lot of prayer and talking we had decided that this was the little girl that God wanted in our family. At this point we had not seen her picture, we had only read her profile and medical reports. After seeing her sweet little face we most definately knew she was meant for us. Daren and I both said "thats our baby."

First Post

Hey, this the first post.