Knowing and being Known

It seems that the holiday season always brings up memories (good and bad) of Christmases past. While decorating our tree I hung a painted sand dollar ornament that my dad gave to me the year after my parents separated. Surprisingly enough, I have fond memories of that Christmas. You see, my dad bought gifts for me, all by himself....and he got me all the things I loved. A puzzle, a book, a 'cat themed' ornament, and other stuff,I don't remember (I am no longer into cats...if anyone cares). I remember feeling known...and isn't that what we want when we receive a gift? We want the giver to know us. We don't want a sweater our grandmother would wear or a strange statue of Santa Clause.

I like to shop with this same attitude. And if I don't really know you, you're getting a gift card (sorry to spoil the surprise). I want my gift to say, "I know you," or "I like you enough to get you a gift card." I take the pressure off myself and you're not stuck trying to return an awful sweater. It's a win win!

Seriously, it's nice to look back at an awkward Christmas with a smile. Thanks dad, for knowing me.

So much to be thankful for...

One year ago today, we drove our little princessa home from the hospital. I'm pretty sure about 10 minutes after we got home, I sent Adam to the pharmacy for her iron and vitamins and then proceeded to call my friend Amber and cry. "What were we doing?" "This is not a sure thing." "What if her mom decides to get her stuff together and we lose her?" Suddenly, having this little baby in our house was reality and ALL my fears came to the surface.

I don't remember what else happened that evening. We obviously fed her, changed her diaper and probably stared at her incessantly...wait that sounds just like today! :) What an amazing year you have given us Lucy Bear. We love you!!

Lucy's First Birthday!

Sorry....still no pics of Lucy...but I had to share some pics of the decorations and party! We had a "woodland" theme.


The stuffed owl was my one splurge item!


Granny came in August and helped make our Birthday Banner with her cricut.



I got these adorable favor boxes from Memorable Favors and put bird seed inside.



And of course the cake from Frosted.

We had a great time and hopefully next year you'll actually get to see a pic of the star of the show

Realities of Foster Care

With the impending visit from Lucy's social worker tomorrow, I was prompted to relay one really harsh reality of fostering - APPOINTMENTS. Not once a month, no, not twice a month....but practically every week and sometimes twice a week we have an appointment with someone, simply because Lucy is in foster care. I have become a regular social secretary.

Lucy has had 7 appointments in the last 6 weeks, and has 4 more in the next 2 weeks. I appreciate that the court believes that these kids need multiple advocates to ensure they don't get lost in the system. I appreciate that Lucy is eligible for WIC and I don't have to buy formula. I appreciate that Lucy has health care that is paid for by the state. But all of these state run agencies are required to see my child WAY more often than necessary! Remember the dentist appointment? I still need to call and schedule her one year check up. yay.

Guest Blogger

Hey everyone!

Check out my guest blog today at http://foster2forever.blogspot.com/

Can you believe it?!? Me either!

Saying Yes

Throughout our marriage Adam and I have generally been quick to say yes to the direction we feel like we're being led. It helps when the first major decision you make as a couple is to move away from home to help with a church plant. (We had been married about a minute and were the ripe old age of 20.)

And so, we set the course for our marriage. We are getting ready to embark on our 12th move in 13 years, we once owned a conversion van...with no kids, we started an adoption process to only watch it end in failure, we are now in the middle of an open CPS adoption and we're ready for a call to take 2 or 3 more. This by no means makes us some special breed of human....really you could surmise from these few facts that we're young and naive. It truly is God's grace and mercy that has made each crazy decision we've made work out. And I'll even say He gave us these crazy ideas. We've said no enough times to know that yes is much less scary.