What a busy and amazing week this has been. Our week started off Sunday at church with sanctity of life Sunday. Our friends Benji and Gina Harmon gave their testimony of their adoption journey and our associate pastor's sermon was also about adoption and their adoption experience of five children. It is just so amazing how all this has unfolded from when we mailed our application December 18th. We went to church two days after our application had been in the mail to hear Pastor Steve preach on adoption . He based his sermon from scripture in Ephesians 1:5-6. It says, "In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves." He also referenced a book, Adopted for Life, by Russell D. Moore. It is a great book! I have never heard our relationship with God put this way. Wow! We are his Children! He loved us so much he adopted us! After we were in the car leaving church I asked Nat do you doubt this now? We were both speechless. Last Sunday the scripture was from the book of James. It says, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." It is our duty to look after orphans. Sometimes I ask myself, why me and Nat? But mom quickly put me in my place and said,"Why not you."

Nat and I are helping support Josephs Hope Foundation. Our friends, Benji and Gina, that I mentioned above have started this all on their own. It is named after their two adopted children from Korea. This foundation will support families with financial assistance to be able to adopt. The cost of adoption has continued to rise unfortunately. Many take out loans to adopt. Giving a child a home becomes a financial burden. I encourage you to go to the website and check it out. Unlike many foundations, 100% of the money brought in will go straight to families who are in the adoption process. Not only can you give but there are raffles to win awesome prizes and it is all tax deductible. There is also a benefit concert scheduled for February 6th on Western's campus and a golf tournament in the works this spring. You all will be hearing more about this in the near future. Nat and I will be helping put all this together. Please take a look! Go to Josephs-hope.org and be sure to click on the information site that is highlighted. The children in the video are all the children we have fell in love with and who have helped lead us to the adoption process.

This week has been filled with medical exams, our first home study meeting, CPR class, and applying for passports. After we left our 2 1/2 hour home study meeting I told Nat everyone should have to go through this before they have a child. Unfortunately it just does not work that way. I know the busyness of all this will soon come to a temporary halt and then the waiting begins. That is going to be the hard part. Those of you who know me well know that I am not a patient person. Although I have gotten better over the last 3 1/2 years. This is all in God's hands and we are willing to wait!

The Roller Coaster Ride Has Begun

Well we knew there were going to be ups and downs. Everything has been so postive up to this point until today. I had a discouraging phone call with our agency. She pretty much told me that it was going to be very unlikely that we would get a healthy girl from Korea after the social worker said it was going to be a great experience and Korea was her favorite country to work with. She placed three healthy Korean children in the Bowling Green area last year two of whom were girls. After making another phone call a family with experience said this happened to them too. So once again we are going with Hope! Dad sent me an email yesterday that was a good reminder that Hope got Nolan here. Mom had given me a necklace with hope on it the the month I found out we were expecting him. I wore that necklace almost everyday. When mom and Dad arrived at the hospital the day Nolan was born this picture is what they pulled up to find outside. Here is a quote dad sent me. When God leads you to it. God gets you through it. So once again our theme is hope!

But as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared them that love Him. 1 Cor. 2:9

Blessings

What a blessed life we live! My family is blessed with all that matters most and more. But we all go through trials in our lifetime. Those things make us who we are. We cannot just amputate them and act like they never happened. But we can learn and grow through them by God's grace.
My life has always seemed to go as planned "my plan" until December 2005 when we had a miscarriage. I thought that was pretty tough until August 24th, 2006 when Cambell Grace Love was born at only 24 weeks of pregnancy. It was too early for us to keep her here with us. God had greater plans for her life. That one hour I got to hold her was one of the sweetest yet hardest hours of my life. From that day our lives were forever changed. One day we will see her again. But for now she is in the Lords arms. For now I hope she sings, dances, and plays in all of Heavens beauty. She will forever be our baby girl and hold a special place in our hearts.
We often wonder what good God can bring from such horrible circumstances. God is good to us even when he is up to things we don't understand. I have a greater appreciation for my children. They did not just spring into my life as one of those expected "plans." Because of Cambell, Nolan is here today. I will never forget the words of our pastor as he prayed over Nolan at the hospital. He said, " Cambell paved the way for Nolan to be here." Those words made so much sense to me and gave me a greater peace.
Through those tough circumstances we had faith that God would give us another child. We became pregnant just three months after our horrible loss. The pregnancy went great until 20 weeks came along. My body was already wanting to start the labor process but with a cerclage placed and 17 weeks of bed rest our little miracle , Nolan, arrived at 37 weeks when doctors predicted 30. What a blessing he is to us. I cannot imagine life without him.
When we thought we would not be able to have more children we knew we would adopt. But after having two healthy children we never thought we would entertain the idea again. However, the door keeps knocking. We have wrestled with this for three years. The longing has never went away . Our family doesn't feel complete. How can I miss someone so much that I have never met? For this reason we have begun our journey to Korea!
Much of the paper work has been filled out. There are many other hoops to jump through before we can hold the end result. We know it is going to be one big roller coaster ride but we are ready. We are excited and nervous all at the same time. There are fears of coarse. It is going to be worth it in the end. If this is meant to be we know God will provide the way. We hope this is one more blessing from Cambell Grace's short life.

Let it snow!

Our snow dance worked! Nathaniel had his first official snow day from school on Friday. This is Nolans biggest snow! We played football, rode the four-wheeler and went sledding. Nolan lasted about 2o minutes until he was crying, "mommy warm my hands up."