Hold Onto Hope

Throughout the adoption journey, we are constantly reminded that life happens 

According to His timing.

I have also learned that sometimes being patient, and trusting in His timing can be a challenge. 

However, I know this is the best way.  I have faith. Our Heavenly Father can see the whole picture, and has a plan for each of our lives.  I truly know things often happen for a reason, and people come into our lives for specific reasons.  

One of my favorite quotes goes like this:

"God does notice us and He watches over us. But it is usually through another person that He meets our needs."-- Spencer W. Kimball.

Right now for us, that of course has to do with adoption.  Our baby will come through another.  Someone who is selfless, brave, and strong.  Someone who will choose adoption because she loves her child and is putting her child's needs above her own. 

In turn, we hope to be what that certain, special birth-mother and child are needing, and looking for.

A few weeks ago, we got an unexpected call from our caseworker that a sweet expectant mother was considering us as potential parents for her child and was due within the week.  He told us we would know her decision for certain in the few days following. 

We held our breath, paced the floors, and anxiously awaited.  

It was a long few days.

Although we tried not to allow ourselves to get our hopes up, it was somewhat inevitable.

A few days later, we found out that she had decided to parent the baby.  Bless her heart. We are sincerely happy for her.

We are grateful to her for considering adoption, and grateful that she considered us, and

although right now our hearts feel broken, that in itself gives us a glimmer of hope.

The following comes from an entry at www.therhouse.com:

“Sometimes good things fall apart so that better things can fall together.” 

-Marilyn Monroe 

(Who knew Marilyn Monroe had such poignant things to be said?!)

I would modify "better things" to "the right things."

We are waiting for the right birth-mom and the right baby to come into our world.

"The hardest part of infertility is the lack of control. The hardest part of adoption is the lack of control. We don’t mourn the loss of a child we never had, we mourn the loss of the ability to decide when and how to have a family."

I'm not so good at the waiting part.  I guess I'm the type of person that is pro-active, and I don't like to sit back and wait for things that are important to me to . .  . just happen. I've always believed that if you want to achieve something, you have to put yourself into action and make it happen.

But in our situation, it doesn't quite work that way.

So, we are doing all we can to get our story "out there" to hopefully help that special birth-mom find us.

We are praying our little hearts out, and hope that our prayers will lead her to us. 

We are praying we can be what she, in turn, needs and hopes for, 

for herself and her baby.

We have hope that there is a special baby out there for our family.

In the meantime, we are enjoying every ounce of our Brody-- we are so incredibly lucky to be his parents.
We are eternally grateful to his birth parents.

I recently heard this song in reference to adoption.

It is beautiful, and I love that it can work from a birth-mom's perspective, or an adoptive couples' perspective

Enjoy . . .

Family Date Night

Last night, I was lucky enough to score two handsome dates with my two favorite guys.

We loaded up in the car and headed to get pizza, and then went bowling.

Brody was all psyched up to "play ball." 

He loves any game that has to do with a ball, so bowling was right up his alley.

He was eager when it was his turn and half the time, he took mine and Brent's turns as well!

Anything is fun as long as we're together.

Puppy Love

On occasion, Brent needs Brody and I to help him feed the cows.  On this particular day, I drove the truck, Brody was my co-pilot, and Ruger, our dog, was a passenger.  Ruger is the world's most patient dog. Brody showers him with affection-- he hugs (chokes) his neck, pokes his eyes, clobbers him, and pulls his fur, all while Ruger patiently endures.

Warm Fuzzy Jar

Recently at our house, we have introduced a "Warm Fuzzy Jar" as an incentive for good behavior. 

Brody earns a warm fuzzy to put in the jar each time he listens, minds, or does something nice.  We're working on the good choices/bad choices and consequences concept around here, so on the opposite end, warm fuzzies can also be taken out of the jar. Once the jar is full, he earns a reward.  I'm thinking of breaking it down into bite size chunks though, and making marks on the jar so he can earn little rewards along the way to filling it up-- that way, maybe he won't loose interest. 

Right now we're working on putting "just one" fuzzy in the jar at a time instead of a whole handful.

Baby steps, people, baby steps.

Eventually, as Brody gets older we plan to evolve the jar into something more along these lines as told in the following video about serving others.

Calf TLC

Since calving season is in full swing, Brent occasionally brings home a calf that is in need of a little extra TLC for one reason or another. This calf needed to be bottle fed, and Brody was able to help. 

Brody hitched a ride over to the barn in the sled.

After the calf feeding was done, Brody talked Brent into hooking the sled up to the "bike" and giving him a real ride. 

So Grateful

We have so much to be grateful for.  First and foremost, our family-- we are so blessed and so lucky to have our little family, and our extended families. We truly feel incredibly lucky and we love each of our family members.

We are anxiously awaiting, hoping and praying for another birth-mom, and a little one to come in to our lives-- we know the love we share will grow and expand as our family expands. 

We will love another little boy or girl unconditionally beyond measure, and an addition to our family would be such a huge blessing.

Don't you think Brody needs a sibling?

We are keeping our fingers crossed, and our prayers prayed that it will be sooner, rather than later.

Sometimes the waiting, and wondering becomes so difficult and nerve racking.  We just have to have faith in our Father in Heaven's plan that all will work out, and remember that He is in charge.

However, it is humbling that we are relying on the grace and sacrifice of another to crown us with parenthood once again. How we love these sweet birth-mothers who are willing to make this choice, and this amazing sacrifice of love. 

This time of year we are also reminded of our Savior and the love he shows for each one of us.  We are so grateful for our Savior, and for the sacrifices he has made on our behalf.

It Was a Very Merry Christmas

Santa Clause treated us very well, and brought lots of fun surprises to our house this year!

Although we had a blessed Christmas, we always spend time thinking of, and doing for others which is something we think is important to remember and especially teach Brody. We have so much to be thankful for and there are many others who are less fortunate who can use some love and service.  This year we helped with a Secret Santa project.

We started off Christmas morning at home, and then spent the remainder of the week in Pocatello at my parent's house. It was so nice to spend the holidays with family just relaxing and enjoying.

We had a fun time other than we were sickies.  Brody, and I were sick with the cold/ flu crud for about three weeks, and we unfortunately shared it with my parents.

Brody's favorite toy was a "bucking bull" set.

He walked around with his hat on all morning saying, "Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas!"

Grandma helped Brody get suited up in his new horse outfit.

And what are we doing here? You know it's beyond time to be potty trained when we "hide" in the corner to do our duty.  If only we could convince him of the same thing.

The grand kids like to play with these magnets and put them on their ears as earrings. 

(While doing some nose picking.)

Then it was time for the white elephant gift exchange.

The iconic fish vase made a reappearance again this year.  Brody ended up with it, but he was thrilled because it was filled with treats.

Grandpa's gift was was statue with a broken arm!

These two are some of our best gifts.-- Brody with his cousin, Lauren.

Jason ended up with some fugly teeth that are in need of major dental attention.

We went sledding and played in the snow in Grandma and Grandpa's yard.

Aunt Melanie and Uncle Jason got in on the fun as well.

We took Brody to his first 3D movie.  

 When we returned home, Brent hooked the sled to the 4-wheeler and towed Brody and I around the fields behind our house. After Brody rode in sled with me for awhile he decided he wanted to take a turn on the 4-wheeler. He pointed to me, and told Brent to "sit Mommy's lap!"  He apparently thinks he's a big boy, and can drive the 4-wheeler all by himself!

Christmastime was spent just the way I envision it should be. With loved ones, lots of warmth, happiness, good food, many laughs, while making fun memories.

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year, and I am always humbled to reflect on the greatest gift of all-- the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.