Blessings and Gifts

We have a babysitter lined up for our sweet girl after I go back to work! God is SO faithful! She will only have her little one and mine, she is an amazing Christian woman, lives right next to my school, and did I mention she is amazing?! I had her oldest last year and her middle one this year so I know this family well, and love them! When I posed the question for her she put on a huge smile and was so honored that I asked her?! She said an "overwhelming YES!"I am so unbelievably excited! A burden lifted!
Now, if I could only afford to pay her......lol

Such sweet special gifts are coming to us lately. It is exciting to see this is all so real. At the game this weekend, we were able to see several friends that we don't normally see and they were so kind to bring Natalie some gifts. My friend, Melodi made this amazing diaper cake! It was huge. Another friend gave us some beautiful burp rags, and a photo album that matches the room oh so perfectly. The final gift was the coolest onesie EVER! A blinged out Razorback onesie with fru-fru sleeves=) So girlie, I love it! Also, an awesome Hogs burp cloth and a toy that is already attached to the car seat! Thanks girls! You guys are such a blessing! I can't wait for Natalie to meet all the wonderful blessings in my life, that she will get to cherish as well.
Here are the pics!

Heart breaker

The heartbreak has absolutely nothing to do with the adoption. Those stupid Hogs just ripped our hearts out this weekend, and I am still trying to get over it. So I had several pictures I had taken at the game to show the awesome score against Alabama. When we threw the game in the last quarter I deleted them all. So, instead I guess I will share the fun we had before we knew our hearts would ache! Enjoy!


These parachute jumpers were incredible! Watched them jump from the plane!




Chris Allen led us in the Hog Call!
more to come

Getting Crafty

This weekend it finally hit me that we are getting a baby next month! That's right..... next month! So, I was ready to start getting some decor on the walls, and I decided exactly what I wanted to do. Now...how to do it? This is why you make friends with people who can do things that you can't! I called in reinforcement because this girl just doesn't have that crafty bone like my mother does. I ordered an awesome picture frame from Creative Memories (there's my plug!) that is magnetic. When I create a digital scrapbook page, I can change it out easily and quickly using the magnetic frame, and it looks amazing! My idea is to create a 12 x 12 page each month of Natalie's life and change it out in the frame. Once I take one month's page down, I slide it right into her album showing the first year of her life! Pretty cool, right? I know you are all jealous! I'm efficient for once in my life. At least this is the plan anyway. Ask me how that is going in about a month or two=)

The reinforcement comes in when I called my friend, Stephanie, to go to Hobby Lobby with me and find some letters for the nursery wall. There we sat in the middle of the floor of the scrapbook aisle. We had papers spread out all around us, along with a few ideas of letters I might use. Stephanie is very good at coordinating colors and ideas so she just started grabbing patterns and colors and it was awesome. I, of course, decided on the ones with purple in it, along with the green. I decided to decoupage the white letters with those scrapbook pages. We found what we needed and we were off!


Steph had to leave, and I was dying to get started but didn't have a clue how to do this. Thanks to the Internet, I figured it out but still wasn't confident in my skills, so I called for more reinforcement. Heather! She had decoupaged before so I called her up and she was over with Sonic drinks in a flash! Now you know why I called her!=)


We decided we needed to bring in the steady hand of an engineer to help us!


AFter 3 hours, a bowl of cookies and cream ice cream, and a couple of chocolate chip cookies, we were proud of our work!


I am pretty excited to say that I have a piece of art in my baby's room! Here is the finished product! What do you think?

Weigh in

M text me this evening to tell me that her doctor's appointment went well today. Baby Girl is weighing in around 4 lbs 12 oz right now. I don't know what is normal but it sounds like a good weight to me!

Forgot to tell you

My sweet sweet friends from Sunday School are hosting a Baby Shower for me on October 3rd. I got the evite invitation, and it was SO COOL to finally see MY name on one of those! Helped it feel a little more real=) Thanks ladies! I am so blessed with many wonderful Christian friends from our class!

Things to Come

It is getting closer to the date, and quite a few decisions will need to be made between now and then. Our agency contacted us about scheduling a home study update since ours expired at 6 months. Texas state law says so=( We don't have to pay the full price of the home study like the first one, but we do have to pay for mileage to and from our house. Not expensive, but not included in the $17, 500 we were quoted at the beginning. Also not included are the miles we have spent to and from Waco, plus the hotel costs that we might incur while waiting to take our beauty home. Our wonderful friends may be able to help us out a night or two, but with their new baby home, we don't want to intrude. There is also a possibility that the hospital provides us a room, but we aren't for certain.
So, in the next few weeks we will be visiting with the agency director about our hospital plan. This includes what our time at the hospital will look like, what is expected from M and from us with regards to the baby, etc. M's caseworker is supposed to be contacting the hospital next week to see what their rules/regulations are in regards to birth families and adoptive families, so we will know more then. We will be picking M up around 4:30 or 5 that morning, and taking her to the hospital. The looooooong wait will begin here. Her C-section is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. As stated before (I think) I will get to be in the room for the delivery. Brian will be anxiously awaiting. From the time of birth we will either have to wait the 48 hours or possibly 72 depending on the amount of meds M will be on, and how they affect her. Probably will be bringing her home if all goes well on Saturday.
The other decisions that must be made in the next few weeks is our "Heart to Heart Agreement." It is not a legally binding document but a promise of the heart between us and M on the amount of contact between us. We will state how often visits will be made, pictures will be sent, and letters will be written for 18 years of Natalie's life. After that she is on her own for contact.
We want to be really sensitive to both sides on what we are all comfortable with, and what is most realistic with her being out of town. Please be praying for guidance in making these decisions.
School is already on overload so please pray for clarity of mind and peace in my mind as well.
And please continue to pray for the financial side of it as well. This will be a constant prayer request for at least another 7 or 8 months. We want to trust in the Lord and not doubt that He will provide as needed.
We are trying to save money on gas by not traveling to all the Razorback games (this is really hard to do as we are missing a LR game right now!), not going out to eat as often, etc.

Wow this was a long post! Hope you made it through it all=)

Schedule Change

C-section has been rescheduled for October 27th instead of the 26th. Our friends have seen their little boy as he was born late last night. They are currently in the "waiting game" as they wait 48 hours in and out of the hospital. Pray for stamina as they wait, and peace for the birth mom and them as well. How exciting for them!