Thankful November-Day 6

November 6, 2013

Today I am thankful for my family in blue. They are auch a huge blessing to me. I could not have asked for a better class for Elias to be a part of. I remember being frustrated with the process to become a part of APD and how long it took, but I see God'a perfect timing play out in who we went through this with. I am thankful that I have people who just "get it". I am thankful that they love my kids so well. I am thankful that they love me so well. I am thankful that they spend holidays with me and my kids when Elias has to work and it's not weird. I am thankful that I have women in my life who understand the feeling when you hear of the loss of one of our own. I am thankful that they will stay up and text with you when your husband is working bc they are up too and can't sleep either. I am so thankful that the family extends beyond the border of our city and beyond our class.That we are all one big family.

Thank you Jesus for placing these people in my life. I love each and every one of them.

Thankful November-Day 5

November 5, 2013

I am thankful for my parents today. They have been an amazing example of persevering and love. By no means have they had it easy but with God they have made it through. I am thankful for the love they taught me about. I am thankful they raised me and my brother and sister in church. They loved me even when I was a big brat. Being a parent now,  I am more aware of just how hard it is. They were always there for me. Y'all, my parents went to EVERY Brazosport football game for 8 years to watch my brother and me perform. 8 years. They went on field trips, attended concerts, went to sporting events.

Thank you mom and dad for teaching me what being Christlike is.

Thankful November-Day 4

November 4, 2013

I am thankful today for The University of Texas-Austin. I could not have had a better college experience than the one I had. I am thankful for UT for so many reasons but the main reason is because it's awesome! I mean, athletics are superb. Facilities are pretty nice. The city is amazing. And not to forget the stellar academic programs they offer.

Django Walker says it best- "I'm one of the chosen whose blood runs Burnt Orange. Thank God I was born a Texas Longhorn!"

Texas! Fight! \m/

Thankful November-Day 3

November 3, 2013
Today I am thankful for my children. All 3 of them! And I am thankful that God has placed them in my family exactly when He did. He has taught me so much about His love for us through them. He has taught me about His character and how much I am lacking in being like Him. I love my children. They are beautiful. And precious. Best of all, on this earth they are mine. He has given them to me to point them to Him. And they point me to Him everyday.

Introducing Kristina, Christian and Hadley!

Thankful November-Day 2

November 2, 2013

Today I'm thankful for marriage. I am thankful that God has allowed us to experience His love through marriage. I am thankful that nothing on earth can change God's definition of marriage. I realize that some people are not fans of God's definition for different reasons, but I am thankful that He has shown me why that definition is so important through my marriage. I am thankful for the guy God has given me to experience marriage with.  I am so thankful for Elias. He is my leader. He never lets me get to far ahead of myself and always helps me to be rooted. He is the person who most keeps me in line with the Truth. I definitely have days of frustration with him, but let me tell you, I would rather experience 1,000 bad days with him than 1 day without him.
Thank you Jesus for my husband. Thank You for opening his ears to hear You so He can lead our family.

Thankful November-Day 1

I'm back! Well, at least I hope to be. It's been quite some time since my last post! Crazy how much our lives have changed since then. For starters, we officially became a Forever Family on August 2, 2013.  And on August 24, 2013 we added 1 more person to our family. That means I can officially talk about my kids and share pictures and all that jazz. But because they are so sweet and deserve more than a 2 second blurb, I'll save that for one of these thankful days.

Speaking of thankful; there is a thing going around on Facebook where people are posting what they are thankful for each day. I think that is a neat idea and want to do it, but I want to try to blog it. Why? Because I want to try to blog more and I think this might help me out and also, when I think of how thankful I am there is not enough space on a FB status update to really tell you why.

So, here we go!

November 1, 2013

Jesus. I am thankful for Jesus. Not just today, but every day. I figured I would start with Jesus because, without Him there I have nothing. He has been so good to me. Better than I deserve. He has given me an abundant life filled with more than I could have ever dreamed of.

I am thankful that He died for my sins.
I am thankful that He loves a sinner, like me.
I am thankful that He is coming back.
I am thankful that He is my Savior.
I am thankful that He called me to Him.
I am thankful that He forgives.
I am thankful that He never leaves me.
I am thankful that He is faithful.
I am thankful that He is God.

Thank you Jesus for this beautiful life you have given me. Thank you for my salvation. I love you, Jesus!

What's going on?!?

This blog update is to update everyone on what is going on with the kids. It'll probably be short because I can't go into too much detail until they are officially ours. That's right, you read that correctly, we are thisclose to adopting our kiddos!!

I cannot wait until we adopt them and can be done with monthly reports/visits/appointments. And we've only been doing these for the past 2 years. My kids have had to deal with visits from different agency's for so long now. They are ready to be done with the foster care system too.

Our boy routinely asks when it, the adoption, will be done. Anytime we have an appointment for anything and come home his first question is, "are we adopted yet?". It's cute and sad all at the same time. Our girl is just ready to be done with talking to different people all the time. She is finally in a place where she is happy and comfortable and she wants to quit having to tell everyone she is happy and comfortable. I can't say that I blame her. As far as foster kids go, our kids are pretty well adjusted and have very few signs of trauma and negative experiences in their lives. Honestly, sometimes when they do exhibit the effects of neglect/trauma I forget that they are in foster care. That they have legitimate reasons for acting the way they are at that moment. I have to remind myself, sometimes after the fact, that they are still dealing with some pretty big changes in life.

Right now, the timeline we are looking at is about 1 month or so. We are pretty much just waiting on the paperwork to be finalized for the transfer from the county their case was in to ours and miscellaneous other items to check off. I'm super excited and Elias is too. Like I said, we can't wait to have this adoption finalized and we are both glad that it is happening before the baby gets here. We cannot wait for our friends and family to go with us to the courthouse and celebrate with us afterwards. We are just ready. Personally, I'm ready to show y'all pictures of them too because they are pretty cute kids.

So, that's what's going on in regards to adoption. We are so close to having it finalized and can't believe that it's almost here!