Shirts Are In!

I'm so excited that our shirts have arrived and they look great! I will be sorting them out and getting them ready to mail tonight!
Yippee!
Thanks to all of you that supported us through this fundraiser!

LIMBO... not the fun party kind either!

My sweet BFF sent this to me this morning. It was from her daily devotional today. It was speaking directly to me. I needed to hear this today. Clint and I got a call from Gladney yesterday that rocked our world. Our "case" is on hold right now. I'm not the best at being in limbo! Just praying.


My plan for your life is unfolding before you. Sometimes the road you are traveling seems blocked, or it opens up so painfully slowly that you must hold yourself back. Then, when time is right, the way before you suddenly clears-though no effort of your own. What you have longed for and worked for I present to you freely, as pure gift. You feel awed by the ease with which I operate in the world, and you glimpse My Power and My Glory.

Do not fear your weakness, for it is the stage on which My Power and Glory perform most brilliantly. As you persevere along the path I have prepared for you, depending on My strength to sustain you, expect to see miracles-and you will. Miracles are not always visible to the naked eye, but those who live by faith can see them clearly. Living by faith, rather than sight, enables you to see My Glory.

Lots of Reading to do!

I recently purchased a few books from Amazon. I have heard of most of these through the blogging community....so i'm sure they will be very good! Clint just got me "Black Baby, White Hands". I can't wait to dive into that one. Maybe I'll have some down time this week that I can get some good reading done!

Oh, and I can't wait to read these childrens books to my sweet baby (babies).

:)

Christmas Time

We have been SO busy lately. I wish that Christmas wasn't so hectic....that it was just laid back and relaxing. HA

We love spending time with our friends and family though! A couple of weeks ago we got to have a nice Christmas party with our new adoptive friends. We are blessed to have these wonderful friends in our lives to share the journey with. I love that we all know exactly what infertility feels like, and now what this adoption journey is like! It's nice to have that special connection!


The boys posing for a pic. Matt, Jason, Clint and John


The girls turn. Joely, me, Jennifer and Sarah. I look like I have a neck brace on...crazy scarf!


Jennifer got each of us girls these two books. One Special Me and The Boy of Color. Both so sweet and I can't wait to read them to my sweet little baby!

This past weekend we celebrated Christmas with Clint's family. We did a TON of baby holding (we are the proud new Aunt, Uncle, Cousins to two very sweet little twin boys, Jackson and Brooks)

Clint with Brooks!

Laynie with Jackson....so peaceful.

Then it was time for gifts! Our kids got so much this year from everyone. It made me think of all the kids around the world that wont get anything. It breaks my heart that I can't fix that for all of them! I just try and do my part...however I can.

Here's Laynie...totally in love with her NF jacket.

And Blake with his new tennis shoes.

I did a LOT of sewing. Many dolls were made over the past week and 1/2.

Here is my first boy doll that I've made. He turned out pretty cute!

So now it's the week of Christmas. Clint and I are excited to just relax for a few days. We are not going anywhere (except the Thunder game) on Christmas day and we are very happy about that.

I have been patiently waiting the call from our home study worker. She emailed me saying she needed to talk to both Clint and I before she could wrap up our home study. Not sure what that means, but we'll find out at 5:30pm. Eeeek.

We are still so excited about being parents to an Ethiopian baby (or babies). It's a long road...but we are comforted knowing there is an end.

God has blessed us over and over again and it's wonderful to see how things work out when you are really listening to God and trying to follow the path that he's showing you!

Homestudy Update

So excited to have talked with our homestudy case worker today. She said that she is finishing up our homestudy this weekend and will email us a copy to look over on Monday or Tuesday! We are so excited! One step closer to the CIS part of this journey!! YIPPEEEEEEEEE

UPdates

I guess I forgot to blog about Thanksgiving! Woopsies!
This year we hosted. My sister's family and my Mom came up from San Antonio for a week long visit. It was great to see the kids and enjoy some sister time. My Grandparents surprised us a day early and spent the night....so it was a fun week ;)

Clint was head chef for the week. He was always in the kitchen cooking something. What a wonderful hubby!

My cute Grandmother...aka Bobbie. She's so full of life and is such a spunky lady! We love her SO much!

The crew. Not sure what Clint's face is saying. Maybe he's having a family overload! I don't blame him!!

The kid table. Laynie, Izzy, Blake, Luke and Matthias.

On the adoption front: We are still waiting on our home study to be finished so we can review it. With Thanksgiving right in the middle of it, I'm sure that puts us back a week :(

In the meantime Ive been working on our dossier. I have most everything done except for a few little things. I'm still a little fuzzy as to when we get on the wait list. Is it after we are "Gladney approved" or is it after the dossier is sent to Ethiopia and "approved"? Anyone want to shed some light on that?

Other then that we are just in limbo. I'm guessing that's the way we will stay for the next year really.

Last night we went to my sister in-laws to hold our 1 month old twin nephews. They are so tiny and sweet. It just made me wish we had our little one here now! God has perfect timing though.

Clint starts a new job on Monday! Yippee. He will be doing commercial (and residential) roofing for Red River Roofing here in Edmond. We are excited about this blessing because we know God had His hand in it and hopefully we will be able to just be a one income family by the time we bring our baby (or babies) home.

This weekend we are looking forward to a fun Christmas get together with some other couples in the adoption world. We are really happy to have made some new friends that are adopting from Ethiopia too!

Oh Yes I did!

Yip....I did.....
I bought this ADorable outfit for our lil'miss Ethiopia from Gap the other day. I couldn't resist.
(It was all on sale honey!)

This wont be a regular thing (until we get our referral of course).... but I had to have these precious ruffles!