Golf Tournament Success!

This past weekend we joined with the Linck's and the Leinen's for the 2011 Birdies For Babies golf tournament. John and Jennifer Linck did this last year and now have decided to bless other families by putting it together every year. This year we, along with the Leinen's, were able to benefit from the golf tournament and raised over $2600! That's $1300 for our family!!!! What makes it even greater is that we get to send that money in to Hand In Hand to go towards our matching grant!!!!! Praise God!Here's the group. Julia & Jason Leinen, John & Jennifer Linck, and myself and Clint.
Nice squinty-eyed pic of me!
Julia, Jennifer and me.

We had a great time and are so appreciative to all the golfers that came out to support our families.

Days Go By

I've been meaning to post. Really, I have.
I'm not sure what keeps me from it. Maybe I dont like to blog when nothing has happened. It's a reminder that we are still waiting for our babies. Still at #5 on the waitlist.
I think I have gotten better at waiting to ask for updates, so that's good.
Oh, but time..... time just seems to move so slow sometimes.

This clock made me think of how I see our wait at times. Distorted and blurry.... fun, huh?
I wish I was blogging more about how wonderful this wait is and how glorious everything seems. Maybe today just isn't my day for that. I do have those days though....really, I do.

I always know that God is in total control of our adoption. Maybe that's why it has become a bit easier to sit back and not obsess about the waitlist numbers, or referrals, or $$. I have given this adoption to God because I have faith in Him. He's brought us this far.....
I know that we are on the path God intended for us. There is a LOT of peace in that.

So I will just hold on to the fact that it wont be long before we see our babies faces and know their names. It wont be forever....it may feel like it, but it wont be. Thank you JESUS for that!

In the meantime we will continue to prepare (I need to post more pics of the nursery and my decorating ideas). We will continue to enjoy our family time with just the 4 of us. Continue to love sleeping in, sewing until 12am, running to the mall on a whim, etc....

Also, we will continue to fundraise to bring those babies home!
This coming Saturday is our Birdies For Babies golf tournament. We are excited to join with another One World family for this awesome event. We have golfers and hole sponsors....we are thrilled beyond words for all the support!

So if I can just stay focused on the golf tournament, Jennifer's baby shower, kids and holiday gatherings, work, sewing for my Etsy shop, and the nursery.... before you know it we will have our referral!!!! Sounds easy enough, right?

This song speaks straight to my heart.

4 months

So we have been on the DRC waitlist for 4 months today. In 4 months we have gone from #18 to #5 and we are SUPER excited about that!

Over the past month or so referrals have slowed down. Booooo. We were on such a roll, but I know that it's ok and it's going to keep moving. It just takes TIME.
So we will remain patient and secure in knowing that God is working out the perfect timing for our family. We stay focused on the lives we are living right now, and dont worry about the future. Easier said then done!

I feel like when I just take it one day at a time, or one week at a time, that it really helps my mind and heart from focusing so much on our adoption wait! Looking forward to small things in our family helps SO much.
It doesn't hurt that I have very active step-children who are 11 and 15...and are involved in sports and clubs, etc.... so that keeps everyone busy.

Sure, there are days when I get down about the wait. Wondering if we will see our babies sweet faces before Christmas (which is my prayer) or wondering if we will travel in the Spring or will it be Summer or Fall? Wondering when the call will come. When the list will move. When? When? When?
I try not to go down that path. It just leads to anxiousness, sadness and discouragement.
So I stay focused on our blessings...every day, runOthemill, exciting or not....BLESSINGS. There are so many of them that God has poured down on our family! Keeping our eyes on the Lord. That's what it takes to ride this roller coaster!

Random Pics

I thought I would post some pics from the past few weeks. I don't seem to post enough pics....not that there is a whole lot of excitement in the Ellis household lately.


Here's Laynie. Last weekend we decided to go to this "junk show" at a barn in the middle of nowhere (aka, Stillwater, Oklahoma). On our way back we found ourselves on the LONGEST dirt road ever....so we decided we would make the best of us going 15mph in my car...and pull over and take some pics with these large bails of hay! It was raining too. Man am I a city girl! :)

"BOO" Halloween decor I made for an order from my Etsy shop. It's a board that you can sit on a plate stand.
Here's my stepson Blake and his cul-de-sac BFF, Grace. They were out playing in the rain. Notice Blake's rain boots...those are MINE! Right now we wear the same size shoe. ;)

My BFF's birthday was this past week. I LOVE cake bunting....so I had to try it out on her cake. Turned out pretty cute. Had to explain to all the men in the group what cake "bunting" was. One guy said that he wasn't sure he would want a "Finish Line" on his birthday cake. smarty pants.

365 Days Ago

I'm about 5 days late on writing this post....

One year ago we started this adoption journey. We decided to stop pursuing infertility treatments, drugs, tests, etc... and decided to go with what God had laid on our hears a year prior. We decided to adopt!!!! It was such a great time. Finally getting to move forward, finally getting some "yes" answers instead of the constant "no" we were used to. Finally saying to God, "Ok God...if this is really what I heard you say a year ago...here we go.... use us.... use this...we're ALL in".
Here's a few posts where I talk about starting this journey...back on our "family" blog (pre-adoption blog).


Ending & Beginning
Why?



We have come a LONG way in 1 year.

I can see how much I have grown and changed. I know that's what God had in mind!

So here's to one year down and HOPEFULLY only one more to go (or less, please!).

Five!

We have moved up to the #5 spot on the wait list! I'm just filled with joy to see things moving like they are! My prayer is to see my children's faces before Christmas. AMEN!