All the work makes it so worth it!

I am sure you all know that we took our first placement in Aug. I wish I could share with you all the details of this amazing boy and the struggles he has gone through but sadly I can't. He is 4 years old and so absolutely adorable. If you have seen him you will agree he is absolutely adorable. His smile makes my heart melt and when he cries I wanna cry too.

No one ever tells you what its like to go from no child to a 4 yr old instantly. Probably cause most people start with a baby. It has been eye opening but I must say Matt and I really enjoy the fact we don't have to deal with diapers. I cant believe how many questions that they ask......its like a never ending talk box.

I think the best part is he loves being apart of our huge family with all the grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins. When he talks about them he says he is such a lucky boy! it makes my heart melt. Matt and I are so blessed and lucky to have such an amazing family. Everyone has welcomed into the family with open arms. I love watching him and Aleasa play together they are best buddies, he loves going to see MIMI she gives him chocolate, Papa has fast cars, Grandma and Grandpa Hobbs have given him a ton of car toys he thinks that is the best thing ever! And his Aunt Sara gives great hugs and he says Cousin Austin is his favorite! LOL, he is so precious!

We went trick or treating on Halloween, he was so excited to be Captain America. And he is super excited for Christmas to be coming up. Every time we go to the store he says I'm going to ask Santa for that and lists half the store. We talked about how Santa won't be able to bring everything and he said okay how bout 3 things. LOL, works for this Santa. Matt and I can't wait to take him to meet Santa.

I think the most rewarding of all of this is the love and how unconditional it is. He loves so much its amazing. We have been talking about Jesus and Gods love and he is so excited about the bible. He loves the story of Jonah. He has been going to Awana's on Wen and it amazes me how much they remember. He is a verse memorizing fool! I can not wait to see what God has planned out for him.

I hope to share more later as the months progress. We are at over 2 months now and have our first court date this month! Here is hoping we learn more and can look to the future.

God Bless You All!
Dana

Waiting...... I am so not good at this

If its one thing I know about myself is I do not do good at waiting. I am one of those people who love roller coasters but can't take the anticipation of getting to the top. I start freaking out once the climb gets past 10 seconds. I hate the wait! So what does this have to do with anything... well I will tell ya.

Matt and I just got back from vacation on the 16th. We were supposed to be available to receive kids that day. Well somehow the fact we weren't available before then didn't get passed on and we received our first call on the 10th. This just about tore my heart to pieces. We found out just the basics but the one that hit me the hardest was it was a newborn.

The one thing Matt and I really want to experience thru this is a hope to for even a short time parent a baby. Now I know without a doubt that God has a plan and that this was obviously not the child he has planned for us, but that doesn't mean it didn't just feel like I had punched/slapped.

Obviously God knows that this is my biggest and hardest weakness. Cause well he sent me a rock in Matt. He has been so patient and wonderful through this whole process and as each day is passing without our first placement and I want to get mad or upset he brings me back down and reminds me that God has a plan. He is an amazing man and my rock.

So I am trying very hard not to be anxious and to be patient as we wait for that call. As with all things in my life God is in charge and I need to keep that first and foremost in my mind.

God Bless You All!
Dana

Last Class and Final Walkthrough

I can't believe we are finally here! We did it, we have made it to the final class! Tonite we attend our final training class, which will have guest speakers and a potluck. Its so very exciting to think that we have made it to the end. Although it has only been 10 weeks, it feels like we have been waiting for this forever. I guess in a way we have.

Friday we meet with our HomeStudy lady and do our final walkthrough and we sign all of our paperwork. After that we just have to wait for our foster liscensing. Matt and I leave for vacation soon, so when we get back we should be ready to go and hopefully be inviting some kiddos into our home.

We cant not thank you all enough for your prayers and support! This has been such a whirlwind and we feel so blessed to be starting this journey! God Bless You All! Will still update you all when I can!
--Dana

Rooms are done!!!

Let me tell you all, its been a long process coming but the kids rooms are sanded, painted, cleaned, and decorated!! Wooohoo!! Its been so much work and we are so tired but so excited! I took pictures as promised. Our old office room was the last to get completely finished, so without further adu....

 The first picture is of the Bed my friend Tonia gave us. That's also the new bedding we bought. We figure once we know they will be with us for a bit, we can take them to pick out fun kids bedding. The next picture is the dresser, I know oooohhh exciting. I wanted to sand it and paint it and put new hardware on but the hubby said no. It was his as a little kid. So I understand the attachment.

These next 2 pictures are the cube bookshelf I put together and I got a little closer so you can see the artwork I hung up for the room. I found the totally cute pictures online, printed them off and got cute pictures frames for cheap at target.

These next pictures start room number 2, or what like we to refer to as the old old office. Cause when we first moved in this was our original office. The first picture is of the crib I found at a garage sale for $15.00! Yeah I know it was a huge steal. The blanket hanging on the crib Matt picked out cause it has a monkey on it. Matt loves monkeys! The other bed is my old bed with new bedding we picked out to go in the room. Only one of these will be remaining in the room. It all depends on if we get a baby or not.

In the next two pictures you see the other cube shelf I built. I love them they are so cute! I really wanted to male sure to have a place to put books and toys. Books are so important to me that I already have some on the shelves. The last picture is the dresser I pained for the room.

I hope you all enjoy the pictures. Matt and I are super excited, after tomorrows class there are only 2 left. We are done and excited and ready to move forward. Luv ya all!!! God Bless!! 

We are over 1/2 way done!!!

Sorry I haven't written in over a month. We have been so busy with foster classes and getting the house ready. Matt and I celebrated our 4 year dateaversary. LOL, its way July 3rd which was the day we had our first date. Its so wonderful that he remembers it and is so romantic. I made him the cutest card with a turtle on it.

So classes are over 1/2 way done, we literally just finished number 6 and our now only 4 classes away till we are done. We finished our home study meetings and our wonderful home study writer has already turned it in for review. We are running way ahead and are so excited. She told us that she wishes we could teach a class to other families on how to get stuff done and be prepared. LOL, she thinks I am super organized. Which I guess I am more organized now then I used to be. You have to be super organized when you are getting ready to take in other peoples kids.

The house has taken the most change and work. We closed in one wall, opened another and painted everything. I have pictures to share. The picture on the left, is where we are closing in the **bonus room** from one of the bedrooms. Picture in middle in the whole we cut through to our room, so that this will be the new office. And the picture of the right is the new closet/sheet rocked walls in the office. We now only have one room in the house that still has paneling up.

We had carpet put down last Monday and we also have painted the walls. The walls in the kids rooms are the turquoise(the color we had painted office) and an orange. We found an awesome dresser at an antique mall that I painted and we put new hardware on for one room. I think it turned out super cute. We found bedding for each of the rooms and I think the hardest part was picking out bedding for a baby crib. We decided since we may never get to use it and the stuff is so expensive to just do cute sheets and an adorable blanket with a monkey on it. Cause well Matt loves monkeys!

My sister came over and we got the crib and bed set up in one room and we will be picking up the other bad hopefully this week. So excited to be so close to being done. That is pretty much the last thing we need to do. I will post the finished room pictures in the next few days I hope. Here is a preview of one of the rooms(Aleasa thinks the room is for her to come stay in when she visits).

I can't believe in little over a month we will have kids in our home and will be moving towards God's plan of our forever family! He is so amazing!!! Luv ya all!

Week One Class-----Done!

Well we made it through our first class, it was exciting and scary all at the same time. We learned a whole lot of valuable information and even got some homework. Also found out I have to take a CPR/First Aid Class which I am not sure I will be able to attend with everyone else. Bummer!!!

Matt and I are still working on the house. We almost have the tornado cleaned up, thank goodness! We went Monday and picked up some more clothes. We are now almost completely done with Girls sizes infant-6 and boys we just need a few things! Wohoooo! Of course that doesn't include the shoes, underwear, and socks we still have to get. But it feel so good to be done, we figure that stuff we can get after we find out how old they are.

My husband has been such a trooper with all this work. I am so proud of the amazing job he has done. We are just getting so much done and it seems like there is so much more to go. We still need to get the bedrooms sanded and painted as well as, work on the railing around the deck, it needs to be secured more.

Since we will not know if we will have a boys or girls or both, we don't want to make the rooms gender specific. But I have plans for some cute art to put in the rooms to make them gender specific. We are painting the walls a fun orange in one room and a cool blue teal color in the other. We have plans to do a either orange bedspreads with a reversible lime green side. Cause that will be one of the accent colors. We want the rooms to be bright and fun. If we have a girl, I plan on putting up bright pink flower art and for a boy we will do maybe some cool spaceship art. I just have so many fun ideas and I can't wait to use them!!!

Well that's all for now, cant wait to update you on our new fun rooms and the joy of getting ready to be foster parents!

Getting Ready.....Lots of hardwork

All I can say is I am exhausted and I know Matt is too! We have been on Vacation for two days and let me tell ya its not the fun kind of vacation. We have been working so hard on trying to get the house ready for kiddos. We also have been working on finally painting the kitchen. We manages to get the kitchen primed and painted and put last coat on this morning. Its a really fun green color that makes it a bright and fun inviting kitchen.

We then Matt mainly, demolished all the shelves in the old storage room/kitty room. It looks so much better and its so much bigger. Its going to make a perfect 2nd room, we just have to paint the walls and we picked out a fun bluish color, we also have to take the wood paneling off the walls in the 2nd bedroom, and have picked a fun orange color out for that room. We wanted to do bright colors that would be for a boy or a girl.

This is the room with the shelves being removed!

We are also putting new floor in the kitchen and spent the rest of the night tonite, tearing up the old linoleum flooring. I am so exhausted and I know we will be sore in the morning. Thank goodness we still have 5 days to go.

The list of the things to get done in these five days are

- Put down new floor in kitchen

- Remove wood paneling in 2nd room

- Sand 2nd room

- Paint 2nd room

- Finish Demo in 3rd room

- Paint 3rd room

- Find Carpet for 3rd room

- And hopefully rest!

Tango has been a super help! LOL, he is still getting his ZZZZZZZZ's in. :)  Which is where I am heading have super day!

I remember why........

Sorry that it has been awhile. It seems like the last time I update you all we had decided to go with the Lighthouse adoption agency. And while I still think they are an amazing agency we have decided not to go with them. So begins the reason of I remember why.......

So last month we went to an adoption round table at a church in Liberty, MO. During the round table they had a lady from MBCH, which is the Missouri Baptist Children's Home. She was talking about foster care and adoption. This entire presentation I just felt God pressing on me this is the way you need to go. This is what I have planned out for you and Matt. And it made me think back to why at the young age of 6, I said I wanted to adopt. It wasn't just to raise a child, but I wanted to help children give them a home. I thought then and still think now that everyone should have a family to love and care for them.

So Matt and I requested more information and we prayed and talked about the situation. We met with Dawn Hensely from the organization last week and without a doubt know that this is the direction God has led us. Not only will we someday find our forever family but we will get to Minister to so many amazing kids as the process goes along.

Now comes the fun part we start the foster classes at the end of the month. For the next 10 weeks for 3 hours on Tuesday nights we start our classes. Its very exciting and by the end of August we should have our first placements. So now we just have to get our house ready, buy stuff, and pray. We have decided that we are willing to take in 1-3 kids(siblings), can be the ages of newborn to 8, and either boy or girl. Yes we have been thinking oh my... what if we get 3 kids to start. But we know that God's hand is in this and he will provide.

My sister has been so wonderful giving us clothing that she doesn't need, my friend T is giving us a bed(so amazing of her and her family), and we already have 2 others. Just need to get mattresses, which should be easy. And if we end up with a baby we have a ton of baby type things from Matt's brother from over the years. I can't wait to start garage selling and picking up more stuff. We didn't realize how much we would need, mainly because we didn't know that most kids come only with the clothes on their backs. I know it so sad. Poor things.

One of the things I am planning on doing is crocheting more and having a blanket ready for each child, that way when they leave us they will have something to take with them to remember us by. And know that they are loved. I can't wait to begin this EPIC, yes I said EPIC journey! Matt and I look forward to meeting each of the children we will be welcoming into our home.

LOTS OF LOVE!!!! ---Dana

Step One....... Done!

Its official, Matt and I have chosen, applied and joined an adoption agency. We are so super excited and can feel God's presence in each and every decision we have made so far. I have never been so excited, and can't wait for each step. I know this will not be a short process but it will be so rewarding in the end. I can not wait to hold my baby in my arms and know that I am their mommy!

We met with the Lighthouse Adoption Coordinator tontie, and turned everything in and are application was approved. Now starts the first waiting period but it was be a short one. We have to wait till April 4th to begin the home study, the past part of that is that its only like 2 mths away. WooHoo! I also am looking forward to working on our scrapbook profile. I think it will be very therapeutic and such an exciting thing to put together.

Well this is all I gotta say tonite! May God Bless!!!!!
Dana

Oh my its been a long time!!!!!

I am so sorry, life just seems to have gotten away from me. I didn't mean to stay gone so long. Matt and I are super excited on Wednesday we meet with the Adoption Coordinator from The Lighthouse. We will be turning in our application and as long as we are approved the entire process with start in April with the home study. We are so both excited and just so ready for our family to expand and welcome a little one.

So I was talking to my friend Beth and she told me about a quote from the bible. And I just felt this fit what we are feeling and going through. Its 1st Samuel 1:27 " For this Child I have prayed and the Lord has granted the desires of my heart". If you aren't familiar this is the story of Hannah, Samuel's mom. And the struggles she endured and she prayed to God and he granted her a son. I very much enjoyed reading this after all Matt and I have been through so far.

I also started a new devotional yesterday called: 31 Days to Clean- Having A Martha House the Mary Way! I am really enjoying it, each day has a Mary Challenge, which is personal in your heart and a Martha Challenge which involves cleaning within your home. For people that know me, I am not a hoarder or gross, but I hate to clean more then I have too. But that is something we are working on both Matt and I. For my first Mary Challenge I was to come up with a Mission Statement to live by. My mission statement is: To Honer God and my husband in a way they both deserve, I will keep my home and my heart clean. " I can do all things thru Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13

So I am super excited to have started this and to be focusing not only on the inside but the outside of my life as well. Love ya all! Have wonderful day!!!!