July 31 is Family Day

July 31 is almost upon us!  That is our Family Day!  Last year on July 31, we finalized Gracie's adoption.  We went to PA to finalize and stayed for our agency's annual reunion.  This year we will be traveling up on our Family Day to be in PA for the reunion on August 1.  We will spend the day with Gracie's birthmom.  We are looking forward to seeing her and her Mom, catching up, and just enjoying being together.  I love how our agency has annual reunions like that to give us an excuse to travel there and see each other.  We are always in regular communication with her through texting and Facebook, but nothing beats the actual face-to-face time.  Gracie just started saying her birthmom's name not too long ago, so this reunion is sure to be extra special.

Wait

As a couple we love goes through a difficult time trying to have a baby, it reminded me of this poem that I clung to as we were waiting for our baby.

"Wait" a Poem by Russell Kelfer

Wait

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried.

Quietly, patiently, lovingly, He replied.

I pleaded, and I wept for a clue to my fate,

And the Master so gently said, "Child, you must wait."

"Wait? Your say wait??" my indignant reply.

"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why.

Is your hand shortened?  Or have you not heard?

By faith I have asked, and I'm claiming your Word.

"My future, and all to which I can relate

Hangs in the balance, and you tell me 'wait'?

I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign,

Or even a 'no', to which I can resign.

"And Lord, you have promised that if we believe, 

We need but ask, and we shall receive.

And Lord I've been asking, and this is my cry:

"I'm weary of asking: I need a reply!"

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate

As my Master replied once again, "You must wait."

So I slumped in my chair; defeated and taut

And grumbled to God; "So I'm waiting, for what?"

He seemed then to kneel and His eyes met with mine

And He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.

I could shake the heavens, darken the sun,

Raise the dead, cause the mountains to run.

"All you see I could give, and pleased you would be.

You would have what you want, but you wouldn't know Me.

You'd not know the depth of My love for each saint;

You'd not know the power that I give to the faint.

"You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair;

You'd not learn to trust, just by knowing I'm there.

You'd not know the joy of resting in Me,

When darkness and silence was all you could see.

"You would never experience that fullness of love

As the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove.

You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,

But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

"The glow of My comfort late in the night;

The faith that I give when you walk without sight;

The depth that's beyond getting just what you ask

From an infinite God who makes what you have last.

"And you never would know, should your pain quickly flee,

What it means that 'My grace is sufficient for thee.'

Yes, your dreams for that loved one o'ernight could come true,

But the loss! if you lost what I'm doing in you!

"So be silent, my child, and in time you will see

That the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me.

And though oft' may My answers seem terribly late, 

My most precious answer of all....is still...wait." 

--"Wait" by Russell Kelfer taken from Hannah's Hope by Jennifer Saake pages 177-178 Copyright 2005

Twice Loved

I just found this post through our agency's posting on Facebook and wanted to share it.  This is exactly how I feel about Gracie's birth mom.  I actually just shared it with her, as well.  It is a beautiful song that is such a tribute to the entire adoption triad.  Leann Hart also has a beautiful voice, which makes it that much more emotional.  Tears were streaming down my face.  I thank the Lord every day for Gracie and her wonderful birth mom.


Post by LeAnn Hart.

Thankful to Be a Mom

I am incredibly thankful to be a Mom.  Ever since my nephew, Noah, was born, I couldn't wait to become a Mom myself and to have a child to love forever.  Little did I know at the time that it would be such a challenge with years of procedures, paperwork, blood, sweat, tears, and adding a whole new wonderful family to get where I am today.  God knew back then what I needed to go through to fully appreciate every moment of motherhood.  And I mean every moment. Even those trying times when I just want to rip my hair out in frustration.  Even then, I still am thankful because I know "this too shall pass" and in the blink of an eye, my girls will be all grown up. *tears*

 I am grateful for the process it took for me to become a Mom to both of my beautiful girls.  Though I endured several losses,  I feel blessed that I was able to experience a healthy pregnancy in its entirety.  I feel blessed that I was able to give birth, albeit it was via C-section after 22 hours without A/C in July, I still feel blessed that I experienced it.  I feel blessed that I was able to try to nurse Gabby during those first few weeks.  Although I was not producing enough milk for my baby to thrive, I still feel blessed that I was able to try and to experience it.

I feel blessed that we got to experience the incredible adoption process.  Even though we had tons of paperwork and hundreds of hoops to jump through, I feel blessed that we went through it.  I feel blessed that Gracie's birthmom and birth grandmom love her so much that they were willing to sacrifice and go through such heartache to be assured that Gracie would be raised by a loving family.  I feel so blessed that they entrusted her life to us forever.  I also feel so blessed that we gained having them as family as well.  That they want to be in contact because they love Gracie and want her to know it.

I am thankful that God had me encounter all of the challenges in becoming a Mom because if he hadn't, I wouldn't have experienced both pregnancy and adoption, and I wouldn't have my beautiful little girls.  Isn't God awesome?!!

Mother's Day is always bitter-sweet for me.  It's bitter because I know what it's like to struggle for something you want so badly. My heart aches for those wonderful women out there who are struggling to become a Mom, through pregnancy and through adoption, and my heart aches for those who have lost their own Moms.

Mother's Day is sweet to me because I've cleared the hurdles and won my beautiful prizes at the end.  Also because I have the best Mom in the world.  I hope that I can be half the Mom to my girls that she is to me.

My beautiful Mom and my beautiful girls on Mother's Day

Easter preciousness

Contribute to a Charity...for FREE!

Have you heard of Amazon Smile?  It's basically a charity that you can contribute to through Amazon.  You make your normal Amazon purchases, but instead of just typing in www.amazon.com, you can type in http://smile.amazon.com, select the charity you would like to contribute to, and without paying any extra yourself, Amazon will donate 0.5% of your purchased amount to your charity!  See more info here: http://smile.amazon.com/about.
I have set up our Amazon account to contribute to Adoptions from the Heart. The thing is, you have to remember to keep typing in "smile" before amazon because if you don't, the 0.5% won't automatically go to your charity.  If you can't decide which charity to send the charitable donation, through Amazon, I highly recommend AFTH.  Even though it's "only" 0.5%, that's more than the charity had originally without the donation and more they could use to do something good.  Please consider it.

Time to Resurrect the Blog

It has been way too long since I last posted.  Life has gotten in the way.  It's not a bad thing, it's a great thing.  It's just the way I pictured when I started this journey.  Two full-of-life, stop-for-nothing girls who just want to have fun.  It makes the days long, yet fulfilling and extremely rewarding.

I created a Wordle word cloud of words I've used in the blog (seen in the picture below).  I guess I just wanted to see the words I was using a lot.  I'm glad blessing was a big one because that certainly is true  This road has been nothing but a blessing straight from God.  Thank is also a big word and another big truth.  I am so thankful for my family.  Though my life is far from f (whose life is?), it's as close as it can get and I am extremely thankful that the Lord has blessed our family so richly with each other.

If you follow this blog or read it from time to time, thank you.  I know I haven't posted often, but I am in high hopes that that will change....because I have much more to share about adoption, family, and loving life right where it's at.

Snow Princesses

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