5 Kids, A Dog and A Minivan!

OK, who would of ever thought? I was giggling to myself as I was driving kids to school today, the dog running around in the car, music blasting and me enjoying EVERY second. Now wait, you say, 5 kids? Well, I am lucky to be able to watch my friends 6 month old baby girl a few days a week while her daddy is at work. Daddy is a firefighter with Mat and mommy teaches, so it works out great. I am getting lots of practice for when we bring our bundle of sunshine home! I forgot how hard it is to shop with 2 under 2!
Still no news on a court date, we are hoping to hear something within the next 2-3 weeks. A friend told me, now that we have our referral, this WAITING will be even harder. Well, we decided to add some home improvement projects to the mix and finish the kids bathroom upstairs and we have begun the nursery for Grace. So exciting.

Love to all,
Stacey

Our referral day is here!

We are still trying to comprehend what has happened. Yesterday, January 16th, 2009 we received "the call." Our coordinator called at 11:30 a.m. and of course, I was not home and Mat was at work. She then called on my cell, and asked me to sit down. I said, "No, just tell me." She said, "I have your baby girl and can't wait to show you." I was silent for at least a minute and then I think I started hyperventilating. I asked her, "When can we see her?" She told me she would send us the email right now. Then we hung up. I don't even remember saying good-bye. I immediately called Mat and told him, crying, and he was on a call. He said he would meet me at the firestation so we could open the email together. He first told me to stop and get photo paper incase we could print out her picture. I was right around the corner from Staples, but for the life of me I couldn't remember where it was. Finally got the photo paper and raced to the firestation. I called my mom and sisters and maybe talked for about 2 minutes. All I could get out was that we had our daughter. At the firestation we ran upstairs to the computer and it took forever to get our email open. (Probably not forever, it was really only 30 seconds, it just seemed a lot longer) And then there she was, our amazing, beautiful, fantastic, gift from God daughter! She was the best little girl we had ever seen. Here is a picture of us seeing Gracie for the first time:



After we studied her gorgeous face I called our coordinator back and she had our referral packet ready which contained our baby's medical history and the papers to officially accept her as our daughter. She also then told us she had a short video of her as well. VIDEO!!!! I don't really remember driving to our agency, but as soon as I got there, we were all crying and I still couldn't believe this was really happening. I rushed over to Walgreens to get the photos printed out, headed to Zach's school to pick him up and then hurried back to the firestation so Mat and I could watch the video together. After watching the video as a family, crying huge tears, we prayed for Gracie's health and safety; for God to place his hand on her.

The kids and I left the firestation and got a "celebratory" Starbuck's on the way home. At home, there were some beautiful African Violets waiting for us. They were from my mom and step-dad. African Violets were my grandma's favorite and I knew she was smiling down upon this day. Thank you Mom and Mike for the violets.



While posting our exciting news to the world, my wonderful friend Vikki and her kiddos showed up with this HUGE bouquet of balloons. Thank you wonderful friend. While Vikki and I were watching Gracie's video, Nicole called and decided we all needed to celebrate. Jose O'Sheas and a margarita. My dear friend Jessi joined us as well. It was a wonderful ending to a fabulous day! How I wish my sweet, handsome husband would have been able to celebrate too!


Needless to say, I had a hard time sleeping. All I wanted to do was dream of her round face and sparkly eyes. I think I fell asleep around 12:30 and was wide awake by 4:30. Today, even the sunrise looked different. The colors were brighter and more amazing than ever. The sky was bright purple and pink. My 2 favorite colors...God's creation made for us.

Thank you for the love, prayers and support. We cannot wait to bring her home.

Oh, did I mention that yesterday even in all the craziness, I stopped by Baby Gap and had to purchase a few outfits...notice though NO PINK! (Guess I need to get used to buying pink)

Many Questions

Today is a day of cloudiness, fogginess, and sadness. I am not sure why, except for the fact that we have now been waiting for almost 6 months to know who our daughter is. I keep remembering that this is God's plan and not our own. Even though this is truth, it does not make the waiting any easier. It is frustrating. Frustrating to see others who started the process later than we did, get referrals and court dates and getting closer to bringing their children home, when it seems we are still far away from this reality. Maybe today is frustrating for me because I am still not feeling well and Tyler is still dealing with croup. This is how I was feeling this morning and then I went on Youtube and found the following videos; which help me remember what and why we are doing this. We are doing this for God's glory to give another child a chance at life. God is good, all of the time. These videos answer questions for others; like why adopt when you are both healthy and able to have kids biologically? Why Africa? Why Ethiopia? Family and Friends, this is why! May God bless you and lead you to help make a difference. What are you doing today?

Guess what we did?

I guess in all this crazy waiting we have truly lost our minds. We decided to get the kids a dog! He is absolutely adorable and we named him Jack! Actually Tyler named him Jack. He is a 4 month old Goldendoodle and is very sweet. Everyone says that a dog is "good therapy." All the boys are just loving him, but Tyler is especially fond of him. He runs in the house, yelling "Jack, Jack!"
Got a love it. Our agency gave out a baby boy referral today; which is wonderful. Hopefully more referrals will keep on coming. It is just amazing to see God's handy work in all of this.

Happy New Year!

I cannot believe 2008 has come and gone so quickly. We have been truly blessed with all that has happened in our lives this past year. We are so thankful for our Savior Jesus Christ, our health, our family and our friends. We do know that 2009 holds an even more precious moment: the moment Gracie will be forever in our arms. Tonight we pray for her safety, health and that of all the other orphans who are still without their families. This waiting has been very hard, but we are reminded on a daily basis to trust in Him and His timing. He has the perfect little girl for our family. With the New Year comes many New Year's "resolutions." Each year I have always tried to make "another" resolution, to lose some weight. Well, after I read my dear friend Jill's blog yesterday (She is a friend whom I have never met face to face, but have come to admire through this amazing journey) she put it perfectly into words and scriptures regarding New Year's resolutions.(Check out her blog; it will inspire and move you:http://forevernevernalways1.blogspot.com) I am embarassed to say I have been "one of those," but this year it is going to be different for me. Of course, I am going to continue to take care of this body God has given me for the glory of Him, but I also want to grow in my relationship with him on a daily basis. It is clearly important to draw closer to Him and lead others to Him. 2009 is going to be an incredible year.
We wish you all love, health, happiness and peace. May you find rest in Him.
Prayer for our Gracie to come home to us soon.
With love,
Mat and Stacey
Zach, Justin, Cameron and Tyler

Merry Christmas

It has been a very emotional season for us. We are enjoying all of God's blessings with our boys, but it has been rough waiting to hear about our daughter. We rest in knowing that this will be the LAST Christmas we will have to spend without her. There have been many changes within our adoption agency; all for the better I must say. The older 3 boys are enjoying break and driving one another crazy. We have family in town and I must say, it is really hard to know that they will soon be gone. I always realize just how hard it is living so far away from family. (Let it be known though that I still live in the "original" place-they all moved!) We are amazed by the TRUE meaning of this season. Jesus' birthday. Thank you Lord for giving us this day; your son, our savior. We are truly grateful. For all of you out there, hug your kiddos and your family. Enjoy all the moments even when they are under your skin. Remember what Christmas is about and keep that in your heart always.
God Bless you all.
Stacey

We're #1! We're #1!

We received some wonderful and exciting news this weekend. We officially have moved up to the #1 spot for the baby girl list! We cannot believe it. Could it be possible that we will see our daughter's beautiful face before the holidays? Maybe, just maybe, keep praying! I have to say that this past month has flown by. I think the holidays have something to do with that. I absolutely love this time of year. I am still amazed at the thought that Jesus was born to give us new life. Isn't that amazing? More and more each day I try to wrap my arms around that concept...utter amazement. He is in control and He definitely has a plan, we are dying to know His plans for us on this incredible journey.