I'm Still Kickin!

Here I am on my knees, begging you to forgive me for not posting anything in forever! Well, I’m not really on my knees. That would make typing really hard, but you get my point. I really have been a horrible blogger and I apologize for that. 

Honestly (ask Lance), I’ve actually written about half a dozen incomplete posts and for some reason or another I just decided I didn’t want to finish them. I guess they just were not meant to be. Says the Calvinist in me. :)

Since it has been sooooo stinkin long since my last post, I will do a random update post for you with lots of little tid bits (what is a “tid bit” anyways?) of things going on in our lives.

Let me start with Luther, because I know you guys probably think I’ve already killed the dog and THAT is the reason I haven’t posted anything about him.

I assure you he is alive and well. See...

Cute as ever! He is a sweet dog and I’m quite fond of him. However, he has not gotten better about getting up during the night. In fact, it’s gotten worse! He loves our German Shepherd, Bella, and while I’m not sure the feeling is mutual, he really likes to go in the backyard and play with her. He REALLY enjoys spending time with her around 3:00am. He chewed up one of my dress shoes, but thankfully it was the pair that gives me blisters so I’m ok with it. He likes cat food more than dog food. He also loves a good belly rub... it’s so cute.

The boys started school a few weeks ago. Brayden is in kindergarten at a public school and Asher is going four days a week at the private pre-school they’ve been at. Both are doing great! Don’t they look all grown up on their first day of school?

I do have one gripe though about kindergarten/public school. NONE of my mommy friends with kids in public school told me all the crap you had to bring or all the hoops you have to jump through to get your kid registered! And while the school sent us a large stack of information (printed on both sides mind you), which I read through at least twice, I still did not have everything that was required. I am going to be a GOOD friend and tell other mommies of the complicated process of kindergarten registration and starting public school. Here’s a few quick tips to start: 

• Buy three of every school supply available at Target and go as soon as you see the displays. 
• Go ahead and invest in cases of Kleenex and hand sanitizer. 
• Send a blank check with your child for all the extra stuff they hit you up for. 
• Prepare for the guilt trip that is PTA. 
• Find a good book to start reading while you wait 30 minutes in the pick up line. 
• Get used to homework... in kindergarten. 
• Create a red light green light system at home because apparently it causes an angelic effect in children at school.

Asher is FI-NAL-Y potty trained!! Whew! I never thought both of us would come out alive. My bathroom still smells of little boy pee. Do you just have to bleach the heck out of it to fix that or am I supposed to just surrender considering I have two boys? Nothing is working so far. 

I’m really ready for Fall! Fall is my favorite time of year! Lots of awesome things occur in Fall like my birthday, our anniversary and long sleeve t-shirts!

Lance and I got married on October 2nd and a couple of years ago we decided to go somewhere every year, just the two of us, for our anniversary. Oh. My. Gosh. Totally the best pact we ever made! We went to Seattle last year for almost a week. I think that’s my happy place. I mean come on, how can you look at this and not be happy?

Or this?

So... this year, for our 8th anniversary, guess where we’re going? Yeah, I don’t know either. Your guess is as good as mine. :( We won’t be all fancy this year because we have been so busy and now we are cutting it close. I’m a planner, so since I really don’t have time to plan anything, I’m not sure what we will do. Well, I know what we will do but not sure where we will do it at. ;-)

FYI, I am loving being a stay-at-home-mommy again! I don’t have a clean house to show for it yet, but I’m working on it. I just love being home with my boys when they get out of school! 

I’m super excited about Fall... oh wait, I already said that! Ooops!

I went “yard sale-ing” for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I’m pretty terrible at it. My mom and dad have a cabin (by cabin I mean a nice house that looks nothing like a cabin) up in North Georgia, and my mom has recently picked up a new hobby (aka back breaking work) of refurbishing old furniture and selling it in a little consignment shop up there. This is what her garage looks like now...

I’ve gone a couple of times now to help mom find some pieces here in Columbus. I knew I hated having yard sales, but I’m not sure hunting for them is much better. The pros get there like two hours early before people are even set up, but I just cannot make myself be that annoying. Not to mention I don’t think my body functions well before the sun comes up. I’ve found a few things for her, but I get the feeling I’m probably not a huge help. I did find a decent NOT handmade quilt my first go around and I kept that for myself. Ten bucks for a king size quilt... not too bad.

Well y’all, I think I’m out out random stuff to share except for one last thing. I figured I would reward those who make it all the way through to the end of my post with the most exciting (and frightening for me) news. Now when you read it, please don’t gasp too loud. I know it sounds crazy (especially for those who know us and even to those who ARE us) but because it’s so “Say what?” we feel very confident that it’s what God is leading us to do. I promise you, this was not MY idea! When Lance and I talk it over it still sounds so absurd. Ok, ok I will get it out...

Lance and I feel like God is calling us to adopt a little girl... at least... possibly two siblings. 

Wow! That feels so weird to actually type it out!

We never ever considered adoption until about 3 years ago. God began to show us how we ourselves are adopted through the work of grace, and we saw adoption as a beautiful example of the gospel. You can read my other blog about that here. Of course, when all this began we were like, “Yeah, ok God... maybe, but it will be like 10 years down the road, because... well, look at us. That’s just totally impossible right now.” I think God laughs at the impossible!

As I mentioned in a previous post, Brayden began praying for a sister a few months back. That’s really where we began to hear the whispers of God about us adopting sooner rather than later. In July we went to a business conference in Texas and He showed us a vehicle that would help us reach the major financial goals associated with adoption. A couple of weeks after we returned from Texas, our pastor shared a quote that seemed like a very odd quote for him to share. He's not very quote happy and when he does share quotes it's usually very specific to the gospel. I felt it was a confirmation of what we were feeling. Here is what he shared:

There is something inherently inappropriate about cherishing small ambitions for God. -John Stott

Over the course of the last two months, God has slowly began to match our affections to his call. Now, there is not a day goes by that I don’t think about adopting. I wonder what she (or they) will look like and what it will feel like to hold a child that is mine by providence but not by blood. I cannot wrap my brain around it really. It seems so unrealistic, but at the same time something is driving me toward what is totally illogical. Logic says, "You have two kids. Why do you need more? You can't afford $30k for an adoption. You don't have a big enough house or even a big enough car! You've got too much on your plate already. You can't handle an adoption!" but we aren't hearing the logic we are hearing Jesus' words, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Lance and I decided fairly early that we would want to adopt internationally and from a country where the gospel is not free to be preached... where little ears are likely to never hear the name of Jesus. That quickly narrowed down our selection. I think I kind of expected God to just mystically reveal the country to us, but after listening to wisdom from several friends who are in the middle of the adoption process, I realized that God can use simple ways to reveal his will to us. It doesn't have to be all "thunder and lightening from heaven." We prayed that he would show us the direction we ought to go in and he answered our prayers.

I started here:

This is a map of restricted nations across the world that I found on the Voice of the Martyrs website. I was able to read about the different countries and then cross research the ones that were open for adoption. This process quickly narrowed our countries down to about 5 or 6. After a bit more research, we eliminated all but two because of unstable programs and then from there we feel we have settled on one. While this is not set in stone yet, we feel a peace about moving forward with adopting from [country in Asia]. It seems to be a good match. There are actually several other families in our community who are about half way through their adoption from [country in Asia]. I think that's kind of neat.

We plan, God willing, to officially begin the process before the year is out. Yikes! So, here’s where you come in. We need your prayers so desperately. Honestly, this scares the mess out of me! It kind of makes me feel like I’m in a free fall with no control over anything. We know God will provide what we need to fulfill his call, no matter how impossible it seems, but we also know that we must cover this process with prayer. Please pray for us if and when we come to your mind. 

I will update along the way, but I don’t plan to make a huge spectacle of this. This is not about us, but about the glory of God. As I mentioned above, there have been quite a few families adopting in our church and in our community. I know some will say, "Oh you're just jumping on the bandwagon. Adoption has become popular." Let me assure you there are plenty of bandwagons that I may jump on like skinny jeans or a style of music or a popular book, but when the "bandwagon" completely changes my family's future and cost upwards of $30,000 I will not be "jumping on" for the heck of it. Maybe, just MAYBE God is moving on the hearts of his people and maybe people are hearing and answering the call. Maybe. :)

So yeah, we plan to adopt... please pray.

To end on a less serious note, here's one last picture...

Until next time! Be blessed! -K