Home Study Part I

This year in BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) we discussed the life of Moses in which we read through and studied Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Initially I thought learning about the life of Moses would be interesting but not necessarily spiritually challenging. Boy was I wrong!!

Moses was a well educated, adopted prince of Egypt. He was great in the eyes of man but a tool in the eyes of God. God called Moses to free God's people from slavery, to lead them through the impossible and to the promised land. God called Moses out specifically and yet Moses still did not want to go... Moses saw God face-to-face, he knew the character of God more fully than any man in the history of mankind and yet, Moses started his journey being unwilling, fearful, and skeptical of God's plan. There is hope for me yet!

We believe God has called us to the path of adoption, we may not have heard the audible voice of God like Moses did, but we heard Him nonetheless. Like Moses, I was reluctant and unwilling to go. I have stumbled and failed in many ways, yet I believe God wants to use us and bless us through this journey. He does not promise it will be easy, Moses' journey was far from easy, but He does promise to by our side every step of the way. The life of Moses was such a blessing to me this year, I have seen my faith grow by watching Moses submit to God's authority and sovereignty and be rewarded by watching God work for His glory.

The Home Study
Yesterday we started our home study. Our adoption worker came to our home and discussed all the the details of what we will accept and will not accept in a child.

Over the course of the past year we have been required to fill out a preference sheet on three occasions. The first time we completed the preference sheet as apart of the initial application. We were given the preference sheet at the beginning of the Trauma Based Parenting Classes we took through the county, and again at the end of the classes. We were asked to answer one of three ways; Will Accept, Will Consider, and Will Not Accept to a variety of different scenarios including age range, gender,  ethnicity, drug exposure, drug addicted, mental and physical handicaps, hearing impaired, vision impaired, history of psychological disorders with bio-mom or bio-dad, and the list goes on and on.

I found myself reverting back to my old, controlling ways. Trying to specify what exactly we want in a child... Thankfully my loving and faithful husband kindly reminded me God is in control and will bring us the baby meant for our family (I am so thankful for his faith and encouragement in this process!) Our adoption worker asked us questions for about 2 hours, then did a one-on-one with Travis for another 2 hours. My one-on-one is in a couple weeks.

After she completes the interviews she will write up our home study and submit it to her supervisor for approval. Once approved, we will be sent to matching! Yay!

I feel like I have grown so much over the past year, I know I will never have the faith Moses possessed but his life has given me something to strive for and brought me encouragement, no matter how many times I fail to properly acknowledge the sovereignty of God, He will never give up on me.

DIY Outdoor Couches

Thanks to the advent of Pinterest, sprucing up your house has become simple, inexpensive and rewarding! The other day I was perusing Pinterest and came across this little beauty!

I loved the idea and thought it would be easy enough to do myself! I decided to make a sudo armrest by stacking the cinderblocks differently than what was shown in the original image above. This minor change also saves money because you need less supplies. 

Supplies: 

8 - cinder blocks 16x8x8 (there are different sizes, I learned the hard way) 

3 - 4x4's 

Wood Stain 

The natural look of the wood is nice, but I wanted a darker stain and I happened to have a walnut wood stain on hand! I stained only one side of each of the 4x4's for a couple reasons. One, so to not use up so much of the stain, and two because I didn't want to need to use a sealer to protect the cushions that I would be placing on top. 

To make sure it looked cohesive, I stained the ends of each of the 4x4's. It looks sloppy now, but I promise, it will be feel complete once it is all put together!

Because I did not want to purchase paint, I used the wood stain to stain the cinder block as well. Wood stain is much cheaper than cement stain and works just as well for our purposes!

I gave the stain a couple days to completely dry before adding the cushions and pillows. 

The cushions I found on sale at Target for $20 ea. 

To save money, I ordered these $5 pillow inserts (free shipping) and found inexpensive pillow-covers (also on Amazon). Or if you are crafty, you can sew them yourself. Most of the pillow-covers shown here were $2-5 ea. 

For a little of $100 you can build yourself a large outdoor couch, with very little effort!

Exit Interview Complete

We had our Exit Interview today, all our paperwork is complete, now we wait for a call from our adoption worker! According to our meeting today, we will be assigned an adoption worker within the next few days, but they have up to a month to contact us. Please keep praying for the right adoption worker for our family. My hope and prayer is that the lady that conducted our meeting today will be assigned our family. She is a woman of God and seems to understand our family dynamic. Thank you for your continued prayers and support, they mean the world to us!!

The Essential Oil Plunge

I made the plunge and purchased the Young Living Premium Starter Kit. 

I have been holding off getting into essential oils for a long time. Sure, I have dabbled in them here or there, but the starter kit is a commitment! I have to say, that a little over two weeks into trying to utilize the kit and I am still confused as to how to use the oils. I want to use them for anything and everything, but I just don't know what oils to use and how to use them! Why does the kit not come with a detailed guide!!

I have combined Frankincense and Purification with a carrier oil and applied it to my pimples (why an almost 29 year old still has acne I do not know!) at night before bed. After only a few days I have noticed a difference!! I have tried diffusing Thieves when both Landon and I were sick with a cold, and have also diffused the allergy trio (Lavender, Peppermint, and Lemon) but I have not yet noticed a substantial difference.

I can't shake the feeling that I am just not using the oils correctly. For all you oil lovers out there, I would love to hear how you use your oils and what made you fall in love with them!!!

Trauma Parenting Classes Completed!!!

We are well on our way to welcoming our sweet baby into our home! We have now officially completed the 24 hours of trauma based parenting classes required by the county. Next on the list is the Exit Interview, then we will be assigned our adoption worker! Right now, I am assuming the earliest we could have our placement is August, but it all depends on when the right baby comes into the system.

Ways you can be praying for us: 

Pray that we get assigned an adoption worker best suited for our family and our circumstance. 

Pray for continued hope and excitement and against fear. 

Pray for the bio mommy of our baby, that she cares for both herself and the baby, and pray for her emotionally, I am sure she is experiencing all kinds of emotions around Mother's Day. 

I read this amazing post about "The Other Mother," it is both beautiful and eye opening. It gives us a glimpse at what it might be like for the bio mommy of these precious little babes. Often times, it is so easy to judge and look down on these women for not protecting these innocents, it is good to be reminded that, although broken, these women are hurting and often times alone. There is evil in this world and they have become subject to it. It is a welcome reminder that we are all in need of the redemptive grace of Jesus Christ, and if we are to walk in His light, we are to show grace in return rather than being the first to cast the stone. 

Adoption Timeline

Orientation Class - September 26, 2014

Submitted Application to County & CCL - November 1, 2014

County Preliminary Interview - January 21, 2015

Parenting/Training Classes - March 12th, 2015

CCL Pre-Licensing Inspection - March 18, 2015
Exit Interview - June 3, 2015 

DIY Uncrustables

One of Landon's favorite foods is Smuckers Uncrustables! If it were up to him, he would eat them for every meal. Unfortunately, they are also packed full of sugar and a bunch of other things I can not pronounce. We try healthy as a family, that does not mean we never eat out or have a candy bar, but we do try and limit sugar and processed foods as much as possible. Yet, the convenience of a frozen PB&J that will perfectly thaw in time for lunch, requires no prep and minimal cleanup, and can be eaten in the car with ease, is very tempting! Especially when we are running late, which is almost always. My solution, try and make them myself! 

Ingredients: 

Honey (I like raw organic honey from Trader Joe's)

Peanut Butter, Almond Butter, Cashew Butter, Etc. 

(Trader Joe's has a creamy unsalted peanut butter with one ingredient, peanuts)

Butter 

Bread 

Directions: 

Apply peanut butter to one slice of bread,
apply butter to the other slice of bread,
apply honey on top of butter.
(Simple enough so far!) 

Take a wide brimmed jar (I used a glass leftover glass container)

place on top of sandwich and press down firmly. Cut off crust. 

To get the most of the sandwich, I did this step twice, once on each side. 

So it turned out looking like this. Not perfectly round like Uncrustables are,

but we utilize more of the bread. 

All that is left to do is place in a ziplock baggie and freeze! 

I sealed all the sandwiches in their own sandwich bag 

and then placed them all into a large freezer bag to preserve freshness. 

They keep for about a month stored this way. 

Tried, tested and Landon approved!

Next time you are on the go just remove from freezer, let defrost and munch away! 

Butterfly Day

Last weekend Landon and I joined friends at the Louis Robidoux Nature Center
Annual Butterfly Day! We did butterfly crafts, pet pigs, held caterpillars and visited the main attraction, the butterflies!

Landon is now obsessed with caterpillars and finding a nice green leaf for them to eat 

(thank you to "The Very Hungry Caterpillar").