"You Are For Me"

This morning is a brand new day! I decided instead of going to the gym today that I was going to stay home and do housework. So I cranked up my favorite CD right now "Kari Jobe" and started my morning routines of laundry and dishes and picking up the thousands of toys and shoes strolled across every inch of my floor :)
I love this CD so much! I have written before of how her music just ushers in God's peace. It was just what I needed to start off my Monday.
Here are some words that really grabbed a hold of my heart this morning :)

"So faithful, so constant, so loving and so true. So powerful in all You do. You fill me. YOU SEE ME. You know my every move, and You love for me to sing to You.
I know that You are for me. I know that You are for me. I know that you will never forsake me in my weaknesses. I know that You have come now, even if to write upon my heart...to remind me of who You are.
So patient, so gracious, so merciful and true....so wonderful in all You do. You fill me. You see me. You know my every move and You love for me to sing to You."

Mind overload

I haven't updated on anything this week because I have sort of been overloaded with lots of decisions to make coming up. It's been a tough and overwhelming week, and I kind of allowed those feelings of worry and doubt to creep in, but not no more! God is so faithful to bring His peace and encouragement. Thank you to all my friends that spoke those life giving words to me this week :)
This morning I am thankful for my sweet family, wonderful friends, this great ONE LIFE we get to live, and God's amazing love and guidance.
I am also starting to read a new book..."Crazy Love, " by Fancis Chan. I can't wait to see what I learn :)

Taylor Swift

Way back in October or Novemer, Savita, and Amber and I bought tickets to see Taylor Swift in concert. Last night finally came and we had a big night. The girls were all excited and cute! There were lots of little giggles coming from the back of the car :)

The highlight of the night was when Taylor surprised everyone and started walking down the aisles from where we were sitting. We were literally just a few feet away from her, but unfortunately our girls didn't get to see her much , because of everyone rushing and trampling over us. Avery was the only one that got to see her. She was a girl on a mission. She crawled under everyone's feet and took the best pics of the night. She told me..."Aunt Stacy, I was so close I could almost touch her." I think she might be a photographer one of these days. She was snapping pictures all night long. Emmy, bless her heart, fell asleep for most of the concert. Alyssa had a hard time realizing at first that she couldn't see Taylor Swift. She told me..."Mom, if Taylor knew I was here, she would want to see me." And little Emmy disappointedly said," I really wanted to give her a hug." They were all too sweet! It was a good time. I'm glad we get to have fun nights with our girls....and Taylor was a doll! She was so personable. I think she touched and hugged every single person she made eye contact with. It was a great concert.

Ears are Pierced!

Alyssa had finally gotten it in her head that she wanted to get her ears pierced. We have been a couple of times, but she chickened out. So Aaron and me and Aubrey and Alyssa piled in the car and headed over to Wal Mart. She picked out the cutest little flower earrings and just went for it. We were so very proud of how brave she was. As you can see from the picture, I was nervous and holding my breath, and Alyssa was as cool as a cucumber! LOL! She didn't cry not one bit. We then ended the evening with dinner and playtime at Chick-Fil-A! The unfortuante part is that one of them got hung on Aubrey's blankie the next morning and fell out, so we have to have it re-pierced...I was more upset than Alyssa. I just know how much of a big deal it was the first time, and didn't want her to have to do it again. So for now, until the other one heals a bit, she has just one cute flower earring!

Super Congrats!

Tonight we were dropping our kids off at children's church and we ran into our new friends, the Medina's. The Medina's have 2 boys of their own and are in the process of adopting a little girl from Ethiopia. They have been in process for over a year now, and were waiting, waiting, waiting on their referral. So every single time I would see them I would ask Kendra..."did you get your referral?" Well tonight they got their precious referral! All of their long paperchasing and waiting had paid off, and I was so excited and happy for them I couldn't stand it. I was also feeling a very weird emotion that at first I didn't recognize, like an urgency to get the ball rolling with our adoption even more. It made me even more ready to see my son's face. I think the feeling I felt was just a longing for that. Oh Lord, please make it quick. Thinking that I have to wait so long hurts my heart.
I went to the car tonight and just cried. Aaron and I were both surprised by how we felt seeing that they had gotten their absolutely beautiful referral. I can't even imagine the joy we will feel when we get to see our own son's face for the first time. I just can't wait! It truly is more than an excitement. It's grown into more than just knowing that I'm adopting and preparing for it. This is my son we're talking about and that feels real to me. It's a longing that sometimes hurts a little and makes me sick to my stomach. I wish I could just get on a plane right now. I wish we had all of our funds right now and could breeze through the paperwork as quickly as possible. I wish the process were shorter......I wish, I wish, I wish. But I know that God's timing will be perfect and I trust Him.
So congratulations Medina family! We are so very very happy for you, and I personally cannot wait to see your precious girl and hold her and hug her! This gives us such hope!

The best compliment

Tonight I received the best ever compliment. I was putting Alyssa, my 4 year-old, to sleep and she looked up at me and said, "I love being in this family." I told her that was the sweetest thing I ever heard her say, and she then said again,"We have the BEST family."
Just this morning she was calling me her "Sweet little momma." hehe :)
Sometimes I don't feel like I am the greatest mom or wife in the world, then encouragement comes from these tiny people, and I feel that maybe I'm doing something right as a parent.
I love knowing that Aaron and I make our girls feel loved and secure. I just wanted to blog about this so I wouldn't forget that precious moment. Maybe I'll look back during the teenage years and reflect. I sure do hope and pray that she always looks at us through these eyes. What a sweet little heart she has!

Phone Orientation

Ok. So we had our phone orientation with Gladney yesterday evening. My dad so graciously agreed to watch our kids and let us use his phone for the call.....( Thanks Dad;)) It was a ton of information....overwhelming but we knew it would be, so we were prepared for that part! It's all gonna be so worth it. Soooooooo let the paperwork and fundraising begin!!!! WHOO HOO!
I had my first donation! Savita, my very sweet sister-in-law pays me to watch Kyle during the week, and I had told her I was going to start saving all my paychecks from her for the adoption fund. So this morning she added ten extra dollars onto my pay. I thought that was so sweet! Made my day! Ten dollars may not seem like much, but it all adds up, and the gesture of support from her was very encouraging. Thank you sweet sister!

Controversial??????? Yes but so what!

I was just watching Diane Sawyer on ABC news and I got a little defensive. The topic was about trans racial adoptions. There was a young African American man on that had made a documentary about his struggle knowing his identity as a black man growing up in a white family. He said that he didn't feel that trans racial adoption was wrong, it was just hard. This I agree with. We are well aware of the trials with our child that we could face. But some "experts" were saying that it "wasn't right or fair" for white families to adopt children of different races specifically black babies. Now this is what bothers me. There are 147 million orphans in the world. I have recently read on another blog that in the US there are 7,000 couples waiting per 1 white American child and there are zero couples waiting to adopt an African American baby. Now I ask you "experts" this. What should we do? Do you really think we should do nothing because we are different? As I have stated before there are 6 million Ethiopian orphans. Do we as Caucasians ignore that because they don't look like us, or because we are from a different culture? That's not what my God says. My God has told us over and over that we will become color blind. He looks for families who are willing to love his children no matter their color. Remember the song " Jesus loves the little children.....red and yellow black and white. They are precious in His site." If we are to live our lives like Jesus, we are to love all. We are to become color blind.
Now I do realize that this was a story that was through the world's eyes and not God's eyes, but even still. Should we just ignore the need that these precious children need to be adopted simply because they aren't like us, or should we open our loving homes and give them a place where they will experience the unconditional love of a mother and father, and except and face the challenges as they come? To me that is complete nonsense to think that it would be better to just leave them be, that they would somehow be better off alone in the world than with a family who is different from them. That is unbelievable to me.
Aaron and I think it to be very important to keep our child's culture alive for that very reason. We want him to know where he came from and celebrate that. We desire for our child to be proud of who he is as a person. But as parents we will teach him that his true identity is in Jesus. That our son is a gift, different from us, but loved the same. That he has a purpose and a destiny and that God lovingly chose us to be his parents and give him the life that God has planned for him. We know there will be challenges, yes, but the good will by far outweigh the bad. Stop focusing on the negatives media and "experts" and focus on the fact that a child who has nothing or no one will be loved and well taken care of; and will have a family that loves them and will not be forgotten or overlooked because they are simply different.

Tea Party then Ice Skating

This Saturday we had a busy but fun-filled day. We first started with the most extravagant and fancy Alice In Wonderland themed birthday party ever! The girls had a great time sipping their "tea" in their own real cups. They were pampered and served finger sandwiches, cheese, fruit and cookies, then ended with Alice showing up herself and doing a magic show. The best part was when she turned the stuffed animal bunny into a real one! Then she made them all their own balloon animals. Happy birthday Sophia and thanks for a fun time! Oh and they had games for the moms too and I won!!!! Yay me....a $25.00 gift card to Macy's. Thanks Diana ;)

Then as if that wasn't enough fun, we went out for more. We ended our night with Thai food and ice skating with some of our favorite gals! This was Alyssa's first time and she did such a great job and loved it!

Fun stuff!

Yesterday I had a rough day. It was a tough weekend...super busy in the beginning, sick child, then I got sick, and our dear friends lost their dad, so we went to the funeral, which was so hard. So then recooping from all that I felt drained, and was focusing on the negative, which is never good. So my sweet husband gets home and I get it all out with him. I just told him my heart and how I was feeling and he, being the sweet man he is, just listened, and offered me his ear and words of wisdom. Aaron left with Alyssa to take her to cheerleading, and Aubrey was sleeping, so I had some time to myself and decided to clean my floors, which took me an hour, and they are already dirty again, but that's life :) Anyway, as I was mopping I decided to focus on the things I was thankful for, and surprisingly my day got way better after that. Isn't it funny how that works????? The night from then on out was wonderful. I made hamburgers for dinner and we just hung out and had some quality family time. Quality time with my family and watching my girls laugh at their daddy is one of my favorites!