Sentimental Crib...

When we were in Texas a few weeks ago for my high school reunion, we spent Saturday morning with my grandmother (I call her Mother). She shared with me that she wasn't sure if I would be interested, but my great-grandfather built a crib for her when she was a baby, and thought I might want it for our baby. The crib was not only used for my grandmother, but also for my dad and his two brothers. It is definitely an antique, at least 80 years old...but more importantly, it was built by my great-grandfather (who passed away last year at the age of 102).

I am SO excited about this...how sentimental and special would it be to have our baby sleep in the crib that my great-grandfather built with his own two hands?!?!?

My grandmother took the crib last week to a company that specializes in refurbishing antique furniture. She was concerned that it wouldn't be able to be fixed, but they felt confident that they could change out some of the bolts, screws, etc. and paint it. I thought that I might want it stained to match our bedroom furniture...we are thinking this crib will be the one we keep in our room when the baby is small and we can get a bigger one for the actual nursery. But, the company was concerned that due to the fact that the wood is so old, it wouldn't hold stain very well. So we've decided to just have them paint it white instead.

Here are a few pics of the crib BEFORE...

It was one of those cribs that you could adjust the railing up or down, but since that is no longer safe, they are going to bolt it into one position.

My grandmother thinks that it will be ready by the time my parents come again for a visit at the end of July and they can bring it to us.

I am SO very excited about this sentimental crib and look forward to the day when I can tell our sweet baby who made it :)

Speaking it into My Life...

A good friend of mine told me YEARS ago that I needed to start speaking our baby into our lives. She encouraged me to start working on our nursery, start buying clothes, and to start picking out a crib/furniture.

After meeting with our social worker last week, I realized that she could call us one day, without a moments notice, and tell us that our baby is HERE. She commented that she's had several conversations where she called the adoptive parents and said..."Your baby is here! Go to Target TONIGHT because the baby will be placed with you TOMORROW!!" How exciting would that be?!?!?

So I've decided to take my friend's advice...FINALLY! The next time my parents are in town, we are going to start moving out all our guest furniture and get the room ready. I have wanted (and envisioned for YEARS) to have wainscoting or recessed paneling in our baby's room. So I am hoping that the hubby and my dad can do that during the next trip.

I've picked out a few designs that I think would be pretty...

I've also decided to paint the room green on the top of the wainscoting or recessed paneling...that way, we can add blue if it's a boy or pink if it's a girl :) Not sure which type of green yet, but I'm looking at crib bedding right now and trying to narrow it down.

So here I go...speaking this baby into my life!!!

Play it Down and Pray it Up...

Play It Down and Pray It Up

by Rick Warren

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9 (NIV)

Is there pain in getting in shape? Yes. Is there a profit to it? Yes. Is there pain in doing the right thing in your marriage? Yes. Is there profit to it? Yes. Is there pain in having a daily quiet time and being disciplined? Yes. Does it have profit and benefit? Yes.

To endure short-term pain in a situation, you need to look at the long-term reward.

“He (Jesus) was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterwards; and now he sits in the place of honor by the throne of God” (variation on Hebrews 12:2b LB).

Why did Jesus go to the cross? Because he knew the joy that would be his afterward – the joy of seeing all of us saved. He was willing to go through the pain of the cross because he could look past it to the reward that followed.

When you are going through any kind of problem, any kind of pain, play it down and pray it up. Take it to God in prayer as you keep in mind whatever it is isn’t the end of the world.

Take a moment and read 2 Corinthians 11:24-30. Paul was beaten and stoned, survived a shipwreck, faced robbers, floods, deserts, and stormy seas, went without food and water, and lacked sleep and clothing to keep him warm. Yet, in spite of all these things he endured during his ministry, he was still able to say, “We do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Corinthians 4:16-17 NIV).

Everything that Paul endured for the gospel he called “light and momentary troubles.” He knew it was all a matter of perspective. He minimized the pain and maximized the profit.

Today’s verse from Galatians says that “at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” There is always a delay between when you plant the seed and when you eat the fruit. What we often want is to plant the seed in a prayer and expect the harvest of an answer immediately. But that’s not how it works.

Whatever season you find yourself in right now, the planting season or the growing season that requires waiting, know that the harvest will come if you don’t give up. Just look past the current pain to the eternal gain that awaits you.

The Book...

So many of you left comments on THIS POST that I wrote a few weeks ago about our Adoption Book. So I thought it would be a good idea to share some things with you about what we did.

We used Shutterfly and it was GREAT! We had actually put our entire book together though Scrapblog and then uploaded each of the pages onto Shutterfly and then realized that Shutterfly has pre-made photo books that have background pages, designs, stickers, and much much more, so we decided to ditch our first book idea and use what Shutterfly had to offer.

The morning I placed the order for our book, I got a text message from my hubby letting me know that he wanted to change some of the wording on one of the pages. So I frantically called Shutterfly and they were so great and allowed us to cancel our order. David fixed the wording on the pages that evening and then I turned right around and ordered the book the following night...WHICH, turned out to be better for us, because they were having a sale on photo books because of Father's Day :)

Our book came in about two weeks ago and I was a little disappointed that one of the pictures we used had low resolution. Before you order your book, Shutterfly tells you all the pages that have photos with low resolution or if you have some photos too close to the edge of the page or if some of your wording is too long to fit on the page. Unfortunately, I ignored that warning, only because when I previewed our book, the photo looked fine to me. But, because this photo was the FIRST photo of our book, I just wasn't satisfied with that and wanted our book to be PERFECT! So I changed the photo and ordered another one :)

David and I talked and decided that we didn't want to share our entire Adoption Book with anyone. We feel as if it is very private and something that is very serious to us. AND, you never know who might see this book through my blog. So I have chosen a few pages that I think are safe for us to share with all of you, so those of you in the adoption process or for those of you considering adoption, this might give you an idea on how you can go about creating your Adoption Book...

This is the cover of our book...it is a hard cover and is glossy.

This is the section in our book where we explained how we met and how long we dated.

And this is the section where we talked about our nephew and how much we LOVE being his Auntie Lianna and Uncle D.

The quality of the book is top notch...I was SO pleased!

AND...I was filled with JOY when I dropped our book off on Wednesday this past week and sat down with our Social Worker to go over all the pages and to give her a little narrative about who everyone was in the photos and a little history about some of the people and things we decided to share with our birthmother. She kept commenting throughout our meeting about how great she thought our book turned out and felt as if it was PERFECT!

It's only a matter of time...and Lord knows we are READY!!!

The Sweetest Words...

I have been diagnosed with colitis since I was a junior in high school. I have been taking pills after pills after pills for over twenty years now. Although I haven't had any physical symptoms of colitis in years, my colonoscopies always come back showing some inflamation and redness.

BUT, now that I have started this new medication, I am proud to say that I heard the sweetest words from my gastrointerologist today...You are completely healed. Your colon is 100%!!!!

I couldn't believe my ears...I have been waiting to hear these words for over twenty years now.

We aren't sure if my colitis has any part in our infertility, but my gastrointerologist has a feeling it does. He has seen research studies that indicate that colitis flare-ups can interfere with pregnancy. But now that I am healed, we are hoping to pursue more treatments.

Praise the Lord!!!!

A WAY Overdue Update!!!

A really good blogger friend of mine, sent me an email this morning to check in on me...it's been FOREVER since I've blogged!!! I have just been busy with work, family, and well, just LIFE!!!

My parents and grandparents have been in town for the past week, so I'm also trying to soak up every single minute with them possible :)

I did want to give a quick update on our adoption and fertility journey.

Our application fee is PAID and I ordered our adoption/life picture book yesterday. So we are moving forward with the adoption process and I couldn't be happier. Not to brag, BUT, we spent so much time on our adoption/life picture book that I can't imagine a birth mother not choosing us :) In all seriousness, I think our book is the perfect reflection of our lives, marriage, and who we are. I am so anxious for it to arrive so I can submit it to the agency. Once that is done, we will officially be ready for a birth mother to choose us. SO EXCITING!!!

We are also moving forward with our last IVF treatment. I FEEL as if my body is doing great with the new colitis medicaiton I have been taking and am scheduled for another colonoscopy next week, June 1. If my gastrointerologist gives us the green light, we'll be starting our IVF treatment immediately.

Who knows...we may be blessed DOUBLE this year! Wouldn't that be a blessing???

His Timing...

Yet again, God spoke DIRECTLY to me through this devotional...
“My times are in Your hand...”~Psalm 31:15
God doesn’t always work on our timetable. In fact, He rarely does. But in a single moment, God can change your life! All throughout Scripture, we see examples of how God was working behind the scenes and instantly turned things around for His people. Scripture tells us He is the same yesterday, today and forever which means He can instantly turn things around for you, too!

You may be going through some difficulty today, but be encouraged because your times are in God’s hands. He wants to accelerate things in your favor. He wants to take you further than you dreamed possible and work in your life in ways beyond what you have ever ima
gined.

Let this truth sink down into your heart today. Resist discouragement by speaking His Word over your future. Keep standing. Keep hoping; keep believing because He is working behind the scenes. He’s going to accelerate your times and lead you into the life of victory He has for you!


Believing it!!!