After enduring what I would consider the lowest point in our little family's life thus far (hearing the term "flood zone" still makes me cringe) there is a wonderful light at the end of that dark tunnel and we have settled into our new home! We LOVE it! We still have so much to do but we are enjoying the process of making it our own. I don't usually like to stay home much, but since we've moved in I have really been more of a homebody. It just feels good to be home. Here a few pics of what it looks like so far:
Breakfast Nook
Entryway
Backyard..Our favorite thing about the whole house! We have so much we want to do to make this backyard the best hangout spot in town!
Dining Room
Gray's Room
Guest Room
Guest Bath
Liv's Room
Living Room
Michael's "Office"
It's actually a big closet under the stairs. It makes everyone laugh that sees it! But it really is functional to just hold office stuff!
Playroom. Keeping it real here people, this is what it looks like most of the time. There is about 10 minutes after I spend an hour cleaning it that it looks good but I can't seem to get a picture of it when you can actually see the floor. Oh well. I also have a great space for my sewing in this room!
We have been pondering the idea of adoption for more than 2 years now but the timing just hasn't been right..until now! Now that we have more room and we finally got Gray potty trained (thank you Jesus!) we began the process to adopt through DHS back in March. It has been a grueling process with mounds and mounds of paperwork, weeks worth of parenting classes, applications, background checks, doctor visits, home studies, lots of preparation and even more prayer! We finished our home study last week and we will hopefully hear that it is approved this week or next. Once that is approved, we will just wait to get a phone call to say that they have a child or children for us to give a home. We have been blown away with the support that our friends and family have given us as we tread into this unknown territory. There are days when I'm so excited and so at peace about everything and then there are days when I think that the potential heartbreak we could face will be too much to bear. We have comfort in knowing that we are doing what we feel God has called us to do which is caring for an orphan and even if the process doesn't go smoothly or just how we hope it will, then we are still doing what we are supposed to do. Each time I volunteer at the children's shelter it is heartbreaking and eye-opening to see 80+ kids that are without a family to care for them. Last week one little girl looked at me and said "I wish you were my foster mom" and I held a sweet newborn whose 15 year old mother is also at the shelter. Those are the stories that keep us going and make me so excited to make a difference in the lives of at least one or two of these children!
