How we came to the decision

Last year when we went to get Adiah from China I "knew" we were done. The road to Adiah was a joyous one but a long and difficult one as well. I was a mommy to 4 children whom I loved and they kept me busy!!! So as far as I was concerned our family was complete. This past summer we moved to Midlothian and life got super busy with gymnastics 4 nights a week, sports, horse lessons, Brian's promotion which was good but more work, and a toddler! Actually life was so busy that is was hard to hear the Lord at all sometimes. So we made decisions. I know not all families can make these decisions but we knew that we couldn't go on living the rest of our lives at that pace. So we slowed down. We cut activities out. We reevaluated. And we began hearing again. And it was GOOD! And still is! So late fall I began dreaming again with the Lord. Really about where he wanted us. Where did he want us to "go". And he began revealing! One night in December I had a dream. I dreamed I was running a marathon through Disney World. And it was easy. I was running very smoothly and wasn't getting winded at all. Along the way I see a beauty shop and decided to hop off the path for a minute and get my hair cut. Well, when I walked in, the lady said "Oh, good. You're here. I need you to cut hair for me." I said "But I can't...I don't know how to do that. Maybe if I cut straight across but I can't do new styles". And then she said "Don't worry. You'll figure it out." So I started cutting new hairstyles for ladies. Then I decided I needed to get back to the marathon so I hop out and start running again. In the distance I see Brian holding a baby. I only see the back of the baby's head so in my mind I think Brian is holding Adiah. As I get closer Brian turns around and I see an Asian baby with a cleft lip. And I knew it wasn't Adiah. I finish the race. So I wake up from that dream sort of laughing. I told Brian about it and he laughed too. I even said that day..."Oh dear. If God wants us to adopt again he is going to have to give me the desire because I don't want to adopt again." And really neither did Brian. Or let me just say...it wasn't on our radar. So days go by and I realize that I've been thinking an awful lot about that dream and it scared me. It scared me because I was growing happy about it. I brought it before the Lord and asked him why? Why was I still thinking about it? Could he please take away this "stirring" because I was scared. But the stirring didn't go away. It got bigger. And I was afraid to tell Brian. I just didn't want him to feel burdened. So I kept praying and waiting. Some days when my hands were completely full I would say to myself "NO WAY!!" And then other days when I would sit and be quiet and listen...I would cry. Because I felt selfish for not wanting to start this again. I listed out all of these thing to the Lord that I wanted for my life. I felt guilty for that too. So one day I was blow-drying my hair in the mirror and I was talking out loud to God. I said (again)..."God, I just don't think I have it in me". And all of a sudden I had this peace about me. And I heard in my heart..."No you don't. But I do. And I give you what you need." I sat down and cried. And repented. That afternoon I was laying on the floor of my room asking Him again about it(because honestly sometimes it takes me 59 times for me to hear HIM!!) and again I heard "Not only do I want you to give me THIS decision. I want you to give me the direction of your life too". Because you know, I wasn't letting Him have it. And it felt awful. That night I was laying in bed and Brian was laying next to me. He was quiet. So I started to drift off to sleep and then I REMEMBERED! I remembered something that happened just a few weeks before we left to get Adiah last year. Another dream. In that dream I was pregnant and was in the dr's office getting a sonogram. The sonogram person had to leave the room so she asked me to hold the wand on my belly. After she left I moved the wand around so I could see my baby. As I moved the wand to the other side of my stomach there it was. Another baby. I was the one who discovered that baby. I remember telling Brian that dream last year and we both laughed. Not that night though. When I remembered the dream I began to sob. I woke up Brian and told him everything. And what did Brian say? "I'm not scared, Amy. If this is from the Lord he will keep confirming and he will provide the way. I'm not scared." So we continued to pray and wait and He kept confirming. So we filled out our application on line and not only has he taken away the fear. He has replaced it with joy and excitement!! I don't have alot of answers. I don't know how we will do alot of things. But I know who does! Bottom line is this. I took my eyes off myself for a bit and looked at the One who holds not only my life but the WORLD in his hands. One more child gets to know the love of a mommy and daddy. The love of a brother and sisters. And most importantly they get to experience and KNOW the love of the Father through those people. I can't tell you how happy that makes me. I'm crying tears of joy even now! Oh, and by the way....we're asking for a boy!

Drum roll please......

I'm so sorry, Jeanette! I so meant to get on here earlier and fill you in but you know....Biggest Loser. And then President blah, blah, blah. You didn't hear that from me. Ok, on to the news.....YES! It's China!! Those were some good guesses, though. Tiffany! Tennessee was next on our list! I'll write the whole story out tomorrow but we're going down the road of paper chasing again. We've really felt the Lord stirring us to step out and adopt again. Its crazy. And not anything I would have dreamed for my life. But the Lord knows and I trust Him! So here we go again!!!! I can't wait to tell you how we came to the decision!! It all started with a dream.....

Here we go again!!!

Anyone want to guess where we're going?

Pink dinner!!!

Tonight we had our traditional pink dinner that I do every Valentine's Day. Last year when we did it we were so close to leaving to get Adiah. I couldn't wait for her to be with us to enjoy this tradition with us. Well, this year she was here and it was such fun!! I don't think she really cared too much about the color of the food but she loved getting cards and gifts. This year I made pasta and dyed it red. I served it with Pink sauce and then we had strawberry spinach salad and bread on the side. I also gave them the hottest pink drink I could find. It was yummy!! We also had pink cupcakes with pink icing and strawberries with strawberry pudding in a martini glass. We're high class I tell ya! Brian surprised all the girls by giving us each a dozen roses!! Adiah got yellow because...well, she can say yellow really well. I got red, Emily got pink, and Natalie got orange. Ridge got the gift of all gifts and that was a poster with EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER from Star Wars on it. Its lovely. All in all it was a great night and now I'm off to watch a movie on the couch with my Valentine. Hope your Valentine's Day was filled with lots of love!!!


On each plate I had a scripture with a the word 'love' in it. We all read our scriptures out loud and talked about who our true and eternal Valentine is.








My gang!

Ridge loving his red pasta. Check out his drink! It is PINK!!!

Lets talk about how she went straight to a bath after this meal was over!!



Yummy!!

Valentine's Dance

Last night Emily went to her first ever school dance! I was a little bit sad realizing that she is old enough to attend these. But she informed me on Thursday that she would like to go to the Valentine's dance at school with her friends that was the next day. I was cool with it even though I only had 24 hours notice. In my day (that sounds so old!) the Valentine's dance was a big deal. It was semi-formal and you went with a boy! But these days its different. It was a jeans and shirt kind of night. So I went out and found her a pink shirt since it IS the Valentine's dance and a fun necklace. She said she had a great time and just stood around and talked with her friends. Hmmm....sounds like what she does at lunch to me but I'm not sayin' anything!! She 'allowed' me to take some pictures of her before the big event. She is so funny! Natalie was also going to an ice skating birthday party so she hopped in a picture too. Such cuties!!




Here is a cute one of Miss Priss. And yes your eyes are not deceiving you. That IS a summer nightgown she is wearing in February. But give me a break! We live in Texas and it 103. Well, maybe not 103 but ridiculously warm.

And one of my sweet boy, Ridge. He had just gotten out of the shower and I'm pretty sure the towel did not go near his head. And he is wearing a cape. Had to document.

Blog book

Kristi and Kim asked who I got our blog book from. I ordered though this site because our adoption agency, AWAA, recommended it a few weeks ago. It definitely has some things I wish they would work on but over all I am glad to have a hard back book that Adiah can flip through someday and see how much we couldn't wait for her to be here. I'm sure there are other companies that do it too. So look around if you don't like the one we used. Oh, and yes Kim, I am still running. Doing another half marathon in 3 weeks and then we'll reevaluate my plans for the full. I'm not feeling the love if you know what I mean! Amy P., I got your message and I'll call you this weekend sometime!! Love you, girl!

Sorry!

So sorry for the lack of blogging lately! I really have no excuse. Except for that I'm a slacker! Oh well. So whats been going on around here? Not too much really. Just living the life. Adiah had a good string of weeks where she wasn't sick, praise God! She did get sick this week with another ear infection and our pediatrician says its time for a visit to the ENT doc. That's at the end of this month and probably mean AT LEAST tubes. Maybe adenoids and tonsils too. But whatever will keep our little joy happy and more importantly hearing! She is so full of life I can't even explain it! I decided to make our adoption blog into a book. I ordered it a few weeks ago and it came in on Tuesday. Brian and I sat there flipping through the pages and marveling at how far she has come! She was so sad and withdrawn and really lifeless when she came into our family. Now...I can't put to words. The child explodes with joy. We are so thankful that God let us be her family. Emily, Natalie, and Ridge are such joys too! I constantly find myself laughing with girls. And I find myself imagining right along side of Ridge when he is telling me the latest plot to his new movie he is going to make some day. Usually it has to do with Lord of the Rings or Star Wars. Surprise, surprise!! Last weekend I officially became closer to 40 than I am 30. I turned 36. But I like to call it my 8th annual 29th birthday. I stole that from my friend, Tiffany. I got to celebrate with my dear friends on Saturday and my family on Sunday. I will be celebrating it again in the near future with Brian's mom. What else...? Um...found a new church near our house that we have been attending. Since we moved here in June we were commuting back to the church we've gone to for a few years now. But with Emily being in middle school and the others not far behind we knew it was time to find some place where she could really be involved. You know...let your roots go deep! I've had a hard time missing my church family from the Branch. But God has blessed us with some amazing connections at our new church. We've also been praying through some amazing things that God has been placing on our hearts. Crazy really. But aren't we all sort of in that same boat? I hope so for you as well. Its an amazing journey letting God lead you instead of running out ahead of him. You NEVER know where he'll lead if you'll just sit and listen. Well, no pics today. We have some friends coming over for dinner in a few minutes. My sweet college roommate, Stacey and her new husband Greg. Hopefully I'll be back soon with more! Love you all!