Whirlwind of Emotions

Tyler and I are so in love with this sweet boy! We have experienced a whirlwind of emotions. We go from laughing, to crying, to laughing, to crying, and so on. We are tired but we are doing great. We have spent a lot of time in prayer individually and also as a family. Today, I realized that this is the first time in my life that I have taken a true leap of faith, put all of my trust in the Lord, and said here I am do what you want. It is an incredible feeling to know that I am fulfilling God's plan for me right now. It has been 2 days and I feel like I have completely changed as a person. My hair, my clothes, my makeup just don't matter. I am taking time to just listen to the precious noises and watch one of God's greatest creations. I am taking time to spend in prayer and listening to God. It is amazing what a 6 pound 3 ounce little boy can do to your heart!
When we brought him home he weighed 6 pounds 2 ounces and had lost 7 ounces while in the hospital. In 2 days he has gained an ounce! He also came home with high bilirubin levels and when he was tested today they had started to decrease! We were so excited to hear that. We have a follow up appointment tomorrow morning.

He Is Here!

We brought home a beautiful 4 day old baby boy yesterday. He is such a blessing! We have had lots of visitors so he has had lots of love. Last night was tiring but waking up to his beautiful face made it all ok. Tyler and I are in love! I never understood a "mother's love" until now. For however many days we have him, Tyler and I will enjoy every second of being his momma and daddy.

Overjoyed

We received our first placement call this morning and we accepted! We will be picking up the precious boy today at the hospital. He is only 4 days old and we are so excited to meet him! God has been preparing me all week without me realizing it. So thankful to have a snow day, and a 3 day weekend with our new bundle of joy.

There is a new addition to the nursery and I have included a picture. Tyler and I loved it and it is so appropriate.

APPROVED

We are officially approved! I received an email from our social worker last night at 10:01 congratulating us on our approval. We were approved much sooner than expected but we are more than ok with that. Now, we just wait for our first phone call. Every time my phone has buzzed today, my heart has skipped a beat. We are overjoyed and more than ready to have a baby to love on. We know God has a baby picked out for us and we will receive them in His time but it is difficult to not be anxious!

By the end of the month...

There is a possibility we will be parents by the end of the month! Holy Cow!!! The end of the month is only a few weeks away! We are awaiting our final approval and we will start getting calls. We are beyond excited and also very nervous. Knowing that our life is going to drastically change very soon is frightening yet so very exciting. We are going to have a new person to share our life, our home, and our love with. If only for a short time, we know they will be taken care of, safe, loved, and prayed for.

We got the opportunity to visit a sweet friend of ours who also happens to be one of her coworkers. She adopted her beautiful daughter, Lucy, from Ethiopia a few years ago and has recently decided to open her home to foster children. We did not get to see precious Lucy today because she decided to take an extra long nap. We did get to snuggle the newest sweet baby girl that she received last night. She was an itty bitty 3 week old and Tyler and I were both a little worried. It has been a long time since I have held such a tiny baby and Tyler confessed today that he has never held such a little one. We were thankful for the opportunity to snuggle the sweet little girl and visit with our friend. She helped us more than she knows!

Tyler was wonderful with her and my heart was beyond happy watching him love on this precious baby. He is going to be a great daddy and there is no one else  I could imagine going on the journey with! I'm thankful to know that he will help with anything that I may need and is going to unconditionally love each child that enters our home.

We have been asked several questions about our choice to become foster parents and Tyler and I always try our best to answer them. These are some of the most common questions we have been asked and the answers we have given:

1. Why do you want to take care of someone else's baby and then give it back?

---Because that is what God is calling us to do!

2. Do you not want children of your own?

---They are going to be OUR children, we just got them a little differently than you.

3.  Oh, so you aren't able to have babies?

---We have no idea! We are assuming that we can but this is what God is calling us to do so we are being obedient.

4. Don't you think it will be hard to give them back?

---Absolutely! This is something that we have really prayed about and we know if God has laid this on our hearts and is calling us to do it then He will give us the strength we need to get through it. 

5. Do you want to adopt?

-YES! When the time is right we would love to adopt! 

The next update will probably be when we receive our first call! Until then, please keep us in your prayers.

Waiting...

We have officially finished everything in order to be foster parents! All of our paper work is being processed and we should start receiving phone calls in February.

We finished the nursery over the weekend and added some cute decals. We added jungle decals to match the bedding and also a wonderful quote from Christopher Robin. Tyler loves Winnie the Pooh, I love the saying, and it is perfect for fostering.

We are so thankful for all of the encouragement and prayers. There is already so much love for the sweet kids we will be blessed with and we haven't even seen their precious faces yet!  We have had toys, clothes, a high chair, a car seat, a bouncy seat, and so much more given to us. Tyler and I cannot express how thankful we are for the generosity of our friends. My sister gave us a very special ornament and keepsake box today. They are both so beautiful! 

So for now, we are waiting and praying.

Busy Weekend

We have had an extended weekend but a very busy weekend! We have our second home study tomorrow and we spent the weekend preparing. We rearranged furniture, assembled the changing table, assembled the crib, and put up the baby gate! Our house is officially baby proof! Woo hoo! We have finished all of the paperwork that we have and will complete the rest tomorrow with our social worker. Our letters to the biological parents and the child are finished as well as our scrapbook page!
We are so excited for our future and for all of the children we are going to be blessed with.