My little pumpkin

Super excited to have gotten this adorable picture today of my little guy (on the left) with one of his little friends at the orphanage looking out the window. A sweet lady who was on my co-workers medical mission team to Ethiopia last week stayed longer and went back for a visit to the orphanage by herself and caught this adorable moment! Thanks Cherie! I love it! And because you can't see either one of their faces, I can post it online too! Yay!
I cannot wait to get this little man home! I just wanna scoop him up in my arms and cover him in kisses and tell him I'm his momma FOREVER!
Praying the orphanage gets his paperwork together asap and things move as quickly as they can. I got a receipt in the mail today from my I600 A petition for his US immigration. They'll be sending me an appointment for fingerprinting in the mail very soon. Woo hoo! One step closer.

Getting the ole band back together for a cause

Today was the first Third Season band practice in over 6 years and it went really well. It was almost surreal playing our old songs and being back together practicing. It was so fun and it really came together well. I feel so incredibly thankful and blessed that all 4 of these guys were willing to do this show with me. The lineup is just slightly different than it was on our 10 song cd - Dana Hester is playing lead guitar at the show. He was in Third Season after Robin & Keith left and he played bass. This time around, he's playing lead. Robin is playing rhythm guitar, Keith is on bass and Rodney is on drums. I'm on lead vocals. We're playing 6 songs off of our 2004 CD tittled "Different State of Mind". And I still have a bunch of those CD's left so they will be available for only $5 at my adoption fundraiser concert on November 12th! Phil Keaggy played lead guitar on two of the tracks on the CD too! And I'm thrilled that Phil is available and lending his amazing talents to the show on the 12th too!!!! Several other talented friends are playing too including Brad McKelvey, Kelsie Cameron and Jessica Dawn. It is going to be a great show!!! I hope lots of people can be there. All proceeds go toward my adoption.

There's a $10,000 chunk due as soon as I receive the official referral on my boy so that's the main reason for fundraising like crazy right now. I now have official notarized copies of my home study so I am going to apply for grants within the next few weeks too. The Lord has been providing in so many ways so I have no doubt he will continue to do so. I am so thankful and daily blown away by His provision and the support of so many amazing people. Thank you to everyone who has been buying stuff from my blog store and donating and for all the encouragement. I don't think I can ever fully express how thankful I am.

I cannot wait to get my little boy home. Praying the Lord will move heaven and earth to get this adoption through as soon as possible. Every day is a day I miss with him and I'm ready to have him here with his momma! 

Birth

Today a baby was born - Jordan Robert Lawrence, son of Simon & Amanda Lawrence. Amanda is Visiting Orphans Executive Director. All of our staff that were in the office today went and met baby Jordan. He is so cute!!! So very excited for the proud parents and so thankful for a smooth delivery and healthy baby and momma. Answered prayers! I've known Amanda for a long time and I know how deep the desire in her heart has been for years and years to be a momma. I loved getting to see her every weekday during her pregnancy and getting to visit the day little Jordan was born. Such a miracle of life! Such an amazing God we serve. He is faithful and I love watching Him fulfill the desires of the hearts of my dear friends. It is yet another reminder to me that God keeps His promises and He does fulfill those desires that He put there in the first place.

Childbirth is such a miracle. I once witnessed it when my cousin Heather gave birth. If I hadn't already believed there was a God, I certainly would have after that experience. Today, I'm reminded of what a miracle it is and my thoughts and prayers turn to my little boys birth mom. She has been on my heart so much lately. I'm thankful to her for carrying him in her tummy and giving birth to him and making an adoption plan for him. I can only imagine how hard that must have been. I don't know her, I don't know all her circumstances but I can only imagine that she must love him, must want him to be loved and well cared for. I wonder if I'll ever get to meet her. If I do, I want to thank her for bringing this sweet life into the world and I want to tell her how much God loves her. I hope she knows that - wherever she is, whatever she's doing, wherever she goes - I hope if she doesn't already know that she will soon be fully aware of God's love for her.

If I never give birth to a child, I'm ok with that. I'll still be a mom and that's what matters. But I do wish I could've been there to welcome him into the world, to know what he looked like when he was born, to hold him in those first hours and days. I don't know any of that and it's likely that I never will. But what I do know is that I'm gonna love him and hold him as much as I can when I do get him home. I can't get those moments back but I can make all the ones to come filled with the most love possible. I just pray that I get him home as soon as possible. I'm sad that I've missed so much already but how much I will cherish every moment once he's here. I cannot wait to be his forever momma!

My co-worker Kathleen spent the day with him today. It made me happy to know that he was being loved on and that today he received the gifts I sent for him - a kid proof photo album and a soft baby blanket. It also kind of made me sad that I wasn't there too. Trusting God in the timing and praying for favor at every door. So glad to know my little snuggle bug is safe and got loved on by a sweet friend today. And as soon as she gets back, I will have lots of new and I'm sure, super cute pictures!!!

We welcomed baby Jordan into the world today. I can't wait to welcome my little boy home. Nothing is impossible with God!

Big News!

Just announced - Love BIG Adoption Fundraiser Concert
featuring the fabulous Phil Keaggy!!!!
Also performing:
my former band Third Season, Kelsie Cameron & band, Jessica Dawn and more!

Click on the Concert Event Link tab above for full details and to purchase pre-sale discounted tickets!!!

And the winner from the Simply Love coffee mug drawing is...

All of those people who bought Simply Love stainless steel coffee mugs and Just Love coffee - their names went into a drawing (actually 5 entries for every mug or bag of coffee purchased and 2 entries for those who promoted it online). I just did the drawing for the winner and Gina Keltner is our winner! She is an adoptive mom too! She gets to choose a free item - either a Simply Love mug or t-shirt. Congrats Gina!

While I wait

Tomorrow night I begin adoption classes. 3 Monday nights in a row through my home study agency. The Sunday before the 3rd class, I begin another set of classes that are on Sunday nights for 6 weeks at Brentwood Baptist and will go along with a book I just started reading called The Connected Child. There's also a conference called Empowered to Connect which just happened here in Nashville while I was in India so I missed it. I'm super excited that they are offering this class. So many things to prepare for and learn about things adopted children could struggle with. I'm so excited to be a mom and have absolutely no hesitations about moving forward but I also know that there could be a lot of things that could arise in the future as a result of the first years of my child's life before he came home. In contemplating some of the topics these classes will touch on, I started thinking about my sweet little man and how snuggly he was. I started wondering what his first few years have been like. He just clung to me when I picked him up. That makes me think he's not totally unfamiliar with affection and perhaps even a mothers love. But it also makes me think that he's very desperate to have that again. He screamed and threw a tantrum when I put him down. There was no gently, quietly putting him down without waking him. He knew the difference between being held and being laid in a crib. And he was mad to be back in that crib. I so wish I could bring him home right now. The less time in an orphanage and the more time I could have with him, to begin healing his hurts and teaching him what love looks like - the kind of love that isn't going to leave - I would be there in a heartbeat if I could go get him and bring him home right now. It makes me sad to think of any hurt or heartache in his life. It makes me sad to think of all he may have been through in his first few years on this earth. And I just want to scoop him up in my arms and love on him and tell him he's home and he's safe and loved. I'm longing for the day when I can and praying the Lord will move heaven and earth to make it happen. I already feel like his mom and every day that passes, it is getting harder and harder to be here when he's way over there. But in the midst of all this - I know the Lord loves him even more than I do. And I have to trust Him with this sweet little boy. I'm thankful that his orphanage is rather good and there are missionaries and teams going in there and loving on those kiddos pretty regularly. That gives me peace. I just pray that God keeps my little boy safe, healthy and well loved on until he gets to his forever home. And praying that he can come home soon. Every day that passes is one more day I missed with him. It's getting harder.
I may seem like a fundraising machine and some people might by now be sick of all my adoption posts about my blog store, yard sale, t-shirts for sale, etc. But here's my motivation - there is a sweet little boy halfway across the globe waiting for a mom and as each step in this adoption progresses, I don't want to be the one holding it up because of lack of finances. If things move quickly (and I pray they do) and doors start opening - I want to be ready to run through them because it means I'm one step closer to bringing him home. I already feel like his mom and as a mom, I'm gonna do every thing I can to get him here. I don't know what he's been through, I don't know what issues may arise when he gets here or how he'll adjust or attach to me - but I know that I'm gonna love him - no matter what. And I'm gonna read every book I can and take every class I can to be prepared in advance to be whatever he needs me to be so that he can know that he is loved and wanted and is home.