on failing at gifts, adoption, and drooly beads

so funny story, yesterday, for like 3 hours, I researched the crap out of husband's christmas present. But upon realizing we don't have the extra money right now, I decided to wait and just get it for his birthday in Feb. Y'all, I searched for it high and low and found the best deal. I even made husband go into our room with the door shut so I could measure his laptop and current computer bag. You see, husband has a cheap messenger bag. He is also the hardest person in the world to shop for. You think I'm just exaggerating there, but I assure you, I am not. He just wants amazon gift cards all the day long. I finally thought of something he really needed. I even bragged all night about how I was finally going to break my bad gift giving reputation oh shoes.  Yeah, I totally give him shoes every year. It's my default gift.

Then, this morning happened. Husband logged into OUR JOINT AMAZON account and immediately saw his gift in the cart. Hi, my name is idiot. We share a joint amazon account. So that was fun. OH, and husband hid one of my Christmas presents and now can't find it anywhere. I would say it's funny if it wasn't my gift that he lost. #wearenailingchristmasthisyear

So I thought I'd update y'all on our adoption process. A big fat nothing has happened.
still w a i t i n g.

and here are a few photos of C playing in our christmas tree garland bc you know, I can't seem to blog without a few pictures of him thrown in for good measure.
Take us out, C.

Hump Day

I'm over HERE today sharing a little bit about our adoption. I really encourage you to check out this series that Megan is hosting over on her blog. It's been so incredibly encouraging to me during this hard waiting season. Thanks Meg for letting me guest post!

Happy Hump Day, friends. What am I doing today? Oh you know, just editing alll day:) And don't misunderstand that, I'm thankful!!

waiting game

every time the phone rings, I think, pray, and hope it's them. My stomach turns into knots & my heart skips a beat. They are calling to tell me we have a match. A birth mom has chosen us. US!

We've officially only been on the wait list for 2 weeks now. & friends, it's hard. It's hard when everyone around you is pregnant with a specific date of knowing when they will see their child face to face. It's hard when other adoptive families you know are getting placed or had placements happen in 3 days of waiting. It's hard when you realllly just want your baby already. It's hard waiting. I don't mean to sound like a impatient brat, I'm well aware that some families have been waiting YEARS for a placement. & I promise the families that I know of, I've been praying for because waiting a year sounds m.i.s.e.r.a.b.l.e.

But, I decided something yesterday. Well really, the Lord convicted me of something yesterday while watching C play. C is here now. Husband is here now. And instead of letting my mind become consumed with when we will be matched & when our second son will enter our home, I'm going to try (key word: try) to be content with where the Lord has me now. C is still so small. Just barely a year & everything he does is my absolute favorite. Instead of letting my mind wonder into the unknown and uncertainties of adoption, I want to keep it focused on the here and now and be content.

Contentment is probably the number one thing, I think, woman struggle with. We always want the next chapter of life, the next event, etc. At least I struggle with it majorly, if I'm being honest. Which I am. So starting today, every time I start thinking about our adoption process and when I'll receive that phone call, I want to make it a habit to stop, pray, and ask the Lord to keep me focused on the here and now.

It's okay to desire something (obviously not if it's a sinful desire). It's not okay to let the sinless desire become an idol, because then it becomes sinful.

  I might be in for the long haul as far as being on the wait list goes. I don't want to spend the next weeks, months, or (hopefully not) years living in discontentment. I want to be able to look back at the time of waiting as a time I soaked in being a family of three & trusting in the Lord's will.

I'm reallllllly going to try. And by God's grace & strength, I can be victorious.

Anybody out there struggle with discontentment like me? Let Jesus have it.

Our Adoption Profile Book & Film

Want to know what the most nerve racking thing to ever do? and by nerve racking I mean doubtful, indecisive, unsure, excited, hopeful, and then one more big scoop of unsureness just to make it nail biting. It's not jumping out of a plane, or going skydiving, or even walking with a lion, (which I've done by the way, another story, another time) as one would expect. Oh no, it's the simple but totally not simple task of making an Adoption Profile Book.

This single, little book is the deciding factor for a birth mom. She views them. Reads them. Chooses from them. And then decides that your family is the possible best fit for her child all based on 20 pages of images and text. This book is the gateway to our son. N to the ERVE racking. I labored over this baby for weeks and weeks. Some pages would be completely done and then the nerves set in and I'd completely redo it. 

FINALLY, I was done & it was over and all the indecisiveness paid off. To me, it's perfect. Oh you know, besides the world "sunggle" instead of "snuggle" if you know me, you know that OF COURSE I'd have one tiny word slip all the peoples eyes who proof read it. Story of my life. Even so, it's still true to us. HA!

My inspiration came from a family drawing sweet Emily did for us after C was born. I scanned in her drawings and used Photoshop to create the individual pages. I then loaded these pages into BLURB software (it's free and downloads right to your computer) and from there made and ordered the book. If you aren't as tech savvy, you can create the entire book inside BLURB software. It's so incredibly easy to navigate. I planned to use my photography lab to have these printed, but because we needed several copies, BLURB prices were more affordable, and not to mention still amazing quality!

I absolutely love how it turned out. It's so us. So many of the profile books I viewed at our agency as examples were just too boring, and they really didn't represent the families personalities. I'm so thankful for Emily's drawings, because they were exactly what I needed to make our book pop, and hopefully stand out to the birth mom. 

If you are an adoptive family viewing this for tips and tricks, here are my few suggestions:

-Start on this sucker weeks in advance. Trust me. You'll need it.
-Photos, Photos, Photos!!! Choose photos that tell a story!
-More images than text... I kinda didn't follow this own suggestion, even though I really tried.
-Use a design that really reflects your family verses just cute vector images or scrap book looks.
-Keep the book 20 pages or less. you don't want to overwhelm.
-Keep it crisp & use layouts. Collages of images can work, but make sure they is a layout to it.
-Use simple sentences and words. Keep it at a basic reading level.
-Don't use cookie cutter text. You can't tell, but we really let our personalities shine through our text, -Josh joked around a lot, and I wrote like I was talking to her in person.
-Use relevant photos. Showing images of years passed could be confusing to the birth mother. Let them see what your life is like NOW.

If you have any further questions, feel free to email me! My info is on my contact page.

&& I'll leave you with our adoption profile video. We are allowed to substitute a third image for our web profile with a video. We jumped on it! It's a chance for the birth mom to get an even better feel for what our family is like. I suggest asking a friend or even hiring a professional to shoot your video for you. Our friend and professional, Evan Logan, did ours. He did and incredible job. Just remember... MAKE IT YOU!!!


oh, and one last thing, if you are short on funds, you can check out my adoption giveaway HERE. It helped us raise $2400! Need more info, email me! I'm here to help!! Us adoptive mommas gotta unite:)