5 years 5 months

I have nearly forgotten about this blog I started many years ago. And since that last post, 5 years, 5 months ago......Joe and I have allowed our lives to drastically change. We allowed ourselves to dive into the uncomfortable and embrace the unknown. Led by Dreams and backed by insane courage, we took leaps of  Faith. Leaps that are taking us on the most miraculous journey we could have ever imagined.

9 months ago, Joe and I welcomed into our lives, our home, our hearts and our family 3 little children needing a forever home to call their own.
9 months ago, our lives forever changed.
9 months ago, we began to experience, feel, change and endure emotions, milestones, challenges, hardships, loves, miracles and blessings we never had thought possible and some we thought we would only ever imagine.
9 months ago was a beginning and an end for us....

1 week ago, another beginning and end graced our presence as we went before a judge and made our new family official.
1 week ago, we continued to allow God to use us in ways we know will not only touch the lives of our 6 children but, with the ripple effect, will touch hundreds more.
1 week ago, we said 'I Do' to 3 little children in search of a forever home and became that forever home, through the good and the bad times. Just as no one can prepare you when you give birth to your first child, we know Nothing can prepare us for what lies ahead. But with Faith, love, belief and courage we will forge ahead knowing that God's Will will be done.

If someone had come to me and said I would be a mother to 6 children one day, I would have laughed at their obvious delusional thought. If someone had told me I would foster to adopt some of my children one day, I would have said 'Nope, not us'. If someone had told me in the years to come God had in store for us a way to serve Him mightier than any way we had yet done, I never would have imagined that way would include giving ourselves to those in need in the capacity that we have.

But someone did come to us 1 year ago, after God opened our hearts and minds to not only adoption but fostering to adopt, and asked us to consider taking in a sibling set of 3. Our very initial thoughts were.....3 MORE children.....where would we put them, how will we feed them, How do we provide for 3 MORE children?! And after that initial shock of the mere number of children that would bring our household to, God gently nudged us and reminded us that ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’(Matthew 25:40). We had that someone place our home study on that sibling group for review and of those received, ours was selected. It wasn't a long or tedious road for us from that point forward, even though when you are in the midst of the unknown it does feel as if it is long and tedious. A mere month later we were meeting those children, being introduced to them as their 'forever home' and their 'new mommy and daddy'. A short month and a couple visits after they were placed with us as a foster care placement. Legally we were bound to foster them for 6 months before we were allowed to adopt. During that time Birth parents surrendered their rights, an incredibly noble and respectable action that we never anticipated happening but so grateful did. After that life changing action, the birth parents were allowed one last visit and said good bye to their children. I can not even imagine how hard, heart wrenching and devastating that was for them. "A Child born to another woman calls me mom. The depth of the tragedy and the magnitude of the privilege are not lost on me' (-Jody Landers)

The road has been a roller coaster of emotions, thoughts and events. Taking on 3 children that have had a traumatic past and potentially experienced things that Joe and I, as adults, never have endured and who had been, so far, raised by more than one family in many different environments, with different expectations and rules(or lack there of) was only the very tip of the ice burg. The ice burg our lives crashed into when we closed our eyes and held Gods hand as He began to walk us down the path He has planned for us. I say crashed, not as if God was misleading, but because we felt we were blindly walking into this journey, trusting in God yes, but feeling very vulnerable and naive in the process we were partaking in. After the tip of the ice burg was addressed and understood, we learned that all ice burgs have massive bases under the surface of the water. Bases not seen initially and definitely not seen if one does not delve into the depths of sea to find it. The moment we told that someone to place our home study on these children, we knew we would be delving into the depths of the sea with them, because giving up on them was not an option, turning back was not part of plan and being weak in the face of fear, hardships and trials was not even on our radar. When we began to dive further into the sea, chipping away at this ice burg, we met challenges face on, we stayed true to all 6 of our children and taught them to never back down, to never give up, to face your fears and let God take a front seat in your life. We taught them that even though things may seem hard or challenging, that you can and will get through them. That even when times are tough and every ounce of your being may want to throw in the towel, don't, because triumph lies on the other side of the trial.

Thank you dear friends for all the prayers and love and support you have offered. It was felt, appreciated and loved throughout this process and will continue to be throughout the next several months as we adjust to our new beginning. Love you all!

Update....

Can it seriously be April already?! I have not posted a blog since January and honestly it is due to me forgetting all about my blogspot! Hard to believe, guess I have so much going on that it took the back burner for a bit.
Well, a lot has happened since Blake's first birthday. Him walking for starters. A week long visit from Noni during spring break. A trip to Knoxville(mini vacation as the girls called it). And now SNOW in April! We are also redoing our half bath, that is almost finished! Thank you Paula for all your help!
Katie is going to go on her FIRST feild trip and ride a school bus for the first time on Wednesday April 8th. They are going to the Tivoli, Ally and I will meet them over there and watch the show with them! They are going to the zoo later in April. She will be starting Kindergarten at St Jude in the fall and is very excited to be attending the same school her mommy went to.
Ally is loving her new teacher at PDO....considering it is her MomMom.....it is not surprise!
Pictures to come as I decided which ones out of the hundreds to post!