In the last 20 days....

On the day after my last post, April 16th, we had several very strong, deadly tornado's leave a path of destruction across our state, including our city. It was devastating, heart breaking, hard to comprehend. All of our family members were safe and had zero damage. Several houses that belong to friends of ours have now all been torn down by the front end loaders cleaning up debris. Here is but one picture:

There was something amazing that came out of this disaster? I was able to witness and be a part of God's people working, loving, cleaning, feeding, clothing to make a difference to victims affected by these storms. We spoke to many people who said "Thank God we are alive, we can replace our things" or "It's by God's mercy that we are still here". I don't have an explanation as to why natural disasters occur. I do know that in those times, God's people showed up big time and I will never forgot the things I saw during those days. Please continue to pray for all those affected.

In the last 20 days.....

We also celebrated Easter! Beautiful "Son"rise service, beautiful weather, awesome family time, and of course lots of good eats. Praying that Baby Clayton will be home to celebrate next Easter with us.

In the last 20 days....

We took our first ever family camping trip. And we SURVIVED! Actually, we did better than just survive, we had a great time! 2 nights, in a camper (got upgraded from a tent, best decision ever!!), on a Bay, with great friends, lots of little kids, and the greatest family ever.

In the last 20 days.....

I have become friends with a couple of ladies that have worked with the same agency we are working with. One is currently matched and is waiting for their precious baby to be born, (Hi Briana), the other has already received their blessing and have been enjoying their sweet boy for a little while now. (Hi Britanni). These ladies are extraordinary and have provided us with great insight. Please continue to pray for these adoptive Mom's, the birth families, and these little ones.

In the last 20 days....

We received 3 beautiful originals of our completed, approved Home Study!! Yay! So excited to have those precious gems in our hands! We immediately sent one of the originals to TX to be held in our file. Usually, agencies do not show your profile until you are homestudy approved, but our agency has been showing ours for nearly 2 months now. We could have been matched, but we would not have been able to take placement of the baby until we were home study approved. But, that situation did not come up and we have not been matched yet. We are still waiting for the day that we have been matched. "The Call" that will change our lives. Which is funny, because we feel that we have been "called" to be adoptive parents.

I will admit, it is harder for me to patient than it is for Jeff. At least on the outside. Oh, I really really try to be patient!! But the longing to hold this child is sometimes so much to bear. I know God's timing is perfect, I know we will receive the call sooner than later, I know we have come so far, and I KNOW without a doubt that when we bring baby home all of this wait will be completely worth it.

We have also talked about our birth mom allot recently. No, we don't know her yet, but we hope to have some sort of relationship with her. Whatever her comfort level. It hurts so bad knowing that our adoption, truly one of the most exciting times in our life can not occur without the heartache and suffering from baby's first Mom. There is no way for us to bring precious baby home, to fulfill this dream, without her going home with empty arms. We can only be thankful that she chose life and that she loved him/her enough to choose us, or any family. We can only pray that God's mercy and grace will be enough for her.

Tomorrow we celebrate Mother's Day. I have an amazing Mom. She is a great friend, listener, counselor, teacher, hugger, etc. She is really and truly awesome. I also have an incredible mother-in-law. I am so very blessed. I know that these two women would do anything for us. I cherish every bit of time we have together.

I also get to celebrate Mother's Day as a step-mom to my sweet Amber. When I said "I Do" to her sweet dad nearly 4 years ago, I vowed to love her as my own. I have always loved her. We don't always see eye to eye on everything, but I am pretty sure that's normal. And there was some definite transition when she came to live with us full time before our one year wedding anniversary. But I would not change a thing. Except, for maybe one thing. She longs to call me Mom. But she is not allowed. She slips up occasionally and calls me Mom because it is a natural thing to do, as I am the "mom figure" on a daily basis. It hurts that she feels guilty when she says it because she knows her Mom doesn't approve and has said she is adamant that Ams not call me Mom. We have tried to come up with different alternatives - "Mamma K", "Kiki", etc, but nothing sticks. It will be really interesting when our baby starts talking and calling me Momma, a name I have longed to hear for a lifetime.

Thank you for reading, for your continued prayers and encouragement. Can't wait to have some great news to share!!