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I just re-read my last post from 4 years and 2 weeks ago...so much has happened in that time...so many fingerprints of God on our life! It is amazing that all of the things that I said I didn't EVER want to do seem to be what I am finding comfort in now. We moved "home" -sort of- when my husband accepted a the call to pastor a little country church just 30 minutes away from the small town I grew up in....daily interactions with folks from my pre-married life that both stir up emotions in myself and make my kids' heads turn! Since last writing we moved out of my parents house (3 months was a long time that the kids will cherish forever but I'm sure my parents enjoy their peaceful home once again)...we were able to rent a brand new home (again something I would NEVER do -rent & live in a brand new home with little character) from a builder who was expecting his 10th child until our other home sold and then we purchased that home. Funny thing - it never felt like home. But we trusted God had a plan and we followed Him. We lived there until June of last year when all of a sudden through a line of events I don't even know the details in we were presented with this fantastic home in the country with 6 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms that was empty and begging for a family to live in and love it again...AND the church wanted to lease it...AND it was only 6 minutes away from church....AND there are 20 acres surrounding the property for the kids to explore...AND it would get our kiddos out of the large school district they were drowning in and put them into our sweet little school district that our church families are in....we moved...in less than a month...but actually 2 weeks time from when all the papers and details were official! WOW what a whirlwind!
In the midst of this we had agreed to become part of Safe Families...kind of like foster care but different...and we were matched with a situation of a little baby that was due to be born in July...we would care for the little one for a few months...so we needed to get our home approved for this...kicker is...the night we had our social worker come to update our home study she presented us with a different situation...a little girl that was born the day my other kids' normal world was turned upside down...she is in the NICU..she was 1 lbs 7 oz at birth...she was now at her due date and still needing a little extra loving from the amazing nurses at the NICU...but were we interested? Really? Surrounded by mountains of boxes and things piled everywhere we were going to become parents? Now, Lord, I know that I get overwhelmed pretty easily and I am pretty good at dragging my heals in when You are stretching me out of my comfort zone...BUT, why didn't #7 come when we had a home in order? Why now? I had just started not one but TWO jobs...I would likely be able to keep one but not the other...why now that we live in the middle of no where and we would have a medically fragile baby? Well..God knows best. We decided to say we would like to be considered and let God sort out the details -like we do in all our adoption situations - and guess what? In the Bible the number 7 is the number of perfection...and our little Sweetie is 100% perfect! AND seemingly healthy...she is a little tiny 10 month old now but she is healthy and smashing through milestones! She cut her first tooth last week and is starting to navigate the floor by rolling!
Well...I'm getting ahead of myself...before this happened we met with her first Mama, she is a beautiful precious soul. The minute I met her I loved her...I cannot explain why, and I definitely would have never guessed we would be there but we are...a week later we met again at the NICU and met our little Sweetie who at that time was 7lbs 12oz. For a month I went down every other day and spent as much time as I could helping to feed and care for her...but she just was not quite ready...finally Handsome and I decided -on the fly- that I needed to spend a night with her...I needed to show them that together little Sweetie and I could tackle night time feedings and she is ready to come home. Well, it worked! Handsome came back to pick up BOTH us girls the next afternoon...
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