Some more adventure

We have enjoyed it up here but I am ready to go home!! Clay left yesterday to go back to Texas. We all just feel so incomplete. My mom has changed her flight to the 30th again and I am grateful. It will be nice to have her here, meet Clara, and take her hiking and to the ski lift.

Our ICPC papers are just now going to be turned in today. We have decided to finalize in Utah in about 6 months. It seemed to be a better decision financially and also could possibly speed up the ICPC process. I would love to be leaving next week but we will see.

Here are a few pics of our hikes we took the other day. We also hung out with Tierra and her kiddoes at a little indoor kids park across from the hotel and then enjoyed some Mexican food. As much as I am looking forward to coming home I also dread leaving Tierra, Jewel, and De behind. It is bittersweet.

She's is ours!!

Everything went well Tuesday and "T" signed the papers to allow us to be Clara Denae's parents!! I am so relieved. I do have to admit the emotions are so hard to handle. I did not expect to really mourn and hurt for "T" like I am. When Clara was born, Tierra had the most mournful cry. I just wanted to fix everything for her right there. At the moment we were watching this perfect life being born, her mom knew that she could not have the luxury of enjoying her life in person. "T" truly knew that adoption was the only option for her, her family, for our family, and for this precious little girl. I just want her to take this blessing that God has created to help her grow closer to him and allow it to work and grow every part of her life so she can be the mom she needs to be to her children. She is absolutely the strongest person I have ever met. The love for this child was so evident and just overflowed out of her.

Clara's first night at the hotel went well. She is a great sleeper but she did not like the change from the premixed liquid formula to the powdered formula. We will see how today goes and please pray that she starts to enjoy her milk again. She is just truly the most wonderful bundle of love!!

I hope that everyone has a blessed Thanksgiving Day!!! There are so many things to be greatful for!! Thank you God for all our many blessings!!

She's Here!!!

Well the baby was born at 5:17 p.m. weighing in at 6lbs 14 oz and 18 inches long. Her Apgars were 8 and 9. She is just beautiful.

She is so tiny and perfect! She ate almost a complete bottle right after she was born. "T" allowed Clay and I to be blessed by being a part of her birth. She allowed Clay to film her being born and I was right beside her helping hold her leg and her hand coaching her through it. I got to cut her chord!!! How awesome is that? God is just truly amazing. Just to be a part in this wonderful experience is, in itself, a miracle and then you get to look at this perfectly beautiful baby girl that has blessed more people than she can ever imagine. One day I hope that she can grasp just a tiny piece of the love that is felt for her by so many people.

I also have to brag on my two wonderful little men. Wow, they are just truly amazing young men. They have handled this long and tough process in great, inspiring stride. They cannot get enough of this little girl. They have both held her and with their wonderful dad's help brought "T" a burrito that she was craving, coffee from Mickey D's and then they also remembered that she had been craving sweet potato pie and brought it all back for her. They topped it off with a bottle of green olives, something she has craved throughout her pregnancy. God is just truly working in these two young men. Clay and I could not be any more proud of our little lights for the Lord.

What a magnificent day. All prayers are being answered and then some. God always has a way of showing you how truly amazing He is. He has outdone himself.

I am off to lay in bed and take it all in. I cannot wait to see "T" and that beautiful blessing from God as soon as we get up in the morning!!

Day before the big day

We made it to SLC about 2:30. The trip was really pleasant and absolutely beautiful. We crossed the continental divide. Jenny (Cullen's speech teacher) made us think about that. The mountains are just absolutely magnificent. God is just so creative...It is truly amazing.

The hotel is really wonderful and will make a nice home away from home while we have to stay here. We are right down the hall from the pool and the laundry facilities. I have a load going right now. =D Just like home. LOL

We went to dinner and had the honor to meet "T" tonight. She is very pretty. I hope Sister will look like her. She has beautifully shaped eyes, perfect skin, great height. She is also a very strong, caring, concerned woman. I am just in awe of her and her strength and seemingly strong commitment to her plan. She let me feel the baby move. It was fantastic. She was also very uncomfortable during dinner as her back is really hurting her and she is having constant contractions. She let me feel her contraction too and she was not kidding. It felt like the ones I was having when I was in the hospital in labor. We think she will deliver early afternoon tomorrow. She will get to the hospital tomorrow at 7 and we are going to met Jenn, our caseworker, at 8:30. I cannot wait to meet our daughter!! We will know for sure Wed. if she will be Sister or not but I get more and more comfortable that it will be as this process goes on. She seems very confident in what she has to do for all involved to provide the best. I cannot even imagine.

At this point we intend on spending more time with "T" after the delivery. I think that will be a wonderful opportunity and very different in the same breath. I also thought tonight was going to be extremely weird but it really was not. I feel very much more at ease now. I am still my usualy control-freak self but just more relaxed. I think tomorrow I will be a basket case as I will want to fix it all for her. She is wanting a natural birth like her previous 2 deliveries. She had an epidural with her oldest son but she liked labor better without the epidural. She does not know if she can pull it off as her back pain is extreme.

I hope to be updating tomorrow and putting a picture up from the cell phone. Still not sure if I will be able to get the camera to work with this computer.

Rawlins, Wy only 4 hours from SLC, Utah

Well, we are resting up in a Comfort Inn in Rawlins, Wy. We are only 4 hours from SLC so we will get up early and arrive early afternoon to get ready for our dinner with "T". I am really excited to see her and meet her. I am ready to move past that anxious moment to the more comfortable times with her of getting to know familes better.

I want to thank everyone for all the prayers and support. I cannot tell you how enjoyable this time together in the car has been. We have not annoyed each other and have truly enjoyed each others company as we always do!! We have enjoyed looking out the windows and seeing The Rocky Mountains. It is really breathtaking and will only get prettier. It is bad when the parents were ready to call it a day after 10 hours in the car and the boys are yelling to keep on going to SLC. =D It is truly amazing to watch your children take in the beauty God has given us. To hear them yell, "Oh, look at that, there is snow on the top of that mountain!" or "Look there are Antelope over there!" You also get the opportunity to see how much school they are taking in. I heard Christian explain volcanoes to us as we saw an extinct volcano in New Mexico. Today we have left Texas, gone through New Mexico, Colorado and are now in Wyoming. How neat is that? It is pretty awesome to watch how flat West Texas can be and to go from that flat open area to a wonderful mountainscape.

Well, keep the prayers up and going!! Pray God's safety for us during the rest of this journey. Pray "T"'s peace of mind and continued guidance from the Lord. Pray that our meeting tomorrow goes well and is as comfortable as it can be.

I will hopefully be updating you on the wonderful time we spent with "T".

Made it past Amarillo

Well, we made it past Amarillo....YEAH!! It really was not that bad at all. We are hoping to make it past Cheyenne, Wyoming tomorrow. That will leave us about 4 hours travel on Sunday if we go past Cheyenne about 2 hours. That would be nice.

We talked to "T" today and she is dilated to a 3 but the doctor thinks her making to Monday is no problem. We are ready to meet on Sunday. We might even spend extra time with her having Thanksgiving with her too. How neat would that be? It wouldbe different too. I think she would get to know us even better without the thought of her changing her mind to parent overhead. We can all relax a bit. She seemed okay with the idea and was the one that mentioned Thanksgiving.

My mom is going to fly in to Utah if all goes well on the 30th. She is such a wonderful woman. She is the rock in our family that God has really used to lead us to Him. Her faith is just truly amazing and I cannot say enough awesome things about her. She may even get the opportunity to meet "T" too. We will cross that bridge when we get there. I am really getting ahead of myself.

The feelings that you have in this process is just truly unbelievable. I just did not imagine the sadness and excitement that you can feel at one time. At the moment she signs those papers is the best moment in our life and a necessary but hardest moment in hers. It is just truly overwhelming. I do pray that this is our daughter. It really feels that way and "T" seems so strong and dedicated to her decision. She has truly thought about everything. She stated today that since she found that great housing she is truly thankful for the prayers. She also stated that she has not been happy in years and she is finally happy. She has a plan in life. She is going to only be paying 25% of her income. The rest will allow her to start school in January. Her oldest son will be coming back to live with her in Utah. She stated that he is very active. Her 4 year old is a teenager in a small body and her 11 month old has to be touching her at all times. She feels that it would not be appropriate to cheat all involved by keeping this little girl. She wants the best for the baby and for them also. How selfless to truly be able to completely and totally with every being of yourself think of what is best for all involved without your heart taking over and ruining it all. I truly admire her strength and courage to see beyond just the selfishness of having the honor of watching your child grow up on a daily basis even if that means watching them go without. I don't know that I could be so strong.

Well, enough rambling. Hopefully I will get a chance to write tomorrow evening. Time for sleep!!

Day before the adventure

Well, today has gone quickly. I freaked out a few times as far as trying to have every little detail taken care of. I am calmer now. I got ultrasound pictures of the baby in the mail today. The bottom pic is of her profile with a fist. The top pic, I have been told, is informing that she is a girl. For the life of me I cannot figure out that picture. I am pretty good at ultrasound pics too. How awesome to think that this might be our daughter that we will meet on Monday!! WOW!!
We talked to "T" tonight on the phone. She has found a government apartment that sounds really great for her. She thanked us for the prayers and felt that that was the reason it had all worked out. She has a doctor's appointment tomorrow and we will talk again with her as we are on the road to Utah. I cannot express all the feelings that I have at the moment. They are all bottled together as one anxiously, excited, optimistic, skeptical, faithful, etc. bubble welling up in the pit of my stomach. As I sit and think about this all, I imagine that in one week we will know if we have met our daughter or if we are heading back home empty handed again. Even though we might leave empty handed, God has great plans and I know that He will see us through this. He has been so faithful in holding our hands every step of the way and I pray that we continue to allow Him to work so wonderfully in our lives. Please keep us in your prayers as we travel through this weekend and again on Sunday as we hopefully meet "T" and her kiddoes. I dream that we can be everything that she wants for her child and more!!! God will equip us through this journey of life!! What a magnificent job He has already done! Keep it up Big Guy!! =D

Getting Ready

Today started off pretty much as usual....running late. We got started on school later than usual. This always causes some chaos. We were using BJU satllite but had the most difficult time finding a DVR that could handle the workload of recording and burning DVD's. We have now just sucked it up and bought the DVD curriculum. It is such a relief to know I do not have to record classes and then make sure I get them burned on DVD before our DVR breaks down AGAIN!! It broke down 4 times. It was way too much stress wondering where I was going to get my classes because when the DVR went down so did the hardrive saving all my classes that I had recorded. Here are a couple pics of the boys doing their schoolwork.












We are still planning on leaving for Utah this Friday to bring home our baby girl. I started to get a little freaked out about traveling back from Utah by myself with 3 kids without navigation. I pictured an unhappy baby, fighting brothers, fumbling with a map, trying to talk to Clay on the cell phone while trying to figure out where I was, etc. Then I started thinking about the time I drove for an hour in the wrong direction before I started to question whether I was going in the wrong direction or not. Yes, I said question. I was not even 100% sure if I was going wrong or not and I mean completely and totally the wrong direction. I was supposed to be going north and I was going south for a complete hour before noticing something did not seem right. Then, after calling Clay, I was pointed in the right direction. So I am happy to announce that I bought a Garmin C330 tonight. WooHoo!! (I think I remembered the name of that thing.) I have a question for ya too.....Are you really lost if you don't realize you are lost??

My try at this!

I really liked the idea of having a blog so that I could share readily with friends and family that would be interested in what was happening with us. I used to enjoy writing. We will see if it comes back and if I can make some time to keep a journal of our growing family.

At this point we have been homeschooling for about 4 years. Our goal is to raise our children to be strong in their faith and seek God's will for their lives.

We are in the process of adopting a little girl and pray to be bringing her home soon. We are leaving for Utah on Friday the 16th and "T" will be induced on the 19th. I just cannot wait to meet who God has in mind to add to our familiy. Our growth through the entire adoption process has grown us more than we could have ever imagined! We are extremely blessed.