Peace in the journey!

Wow! What a fanatic journey we have been on!!
I will post about our trip SOON!

However, For those of you out there that feel like God has forgotten about you, what you are praying for, or what you are crying about(every month for me)!

HE HASN'T!!!

If you allow God to work in HIS time and not your time- He WILL and it will be WAY better then anything you could ever plan!!!! :) Focus on HIM during your waiting- Trust in HIM!

Now, Don't get me wrong, Don't think this was all sunshine and rosses, waiting. It wasn't!!!!
It was VERY hard when satan would tell me- "Your time isn't going to come" OR when I would have to hear of EVERYONE getting pregnant and NOT me or planning baby shower after baby shower, wondering if I would ever get my turn! This happened a lot in the 5 years of waiting!

At first I sucked, lets just be honest!!! I would get very mad and sad!!! But then I decided that I was going to choose to praise God when things weren't going "my" way! So that's what I did!

We went to church, We sang worship songs, played them in our cars, Read the bible, prayed! When satan would try to tell us what he wanted us to hear, We would demand him to leave!

Now we are blessed with a BEAUTIFUL baby girl!!! Our lives will never be the same after our trip to Taiwan!! We BOTH have so much PEACE and never in our lives every felt that much peace while taking this awesome journey to another country!!!

We now look at life a little differently! We are happy, not that we weren't before but its a different kind of happy! :) Words can't really describe it, You can only feel it.

Now we know why God made us wait! We wouldn't be the same people we are today! God turned the waiting into something truly amazing!

We choose to follow God and what he wanted for our lives. It wasn't what the most of the world would say to do and at first we were VERY scared! But we are SO happy we did!!

God is GREAT ALWAYS! Trust HIM- Follow HIM! AND THEN........Enjoy the journey!!!



Romans 8:28 
 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

A Phone Call that we will Never forget!

It was 11:51pm on January 1, 2013 and the phone rang. This was a phone call and a day I will never forget for the rest of my life! I rolled over from my sleep and answered the phone, "Hello", On the other end of the phone was the sweetest voice I have ever heard, "Hello, Lauren- This is Ted from Taiwan and we have a baby GIRL for you!!!!"

I was in shock! Shaking!!! So excited!!! This was the day we have been praying for!!!! It is was REALLY happening!!! I leaned over and said to Jason while crying, "Its a GIRL!!!!"

Ted went on to tell me her name in Chinese, Which is Huang and it means yellow! She was born on October 15, 2012, was 6 lbs 9 1/2 oz. and 20 inches long.

After I spoke with Ted on the specific paper work and what not, I was passed to talk with Bev, who is Teds wife and they run the orphanage. Bev said the Huang is a joy to be around. She has fair skin and is easily comforted when she is upset. Bev said she would send pictures and we would have them when we woke up the next morning. :)

After hanging up the phone with them, Jason and I were in shock and full of excitement!!! We have a baby girl- We are a Mommy and a Daddy!!!! :)

Ofcourse, I had to call my parents, even though it was after midnight! I don't think they minded! :) I would have called the whole world but Jason wouldn't let me, since it was so late!

Jason finally settled down and went back to sleep but not ME! I was WAY to excited!!! I laid in bed dreaming about her! What did she look like, What was she doing now, What should we decorate her room with................... The list went on!

Jason woke up around 4am to go to work, Still no pictures. So we made a deal, When the email of pictures were sent, I would forward them to him and we could open at the same time. Well, Around 6am we received the email. I forwarded the email and we counted 1-2-3-OPEN and I heard on the other end "OHHHHHH, SHE IS ADORABLE, OHHHH, LOOK" Well, His had opened but NOT mine! They wouldnt load on my home computer!!!!!! So I hurried and found our laptop and FINALLY got the pictures to load on there. Once I did, I couldnt stop staring at the BEAUTIFUL baby girl! OUR beautiful baby girl!!! They sent 3 pictures! One new baby photo, She was in a green sleeper, The next one she was sleeping with a binky and a pink blanket and the next she was sitting up in a puple bumbo!!! Words can't describe our emotions!

We stare at her pictures daily! We walk around with HUGE smiles on our face! I like to show EVERYONE her pictures! I even talk to her pictures, like she can hear me! Hehe! "Hi baby girl, We love you!!!"

Sun Set/Sun Rise! :) December 2012

Praying for You!

 

Here we are watching the sun set on the beach of Naples, Fl off the Gulf of Mexico and all we could think was how it was RAISING in Taiwan, waking our little one up! It brought tears of joy to our eyes!

God is AMAZING!!!!

 

We are praying for you little one, You are in our every waking thoughts!

We love you so much, even though we haven't met you YET! :)

We know God is taking great care of you! You have lots of amazing people taking care of you and words can't describe how amazing that is!!! :)

 

 



Deals!

Anyone that knows me knows I like to be prepared!!! Well, Im trying! Found ALL of these at the community yard sale for our little pumpkin!!! This is what I do while I wait! :)

On the LIST!!!

We are officially on the wait list!!!! We have been on since about September and the orphanage goal is to match families within one year. We are praying ALOT faster!!! :)

Orphanage

Mailing in Our homestudy papers! P.S. Our return address labels had doves on them, Didn't even know!!! :)

Before we started our home study, I was in contact with a family run orphanage from Taiwan who helps Christian families adopt. I had been emailing and was sad to find out that at this time they were not accepting any more families to their wait list because the rules were changing in Taiwan.
I explained to them that, That was ok because we feel like we are suppose to start our home study now and I knew once we were finished they WOULD be able to add us to the list.

Well, I am here to say, That is EXACTLY what happened!!! We started our home study Mid- April. Our social worker emailed us at the beginning of August to say she was finishing up the final draft and on August 20, 2012 the orphanage emailed us our application to start the adoption process!!!!!!!

We filled it out and then 5 reference letters where needed and I am ecstatic to say ALL of our information has been sent to "Grandpa" who runs the orphanage in Taiwan and we are just waiting on the final approval from him to be added to the "list"- YIPPIEE!!!! :)

So I’ll stand

 With adoption, There is alot of waiting and last week I felt I couldnt wait any longer to hold our little one!!! In church we sang this song, I have heard it over and over but It had new meaning last week.
I realized that God has the PERFECT timing and .......

" I’ll stand
With arms high and heart abandoned
In awe of the One who gave it all" as the song says! :)



“The Stand” song – Hillsong United

You stood before creation
Eternity in Your hand

You spoke the earth into motion
My soul now to stand

 

You stood before my failure
Carried the Cross for my shame

My sin weighed upon Your shoulders
My soul now to stand

 

So what can I say
What can I do

But offer this heart O God
Completely to You

 

So I’ll walk on salvation
Your Spirit alive in me

This life to declare Your promise
My soul now to stand

 

So what can I say
What can I do

But offer this heart O God
Completely to You

 

So what can I say
What can I do

But offer this heart O God
Completely to You

 

So I’ll stand
With arms high and heart abandoned
In awe of the One who gave it all

So I’ll stand
My soul Lord to You surrendered
All I am is Yours

 

I’ll stand
With arms high and heart abandoned
In awe of the One who gave it all

I’ll stand
My soul Lord to You surrendered
All I am is Yours (4)

 

So what can I say
What can I do
But offer this heart O God
Completely to You…

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd8KIt5rLWg