Good Intentions. Sort of.

Before we had kids, I used to dote on Gabe. Then we had Jadyn, who was sick all the time. And then Ava (18 mos later) who screamed all the time. And then there was Hadley (19 mos later). Hadley was the 'easiest' baby, but when there are 3 kids ages 3 and under, it didn't matter. Gabe's days of doting were long over. I'm sure by now, he can barely remember the days the house was immaculate, his lunch was made and packed and I had the endurance to sit thru his choice of whatever zombie-sci fi-robot-shoot em up-movie he desired.

Long. Gone.

There are times I surprise him though. He said to me recently, "You always have something up your sleeve. I should know that by now." Last day at a job he hates? Surprise: friends over for build your own sundaes. Birthday? Surprise: start the day with pop tarts and end it with his family showing up with Blizzards. Anniversary? Surprise: Come home from work to find the kids are at grandparents and we are headed out to dinner.

I try and live by the motto, "It's the little things". Like his fave dinner or clean sheets or helping my family come up with really cool ideas for his Christmas gifts.

Back to sheets~
We both are a sucker for sheets fresh out of the drier. I usually only use half a drier sheet on clothes, but for our sheets? An entire drier sheet. I know, I know. Exotic living at it's finest. Then comes fall and Gabe starts hinting about getting out the flannel sheets. His hints get progressively less tactful as fall progresses and I ignore his hints, being that I strongly dislike flannel sheets.

Conversations start to sound like this:

Gabe: Hmmmm. October. Time for flannel sheets?
Me: Meh. Not cold enough.

Gabe: Hmmmm. Mid October. Where are the flannel sheets? Are they washed?
Me: Maybe. I don't know. I'll look tomorrow.

Gabe (as he crawls under the regular sheets): ACK! COLD! Did you find the flannel sheets?!
Me: *pretends to be asleep*
Gabe: *more exaggerated shivering noises*

At this point, I know I have dragged my feet long enough. So now we start making tiny baby steps to putting them on the bed.

Gabe: *exaggerated shivering noises*
Me: Hey- I found the sheets.
Gabe: GREAT! Can we put them on?
Me: No. They are too dusty from being stored all winter.
Gabe: *sigh*

Me: Look, I got the sheets in here. NEXT TO THE BED! They are practically on.
Gabe: Can we put them on tonight?
Me: Nope. I'm too tired/it's too late/a warm front just came through.
 **repeat for a week**

Friday, October 28th,
10:00 AM
I take off the 'good' sheets and wash them, fold them, put them away. Decide TODAY, Gabe will get his flannel sheets.

10:02 AM
Realize that I am leaving this evening (overnight) and probably won't have time to help him put the flannel sheets on before I go.

10:03 AM
Laugh evilly to myself.

Bingo

Some of you know, last fall/winter I made 'memory boards' out of ceiling tiles that I painted and gave the money to 2 sets of friends that both happened to be adopting from DRC (Congo).

About a month ago, a friend from church put together a "Fall Market". It benefits our church's outreach fund in several ways AND anyone could rent a booth and sell out of that space. We decided to rent a spot and sell the memory boards. I have been painting like crazy the past 2 weeks. The end is in sight, and I am really looking forward to Saturday. I get to hang out with my hubby, friends, family, have fun and hopefully, prayerfully, sell the boards and make some money.

The deadline to pay for K's return visit is looming. We are trying to sell Gabe's car so that when we fill out the financial papers for the adoption, we aren't as lopsided as we look. The adoption will be around $18,000. We still owe about $2,000 for hosting.

I want to panic. But I am trying to trust and have faith. I have friends that have amazing stories of how God provided, and I am looking forward to passing along our own story one day.

Also, some of you may not know that I have wanted to adopt from Eastern Europe since about March 2009. It was a weird feeling to know that my family wasn't complete, and somewhere- there was a child waiting for us. There were a lot of nights I would cry and pray for the one I knew was "out there". I can't explain the feeling in my heart. I prayed and prayed and prayed for her/him and prayed too that Gabe would change his mind about international adoption.

Anyway, there is a song that we sing in church and it says

"And I don't need to see it to believe it.
I don't need to see it to believe.
Cause I can't shake this fire deep inside my heart......

For all Your sons and daughters.
Who are walking in the darkness.
You are calling us to lead them back to You.
We will see Your spirit rising.
As the lost come out of hiding.
Every heart will see this hope we have in You." (Hillsong)

That song yelled at me every single time to just wait and have faith. I told Gabe before K got here in July that she was meant for us. But I did promise not to nag, I just wanted him to know what I felt. So when she had been here 2 weeks, Gabe came to me with tears in his eyes and said that God had confirmed to him that she was our daughter. I was in complete shock. I laughed, I cried, and I couldn't feel my legs or my nose.

Guess what we sang the next morning in church????

So then, for some reason, I began to pray and ask God for a verse for K. I would read different verses, and I always had one eye open, but weeks went by with nothing specifically for her. And then 2 weeks ago in church we read 1 Samuel 1:27, "For this child I prayed; and the LORD has given me my petition which I asked of Him."

Bingo. I don't even know what to say after posting the verse. I am still in awe that THERE it IS.

I am going to have to find/buy/make a sign with that verse on it.


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Oops!

I forgot to mention that I have moved all my adoption related blogging to a new address. Please check out and follow me here:

http://tendmylambs.blogspot.com/

I will keep blogging here for everything else.