You’ve been waiting to read this . . .
(make sure you read, or skip if you’d like, to the end!)
. . . Much has happened in the past 30 days since my last update, but I won’t bother with the excuses, I’ll get to the good stuff!
Eric spent a week in Vegas for NAB conference a few weeks back getting a deeper understanding of video editing. Me, I just spent the whole week missing him! I couldn’t wait for him to come home; so much that I was at the Marta train station waiting for him to come up from the airport 1 1/2 hours early. (For those of you who know me, you’re cracking up at my being early for something, right! Whodathunk it could happen?)
In the course of the past 5 Sundays with my work, I’ve had back-to-back excitement. First, we were back from Spring Break and the Attic at Browns Bridge had been remodeled. The room is so chill now. The following Sundays leading up to this last week have consisted of: Involve & Student Impact Volunteer Appreciation, Small Group Leader retreat in Jasper, Family Birthday Celebration baptism services (it was wow/amazing!), and Drive Conference. And that’s just work — not the personal “life outside of work” details.
This past week was our nephew Levi’s first birthday and he’s walking! Time flies! This upcoming week, one of our very good friends, Jamie, is being baptized at North Point.
We came to know Jamie, his wife Sam, and their two daughters, Chloe and Ivy, when they moved here from California. They became easy to recognize from the first Sunday they attended NP. Jamie had the rocker spiked mohawk, thick-gauged earlobe studs, crazy inked up arms with all variations of tattoos and Sam was his cutesy, tattoo bearing, Hot Topic wearing, bubbly, and lovely wife. They were the ones that had the two most adorable girls in the room. And Jamie and Sam were the doting, extremely calculative, very engaged parents that encouraged the girls’ participation and good manners while in KidStuf. They had me at hello! After some seasons of them moving around Alpharetta and even to CA and back, they ended up being our neighbors! (For those of you that know us, yes, that’s when Eric got the ginormous tattoo that is on his right arm! Did I mention Jamie is a ridiculously talented tattooist and artist?) We’ve witnessed God continue to grow their faith and prosper them and it’s been an exciting journey. Jamie and Sam both have a passion and love to serve God and reach out to people in incredible ways. They are both gifted and so easy to love and hang out with. Seeing Jamie celebrate his identity in Christ through baptism on Sunday will be beyond what words can say!
Now, I’m about to blow your mind . . . are you ready?!
Eric and I are on our way to being parents!!!! No, we’re not pregnant, but we are expectant in our hearts, thoughts, and spirits. We are in fact starting our adoption process at 10AM tomorrow morning! How fitting for this weekend of celebrating Mamas, eh?
This time next year, I hope to be wearing motherhood (a.k.a. spit up, baby cereal, drool, and yeah, I probably will not have showered in several days…) like a badge of honor!
We are incredibly excited! Even though the pressures of the paperwork (more like our new, unpaid part-time job of filling out forms!) and the money that we’re putting towards this adoption can be draining, those moments will fade the very nanosecond that our baby is placed in our arms. Every feeling of discouragement and fatigue will be dimmed and put to rest when our dreams become reality and the spark of hope that we had clung to and prayed for, the child that grew within us in our hearts and desires, is there in our hands. My mind is so limited in trying to conjure up the imagery of this moment. And, I don’t want to spoil it by thinking too long on it. We simply surrender that moment, as well as those before and long, long after it, to a trustworthy and loving God.
We are so happy to announce this to our family and friends. So many have cried with us and held us close over the years of infertility struggles. You’ve assured us time and again of how God has a purpose and plan for our life and he will be faithful to mark even the most painful of journeys with his provision, care and love. And, he has.
We have a lot of work to do to get where we’re going. We would sure love your support and prayers along the way. There is much to keep in mind, but God knows all. We have some fun, creative ways that we’re thinking up for raising support to help financially accomplish this dream. We also have a profile to put together and we need the expertise and creativity of the brilliant minds that are around us to help market — yes, I said market — us.
So, with all of that, I’ll sign off and be sure to update after our meeting tomorrow at 10AM. That is, if after the contract signing and check writing my hand isn’t too cramped up to type! :o)
