Happy 4th of July!!!!

Last weekend we went to this great small town celebration. They had a parade, jumper zone, funnel cakes, live music, firetrucks, horses, FIreWorKs, etc, etc, etc. . . it was wonderful! We had a great time!

This weekend we are going to our new town’s 4th of July celebration, then to my parents for a BBQ, tot swimming and FirEwOrkS!!!

When we were waiting to start our family, this holiday was one of the toughest. Last weekend, as I sat in a lawnchair with Eliza sleeping in her carrier on my belly, I teared up as I watched Jadon cuddled up with Josh on our blanket, amazed at the firework display.

There’s just something about kids covered in facepaint and flag tatoos, swinging light sticks, exhausted from playing out doors, wideeyed while they wait for it to get dark, smelling fireworks beginning in the air that makes it one of my favorite days of the year!

I LOVE this holiday!!!

Mission Impossible – Housing for the Gs

Drum Roll Please. . . . .

This:

SHOULD be our home soon.

We were planning on closing next Thursday, July 2nd. But we’ve negotiated a new roof which cannot be done by then. It’s a foreclosure, owned by Freddie Mac so nothing is going fast, no matter how much I kick and scream. for some reason good ol’ Freddie doesn’t listen to a wife pouting, mostly to her poor husband.

So, we are now under contract to close on or before July 24th. Oh Lord, don’t I have enough patience by now?? Why are you still working on me?!?! You must be serious about those fruits of the Spirit.

My blog posts have been non-extent because I’ve been functioning on the false assumption that we would get to move in one more week. . . . one more week. . . . one more week. . . . one more week. Not that this basement is horrible, but I’ve been spending as little time as I can in it because of the lack of sun and amount of clutter I’ve allowed and left unorganized for lack of space.

Now, I must find a way to entertain all of us for possibly 3 more weeks. S A – W E E T !!!

You are allowed to hope for cute pictures of the kids soon. Because SERIOUSLY they are STINKIN’ CUTE and I’ve several more weeks on my hands before I get to unpack my boxes.

(we are fast approaching 1 year since we began this moving experience. . . crazy huh?)

Here’s a few more pictures of the house. It’s a 3 bedroom 2 bath with a small office and an unfinished basement in a wonderful part of town with a lot of pride in it’s parks and family life, 20 minutes from Josh’s work. We are uber-excited for when it finally happens!

I know, I know

We need an update. I’ll do my best real quick.

After St Louis the kids and I went to Cherokee, Oklahoma for my family reunion. Then Josh’s mom picked us up and we went to Tulsa for the following week. During that week we drove to Oklahoma City to visit Josh’s Grandmother. We stayed and met Josh in Tulsa for a friend’s wedding last weekend.

This week we’ve been recovering.

Tomorrow I get to drive to Wichita BY MY SELF to get my car that we left there during those weeks of driving. WOO HOO!!! I get an evening tomorrow night with one of my best friends TO MYSELF and then a 3 1/2 hour drive home in the car BY MY SELF!!!! (can you tell I need some alone time?!?!?!?)

We are pretty much under contract with the home I told you about 2 posts ago. There’s just a little negotiating going on for a new roof. We should close on July 2nd!!!!!

Today was shot day at the doctor’s office. Jadon was so brave and only let out a few little, “ow, ow, ow”s. Eliza on the other hand screamed for what seemed like 30 minutes in the doctor’s office. Some kid started banging on the wall in the room next to us. Poor, poor girl. She’s sleeping it off now.

I’ll down load some pictures and create a more interesting post next week. Hope everyone else is having a wonderful June!

Meet us in St Louis!

We spent Memorial Day in St Louis with our good friends we met in Guatemala. They live within a couple hours from St Louis in the opposite direction so we met up for the weekend. Jadon and Hudson rode to the US on the same plane so it is so great to see them begin playing together! The kids had such a great time, and so did the adults. God has richly blessed us with this family! It was SO much fun!!!

At the Zoo

The St Louis Arch is the coolest monument I’ve ever seen.

Here are pictures of us at the top of the arch. Jadon was amazed. Eliza slept the whole time.

Full Circle in the Housing Market

Yesterday we wrote a contract on the SAME HOUSE we did last October! Remember this? We lost the contract because it was contingent on the sale of our home in Atlanta but that fell through!?

We had finally come to a place that we felt good about entering into a contract, therefore getting out of the basement! So we were meeting with our Realtor yesterday evening to write a contract. A contract on a different house! See, the previous home had gone off the market because the owner “couldn’t afford to loose the money selling it.” We had written it off in our minds. But we had continually said things while home searching like, “If only it had ____ like that first house” or “_____ really would have been a wonderful location for us.”

Yesterday morning I got on the computer to compare things between the two other homes we were considering but low and behold, there was a “new” home that came up in my search list! I google mapped the address without looking at it and surprise! It was the original home! BUT now, it was now foreclosed on and had lower price!!! (this does not make me happy for the previous owner, but slightly happy for us)

So, we wrote a new contract!!! Now we wait!! Pretty exciting!

I’ll write more when we hear if our offer was accepted or not.

The reason I am not loosing the baby weight

I could blame it on STILL being in the basement with the kids. But honestly, I have to take ownership of the “Dove Dark Chocolate Covered Almond” binges.

Nope, we still haven’t heard anything from Hallmark.

Mother’s Day

Some thoughts on today.

• Until I was 26, I took Mother’s Day for granted. I had mother’s and grandmothers who I loved and would send cards to in the beginning May. I planned on becoming a mother myself, when I felt like it.
• For several years Mother’s day was a painful day for me. I wanted to be a mother and was not. I realized how incredibly full of hurt the day is for many, many women.
  
• Two years ago we were in Guatemala. It was the day before we met Jadon. I’ll remember it as one of the most amazing days of my life. I began to connect in person to the country and the women, Jadon’s birth mother and foster mother, who gave motherhood to me. How can I ever grasp all they have done for Jadon and me, Josh and Eliza? I wonder how this day is for them.
  
• Last year I was a few days pregnant with Eliza. I had completely put out of my mind that there could ever be a possibility of experiencing pregnancy or a biological child. After 3 years of gut wrenching honesty and tears, I was truly at peace with it. I would find out a few weeks later I would have a second child that was Caucasian , surprisingly created when we were not expecting it. It has taken me a year to believe she’s here and staying.
  
• I will always have a heart for those who today is painful for. There are many women who have lost mothers, grandmothers and children. There are many women who are facing the fact that they may never be mothers but desire it in the deepest parts of their being. I hurt and pray for them.
  
• Today, I was able to celebrate with BOTH of my grandmothers, my wonderful mother (who is an excellent grandmother herself) and my two incredible, amazing, special children who God brought into my life in two unique ways.
• Today, I am thankful.

Guatemala 2007

Holding Jadon the first time

Wonderful, Anticipated Jadon

Sweet Surprise Eliza

Jadon and Grandma today

Eliza and Great Grandma M

Eliza and Great Grandma J

I couldn’t have dreamed this up!

One last thought on being a mother.

• When trying to finish a blog post, you shouldn’t also try to get your daughter ready for a bath. If you hold her naked after just waking her up so you can finish downloading pictures, the probability you will become covered in pee pee is just too high. Oops, sorry, I have a lot of readers from the south. I am covered in Tee Tee (said in a deep southern accent).

I will now finish my Mother’s Day by taking a shower.

Spring!

I just had to share this picture because I love it!!!!!!!!

No Fear

Remember these shirts? I know that’s a pretty early 90’s way to start a post, but it is the best title for what I am about to describe.

My husband could loose his job any day now. Surprisingly, I have no fear. I don’t even think about it much day to day. Like I said in the last post, Josh would like to keep his job in order for his family to be provided for and in order to continue to do a job he has found that he absolutely LOVES. I would like him to keep his job so my husband continues to be fulfilled and challenged during the day and so that my family can have a space to live and thrive in.

But, we are not scared of our financial security.

You want to know why?

6 years ago we took this:

This verse changed our lives:

“Just as the rich rule over the poor, so the borrower is servant to the lender” Proverbs 22:7 NLT

We made some sacrifices, paid off our cars, our wedding, our appliances, my student loan, etc, etc, etc. . .

We recorded on our old blog the day we became completely debt free. You can read about it HERE.

Now, we don’t claim that any good came from us. It definitely came directly from God. All desires we had to get our finances straight, we believe, came directly from him. All abilities to do so came from Him too. We could not have done any of it on our own, we couldn’t even desire to glorify Him with our finances unless it that desire came from Him first.

If we are transparent here we have to admit that we aren’t even good at it. Honestly, we can’t even budget month to month. We struggle to give away the amount of money that we want to give. But we have made some hard decisions. Decisions like, I drive a car like this-

instead of this-

(yes, I now dream of a mini-van with automatic sliding doors)

Josh drives a 2000 VW Jetta that has ripped seats and a hole in the bumper. 95% of my kid’s clothes are used. Most recently we’ve chosen to live like Josh has already lost his job.

We’ve made these choices partly so that IF Josh looses his job, we don’t owe ANYONE ANYTHING!!!

Thanks to God changing our hearts about our money, we are a slave to NO ONE!!! I can not tell you HOW GOOD THAT FEELS!!!

If he looses his job we will be very, very upset. It will break our hearts and it will be very difficult to continue our lives the way we are. But we are  F R E E and there is no way to express how different it feels!

Again, I claim no good thing to be from us or about us. Please don’t hear me say anything like that. God put it on our hearts, God taught us how to do it and now God is being faithful in allowing us to experience the freedom He said we would.

I want to share this with you because we have a passion for others to enjoy this freedom too. God wants to set us free from all that holds us down. If you are bound by financial worries here are some suggestions:

• Check out Crown Financial Bible Studies
  
• Listen to Dave Ramsey or read his books
• Ask us more about what happened in our lives
• Open up your life to help and seek how to dig out
• If you are struggling with where the economy seems to be headed, Dave Ramsey held a “Town Hall for Hope” last Thursday that was great.

Even if you don’t believe in the God stuff, please talk to someone, learn how and get started on a path that leads to freedom.

See What a Card Can Do!

A Card…It’s The Biggest Little Thing You Can Do!

This one of our new commercials highlighting our 99 cent cards at Hallmark!

What do you think?