all things new

I posted three years ago today. A WHOLE STINKIN' LOT occurred in those three years. Catching up would be tough since there's so much to share, so maybe I will entertain Flash Back posts in the future to remember the incredibly wild ride God's led us along as we wrap up our time in New Mexico.

Oh, that's right. It's moving time. Uncle Sam said it was time for us to move on, and we're excited about the future. Today, our HHG (house hold goods) were loaded into a giant moving truck, and in about a week, they'll arrive at a storage facility. About a week and a half after that, they'll be delivered to our new home on the sunny Emerald Coast. Boy, will we miss New Mexico!

More on that later.

If I had to pinpoint one of the greatest events that happened in the last three years, it would undoubtedly be the birth of our third child. Yes, we'd felt God's call to adopt, but that road proved wrought with disaster, and at times, confusion. I believe God used those painful moments to help us grow, even when we were unaware of why it did not work to grow our family. Our plans changed again in the fall of 2013, and as we proceeded down the next step toward adoption, we discovered the good news of our little EJ.

Not only were we finally blessed with another child, but we were blessed with a daughter! I adore being a Boy Mom, but being Mommy to a little girl has been such a beautiful experience. Her brothers love her deeply, despite a bit of sibling rivalry seen from Nugget. He was the baby for almost 7 years!

In the fall of 2015, we found out we were expecting another baby. We traveled to Arizona and California in November, and I suspected it the entire time. That was interesting. I remember riding Space Mountain in Disneyland and asking God to protect the maybe baby from the forces of the roller coaster. Fortunately, it was too early for morning sickness, so we all survived. (I'll have to blog about that trip because it was THE best.)

In March of 2016, we discovered that we were expecting another girl! Two big boys and two little girls. A full heart. So much blessing. So overwhelmed. EJ is going to be a sweet big sister!

So, it seems fitting to adjust my blog title from My Dandelion Boys to My Dandelion Babies. Or something like that. I plan to post more frequently, and I achieved some success a few years ago, so there's hope for me yet. I don't know who reads this, and I don't really need to know I have a following (because that sounds creepy,) but I still have friends all over the world, and there's no sense in not taking advantage of a platform that I enjoy. An outlet to improve my writing while sharing my daily life with friends? Win-win, in my book. Here's to All Things New!

adoption

So what the heck is going on?

We still plan to adopt.  We are still burdened with adoption and orphan care.  We still desire more children, and we want them to join our family through adoption.

But we aren't sure of much more than that at the moment.

We've had two moves, a few setbacks within our control and many outside of it, and we've been dealt some agency/country/etc. policies that have changed our situation.

To those of you who have donated, purchased, prayed, asked and wondered....we appreciate your support tremendously.  We still need this support.  Prayer is huge.  We need encouragement.  I remember reading years ago that the adoption process is not for the faint of heart, and as frustrating and ridiculous as it seems, I am still deeply committed to adoption.  But I have hurt and been discouraged at times, and sometimes I withdraw into those emotions.  Sandman is a rock....I blame his military training for his insane ability to compartmentalize his feelings and view things rationally, while I melt into a weeping pile of sludge when we get news about something that wasn't part of "THE" plan.  (read: MY plan)

Hopefully, we will have more news within the next month or two.  To be honest, I don't mind being asked about the adoption, but it has been difficult for me to have to keep saying, "well, we're back to square one...so I don't know" or "well, the agency has changed its policy....so I don't know.."  or "well, we're changing agencies/providers/countries again...so I don't know."  I guess it makes me feel like I'm disappointing the person who asked (who, of course, was being kind and genuine....)

The Lord has been laying some things on my heart lately, but because I don't know where to go with them, I am keeping them to myself.  I have never been so committed to praying for things...some of them being so unknown, and that's something new to me.  It's been sweet, and in some ways, I'm at peace, but in other ways, I know our son is out there, and I desperately want to find him.

So if we don't put lots of updates on the blog, it's probably because we're facing some uncertainties, and I'm guarding my heart.  What I will probably do is write a number of blogs but leave them unpublished until I am comfortable going public with the info.  And sometimes in adoption, it's better to keep things private.  Sandman wants things fairly "sanitized" anyway, which is why you will probably not see our real names here, so our goal is slight anonymity from the get-go.

Thanks for being patient.  I have not been patient.  But I'm getting there.

Wait for the LORD;
Be strong and let your heart take courage;
Yes, wait for the LORD. Psalm 27:14