Rock-a-bye Baby

Our "nest" is looking more and more ready for a baby birdy to fly in! :) Today Joe tackled the job of locating screws for the crib we've had sitting in the nursery. And now it's finally put together!! My heart skipped for joy when I walked into the baby's room and saw this:

Isn't it beautiful?? :)

You can also see a glimpse of our bassinett on the floor in front of it. I might share more on that in a future post... :) But for now, I'm just content seeing our child's bed completed and ready for him/her to come home!

Now all I need is to find some sheets!

Don't Fret, My Pet

Worry.

It's something that plagues us all, doesn't it?

This morning Joe and I talked about worrying...especially in light of all the big unknown changes looming in our near future. It's a sin I've struggled with since college, and maybe even before.

Yeah, that's right. I said sin.

As we talked, Joe gave me this definition:

"To worry is to make an assumption of something that has not happened yet."

So true! When you begin to analyze why worrisome thoughts creep into the back of your mind, it all comes down to assuming that the worst is going to happen in the future. I know I've done it - and written it off as a prayer request, or necessary for preparation, or some other nonsense. Lately, though, as the timeline of our future has been one big question mark, I've been convicted of how much worrying affects me.

I can waste away an entire evening, or even a weekend worrying about a future event. And it doesn't get me any closer to solving a problem that may not even exist in the first place! Time is precious, as the death of my dear friend Kathleen has taught me, and honestly, I don't have any time to waste by fretting! As Matthew 6:27 says, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" 

Worry can also skew my perspective. There have been several times in my life that I have joyfully, and naively, looked to the future. I'll be optimistically discussing a future path or decision when a well-meaning friend says, "Well, what if such and such happens?" And suddenly, I'm off kilter. Immediately I begin to grow anxious over that possibility, and try to create an emergency plan in my head for if that occurs. Is my gaze still on my Savior, trusting Him with all the intricacies of our future plan? No. I'm looking inward, hoping that I can come up with a solution to protect me from this future pothole in our plans. In fact, I may be looking so far forward that I forget to live in today! This is why Matthew goes on in verse 34 to say, "...do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

So what is the solution? Well....I'm not perfect by any means, but Joe summed it up nicely for me. There are two ways we can actively fight against worry:

1. Give everything to the Lord.
This is where prayer comes in, my friends....conversing with our all-knowing Creator is the best way to relieve any worrisome thoughts. How can we fret when we're talking to the One who knows the end from the beginning?

2. Prepare
Yeah, yeah, yeah...it seems like I'm contradicting myself, but preparation in and of itself is not a bad thing! Preparation is an action. Worrying is an emotional hang up, kind of like a skipping CD - you keep turning the same things over and over in your mind, but you never get anywhere with it! Preparation is productive, and leads to things running (hopefully) smoothly.

The key is to do both. If you give it to the Lord, but don't prepare, you can miss out on opportunities the Lord may have for you. Plus, we are called to be stewards of what God has given us, which involves action, not just believing everything will turn out fine. And if you prepare, but don't give it to the Lord, you are relying on your own strength - which gives you a legitimate reason to worry! ;)

I'm the first to admit how difficult this is. I am by nature a planner...which often goes hand in hand with worrying. It's taken me a long time to get to the point that I can give something over to the Lord and trust Him with the result...and I definitely don't do it often enough! It seems that the Lord has been preparing me for some time for adoption in this way. Though I still worry (on a daily basis) about what might happen with a future birthmother, when we'll finally find the screws for the crib, or how quickly our baby will bond to us, I'm learning to lean on my ever faithful Savior, and trust Him with my hopes and dreams of the future.

And I'm better off because of it.

"Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, 'This is the way, walk in it'." Isaiah 30:21

Preparing the Nest

Most of you have probably noticed the little adoption countdown I placed at the top of the page. Since we're going with a birdie theme in the nursery, I thought it would be a cute way to represent our waiting period.

And no, we haven't heard anything yet. :)

Though I've had a nagging and urgent feeling since this past weekend that we're going to receive a call any day now. Kind of weird since I haven't felt terribly impatient or anxious since getting all of our stuff turned in to LSS. Who knows, maybe we'll get a call this week! We'll just have to see.

It could also be related to the fact that I did a LOT of housework last weekend. The only way I can describe it is that I feel like I'm nesting. If you know me, you know that I'm not the type who needs to have clean windows, an organized junk drawer, or all the dust bunnies in the house to be vaccuumed up. But that's pretty much how I was over the weekend, and I still feel an urgent sense to clean, well, everything!

Who knows. Maybe there will be some news by the end of this week! Now that would be incredible.... And if we don't hear anything by the end of this month, I'll be checking in with Laura (our social worker) to see if our portfolio has gone out at all. But I would love it if I didn't even have to make that call... :)

Proud Auntie

I thought I'd take a few moments to brag about my newest nephews, Bodie and Jack :) There couldn't be two more opposite cousins, as you can see from this adorable pic of them with "Milly" below...

Yesterday we spent lots of time at Joe's parents house, and because I'm behind in taking pictures of the family, I snapped a lot of these two cuties. Born 3 months apart, they are getting spoiled rotten everytime they're around any of the aunties, and especially Grandma... :) It's so fun to kiss their little cheeks! It will be so special when our anticipated child gets added to the mix! 3 cousins less than a year apart (Lord willing)...too fun!

And, in conclusion, here's my favorite pic of the day of Bodie being his adorable self - Enjoy!! :)

The Dead, The Wicked, and Hell

Kinda morbid sounding, eh? Well, it's not what you might think!!

This past weekend, Joe and I went had a much-needed date day in The Cities. And our first stop? The Dead Sea Scrolls...

When we heard that the Dead Sea Scrolls were visiting the Science Museum, we knew we had to go see them! I mean...this is the chance of a lifetime! So, after locating a coupon that saved us $16 (Go me!), we visited the Science Museum to get a peek at the scrolls. Unfortunately, no photography was allowed (to protect the Scrolls from deteriorating too quickly), but we did get to read plenty about the caves they were found in, see lots of artifacts from those same caves, and read more about the history of the Scrolls themselves. I wish we had been able to stay longer - we were slightly rushed to get to the next thing on our agenda - but I'm glad I had the chance to see them.

After finishing up at the Science Museum, we made a mad dash to the Orpheum Theater where we had tickets to see....

"Wicked" is a musical that I've known about since college, and have been dying to see! We tried to go one other time with my parents about a year ago, but the tickets were super expensive, and our seats wouldn't have been that stellar. Joe surprised me a month ago by buying us tickets to FINALLY get to see it LIVE! I was on cloud nine, and believe me, it lived up to everything I'd dreamed it would be! The music was phenomenal and the performance was as stellar as anything on Broadway (not that I've ever seen anything on Broadway... ;) )

Here's a shot of one of the stage decorations:

It would move and the eyes would light up periodically.

Creepy.

And here's us waiting for the show to start!

(I'm not sure why Joe has the deer-in-the-headlights look...)

After the show, we began walking to our dinner reservation, but I had chosen fashion over function earlier in the day, and I was wearing heels.

Oops.

So....after a few blocks of walking (and frantically trying to hold down my skirt as the wind whipped by) and complaining, I talked Joe into stopping at the Target located downtown (How cool is that?). And so I got myself some pretty, yet functional shoes:

See how sparkly they are? :)

It was much better, let me tell ya.

Soon, we arrived at our dinner reservation - Hell's Kitchen (my apologies for the language on the sign...) 

I had heard of this place, but never been there before, and Joe was excited about it so we checked it out -- plus it had live music in the evening, so I was totally game! It has quite interesting decor (kind of on the dark and goofy side) and the food is great! We got BBQ pork nachos which come with pickles and coleslaw on top -- might sound strange, but they were addictive!! Joe got a penne pasta with lots of cheese and garlic on it that he loved and I got the BBQ pork sandwhich, though it ended up being a bit too spicy for my taste. And then we got strawberry-vanilla bean cheesecake for dessert.....yumm....

It was a fabulous day, and so special to have that much time to just have fun with my hubby. :)

Home

I guess I never got another post up here regarding the answers to prayer for Kathleen Olson, though most of you probably already saw my updates on facebook.

Kathleen is now in her true Home, singing praises in the presence of Jesus, and is without pain or worry anymore. Though it's been very difficult emotionally, I am so grateful for this woman of God who put the Lord first in all that she did. She truly has been an inspiration.

And our prayers were answered! Her children managed to arrive in time to see her, and she hung on for almost a full day after that, which I think was good for them. Her husband and kids are doing quite well, considering the circumstances, though they can still use prayer for strength and wisdom for the future and as they find the new "normal".

Thank you for all the prayers! I know they appreciate it.