Courageous

I had planned on seeing the movie Courageous with my wife but life happened and we never made it to the movie. Instead we decided to read the book rather than wait for the movie to be released on DVD. Honestly, I usually enjoy the book more than movie anyway (I won't be able to judge this book until it is released on DVD). This book was an eye opener. Every family would benefit from reading it. There were so many parts that had me close to or in tears. I know that I want to be the kind of husband and father that won't let go of that wheel. In order to do that I know I need to make God a higher priority in my life and my family's. Since reading this we have gone back to eating at the kitchen table instead of in front of the TV. We are also doing daily family devotions and spending more time together. I know that these are small steps but we are moving in the right direction. I would like to see our church do the bible study that goes along with this movie but until we can start that I plan on going through the questions in the back of the book and hopefully blog about each one. I truly feel that a lot of the problems in the world today could be fixed by men stepping up and being what God intended us to be!!

Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us the ultimate instruction guide the Bible. In it is all we need to know in order to be the men you want us to be. Please help me to spend more time in your word and to be the husband and father that you want me to be. I know I can't do this on my own so please walk with me and guide me. Amen.

IT HAPPEND!!!!!!!!!

We were chosen by an expecting birth mother last Tuesday. I know I said I would try and post quickly with this one but I decided to wait until we had let everyone know in person or with a phone call if we could. we did not even post to Facebook until Friday. The baby is due June 15th and no we do not know the sex of the baby. Both birth parents and we decided to wait until baby is born to find out!!!

Getting excited!!!!!

This is a quick update on our adoption process. This week a friend of ours "Jody" met with an acquaintance of hers "Linda". Linda asked Jody if she would be interested in adopting their soon to be born child. Jody said she and her husband were not interested but she knew of a family waiting to be chosen, US!!!!
I will give a little back story on Linda and her boy friend "Matt" and where they are at with the whole process. Linda is 40 years old (I do not know the age Matt). She and Matt do not want to start a family at this stage of their lives. The baby is due mid June and they do not know the sex of the baby. So they are pursuing adoption. They had a couple bad experiences with agencies so they were leery of using one but we really wanted to continue with Bethany. It turns out they had never heard of Bethany and were willing to give it a try. Jody met with Linda over lunch and told her all about us. She said Linda was very interested in choosing us as the parents of their child. My wife called Bethany and by that afternoon there was a date set to meet with Linda and mark over lunch so they could meet us. That meeting is this coming Tuesday the 10th of May!!!!!! My wife and I are getting super excited. It will be hard to think about anything else. Thankfully we have a pretty busy weekend planned. Hopefully I will have good news on Tuesday and maybe that will get posted quickly.

Not This Time

We just heard from our social worker that we were not chosen this time around. It was a hard thing to hear. we are working through the disappointment. The biggest thing we need to work through is the question "why weren't we good enough?". We know that there are a lot of wonderful families out there waiting for a child and it has to be a very hard decision for the birth mother to make. We need to remember that this will all happen for us in God's time. I know He is using this process to work in our loves. Right now He is teaching us patience and to rely on Him and Him alone to get us through this.

"but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint."

—Isaiah 40:31

"Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer."

—Romans 12:12

"I waited patiently for the Lord;
he inclined to me and heard my cry." —Psalm 40:1

Please keep us in your prayers as we work through hearing this news.

Adoption Update!

We will be having our profile shown to a birth mother this Friday the 18th of March. We have known since last Tuesday that it would be shown. It was a tough decision to have it shown since the birth mother wants to name the baby. That is something we were hoping to be able to do. It is easier for me to let go of this than it is for my wife. I know she is still struggling with this decision. But she is strong and will come to terms with it. Right now we are struggling with not getting our hopes up. We know so much info on this baby that it is hard not to start planning for the chance that we might be chosen. Please keep us and the birth mother in your prayers. We know that God has a plan for this child, we just hope that it will be to come home with us!!