Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
A Lesson In Patience
Recently, a friend of mine posted about a sweet little girl, named Baby K, that was in need of a home. (You can read about her here). It pains me to even write those words...to know that there is a baby out there that does not have a Mama to cry for. When she cries, she has no idea who will come to comfort her. This sweet baby has a lot of obstacles in front of her, but her first is to find a family that will love her and walk her journey with her.
When I first saw the post, I immediately called Daniel and told him all about her. He listened...and that was all. I was left feeling a bit defeated but decided I needed to pray for Baby K and know that she was God's child first, and He is and will be in control of what happens to her.
You see, adoption has always been near and dear to my heart. I have gone to an orphanage in Guatemala several times and have always had dreams of bringing home an international baby. And then God slowly started putting people in my life that have adopted from America. At the time I did not even notice this...it did not even register with me. I have had to opportunity to speak to and get to know these families and their sweet children. And my heart had begun to change....
A few weeks went by and Lindsay again posted about Baby K. She still did not have a family. So again I called Daniel to tell him. This time, there were questions. "What exactly will her challenges be? How old is she?" He gave me to go ahead to email the adoption agency and tell them about our family. My friend Cari and I prayed for 2 days. And then the email came back....
"We are only considering families in the Midwest for now. We will let you know if something changes."
I was a bit sad...but it had never occurred to me to even ask where she is located. While it is not the outcome really wanted, there was still a lesson in all of this for me. I think the Lord was asking me to step out of my comfort zone in faith and trust Him. It was scary to send that email! This showed me that He has been working on Daniel's heart about adoption...which is an answer to my prayers. I have always said that God would not put a desire in my heart and then have me marry someone who did not share that with me. God used this as an opportunity to show Daniel and I some areas we need to work in so that we will be ready when the day does come to be the very best parents we can be for our next child. I am learning more every day to be patient....to wait on God. Wait Megan....it is not always time to take a plunge into the next thing. Sometimes it is better to wait by the side of the water and wait for it to warm up until it is just right to jump in!
When I first saw the post, I immediately called Daniel and told him all about her. He listened...and that was all. I was left feeling a bit defeated but decided I needed to pray for Baby K and know that she was God's child first, and He is and will be in control of what happens to her.
You see, adoption has always been near and dear to my heart. I have gone to an orphanage in Guatemala several times and have always had dreams of bringing home an international baby. And then God slowly started putting people in my life that have adopted from America. At the time I did not even notice this...it did not even register with me. I have had to opportunity to speak to and get to know these families and their sweet children. And my heart had begun to change....
A few weeks went by and Lindsay again posted about Baby K. She still did not have a family. So again I called Daniel to tell him. This time, there were questions. "What exactly will her challenges be? How old is she?" He gave me to go ahead to email the adoption agency and tell them about our family. My friend Cari and I prayed for 2 days. And then the email came back....
"We are only considering families in the Midwest for now. We will let you know if something changes."
I was a bit sad...but it had never occurred to me to even ask where she is located. While it is not the outcome really wanted, there was still a lesson in all of this for me. I think the Lord was asking me to step out of my comfort zone in faith and trust Him. It was scary to send that email! This showed me that He has been working on Daniel's heart about adoption...which is an answer to my prayers. I have always said that God would not put a desire in my heart and then have me marry someone who did not share that with me. God used this as an opportunity to show Daniel and I some areas we need to work in so that we will be ready when the day does come to be the very best parents we can be for our next child. I am learning more every day to be patient....to wait on God. Wait Megan....it is not always time to take a plunge into the next thing. Sometimes it is better to wait by the side of the water and wait for it to warm up until it is just right to jump in!
Weekend Wrap Up
It was a quiet weekend! Aubrey went to visit her mother, so it was just the 3 of us. Daniel had to work late Friday night and then do a few things with his brother so I went to grab Mexican for dinner with my parents. I LOVE Mexican! I ran into some friends from high school there which was nice. They were filling up before heading out for a bachelor party. Everyone is growing up! It is still kind of weird to me in a way....
Saturday we woke up early (not that we really have a choice these days with a busy toddler) and headed to breakfast. I had a lazy afternoon of cleaning up and catching up on some reading. My girlfriend and I are reading Unglued right now and it is awesome! I recommend it if you are looking for a new book. After I put MollyKate down for the night, I went next door for some girl time with Gina. I love my sweet friendship with her. Since I have no mother-in-law to speak of, Gina has adopted me. I love her advice-she is from the North and lets me know when I need to be a little less Southern and sweet and stronger. She would be there for me in a second if I ever needed her and I love her for that.
Sunday we went to Elevation and then had another lazy afternoon. We watched football, went to get coffee, took MK to the neighborhood park and went to bed early. Sometimes you really just need a weekend to regroup. With the holidays coming up, I am starting to feel a little overwhelmed with everything we have going on.
Hope everyone else had a wonderful weekend!
Saturday we woke up early (not that we really have a choice these days with a busy toddler) and headed to breakfast. I had a lazy afternoon of cleaning up and catching up on some reading. My girlfriend and I are reading Unglued right now and it is awesome! I recommend it if you are looking for a new book. After I put MollyKate down for the night, I went next door for some girl time with Gina. I love my sweet friendship with her. Since I have no mother-in-law to speak of, Gina has adopted me. I love her advice-she is from the North and lets me know when I need to be a little less Southern and sweet and stronger. She would be there for me in a second if I ever needed her and I love her for that.
Sunday we went to Elevation and then had another lazy afternoon. We watched football, went to get coffee, took MK to the neighborhood park and went to bed early. Sometimes you really just need a weekend to regroup. With the holidays coming up, I am starting to feel a little overwhelmed with everything we have going on.
Hope everyone else had a wonderful weekend!
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
New Adventures
My husband Daniel is such a hard worker. He has been with Food Lion for over 10 years. It is the first and only job he has ever had, besides owning his own landscaping business. Food Lion is all he has ever really known. It is the family business so to speak, since so many in his family work for the company, or have at some point. Food Lion is comfortable for him, yet he has been so unhappy there. I mean....miserable. It came to a point where I could see the dread on his face and it was affecting his entire demeanor. Yet like so many of us become in life, he was comfortable yet miserable.
Ponder that one for a moment....
I have always believed in Daniel. I have encouraged him to break out of the mold and try something new. There have been opportunities that have come and gone and I will be honest...I was frustrated that he didn't go after them.
And then THIS opportunity came along....
and God got involved. He forced Daniel to move. Daniel had no choice but to interview and he got the job! (Of course he did...I always knew he could...if he would try! And I am always right ;)
So I can now officially announce that Daniel has a new CAREER! No more job....this is a career for him. He is going to be awesome at what he is doing and I am so very proud of him. He works so hard to provide for this family and for me to be able to stay home with the girls and for that I am so thankful. Please pray for him as he starts this new and exciting adventure for our family!
Ponder that one for a moment....
I have always believed in Daniel. I have encouraged him to break out of the mold and try something new. There have been opportunities that have come and gone and I will be honest...I was frustrated that he didn't go after them.
And then THIS opportunity came along....
and God got involved. He forced Daniel to move. Daniel had no choice but to interview and he got the job! (Of course he did...I always knew he could...if he would try! And I am always right ;)
So I can now officially announce that Daniel has a new CAREER! No more job....this is a career for him. He is going to be awesome at what he is doing and I am so very proud of him. He works so hard to provide for this family and for me to be able to stay home with the girls and for that I am so thankful. Please pray for him as he starts this new and exciting adventure for our family!
Weekend Wrap Up
This weekend was nothing too eventful but full of good family time. Friday night we got a sitter (woohoo!) and went out to celebrate my hubby's new job. (Read about that here if you haven't already). My husband lived a sheltered life from a lot of restaurants before he met me, so I wanted to take him somewhere nice. We decided on Cheesecake Factory and took our sweet neighbors, the Meeks, with us. We LOVE them so it made the night that much better. Daniel loved it and I can't even tell you what kind of cheesecake he ordered because it was gone in literally 3 bites.
The majority of Saturday was spent on the soccer field for Aubrey's last tournament. She did so well and I finally got some action shots! Some of our other sweet neighbors came to cheer her on. It is so nice to be surrounded by people who love us. We are very blessed. MollyKate came down with a stomach bug Saturday night which meant a trip to GiGi's house because this mommy cannot handle vomit. At all.
Sunday we went to Elevation and then relaxed the rest of the afternoon. It is so nice to Daniel now has a job where he is home on the weekends. His brother came over and spent some time with us which is always nice too.
I hope everyone else had a great weekend too!
Monday, October 28, 2013
Fall Family Pics
My sweet friend Kara is such a talented photographer. I honestly think she doesn't realize just how good she is....if she did she would probably charge me more ;) She has done my maternity pictures, baby shower, MollyKate's baby pictures, her 1st Birthday, and our most recent girly shoot. We also had her do some family photos for our Christmas card which turned out great. Originally I planned to use our pregnancy announcement as our Christmas card, but now we won't be doing that after all. You can read about that here.
Here are some of the pictures she took of our sassy girl....
And our other sweet baby, Aubrey...
Sisterly love....
And what would have been our Christmas card....because they are good pictures so I may as well share them, right?
Here are some of the pictures she took of our sassy girl....
And our other sweet baby, Aubrey...
Sisterly love....
And what would have been our Christmas card....because they are good pictures so I may as well share them, right?
Trying New Things
I have been all about finding ways to save money lately. I scoured Pinterest and came across plenty of tips...some not so reasonable. For example, I have been searching for weeks for ground beef that is $1/lb because some woman on a money saving blog says she only buys meat when it is this cheap. After weeks of searching, my mom finally let me know that I will NEVER eat meat if that is the price I plan to buy it at! Some of these woman make their own soap, laundry detergent, make their own clothes, and grow all their own produce. That all sounds just wonderful....and totally beyond my scope of homemaking. I did find however, that a lot of these women make their own bread. How hard can that be?
I called my mom and asked to borrow her bread maker that I remember from my childhood. I brought it home and dusted it off, poured in all my ingredients, and set the timer. After about 2 hours the house started smelling FAB! My inner fat girl was going crazy. The timer finally went off and.....um....there was flour still sitting there. And the yeast was on top of that. Nothing had mixed together. I took out the canister and realized that I had not pushed the canister all the way in to begin with. None of the ingredients mixed...total fail.
Long story short I dumped it all out and tried again and it turned out great! I only have done the basic white bread so far, but I have found recipes for cinnamon raisin and another for how to make bread bowls for soup. I will let ya'll know how those turn out!
I called my mom and asked to borrow her bread maker that I remember from my childhood. I brought it home and dusted it off, poured in all my ingredients, and set the timer. After about 2 hours the house started smelling FAB! My inner fat girl was going crazy. The timer finally went off and.....um....there was flour still sitting there. And the yeast was on top of that. Nothing had mixed together. I took out the canister and realized that I had not pushed the canister all the way in to begin with. None of the ingredients mixed...total fail.
Long story short I dumped it all out and tried again and it turned out great! I only have done the basic white bread so far, but I have found recipes for cinnamon raisin and another for how to make bread bowls for soup. I will let ya'll know how those turn out!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
