First Meeting with Social Worker

You know, often times, the Lord confirms His will in sweet and encouraging and uplifting ways. We have definitely experienced much of that lately.
Then there are other times that can be just as clear, albeit not so pleasant. I'm referring to those instances when you know that you know that you know that you must be on track because the enemy makes his anger about it so very clear. Kinda like when you spray an ant colony with killer and the scurry around wildly trying to make it stop
Yup, that was our first visit with our social worker today. Andrew ended up having work conflicts arise so I (and the kids) planned to just swing by and pick up the mound of paperwork for us to start on.

Let's just say that the children ran out of patience approximately 2 minutes after we arrived. Both children. Even the one who tends to have much more patience- in fact, he/she had less than the other. So there I was being handed paper after paper (with nice, lengthy explanations of each) by the social worker who is supposed to certify that I am fit to parent an adopted child meanwhile my other 2 are acting like wild beasts who just had their dinner stolen. It was quite humbling, really. And quite an exercise in self-control. After an hour, she walked me out to the car and I wrangled them into their seats. Then I drove home (20 minute drive) to a chorus of synchronized wailing. After 25 minutes of rocking, Chloe finally fell asleep. Wade also went to sleep.
Throughout the whole escapade I was keenly aware that satan had his sights set on me losing it and had all kinds of accusations and lies ready to whisper over me. I am so thankful that the Holy Spirit equipped me to fight the battle in my mind. This isn't the first spiritual warfare we've experienced in this adoption process and I praise the Lord for making it evident to me. Mark this: our enemy is against adoption.
However, in the end I just had to kind of chuckle at his meager and useless attempts. After putting the kids down I found that I had a voicemail from the Chattanooga Times Free Press who is (so randomly!) going to do a profile story on us next Tuesday. It was like the Lord was reminding me that He's got this- Satan may make his attempts to derail but the Lord holds us in the palm of His hand.

Buckle Up

This has been us for the last year...kinda like waiting in line for the roller coaster.

Yes, we've been quite busy fundraising, quite busy indeed. However, as far as the paperwork trail to Gotcha Day goes, we hadn't even laced up our boots. We kept feeling like it was almost time to begin our home study but then the Lord would put another fundraising opportunity before us as our primary focus. 

UNTIL NOW

(drum roll please)

The day has come for us to officially begin our paperwork.  Monday we meet with our social worker to begin our home study and then we're off!

We are so excited about this ride....the uphills, downhills, twists and turns. 

Would you join us in praying for these specific aspects of the first stage - our home study?

• Diligence and balance as we shift our focus to paperwork
• Our partnership: the last year has been a growing blessing for Andrew and I to work together as creative partners. Pray that He will use this new focus to continue growing us. 
• The Lord's favor over one specific aspect of our home study that could cause a delay (don't worry, its not some crazy skeleton in the closet or anything like that)
• There are a few other opportunities before us to show our bracelets - pray for wisdom and discernment on which to pursue. 

Hi.

You may have come here from Facebook, in which case you've been blasted with my posts about Chatty Crafty all week. And you know that we made about $1100 through sales and donations!! Woohoo!!

Or maybe you don't have any clue what that's about....well, this weekend we participated in an Indie craft festival here in Chattanooga selling our handcrafted goods to raise money for our adoption.




This experience was so very cool. When the Lord presented the opportunity we were a bit intrigued but also uncertain. We kind of him hawed around about committing so the Lord hunted us down and we started making preparations. The outcome was way better in a way broader way than we expected. Here's our top eight (cause I got tired before i reached 10)of Chatty Crafty list - in no particular order.

10. Indie festivals turn out to be very diverse and creative. I mean, where else can you find something like this:



Also, where else would you see items described as "Fecal Friends" - I'm not even kidding but I did not take a picture to prove it- you'll just have to use your imagination.

We met so many artists with such amazing (and slightly more tasteful - oooh, bad adjective) talent - it was very sweet.

9. If you tie 4 buckets to the corners of a tent, each filled with 50 lbs of sand your tent will not blow away in 20mph gusts of wind. Perhaps you could use less, but we weren't willing to risk it.

8. On the weather front, the forecast was so sketchy all week that we had everyone praying for clear skies. And the Lord answered! Dark clouds threatened for a few minutes Saturday but cleared into the most beautiful day. Sunday was super windy but sunny!

7. We have amazing friends and family so many of whom came out to support us! Seeing each of your faces was so encouraging!!!

6. Have I mentioned all the people who helped us make this weekend a reality? Ok, here goes: Nana and Grandpa Bill for babysitting and helping run the booth; Ashley Woolsey for more babysitting; Jamie Trollinger and Hannah Elrod for their awesome sign making artistry; Nick Hughes for his flier design and printing amazingness; Dawn Gross for her (STURDY) tent; Walmart for putting TN Titan tent wall panels on clearance; Kirsten Johnson, Jamie Trollinger and the Hammel girls for their stitching skillz; Calvary Chapel for lending us tables; and many, many others who prayed for the weekend! This could not have happened without you. We love watching the Lord invite others along on this journey!

5. We had the opportunity to share with and listen to SO many stories of others who have been blessed by adoption. Seriously, I wish I could have been writing every story down. We totally did not expect this aspect of the weekend and it was such a sweet, sweet surprise!

4. Our kids did awesome! They spent the whole weekend being shuffled between grandparents and babysitters but didn't really complain much. They even spent some time hanging out with us in tent




3. We will probably do something like this again. We're keeping our ears open to other opportunities specifically around Greenville, SC and Atlanta.