In Honor of Amy

Most of my teenage years I had heard about Amy Brunson. My dear friend, Kim Goble, had known Amy for sometime, and I would spend time with Kim and hear all about the adventures she had with Amy. The first time I met Amy was the summer of 2002. We moved into a house with 5 other girls for a summer youth internship at HCBC. Amy and I ended up being roommates and that is where our friendship started.


Amy always made me laugh. She was the one who always had a smile on her face, and was cheerful. We had girls hang out nights at her parents house, and I felt like I became part of her family. 


When I think of Amy I think of this verse:
"5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. 6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. " 2 Timothy 4:5-8

I have not known another person who lived life so fully, who glorified God no matter her circumstances, who showed others who Christ was through suffering, and worried that she hadn't shown Christ to enough people even in her last days.

God has given us each a different portion. He used Amy mightily over the last 10 years in my life to point me to Him when I was suffering. I haven't endured anything like cancer. And the things I have endured don't even seem to compare. But today I am left wondering if the trials I have endured have pointed other to Christ the way Amy did.

I am grateful that Jesus conquered death. I am grateful that Jesus died on the cross so that if you believe in Him when you die you will go to Heaven. I'm grateful that this is not the end for Amy, but the beginning. I'm grateful that her suffering has ended, and I will see her again. 

Amy will be missed. Several people have said that there is an Amy shaped hole left in our world and I agree. Life will be different without her. 

I'm grateful that this verse is true: 
"38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39 

Sweet friend you are missed, but God has been glorified in your life and your work is done. You finished the race. Can't wait to see you in Heaven.



 

Haiti

Haiti has been on our hearts for awhile now. We know and know of several people who have adopted from there. We know many of these people began the process before the earthquake. We know there are people out there who admire those people who adopted before the earthquake, and (I can't think of how to say this) think the rest of us who start the process now do it out of guilt.

I'm really not sure how to describe how they think. I've never had a conversation with them. I heard a guy on the radio say that it a family was admirable because they adopted prior to the earthquake. It made me feel like people who adopt after tragedies aren't admirable. They are. I think that God uses tragedies, like the earthquake in Haiti, to draw us to a need.

I'm going to be honest. God has been drawing my heart to adoption for awhile. Almost my whole life. I can't remember a time when I didn't want to adopt.  I always thought I would adopt from China. I wouldn't marry Paul unless he was willing to adopt. We've researched it. We took classes to adopt from foster care before we got pregnant. About 6 weeks after Julia was born we met a sweet, precious friend, that was adopting from Haiti, and I told Paul we needed to do it. We have since prayed about it, and talked about it, and God confirmed that we need to adopt from Haiti.

She's beautiful!

Now, I'm being honest, I've always wanted an easy adoption process. I really wanted to go the easy route. I want a child to just fall into my lap. Wouldn't that be nice? But recently I told a friend that we were going to adopt from Haiti, and she said "Don't you have to be 35?" Well, she is right...ideally. Not only do you have to be 35, but they want you to be married for 10 years and have NO BIOLOGICAL children. Can I just say we don't meet any of these requirements. Neither one of us are 35, we've been married for 7 years, and yes we have a biological child.

I've been researching adoption for many years now. And I always get bummed when I see the requirements. I get discouraged, and I decide "well, I just can't adopt from there I guess."

But God has been teaching me about His power lately. And the fact of the matter is, God is bigger than Haitian Law. (That was a shocking realization for me.) God doesn't care how hold we are, how long we've been married, or how many biological children we have. God has 2 children in Haiti for us. He has 2 children in Haiti that He is preparing to be part of our family. He is preparing our hearts and our home for 2 Haitian children. He's preparing Julia for 2 Haitian siblings. And if He is already doing all of this work, why would I not trust that He will remove the road blocks for us to bring our children home?

I've seen God move mountains for friends who are adopting. I'm watching friends go through many road blocks in the adoption process, but I believe that God has put those there to teach them (and me) to trust His timing. God is bigger than the laws and requirements of any country, and I believe that if He calls you to adopt from a country, He will bring you through the entire process in His timing. In His PERFECT timing.

So we are adopting from Haiti. We have been in contact with a couple of orphanages in Haiti. We've been referred to an adoption agency to start the process. And we are praying our children that are there.

Will you pray with us and for us through this process?

Life

Life has been so crazy! I had no idea how busy I would be with a little one at home. I feel like I never have time to get anything done. We are attending MOPS, and doing childcare at church one morning a week.

We are working really hard to get her on a sleep schedule. Dr. says that she is a big girl now and can make it through the night without waking up. That can be really hard on me. I hate to hear her cry, but I am getting to the point that I sleep through it so if she does cry Daddy gets up with her. I feel kind of bad, but most nights she wakes up at 5 AM which means she needs to eat anyway. However, we have been staying up late the last few nights...between 1 AM and 2 AM. So 5 AM is really early.

She also got sick for the 1st time with Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. That made it really hard for me to let her cry at 2 AM because I knew she wasn't feeling well. We are slowly healing though and she has been a trooper through it.


So here are a few milestones:
-J is holding her own bottle (mostly) now.
-We can get her to laugh, and she has a super cute laugh. And some times it even sounds silly, and I laugh at her.
-She is sorta crawling. It started with her burying her face in the ground, sticking her her hiney in the air, and then inch worming.  Now she is actually army crawling and boy can she go! She's every where. I gotta keep an eye her!
-She is up to 16 lbs and 27 inches long.

She's a fun, gorgeous girl, and a blessing to this Mommy!  Love her!!

Sewing Projects!

Paul and I did some sewing projects as gifts for my baby shower hostesses. I should preface that Paul did a lot because I was 8 months pregnant and got tired...easily. I would wake up to him sewing and saying "I just finished purse number 3." It was AWESOME! I was bummed because I wanted to make it thinking it would be more special to them if I did, but come on...at 8 months pregnant I'm sure they were excited that I remembered to give them a gift.

I do want to say that the WONDERFULLY talented and AMAZING Beth Carroll is the reason any of this got done. I have been following her blog for awhile now, and she made this so simple for me. I was able to go on her site find tutorials, print them out, buy materials and sew. Most of the tutorials are hers, and if you want good tutorials she is the girl for you. I have tried my hand at sewing one other time. It was my freshman year in high school. I was taking Home Economics, and I aced that class every 6 weeks except one. The one where I had to sew. I never did finish that pair of shorts...

Anyway, all of the fabrics I used I bought at JoAnn's and I couldn't find any reference to who designed them. However, I did find some I loved. Enjoy these pictures!

Proof I worked: (My Grandma was a tremendous help and allowed us to bring her sewing machine to our house!!)

  Proof Paul did A LOT of the work:

Clutch:

Phoebe Bag:
(The Black and White one we gave to my niece who was very excited to get a big girl purse!)

Diana Hobo:
(Similar Fabrics)

Krista Aprons:

I was also blessed enough to have some things made for me as gifts for Julia, and since I have been having so many friends that are having babies I decided to sew up some things as gifts for them. These were so easy, and turned out GREAT!!




Nursing Cover: (Top: Riley Blake's Sugar and Spice Blue Sugar Paisley Bottom: Same fabric from JoAnn's, but my friend had registered for a nursing cover in this pattern...PERFECT! )

Sling: Fabric is Riley Blake's Red Sugar and Spice-Sugar Main with Red Sugar Floral

Bibs and Burp Cloth: (I used scraps from the fabric I used to make the Sling and Nursing Cover)

WOW! That's A LOT of sewing for a girl who never finished those shorts in high school. Ms. Krueger would be proud of me!

Please visit Beth's website if you ever need inspiration or tutorials! She's AWESOME!!