15 Hours Later---We are Finally Home!

YAY...we are all together as a family!!!! After numerous flight delays...one missed flight...one episode of crying--from me not Hudson...and I don't know how many bottles...we stepped off the plane last night after 11pm to an airport filled with our friends and family! It was a beautiful expression of love and support towards us. I am so grateful to everyone that had to sit in the airport for over 3 hours waiting for me and the little guy.

I was walking down the hall off the plane and first caught a glimpse of my daughters holding up Welcome Home Hudson Dean signs! There were 15 children that swarmed us as I came through the doors. Cameras were flashing and I was in another world! It all seemed so surreal...we were finally home with this long awaited gift from God to our family. I don't know how long I was gazing at my daughters each taking their turns holding him...they had it all arranged from littlest to oldest to each take their turns. It was so precious! I finally looked up to see all of my family and prayer warriors standing there welcoming us home. My dad took Hudson and led us all in a prayer of thanksgiving for his life! How can ever express how much all of this has meant to me!?!? There are so many of you (IRL and web friends) that have held us up in prayer...you lifted me up when I didn't think I had the energy to go on. Your countless prayers...brought little Hudson into our arms and we are forever grateful! I am completely humbled by your endless support. Our God is a God of modern day miracles...from all of the money coming in, having Hudson placed in our arms, having Courtney to care for us in FL while we waited, to our paperwork coming through miraculously fast. God delights in doing the impossible!!!! It is going to take me awhile to allow it to all soak in, there are so many things that I have been pondering and I can't wait to be able to express them...I just don't have the words right now.

What I do know is this...God is Majestic in all that He does! He is in the every details of our lives! He is Faithful! He is Glorious! All praise and adoration are HIS for this incredible journey of adoption!!!!!!

WE'RE COMING HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yet another miracle from the hand of God in our adoption...everything came through. WE ARE FREE AND CLEAR TO COME HOME!!!!! Praise Jesus! We had been told that it could take 3 weeks...we could hope for only 2, but with the holidays things could move slow. Here we are...getting ready to come home tomorrow!!!!! We were in the car driving to visit the beach today when I got the call. I was able to praise Jesus for seeing us through this while gazing at the wonder of his beautiful creation. It was such a special time. I collected all kinds of seashells to bring home for the girls.

Courtney has taken such great care of us...we have had a wonderful time together! She is such a dear...it will be sad to leave her yet exciting to bring Hudson home to meet his sisters, and aunties and uncles, and grandmas and grandpas, and all our friends and prayer warriors. Please pray that our day of travels goes smoothly!

If you know us in person, you are more than welcome to come see Hudson come home. Our plane comes in at just before 8pm tomorrow night!

Girls--Mommy can't wait to see you and smoother you with kisses! I love you and miss you so much!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Matt made it home safe and sound yesterday. Courtney is taking great care of Hudson and I here. I am really, really missing the girls and can't wait to come home. Please pray that our paperwork speeds through! Merry Christmas to you all! I am in awe of how wonderful our Savior is!

More of the Cutest Baby Boy ever...and God's Faithfulness

These are after his first bath. His skin is so soft and chubby! He loves to be held...and I of course, just love holding him.

I want to thank everyone who donated to our adoption fund. What a miracle the Lord worked. He has provided us a son and the finances for everything. I will compose a blog post about how the Lord worked miraculously soon. I need some time to gather my thoughts on all of this and put them together coherently. Just know that we are blown away at God's Faithfulness and His pure Goodness.

Rookie Mom Report!

Technically, I am not a rookie-rookie mom....but I am a rookie mom to a son! So yes...let's just say that I wasn't quite prepared, and Hudson pottied all over the bed in the middle of the night! ;) I will be working on perfecting my technique!

What have we been up to you might wonder...well, me and Mr. Handsome have been up since a little after 3am. Wait...I have been up since 3 am...Mr. Handsome elected to fall asleep about 6:30 when I finally got sick of sitting in the room and headed for the lobby. I had some great breakfast with the little guy...he had his bottle, I had some biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, juice, coffee...it was great.

Can I just say that CNN in the morning is really boring! Checking email...not quite as boring! Having people stop me to see *MY NEW BABY BOY* not boring! Sitting here with Hudson in my arms...NOT BORING IN THE LEAST! Yes...I have had him right in front of me in the sling since 6:30am. He absolutely loves it! Matt is absolutely exhausted...so I have been in the hotel lobby for pretty much the last 5 hours! I hope they don't get sick of me. :) I wander around once in awhile then meander back to the comfy couches and fire place. I really want Matt to get caught up on his sleep.

Hudson and I spent the night starring goo-goo eyed at each other. He literally just wanted to spend the night starring at my face. At times my eyes were only about half open goo-goo eyes...but open they remained. If he was starring at me...I wanted to stare right back into his big brown eyes! Besides...who needs sleep when you have adrenaline? :)

We got to be on the phone with the girls while they saw his photos for the first time. They were so cute! They can't wait to kiss his cheeks! In the meantime I am giving him a gazillion kisses for them. It will be so wonderful to see them all together...I can't wait! Little guy doesn't know what he has waiting for him! :)

Well...I better go wander some more! Toodles from cloud 9!!!!!

Introducing---HUDSON DEAN!!!!!!!!

Hudson Dean
8lbs. 5oz.
21 inches

Now here is the absolute best part of this...Today is Matt's birthday!!!! Only God could bless him with the miracle of a son for his birthday!!!! We are absolutely in LOVE!!!! He is such a happy baby...doesn't fuss at all. He loves to eat, and we love to snuggle him and give him his bottle! :)

Love you all!

Oh You Guys---I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!

I am sorry that I haven't been able to update this. It has been the craziest, most intense couple of days ever!

Things are going great! I am trying to get some photos uploaded now. I will post all of the little guy's stats with some photos. It just isn't nearly as much fun reading a name and baby stats without seeing him...so now you HAVE TO WAIT SOME MORE! I got really, really good at it...now I will give you a brief taste of how intense the waiting is! (I love you though!)

WE GOT THE CALL!!!!!!!! WILL YOU HELP US!!!!!!

WOWZERS! We got THE CALL ! We got THE CALL ! We got THE CALL !It has been a crazy day of waiting to see what the final outcome was going to be. I am beyond excited to tell you that our tickets are booked, suitcases packed, video camera charged because....we are going to meet our SON!!!!! He was born Sunday, December 16!!!!! We will have a BABY BOY in our arms!!!!! Thank you, Jesus! This was a situation that we never saw coming...but God has been working on it from the very beginning. We celebrated Christmas with the girls tonight and gave them an extra special present at the end of the night by telling them our news. They were so excited some started crying...which made me cry too! ;)

We need you to please pray that all of the details will fall into place. Please pray for us while we are apart from each other. It is exciting, but it will be hard to be apart for that long. Please pray for our bonding and attaching with him.

From the very beginning, we have fully believed that the Lord would supply all of the money needed for our adoption. So now here we are...the time has come now when we need all of the money. Will you please consider donating to our adoption fund? We fully believe that the Lord calls some to open their homes to care for the fatherless, and He calls some to come along side them and help them financially. If you feel the Lord leading you to help support our adoption, please contact us at familyofjoy@yahoo.com . If you wish to donate and would like to receive a tax deduction receipt...please email us and we will give you the details of where the money can be donated. We need to come up with the money in the next 48 hours, so please pray and ask the Lord about helping us bring him home.


I am just so incredibly in awe of how miraculously the Lord's hand has been guiding us. I am so humbled to be on this journey with Him. The faith that the Lord has given me to keep pressing on, is something that I can not even explain. Just know that my heart is full of adoration to be right here where the Lord has us!!!!

Strangeness...

Today was a strange day for me. The girls made this little plan that they wanted to go Christmas shopping for each other. They split themselves up one group with each parent, and had their stores all picked out. This is the first time they have had money at Christmas to spend...thanks to all of your orders. (Which by the way...if you are still desiring to place an order ,please do so quickly!) Anyway...it was so fun to shop with the girls and to listen to their excited plans about what they wanted to get the one they had "chosen". Somehow they had a name exchange without Matt and I, but don't worry they included us.

As we walked through the mall, there were times that I was overcome with deep emotion. There is such a deep longing to know who the Lord has for us to adopt. I walked past a huge display of personalized Christmas ornaments...and thought I was just about to cry. It was the strangest thing, because I don't even collect ornaments! I really don't know why seeing those had such an effect on me...but they did. Maybe it was the Baby's 1st Christmas thing...I really don't know. We passed by a purse kiosk...and there were the most adorable diaper bags. I felt this longing once again to know what was going to happen next on this journey. It has been awhile since I packed a diaper bag. Now I admit...I do carry a big bag with me at all times, but it doesn't have diapers or bottles or cheerio snacks inside. I can't describe the emotions that were within me. I don't know if there was sadness for the ones that haven't been placed with us, or just a deep, deep longing to know and hold the one the Lord has chosen for us. I am so glad the girls were there to quickly distract me out of any sort of emotional break-down. I think it was the fact that I was having so much fun with them, yet it felt like there is such a huge piece of our family missing. Even though we have no idea who God has chosen for us to adopt....We don't know if it will be one, or two, or even three. We don't know if it will be a boy or a girl. We don't know if it will be a newborn or a toddler, or even a preschooler. It makes no difference...whoever He has they are still missing from our family. Our family is not complete without them. God has shown us there is someone else out there that belongs in this family...we just don't know who yet.

The emotions of the adoption journey hit at strange times. I try to stay busy, and not let it consume me. I do not worry about how this is going to end up, because I rest in God's Sovereignty. I have said it over and over again...but that is the only place to be on this journey. I do not want to control the outcome...I just want to wait in expectation for Him to reveal the "surprise" to us. Of course I am filled with wonder, I day-dream, I am constantly praying...but I am not fretting or worrying. Sometimes the emotions are strange and I don't know what to even do with them. They come and they go. They wash over me and leave me just as quickly. I guess today was just one of those days...I just really am missing our chosen child. That is the best way to describe it...I miss him/her!

Oh Yeah, Baby...It's Quiz Time...

What Your Latte Says About You

You are easygoing and pretty simple to please. You don't put up a fuss... ever. You can be quite silly at times, but you know when to buckle down and be serious. You have a good deal of energy, but you pace yourself. You never burn out too fast. You're addicted to caffeine. There's no denying it. You are responsible, mature, and truly an adult. You're occasionally playful, but you find it hard to be carefree. You are exotic and cosmopolitan, but you are never a show off.

What Does Your Latte Say About You?

Pictures of Sophia Ann!!!!

This is for all of you out there with baby-fever! What is it about our hearts and pics of newborn babies!?! Aren't her cheeks absolutely adorable!?! Heather was finally able to hold Sophia today and nurse her. She seems to be doing well. Sophia will need to stay in the NICU for 10 days...so please pray for Heather. She is not looking forward to leaving the hospital to go home without her. Heth, we'll just keep on praying!

Someday you will all see pictures of our own precious baby. Please keep praying that the Lord works out His will. We don't know what He has in store for us, but we continue to wait with expectation...trusting Him!

Welcome to our world Sophia Ann!!!!

My friend Heather gave birth to their baby girl this morning at 8:14am.

Sophia Ann
6 lbs. 2 oz.
19 3/4 inches

Sophia is in the NICU receiving some oxygen and IV antibiotic. They say she is doing really well. She had great coloring at birth. They will monitor her in the NICU just to make sure she is gaining the strength she needs. Heather did a great job, but is now in pain from the surgery. Please pray for both of them today! And praise Jesus, that He answered our prayers by giving little Sophia the extra weight she needs. What an amazing answer to our specific prayers! (when they did the ultrasound on her a couple days ago, they thought she was only about 4 1/2 lbs.--I am glad our God delights in answering our specific prayers!!!!)

Heth, I am so proud of you!!!!!! You did it...you beat me!!!!!! ;)

My best friend Heather--

Will you all join me in praying for my friend Heather? We have been friends well...pretty much forever! She was scheduled to have a C-section with their 3rd baby on Jan. 3, but last Thursday her water broke. She has been in the hospital on bed rest. Since her water is only leaking and her body is continuing to produce more amniotic fluid they have been trying to keep the baby in the womb as long as possible. However now her body is starting to react and she has started having contractions. At this point, they are thinking that she is going to need to have a C-section tomorrow morning. Her little girl will be about 5 weeks early, and will need to go into the NICU once she is born.

*Please pray that the Lord will flood Heather and Joe with an overwhelming peace today.

*Pray that this little girl's lungs will miraculously be touched by the Lord and able to handle life outside the womb.

*Pray that she will also miraculously put on the extra weight she needs for her little life.

Heth and I were pregnant with her first and my youngest one four years ago. I was due before her, but she ended up delivery 2 days before me. So last spring when she called me at 11:00 at night to tell me she had just taken a pregnancy test and it was positive...I declared the race was ON! Matt and I were in the beginning stages of our adoption journey, so it only seemed right that once again we would go through pregnancies together--me paper pregnant and her big belly preggo. At various points on our journey, I have exclaimed to Heather...that I was going to win this time. Once again, Heth my dear, looks like you will win! Really, I am ok with it! Victory is a sweet thing and since you have been laying in a hospital bed with nothing to do but talk to me on the phone...I'll let you have this one!

We love you, Heather and Joe, and are praying, praying, praying for you and your sweet family! :)

Adoption Update--

God is WORKING! Please pray that His will will be fulfilled for our family! We need your prayers and will give you a full update when the Lord reveals to us what is going to happen next on our journey! Please, Please, Please be praying!

Thank You!

Thank you to those of you that have ordered. We will be getting them ready to ship out today!

You guys are so great!

Kids in Business--for you!

Below you will find all of the options for ordering your Bag Buddies! Please do not feel obligated to purchase one! If you are interested in ordering, please email me your order at familyofjoy @yahoo. com. The girls will help me get them sent off to you. All of them come with washable covers except the apples. (You will see some of them are not yet completed, but we wanted to show you all of the options for fabrics. The bee fabric has some bad shading going on...we took new photos, but we can't get them to load. We will change out the photo with a better one, once the computer cooperates.)











QUANTITIES REMAINING
Mary Englebreight-4
Mary Englebreight's Bees-4
Polka Dots-4
Apples-5
Snowflakes-4
Camo-2
Vikings-4
Packers-7

PRICES
1 for $7
2 for $10
3 for $15
4 for $20
Shipping will be $4.60 for one or $8.95 for as many as you would like. (I'm really sorry--that was the cheapest we could get it at the post office.)

We are willing to purchase more fabric and make more as needed. We aim to please our customers! :) Let us know if you have any questions!

Nothing says "I love you" like...

having your 4 year old pat your cheeks and say, "Your face is jiggly!" Ah...love is in the air!

Business Report...

They had a great time! We did get hit with a snow storm which kept most shoppers inside unfortunately. However, they still had a blast and I was oh so proud of them. They worked so hard and were so cute. Matt even brought our microwave along for demos. The girls warmed up some of the packs and met people at the doors of the mall. As they came in from the snow storm outside, the girls asked, "Would you like to warm up with one of our Bag Buddies?" This generated good business. :) They didn't sell nearly as many as they had made, but considering the weather situation...they did great! Not only did they enjoy running their business, but in true "Laura's Daughters Style" they shopped at all of the other booths. They came home with so many other great deals which they were super excited about.

Like I said, they made a great team putting these bags together. Our oldest taught her sisters how to sew these bags.I looked down to see how our six year old was reaching the sewing pedal on the floor, of course...wear one of mom's heels! I wouldn't have thought of that...but it worked great for her.

Not only was I super proud of them, but I was also super proud of Matt. He drove through the snow storm to get the girls to their business. He took all of them with him and spent the day alone at the mall with four girls...all day!

I so badly had wanted to go with them, but I am helping direct this year's church Christmas program so I had to stay back for our practice. Anyway...the day was a great day of making memories. We ended the day by going sledding together...which is a whole different blog post. Stayed tuned for more pictures and the story of that adventure.

Kids in Business

Today the girls are having a booth at a local mall for Kids in Business Day. They have worked so incredibly hard preparing their product. They are selling "Bag Buddies"...they are hot/cold packs that are filled with corn...you heat them up in the microwave and they hold their heat for 1-2 hours. You can also use them as cold packs...freeze them and they are good to go. The uses of these little things are endless!

This project has been so good for them! They worked as a great team! They had to fill out their own lease agreement, choose the fabrics, do the cutting, the sewing, the filling the bags (that is where the littlest was able to be involved), heating the bags, etc., etc. They decided that 50% of the sales will go towards our adoption fund. :) I really don't know how much business they will have today, but pray that they will be blessed for their hard work on this project. It has been a blessing to watch the work on this project. I really am proud of them! I'll let you know how it goes and I'll also post some photos from the project!

BAG BUDDIES
~Hot and Cold Packs ~


*Relieve stress by placing warm pack on tight shoulders

*Snuggle against cold feet

*Ease the of pain fibromyalgia or arthritis

*Take in the car on a cold morning

*Keep casseroles warm

*Bed Buddy on a cold night

*Cats and Dogs like to lay on them

*Use as an ice-pack for food or injuries

*Use as a bun warmer in the bottom of a basket

*Safer than electrical pads–do not carry fire risk

*Microwave for 2 minutes and bag stays warm for 1-2 hours