Disappointed

The disappointment of yesterday's "no go" is settling in. I am so incredibly bummed that it didn't work out. I was so hopeful. I know FL is nice, it is beautiful, it is wonderful...I know. But I just really wanted this part of our journey to be done. Today I have checked with numerous airlines, Amtrack, renting an RV, renting a van and looked into driving our van. The girls so very badly want to come with and we really would like to go together as a family. I am trying my hardest to come up with a way for us to stay together for this part of the journey. But I am giving it all to the Lord and asking Him to give us wisdom about going. This is a factor of having a larger than average family...you have to buy 4 tickets rather than the average two children family. It's ok and we can accept it as a choice in life that we have made. We would much rather have a larger family and stick to camping vacations, than miss out on the joy of being blessed with these children. We are richly blessed and we thank the Lord for it! I know the Lord will give us wisdom about going. I am just sad today that it didn't work out. Bummed. Disappointed. Frustrated. Discouraged. Yet Grateful for the fact that Hudson is our son. He is a blessing beyond what we ever imagined. This is just part of our journey and we thank the Lord for guiding us each step of the way.

"NO GO"

Well, it was a "no go". We tried. We went into this hearing fully trusting in God's Divine Control. We fully believe in His Sovereignty and rest in that. The judge came into the court room and talked with us. He explained why he could not proceed. Basically rather than filing a formal objection to our case the state just didn't send a document that he needed in order to move forward with the hearing. We even called the clerk of court yesterday to make sure that everything was in order, but I guess this was just over looked until the judge reviewed our case right before the hearing. Our family came and supported us...which was such a wonderful encouragement to us. We are really blessed with friends and family that are so incredibly supportive of our adoption. We appreciate you all so very much!!!!

So now we plan a rendevous to Florida! We don't know what date we'll be assigned for our hearing there, but we'll find out soon.

At least we tried! And like I said, we walked out of there with nothing lost. We even went and celebrated the fact that we will be finalizing his adoption! We all went to Dairy Queen and it was great! Thank you so much for praying...now you can pray that all of the details and provisions come together for us to get to FL.

Can you believe it?

Hudson spent the day yesterday crying and crying. I knew something was wrong because this is not at all him. He hardly ever cries. I called the Dr. and they said I could bring him in late afternoon. He has his first bad ear infection. Can you believe this timing? I am praying that he will be feeling better and not be crying for our hearing.

Have I told you guys that I'm nervous about this hearing...because I am!

First Annual Encompass Softball Tournament

Matt and I feel like little kids who can't wait for the mail to come in case there is something in there for us. Earlier this summer we started a ministry to have adoption grants out of. Our first fundraising event is coming in August, and the registration deadline is this week!! We are holding the First Annual Encompass Adoption Awareness Softball Tournament.

We were so incredibly blessed by all of the donations that we received for Hudson's adoption. Without all of the donations we would not have been able to adopt him. It was humbling and a true miracle. We wanted to do something to give back and to thank everyone who so generously helped us. Well, what better to do than to pay it forward and help place more children in God-fearing forever families!?!?

Matt loves softball and church teams are often in a different division where tournaments aren't available. It only seemed fitting to put a tournament together. We want to use the time to increase the attendees awareness of orphans and the need for Godly families to adopt. We already have people who are willing to volunteer for the event. We have registrations that have come in. We have the company working on the T-shirt design. In the next couple of days we will know how many teams are coming and a little more of what to expect. Then we begin moving forward on ordering the shirts, planning the concessions, getting the adoption awareness packets together, etc., etc. We are just so excited to see what the Lord is going to do with this. He gave us the idea and within less than a week everything was coming together so we moved forward with Him. We just need the men to show up now!

Please pray that we will receive enough team registrations for this to be a successful tournament. And pray for the Lord to work mightily in the hearts of everyone that comes. Our prayer is that He will move in people's hearts to care for the orphans of the world and step out in faith towards adoption.

(It's a big week for us...I kind of just want it to sail by. Actually, I just really want our finalization hearing to come and go, and everything to work out.)

finalization...again.

Ok...so we are going to do something that makes me nervous to even think about. Remember how I had already filed our adoption finalization papers when we found out the next day that it wasn't going to work? Well, we had been assigned the court date of July 16th. I was going to go in and cancel it, but I didn't. It just didn't seem right to do. In talking with the attorney's we found out it was going to be hard to finalize here, so we thought our best option (and cheapest) was to go to FL. But all along this court date has remained. So now we are less than a week away, I called the clerk of court and no formal objections have been filed against our case. We have been waiting for our state to file a formal objection. Once the formal objection came, we were going to withdraw our case. Since we had the court date appointed, that is how they were going to have to stop us from finalizing here. I guess there are still a few days left that they possibly could, but we are going to try to show up and see what the judge determines. Ugh...that makes me nervous. I am not knowledgeable about legal matters in the least. So if he has any questions...we will have no idea how to respond appropriately. Our girls will be there in their matching dresses...do you think that will help our case?!?!?!? ;) Somehow I don't think cuteness affects judges decisions... If he denies it, well at least we tried. At least, the girls will know how it works and what the court proceedings are like. We will leave the courthouse with nothing lost, and will move forward with plans to go to FL. So I am asking you to please pray that this goes smoothly and according to the Lord's will. I am nervous about it, because to be honest...all of this legal stuff intimidates me. Please pray for peaceful hearts and that we can get this done.

sorry, sorry, sorry

How pathetic to leave you all with the same post for over a week. Sheesh. SORRY! I've been out of town...it was only suppose to be for the 4th, but I am pretty unpredictable. I ended up staying with the kids for an extra four days. Last weekend we all marched in a huge parade with our governor's float. It was great! The girls were having a hard time remembering he was the g-o-v-e-r-n-o-r...one kept calling him the mayor, the other was stuck with him being the president. (umm, maybe I should do a political unit with the kids this year...) We had fun getting them all decked out with red, white and blue...we did their nails, put bows in their hair, put beads on them, etc. It was so much fun. Hudson slept the entire time. He was in the backpack on Matt's back.

At the end of the weekend Heather and I had connived a way for us to spend some extra time together. Our hubby's both had things going on that kept them busy this week, so we enjoyed some time together. We had a trip to the zoo, 17 trips to Starbucks, a wee bit of shopping, playing outside, lots and lots of food, plus staying up late talking and laughing...oh it was so splendid! I have photos, but I have to load them up before I can post them.

Sorry to leave you all for so long. On my drive home, I was thinking of all the things I wanted to write about on my blog. Hopefully, I'll get some time to post soon.

Rocks in the Sun by Troy Livesay

I want to encourage you all to go and buy Troy Livesay's new book. He has been given an amazing talent with photography. The Livesay family are missionaries to Haiti. While they have been serving in Haiti for the past couple of years, he has been snapping shots of the beautiful people there. Proceeds from this book will help them begin their new ministry in Haiti where they will continue to be the Light of Jesus to a very dark part of our world. Check out Rocks in the Sun and order a copy. Please support this family...they are an inspiration!