Well....

Carla just left. We had a wonderful visit! She is so laid back and easy to talk to! She has to come back because we didn't get to cover everything, so January 12th we will finish our conversation! lol She covers EVERY base, and wants details on EVERY date and time! lol Some of them were hard to remember!

Anyway, she makes me very at ease, and I enjoy talking to her. She said she doesn't have all of our paperwork, but she sees nothing so far that would keep us from being approved through her!!! YAY!!! Of course, she isn't finished, so she said she can't make any promises. She still needs to look at finances and back ground checks, but those should all be fine. We aren't rich, but we haven't filed bancruptcy or anything, so she thought we'd be fine.

David contacted me today as well, and he and Pepper should be called Friday! That should get the ball rolling with them as well!!! I am SO EXCITED! But...still trying to be patient! I'm having an easier time with the excited part! lol

Thank you so much for your prayers and comments! I LOVE hearing from you guys and knowing that you are checking up on us! We really appreciate you all!

In the meantime, I have 2 other prayer requests for you praying warriors! Dr. Juanita Thompson is our assistant principal at school, and her mother passed away today. In addition, Carla Shaw, my booster club president for cheer lost her grandmother this week. Lots of death, and it makes me sad. Please remember their families as they deal with their loss.

Happy New Year!!!!

CARLA'S COMING!!!!

YAY!!! Our homestudy is scheduled for tomorrow (that's Wednesday) at 1:00!!!! I hope, and pray, I have everything ready, although I will probably frantically try to do a million things between now and then! She keeps telling me it is no big deal, but it sure feels like a big deal to me!!! The house is back in order from Christmas, so hopefully it really won't be a big deal!

Just pray for us! I talked to Embraced by Grace yesterday also, and David and Pepper should be calling us this week as well. Everything is starting to move along quickly!!!!

Hope you had a Merry Christmas!!!

Isn't this cute?!? The cheerleaders went Christmas caroling and got their pictures made with my grandmothers at the Assisted Living Home. That's my MeeMaw on the left and my Grandmother on the right! They were so happy!

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas! I hope you all did too! We are now busy getting everything put away and trying to get our house back in order! lol I LOVE Christmas, and I love decorating for it! The only problem is taking it all down! lol lol That isn't as much fun, and it makes a HUGE mess! hahaha

I am loving being off, and I am getting a lot done! That's helpful! I call Carla on Monday to schedule our appointment for our homestudy. It should go wonderfully, but we always appreciate your prayers! We have been able to get a lot of our paperwork done, and Jay has been able to get some of the police clearance stuff done a little faster than normal because he has friends in good places! Thank goodness!

We are also still waiting for our follow up phone interview with Embraced by Grace. The board met over a week ago, but we haven't had the follow up interview yet. I'm sure it is because of Christmas. lol I just want to make sure we are clear with them for the adoption!!! I'm sure all is fine, but.......it's always in the back of my head.

Anyway, just keep praying! We are still excited, but there are lots of things that are still hard! It's hard to understand unless you've been there, but there are still things that are difficult. You guys praying for us and checking in on us are making that much easier!!!! We love y'all!!!! I'll let you know as soon as I talk to Carla and/or hear from EBG!!!

Ok.....

I LIKE CARLA!!!! I don't know what it is about her, but I REALLY like her! She was great in the initial interview, and I am ready now for the homestudy! It is going to cost us a little more than we had hoped, but it will be worth it. I know it will, and God will provide! He has provided everything!

So....now we get started on MORE paperwork! lol This time, it is for her, and we will get it completed and turned in to her as soon as possible. She told us to enjoy our holiday, and I am supposed to call her on the 29th and schedule our home visit! She wants to visit us while I am off for Christmas so I don't have to worry about it after I go back to school! That was SO NICE of her! David was great, and Jay was really comfortable with her too! (She was a Delta girl, so she spoke his language! lol) We had a wonderful visit, and I am actually looking forward to her stopping by now!!!! YAY!!!!

Thank you so much for your prayers, and keep praying!!! Don't forget to sign the guest book too! I like reading what you have to say like you like reading what I have to say! hahahaha

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

We're going to meet with Carla!!!

I spoke with Carla again on Thursday, and we are going to meet with her today to start our paperwork while I am off! We went ahead and started collecting some things that we knew we would need, but there are several things that require that we have forms to be filled out. I can start on that while I am off from work!

The board met Thursday night, and my email simply said that David and Pepper would follow up with a phone call. Emily said that a new policy at the company required a post-application interview, and since we were out of town, ours would be done by phone. I don't know when they will call, but I would guess Monday or Tuesday. We'll see! We will be out of town Monday, so I will see how all of that goes. I'll keep you posted!

Prayers tonight!!!

I just spoke with Emily, the social worker at Embraced by Grace, and their board of directors meets tonight! They will review our application then and vote for approval. We appreciate your prayers today and tonight for their meeting! She said she will let me know the first of next week if we were approved.

Also, I am waiting for a return call from Carla Proctor, the social worker here that will probably do our homestudy, to meet about paperwork! Pray for that meeting as well, and that it will not take as long to complete it as she thought it might!

I'll let you know more when I do!!!

Please sign our guestbook!

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Prayers this Week!

They got our paperwork!!!! I spoke with Emily tonight and she said our application was on her desk this morning when she got in! They are reviewing it, and the board of directors will meet this week to decide if we will be approved.

In the meantime, I spoke with Carla Proctor today, and I really like her! I can't wait to meet her! Depending on the ice tonight, we will probably meet sometime this week. She said it could take up to 90 days to complete all of the paperwork, but we have some connections we might can use, so it might not take us as long. It isn't going to be quite as expensive as we thought it would, so that is good too!!! God is really looking out for us.

Now, despite all of that, it is still hard to deal with. I know it seems like things are moving in a positive direction, but it is still extremely overwhelming and emotional. There are so many places that something could go wrong, and that is scary. It is very obvious that God has His hand on all of this, so we are praying for smooth sailing! Please keep praying for us! There are good days and bad days, and all in all....I'm just ready to be done with all of it! We've been doing this for 7 years, and we're emotionally drained. It's scary to get our hopes up and know that disappointment could be around the corner. We've done that a LOT!

Thanks so much for keeping up with us! Please keep praying for us, and for our friends, Jeff and Kim! Much love and hopefully more wonderful things again soon!!!!

Paperwork MAILED!!!

Well, we mailed our paperwork in, and we are on the road! Seems like we've been "packing" forever! lol We are so excited to have this going in the right direction!

Thank you all so much for praying for us and remembering us! There is so much going on, and it is very confusing! I'm still trying to grasp it all myself! I am going to tell you a little about how the process works.

After we turn in our paperwork, we have to have a homestudy completed. Our process right now is in finding a social worker to complete that for us. There is a series of things we have to do (paperwork, home visits, etc.) to get that completed, then the company (Embraced by Grace) reviews all of that for approval. Once we are approved, we complete a portfolio, then we wait. We have no clue how long it will take, or even a good guess. It is all up to God's timing! Everything is so up in the air that we just don't know. It is a process, or journey as I prefer to call it, so it will just take time!

I will tell you my brief story though (which you know me, and it probably won't be brief but I'll try). I signed up about a year or more ago on a website for waiting children from all over the world. I entered a list of things we were looking for in an adopted child, and they send me email updates when there is a child that falls into that category. Most up to this point have had severe medical problems, and I haven't felt comfortable with any of them, and I deleted the emails. This week though, there has been one that caught my attention and I can't seem to let them go. Yes...them. These are two little girls, Asian, who are sisters. The oldest is 7 and the youngest is 6 months. They are precious, and they need to be adopted together. The oldest has had some neglect and shows some signs of being "challenged" in school (reading comprehension problems, etc.). Otherwise, both are healthy, sweet girls. I can't stop thinking about them, and I can't quit looking at their pictures. It was not at all what we first thought about, because we really don't want to travel overseas, but I can't stop thinking about them.

I am asking you to pray for Jay and I as we look into this situation further. The oldest is ready for immediate adoption and the baby will need to be placed in a few months. That means 2 expensive trips. If this is God's will for us, He will provide! If not, I pray they find a WONDERFUL home somewhere with parents who can love and nurture them. Please pray for these precious children as they look for their family!

Pray also for the family of Emily Horne. Emily was a teacher here at SHS, and she passed away this week. She was 32 years old with 2 small children - the baby just 2 weeks old. They think she had a blood clot in her lung. Anyway, funeral arrangements are today and tomorrow, and I can't stop thinking about her family as well. She and her oldest child (I think 6 or 7) were close and I know this is going to be a difficult time for all of them, but especially him.

Quick Update!

I know I haven't posted in a while, and I'm sorry! We've had a lot going on over the holiday! Jay and David got to see UT BEAT Kentucky in Fulmer's last home game!!! GO VOLS! And of course, I've done a lot of shopping, working, getting children's stuff ready for Christmas and getting cheerleaders ready for competition! Yay! The house is decorated though, and not much shopping left to do!

Now, adoption update! We are still looking for a social worker. Everything else is done. We will print everything off and sign and send it in this weekend. We are still looking at Carla Proctor, so please continue to pray for her and us. We are also looking at someone new. Jay's mom (Gloria) has a friend that is an AMAZING social worker. Gloria speaks VERY highly of her. She has given her a call, and I will hopefully hear from her tomorrow. She might know of some other social workers in our area that can complete this for us, or she might do it herself. Either way, it is a step in the right direction. Everything should be in before Christmas! This is our gift to each other as a family....the addition of a new family member! What an awesome gift!

Please keep this whole process in your prayers as we try to finalize all of the beginning stages. While you are praying, please continue to remember Jeff and Kim! They have moved up on the list, have a BEAUTIFUL nursery just waiting, and are continuing to patiently (sometimes...lol....it's HARD!!!) wait on God to send their child. Also, please pray for my friend Beth, who had an attack tonight and is in the emergency room. They are thinking maybe gallbladder, but they are supposed to keep me updated!

Thanks for the prayers, and I'll add more again soon!!!!