Sowing Seeds

In my last post, I wrote about why we are pursuing this particular path to adoption.  There are SO many options, and many of them less-expensive.  
I wanted to write a little about why the cost of a domestic infant adoption was never a huge deterrent for us.  

Let me start by saying that we are not millionaires.  We didn't don't have an extra $25k sitting in a bank waiting to be used for this eternal purpose. We have modest incomes and had a significant amount of debt when we started this whole process.  But we weren't worried.   We also weren't naive.


Before we were married, I was on staff with a college ministry where we raised our financial support.  I learned in that time that people want to invest in what God is doing.  Not everyone can live in a closed country and share the Gospel as their full-time job.  But, people can invest in that mission and be part of what God is doing in that country.  I had supporters of $5 to $200 a month who each got to be part of how God worked when He allowed me and my team to be on the mission field.  Without their prayers and financial support, we couldn't have been there as long as we were.  My supporters invested in sharing the Gospel with unreached people because they knew it was something God cared about.  He commands us to go, but not everyone can go.  Those who support the go-ers also get to be part of the go-ing. In the same way, not everyone is called to adopt, but people can still be part of adoption through giving and/or praying. 

Trusting God for the finances has been one of the best parts of this journey.  We knew know He will provide because He loves orphans.  We are pursuing something that is part of His character.  He is Father to the fatherless (Psalm 68:5).  Jesus Himself was raised in a family that was not completely biological.  James writes "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" (1:27).  He "sets the lonely in families" (Psalm 68:6).  Adoption is something God cares about. He will provide. 

The remaining $10,000 or so needed for the adoption?  (*Our price is expected to increase once we get a new home study done if we haven't gotten a placement soon.)  We are still committed to adopting without debt.  We will continue to apply for grants, do fundraisers, work side jobs and put money aside.  We don't expect God to drop it off miraculously in our mailbox (though He COULD).  We will work diligently and faithfully.   And we will continue to invite you to sow seeds of investment into this part of God's story.  You may not be called to adopt, but you can still share in God's heart for adoption. You can be part of this story. Information on how to become part of this adoption is available here. 

Everyday Life

Awhile back, I asked if anyone has questions for us in this unique season.  My friend Kristen responded that she wanted to know more about our everyday lives.  Since one of the main purposes of this blog is to journal and preserve memories... I thought it was a great idea.  So, here goes. 

Mom keeps us well-stocked with yummy creamers. Great way to start the day.

Mondays... If Matt opens, he gets up around 6:15 and gets to work by 6:45.  If he closes, he sleeps in and goes into work at 11:00.  Sometimes, he goes in for another shift in between.  He usually takes Nala (and now Zoe) out before he goes to work.   I usually get up around 7:30 (or sometimes 8:00 or 8:15) and get to work by 8:30 or 8:45.  Matt doesn't eat breakfast.  I eat breakfast on the way to work and drink my one cup of coffee (thanks to my Keurig!) throughout the morning.  At work, Matt checks animals in and out of the vet, calls owners of pets to schedule appointments or remind them of their appointments, weighs pets, gets them their medicines, and does LOTS of other things to stay busy.  He comes home for lunch, which varies depending on when he goes into work.  He takes Nala and Zoe out during lunch and chills for a few minutes then goes back to lunch.  

Matt with the girls.

I usually eat lunch at work (used to eat what the chef for the childcare center made, but now I take my own since I'm doing Weight Watchers).  Mondays I usually work on updating the church's website and processing sermon videos to post online.  Depending on what's going on at the church, I often have lots of other projects going on.  

Once we both get home from work, we figure out something to do for dinner. If one of us planned ahead, we took out some meat to make.  If we didn't think it through ahead of time, we will make something from the freezer.  :)  Monday evenings, we usually watch tv shows from the night before online.  Usually, it's Amazing Race and/or Celebrity Apprentice, but they're both on a break right now.  One Monday a month, I do a Book Club with our neighbors through Cares.  

Tuesdays... (Normal daytime).  After work, we usually have a family dinner at Dad & Gail's.  They usually keep out niece, Hailey on Tuesdays, so the whole family converges on their place for dinner.  It's one of the many perks of living in the same town as family.  After family dinner, we come home and tend to the pups then spend time doing things around the house.  And sometimes, we will watch a show together. Bachelorette online currently.  (Of course, this depends on whether or not we can pickup free internet or not.) 

Wednesdays... (Normal daytime).  Since a couple of weeks ago, I stay at work late on Wednesdays and meet Steven at a Weight Watchers meeting.  After weight watchers, we have dinner with Matt. 

Thursdays... I love Thursdays.  For the last couple months, I've been meeting with some ladies and studying Beth Moore's James.  I rush home to straighten up my apartment.  Ladies start coming over around 6:30.  We usually start with snacks and catching up.  Then we discuss the homework and watch a video.  I haven't been great at keeping up with the homework, but when I do it, it's always on time.  And even just the teaching videos that we watch on Thursdays are full of wisdom and encouragement and challenge.  Plus, it's great to spend time with these new friends and learn about how God is at work in their lives and pray with one another.  A lot of times I crash after Bible Study.  While I'm doing this, Matt is usually working on school stuff or Cares stuff. 

Fridays... I have a love/hate relationship with Fridays.  When I get into work, my coworkers and I have a devotion from Experiencing God.  Then we have breakfast together, and my day gets crazy after that.  Preparing worship media, sermon PowerPoint, sermon notes, printing the weekly newsletter, updating the website, and LOTS of other stuff.  Thankfully, my coworkers help with this a lot.  But still, lots of Fridays, I work late.  By the time I get home, I'm exhausted and like to do nothing. :)  

Worship media.

Saturdays... Saturdays are usually filled with Cares events-, planning, shopping, or actually doing them.  And sometimes we do things with friends.  Sometimes we go on walks, but we call it "looking for alligators".  Which we see often.  There are several who live in the big neighborhood we live in.  I love alligators... from a distance.  Housework. Laundry... more laundry.  

An alligator Matt saw recently.  But not in our neighborhood.

Sundays... Church. Lunch at Grandma's with the family.  Hang out over there for awhile.  Home for housework.  We used to have Community Group on Sundays, but we're taking a break from that for awhile.  Gives us more time to do a better job at Cares.  We look forward to joining back with Community Group eventually.  Also on Sunday nights, we have Family Movie Night.  This is at Mark & Steph's house with them & Hailey, us, and Steven.  We watch Cupcake Wars until Hailey goes to bed, then we pick a movie to watch.  It's usually pretty late by the time we're done with that, so then we just head home and get ready to start the week.  

Movie Night.

Of course,  every week is different.  We try to find time to spend together.  We spend time loving on our dogs.  We go on walks. We go to the dog park.  We cook and bake.  We hang out with friends.  We watch movies and play games.  We have friends over for dinner & games.  

Most weeks depend on Matt's schedule.  He works 4 days each week and spends the other days doing housework, working on Cares stuff and working on school.  

Each day is also affected by our ongoing wait for our baby.  Each day, we pray and hope and wonder.  Will this be the day our lives will change forever?  

In the meantime, we wait.  And go on with everyday. :) 

Matt's 27!

This is what you looked like as a baby.

This is what you looked like yesterday.

Today is your 27th birthday!!!

These are things about you that are true today:Jobs: Client Service Coordinator at Banfield Pet Hospital & Grad School Student.

Things I love about you: You are a man who has great Faith.  I am so thankful that God gave me such a faithful husband.  You are also hilarious and incredibly loving.  You are an individual-you do things when you want, how you want.  You have great compassion.   You are an amazing husband to me. 

You're my best friend, and you are my favorite person to hang out with. I love that you kill spiders and bugs for me even though you don't like them either. You love Nala so much, and I can't wait to see how much you'll love our kids. You remind me to turn to Jesus instead of you sometimes. You really love your family. You aren't perfect, and you know it. You're real! You help me to be real. I love your eyes. Your kisses. Your hugs. I love how you get excited about things I think are silly. You do the dishes and laundry. You read out loud to me. You write me love notes.
Activities/Interests: Movies!, Hanging out with me, Nala, Community Group & Church stuff, Reading, TV (stuff we have on DVD or can watch online), Aquariums, Wii-ing,  watching scary movies, photography, animals, playing games (Nertz, Spades, Settlers...), playing computer games (Words With Friends!), watching Spongebob, cartoons, traveling.

Favorite foods: Japanese, Italian food, Sushi, Salads. Ginger's frosting. Desserts! Sugar, Brown Sugar, Powdered Sugar. Raw hamburger meat. Stove Top. Rice.

Least Favorite foods: Anything Breakfast. Meatloaf.  Grandma's Mac & Cheese.

Things you did while you were 26: Moved to a new apartment and started being a Cares team!  Became an uncle for the first time!  Took lots of grad school classes-even one up in Virginia at Liberty.  Had your sister-in-law live with us for a few months.  Borrowed your mother-in-law's convertible for a couple months!  Went to adoption trainings & did adoption fundraisers.  Got a brand-new car for a Christmas present! Paid off another credit card.

Favorite Movies/Shows: too many to name: (You are currently in the process of watching every single movie you own during 2012), The Nightmare Before Christmas, Blue Planet, Planet Earth, Christopher Guest movies, Transformers series, LOTR series, ...What you want to be when you grow up: Elementary School teacher and stay-at-home DadLast year, I wrote that the previous year had been the toughest year of our marriage and prayed for more joy this year. I totally think God answered that prayer as we figured out how to have more time together and time doing ministry together.  Though we still face challenges, we are moving forward and trusting God to lead us.  I'm so thankful for this past year and what we've learned about living together.  Maybe next year, we will be celebrating you becoming a father!

This is what you look like today!

 I love you, Matthew! Happy 27th Birthday!

Another Semester Down...

Image courtesy of here.

As of about 11 pm on Sunday night, Matt and I are both finished with school for the semester. It's amazing what a freeing feeling it is!! It seems that when you're in grad school, there's always the feeling of something hanging over your head. There's always something more you could/should be doing like reading, researching, writing a paper, etc.

Well, Matt is now 15 hours into his Master of Arts in Teaching. So far, he's gotten all A's and B's, and I'm SO proud of him. This last set of classes, he doubled up and took 2 classes at the same time. It was tough, so he probably won't do that again. He has a break for about a month but will probably be working on some assignments that he has for the general degree, not for a specific class. I really enjoy helping him with his assignments and sometimes think maybe I should get a MAT too. :)

This semester was not fun for me at all. I was completely overwhelmed by trying to take 2 classes, especially with how it worked around my work schedule. I ended up with a C in Statistics, which was sort of a relief. I've never gotten a C on a report card in my whole life, so I kind of freaked out when I first saw it... but then, I actually thought about it and, considering everything that has been going on, I'm very thankful for that C. It qualifies as my pre-requisite, so I don't have to take it again. And I deserved it. And I got a B in my Business Enterprise class. I probably deserved a C in that class as well, so I'm very thankful for that B.

After this semester, I've actually decided to take a break indefinitely from school. I want to be able to spend my time doing other things and being able to do them well. Trying to add school into the equation was a quite overwhelming for me, and I have other commitments that really fell to the side.

So, that's just a brief grad school update from us. Matt continues on, halfway to his goal (in less than a year!), and I'm bowing out graciously. I'm much more excited about being a cheerleader for Matt. He's gonna be a great teacher someday (again)!

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for the cooler weather. I've even been cold this week. It can stay these temps until April.

I'm thankful for my job. I don't always love it, but I'm thankful for it. And the good benefits that come with it.

I'm thankful that I can be in grad school for free. I definitely regret my decision to take 2 classes this quarter, but I'm thankful that I have the opportunity to take these classes.

I'm thankful for Matt helping with housework so much.

I'm thankful to have only one dog--and this dog being Nala. Several times a day I am thankful for this.I'm thankful for the next 10 days having lots of fun stuff that out-of-the-ordinary.

I'm thankful for such a fun Community Group.

I'm super, extremely thankful that my best friend will be returning to the States this month and that I will probably get some quality Ginger time fairly soon. :)

Matt Update

Here's what Matt's up to these days:

- Working lots at Banfield. They just extended their hours for an extra 2 hours a day, and they're open on Sundays now.
- Working on his MAT through Liberty Online. He just finished his 3rd class. He's gotten all A's so far, and I'm super proud of him. This time around, he's taking 2 classes at a time, so we'll see how that goes. Pretty soon, he'll be going up there for a couple weeks at a time to complete his courses on campus.
- Still occasionally works at the Doubletree downtown. Probably 2-3 times a month.
- Helping out a lot with the housework because I'm terrible at it.
- Meeting with guys from our Community Group once a week and building relationships with them.
- Growing in his relationship with the Lord
- Continuing to be a great husband. I honestly don't know what I would do without this man.

Life Since California

Two things will be wrong with this post.
1) There will be no pictures. I dislike posting blogs with no pictures, but it's not an option at this point.
2) It's not in chronological order with other posts I'm working on. SOOO much to update on (including 12 days of vacation).

Now, on to the post!

We got back from California at 3:30 am on June 29th. I had the day off, but Matt had to work. I did laundry and ran errands. Had lunch with Grandma, Steven and Steph. Picked up Nala. That night, we had jetlag and didn't go to sleep til like 5am.

The next day, lots happened:
1. We had our CARES interview (remember this post?).
2. I found out I got a promotion that I had applied for at Verizon.
3. Also found out that said promotion comes with a nice raise. (Praise God it was more than I expected!)

Somewhere in those couple of days, Nala had a checkup for her leg. The vet discovered that now it's both of her back knees that are ruptured. He recommended the specialist do the surgery, which took the price of the surgery from $100 to $4500. Yikes. I cried. At the vet (Matt's work). I was embarrassed. The vet also told us that after 3 years, there was little to no difference in healing for dogs who have the surgery and ones who do 'conservative therapy' which means REST. We opted for the rest.

We found out we got accepted to CARES. Now we are just waiting for the right apartment community to open up for us. Please be praying with us for this. :)

We got a refund that we didn't expect from Matt's first semester at school. We made grown-up decisions with it. Paid off a couple credit cards completely. Put more money towards another card. Put away some money for emergencies. Put away some money for moving. And bought new computers (thus the no pictures on this post). We can justify all of these things for you if you need it. :)

We also got another dog. (What a teaser!!!) You'll have to wait for another post to meet her, in case you're on Facebook because there are pictures there already. :)

That's all for now... :)

Grad School Update

So, we've come to a decision. Well, two actually.

Matt will be starting his Master of Arts in Teaching through Liberty University Online on May 16th, and he's all registered. He'll take 2 classes this summer.

I really did want to pursue teaching (and still may some day), but when it came down to registering for classes and paying for them, i just couldn't do it.


So, I will be starting my Master of Business Administration on June 28th through Strayer University in Charleston. At my work building, actually. And it's paid for. Well, 4 MBA classes a year will be totally paid for. If I want to do more than 4 classes a year, it would be out-of-pocket (no other financial aid available). I will most likely be doing one class at a time, 4 per year.

There ya have it. Here goes...

Grad School?

My Facebook status currently says: Matt and I may or may not have applied for grad school last night. Got some interesting responses already:Well, we did. Not sure if we're ready to spill all the beans because let's be honest: Matt and I can be pretty fickle people, and we tend to jump into things pretty quickly.

Where did this come from?
1) Matt loved teaching in Thailand and really thinks it might be what he would like to do as a career, as scary as it sounds to commit to a whole career.
2) If he does decide to teach, he needs to get certified.
3) He would want to teach overseas again.
4) If he is a teacher overseas, I would like to go with him.
5) It's easier for him to get a teaching job overseas at a school which will hire me too if I also have a teaching degree.
6) Though teaching in Thailand definitely had it's wonderful moments, it mostly drained me and I thought I didn't want to be a teacher anymore, even that's what I thought I would want to be from middle school forward (besides a wife+mom!)... BUT we think if I have training and more prep time, I will probably feel more competent and enjoy it more.
7) We have to do something we love and that makes a difference for eternity.
8) Recently, I got a letter from one of my fourth graders that made me cry and I had one of those "ah-ha moments" when I realized that though it wasn't always easy, it was a place I saw God working.
9) Aimee was a teacher, and in her shortened life, there were sooooo many lives God used her in as their teacher, who have come to know Him as a result. Pretty inspiring!
10) The application was free, and we'll only be charged if we actually enroll. ;)

What may be the result?
-Masters of Teaching, with concentrations either in Elementary Ed, English Ed, or Special Ed.
-Majority of coursework done online but 3 classes on campus.
-Nationally (and Internationally) recognized teaching certification for the both of us!

Now what?
1) Finish the applications. (Transcripts to be exact)
2) Get financial aid, LOTS of it.
3) Get started. It's only 12 classes, but they all have to be completed within 5 years.

What do you think? Really.

And, it probably goes without saying, but we'd really love your prayers for this next (possible) step and for financial aid to work out because we are not sure if we will follow through if we have to take out student loans.