So, I've told you about how we found out about Brighten, all of the people who helped us prepare, a little bit about her history and her Brother, and now we make the journey to Texas. The story just keeps getting better and better.
Read moreBrighten Storie: One Month Update
I mean, what is cuter than a "FREE HUGS" onesie on a baby? Nothing. I assure you nothing. I cannot believe Brighten is ONE MONTH OLD! We spent the first half of the month in Texas and traveling back home, and the second half getting settled in at home.
Read moreBrighten's Storie: Part Two
Brighten's Storie: Part One
What do music row, chicken and dumplings, and Needtobreathe have in common? If you're me, these things are what dreams are made of, but beside that, they are all stops along the way to meeting our baby girl, Brighten Storie.
Read moreThe Whirlwind of Next Week
Well, this time next week we will have a baby girl. That's crazy! It's hard to believe that we are living in our last weekend without a child in our home.
Read moreThird Time's a Charm
This is the third post I've started writing this morning. Both of the other ones took a weird turn. I have so many things to say, but I just don't know how. For the first time (possibly in my entire life), I'm at a complete loss for words.
Read moreMorales Adoption Update - September 2016
Our Brighten Storie...
This is a blog post I've dreamed about writing for the better part of three years. It's the dream half fulfilled, yet my heart feels so entirely full. It hasn't quite sunk in yet, but it is getting more real with every passing moment.
Read moreSprinters and Marathon Runners
When I was a teenager, I heard a story about children in a developing country who heard about Jesus for the first time. Their biggest takeaway from the gospel is that Jesus is coming back. They were so excited about Jesus's return that they began waiting at the doors and windows of their homes so they didn't miss the opportunity to witness Jesus returning for His Church. I remember longing to wait like that, and feeling a sense of guilt that I didn't.
Read moreLiving in the Meantime
One of the biggest differences with our domestic adoption and international adoption is the preparation period. With our #journeytojudah in Ethiopia, we know that we'll have anywhere from 6 months to 16 months to prepare for his arrival, even after we're matched. With our #searchingforsunshine domestic process, we could get a call that a birth mother is in her second trimester, or that a baby has already been born, or anything in between. It's been exciting and crazy to think that our lives could completely change (for the better, of course) from one day to the next, or even one hour to the next. That is a new concept for us!
Read moreWhen you don't know what to say
Jason and I periodically have a conversation about my adoption blog and how my blogging frequency has declined a lot over the last year. I always tell Jason that I just don't know what to write. Most of the time we have no new information, and it seems redundant and negative to just say "Waiting is hard" one-thousand different ways.
Read moreWe Are Not Campers
It's been a lifelong joke - I'm not a camper. I camped once in 8th grade and a frog kept me up all night and I ended up asking the youth group leaders if I could go to the house on the other side of the lake. They said no, I was mad, and I wrote off camping forever.
Read moreSearching for Sunshine
As I crossed over the Alabama state line into Florida, fields of green space on either side, I couldn't help but burst into tears.
Read moreJune Adoption Update
Ready. Set. Reset.
It's been a while since we've sent an email. Partly this has been because we haven't had an update and partly because we've been praying that things would change and we'd have an update to give. Well, I'm happy to say that day has come, but we certainly couldn't have guessed that this is what God has in store for us. We are using this email as a kind of reset for us all - for you and for us.
Read moreDear Judah, You made me a mom
Dear Judah,
Sometimes I dream about opening my email. This is task that I do literally 500 times a day and typically doesn't seem like that big of a deal. There will be a day, though, that it's the biggest deal of all. I dream of getting a call, being instructed to open my email, and then I dream of seeing your sweet face.
Read morePsalm 63
Source
Six summers ago I traveled to a camp in Alabama as a 'leader' for youth group camp. I was in college and thought I was going to be teaching middle schoolers and high schoolers about the bible. I don't know what kind of impact I had on them, but God surly used that week to grow me and prepare me for the life that lay ahead of me.
Read moreUgh, I hate waiting!
I realize that's an unconventional title, but if I had to describe my mood for the last three months, this would be it: I HATE WAITING. I've had a bad attitude, I'll admit, but I haven't been able to kick it. Ever since we got the news about the new waiting list and the delay, I've had a bad attitude. My heart hurts, and my heart is tired of waiting.
Read moreMissing Our Child
Yesterday I was listening to my favorite podcast and the host was interviewing a mom who is waiting for a referral from the Philippines and who has been in the process for four years. Sometimes it's hard to listen to people talk about their experiences because every adoption experience is different and it's difficult to not compare our experience to someone else's.
Read moreAdoption Update: January 2016
Happy New Year! We probably shouldn't say this, but we;re not too sad to see 2015 behind us! It was a good year for the most part, but God really stretched us as He worked in our hearts through new mercies that were completely unforeseen to us. We look forward to 2016, hoping and praying that maybe this is the year. We doubt we'll be able to travel to Ethiopia twice and bring home Judah in the next 361 days, but we are hopeful that we will have a referral by 2017. Of course, that's definitely a hope, and as we have learned over the past few years, nothing is guaranteed or set in stone in the world of adoption.
Read moreTwo Less
It would seem that everything in the world is trying to prevent me from getting this blog post out into the world of cyber space and into the hearts and minds of you, our friends. I began this post three times this morning, and all three times my post was deleted as an unexpected "refresh" occurred. After a few minutes chatting with the help desk of SquareSpace, I ended up downloading Google Chrome, abandoning Safari, and beginning again only to be called away a few minutes later by a barking dog. Because of this, you're welcome to use the words "morning" and "night" interchangeably in the next few paragraphs, as I am finally sitting down to write at 11:27pm, with clothes in the wash and a timer set to switch them over in half an hour. Oh, and my alarm clock is set for 5:00am. I will surely be jacked up on coffee this weekend!
Read moreAdoption Update: Christmas 2015
A Hole of Hope
Merry Christmas! We must admit, this is one of the more difficult updates that we've written for our adoption. Today marks the two year anniversary of beginning the process of adopting from Ethiopia. We had high hopes that this would be the year we were able to announce that we're bringing our son home, or that we have a referral, or something. But this is not that update, and this is not that year.
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