Double Blessing

We are so happy to announce that this precious little girl that we have been fostering since April of last year is finally part of our forever family!! Her court date was on June 8th at 3 p.m. and then just 4 hours later baby Olivia made her debut into this world also. Two wonderful blessings in just one day!! It will definitely be a day that we will never forget. The miracles of God are nothing short of amazing! He is so good! Our hearts are so overwhelmed with gratitude and love. We love this little family of ours more than anything. ❤ {birth story to follow soon}

Some Really Exciting News

 

We received the best letter in the mail last week. Our adoption court date has been set for June 8th and we couldn't be more excited! We have had this sweet girl since April of last year. It has definitely been an emotional roller coaster to say the least. Fostering has been one of the best things I have experienced in my life, but also one of the most difficult too. It has been an emotional roller coaster filled with happiness, joy, gratitude, sorrow, heartache, fear, and doubt. Would I have changed any of it or have I ever wished that we would have never accepted this call to foster? Absolutely not. I wouldn't trade any of those emotions or any of the difficult times for anything. Nothing at all. In just a little over a month, this little angel with be apart of our forever family and that makes it all so worth it.

2015

2014 has come and gone so quickly. It's hard to believe its a new year already!

Last year was a year full of countless blessings, learning, loss, uncertainty, anxiety, and triumph. 

Here are some of the things that happened in 2014:

* We took my Dad into our home to care for him and lost him in July. I can say that was definitely one of the hardest, if not the hardest thing that I have ever been through. With the love and support of friends and family and a loving God, I came out of that stronger and more determined than ever before. I saw God's hand constantly in the midst of everything. I felt His love, His grace and His peace more than I ever have before. It was a time of heartache and sorrow, but it also was a time of reflection, healing and thankfulness. There is not a day that goes by that I don't miss him like crazy, but I have a strong feeling of faith, hope and peace within my soul that I will see him once again. I know that to be true with every fiber of my being. Feel free to read my Dad's eulogy that I wrote for him HERE.

* In April, after months and months of foster care training we finally got our first placement...a 4 year old little girl that we fell in love with instantly. From the moment she stepped through our front door, I had this strong feeling that she was meant to be apart of our forever family. I have never felt so many different emotions as I did with fostering. I experienced feelings of heartache, sorrow, anxiety, peace, hope, faith happiness, uncertainty, and fear at different times. In November, E's Moms rights were severed and we are now in the adoption process. The process with take about 4 months or so give or take so she will be able to be ours hopefully sometime around April of this year.

* We became business owners. My Husband, Josh was the Operations Manager for a company called Gamez on Wheelz for a little over 3 years. When Josh first got the offer to work for Gamez on Wheelz, he wasn't too sure as the pay was not that much. We talked about it and prayed about it. I will never forget me telling him to just take the job because something was telling me that God had big plans for him with this opportunity. Sure enough, one day his boss called him and ask him if he would be interested in purchasing the company. We were both ecstatic, especially Josh because he has always prayed and dreamed about being his own boss. This was a huge undertaking to take on but the more we prayed about it, God was putting things into place fast. The money that we needed literally just showed up one day. The process which should have taken alot longer took just weeks and boom!!....just like that we were the owners of Gamez on Wheelz!!

* Just two weeks before E's court date and us finding out she will be ours forever, I found out I was pregnant!!! Months after trying and praying it finally happened!! These two wonderful blessings hit me like a ton of bricks. I felt speechless by God's faithfulness and His goodness. I was over the moon excited. I am now just a little over 11 weeks pregnant and feeling pretty good. Nauseous here and there and my back kills all the time but its all so worth it! 

Overall, 2014 was such a great minus the loss of my father. But in the grand scheme of everything God is so good. He is always good!! I have a feeling that 2015 will be a great year....a year of many new things....new adventures, new things to learn, new trials and new beginnings. We are ready for you 2015! Bring it on!!

My Cup Runneth Over

I cannot find the words to express how grateful I am to my Heavenly Father for His unfailing love, His goodness and His faithfulness. Yesterday E's Mom's rights were terminated and we can now move towards the adoption process so that she can be a part of our forever family!!! I wanted to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for all of your thoughts and prayers on behalf of E and our family. It really means so much to us. 

SOMETHING UNEXPECTED

Dress: Ross // Sunglasses: Unionbay // Clutch: Thrifted // Bracelet: Juicy Couture


It would be an understatement to say that last couple of weeks have been filled with lots of emotions. It has been very surreal to say the least.

I have been pondering something a lot lately...."waiting" on God.

The children of Israel waited 40 years in the wilderness before they could enter the promised land. Jacob waited 7 long years for Rachel. The Jews waited 70 years in Babylon before they could return to rebuild the temple. 

 Heavenly Father had a purpose in requiring that His children wait.

Every one of us are called to wait in our own way. We wait for answers to our prayers. We wait for things which at the time may appear so right and so good to us that we can’t possibly imagine why Heavenly Father would delay the answer.

I remember two Sunday's ago at church I was

praying about my strong desire to become a Mother.

As I was praying I felt that the Lord was telling me 

to wait just a little longer and be patient with Him.....that something great was coming.

Just as I said that prayer, the second speaker got up to give a talk on patience 

and referenced this talk by President Uchtdorf " Continue in Patience"

I felt my Heavenly Father's love and tears came to my eyes.

Every Sunday his entire family gets together for dinner 

(all 42 of us...yeah you heard that right...42)

It's a blast! One family brings the main dish 

and all the others bring the drinks, desserts and sides.

Well that same Sunday as we arrived,

I sat down and my Mother-in-Law came to approach me.

  She looked at me and started talking to me out of the blue about foster care. I don't why she said what she said or didn't have any clue why she was talking to me about foster care but I just listened to what she had to say.

All I know is the overwhelming feeling of the Spirit that I felt. I felt exactly the 

same way when my Sister-In-Law Kathy  adopted 2 little girls a few months ago. 

I remember the feeling that I felt when I met these two little girls for the very first time and hugged them. I fell instantly in love with them.

On the way home I told Josh what his Mom talked to me about. 

I couldn't contain my emotions as the words tried to come from my mouth.

Without hesitation he looked at me and said "Let's do it...why not?"

I was shocked, emotional and excited all at the same time!

We called his Mom immediately to see what

 steps we needed to take to start the process.

She told us who we should contact then said...

 "I love you guys so much. I have been thinking and 

praying about you two these last couple of weeks.

I really don't know why I said what I said, 

 I just felt like I had to said it"

That next day on my way to work I prayed that if this was His will

that He would lead us and guide us in the right direction.

When I was researching all the different foster care websites

(there are soooo many) He lead to the following scriptures 

that put strong imprints on my heart.

* James 1:27

* Luke 10:2

* Psalm 68:6

I told my good friend Jessica the news also and she was beyond ecstatic for us.

She then told me that her friend in Utah that she has known since 8

has two little girls of her own and is a foster mom. She text her friend 

to let her know to contact me asap to give me some more information.

Within 20 minutes, I got a heartfelt email from her friend explaining

how God lead her to become a foster parent and the steps she had to take.

We emailed all throughout the morning as she gave me tips, tricks and advice.

When I got home from work, I was laying down reading when Josh 

crawled into bed. I told him what had happened at work and his comment was " that's awesome"

He looked at me with a little smirk on his face and said 

Josh: "I put in an application today"

Me: "Wait! What? Are you serious?!?"

Josh: "Yes I'm serious silly. She responded to me this afternoon and

we are going to attend an orientation on June 10th at 5:30 here in Phoenix"

I didn't have any words to speak. I felt as if my lips were numb and wouldn't move.

All I could do was hug him and kiss his face all over.

Wow! This is really happening!!

I still feel like this is just a dream and I am going to be waking up soon....

but in reality I want to continue this dream .......to continue this journey and path 

that Heavenly Father is leading us on!

I really feel like this is what the Lord is calling us to do right now.... whether it be temporary or whether it be that I may not be able to get pregnant and I am supposed to foster. Maybe both!! That would be entirely awesome and I would love that!! That would mean that the one thing I prayed for, He would be blessing us beyond measure with something even better than I could of ever imagined!! I believe that when you feel God pointing you in a certain direction and everything about that direction feels good, you just go....do it and trust in Him. I didn't know that this would ever be a possibility for us but since God has put this desire so strongly in our hearts, we are just going to press forward with faith and not turn our backs.

I don't know....

I don't know how this is all going to play out...

I don't know how long the process will take...

I don't know how much it will cost...

I don't know if maybe I am just called to be a foster/adoptive mother

or if I am supposed to have kids of my own...maybe both!!!

I don't know if we can afford financially to do this....

I don't know if we are staying in our house or moving to a bigger home....

My mind has been racing with these questions among a thousand others!

But you know what it all boils down to for me... TRUST & FAITH.

Trusting in God's perfect plan and timing and having unshakable 

faith that everything will work out just that way that He wants it to.

 Each child is a son or daughter of God and deserves all the love and more that we will be able to share with them. I want us to be a calm in the storm of their often chaotic lives. I want our home to be a refuge and a sanctuary from the world for them. I want to be able to give them everything they need and so much more. LOVE. All I want to do is show them all the love that my heart can possibly give to them. 

The Savior teaches us to be His hands and to serve one another in love. I am grateful for this opportunity and journey that He is leading us on and I am so excited to see where He takes us and what He has in store. With God anything is possible to those that believe.

 Leaving it all in His hands!

I hope that you will follow us on this exciting journey.....

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers!