We are Mommy & Daddy!!!

10 weeks ago, our lives suddenly and unexpectedly changed.  It changed in about the most dramatic way I can fathom!  A black and white kind of difference.

God surprised us like only He can.  

After trying, praying, crying, trying some more, and yet trusting Him for children for 7 years we found ourselves crying for joy and praising God for answering our prayer in a matter of mere hours!  Never underestimate God and His plan.

We're rejoicing as we share with you ....... our new family!!!!

These precious little dolls are our children, our Little Lady and Little Bear!!!

 

Folks, we have adopted sibling toddlers!!!

Our son, Little Bear, is 3 years old.  He is bright, inquisitive, and very compassionate.  His big smile will melt your heart!

 His ocean blue eyes will draw you in.

And he hugs long and strong!  Better than any child or adult I've ever known.  We LOVE our Little Bear's hugs!!

Our beautiful daughter Little Lady is 2.  She is fun, energetic, and chatty!  (A true Southern gal.)

She is blessed with the most beautiful brown eyes and eyelashes I've ever seen!

She's a sweetheart and the best little mommy to her baby dolls.  She loves to sing and make up her own songs.  Her latest (and my personal favorite) is "Jesus loves me, SO MUCH"!  I'll never tire of hearing this sweet one proudly sing that out!

 
They're 11 months and 1 week apart, and they love each other so much!  What a wonderful thing it is to have children who cherish each other.... well, most of the time!
We practically have twins, and that was actually something God has laid on our hearts years ago.  Heath and I have always been drawn to the idea of girl and boy twins to be the most precious!  (We always have desired to have at the least 1 child of each gender.)  That was no coincidence since God knew these children would be ours since the foundations of the earth were made.

 

Our family is nothing less than a testament of God's sovereignty and faithfulness, and the children are sunshine in our newly "awakened" life!  Our long 7 years in the desert has come to an end, and now we're learning each and every day how to parent because--let me tell you-- with two toddlers there are plenty of teachable moments...
                                                                                                           for Heath and I!

 

Our friend Lee-Anne Fenwick, who graciously took these gorgeous photos of our new family, adopted their 3 children and knows the ins and outs of it all.  I had to laugh when she asked if they have "rocked our world", because that is a good way of summing up our experience so far!  Imagine us being married almost 9 years with agendas all about the two of us, living in a quiet, tidy home, and all of a sudden enter two beautiful & busy toddlers.  Lol, yes our world has been officially "rocked"! 

 

God is who got me out of my perfect little organized box into the beautiful mess He calls my destiny.  I told Him this year in January that I am in complete submission to His plan and purpose in my life.  My expectation fell to the wayside, and His direction became my new compass.

We began this process with a specific idea in our minds, but we also told the Lord to close doors no man can open and open doors no man can close to direct us to the baby He wants for us.  This is how he did it.

1. Instead of international adoption it's a domestic...technically, independent.  HUGE change, and I can touch more on that in another post.

2.  Instead of having a 1 1/2 + year wait from our start to bringing home baby, we had only 5 months.  Only about 3 weeks after our home study was completed, and about 12 hours from the initial phone call whether to pursue these children or not!  We literally had 5 days to transform a room for the children.  We had to buy everything from scratch.  We had nothing!!!  That week was a blur, and yet I still found the time to get my hair cut and highlighted.  (I knew that my personal time was ticking fast!)

3. Instead of a baby (1 year or less) who basically just poops, pees, eats, cries or coos and sleeps..... we have a toddler(s) who have, of course, have mastered walking running, talking for the most part, who are learning to potty train, and wants to do everything Heath and I do.  Big change! lol 

4. But, perhaps the biggest change of them all is the fact we have adopted TWO precious children whom the Lord has called us to raise in His love and carry down our family legacy.  Two closely-knit biological siblings who already have bonded with others, which is both good and also rather complicated.  God double our family, Hallelujah!  What a redeemer He is.

(Just to let you in...  this photo sure captures Little Lady and Little Bear's little personalities well.  LOVE!)

Now what?  I know you want to hear more details of the adoption, and I wish I had all night to talk to you, but now I have early mornings every day so I really need to get to sleep.  I'll write again, and I'll try to make it sooner!  I feel like there's so much to share.  Thank you all so very much for waiting to hear the news!  It's been the most blessed, wonderful and yet hectic and frazzled 2 1/2 months of my life.  I really haven't had much time or energy to blog, and I wanted to wait until some of the legalities were sorted through before we went "public" with the good news. 

I hope you leave my blog after reading this realizing how God loves YOU and has a plan for your own life far greater and beyond what you can imagine.  A real plan.  One that if you don't stop crying out to Him and seeking Him, you will also experience!  No matter how cynical and depressing this world may seem, please.  PLEASE hear me on this....

God works miracles today.  He redeems His children!  His promises never ever come back void.  They can't, because He is Truth and cannot lie.  :D  That's good news!!!

~Mommy

All photography is courtesy of Lee-Anne Fenwick Photography in Louisville, Ky.

*In order to maintain extra privacy, I've replaced our children's real names with nicknames that accurately describe them. :) **