We are HOME!

Oh mercy!!! Look at all of that behind them!!!

We made it from Aspen to Denver to pick up Blake, but were there 2 hours early! Oh no!!! The kids did great, but I was chasing Sadie all over that place!

Sadie "helping" me pack. She's such a climber right now!

I would have never guessed that my precious daughter would be the first to have a bloody nose!

My pumpkin helping mommy with the dishes. I didn't even ask and he was cleaning for me. He said it was so that I didn't have to do them when they went to sleep.

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We made it home yesterday afternoon!

It feels so good to sleep in our own bed...I seriously had a hard time getting out of bed this morning! All of the sudden our house seems HUGE! Nothing will make you more thankful for what you have than having to be without for a bit. And, to some degree...I have realized that I have more than I need.

Perhaps this is me nesting, or it's me coming back from Aspen knowing I have stuff that I can get rid of. I also can't shake what's going on in Haiti. We have so much to be thankful for, and so much more that we can give!

Speaking of nesting...I want to blog a bit more this time about our adoption process. We've never done that before. I didn't blog before the boys. And with Sadie's adoption we wanted to surprise everyone, so we kept it on the down low as we were applying. Because I have heard from some of you that you are interested in adoption, I thought I might break down some of the overwhelming parts of this.

Right now, we've let our agency know that we are ready to go. I've printed the initial application and we're almost finished with it. From there, they will let us know what we need (background checks, references, urine samples...just kidding, wanted to see if you were paying attention). The process is quite a bit simplified when you've used the same agency before.

This time we've never been more strapped financially. But Blake and I will say it again and again, that God has provided for our adoptions each and everytime. So we are going to trust in Him that if it's His will, then He will provide. But we are also going to seek support from Lifesong. Has anyone used them before? We are excited about their services that they offer families in financing adoptions. We'll let you know how it goes. You have to have your homestudy done before you can apply through them, so it will be a bit before we can start that.

I've heard a statistic that 86% of couples seeking adoption decide not to because of money. That breaks my heart for many reasons, but mostly because adopting through "the state" is essentially free. But also because when we turn away from God's call of adoption because of money we are saying that God isn't bigger than money. You have to do your research, be a good steward of your money, but also trust God with it!!!

That's all for now. Oh, and thanks to all of you that post encouraging and truthful comments on the last post. My heart was broken and your words set me free from believing that's what I was doing! Love you all dearly!