Dear Little Man,
My heart aches for you. Are you safe? Have you eaten today?
You're always on my mind, but especially today... and all I can do is trust that Father
is watching over you until the day I'm able to.
I just wanted to let you know I love you and I'm praying for you.
Love,
Your Forever Momma
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Redecorating Bedroom | Gender Neutral
While we're on the topic of redecorating... Here's the current look of Emma's Room:
She will be sharing w/ Baby Brother. Please feel free to give me your ideas for this room as well!
For those that have a Pinterest account, here's kinda the "feel" we like right now:
http://pinterest.com/marymorrowokc/ideas-for-emma-s-and-baby-brother-s-room/
She will be sharing w/ Baby Brother. Please feel free to give me your ideas for this room as well!
For those that have a Pinterest account, here's kinda the "feel" we like right now:
http://pinterest.com/marymorrowokc/ideas-for-emma-s-and-baby-brother-s-room/
Redecorating Bathroom | Gender Neutral
I LOVE hot pink. My 2 younger girls LOVE pink. My eldest daughter LOVES BLUE! Ha, you thought I was gonna say pink, huh?
So as we anticipate the arrival of our precious boy, the thought of redecorating has become not only a "want", but a need. I don't believe it will be okay for our son to be immersed in an only "pink" home. You may disagree, and that's okay, just keep those thoughts to yourself :).
So I've started with their bathroom. It used to be ONLY pink (hot pinks, light pinks, salmon pinks - polka dot theme), if you can imagine this, w/ hints of white here & there. It still has A LOT of pink. But we LOVE pink. I don't want to rid the bathroom of pink. I mean, hello, I have daughters. Pink is A-OK in their bathroom!
But how do we incorporate this and still make it Gender Neutral?
Can someone give a girl a hand?
Any ideas or links would be GREATLY appreciated!
Thanks everyone :).
So as we anticipate the arrival of our precious boy, the thought of redecorating has become not only a "want", but a need. I don't believe it will be okay for our son to be immersed in an only "pink" home. You may disagree, and that's okay, just keep those thoughts to yourself :).
So I've started with their bathroom. It used to be ONLY pink (hot pinks, light pinks, salmon pinks - polka dot theme), if you can imagine this, w/ hints of white here & there. It still has A LOT of pink. But we LOVE pink. I don't want to rid the bathroom of pink. I mean, hello, I have daughters. Pink is A-OK in their bathroom!
But how do we incorporate this and still make it Gender Neutral?
Here's my first attempt, but it still feels too girlie to me:
Can someone give a girl a hand?
Any ideas or links would be GREATLY appreciated!
Thanks everyone :).
Monday, June 13, 2011
Sunday, June 12, 2011
House Assessment
We had our House Assessment this past Wednesday. I haven't had 2 seconds of free time to blog about it but it went GREAT! Really, really great!
Of course, I'm an optimist and this is something you should know right off the bat! :)
The girls and I cleaned the house for about 5 hours on Wednesday. It was pretty stinkin' spotless! I made a list for each of them of things they could do w/out my help while I tackled all the harder stuff. Ex: Emma - Sort, fold & put away your clean laundry. Pick up your toys. Put the toys where they belong. Help your sisters organize the game shelf.
Our sweet DHS lady, Mrs. Teresa arrived almost right on time.
She was precious beyond words and I immediately liked her!
She was at our home for exactly 1 hour.
She answered my questions before I even asked them... how thorough is that?
We should be receiving our finger print cards within 2 weeks. We have to get that taken care of asap.
We also have to get scheduled for our DHS adoption classes. They're 7 hours long each time and we have to go to 4 classes and then there's a 5th class that's only 3 hours long. I have to call to get that scheduled tomorrow. We've been warned that since we're already parents... and believing parents at that, the classes are pretty much going to be simply "jumping through hoops". But I'm willing to do just about anything to bring my little boy home so we're going to jump through hoops! :)
Also our Home Study will begin within the next 3-4 weeks. We will have 3 different Home Study meetings. The Home Study people have 3 months to get us "completed". Mrs. Teresa said that would put us at the end of September w/ finalizing our Home Study.
Then our exciting day will arrive here! It's called an Adoption Party. It's in October. The thought of it makes me sad. It's basically a lot of DHS children waiting to be adopted within the OKC area & the families interested in adopting them. I know I'm going to want to tuck several of them into my purse, but Matt has made it pretty clear that we are "starting w/ only 1 adopted child".
The Adoption Party will be a carnival theme with balloons, popcorn machines, inflatables and clowns. Our girls are encouraged to go w/ us, but they hate clowns so prayers in this area would be much appreciated! At the party, we will get to meet several little boys who are a good match for us according to a form we filled out at the beginning of this adoption process. What Mrs. Teresa said is that we are to let her know who we feel a strong connection with and they will arrange a weekend sleep over as soon as we're ready.
I almost started crying right there and then when she said that! October. We will more than likely meet our son in October!
And we've found out that this adoption is going to cost us nearly nothing at all. The State covers most of our fees.
So if anyone is even "sorta" considering adoption, you should definitely at least get your paperwork started, it won't hurt anything at all and who knows, you may be able to provide a safe, loving home for a child who desperately wants/needs one.
Also, we thought we should let ya'll know that we've changed our paperwork for a little boy, 4 years old and "younger". Before, it was a little boy between the age of 2-4. We have opened our options to take in a child under the age of 2 and would really LOVE it if he were under 2. Please help us pray about that?
So now that you have been assured our adoption will not cost us much out of pocket money, I want to share a friend's blog with you who's adoption IS costing them a little fortune. First, they were adopting from Ethiopia and made quite a large investment with the Ethiopian agency they were using. Then they found out that Ethiopia was closing their doors on adoptions. And they lost that money. Now they are adopting from Congo. They could really use help in raising their adoption funds. Every little bit helps.
If you don't mind, could you mosey on over to their blog and get in touch w/ them if you'd like to help them bring their son home? Thank you so much!
Love,
The Morrows
Of course, I'm an optimist and this is something you should know right off the bat! :)
The girls and I cleaned the house for about 5 hours on Wednesday. It was pretty stinkin' spotless! I made a list for each of them of things they could do w/out my help while I tackled all the harder stuff. Ex: Emma - Sort, fold & put away your clean laundry. Pick up your toys. Put the toys where they belong. Help your sisters organize the game shelf.
Our sweet DHS lady, Mrs. Teresa arrived almost right on time.
She was precious beyond words and I immediately liked her!
She was at our home for exactly 1 hour.
She answered my questions before I even asked them... how thorough is that?
We should be receiving our finger print cards within 2 weeks. We have to get that taken care of asap.
We also have to get scheduled for our DHS adoption classes. They're 7 hours long each time and we have to go to 4 classes and then there's a 5th class that's only 3 hours long. I have to call to get that scheduled tomorrow. We've been warned that since we're already parents... and believing parents at that, the classes are pretty much going to be simply "jumping through hoops". But I'm willing to do just about anything to bring my little boy home so we're going to jump through hoops! :)
Also our Home Study will begin within the next 3-4 weeks. We will have 3 different Home Study meetings. The Home Study people have 3 months to get us "completed". Mrs. Teresa said that would put us at the end of September w/ finalizing our Home Study.
Then our exciting day will arrive here! It's called an Adoption Party. It's in October. The thought of it makes me sad. It's basically a lot of DHS children waiting to be adopted within the OKC area & the families interested in adopting them. I know I'm going to want to tuck several of them into my purse, but Matt has made it pretty clear that we are "starting w/ only 1 adopted child".
The Adoption Party will be a carnival theme with balloons, popcorn machines, inflatables and clowns. Our girls are encouraged to go w/ us, but they hate clowns so prayers in this area would be much appreciated! At the party, we will get to meet several little boys who are a good match for us according to a form we filled out at the beginning of this adoption process. What Mrs. Teresa said is that we are to let her know who we feel a strong connection with and they will arrange a weekend sleep over as soon as we're ready.
I almost started crying right there and then when she said that! October. We will more than likely meet our son in October!
And we've found out that this adoption is going to cost us nearly nothing at all. The State covers most of our fees.
So if anyone is even "sorta" considering adoption, you should definitely at least get your paperwork started, it won't hurt anything at all and who knows, you may be able to provide a safe, loving home for a child who desperately wants/needs one.
Also, we thought we should let ya'll know that we've changed our paperwork for a little boy, 4 years old and "younger". Before, it was a little boy between the age of 2-4. We have opened our options to take in a child under the age of 2 and would really LOVE it if he were under 2. Please help us pray about that?
So now that you have been assured our adoption will not cost us much out of pocket money, I want to share a friend's blog with you who's adoption IS costing them a little fortune. First, they were adopting from Ethiopia and made quite a large investment with the Ethiopian agency they were using. Then they found out that Ethiopia was closing their doors on adoptions. And they lost that money. Now they are adopting from Congo. They could really use help in raising their adoption funds. Every little bit helps.
If you don't mind, could you mosey on over to their blog and get in touch w/ them if you'd like to help them bring their son home? Thank you so much!
Love,
The Morrows
Thursday, May 26, 2011
DHS phone call
DHS called me this afternoon.
My heart leaped when our oldest daughter called out "It's DHS". I've been prayerfully & patiently waiting for this phone call for 3 weeks!
We now have our House Assessment date set for June 8th.
This is an important date.
This is when they (DHS) decide if our home is large enough to house another kiddo.
It is. :)
They will also go over all the details that they're vague about over the phone.
And from there we will get our Home Study date set.
Please pray for our June 8th appointment.
Love,
The Morrows
My heart leaped when our oldest daughter called out "It's DHS". I've been prayerfully & patiently waiting for this phone call for 3 weeks!
We now have our House Assessment date set for June 8th.
This is an important date.
This is when they (DHS) decide if our home is large enough to house another kiddo.
It is. :)
They will also go over all the details that they're vague about over the phone.
And from there we will get our Home Study date set.
Please pray for our June 8th appointment.
Love,
The Morrows
Romans 12:12
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Monday, May 2, 2011
From there to here...
I've had a passion for adoption since I was a teenager.
Matt, not so much. :)
We listened to a sermon by Voddie Baucham about adoption a few months ago.
And the Lord started stirring Matt's heart.
And I got seriously excited!
And we prayed.
And we fasted.
And we prayed some more.
And he okayed me to send for adoption information from DHS.
And we talked to our girls about the pro's & con's.
And they were excited too, even after we shared the negatives with them.
Oh to have the heart of a child.
To be willing to be obedient to Father, even tho we realize there could be hardship
in the obedience.
But like our girls, we realize the blessings will far outweigh the hardship.
So here we are, 15.5 years into this marriage and the Lord has done a work in our lives
that I thought was no longer possible!
Thank you dear Jesus for being faithful to answer my prayers, even when I thought You'd answered "no"... I couldn't hear the whisper of "wait, dear child."
***********
Here's a Break down of what we understand so far:
Matt, not so much. :)
We listened to a sermon by Voddie Baucham about adoption a few months ago.
And the Lord started stirring Matt's heart.
And I got seriously excited!
And we prayed.
And we fasted.
And we prayed some more.
And he okayed me to send for adoption information from DHS.
And we talked to our girls about the pro's & con's.
And they were excited too, even after we shared the negatives with them.
Oh to have the heart of a child.
To be willing to be obedient to Father, even tho we realize there could be hardship
in the obedience.
But like our girls, we realize the blessings will far outweigh the hardship.
So here we are, 15.5 years into this marriage and the Lord has done a work in our lives
that I thought was no longer possible!
Thank you dear Jesus for being faithful to answer my prayers, even when I thought You'd answered "no"... I couldn't hear the whisper of "wait, dear child."
***********
Here's a Break down of what we understand so far:
- Step 1 - Pray
- Step 2 - Talk to your Spouse & Family & read a lot about adoption
- Step 3 - Contact DHS or your Adoption Agency
- Step 4 - Fill out a huge stack of paper work w/ lots of personal information
- Step 5 - Find references
- Step 6 - Get Physicals
- Step 7 - Mail in paper work along w/ reference & physical information
- Step 8 - Wait ** this is where we're at right now.
- Step 9 - Home Study
- Step 10 - Attend Adoption Workshops
- Step 11 - Wait more
- Step 12 - things get fuzzy from here so I will get clarification during our Home Study which should be happening in 2-3 weeks.
***********
How you can pray for us right now:
Please pray for patience for our family. Emma asks every day if we're getting her brother yet.
Also, pray for our son's safety & protection. I find myself worrying about him as much as I worried about my girls when I was pregnant with each of them. Also, for the Lord to provide the needed finances when we need them. And lastly, pray for the Lord to be glorified through our journey.
Thank you!
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