Time Marches On

    March is quickly passing and before long 1/2 of the year will have gone by!! I never thought time could pass so fast, yet it seems like each year gets shorter than the last! I can't believe we have an energetic, always happy 2 year old :) He is so busy and learning so much right now. His current obsession is trains....Thomas, train table, and real life trains. Boys really are so much fun :) Our next big endeavor is potty training... As weird as it sounds it's kind of bittersweet. It's like the last thing that makes him still sort of a baby instead of a boy :( Plus I kinda was hoping for 2 in diapers....I know I'm such a weirdo, right? But hey I want to be the minivan mom too, so I never claimed to have mainstream thinking.
    As far as the second adoption goes, we have no news other than everything is still the same. We are still waiting to be selected by a birth mother. We have been approved and waiting for 8 months now. I know God has the right child and right time selected though. (We could be paper pregnant right now!) We just have to be patient. In a few more months, we will start having to update forms, paperwork, and our home study...ugh :( Which means we will all be going back to the doctor, vet, and insurance company for updates......UGH! I guess I shouldn't moan and groan though because it won't change anything. The process is what it is, and I do love our agencies!!
   I can't believe what I'm about to say, but I have been thinking about having more yard sales this spring. That's still up in air right now, although I may or may not have started a pile in my garage already. Just keep that in mind before you haul everything off to goodwill :)

How different it is the second time around

   So I think it's safe to say I am not a very good blogger :) But really there's not been a lot to report. We are still waiting to be selected by a birth mother and just as excited as ever. It is so different the second time around though! Last time I knew the exact date we got approved and precisely how long we had been waiting. This time I honestly couldn't remember for sure what month it was! When I saw my approval post was almost 3 months ago I was a little shocked :) That was about how long it was when we got the call about our little man joining our family. I have so much more faith this time around though, because I have seen just how great God is and realize that I need to just let Him be in control. He chose the absolute perfect child and birth family for us!! I can't imagine my life without him, and honestly he has made me a much better person. I guess that is part of it too. I'm not counting the days till a new baby arrives because we are enjoying every moment with him. He is growing so fast and amazing me every day! However, I would be lying if I said we didn't miss the days of holding a tiny baby in our arms :) That time will be here before we know it though. Thanks again to all those who have helped us get to this point and that are continuing to pray for us!!

We've got the stamp of APPROVAL!!

    This week we got what we have been working towards for the past couple months. We got our approval from our placement agency. So we are officially being shown to potential birth mothers and could be selected any time from here on out. I have already been thinking about how we are gonna decorate the bedrooms and rearrange to hold a family of four. Another thing on the list is baby names. It's a whole lot of pressure to pick out your child's name in just two weeks, so this time we will be thinking about that directly. Our yard sales are over but some wonderful friends are having one for us this weekend. If that doesn't say true friends I don't know what does :) We love you Wilkerson's!! Our little man is getting big so fast and I just know he will be the sweetest big brother, and definitely good entertainment! It's been a great week and we're glad to share it all with you. Please keep praying for our family!

The time is here!

  Well the time has finally come. The BIG yard sale is this week! Thursday, Friday, & Saturday we are going to brave the heat and try our best to close the gap on our adoption expenses. Once again we have a LOT of stuff. We hope to have several tents set up to help our shoppers be a little more comfortable while they are treasure hunting. This time it will be at our house to make things a little easier for the little one. So everyone pray for the rain that was forecast to pass us by and for hoarders! We will have lots of things for under $2.00 and be highly motivated to negotiate! We really want our garage back :) If all goes as we hope this will be our last yard sale for this adoption fundraising (& maybe ever). This isn't because we will meet our goal but because we want to be sane when we meet our new addition. So if you get the chance come on down and send all your friends too!
   As far as the adoption process goes, we are moving right along! We have finished our home study and it has been sent to our placement agency. YAY!! And our paperwork is done, YAY!! All I have to do is make some copies and mail some checks and we will be ready for approval. YAY!! Which means we will be able to be shown to birth mothers and possibly selected!! It is all moving along pretty well. As always keep us in your prayers :)

Nearing a Milestone

    I have not been very good at updating you on our progress, but we have been pretty busy. As I  said before, we have had a hundred  eight yard sales, and we are planning to have one more HUGE one. I think the date for that will be June 26th & 27th, but that is tentative. Even though I say that's the last one it will probably depend on how much we make and how much stuff we have left over. On a more enjoyable note, we should have all our paperwork in and our home study done by the end of next week!!! YAAAAYYY!! Talk about major accomplishment :) Although it was much easier the second time it's still really time consuming, and a little aggravating. For example, do ya'll know anyone who when they got pregnant had to take their pets to the vet and have a $50 exam so you could get a note saying it's ok to give you a child and your pet is up to date on vaccines and not a threat to a child? But anyways, that's a whole other story:) I'm really just glad I've already done most all of it! So what this all means is starting sometime in July we will be approved and eligible to be selected by a birth mother! Just think we could be possible be parents to two children by Christmas! They did say it takes longer usually the second time around though, so we will just have to wait and see. After all, we do want this to happen all in God time. Our little boy is now walking so my life got a lot easier and a little more difficult too:) I guess I just can't handle not being insanely busy because I just took on another endeavor. I have started to work for a home based wellness company:) My main reason for doing this is because our little boy has eczema and possibly asthma and is just super sensitive to a lot of things. I have been using this company's body wash and shampoo on him and it has been the only thing that hasn't bothered him (probably cause it doesn't have formaldehyde and who knows what else in it). So we are about to convert the whole house to these products and get rid of all the unnecessary chemicals. I am very excited about it and if anyone else has these similar issues I'd love to try to help you figure out if this would help you too. I know how frustrating it is trying to determine what will help or worsen their eczema! So anyways, that's the latest news around here :) Please keep praying for our family and that we will receive our next child according to God's great plan. Have a blessed day!

Yard Sale Mania

        We are getting there slowly but surely. We have had 8 yard sales so far (although it feels like 20). A lot of stuff has passed through our garage and yard in the past month! Thank you again to all of those who have donated to our sale. We do have one more item I wanted to tell ya'll about. It is a brand new king size bed frame. It originally costs around $900 and we are selling it for $400. It is from the Wilshire collection by Lifestyle Solutions. It has three minor "dings" from being shipped, but they would not be that noticeable once it was set up (and one could be easily repaired). Check out the LINK to get a better idea about it.  Hope to post more on how we are moving through the process soon :)

NEW King Size Bed for sale - Wilshire Collection

Time to Study and Sell

  This is a busy week for us. We are going to have our yard sale Thursday, Friday, & Saturday! This is the first time we have done 3 days in a row. Wish us luck! And pray for no rain. We would really like to sell about 70% of what we have, so come on by we might make you a great deal :) Also, this week we are having our first home study visit. I had forgotten how crazy this all gets when you are trying to do paperwork, home study, and fund raise at the same time :) But it's exciting too and for some reason I do kinda like organizing it all :) Thank you to all my sister's church family (esp you Fancy's mom:) who donated so many items to us!! You all have been great. Well just wanted to catch you all up on the progress. We're moving on towards application completion! And don't forget to check out the previous post on some of the items we have for sale. We are all about moving some stuff so if you are at all interested please leave me a comment :)