No News/Extremely interesting news!

Hi, so sorry to leave you all hanging in suspense-but...sadly there is no news on the twins-our case worker has not heard anything from the social worker in Louisiana * sigh* but hopefully no news is good news!
Now here is the interesting news-we just found out this weekend-while we were away at Les's family reunion in Alberta-that we are expecting our third baby-due in February! WOW! It was a bit of a shock even though I had been suspicious for a couple of weeks. I am a little scared but i did some research and found that there are two midwife clinics in prince george so i am hoping for a natural vbac but we will see! anyway as you can see my computer is not working correctly tonight so i will post more details soon

They're girls!!!!

Well I finally got a hold of my worker today...the twins are identical girls YAYAYAYA!!!!! I was really hoping for girls, they are very healthy and beautiful she said ...their birthmom is creole/african american and the birth father is AA. They said the mom is one step away from being homeless, very financially unable to care for them anymore-how sad is that? She never did any drugs or alcohol during her pregnancy, the fees are actually lower than what we budgetted for PRAISIE GOD!! (we are a little short on the fees still but I am sure if this is for us God will provide) She is in New Orleans.
So she has profiles and she will be looking this weekend-they have an appointment to meet with her on Monday-hopfully she will have decided by then and we will know-even though I am confident that this is from God. So please pray for our family this weekend that our profile would be appealing, and that God would place us on her heart if that is His will.
I will keep you all posted as soon as I hear anything-blessings and have a great long weekend! (Sorry for my American readers-this weekend we celebrate Canada Day)

Hanging in the moment

Last night my husband and I were feeling a little down, we have some decisions to make and they were weighing heavily on our shoulders. We were stressed and frustrated. So we didn't do any of the bizillion things we needed to do...instead we sat here on my computer and looked up all our favorite songs and added them to my playlist-hint-the old country ones are his NOT mine lol! We played a song that we danced to at our wedding-Louisianna Saturday night, then we both said -I really wish our baby would come from Louisianna, *sigh* then we moved on to other songs. I crawled into bed and did my devotions around midnight and I was having one of those I don't want to do this HARD HARD waiting part surronding adoption anymore...I cried out to God please I am so weary of holding onto this dream, so dragged down by it always hanging over our heads...I just want to be home snuggling my little one and praising God. Then I gave everything over to Him and just said I can't do this anymore-please please take this burden off my shoulders. Part of my devotions had been about being still and focusing just on Him and at those moments you will hear His whisper. I fell asleep, being still, waiting on Him.

I recieved a phone call this morning just after eight from my adoption agency. They wanted to know if we would be willing to take 7 month old African American twins!
In Louisianna. They are showing the birthmom our profile today! I don't even know if they are boys/girls one of each...I am just so overwhelmed by God! All I could say to our worker was YES!!! YES PLEASE!
Now to add even more to this and God's impeccable timing...
Les works for the railroad and the end of May he was the train to back up into this siding that has a derail block at the end of it. It was a sixty car train instead of the usual 10-20 cars he was used to. Well he didn't stop it at exactly the right second and the very end car had one wheel go over the derail. Well this means everything stops and they get hauled in for drug testing etc.. He had a hearing a couple of weeks ago and he was cleared, he didn't get into any major trouble and we thought that was the end of it...well he found out last night that they suspended him for five days -this is normal for them to do-however the dates are unbelievable-he would have this Saturday to next Sunday off-SOOOO if this birthmom chooses us-he already has all next week off-we were worried about how he was going to get off work! Tell me our God is not AMAZING!!
So I guess we are back to having HOPE and FAITH that God will work all things together for the good.
Thank you Dad.

A Poem

The Waiting Child
by Debbie Bodie

I saw you meet your child today
You kissed your baby joyfully
And as you walked away with her
I played pretend you'd chosen me.
I'm happy for the baby, yet
Inside I"m aching miserably
I want to plead as you go by,
`Does no-one wanta child of three?"
I saw you meet your child today
In love with her before you met
And as I watched you take her out
I knew it wasn't my turn yet.
I recognize you from last year!
I knew I'd seen yourface before!
But you came for a second babe.
Does no-one wanta child of four?
I saw you meet your child today
But this time there was something new
A nurse came in and took MY hand
And then she gave my hand to you.
Can this be true?I'm almost six!
And there are infants here you see?
But then you kissed me and I knew
The child you chose this time was me.

I thought this was a very powerful poem and I wanted to share it with you...hope you enjoy and that it caused some thought provoking.

Seminars and soaps

We attended the mandatory seminar this past weekend in Prince George, it was lead by an older women who had adopted thirty years ago...needless to say-I was totally disgusted with the whole thing. When we did our seminar in Alberta two years ago-I came away so overwhelmed with information I couldn't think straight for weeks! This seminar sadly was lacking-it was lacking honesty about how difficult and trying the adoption process can be, as well as how difficult life with an adopted child can be. It was lacking information on the countries we are interested in adopting from, it was lacking updated info on attachment and the types of orphanges children could be coming from. The videos they showed were from the eighties (seriously!)
So anyways the point of this rant is that i was so sad and disgusted about how many people were going to go away from this seminar lacking the truth and knowledge about adoption that I have definatly decided that when we move (we will only be 45 min from PG) I am going to start an adoption agency-simaliar to Antioch Adoptions in Washinton State. They are run as a church ministry-providing FREE adoptions (you have to help with the fundraising). I know this will be extremely difficult to do right now but I am going to start the process and even if it takes a couple of years-this province will have an adoption agency that is closer to the North (a couple travelled 8 hours from Prince Rupert to come to this seminar-their is no agency up here so they put on a seminar so people wouldn't have to drive 18 hours to get to their main office in Victoria)
And that is Christian based with Christian values. I would appreciate your prayers concerning this decision and that God would guide the whole process. I have been thinking about doing this for some time now and this seminar was a turning point for me.

Now on to a totally different topic-I have been struggling recently with wanting to go natural in our home and yet not having all the knowledge and time to search out info on the web. However I found an amazing website that has many of the values I hold as well as some that I would like to adopt! www.thefamilyhomestead.com it is an amazing resource for us stay at home moms who are interested in the best for our families!
I have a white ceramic top stove here and I hate it! I have to use tons of chemical cleaner to get it clean and I have to scrub till I am ready to drop and it still does't look all that great-any little drop of water on it turns black and it is just really nasty-well I found an amazing new way to clean it-I tried it last night and WOW I was absolutly amazed! Take some baking soda-it is a mild abrasive and cut the end off a lemon -sprinkle some baking soda on the stove top and use the lemon with the cut end down and scrub away-squeeze the lemon now and then to release more juice and use the outer peel of the lemon to scrub-and it comes off amazingly! With half the amount of vigoress scrubbing with the chemical cleaner! who hoo! So I am sold on the natural way to clean things-I also found this website that has a lot of really awesome info as well http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Prairie/8088/clngrn.html check them out and tell me what you think and blessings as you enjoy your day!

Well I am back...sorry for the absence, our houseguest was a computer/phone hog while she was here and my laptop had to go in to see the doc. But we are back now! And the houseguest has gone. Her boyfriend showed up at three in the morning and took her home-home to no jobs, nowhere to live and abuse. But it wasn't up to us to make her stay...she knows she is welcome back here anytime she wants.
Anyways I now understand why there are so many teenage mothers out there dependant on welfare and why there are so few babies given up for adoption in Canada-after visiting two organizations in our local communities that offer support for crisis pregnancies and family issues it is abundantly apparent that adoption is not encouraged here. I was so ticked off mad when I came out of those places I could hardly think straight-I was looked at as though I had horns growing out of my head when I asked if they counsel expectant moms about adoption? Their answers were to tell me that they provide free food/clothing/ food stamps/ baby clothing and other paraphenilia to help these young mothers. I said wow thats great but do you counsel at all about adoption being a viable option-NO.
I was so upset and angry-so their solution to the fact that some (not all) of these girls are under 18, have no jobs, no where to live and no one to support them and you don't even broach the subject of "what are you going to do, how are you going to support this baby finacially let alone emotionally?"
Nope.
They just give them free stuff and make it seem like its ok for them to be 16 with no way to support themselves or their babies, who later on end up in foster care and then possibly in our prison system.
Like I said I was so mad when I walked out of there. The girl who was staying here thinks her baby is like a puppy, oh cute and cuddly and look at all the attention I am going to get etc... Nobody is willing to broach the subject with her-including her family, and Les and I were going to do it after she settled in a little-but she didn't stay long enough.
Meanwhile there are four thousand couples waiting to adopt a newborn in the province of British Columbia-only approximatly forty babies are placed per year.
SAD.
They don't even advertise adoption agencies or adoption as an option here. I have noticed because we are adopting from the US that in that country they advertise-online, adoptive families can do classified ads down there-but up here-nope adoption is only an option if they ask about it. Don't get me wrong the adoption agencys advertise-but their advertisements are directed at adoptive couples -not at the birthparents. *sigh* grrr.
Anyways that has been my mind frame this week, hopefully it will get better lol!
I am proud to report that I finished my very first real quilt lastnight-a full size with backing and everything -I have done tons of rag quilts and a few wall hangings but not a full size quilt. Now I have and I am so super proud of myself. I I can ever figure out how to post pictures I will show you!
Anyways, thanks to everyone who was praying for the young lady who was staying here, and for our family-I appreciate it so much! I am off to do some more painting-a bathroom and some old window frames I am going to use to display some scrapbooking! Blessings!

Please Keep praying!

Thank you all for your comments and your prayers. I only have a sec for a quick update-things are going well, but I don't know if she is going to stay with us-her boyfriend is in Alberta and she wants to be with him...and he doesn't want to come here yet. So we are not sure if she will stay-we really hope so but-its up to her. We think it would be best if she stayed and had some time to think through her options and her future, but I also remember being that age and wanting nothing more than to cuddle with my guy. Les and I dated when we were fourteen and then again at eighteen and we have been together ever since. And I remember those first feelings-like you can't bear to be apart or not talk to eachother all day...so that is what she is experiencing right now. But I don't think she is thinking as far into the future as she should be-like neither of them have a job right now, or a place to live together(she is welcome here as long as she needs but not the two together-we do have small children and we disagree with that lifestyle choice) I don't think they have thought through what it will be like to provide for a baby-the costs associated with babies and the responsibilities involved. Like the fact that it is way harder to finish school and your life is very limited in a lot of ways (which is hard even for those of us who have deliberatly made the choice to have children) and she is only sixteen-I keep wondering if this is what she really wants out of her life-I know for myself if I was pregnant at 16 nobody would have been able to drag my baby from me-I have always desired to be a mom it was my lifes goal. But if she wants other things -well I just hope that she doesn't make a decision based on the attention she thinks she will get. hmm ok well thats enough of my opinions for now. We are trying to just love her and help her know all her options. We are going in for a job interview tommorow, and then I will be taking her to the pregnancy outreach centre in Williams Lake-they offer counseling and prenatal info etc..so that is our plans so far. I would really appreciate your continuing prayers for the young lady and her baby, as well as for my husband, children and I that we would be a light, a comfort and above all a beacon of Gods love. Thank you.
p.s I am sorry I won't be able to comment on your blogs for awhile-I have been sneaking in a few peaks when I get the chance, but I just don't have the energy to comment at the moment-hope you are all doing well, blessings
Erin