Airplanes!

Landry has developed an infatuation with airplanes lately.  Anytime we hear one flying overhead, we have to stop what we are doing and check it out, usually followed with urgent pointing to the sky and a face that means business.  I love watching Landry learn and discover new things.

Our airport in Fredericksburg is probably one of the coolest places in town.  Because we are a tourist town, many people fly in on their private airplanes to spend the weekend here.  Thursday afternoon, we decided to take Landry out to the airport, they have rocking chairs just off the runway where you can watch the planes come in and take off. What an adventure we had! Landry loved every minute of it and roamed about the airport freely. We got to watch 3 planes land, 2 take off, and several more fly overhead.  We even got to sneak a peek inside a private airplane that landed (don't worry, we asked permission) and Landry got to spend some time in the cockpit! Here are some pictures from our afternoon at the airport!

Poppy and Landry spotting an airplane landing 

This is the intense pointing with very serious expression anytime we spot an airplane 

Rockin, snackin, waiting on some planes

I SEE ONE!

You know, just sitting in the cockpit :)

Another reason why Fredericksburg is so great! What other place can you get to sit in rocking chair on the runway and watch planes land and take off.... and sit in a cockpit! What a cool experience

Surprise!

About 2 weeks ago, we received quite the surprise! I had been feeling a weird rubbing on the inside of my right rib (I know, sounds as weird as it feels).  I blew it off for a few days, and then finally one day I thought to myself "ok, seriously, am I crazy, or could I be pregnant?" So that night, I took a test, and boom, it immediately turned positive! My next question after a momentary freak out was to wonder how far along I was if I really thought that I could feel something moving.  A few days later, I realized I probably wasn't as far along as I originally thought (despite the weird feeling still), and felt kind of foolish for announcing to the entire world we were expecting, when there is always the possibility of a miscarriage this early.  I still wasn't sure how far along I was though, so we got an appointment for a sonogram.

Well, we had a sonogram yesterday and our little bug is due July 4, which makes me 6 weeks pregnant.  Saw the little heartbeat flicker and it measured over 100, which is very good.

Through all of this, I have wondered how in the world I tested positive soooo early, why I had the weird movement feeling that made me test, and what in the world is going on, and what do we do about the anticipated adoption we were all gearing up for?

Then I realized.  It's God.  I really believe that He put those weird movements in my stomach to help, He gave me a positive result way early to help.  The week after I found out I was pregnant was our projected week to become a certified home to adopt.  What if I hadn't realized I was pregnant for another 3 or 4 weeks, and we possibly could have had a child in our home by then? What in the world would I have done then? In fact, the day I took the test, the crib arrived on the doorstep for the baby we thought we would be getting.  While my heart broke a little bit to realize we might not be able to follow through with giving a child who desperately needs a home right now, I would have been more heartbroken later. I think that God was testing us, to see if we would do what we believed He was telling us to do. More than anything God just wanted our obedience.  We still have strong desires to adopt, and I'm positive we will someday, but for right now we have prayerfully decided to put adopting on a temporary hold.  The thought of having 3 children under 2 (almost under 1), makes me want to have a panic attack just thinking about it.  I am so thankful that God is in control and is faithful to show us His plans at just the right time.

I believe there is a reason everyone knows we are expecting so soon as well. At first I was embarrassed, because I really believed I was further along given all the signs, but many have comforted me and told me that it just gives this baby more prayer from the start :), so I am okay with that.  Please pray for this sweet baby bug! Also please pray for me, I leave for Haiti the first week of December, I will be about 10 weeks pregnant.  I was scheduled to get some shots just 4 days after I found out I was pregnant for my trip (another reason I believe God intervened early), but being in my first trimester, it may not be safe for the baby if I get them.  So please pray that I can stay healthy and safe in Haiti!

What a crazy ride.

Homemade Laundry Soap

It was about this time last year when I first experimented with a recipe I found on Pinterest for Homemade Laundry Soap. Cost about $20 to make, lasted our family an entire year.  That's right! 1 year's supply of laundry soap for $20!!!!!! That is with 4 weeks of summer camp, 2 weeks in India (for Jake), and a move in between, which all adds up to lots of laundry! I finally ran out of Dreft for Landry from his baby showers, so about 4 months ago, I started washing all his clothes in it as well. Well, we have about a month's supply left, and I am fixing to make up our next batch. I thought I would post the recipe again, in case any of you were interested in trying it out, or have heard some about it, but have been hesitant to try it.

I am not sure if it's the oxy clean or what, but this detergent has gotten out stains better than any store bought detergent I ever used before.

We have a top loader washer, but in reading the comments on the recipe's blog, many people with HE front loaders have used this just fine as well! They just put it directly into the drum instead of the dispenser, and it works well according to their comments!

Happy (cheap) washing!

1 4 lb 12 oz box Borax (2.15 kg or 76 oz) found in the detergent isle

1 4 lb box Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (1.81 kg) found in the cooking isle

1  box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda 55 oz (3 lb 7 oz) found in the detergent isle

3 bars of Fels-Naptha soap, found in the detergent isle 

2 small containers of Oxy Clean or store brand Oxy Clean (try to get about 3.5 lbs total (1.58 kg)) found in the detergent isle.

(this is optional, I added it to mine because the lady suggested to do so if you have messy kids! )

Haiti

For the past few months, God has been giving me a growing passion for Haiti.  When we begin the process to adopt, I really wanted to adopt from Haiti, but you have to be married for 10 years to qualify (so maybe my husband will get me a Haitian baby for our 10 year anniversary :) so that's when we decided to go the route of foster-to-adopt.

I have been praying that God would send me the right opportunity to get to go serve at an orphanage in Haiti someday.  Well, that opportunity came MUCH quicker than I thought! Gabi and Don have always talked about how their former church from Florida goes to Haiti often, and one evening Gabi forwarded me a message from a woman she knows from Florida that is organizing a trip to Haiti in December.  The next day I was in contact with her and her enthusiasm and passion for this orphanage is so contagious, how could I not go and join her?!?!? The orphanage has 30 children in it, and I am so excited to go and serve.  Most of these children are orphaned as a result of the horrible natural disasters there, the impact is something this country is still dealing with and these children's lives are forever changed.


Here is what we will be doing while we are there:
VBS with the children in the morning
Sports camps in the afternoons
Christmas shopping for the children, gift wrapping the presents and giving them the gifts before we leave
giving the children a pair of shoes
taking the children to the beach on the last day as a surprise (many of them have never been)

I am just so excited to get to love on these children all day long for 5 whole days!

Here is what we need, if you feel compelled to help in any way, I would be more than appreciative and I know the children would be so grateful:

• Our goal is to get 30 pairs of shoes for these children, Jess is working right now on figuring out their sizes, as soon as we figure that out, I will be needing shoes in those sizes! If you have a few $$ to spare and can buy some shoes, or if you have a child that maybe only wore a pair of shoes a handful of times, we can use them! 
• Money for their Christmas gifts.  Jess is wanting to collect some extra money so we can shop for the children while in Haiti.  They have done toy donations in the past and packed it all, but find that with the airline luggage restrictions, it is much cheaper and less hassle to just buy while over there. Plus then we will have a chance to see the personalities of each child and buy according to things they would love! 
• Some soccer balls, kickballs, or some easily transportable sports equipment.  While there, our goal is in the afternoon to just play with the kids, teach them new games, and love on them through a sports ministry opportunity.
• I need to fundraise approximately $900 for my airfare, food, and lodging for the week, and I have less than 2 months to do it! ... If you would like to sponsor me and help me go, I would be so blessed.  I know God is going to provide, and am excited to embark on this mission in less than 2 months!!!!! 
• Prayer.  This will be my first international mission trip, and I am so excited.  But please pray for our team, I know nobody, our commonality is Christ and serving these orphans, but please pray we can become a fluid team and work together well!  Also pray for my family, I will be leaving Jake and Landry, and there is always the possibility that we might even have another addition by then if we get a placement.  And of course, please pray for the health of each team member, that we might stay safe and well while there. 

If you don't have my address, just send me a message and I would be happy to give it to you if any of these needs tug at your heart.  Thank you!

Homework Club

This year God has laid it on my heart to become more involved in the homework club ministry taking place at our apartments.  Jake and I made a deal, I would go on Tuesdays, and he would go on Thursdays that way Landry is taken care of and at least one of us gets to go help.  This year, we have been overwhelmed with around 20 (sometimes more, sometimes less) kids coming to the 2 bedroom apartment we have rented in the complex to receive a snack, small devotion, and help with their homework or fun game time.  Organized chaos at its finest :)

I have to share about last weeks devotion time.  We had just started talking to the children about Matthew's calling by Jesus to become a disciple and what it means when Jesus tell him  "Follow me."  Many of these children have limited knowledge of Jesus and his Love for them, but for the past year, many of these kids have become involved in Awana, went to our Children's camp and VBS during the summer, and are now attending Sunday School.  So needless to say, we have a handful of children that are starting to get it!!! So, Mr. Wayne was leading the devotion time and he got to the part about Jesus saying "follow me" and Matthew leaving everything and following Christ.  We had one little girl raise her hand and say, "Wait, so did Matthew HAVE to follow Jesus or did he CHOOSE to follow Jesus?" All the adults in the room made eye contact full of surprise and amazement. What an amazing question from a child that didn't even realize what a great question that was! It just goes to show that they are listening, and God is working, and He is allowing us to see small glimpses of the fruit that is resulting from this ministry!

Shortly after, I was helping another girl with her multiplication tables and she turned to me and said, "Do you think we can make T-shirts that say I LOVE JESUS on them?" She then told me she would like her name and a scripture on the back. I told her that sounded like an awesome idea and asked her if she could think of a scripture that might go well with the I LOVE JESUS phrase on the front.  She said, "Well, I don't know a lot of scriptures, but I do remember one from Camp Sizzle that says love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength."  I exclaimed that I thought that was the perfect scripture! My heart melted.

I am just so excited to see what God does with these kids.  Please keep us in your prayers, because its exciting to see such awesome progress, but there are a lot of needs that go behind all those moments.  Pray for our students grades, many are coming needing help and are finding out several students are way behind where they should be for their grade.  We make the best of our volunteers, but many times we are having to do 3 to 1 tutoring due to lack of volunteers! So pray that God would send dedicated help that can see past the chaos and have a heart to help and love these kids. Pray that over the next few months as we speak with businesses around town such as Walmart, HEB, Walgreens, and Bealls, that maybe we could get some valuable donations to help keep our costs down.  And lastly, please pray that we can have more moments like the above stories! We have many kids starting to desire to commit their lives to Christ, which is exciting, but we need guidance on how to lead them correctly and gently towards Christ! Thank you all!

Here are few pics of what goes on every Tuesday and Thursday!

Snack time!

down to homework business

2 sweet girls working with 1 sweet lady

Mr. Wayne is clearly the favorite 

Having fun with music

Update on our Adoption process

We have had many people ask us how the process is going for our certification to foster-to-adopt, so I thought I would update everyone.  All paperwork is submitted, all inspections are passed!!! We have our first aid/CPR scheduled to take the first weekend of october and then all we have left to do is a one day training class and then we are CERTIFIED! While all the paperwork and trainings and inspections are important, we are also trying to get our family prepared and our space prepared for another little one to join us. I found gorgeous gender neutral bedding that is green and black, my mom went shopping with me at my favorite fabric store here and helped me pick material for her to sew curtains, and last weekend I repainted and replaced the hardware on an old dresser. I am pretty proud of my handiwork :) but while I stripped the old hardware off, repainted, and then later put all 18 new pulls on, I prayed for the little one God has for us. A labor of love, both manually and prayerfully for this little chosen one.

I will post more pictures of the completed nursery once we get a crib and get the room set up!

Weekend Fun

Anytime the Quisenberry clan or the Edwards gang come to town means a fun weekend fun us, but especially a fun weekend for little man of the house.  My family came for a visit a few weekends ago, and we had a blast. Saturday we spent the day at Fiesta Texas and had a blast! Landry is always so awesome on day trips like that, and this was no exception! Sunday afternoon, we pulled out the slip-n-slide that grandma bought Landry and had some more fun!
Here are some shots of the excitement, Landry wasn't sure how it worked at first, but the girls and Rance showed him how!

Zoey showing him how its done!

Zaey rocking the slip-n-slide!

The progression

Dad helping out

almost there!

Yay!!!!

He loved splashing at the end in the little pool of water

Dogpile, 3 person pile up! 

This doesn't even need words, haha. 

confession of a minister's wife

I have something as a minister's wife I need to confess...

There is "type" of minister's wife out there that I just envision when I think of a woman being a minister's wife, and probably what some church members expect to see when they see a minister's wife... you know the kind. perfectly dressed, awesome hair, always smiling, speaks eloquently, women adore her, she's the first woman signed up for everything at church, quotes the perfect scripture for the moment, and reverently falls in line behind her husband...

So, envisioning the above woman as the "perfect" minister's wife, that makes me......

Me? I love my shorts/jeans and t-shirts, i love my chacos, my hair is usually in a ponytail, I wear minimal make-up which doesn't begin to hide my skin flaws, the only time I can speak eloquently is when I'm explaining a math problem, I tend to get along better with guys than girls because I hate drama, and I tend to give my opinions on matters to my husband.

There are simply days when I look at myself and wonder why in the world God chose me to be married to a minister. I have often bought into the lie that the above picture is what I need to strive to look like/be like/act like, which is definitely a great picture to look at... except the fact that it is not me.

Over the last few months, God has been working on me. Really working on me. He has shown me ministries and opportunities that get me excited and passionate about serving people for Him for the first time in a long time.  He has given me a husband that thinks I'm beautiful at my worst, my just rolled-out-of-bed-barely-mustered-energy-to-get-dressed look. My husband values me, values my opinion, and relies on me to be his best friend. He has given me a beautiful son that doesn't care if I can speak with beautiful churchy words. He simply loves it when I sing silly songs, make funny noises for him to repeat, and tell him I love him.

There are days when I look at those seemingly perfect wives, or read their latest blog on how to have the perfect marriage, ministry, budget or children and twinge a little inside because I don't measure up. Or feel jealous or inadaquate because I look at some wives and wonder, how in the world do they look like that everyday and not spend a fortune of time and money to achieve their look?  But I'm learning to be ok with who I am, focus on the tremendous blessings he has given me, and find my stride in different ministries.

Apartment Ministry Update

Our church resides across the street from an income based apartment complex.  After visiting mission arlington on a mission trip 2 summers ago, our youth decided that God was calling them to reach out to the people in this apartment complex just like they did at mission arlington.  So we began having cookouts, playing with the children, and just letting the parents know that we are here for them if they need anything.  For a year, the youth and other volunteers worked very diligently every other Sunday going over there and ministering to the children and families over there.

Once we earned the trust of the managers and the people there, it became evident that there was a need to have an after school program where kids can come, get their homework done, have a snack, do crafts and activities, and learn about Jesus. So that is exactly what we did! By the end of the school year, we had roughly 12 children coming every Tuesday and Thursday after school to this new ministry.

By the end of the school year the manager approached us and suggested we start holding bible studies for adults as well. So now an entirely new avenue has opened up for us where as a complex they are basically inviting us to minister to the entire family! You can expect women's bible studies, men's bible studies, and possibly some financial classes to materialize over there this year as God is throwing the doors wide open for our church to love on these families.

So gearing up this year, we had a back to school bash/cookout where we passed out school supplies, clothes, and shoes, and beared the huge expense returning back to school requires.  So many single parents came and were overwhelmed and appreciative of our support and help. We wound up distributing school supplies to about 50 children!!!

Today as we were meeting to plan and try to put some organization down for the homework club and just our ministry over there in general, we were talking about how many families within the complex have to visit the food pantry, are on food stamps, don't have time to cook because they are working 2 jobs, or just can't afford to eat healthy food (canned ravioli and TV dinners make up their diet). So we began brainstorming ways that we can feed families in need, and provide them a balanced meal doing it.  We are going to try and begin making easily prepared meals that can be frozen and distributed as needed rather than sending them to the food pantry where they get usually the leftovers of unwanted pantry food.  I just keep thinking, we aren't doing people any real favor if we feed them, but kill their health simultaneously.  With the new craze of meal planning, crock potting, and making freezer meals, I thought surely we can put all that to good use and help the hungry.

We definitely are not trying to take away from the wonderful food pantry's ministry, but are trying to live up to our role as a church by shouldering some of the responsibility! Friday is our first freezer meal prep night... If you are interested in helping in any way, that would be awesome, message me for specifics on where and when and what to bring! Or if you would rather prepare meals in the comfort of your own home, please message me so I can give you a preparation guide, and I would be glad to come get the prepared meals from you! Our goal is to prepare as many healthy freezer meals for families in need as possible and keep our freezer full so we can help a family on the spot!

Big announcement

Jake and I are excited to announce some plans the Lord has laid on our heart.   Since Jake got home from India, we have actively been pursuing the way God wants us to go about adopting.  We found a faith based agency in Kerrville, and are happy to announce that we are actively in the process to becoming a certified home to foster-to-adopt.  We have hesitated making this public knowledge, we didn't know whether we should wait until we were certified, have a baby in our home, or just not make it public at all.  We have slowly been revealing this to some close friends and family, and was told that we should document our journey so people know how to pray, encourage, and it could possibly help others considering adopting understand the process and journey.

We have requested a placement younger than landry (0-1) just because we feel more comfortable with Landry being the oldest, and the fact that we have already parented this age. Other than that, we are pretty wide open, so there is no telling what kind of baby we will get!!! We are beginning to think about the changes we are going to be making to add another little person to our family like buying another crib, trading in our vehicle for a more functional transport, and thinking about double strollers.  As a mother, I have that desire to get as much prepared as possible, but without knowing the age or sex of the baby, its kind of hard to do much else.

Here is what we have done so far:

• selected our agency (divinity family services)
• submitted our HUGE stack of paperwork
• had TB tests done
• passed health inspection of our home
• passed fire inspection of our home

What we have left to do:

• 1st Aid/CPR training
• take our 3 classes
• homestudy
• fingerprinting

If all goes well, hopefully we should be certified by the end of september, which means we could receive a baby as early as october or it could be years, only God knows what is in store for us.  We are trusting in his timing and his guidance as we prepare to welcome a second child into our home.  Please pray for us as we embark on this journey with a lot of unknowns!

A boy and his dog

It has been especially entertaining at our house lately with all of Landry's expressions and playfulness.  One of the more entertaining events to watch is the growing interaction between Sadie and Landry.  They really play together, and it's adorable! Sadie and Landry's favorite activities both involve a ball, so it's like a match made in heaven!
Here are some pictures of them playing catch back and forth.

Sadie, ready to fetch!

Both waiting patiently while Daddy rescues the ball 

WOHOO! He got it! 

Winding up! He actually threw it to where she caught it right in her mouth!

This boy loves his Sadie

playing

It warms my heart to see these two play and love on each other they way they do.  Sadie is always so concerned over Landry, and Landry is learning to "be gentle," love on her and play with her.

6 Freezer Meals in 30 minutes

I have been eyeing people's blogs lately on pinterest that involve preparing meals in advance for the crock pot and freezing them.  I love the efficiency, cost effectiveness, and simplicity of it all.  But to be honest, I have always felt a little intimidated to try it myself.  Not sure why, I guess it seemed like a daunting task because they do it on such a large scale (i.e. a month's worth at a time), but today I decided I was going to go for it while Landry napped this afternoon.  I wanted to start small to see how I liked it and if we liked a few recipes before I jumped wholeheartedly on the freezer meal bandwagon.

I chose 3 recipes from this ladies blog I had previously pinned on pinterest http://www.ringaroundtherosies.net/2012/02/freezer-cooking.html, put Landry down for a nap and got to work!
The 3 Recipes I chose are Teriyaki Chicken, Meatballs, and Sausage and Peppers

First step was labeling the gallon zip lock bags, including the crock pot instructions.

Step 2 was gathering all the ingredients needed for each recipe.

Step 3 is to dive in, one meal at a time


Here are the ingredients for the sausage and peppers... Of course I had to use Opa's sausage from here in Fredericksburg!!! Split the ingredients evenly between 2 bags, mix, seal, and done!

1 big can of diced tomatoes (optional), 1 red onion, 1 red bell pepper, 2 green bell peppers,  4 cloves minced garlic, and 6 sausage


To cook the sausage and peppers:  thaw bag in refrigerator the night before, add a drizzle of olive oil to the crock pot, cook on low for 6 hours, and serve hot noodles or french bread with mozzarella. 

Here are the ingredients for the Meatballs... I used frozen meatballs store bought, someday I will venture to make homemade ones! Split the ingredients evenly between 2 bags, mix, seal, and done!

20 oz BBQ sauce, 16 oz grape jelly, and approximately 36 meatballs

 To cook the meatballs: thaw bag in refrigerator the night before, cook on low for 2-4 hours, and serve over rice with side of veggies.






Here are the ingredients for the Teriyaki Chicken...  I had half a bag of whole carrots, so I peeled, cut, and used those instead of baby carrots.  Split the ingredients evenly between 2 bags, mix, seal, and done!

2 cans pineapple chunks (undrained), 4 chicken breasts (halved), 1 cup teriyaki sauce, 1 red onion, 1 bag of baby carrots, 4 cloves minced garlic

 To cook the teriyaki chicken:  thaw bag in refrigerator the night before, add 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce to crockpot, cook on low for 8 hours or high 4 hours, and serve over rice.

The finished products! 6 meals in 30 minutes!

Wow, that literally took me 30 minutes from start to finish.  Basically cutting veggies, dumping cans and sauce, and adding meat.  Not too difficult and certainly not nearly as daunting as I thought it would be.  Of course, these ladies do it on a much bigger scale with a month's worth of meals and take 1 afternoon to do it.  Maybe that's why I felt so intimidated, but I can't wait to try out these 3 recipes.  Our family now has 6 meals prepared that we didn't have before, so I feel like that was 30 minutes of my day well spent.

Fun days with Landry

God has really blessed Jake and I with a beautiful little boy.  He never ceases to amaze us.  Now that our hectic and crazy summer has settled down, maybe I can start recording family memories a little better! This past week we have simply enjoyed being home! Landry is getting settled back into a routine, which means more sleep for all of us!

He is becoming increasingly curious about EVERYTHING, which is both fun and stressful! Fun in the sense that I love seeing his little eyes, fingers, and hands explore and discover new things, his personality is really starting to shine.  He has so many expressions, currently his favorite thing to say and do is point and say "OOOO cool!" We probably hear that 15 times a day :) He has developed a laugh that cracks everyone around up, it is like a little woody woodpecker laugh.

And the stressful side is his recent discovery of how to throw a fit and climb. This kid loves to climb UP the slide the wrong way, ON the couch, and is now toying with the idea of jumping OFF the couch.  We certainly have our hands full with this monkey!  He loves to be outside (that hasn't changed since birth), and throws the biggest fits whenever we have to come inside. It could be 110 outside and his face beet red and he is the only one enjoying himself outside.  I wouldn't have it any other way! Here are some overdue shots of the 4th and vacation.

Up the wrong way!

Ready to watch fireworks!

Fun in the splashpad on vacation 

Still obsessed with anything round and bouncy

We love our little boy and have really enjoyed the last few months watching his grow and discover. He finally has 2 teeth (that's it, but we will take it!), and some very blonde hair (very soft and wispy/frizzy) I bet we say the word "No" over a 100 times a day, but I am just so thankful we have a little boy that has the capability to be curious and onery :)

Crisis Pregnancy Center Adventure

For a while now, I have been feeling a calling to get involved with the Crisis Pregnancy Center in Kerrville.  With Landry headed to Mother's Day out twice a week this next school year, I figured I had the free time to start volunteering once a week.  Tuesday, I headed over there to check it out.  I was amazed at the ministry that happens there! Mrs. Bruster was kind enough to give me a tour and take some time to sit down and talk with me about different ways I can volunteer.  I really didn't care what I did there, I just wanted to get involved.

The center just received a sonogram machine and have a sono tech there to give clients free sonograms, what a blessing that is! They need someone to volunteer to help the sono tech and of course I was more than eager to help with that opportunity.  Another opportunity I might get is to give the girls their pregnancy test and then sit with them and counsel them about their options if pregnant.  Both of these opportunities excite me greatly! I can't wait to get started and see how God might use me.

I hope that through this blog, others might wonder about the Crisis Pregnancy Center and desire to pray for this awesome organization, learn more about what they do, or perhaps spark interest for some to give or volunteer also.   If you don't live in this area, hopefully it causes you to wonder what is around your area that is similar. Here is the link to check it out!

http://thepregnancyresourcecenter.org/page10.html

Have a blessed day!

The beginning of something beautiful...

The little boy is napping peacefully, the pot roast is on for supper, and while I'm whipping around the house tidying and cleaning, I just felt led to stop what I was doing and blog about the things the Lord is doing in our family. MAYBE, just maybe, I might stay blogging longer than a month haha, we will see!

 Jake just returned from India, completely changed. I knew this was going to happen, call it a wife's intuition, but my heart was churning while he was away as well.  I think it was preparing for what was about to happen when he returned and what I intuitively knew it was going to involve.

 As a wife, to see this image and hear the countless stories of my husband's interaction with these adorable orphans, how could I not allow God to change me, my motives, and my actions just as much as my husband's experience in India changed him, his motives, and his actions?

This is Anon and Carti, two boys that completely stole my husband's heart in India.  Just hearing stories about them has caused me to fall in love with them!  wish they could have been my souvenir! Throughout their trip, Jake talked about me and Landry to Anon and Carti and showed them pictures of us.  Jake told me that the last day they spent at the orphanage, Anon came up to Jake and handed him 1 rupee and said, "This is all the money I have, can you please take it to Landry for me?" The fact that a little boy across the world was willing to give Landry all the money he had and hadn't even met him just makes my heart overflow.  My little boy was so loved by a child that has nothing, not even parents to love him.  Jake is going to have the rupee made into something special like a necklace so we can give it to Landry someday when he's old enough to understand.

On the drive back from Fredericksburg, Jake and I had a tender conversation about his experience and through that conversation we have decided that God has placed it in us to adopt. We can't impact the lives of every orphan in the world, but we can change the life of one or two. Many people will probably question this decision or might think it's quite bizarre considering we already have a child and he is quite young.  People can think what they want, but Jake and I have peace in our heart that we want a unique and beautiful family pieced together by the Lord!  We could be the most ragamuffin bunch of Edwards, but I'm totally ok with that!

We have been investigating and looking into many options already, both local and foreign.  I feel that eventually we will probably adopt both locally and internationally, we just are waiting for God to tell us which to do first! We are praying, waiting on the Lord to guide us, and learning about all the different agencies.  WOW there are a lot! It's overwhelming really, but I know that God will lead us to the right place and to the right child.  Please pray for us as we begin this journey that God would make clear to us where to begin.