Prayers!

There is a family in desperate need of prayers, and I know I can count on this community here to drop to your knees in prayer. Today at work a friend of mine shared an absolutely heart wrenching situation that her best friend is going through. I have met her friend a few times, and she is an incredibly sweet woman. This woman and her husband are expecting a baby, and they just found out that he has Trisomy 18. I honestly don't know very much about it, but from what was explained to me there is an extremely high chance that he could be stillborn. And less than 10% of these children live past one year. As you can imagine, this couple is struggling immensely. My friend mentioned that her friend is struggling with the decision of "what to do", and with the way this mother was talking to her it sounds like terminating the pregnancy is one of the options being considered. My heart ached for this family immediately, but when I heard about this consideration my heart broke into about a million pieces. Please join me in prayer for an increase in faith and hope for all those affected by this news and for guidance for this young couple. Pray that they choose life for their little guy. I'm also praying for a miracle, that baby boy may grow and thrive.

The Bathroom Reveal

The bathroom is finally completely done, except for some small paint touch-ups (someday I will stop having to complete that sentence with "except"). I thought I'd share some before and after pics. So here goes...

Before...

There was a jacuzzi tub along the back wall gathering dust... never used. 

The shower leaked, causing a water spot on our living room ceiling- so again, never used after the initial discovery. The toilet was tucked into a little nook- ignore the lifted toilet seat!

Dan's sink clogged majorly despite several uses of Drano. The mirror is the largest known to man for a bathroom. No one needs to be able to sit on the toilet and see themselves in the mirror!

After...

Remember that wall with the jacuzzi? I don't know about you, but I think this is much better! Introducing our double shower, with rain shower and what we call the "power shower" with body jets. This in itself was worth every day of that worker in our house, even if it went on waaaaaaaaay too long.

The toilet kept its location, but the old leaky shower had to go. It was replaced by Dan's very own vanity. Now he doesn't have to deal with all of my hair and makeup all over his space. He was quite happy about that!

The double vanity turned into my very own vanity, along with a linen cabinet. 

I have a feeling this is going to be our last remodel for a looooooooong time.

Have you ever...

had one of those moments where you see a pregnant woman who looks on the younger side without a wedding ring and had to actually stop yourself from inquiring if she is considering placing her child for adoption? Yea... I had that exact moment tonight, at a church meeting of all places. I had to seriously talk myself out of saying something. Not like I actually would, but I will say the urge grows stronger with every passing day that goes by childless in this house. That is all.

Blessed!

I have some wonderful news to share. Megan over at Waiting in Joyful Hope asked me to share that the long awaited arrival of Baby K is finally here! Mary Claire was born in the wee hours of the morning on October 7. Both mom and baby are doing wonderfully. This miracle child is a true testament to the incredible power of prayer, as I was told that around 43,000 (!!!!) Memorares were prayed for this little one. Congrats Megan and Kevin! I know I can't wait to meet her!

Isn't she the sweetest?!?

Stuck

Today is one of those days where I feel stuck. Every once in a while, I have a day where I get ridiculously impatient with life and want to just speed up this whole adoption process. So I find myself looking around online at useless webpages in search of this miraculous solution to getting a baby, as in bring one home today. That's realistic, right? Then I look around to see if there is anything I can post on our Facebook adoption page to try to get more people to check it out, while at the same time not annoying every person who has liked it by asking them to spread the word for the 50th time. If you haven't already, follow the tabs at the top of the page to our adoption links and "like" us on Facebook to spread the word. (Shameless plug! I couldn't resist.) And after all this, I always end up with nothing to show for it, and I've wasted a couple hours, not to mention ignored my husband during the time we can actually relax and spend together. 

Lately I have been so busy at work that I haven't been letting it all get to me as much, but this weekend we had no particular plans, so it all just became so much more in my face and on my mind. A lot of our friends now have kids and can't just go out at the drop of a hat anymore. And so we find ourselves even more lost in this place between just married and parenting. People who just got married are having babies already, and it feels unfair to be married 5 years and still be a family of two. I know that we don't "deserve" a child, as a child is purely a gift. It's really not up to us. And I know God has great plans for us, even if sometimes it feels like we've made a wrong turn somehow that has gotten us in this totally lost place. I know and believe all these things, but it doesn't mean that I won't have a day like today where I get greedy and want control.

I've really struggled a lot with just living my life and not always focusing on the future. I've been at a standstill for the past couple of years, and it is just so silly. I am so very blessed, but all I can seem to do is focus on this desire for a child most of the time. It's beginning to feel like it will never happen. And so here I am... stuck.

At least I'm not alone in the wait :)

7 Quick Takes #3

I haven't really had much time or motivation to write anything lately, so I guess doing a quick takes link-up is a good place to start. So here goes. Since work has been the main thing going on right now, that's what I'm focusing on this time. I guess a break from the baby drama isn't the worst thing once in a while.

Have I mentioned how much I love the new class on my caseload? (at my new school, not the rough one) Oh, let me count the ways...

1. I love the staff that I work with. The teacher is Catholic, as in we sit at lunch and have conversations about it. It's pretty wonderful! And her uncle is a priest. It's just so darn refreshing!

2. I laugh or hold back a laugh at least 10 times a day! We have kids breaking into yoga poses randomly, squirrel funerals (see #4), one kid telling another to "Get outta here!" and using it quite appropriately I must say, a little dance we call the Friday dance, and a little peanut whose giggle is just infectious.

3. We take a community trip almost every Friday. And we are talking fun stuff here... mini golfing, apple orchard, McDonalds, the library, just to name a few.

4. They named a squirrel that hangs out near the school (probably actually several different squirrels) Chewy. They recently witnessed Chewy's friend Thewy get hit by a car. May he rest in peace.

Orginal photo here

5. When asked his favorite restaurant, one of the kids was trying to think of the name of his. He said, "It starts with an S (turns out it was an H), has two O's, and there's an owl!" Anyone wanna take a guess as to which restaurant this sweet, innocent 3rd grader was talking about? Yup, Hooters... oh boy!

6. They remember what I teach them a whole week later! It's pretty amazing :) I'm not exactly used to that. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the kids I have worked with in the past, but this is certainly refreshing.

7. If I could, I would seriously take home each and every one of them. There really isn't a bad one in the bunch. Sure they get silly- cheating at games and sneaking links for their reward system- but they are just so full of joy. It's hard to get upset with any one of them.

7.5 I ran out of quick takes without sharing the best story yet. Now, I wasn't here for this one, but it's still just as good hearing it secondhand. So almost all of our kids take a bus to and from school. Each bus has a bus driver and an assistant. The kids wear a harness, so the assistant's job is to hook their harnesses on the bus. Keep that in mind as I continue. On the bus that most of my students take, it is a husband and wife team. The husband, Mr. E drives, and his wife assists on the bus. One day, one of the assistants in our classroom asked one of the kids who the lady was that helped Mr. E on the bus. Our student responded, "Oh, that's his hooker."

Original photo found here

(Keep in mind, this student has no clue of the meaning of the word you are probably thinking- I hope. He just knows she hooks his harness on the bus!) That goes down as one of the best stories to date at work.

And that is why the new classroom on my caseload rocks!