Tiny Tot & Toothless...

will be the names of the precious children we got on Thursday evening! Tiny Tot is adorable with her big grown eyes! Several had told us that she was small, but she is SMALL!!! In August she turns 2 and she is about the size of a 1 year old. She might be 20lbs. Our fire ball of a boy has a smile that melts your heart and yes at 3 years old he lacks his 2 front teeth, therefore the name Toothless. I can absolutely see how he lost them, this little guy has got tons of energy!

Toothless was thrilled when he came into the house. He wanted to play with every single toy. Tiny Tot just wanted to be close to her brother. Which is completely understandable given the past 2 weeks of their lives. They are the only constant in each other lives at this point. Our first night went better than expected. We had gotten reports that neither were eating or sleeping. God graciously gave us the strength and them peace to rest. We began bed time at 10:30 and they didn't fall asleep until close to 1:00. Both slept well. So we were pleased with their first night. Eating hasn't been a problem either. They both have done fabulously. Toothless had 2 bowls of oatmeal for breakfast yesterday and Tiny Tot LOVES bananas!!!

Our plan for day 2 was to play hard without naps. They had been getting naps at the last place, but none of us could keep up with midnight bedtimes. It amazes me that Tiny Tot can go without a nap. After lunch she did fall asleep for a few minutes on Byron (who she ADORES) but, as soon as he went to put her in bed she woke up. 9:00 was bedtime last night. Within 10 minutes they were both asleep. As I type this they are both still sleeping. Toothless did wake up once, but I quickly reassured him that everything was okay and he went right back to sleep. They are both getting more comfortable. Last night after dinner Tiny Tot started to come out of her shell a bit. She has the cutest little Mickey Mouse voice. She is quite the little chatter box even though we can't understand or hear at times what she is saying! Toothless is fun and high energy. He has had a hard time listening and then applying what he has been told, but really we all have that. He really is doing quite well.

Jaycee and Jackson are doing great, too! Jaycee has struggled a bit b/c she so badly wants Tiny Tot to follow her around. We continue to encourage her that it will happen it just will take some time. Jaycee is such a big help! She is so sweet and kind to all of the kids! Jackson has done amazingly well. We can really see that he has matured and we see some of the seeds that have been planted in his heart starting to bloom. He has been very gracious at sharing things and has also been very mindful of the kids. Once again shows God's perfect timing to us. A year ago he would have not been this way at all. I am sure we will have plenty of melt downs, but thankful to see hope in the beginning.

Next challenge on the list is whether we should all attend church tomorrow or not. We absolutely want to, but not sure if Tiny Tot and Toothless will be ready for that. So much has changed in their little lives we do not want to create any more trauma. Of course we will be taking them to church, but they need first to feel secure enough with us to be in an environment like that. We will continue to lean on the guidance of the Holy Spirit! Thank you all for your prayers. We so appreciate it!!!

This is the day...

that the Lord has made and on this He has chosen our family to bring 2 toddlers into our home and we will rejoice and be glad in it!!! We will go this afternoon to DHS office to sign paperwork and then will be given 2 precious children. I can't even put into words how amazing God is. Byron and I stand in awe of how God is using us. Neither of us deserve or are equipped to do this on our own. It is only by God's grace that we can do this. I am so thankful that God is blessing us this way. He is opening the door for us to be able to SEE who He is! He is a father to the fatherless, defender, and protector of the orphans. We are going to SEE this played out in our lives as well as others! I am completely overwhelmed! The story of God and His redemptive plan through His Son Jesus gets absolutely more beautiful every day! His unconditional love for His children is truly unfathomable! I was going to include a picture of our van with 4 CARSEATS, but time isn't allowing that! This picture will be for sure one of my most treasured ones because it is SEEING God's work in our lives!!!!! (Can't wait to blog about the amazing work God is doing in the single mom as well! We serve such a mighty God!)

Could this be...

the day we bring more children into our home? I believe the ones who follow our family blog know that we have been in the process of becoming a foster family in Oklahoma. Its almost been a year since we made the call to learn more about becoming a foster family. Now, typically it wouldn't take a family a year, and yes we have been frustrated with the process more than once, but I can say God has known every detail and His timing is perfect. Byron and I have helped start Abba's Hands an adoption and orphan care ministry. For this ministry along with our own family we want to not only care and love for the children, but also the birth parents. Little did we know that we would have such a wonderful opportunity to do this. Last Sunday a young single mom attended our church for the first time. She has 2 toddler children that have been taken from her. She has found herself homeless and jobless. Our church has come alongside of her to show her Christ's love for her and to support and encourage her. Can I just say seeing the body of Christ at work is such a beautiful thing! We are so blessed that many families of our church are doers of the Word and not just hearers of the Word. We have devoted the last week to this single mom. She got her first job Saturday and starts work today. We hope to have her in an apartment by the beginning of next week. Today, our family hopes to open our home to her 2 precious children. I am humbled that God would even consider our family for this task. This is simply God at work! This is not something Byron and I would have ever dreamed of when we got married! So thankful God directs our path. Our faith has grown so much through this journey. Our dependence on God continues to grow. Honestly, it would be easy to throw in the towel, but when your focus is Christ and you meditate on what He has done for us, He gives you the strength and the perserevance to continue on. Our goal is not just to love and care for this mom and her children, but our goal is that they would come to know Jesus in an intimate way. We are willing to do what God calls us to do to welcome them into the family of God forever. So please be praying for this mom, her children, us, and our church. Pray that God would lead and that we would follow. That His wisdom, love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness would be made evident in all we do. My heart is filled with joy with our task at hand. I know that God has given this to us. He is our joy! He is our strength! He is our rock and refuge! He is our prized possession!

Making the blog private!

I recently made our blog private. With us getting close to becoming a foster family and by close I mean that tomorrow we could possibly have kids. We thought Friday we would have them, but are learning more everyday to lean on God and trust in His perfect timing. The realization hit that I (we) need to do our very best of keeping our children and the children in our home safe. Therefore I made our blog and my facebook page private. I will share stories of fostering on here, but no pictures. I will email pictures at different times of the kids in our home. Most likely will not use names either. Keeping a blog is a little easier then trying to keep up with emails I send out. Hopefully, I can keep you in the loop in our life, but can't promise you anything. We only have 2 kids now I am pretty lousy at this blogging stuff! So thankful for your prayers for our family as we walk out obedience to God. So much to share and hopefully soon I will. I will say this talking is absolutely different from walking. God has challenged me and grown my faith more in Him this past week than ever before! I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for that!!! So grateful for Him making the gospel visible to me and so many others this week!!!! What a mighty God we serve!!!