Miller Plus One

Thanks to our friend Kevin Tucker ( www.collidecreative.com ) for our new logo!! This coming Saturday, I will turn 37.  37.  I can hardly believe it.  Some of the friends who are my age already have a kid who is going into or even coming out of high school.  Sometimes I wonder what in the world I'm doing by trying to become a mom for the first time at 37.  But then I remember the details and the journey that has led me to this point.  None of it would be possible without the others, so I am grateful for what it is. For those who don't know, we received a possible referral last month, just 24 days after our home study had been approved.  It was a healthy baby boy in another state and we were contacted by Bethany to see if we wanted them to send our profile to the other state for consideration for the baby.  We said yes and after about three weeks, we were informed that the baby had been matched with a family in the state where he was.  Ult...

For those of you who follow the traditional church calendar, you know that Advent doesn't start until later in the year, in the weeks leading up to Christmas.  It is a time of expectant hope that our Savior will come to us!  I have always been fascinated with Advent since I was first introduced to the concept as a teenager.  My favorite Advent hymn is "O Come O Come Emmanuel" because of its haunting tune and striking lyric.  In the same verse, the singer is earnestly asking for Emmanuel to come and ransom her soul that has been exiled, and before the verse has ended, she is rejoicing because she has received knowledge that indeed Emmanuel shall come!  When I had my "pregnancy plan" all figured out (laugh), I always wanted to be pregnant during advent.  I thought it would be amazing to experience the Advent season in hopeful expectation of my baby's birth, as Mary did as she anticipated the birth of Christ.  The feelings and emotions of carrying a ba...

Well here it is!  The post where I shout "We're (paper) pregnant!!!"  We found out yesterday, after we came home from Vacation Bible School with about 90 kids!!!  Ironic, huh?  As I was running through the halls chasing the children last night someone said "are you sure you still want one?"  I said "yes, just one!"  It was the day after Father's Day and we had both commented to each other that hopefully, this is the last Father's Day before Justin is a dad and the last Father's Day before we start sending "Grandpa" cards to my dad, Doug, and Vince.  We are thrilled and will definitely keep you posted!

There is a baby bed in my house.  A baby bed.  The night Justin put it together, I just sat there in the room and looked at it.  I thought, "this room is way too quiet."  It's exciting to think that at some point (soon, we hope) there will be a resident in that room!  Today I ask that you remember us in prayer as we are considering some other life decisions that will affect our family in positive ways.  God is opening some doors for us and my prayer is that we will have the courage to walk through and know that God will be waiting for us on the other side. Hopefully, my next post will be to shout "I'm paper pregnant!"  That is the term used in the adoption world when our home study is finally approved and we are officially WAITING...

We've got the adoption bug for sure and I came across a website thanks to another adopting couple that I just love!  It's www.adoptionbug.com and they have some of the best adult t-shirts, infant onsies, and toddler shirts that I have seen.  We will be registering with them soon, so hold off on ordering something until you hear from me.  You see, our adoption fund will benefit from your purchase with no upfront cost to us.  I will explain more later, but for now, go ahead and figure out what you want! As for the process, we are just weeks away from being 'paper pregnant!'  The baby bed is being delivered TODAY and we are ecstatic.  We have finished up the interview process, the paperwork, the home visit, and our profile book for the birth moms and now we are just waiting for the agency to let us know that our home study is approved!!  There is quite a misconception out there that the home visit is the home study.  Quite the contrary, the home...

--Our Sunday School class-- We have had a couple of really busy weeks, both with adoption movement and life in general.  The Nashville flood has left parts of our city in shambles, but it has been amazing to see the volunteer effort and the resiliency of our people.  Justin and I have been involved in the clean-up and have been so proud to be Nashvillians.  Two weeks ago, we had our first interview with the adoption agency.  You may wonder why this was the first interview, since we have been in the adoption process since January.  Bethany waits to formally interview adoptive couples until after all of the paperwork has been turned in.  The interview itself was very relaxed and conversational.  Our adoption social worker is wonderful at what she does and we feel blessed to have her walking with us.  For nearly two hours, she talked with us, asked questions about our lives, how we met, how we fight, what we like to do.  These interviews are...

This past Wednesday morning, we finally sat down with Bethany staff for our first face-to-face interview.  We have been talking with folks from Bethany all along the way via e-mail, training events, etc., but it was nice to have our worker all to ourselves for an hour and a half so we could ask questions, she could get to know us, and we could all continue to be on the same page regarding our upcoming adoption. As I sit here on this stormy, dark Saturday morning, I can't help imagining what Saturdays will be like when our baby comes home.  Last weekend, a friend from South Carolina, her husband, and their four children visited and stayed with us.  The house was chaotic, loud, and oh so much fun!  I wasn't sure how Justin and I would do with the craziness...we have grown accustomed to having our schedule fit our lives and our home as our sanctuary.  But we loved having them here and playing with the kids.  We have (at least) a head...