Blessings Abound

Just last weekend I packed up all of our belongings and moved it all too a storage unit. And I'll be honest, my wonderful husband and 2 of his brothers did all the moving, I just watched, drove around and took a few last pictures of our first home.

Once everything was packed into the 15 by 20 unit, I felt a little sad; our WHOLE house could fit into one little room! While I know I have a lot of stuff; I felt like maybe I didn't have enough... and then as I checked some blogs today I found this:

http://buildingtheblocks.blogspot.com/2009/05/how-will-we-be-remembered.html

IRL (in real life) I know nothing of the Blocks, in the blogging world I've read their blog for a while and find myself enthralled by this wonderful family. IRL I try so hard to live by faith, in the blogging world Amy is the epitome of it. And this blog entry just spoke to me; it broke my heart, angered me and caused even more of a stir in my heart that tells me that I can't just sit here and do nothing.

I (and if you're reading this you probably are too) am so blessed. I have so much; never once do I go to bed hungry, have no clothes to wear, worry about a roof over my head. I am blessed beyond reasons I will never understand. Even if I lost my job, my house, my car and all of my belongings there are people in my life who would help me. Where are the people who will help them? Who is going to help these starving, homeless people?

Mother Teresa once said "When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed." And I know that I may not be able to change the world but maybe, just maybe, I can change the world for one child. And we will. I have totally fallen in love with Ethiopia, God has pulled our hearts to this country and I can't wait to see how God uses Ethiopia to grow our family.

Speaking of our family growing - Matt and I are so excited for June 11th. And when I use the word excited it encompasses more feelings than I ever thought possible. There's a quote in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix where Hermione is telling Harry and Ron all the different emotions Cho Chang is feeling and Ron responds with "One person couldn't feel all that, they'd explode!" Hermione's response "Just because you have the emotional range of a teaspoon" is humorous but I understand what Ron is saying because since Tuesday, that's pretty much how I've felt - like exploding! Please pray for us as June 11th approaches: that we're not too nervous and we're calm and ourselves. That this bm will see in us in person what put us at the top of her list of prospective adoptive parents. Please pray for God's will for us, this young lady and of course for this baby, who could be ours.

Love & Blessings, Meredith

~~~Have you counted your blessings lately~~~

Reserved Excitement

I hesitated posting about our latest development in our adoption journey, knowing this could lead to nothing, end in heart ache or potentially be the start of a beautiful new beginning. But with thoughtful consideration I figured why not? The more people who know what step we are at in this process the more prayers that can be poured out on our behalf.

In March, when we turned in our life book and said farewell to MCB she said that the next time we'd hear from her would be if someone wanted to meet us. When Matt's phone rang at 6:33 last night hearing from her was the farthest thing from my mind. When Matt came by me at the desk and jotted down June 11th, 4:45, I stole the pen and wrote MCB?. He just smiled and nodded and my heart started to pound. After agonizing minutes (actually probably 30 seconds) he hung up and gave me the news... a birth mother wants to meet with us. I can't even explain the intial excitement; I've never felt so overwhelmed, happy, excited, pensive, sad and grateful all at the same time.

Overwhelmed because while it seems like we've waited a LONG time, we really haven't and I was truly not expecting to hear from MCB anytime soon. Happy and excited; well those are the obvious feelings - we've wanted a baby for what seems like forever, so this call could be the answer to our (and yours) prayers. I felt pensive because quickly I realized that this was just an interview; we may not be what the birth mother (bm) is looking for, we may not feel comfortable with her... we just may not click.

And I felt an overwhelming sadness. I'm so sad that this young woman is making this sort of decision when she could be thinking about school activities, summer plans and the latest gossip at school. Sad because this meeting could just be another one of those faith lessons God is teaching us. Please when (if) you pray for us also include our potential bm; that she finds God's comfort during this trying time, that she stays healthy during and after her pregnancy and that she can find peace in the decision she's making.

The gratitude I feel is beyond words. I am so grateful that a 15 year old could make the right decision and chose life rather than having an abortion. Grateful to Matt that he contacted MCB in the first place, to MCB that she took us on, her youngest couple ever and shared our lifebook. I feel immensely grateful to the fact that we may not have to wait years after completing our lifebook before a bm chooses us.

I feel grateful to everyone who helped with ideas, advice and prayers as we tried to complete our lifebook, to FedEx Kinko's for putting our finishing touches on our book and mostly, ultimately to God. He knows our path, he's directed our path and whether or not this baby becomes our baby He will be with us through it all. As the next 15 days pass Deuteronomy 31:8 will become my mantra: "The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged." It's comforting to know that God is already there: on June 11th when we meet the bm, the days following when she makes her decision and even the end of October when the baby is due. He's there and right now that provides my comfort.

Thank you for sharing this journey with us, I can't wait to see where this new path leads.

Love & Blessings, Meredith

We participate in "Pray for Me... Pray for Others" on the Riggs Family Blog. Check out their blog to add your prayer request. Join a community of friends who care about you, and hope you will care about them.

They Were Given a Chance

In my opinion adoption is a win-win situation. The adoptive parents are given the most wonderful gift I can ever imagine; a family, the baby is given a chance at a wonderful life they may have never known and the birth mother who is not quite ready to be a mother can hopefully have closure in a positive, yet still very painful, path. Adoption is about love and love is a good thing. It's also about giving people a chance; a chance to be a mother or father or a chance to grow up in a home, cherrished and loved. Adoption is a good thing and from our experience in adopting, past, present and future, I expect good things!

All of these people were given a chance; now I just wait for our chance; to be parents, to have a family and to give life, just not in the traditional way!




God Bless, Meredith

Don't forget to pause the music at the bottom before you hit play!

3, 36 or 1069

This was supposed to post yesterday, not sure what happened - probably just another case of my computer illiteracy.

Matt and I just shared a spectacular meal (one I didn't cook!) celebrating our anniversary. It's hard to believe that another year has passed in this stage of our life. In some ways I feel like we've been together ever; part of me can't even remember what life was like before we were married. In other ways it feels like we were just married: I can almost feel the nerves as I waited with my friends and family to walk down the aisle and the relief I felt when Matt yelled up the stairs "I'm here." Feels like yesterday, yet I can't remember what life was like without him.

On my way home from meeting with Pastor Brian today, I heard the song When God Made You by Newsong, and even though I'm younger than Matt (okay, only one day), the line "When God made you, He must have been thinking about me" just rang out. It rang out the truth that I am just beginning to grasp; that God knows everything that will ever. He knows the past, present and future and while I may not understand the path He put me on or know exactly what His will is... He does. God knows, and there is so much comfort in that. God knew that Matt would be perfect for me, that he would compliment and complete everything I am.

This blog has turned into so much more than just a way to find a birth mother; it's cathartic when I write about how I'm feeling through , it's a great way to keep family updated and I've "met" some incredible people. I love the blog world and while my husband was a little bit unsure of what we should share on it, like everything he supported what I was interested in doing, encouraged me and watched me grow.

Matt is the reason for this post, and for the title of the post. You see, I thought that I would would write him a letter listing all of the reasons that I love him. First I thought of doing it by days we've been married, 1069 (there was a leap year in there) but that would just be way too time consuming, so I figured I'd do 36 reasons - 1 for each month. Then life got busy and I lost track of the days. So I figured I'd just list 3 BIG reasons why I love him. But then, I didn't even have time to do that, silly busy life! And then I checked our blog today and realized that I hadn't updated it for a while, which of course in my convuluted mind, led me to thinking that while I've shared a lot about myself and our life together, I never really shared about Matt. So I figured I'd tell the WORLD, or the few people who check our blog, why I am so lucky to have been married to Matt for 3 years.

1. Matt accepts me for me. The slightly neurotic, obsessive, emotional girl that I am; he takes me as I am and for that I am so lucky.
2. Matt puts me first. He is so incredibly unselfish and whether he wants to or not, he always thinks of me and what I need before he thinks of himself. I am so fortunate.
3. He chooses to love me everyday. I'm a firm believer that love is more than a feeling, it's a choice and on May 13, 2006 in front of our friends, family and most importantly God we entered into the covenant of marriage embracing the traditional vows and choosing to love. And in 1069 days, 36 months, 3 years or even 25656 hours Matt has always chosen to love me. And for that, I am incredibly blessed.

God certainly new what he was doing when Matt and I met on that cold March evening, and as we wait for the next stage of our life to begin (our adoption); I will wait patiently (sometimes), anxiously, excitedly and most importantly I will be waiting with my best friend, my one and only, my real-life prince charming.

Love & Blessings, Meredith

We participate in "Pray for Me... Pray for Others" on the Riggs Family Blog. Check out their blog to add your prayer request. Join a community of friends who care about you, and hope you will care about them.

Waiting is the Hardest Part

The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you see one more card
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part...

Tom Petty sure had that right. I'm not a very impatient person, but I'm not doing a good job being patient as we wait right now.

Now we're a couple of weeks in the waiting process; each day I pray that MCB (adoption attorney) will call and say she has a birth mother that would like to meet with us. Less frequently, but still almost daily, I pray that Pastor Bill will call and say that he has a birth mother that would like to meet us. I know that we've just begun the waiting game of the adoption process, I would just prefer not to have to wait much longer. I think that that's probably the wish of every perspective adoptive couple though.

We've made a little bit of progress in furthering our goal to get our story and names out there. Matt and I designed business cards with our information and leave them in different places we go too. We've also given a bunch to our families so that our story can be spread to the different places that they frequent as well. Anybody else want some to pass out; leave at restaurants or slip in library books?

I also started a facebook account, per MCB's suggestion. ParentProfiles.com was her other suggestion, but... the monthly fee was a bit more than we expected. To be honest, I didn't expect a fee at all... but I suppose everything does have a price. Anybody else have any suggestions, anything you used? Our lawyer said if our wait became too long that she's had clients put ads in papers, on billboards, etc. I don't feel that we're at that point yet, and I pray that we don't have to wait that long to get to that point.

Speaking of prayer...did you know that today marks the first time since 1952 when President Truman signed it into law that the National Day of Prayer was not recognized by the president. A paper proclomation was made early this morning but for the 1st time ever there was no public event, no White House prayer, no interfaith outreach, nothing. Makes you wonder, doesn't it? Open the paper, turn on the t.v. or log onto the internet and it's pretty obvious the perils this country is facing... I wonder what we'd be facing as a country if we embraced prayer instead of scorn, love instead of judgement? Who knows, just a thought. I suppose it's a good thing that places like these:



are on the internet, so that people that want to pray have somewhere to congregate; a community of people to care and pray for one another. Like we all couldn't use a few more people praying for us, hehe!

Love & Blessings, Meredith