Snow Day Adventures Begin!

The snow is beautiful!  We haven't had a good snow since early November.  I feel like if it's going to be so cold, we might as well have snow to cover up the gray and dead ground... so we were all excited to hear of a potential snow storm!  Little Missy has been asking for snow & outside ("moee" and "outsigh") all morning... but it didn't take long for her to ask for "insigh" when she felt the snow & wind still coming down.  Hope y'all are staying warm & cozy today!

It's Monday Already!

I've been preparing for our spring photoshoot and styling some gorgeous accessories with the scarves.  I kept my camera out today after I took a few photos of Vera & I was reminded that I need to take more "real" photos!  These kiddos are changing so much... and sweet Vali sure is turning gray in the face.

How precious is this headband from Plum Polka Dot!? and those curls too :)

I hope all of you have a great start to your week! Here's to extra coffee & a productive Monday! xoxo

February "Give": The Hudson Family

Happy February- a new month & a new give scarf family!   I'm always so thankful for these sweet families who offer to share their hearts & adoption journey with us and for all of YOU who rally around them with your prayers and support.  Here is a little bit about the Hudson Family...

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Darin grew up in Solsberry, Indiana, and I grew up in Ross, Ohio.  Darin moved to Cincinnati to attend Cincinnati Christian University, and later became the worship and programming minister at Bridgetown Church of Christ.  We were introduced there one Sunday, but Darin does not really remember meeting me.  My sister and her husband invited me to dinner one night, and later told me that Darin would be there, as well.  I was hesitant to join them for dinner that evening, but decided to go anyway.  Long story short, their plan to set us up worked and we fell in love!

While we were dating we shared about our dream of having a family that didn’t quite look like the “average” American family.  We dreamt of having biological children, as well as adopting children from another country.  And while our original picture of adoption has changed over the last 10 years, our desire has only grown. 

Darin is now the Worship and Outreach Minister at White Oak Christian Church’s Ross Township Campus.  I am in my eighth year as a middle school special education teacher.  We have been married for nine years and have two biological sons, Jonathan (5 years), and Owen (22 months).  We moved to Ross a little over a year ago after God called Darin to his new position with White Oak.

We had planned on beginning our adoption journey in 2012.  Then our church began a building campaign, and we delayed our dreams of adopting to follow God’s leading to give sacrificially for His kingdom here on earth.  In order to give the way in which God was calling us to, Darin and I both knew that we had to delay our adoption.  This was not an easy, pain-free decision, but then again, sacrifice isn’t supposed to be easy.  In order to truly feel the sacrifice, it is supposed to hurt.  Many tears were shed, and I remember even questioning God, and being humbled by His response when asking, “Why?”  His response was simply that He might be glorified.  (You can read more about what led us to this sacrifice on my blog by following the link http://amakajoys.blogspot.com/2012/05/stork-part-ii.html.)

During the early months of the building campaign we conceived our second son, which we truly believe was God’s way of showing us that He honored our sacrifice.  Even though God called us away from our former church to our current church in the midst of the campaign, we felt God calling us to fulfill our commitment to Him by completing the campaign along with the rest of the congregation.

Throughout our journey so far, we have learned much about what it means to give sacrificially and to trust in God’s ultimate plan for our lives.  Although our original time-frame for adopting was not fulfilled, our adoption is happening in God’s timing, and we are overjoyed.  We have chosen to adopt our child (or children, if we get matched to a sibling pair) from Uganda, “the pearl of Africa”, because God put this country on our hearts a long time ago.  Our application has been approved and we have completed the orientation phase.  We have chosen our home study agency, which will begin soon.  The current time-frame for our adoption is 1 ½ - 2 years. 

Please keep our family in your prayers as we continue this amazing journey of sacrifice and love without borders.  You are welcome to follow our blog at www.amakajoys.blogspot.com to stay up to date on our adoption journey and our daily lives.  Thank you for being a part of this journey with us!

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All of the profit from the February Give Scarves will go directly to the Hudson family and their adoption costs. Thank you for your generosity!  This month's Give Scarf is... 

 

If you are interested in sharing your story & being featured for the Give Scarf, email me at everydaypitpat@gmail.com :)