How It All Started

                                                                    WELCOME!

Andrew and I have realized in the past few weeks that not many people really know what God has been doing in our lives as of late. So, we decided that starting this blog would be a wonderful way to open our home and hearts so everyone can see God's Grace and perfect plan for adoption in our family.   

How the idea of Adoption  Started

As many already know, I (Listyn) had a very difficult pregnancy. Andy too I guess right?

Well, I had a condition called hyperemesis Gravidarum. I had a pretty severe case of this wonderful diagnosis, which long story short meant that I couldn't eat, drink, or breath anything without vomiting. So, with all this going on, Landyn was born early and BOOM! I was better! It was like the crazy switch had just flipped off as soon as the baby left my body. The hostile environment in my tummy had been subsided  and I was free to move into the next exciting stage of life. Well, that stage wasn't all it was cracked up to be, because we were now faced with some decision making about having more children and if it would even be possible to have another. The information we pulled from doctors visits and long discussions not only as husband and wife but as a Mommy and Daddy lead us to the conclusion that we shouldn't risk it. 

There really is no safe way for me to have another child without the 50/50 chance that it will come back stronger and harder with an almost absolute idea that I will be putting my life in danger . At least not with what they know about hyperemesis right now. And perhaps down the road something will change, but for now we know that we do not have peace with the idea of  risking my life and the possibility of Landyn growing up without a mom if something were to go wrong. Also, at that time we couldn't even imagine the cost of such a high risk pregnancy, I would have had to be under constant supervision with in-home care and my doctor said that with how bad it was this first time, she was surprised my esophagus didn't already tear. 

This was not news that any woman would ever desire to hear. I will not sugar coat this, my first reactions were purely and entirely out of bitterness and heart ache. But, after a while God slowly turned my bitterness to thankfulness (for the fact that I now had a beautiful baby boy that somehow turned out perfect inside mommy's hostile tummy) and my clouded judgment was turned to His truth. I learned to cling to Christ more than I ever had in the past. Though getting better, I was still very anxious about the decision  for our  family. I still felt that there was something more. I didn't have peace about anything .

" ⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!

⁵ Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."         

Philippians 4:4-7 

  Sitting on my bed one morning I made my request known to God, and on this rare occasion he answered me right away, as if he had been waiting for me this whole time. God gave me a overwhelming amount of peace and I knew from that moment on that we were to open our hearts and arms to "God's Children". Landyn is no more mine than Andy is. I was looking at my situation the wrong way, God gives us children, not women, nor do women' bodies, now we obviously help out a bit, but what God made perfectly clear that morning was that he wants us to love His Children, and He just might have a child in mind already. So, with perfect timing Andy came into the room and sat down next to me and  asked  "What are you thinking?" Well, without hesitation I turned to him and  threw out a "Well, hunney we are supposed to adopt... and I have complete peace with the idea". To which he answered, "So do I".  God is so good! I hadn't even talked to Andy about it yet, and he had already been working in my husbands heart. From that point on we were pursuing adoption. We got in contact with an agency (Bethany Christian Services) and told our immediate families what God had put on our hearts.

^{" 3}Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

⁴ According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

⁵ Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

⁶ To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."

Ephesians 1:3-6

 That all happened three years ago now. Andrew and I ,through God's grace and love, have never wavered from His plan for our family, even though it has taken more time than we would like, we are very confidant that this is in His time. So, without further ado, the reason for us telling you this now is because after three years we finally have a ending date for the approval paperwork and we will be on the waiting list after we turn in a family portfolio. October 1st is when the paper work is done and we start the portfolio so we are beyond excited that we are actually making progress. 

Even though the waiting coming up could still take time, we would just like to offer our adoption story to you perhaps as encouragement of God's Grace, Truth and Faithfulness and just information about where we are and what is going on. We would also like to make it a habit to ask for you prayer and loving support through encouragement and love. We will be postings as often as we can about our happenings and how Landyn feels about this and what we are doing to incorporate the ideas of adoption and siblings. 

We have a lot to talk about!! so if you feel up to it you are more than welcome to read, comment and join in we would love it if you did.

                                                             

                                                            "Children Of God"

Praise to the Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ
Our God and our King, to Him we will sing
In His great mercy, He has given us life
Now we can be called the children of God

Great is the Love that the Father has given us
He has delivered us
He has delivered us

Children of God, sing your song and rejoice
For the love that He has given us all
Children of God, by the blood of His Son
We have been redeemed and we can be called
Children of God
Children of God

A mystery is revealed to the universe
The Father above has proven His love
Now we are free from the judgment that we deserve
And so we are called the children of God

We are the saints
We are the children
We've been redeemed
We've been forgiven
We are the sons and daughters of our God

                                                                     By: Third Day