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Thursday, April 16, 2015

TEN Years!!!

Today is our 10th Anniversary!  

It's been ten years of highs, lows, and a lot of just everyday life:

2005
-We got married!
-We went and worked at a fishing lodge in a neighbouring province for the first 4 months of our married life.  I had 2 seizures there and one shortly thereafter.
-After the lodge we came back and Hubby resumed working at a boat factory while I stayed at home.
-We lived in a borrowed camper trailer on our yard while we helped renovate a tiny, uninhabited house that we rented from Hubby's parents.  
-Just in time for winter, we moved into said tiny house.
-We got our first [outdoor] cat, followed over the next 7 years by a succession of many more outdoor cats!
2005
 2006
-We got our "baby", our [indoor] cat, Smacky.  He was ours for 7 years and still remains in our hearts.
-My brother and his wife came home from China with their daughter whom they adopted at the age of 22 months; I now had 3 wonderful nieces.
-Hubby got laid off from his job at the boat factory just before Christmas.  He immediately went and got hired driving semi-truck long distance.
2006
2007
-After 4 years of being on antidepressants and living with depression, anxiety, and physical side effects for those 4 years, we caught on that the drugs were doing the damage, and I spent the following 4 months withdrawing from them, and the next number of months and years recovering.
-In the middle of the brutal drug withdrawal, Hubby & I went on a really great trip to Oshkosh, WI for the biggest annual airshow in the world.
-My biological clock kicked in and I started wanting to start a family.
-We bought the house we were renting.
2007
2008
-Hubby left his job driving truck and went to work as a flight instructor.  The new job didn't pay as well as planned and caused us a lot of financial struggles.
-We got another [indoor] cat, Chilla, whom we had for 2 years.
-We went on an amazing trip with my brother, sister-in-law, and their almost-4-year-old daughter whom we got to babysit for a chunk of the trip.
-After almost 3 years seizure-free, I had two this year.
2008
2009
-Hubby had to quit flight instructing and went and got a job driving gravel truck, because we were weeks away from going bankrupt.  Later in the year he switched back to driving semi-truck, but this time around he was home every night.
-I went through a lot of negative health experiences, some of which were short-lived and some of which I am still dealing with.  I had an exploratory laparoscopy as well and got my appendix out at the same time.
-We gradually quit attending our church that we'd been part of for about the last 5 years, due to both my poor health that wasn't allowing me to get up in the mornings and our changing spiritual beliefs.
2009
2010
-I continued to experience more poor health.
-We took a major step and quit trying to conceive, causing a lot of grieving, and started switching me from one seizure med to another, and decided to adopt.
2010
2011
-I completed the change from one seizure med to the other.
-Started the process of subdividing our land, which was a huge, long hassle.
-We had to wait for the medication change to be over, and our land to be subdivided and sold, before we moved any further forward with adoption.  I spent a lot of time researching adoption and reading adoption blogs.
2011
2012
-My oldest sister (but only 35) got diagnosed with breast cancer.  It was a very rough year for her, her daughters, and our family.  Thankfully she is fine now!
-I turned 30. 
-In preparation for moving and hopefully adopting a baby, we reluctantly gave away our cat, my baby, Smacky.  We also gave away our precious last outdoor kitty, Buddy.
-We sold our land and our house.
-We applied for adoption and got to work on the approval process.
2012
2013
-We moved out of the country and into a condo in town, and renovated it.
-Hubby quit driving semi-truck and started dispatching at the same place, and then was shortly let go from the job due to being unwilling to break the law.
-We got approved to adopt!
-I became an independent rep for Regal Gifts, but still stay at home.
-Hubby resumed flight training and passed his flight tests, put in resumes for flying jobs, and started driving gravel truck.
2013
2014
-We tried to sell our condo but after a few months on the market with no bites, took it off again.
-We had our annual update and found out we had been shown to zero expectant parents in the last year.
-After almost 6 years of being seizure-free, I had another one.
-Hubby turned 30.
-We found out near the end of the year, that in the last six months, we had been shown 3 times!
2014
2015
-We put our condo up for sale again.
-I had another seizure.  I plan on going up on my meds to better control my epilepsy; I want to be the best mom possible if God so chooses for me to be a mom.
-We are busy working on our annual update for adoption and excitedly planning our 10th anniversary road trip!
2015

Happy Anniversary, Lee!

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Motherhood Month - 16

Progress:  1 year + 11 months since we were approved to adopt.  Working on our annual update.

How I'm Feeling:  It's been rough.  I've been feeling like I've lost support from people who previously supported us in our adoption journey.  Also, I'm realizing that after 2 years I can't still expect people to be excited for us; adopting is on our minds more than others and I have to tell myself that's okay.  I was feeling insecure and needing some validation so there was some crying on Sunday, but my mom is so sweet; she could tell immediately what was wrong and knew just what to say to comfort and encourage me, and let me cry on her shoulder.  So at the same time as things being rough there have been good things that have come out of it.

Craving:  Nothing, really, as far as food goes.

Thoughts About Our Future Child:  I just hope you will always feel as loved as you are.

Thoughts About Our Child's Expectant Mom:  Looking forward to getting to know you.

Most Recent Baby Purchase/Gift:  Nothing lately.




Friday, April 10, 2015

His Steadfast Love is Clear

I admit I'm feeling a little disheartened lately.

We've got a lot going on.  Our annual adoption update, planning our 10-year anniversary vacation, selling our house, applying for jobs, and getting a grip on my health.  Amongst all that is everyday-life responsibilities.

Oddly enough, I feel like I am really growing spiritually while at the same time feeling like God is not being overly clear-spoken.

I have to cling to His promises, His truths, and what is clear. 

I've been reading a lot in the Psalms lately, and I have been both encouraged and taught a lot.  I've also been re-reading the book "Fear Not" by a compilation of authors.  Here are some bits & pieces of what I have been learning lately:

- God's chosen path for me may be a more difficult one than the one I would choose, yet it may be a more fulfilling one.
- I can only see the steps in front of me.  I cannot see around the curves ahead.  My future here on earth is unknown to me. 
- The future is in God's hands.  He knows the best path for me.  He can see all the steps ahead.

- There is no problem so big or too hard for God to solve.
- The reason I know this is because He solved the hardest problem ever - a perfect God forgiving sinners who deserved death.  He managed to do this without breaking any promises nor compromising His perfect love and perfect justice.

- God's love is absolutely steadfast.  Man will fail me.  But God = steadfast love.  Just look at these verses:
  • "But I, through the abundance of Your steadfast love will enter Your house..."  Psalm 5:7
  • "But I have trusted in Your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation."  Psalm 13:5
  • "Remember Your mercy, O Lord, and Your steadfast love, for they have been from of old."  Psalm 25:6
  • "All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness..."  Psalm 25:10
  • "For Your steadfast love is before my eyes..."  Psalm 26:3
  • "...save me in Your steadfast love!"  Psalm 31:16
  • "Blessed be the Lord, for He has wondrously shown His steadfast love to me..."  Psalm 31:21
  • "Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens...How precious is Your steadfast love, O God!"  Psalm 36:5 & 7
- God is the God of comfort.  Nobody - not even my sweet, caring husband who knows me so well - understands me the way God does.
  • "Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.  The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer."  Psalm 6:8-9 
To quote John MacArthur in my Bible's notes on the above verses, "Out of his dire straits, boldness surprisingly breaks through as he addresses his enemies.  This boldness has only one basis, that the psalmist's confidence is wholly grounded upon his Lord's attention and ultimate intervention." 

And here is one of my favourite comfort verses:

"The Lord is near to the brokenhearted 
and saves the crushed in spirit."  
Psalm 34:18