Merry Christmas!

 

It was such a joy to celebrate the birth of Christ this year.  2012 has been such a special year for us, obviously because of our sweet Jordan.  The verse that the Lord had put in my heart for the season was "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world."  John the Baptist proclaimed the Christ and we do the same when we celebrate Christmas.  I thought about this when I was putting lights on my tree and house.  And I thought about it every time I heard a song proclaiming the birth of Christ.  We are so blessed that He would come into this dark world to bring us the light of salvation.

 

So, how did we celebrate?  We spend four days with Blake's mom and the poor kid had to look at the gifts for long periods of time without tearing into them.  We saw this look alot!

 

And then this look!  He got alot of great toys.  They really are a blessing because he is really enjoying them.  They are a little more age-appropriate (poor kid was still playing with a rattle!) and a little more educational, too!

 

I got what I asked for last Christmas!  What a sweet blessing this boy has been to us!

Ten Months Old!!

 

Can you believe he is ten months old?  We're enjoying Christmas time.  Jordan is actually enjoying the tree without completely destroying it.  I can't leave him alone with it for too long...

 

This month he has acquired two bottom teeth and is very, very close to walking.  He is such a joy to us!

 

 

We have also been enjoying time with our international students from OU.  We said goodbye to two of them this week.  We were sad to see Ari (Turkey) and Lev (Peru) leave.  I hope they don't have too much culture shock going back to their home countries!

We Gotcha Jordan!

Tuesday, October 30 well forever be celebrated as Gotcha Day!  We had the privilege of going to court to finalize the adoption.  Jordan kept his hand up the whole time and really looked interested in what the lawyer and the judge were saying.  It was so special for our family!  We, of course, wished there were people who could have been there, but that's life and we wanted to celebrate our new family!

 

Even though we miss our family who isn't close, we are so blessed to have a church family who bless us in amazing ways.  One of our favorite ways is how they celebrate adoption.  So we threw a party and had Jordan's friends come and play with him.  He had a blast and we enjoyed getting to watch the kids love on him!

 

Here are some sweet kids who know a little about adoption:

 

 

Wrestling!

And finally, we got to enjoy Fall Festival at our church on Wednesday.  Jordan was Charlie Brown, which has been planned since he was born.  Isn't he a cute little Blockhead?? :)

 

Little Pumpkin

We took advantage of a Groupon and a GORGEOUS October Saturday to visit our local pumpkin patch.  It was so much fun and I hope it becomes a yearly tradition, especially the Groupon! :)

 

 

 

Anyone want to purchase a small Rascal?

 

Next year he can stand on his own, I hope!

 

Aunt Megan and Mimi came along!

 

Loves his animals!

 

Although he's not sure about goats.

Daddy blazed through the corn maze.

 

 

First bike ride

 

and hay ride!

 

Oh, and did I mention that we got to go to the set of Game Day.  We had a blast cheering on the Sooners in the cold.  We didn't go to the game, which was sad, but we love our football team, even when they lose!

One Week to Go!

Jordan's Gotcha Day will be next week!!!  We are so excited to make it official and be his family FOREVER!!  What a blessing from God to have the privelege to make this sweet boy our son and to just fall in love with him the way we have. 

This past week was so busy!  We did all kinds of things...Blake went to a Thunder game, Jordan and I had lunch with my friend Leah, we watched my cousin Clay's final road game of the year, went on a date, and went to Blake's family's annual hot dog roast.  Here are some pictures from the football game:

 

Fall!

 

The weather this week has been fantastic!  On Saturday our high was 50ish and I loved every second.  This is definately my favorite time of year.  I like the season changes and the fun traditions.  It's fun to start some new ones for our family!  We carved pumpkins for the first time.  Blake apparently is a master-carver.  He did a face in about 5 minutes with no planning.

 

 

 

I, on the other hand pulled off this amazing OU...

Only to see it collapse in on itself within two days.  Oh, well.  It was a good try!

 

The other great thing about the fall is OU football and it's always fun to watch a game with fellow Sooners.  We went to our friends house for the OU vs. Tech game and Jordan had a blast wrestling with their kiddos.  Nothing cuter than a bunch of crimson-clad kids. :)

 

 

On the Mommy front, I'm just about ready for this boy to start sleeping through the night.  I'm good and tired after 8 months of not sleeping.  I second guess myself alot.  Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing something to cause him to not sleep through the night.  But, really, I can't think of anything to do different.  Poor kid just gets hungry all of the time!  Someday...

Poor Little Fella

Last week started out really good!  We went to our friends Nick & Hailey's house.  They have a little boy named Rylan who is just a few weeks older than Jordan.  It is so fun to watch him interact with little people his age.  For a while they just kind of stared each other down and then there was some grabbing of eyeballs to make each other mad.  Hopefully as they get older, they will learn to play with each other more and stir each other up less!

 

One day during the week, I was in the kitchen and heard Jordan crying.  I went in and found him like this!

 

He got up there and couldn't get out!  He couldn't figure out how to bend his head. :)



 

Of course like any good mother, I ran and got the camera.  He's too cute and to ornery not to take advantage of a good stuck situation!

 

On Friday morning, he woke up in a terrible mood.  The night before he had slept through the night (I should have known!) and gave me some rest and a chance to have a decent quiet time and a cup of coffee before he got up.  He was super cranky so I put him back down for a nap and he slept for two hours (I should have known!).  Well, to make a long story short, he ended up in the ER later that night with a super-high fever.  It was not a fun experience, but he started getting better.

 

The problem the next day was that his sore throat kept him from eating, so by the end of the day, he was not well.  Poor little thing!  He still managed to smile for the camera.

 

Today he is much better, although a little cranky today too.  Makes a momma nervous!  Hopefully next time he will get sick when the doctor is in so we don't have to take him to the ER!

 

Regardless, God is good and healed him.  He's almost completely back to normal.  I missed my crazy little man!

Debate

I'm feeling kind of lazy so I don't want to go get the pics to put some up this week, so I'm just going to write my musings on the Presidential debate, just because I can!  First a couple of caveats:

1. I didn't vote for Romney in the primaries, I voted for Santorum because I believe he would do more for the unborn than Romney.

2. I will vote for Romney because I believe he will not advance abortion in America the way Obama has.  A stop-gap is better than nothing.

3. If abortion was not an issue, I would vote for Romney because he is the closest to my conservative views about the role of the goverment, taxes, individual responsiblity, etc.

That being said, Blake watched "Better Off Ted", Jordan slept, and I sat in the corner with my earbugs and watched the debate!  Poor Blake...I don't subject him to my political junkiness very often...but a girl's got to watch the Presidential debates, right?  It's just every 4 years!

So, my comments:

1. Poor Jim Lehrer...he didn't have such a great time.

2. Romney seemed to know what President Obama was going to attack him on.  A couple of times, he addressed them and then President Obama still harped on them. 

3. State rights vs. Federal oversight...that was a huge underlying theme!

4. Romney handled the Romneycare issue well, by changing the point to saying that it should be up to the state to oversee, not the federal government.

5. I think Romney won, but President Obama certainly held his own.  I don't think anyone would be changing their minds after the debate.

6. I am really disappointed that President Obama didn't lose his temper.  What a waste!

7. I hope that they have a different style of debate next time...there was too much wiggle room for both of the candidates.

8. I am really excited to see Ryan vs. Biden!

That's all...I hate posting stuff on Facebook because I hate debating.  You're not going to change my mind and I probably won't change yours!

One Step Closer...

We had a pretty laid back week, which was a nice change for the crazy pace we've been keeping lately!  It's fun to be busy but sometimes, we just need to go hang out at the park.  It is starting to cool down, so we're taking advantage of this perfect weather!

 

 

This week we got a letter from Deaconess (adoption agency) saying that they have send our paperwork to the lawyer!  What this means is that we are waiting on them to set a court date and we can celebrate Gotcha Day!  We are so excited to get this final step done and be Jordan's forever family forever.  We're not worried about losing him, but it will be nice to make it official!  I think he makes a pretty cute Lindley, don't you?

Jordan is all over the place.  He is so silly.  His new favorite play things are the door stoppers.  He hits them and they make funny noises.  And he's starting to venture into new places.  Our living room is pretty much baby-proofed, but now he's testing out other rooms!  He is a busy little explorer.  I have to keep a pretty close eye on him these days!

What a Good Daddy!

 

 

Our poor little man was sick this week.  He had a cold...which meant lots of sneezing, coughing, snot, etc.  And not much sleeping!

 

We had to cancel alot of plans this weekend to accomodate our little sickie but it ended up being a really nice, relaxed weekend.

 

 

The highlight for Jordan was going to the zoo.  I had some things to do on Sunday afternoon (and was exhausted from taking care of Jordan), so Blake decided that the two of them would go to the zoo.  Jordan really enjoyed gazing at the animals that close enough that he could see them.  His favorites were waterfalls, though!

Into Everything

Jordan's birthparents warned us that he would be high-energy and we believed them, especially after spending some quality time with them!  We find this kid in all of the places we try to keep him out of (see above where he got in between the recliners).  If anyone needs a babyproof tester, let us know and we'll lend you Jordan.

A part of Jordan's personality that we've discovered is that he is very determined.  He will go after the same thing over and over until he gets it or has a melt-down.  The problem is that once he gets something, he decides he wants something higher.  He's so funny to watch.  It will be fun to see how the Lord can use that perseverence in his life!

 

We have 6 adopted international students who hang out with us occaissionally.  On Thursday night we went to the Cleveland county fair with our 3 Chinese girls.  They had a blast and we had a blast.  But I think Jordan had the most fun!  He got to pet animals and gake in alot of new sights and sounds.  He is such a funny little guy!

 

 

Why Do We Doubt

One of my biggest struggles in life is dependence on self rather than God.  Well, this adoption process (from beginning to this point) has been slowly and surely beating that out of me.  The fact that Jordan survived the womb and is perfectly health is a miracle.  The fact that we were available to adopt him is a miracle, thanks to many closed doors that were so hard at a time.  The fact that we were chosen is clearly the Spirit's leading in the birthparents' hearts.  And the newest miracle is how we were able to pay for the adoption!

Two weeks ago, we were needing to pay off a $5000 bill so that we can finalize the adoption.  We definately didn't have that, so we asked people to be praying for us.  Within 24 hours, our church had given us $2000 from the adoption fund and the adoption agency, Deaconess, had given us a $3000 grant.  We were blown away by the Lord's provision and so excited to proceed. 

Then on Friday, just before were were supposed to leave for a trip, we discovered that we still owed $4800 for a hospital bill.  I was so frustrated, not because I didn't think God would provide, but we had thought we had finally made it.  I shared the request for people to pray, but didn't think about it much because we were so busy.  I kept thinking of ideas on how we could raise the money, but never felt a peace to proceed with those ideas.  This past Friday we got a call from the agency that someone had gone into their office and paid our entire bill!!!  I was at Homeland and could not stop the tears from flowing!  God's provision was perfect and He gave us exactly what we needed when we needed it.

It is ver humbling to be at a point where you cannot rely on yourself.  I pray that we would continue to look to the Lord for His provision because everything is from Him.  It's easy to forget that in our self-built worlds as Americans.  Lord, help me to trust you.

Another thing we learned through this is that just because you do believe that the Lord will provide, doesn't make it easy at the time.  You don't know where it's coming from so you just have to trust.  Over time, He has done it over and over again, so it gets easier, but it's still tough.

We thought this week would be pretty low-key but we ended up being busy!  Monday was Eden clinic, Tuesday was prison ministry, Wednesday I baby-sat for some friends, Thursday we met with our mentors and had dinner with our Turkish adopted international student.  And Friday, we got to go on a date, courtesy of our friends Curtis & Beth.  They have a sweet little boy a little older than Jordan, so it was fun to see pictures of them playing together.  I love this new phase of Jordan's where he loves to play with other kids or even just watch them!!

The attached picture is Jordan's first OU game day picture!  He was asleep by the time the game started, but it was still fun to hang out at home and just watch football all day!

Rewind!

Take a Deep Breath

Life is so busy!  How is this possible!

I'm hoping to post about our fun trip to Fort Worth to go to the car races, but I don't have all of the pictures with me.  For now, I will just mention that Blake is on his way to Haiti right now!  Be praying for him and his group serving the people there.  And pray for Jordan and I as we're home without him.  I'm so thankful that my sister Abby is living with us this summer.  She is such a help!

Ch ch ch changes!

One thing I've learned from being a Mommy is that no day is the same and no week is the same.  That's a hard pill to swallow sometimes, especially for a Type A routine-freak like myself.  Blake is pretty good at just going with the flow, but I really stress out sometimes.  I'm constantly telling myself to take a chill pill.  He's growing, happy, developing...and I'm stressing!

The week started great on Mother's Day.  It was such a joy to go to church and be able to celebrate motherhood with my mom cohorts.  One of my favorite moments was giving my friend Sommer a hug.  She and her husband really struggled to have kids and she was such a source of encouragement and joy during my struggles.  Her baby boy was born in November, so it was so fun to be able to celebrate the Lord's provision in our lives together!

Jordan got me a pair of earrings and a hat.  How thoughtful!

Our poor guy has been congested all week.  He is now acquainted with (and hates!) the snot-sucker.  He does everything he can to keep me from sticking that thing in his nose and it usually means I quit or accidently shove it in too hard, which just makes him madder.  Oh well.  It hasn't affected his mood, but it has affected his sleep.  He slept a few nights in the swing, which is just not as comfortable.  But for some reason, he does great in the day.  It's such a switch.  I've been enjoying 3-4 hours of sleep at a time at night and now we're down to 2-3.  It's such a change and it's been hard for me to adjust.  I really don't know if it's the congestion or if it's a new phase that we're going to work through.

Either way, I'm kind of hitting that 3 month mark that everyone tells me about.  It's the "my baby's not a newborn but still not sleeping like a bigger baby" stage.  It's a period where he's awake more during the day, which means less opportunity to get things done (and nap) during the day, but still not sleeping through the night (or in Jordan's case not even coming close).  I love the more awake during the day, but by the end of the day, we're both falling apart!  I can't complain, because he's such a good baby.  I just try to remind myself that he will only be 3 months old and 12 pounds, 5 ounces once in his life.  We can never go back!  I rejoice in the smiles and squeals and kicking feet and press on through the exhaustion!

Jordan got to see his Great-Granny and Great-Papa Bill yesterday who haven't seen him in a couple of months.  They got a kick out of him and he got a kick out of Granny's shirt and Papa Bill's silly noises.  He put on a smiling show for them, which I'm sure made the drive from Okmulgee worth it!