My Plan For Our Lives...

I am going to jump back two years in our lives. I had everything planned out for how our family would look and how our lives would play out. We were going to adopt a young (4-8 years old) sibling group of boys from the foster care system who were a racial minority because these children were the hardest to get placed in an adoptive family. We didn’t even want to adopt an infant. We did our training and waited. I bought books about raising sons, Bibles for little boys, and a few other things that were specifically for having boys. Was my “plan” selfish? No. Wasn’t it our desire to make a small difference in the problem of so many children without families to love them? Yes. So why wouldn’t God honor this request and bless us with the family that we desired? It was because HIS PLAN was so much better.

In January, 5 months after we began our wait for a family, we were told about Project Cuddle. The stories they shared of baby abandonment were devastating. It was very emotional (and still is) to think of a child suffocating in a garbage bag. We decided that we would sign up to be a “rescue family” and I noted (according to my plan) that we would be willing to rescue a boy of a racial minority. A couple weeks passed and I felt like God said “How could you limit the type of child you could save and the type of child you could love?” The fact was that I couldn’t…. I re-sent in our information and noted that we would be willing to rescue a child of any race, any gender, and any unknowns that they may have. A month later they contacted us with a child (not in my plans) – we said yes and she has radically changed our lives.

I look at my daughter… I hear her laugh, I feel her hugs, see that gorgeous smile and think of what I would have missed out on had I stuck to what I thought was right for us. It breaks me emotionally that I almost missed out on her life and the joy she brings. She has my heart – she is soooo incredible.

Another “plan” of mine was to not have a child biologically for a few years and until we had adopted a few more children. God had a better plan and here I am entering my 30th week of pregnancy expecting a baby ! She will be perfect – the perfect piece to this perfect family designed and put together by God.

It’s funny how I thought that I knew what our perfect family would look like. I am sure God smiles, knowing how his perfect plan is so much better for our lives. Who knows, we may end up with 4 s – I don’t know how I could ever have had a preference before now. How could I tell a woman that I would love her baby any less because it was one gender or the other? Maybe there won’t be any more children and His plan for our lives only includes these two princesses.

I am glad that I have a Father who knows us better than we know ourselves. I am glad that I have a Father who has a perfect plan for my life. I am glad that my plans don’t work out and that He has had every detail in place since before I was born. I am glad my Father knows what is best and amazes me with his blessings.

I, of course, still have plans – we want to adopt a couple more kids through Project Cuddle. I have no idea if my plans line up with his for our future – but I’ll take His plans over mine.

I don’t know what His plans hold – but I know he has them for our family.

I couldn’t be more thankful for my husband and two daughters – and I wouldn’t trade them for anything or anyone.




Isn't her smile amazing? And I get to be her mommy ;-)

Vacation :-)

Well we are coming to an end of our two week vacation.
It was such a nice time to spend with family and get in some activities here and there.Part 1: We started out by taking a 5 day trip to visit Kyle's sister and her family out in Oklahoma. Talk about some hot weather :-) It was nice to see them and catch up a bit .
They are loads of fun with lots of things to do and stay busy with :-)
Kinsey just loved playing with the girls and swimming while we were there.

Part 2: On the way back from Oklahoma we decided to make some stops and see some things that we had yet to experience. It was so nice being able to stop every couple of hours, get out of the car and spend some time at each stop. The first day out we stopped and went through the Fantastic Caverns and then spent the night near Saint Louis. The next morning we ventured to see BIG FOOT - the monster truck :-) It was HUGE - Kinsey looked soooo small compared to it. It was neat to see and get pictures of :-)

------------------------------------------------------------------Part 3: After arriving back in Indiana we spent a few days with my side of the family doing different activities for our vacation. Each summer my family drives out to California but this summer due to how expensive everything (mainly gas) is getting they decided to just have our little vacation close to home. We kept busy with fun things like the zoo, swimming at the reservoir, picnics, wiffle ball, and ending each night with a couple hours playing the game MAFIA. All eight of us kids were there and it was just a good family time.


(Kyle and Kinsey before lunch)

(They were walking thru the rainforest exibit and I thought they looked adorable-

Looks like love to me :-)

Part 4: After the mini vacation with my siblings and parents we invited the four youngest of my siblings to come up and spend the night and so the next four days consisted of time with just them going miniature golfing, testing out the driving range, a steam engine show and four wheeler rides.We finished the vacation off today with a picnic on the lake with Kyle's mom,
grandpa, sister, her two kids and his aunt and uncle. Never a dull moment when these kiddos get together :-) They just love each other and have such a fun time playing together.