A Growing Heart

You hear a lot of moms who are about to have their 2nd child question whether or not they can love this new baby like they love their first baby. The baby who made them a mom and if you are like me totally shifted your Earth on its axis.


I get it, I totally understand it. For me though I am not worried. My heart already loves 4 children. F.O.U.R? Yes 4. Lydia my first born wild and crazy sweetheart of a toddler, our little one waiting for us in heaven (I know I did not get to meet you or hold you but I heard your heart beat you were a real life to me, a life I still mourn and miss but know you are loved sweet angel until I get to hold you and tell you myself), the little one that is growing, bumping and kicking me from inside and the child I know is waiting for us through adoption another child I have not met through an ultrasound screen or a photo yet but that God has prepared a place for in my heart.

Is it weird to love all of these children and all of these little lives at one time. To some maybe it is but to me it feels natural as breathing. I remember tears spilling over at the gym when I was working out every night preparing to try and get pregnant again. How could I be mourning and missing 2 children, knowing we wanted another biologically before we adopted and knowing that I had lost one already what if it happened again or praying that I would start my period so we can start trying for another right away. God was growing and stretching my heart then. Watching Lydia ask people to sit their baby carriers with sleeping babies inside right next to her so she could watch them, God was stretching and growing my heart then too.

I believe our hearts are capable of holding a lot more love then we give it credit for. I cannot wait to see just how big this heart can get. God knows its capacity and I pray he fills to the brim!!

First Family Vacation

We spent the last week in a cute Pink beach house at Lake Michigan. This was Lydia's first family vacation and it was such a great time. I was worried about sleeping because she is still in a crib at home and is really too big for a full night's sleep in a pack n play so she ended up sleeping with me of course :)

She loved the beach, the sand and the water. Of course, it helped it wasn't sea water, we hope this was a good introduction before the actual ocean.

Thankful for great parents who took us with them and let me put my feet up, relax and read as much as possible.

Highlights:
- New Buffalo
- The Stray Dog Restaurant
- Watching the sunset
- Getting my mom and brother to play games
- Watching Lady and the Tramp as a whole family
- Cooking out
- Watching Lydia knock over castles
- Lydia's phrase of the week: "No Talking"
- Lazy mornings and evenings
- Bed by 9:30 p.m.

30 Weeks....9 to go

30 weeks a long and feeling good. I still love being pregnant, although I'm getting slower, I have the pregnant waddle down by the end of a long day and my hips sometimes make it hard for me to get up off the floor once I'm there I am not complaining because I love this feeling of growing our little peanut right now. 

I love drumsticks (the ice cream kind), bagels and cream cheese, mexican, vanilla/cherry cokes, cheese fries, and fruit! 

I officially have a preggo bladder with the baby kicking me at random times making me feel like I'm going to pee my pants. 

9 weeks to go and this sweet little one will be in our arms, Lydia will be a big sister and we will become a family of 7 (if you count the furry ones) 

 

Beautifully Busy

That could really sum up our life right now, we are Busy! Sometimes I would not put beautifully in front of it, but I want to always think that way of our crazy life. We have jam packed weekends that seem to fly by faster than I can blink. My weeks are full of long work days as I prepare to leave my projects behind for 12 weeks. We have appointments: doctor appointments, dentist appointments, family pictures, hair appointments, vet appointments. We are actually trying to do yard work this year and make our house presentable.Trying to pick up projects that have been sitting half way done.


At times I get stressed out (ok a lot of times) but other times I am thankful for this busy, thankful for my family that requires these appointments, for the job that provides for my family (even though most days I would rather just simply be a mom) for the yard that we have to work in, and for the family and friends that have functions every single minute of every single weekend.

I am trying to remember to use these moments to make memories and to not just get so busy that I don't take them in, sometimes I feel like I'm just barely breathing and keeping my head above water but I try to fight those feelings and look at it as simply "Beautifully Busy".

Here is a recap of our Busy (in pictures)…

 I helped to host a baby shower for a friend that has been doing life with me since middle school. Blessed to be part of her day and can't wait to meet her sweet girl! 

My sister and brother graduated from Purdue, making all 3 of us Purdue Alumni, I was so proud to be there with them and super happy to have them home! 

A sweet moment

I got to celebrate my sweet friend who is getting married to my best guy friend from college, I might have introduced them and secretly hoped they would start dating. I simply love her and little Lydia gets to be their flower girl, not gonna lie I'm a bit nervous but oh so excited for their BIG day!

Call Me Maybe?

I can't help it, this video makes me laugh. I can totally see my little brother doing something like this with his guys and it makes me like it even more. Oh the time these boys have on their hands. Baseball is really exciting people :) Enjoy, Happy Friday!!

Project Sangaalo Baby Cottage, Uganda

I am so excited to share with you the newest project for Voices 4 the Voiceless (V4V). If you follow V4V on Facebook or twitter (@v4vorphancare), you know that our founder Brantley and her husband went on a mission trip with Visiting Orphans to Uganda this spring.

I know Brantley felt there was a true tangible reason why God put her in Uganda this year and she was open to what that plan was, open to hearing what God wanted from her in this place. Luckily for her it came about loud and clear.

V4V would be used in Uganda, used in a real tangible and HUGE way. We would purchase land and build a new facility for the Sangaalo Baby Cottage!

Now, I'm not very well versed or familiar with Sangaalo, I have unfortunately not been able to meet the woman that runs Sangaalo and that has so greatly impacted Brantley and her husband. I have not seen the faces of the babies, held them or loved on them. I hope to in the future, in their new facility that WE (yes we, as in me and YOU) are going to help make a reality.

What is Sangaalo: A home with 3 rooms, tin roof, concrete floors, one room houses the chickens that are sold for rent. In one room there are two bunk beds, this is where the babies sleep at night (there are 9 at this point in time). There is no running water, the babies drink goats milk.

Damalie is the woman who lives at Sangaalo, she has two sitters who help her throughout the day but during the night it is her and the sweet babes. I'm sure it's hard to call them all sweet when you are in charge of 9 babies throughout the evening but she does it!

I wish I knew Damalie personally, she sounds like such a humble woman of God. When asked what they needed, she simply said baby clothes. Seriously, she has two sitters, watches these kids all night long with no running water and just asked for baby clothes.



Picture from Brantley's post about Damalie HERE



This is where we come in, we hope to provide Damlie and the babies of Sangaalo with much more than just baby clothes. We want to purchase land and build a new permanent facility for the children and Damalie. A structure that can act more functionally and provide safety and security.

Are you interested in being a part of this project? Here are a few things you can do to help:

1. PRAY! We are a small volunteer organization just getting off the ground, this provides it's own challenges in many many ways.

2. Donate by visiting HERE. Simply click on “Give a Voice – Donate” and when you enter the amount, you can select one time or monthly, and below that you can scroll down to Sangaalo Baby Cottage. This will also take you to our shop, that has been restocked with fun accessories from Uganda.

3. Follow us and keep up to date on the progress and needs for the Sangaalo Baby Cottage and share it with friends and family.

Blog: http://voices4thevoiceless.blogspot.com/

Facebook

Twitter: @v4vorphancare

Thank you from the bottom of my heart if you read this post and made it this far!! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or would like to get involved in any way.

So. Proud.

Friday night marked a huge milestone and completion in a journey that started when Lydia was only a tiny blip on an ultrasound screen. My husband graduated with his MBA after 2+ years of hard work, 2 nights of class a week, working on projects with his groups on the weekends and studying for exams.
He FINISHED and not only did he finish but he kicked butt and did really really well. I'm so proud of him for sticking with it, (I'm also a little proud of myself for surviving this time as well) but my family of course helped a ton.

Matt, I am so proud of the hard work you put in to better our family's future, to make it brighter and to show our kids one day that they can do anything they want if they just work for it.

Here is to a bright bright future :) We are so proud of you!