La Vida Loca

Ugh, I am a bad blogger. Does preparing for a baby, having surgery, hiring and training a new assistant excuse me?

First things first, we got to meet our sweet birthmother. K is a precious, precious young lady. We had dinner with her and her parents. Her mom had bought me the Motherhood necklace from James Avery, so special to me! K had framed all four ultrasounds pictures of our baby girl. I just love it! it sits on our dresser and I stare at it everyday. She and I text often and we talk about once a week. She is 31 weeks pregnant, baby girl Martin is going to be here soon! A lot of walls came down after meeting her. She is very secure with this decision and has parents who have backed adoption from the beginning. It's about as good as it gets in adoption. Not only has she asked me to be in the delivery room, but she's asked for our families to come to the hospital. What a gift yall! It just doesn't happen in adoption. We're so extremely blessed!

We continue to pray diligently for K. She carries a lot of shame still. She needs to know Jesus paid the price for that shame. I hope to have a chance when we visit in late May and she and I get some time alone, to share the gospel with her. She claims to know God, but she's very confused on who he is.

One of the most amazing parts of adoption is praying for K. If I was pregnant and praying for this precious baby, my greatest prayer would be that she would "love the Lord with all her heart, soul, mind, and strength." With adoption, we are praying that same prayer for K. The Lord has continually reminded us that this adoption isn't just about him granting the desire of our heart for a family. It's really about so much more. It's kingdom minded, loving K and her family, having gospel intentionality. He's literally moved mountains to bring this baby home, and J and I are so stinking humbled to be a small part of this greater story.

Surgery....I am currently awaiting surgery on Wednesday morning. I had some intense bleeding last week and we took a trip, against my will, to the ER. I hate ER's, that could be an entire post. They found a large and vascular polyp in my uterus. It's been a tough week and a half. Medication was used to stop the bleeding, there was almost another ER trip and emergency surgery, but the Lord answered prayers and it's subsided. I am supplementing with iron, and feel much better this week. Would love prayers for my pain and recovery. It's a two hour surgery, my doctor will be very meticulous. Thankful for that as well!

Vacation.....I leave for a vacation with my mom in three and half weeks! So pumped. I have at least 18 baby books to read, but it will be nice to get away before baby M arrives.

Registering...where to even begin. So....much...research. I am thankful for mom friends with advice. Oh how I love Amazon's universal registry!

Shower...the girls here in Austin are throwing me a baby shower in about two weeks. I am so pumped and just can't believe this is all happening! K and her mom wanted me to have something to open from them, isn't that just so sweet? The ladies attending this shower have prayed down the heavens for this little baby girl, so it will be very special to celebrate what God has done.

Making room....we'll have a full house this summer. J will be in Dallas during the week for his internship and we'll have two college girls, two dogs, and a baby due around June 19th! Party at our place!

Gratitude.....living each day giving thanks, even for the trials. The Lord is teaching me so much about living a life of deep gratitude. He's been using Ann Voskamp's book "One Thousand Gifts" to open my eyes. Highly recommend her book, it will insanely challenge you.