Spoiled

Last weekend we got together with Abby's birthfather and his mom so they could see her and give her some Christmas presents. He said that the presents were too big to ship so I was curious what they could have given her. They usually give her several nice gifts, but this year they really spoiled her! She got jammies, slippers, boots, pants and jacket, a lighted play aquarium, a bean bag chair, and a Cranium Mega Fort with a 15-month extended warranty! (As a side note, Ryan managed to have a good attitude watching her unwrap all those gifts, which I know was hard for him.)


This afternoon I set up one of the fort configurations for the kids, a ship! It is a pretty neat set, goes together easily, and has a carrying case to store it in. It will be nice to have it in the rainy days ahead.

In her new girlie beanbag wearing her new jammies.

God Uses Email - Part 2

When we got the email from our friend about a baby needing an adoptive family, I called the attached phone number and was told that they already had a family. So I gave them my number "just in case something happens," and hung up. I didn't think much more about it, frankly, and I don't think I even called my hubby to tell him about it. Then about an hour later the woman called me back and said the family they had hoped to place the baby with had just backed out and we were the next and last people on her list. She wanted to know if we were seriously interested and she needed to know within the hour because social services would be called then and the child would be going into foster care.

This time I called my husband and we prayed. Then I called my pastor and we prayed. It's not ideal to have to make life-altering decisions under such time constraints, or over the phone for that matter. After a while my hubby sent me an email (I saved it too) which in part said

Honey,

I keep thinking about our James Study and Chapter 1 verse 27.

The KJV reads as follows...

"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep himself unspotted from the world."

This little girl is fatherless and she is in affliction. I really believe we should move forward.

We had been studying James in our home group and this scripture was the previous week's text. Don't misunderstand...we did NOT do this out of some obligation or arm-twisting. We really wanted another child, and we especially had been wanting a little girl. We had only begun praying several weeks before about the possibility of adopting again, and the suddenness of it all was what was causing any indecision on our part. Also, the unknown is scary, and it would be years before we knew how the alcohol affected her. So our study of James was confirmation to us of something we had already been asking the Lord about. We decided to go ahead and asked the Lord to slam the door if this is not what He wanted for this precious child or for our family.

He never closed the door, and I'm so grateful to have this little fireball in our home. Though the unknown is now becoming known (and it is hard at times to deal with), it is impossible for me to think of our family without Abigail. She is a ray of sunshine among the rest of the melancholy personalities that make up our family. It's funny, she needed an adoptive family, but I think we needed her even more!

God Uses Email - Part 1

I was cleaning out my email box this morning and ran across this email I have saved for four years. A friend of ours, Cyndi, sent this email to me on Wednesday, April 16, 2003. It literally and dramatically changed our lives, and I thought I'd share it.

Kim, When I read this I felt like I needed to forward it to you. I'm on the email list for Grace Chapel Church because for awhile I was attending a singles group there. I just thought you'd like to be praying! Hope your week is going well! ;) Cyndi

---------- Forwarded Message ----------

A Special Adoptive Need

A baby girl was born on Saturday @ 31 weeks (9 weeks early). She is in the NICU and doing well. She weighed 3 pounds, 6 ounces and is breathing on her own. Originally the hospital said she would be there at least 6 weeks but today they said she will be released in 3 weeks because she is doing better than anticipated. The birth mother is 21, this is her 4th baby. She drank heavily during the pregnancy, the effects of that are unknown. She is married but her husband is not the father. Both birth parents have met with an attorney and are ready to sign consents as soon as a family is found. Ironically, in spite of all of this, the one thing she is asking for in an adoptive family is that they be Christians. In her words "not just say they are Christians but really go to church and live it".

I need an adoptive family willing to accept these potential challenges. Because of time constraints I'm really only looking for calls from people who are seriously interested and ready to act NOW. I have to come up with a family today so this has to happen FAST. Is the Lord prompting you to pursue this or perhaps mention this to someone else who might be interested? This is an opportunity for someone to minister to these birth parents as well as provide a forever home to this precious gift from God. Even though she is little, He made her and she is perfect to Him. Whether or not the Lord is prompting you to adopt, we covet your prayers in this situation.

Dinner with Cody

Abby's birthfather Cody called last November wanting to see Abby, and we have been trying ever since to pick a date and schedule the visit. I was tardy in getting back to him after talking with Ed, then there was the holidays, and then Cody took a while get back to us, etc. We finally were able to do it tonight. We met him at Red Robin, had dinner, and chatted for almost two hours. Abby took a while to warm up (pretty typical for her), but then once she was comfortable, you couldn't keep her quiet (again, typical behavior for her). It has been two years since he's had a visit with her, so she has changed quite a bit in that time. She sat on his lap for a while regaling him with stories and jokes and even whispering a few secrets to him, which I don't think he understood a word of since she's very difficult to understand when she's whispering. I quizzed her on the way home about what she was whispering to him, and at first she said it was a secret and couldn't tell me but eventually she spilled it.

Abby: I told him I love you.
Me: You told Cody you love him?
Abby: No, I told Cody I love you, Mommy.

Awww! She knows how to melt my heart!

Christmas from Cody

Abby's birthfather is always very good about sending her gifts. This weekend she got a Christmas package from him. She was so excited to open it, and inside was a huge, fluffy, pink dog which can be used as an overnight case or backpack.


She asked me later why Cody was so nice to her, and I told her it was because he loves her. I don't know if she understands or not, but seemed satisfied with that answer.