Big Time Catch Up

Hey everyone! Sorry it's been so long since I've updated our blog. The holiday season has begun and therefore the Wilson family is on the road again. We have just returned from our Thanksgiving Trip to Meridian, MS. Most of Heath's family still live in Mississippi so we spend Thanksgiving visiting all of them. Here are some fun pictures from our trip.

Me and my girl enjoying the pretty weather.

Family Picture on Thanksgiving Day!

All the Cousins (Wilson-6 months, Gracie-almost 1, Reese-15 months, Luci-2)

Playing outside

One of the things we did over the holiday was celebrate Gracie's 1st Birthday! I can't believe my baby is turning 1 tomorrow. It's hard to believe that a year ago today I was in labor, which ended up being a 22 hour process! Gracie Lynn Wilson arrived at 6:41 a.m. on December 2nd weighing 9 lbs. 6 oz. and 21 inches long. Yes, she was a big girl! Here are a few shots to show just how big she's getting. Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!!

Yummy Cake!!

Helping mommy fold clothes.

Walking outside.

Our adoption process is still going well. We are hoping our homestudy will be finished by the end of next week!! Yeah!! Then we will be doing all our paperwork with the adoption agency and waiting for a referral. I can't wait to see a picture of our son. We wanted him to know that he is loved this Christmas and that his forever family is waiting for him so we took some cute pictures for our Christmas cards. Here is a sneak peak at one of Gracie loving on her brother. So keep praying that God will lead us to our son. Thanks!



We also had another first the other day. Gracie helped us pick out our Christmas tree this year. She was amazed at the process and decorating it was even more fun. Heath would hand her the ornaments and she would hand them to me. Except for the glittery ones, she wanted to hang on to those. No broken ones yet, but we'll see if that's still true by the time we take the tree down.

Our next trip will be to Iowa to spend time with my family for Christmas. It should be a fun Christmas with Gracie walking around now and being able to open some of her presents on her own. The great thing about being in Iowa for Christmas is that our chances for a white Christmas are pretty good!

Hope you all are having a great day!!

Thank You

As many of you know we had our homestudy tonight and we just want to say thank all of you that prayed for us today and have been praying for us during this process. The homestudy went great. God has blessed us with an awesome social worker that is so friendly and sweet. Meredith and her husband are also adopting a little boy from Ethiopia and expect to bring him home right before Christmas. So we have a common bond with her and enjoy talking to her and she is so helpful because she is going through everything we are right now!

We are also thankful tonight as we think about how truly blessed we are. As she went through all the questions from what our childhood was like to how Heath and I met, we both were overwhelmed with thankfulness to God. All the little things we take for granted like our parents still being together and having good relationships with our siblings. So many people cannot say their parents are still married or that they have good relationships with their whole family, so we often forget how blessed we are. We are so thankful for a church family that loves us, supports us, and prays for us. That we have a roof over our head, cars that run, city water (yes that was a question), and so many other things. God I am so thankful for everything you have blessed me with and continue to bless me with.

Take some time today to think of all those little things that we so often forget to thank Him for because He is worthy of all our praise. Nothing is to little and He never gets tried of hearing our praise! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Lord!!! I love you! I pray you all have a blessed night!

P.S. I just had to share this video because it is just too cute! I think Gracie's ready for her little brother. Enjoy! (Pause my music at the bottom of the page so you can hear the video)

Please Pray!

This post comes a few days late, but that is how I operate. Hopefully by now everyone knows and has adjusted to Day Light Savings Time. Well my little Gracie Lynn had a tough time. She was used to waking up between 7:15 and 7:45, which is amazing and I won't complain one bit. When DLS hit, she was then waking up at 6:15. Paige and I are not early risers most of the time. Needless to say, we had to let her stay in bed by herself for a few minutes each morning to try and get her regulated.

I was fine with her being a little upset for a few minutes each morning so that she could learn her new wake up time. As this went on, my heart began to break more and more each morning. I love my daughter, don't get me wrong, but my heart was not breaking because my daughter was crying. My heart was breaking for the orphans that don't have anyone to bring them comfort when they are crying. I was ok with her crying a little because I knew in ten minutes we would go and wrap her in our arms and she would smile immediately. The orphans around the world don't have that hope. They aren't going to get scooped up and have that love from a father or mother. They don't have anyone to greet them each morning or tuck them in each night. Praise God for the workers at these orphanages, but there is not enough of them to go around and only so many babies they can hold at one time.

As Christians, our heart should break for these children. Please remember them in your prayers and ask God to prick your heart for the ways you can be the hands and feet of Jesus to the orphans.

Thanks,

Heath

One Crazy Month

October was crazy at our household! We went to Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, and Maryland all in thirty days! Needless to say I am glad to be home and stay home for a while. So I need to get you all up to date with what is going on in the Wilson house.

We started off this month by making a surprise trip to Iowa to see my family. My little brother (who's not so little anymore) is a senior and it was his homecoming week. So we drove up during the night on Wednesday and stayed through Saturday. We had a great time and enjoyed typical Iowa weather, cold and wet! We watched my brother's football game for the car because it rained the entire night. Grandpa and Grandma also got Gracie some Iowa gear so we could still support the Hawks in the south!

Gracie & Uncle Levi before his big homecoming game.

Go Hawks!!!

The very next weekend we traveled to Meridian, MS for a not so joyous occasion. Heath's granddaddy passed away from a heart attack and our whole family went down for the funeral and to spend time with family. Harvey Edwin Scarbrough was an incredible man. He loved and served God his whole life, raised an awesome family, worked hard, helped anyone he could, and never knew a stranger. We were so glad Gracie got a chance to meet him and spend time with him not long before he passed. We will always remember he was the person who taught her how to patty cake! We miss you granddaddy!

Then a few weeks later we met my family in St.Louis, MO. Heath and I were going out of town for four days at the end of October so we asked my mom and dad if they would like to keep Gracie for the whole week! I think you all know what they said! So Gracie went to Iowa from Sunday to Sunday. Here are some pictures from her adventure.
Playing with Uncle Levi.

Full from all of the ice cream that Grandpa feeds me.

I love to climb the stairs. I keep Grandma guessing.

My first cupcake. I tried to hide this from mommy.

Farmin' ain't easy!!!

I had my birthday on Sunday, November 1st and I got the best present in the world. I got to see my family and I got my little Gracie back after a week of missing her! I was so glad that she had a good time in Iowa. The good thing was while she was gone Heath and I had a busy week ourselves.

On Tuesday, October 27th we had our first official meeting with our social worker from Adoption Assistance who is conducting our homestudy! She was awesome. We talked for a long time because we had a common bond, her and her husband are also adopting from Ethiopia and expect to bring their son Hensley home the week before Christmas! So right now we are still in the process of getting all the paperwork together and filled out. We will have another meeting with her next week where she will actually come to our house and do interviews with both of us! Please continue to pray for this journey to our son (and also that we can get all our little projects done around the house!)

The end of our week was busy and awesome. We were privelaged to travel with some amazing people to Baltimore, Maryland to attend the Voice of the Apostles Conference. We heard speakers like Bill Johnson, Che Ahn, Randy Clark, John Arnott, and Heidi Baker. Our faith was super charged to say the least! God showed us amazing things about who He is and how much He can do if we just ask and believe!!! To really see His kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven! We were so honored to go on this trip and we know that God hand picked us for such a time as this. We are so excited about the ministry He has called us to!

November does not have much on the calendar at this point and I am OK with that! I hope you all have a blessed day!

Sleepless Blessings

This post is especially for all the moms I know! I hope it brings a smile to your face and a new way of thinking about all the hours of sleep you lose when you become a mom.

Becoming a mom is one of the most wonderful experiences in life but it also comes with it's share of frustrations. I have never had a lot of patience so I think the Lord blessed me with a child so I could work on that! One of the hardest things when you first become a mom is the lack of sleep you get. While your pregnant people tell you things like "You'll never sleep again!" and "You better rest now!" but I don't think you really understand just how tired you will be until it happens. We've all had those days when it gets to be 8:00 p.m. and you can't remembered if you showered today, or if you ate lunch. Sometimes I even had to remind myself to go to the restroom at least once throughout the day! The other thing that suffered in my life was my spiritual walk because I never found time to read my bible or pray. I only have one child so I can't image what it's like with two or three. So bless all you moms with multiple children, I will probably be asking you someday how on earth you do it! But there is something the Lord showed me about those busy days and sleepless nights.

The first few weeks when we brought Gracie Lynn home from the hospital I quickly realized I never knew the meaning of exhuasted until now. Being awake every two hours or less sometimes was completely draining, but then you add to that a baby that's not only hungry but is screaming and you have no clue what to do. I tried to be as patient as possible but running on so little sleep can turn normally nice, kind mommies into grumpy, mean mommies fast. So when all else fails you walk around the house rocking her back to sleep. I remember the first few times I did this in the middle of the night the whole time I was thinking "come on, come one, go to sleep already, I am so tired, please Gracie go to sleep." Then the next few nights I got smarter and instead of asking Gracie if she would go back to sleep, I started asking, "Lord, please let her go back to sleep, you know I need my sleep!" But then one night it was like God said, "Since you're up, why don't you spend time with me." So that night I began praying to God and bringing everything in my heart to Him. It was amazing how over the next few days I began finding time to read my bible and journal. So then I began looking forward to being awakened in the middle of the night by my daughter. I even find myself missing those nights as she started sleeping through the night. But every now and then she still wakes up for what reason I don't know but I like to think it's because my Father wants to spend a little time with me, and I welcome the invitation. So I hope you welcome those sleepless moments in your life as a mom, and just think of them as personal invitaions from the Father wanting to spend some time with you!


P.S. While you're praying you can pray for us today, as we talk with our case manager for our adoption for the first time today. We will be discussing all the paperwork and asking all our questions and finding out what our next step is. Thank you for your prayers!

Remember, do not ever think that prayer is not enough. Prayer is more powerful than our human minds can understand because it is in prayer that the presence and power of God himself is unleashed! So pray without ceasing! Be blessed today!

Here are some pictures to show you what's been going on at the Wilson Household.

We were so excited to be mailing off our application for our adoption!

On Saturday we went to Harvest Praise at Christian Way Farms and although it was cold it was a fun fall day!

Gracie thought she was pretty big stuff.

And she loved the pumkins!

The Beginning of Our Journey

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." ~ John 14:18



Over the past several months God has been stirring my heart for adoption. I had always thought some day in my life I would adopt a child but it was never more than a thought. Then one day I was reading a friend's blog and she had posted her sister's "Gochta Day" of her little girl she adopted from Ethiopia. As I read the post and looked at all the pictures I found myself sobbing by the end. Later that day I shared the blog post with my husband, Heath, and he said that he would love to adopt someday too. So that night I remember praying that wherever our child may be that God would tuck them in that night. We thought that was the end.



Then over the next few weeks I found out the same friend that wrote the blog was starting a non-profit organization called Ordinary Hero. She herself had adopted a waiting child a year ago and while she was back in Ethopia she met several of the other waiting children at the orphange and came home to advocate for them. She had told me that she would soon be posting pictures and descriptions of several of the waiting children. As I waited over the next few days for her post I was praying about what God was stirring in my heart. Heath and I talked alot about adoption and we both loved the idea of adopting an older child! Then one day Heath woke up and told me he had a dream the night before that we had adopted two children! I said I don't know about two but what else happened in your dream. He said they were sibling brothers. We laughed about it and didn't really think anything of it until the next day. When we got home from church I was checking my friend's blog before lunch and I will never forget the feeling and the way my heart jumped when my eyes fell on the sweetest picture I had ever seen.

I started crying as I montioned for Heath to come look at the screen and a big smile came to his face as he read the words about these two precious brothers. So we prayed about it again over the next few days and decided to inquire about these two brothers. We are sad to say that we did not fit the age requirements to adopt these two children but I found out just today that they are being adopted!!! Praise the Lord! So after being told we couldn't adopt these boys we thought God was telling us that we were not supposed to adopt at this time. However, in my quiet times with the Lord He continued saying:

"In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves." ~ Ephesians 1:5-6

"Enlarge the place of your tent,stretch your tent curtains wide,do not hold back;lengthen your cords,strengthen your stakes. ~Isaiah 54:2

Not to mention it seemed liked everyone I talked to over the past few months had adopted or was adopting and it always seemed to come up in my conversations. So I continued telling Heath that I thought we were still supposed to adopt, but he said God hadn't told him that yet. So I just kept praying and looking at different adoption agencies so that when God told him we were supposed to adopt we'd be ready. So one day as we were playing with our daughter Gracie, He looked at me and said I'm ready for another baby and I think God wants us to adopt! I was so excited! Over the next few days we filled out the paperwork and talked about the details but we never mailed it......until last Monday! We finally felt like God had told us enough times and it was time for us to take that leap of faith. So I'm excited to say we sent the application and we were accepted into the Ethiopia Program with All God's Children International on Thursday!!! So now we are started all the paperwork for the adoption process, hoping to bring home our son sometime soon!

Please join us in prayer over the whole process as we trust God to work out all the details of this journery. I hope you will follow our blog to keep up with what's going on and to pray for us! Hope you all have a blessed day!

Let Me Introduce Our Family

I have been a Wilson for the past two and a half years and it has been one adventure after another. As I look back over the past few years and how God orchestrated even the smallest details in my life to bring me to where I am today I am amazed. So let me try my best to share my life and family with you.

My husband, Heath, and I met on a mission trip in Reynosa, Mexico almost five years ago. No it was not love at first sight but a few days later when I saw his heart for the first time, I knew if he wasn't the man God had for me then it was someone exactly like him. He was the first man besides my dad that prayed for me and to this day I can still hear those words he said that day. However, it didn't seem possible for us to be together because I lived in Iowa and he lived in Kentucky. Little did I know that God had some big plans for our lives. (I know it's hard to wait on the Lord sometimes, but I understand why. If God would have told me everything He was about to do in my life at that moment I probably would have said, "No way! Find someone else.") Six months later my bags were packed and I moved south. I finished college at Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN. Heath and I were married May 26, 2007 and have been living in Gracey, KY ever since.

Almost a year after we were married God surprised us again when we found out we were expecting our first child. Gracie Lynn Wilson was born December 2, 2008. She has brought so much joy to our family with her precious smile, contagious laugh, and beautiful blue eyes that pierce your heart. Here are some pictures of our baby girl.

I can't forget the other two members of our family. Our great danes, Bama & Sadie. Bama is 4 1/2 years old and Sadie is almost 2. Bama was in our family even before Heath and I were married. He is such a lovable dog until you put out food and then you better watch your hands. Sadie was my Christmas present two years ago and she is full of energy. They are the best of friends and do not like to go anywhere without the other. The truly live out their nicknames "Gentle Giants."