"Pure Religion Adoption Weekend"

Back in 2007 Dave & I attended an "Adoption & Orphan Weekend" at our church. We had been praying about adding to our family by adoption but had no idea where to start. It was at this weekend that the Lord led us to Domestic Adoption, we found our agency, and the result was a beautiful baby named Samuel! The Lord laid the idea on our hearts a few months ago that is was time to hold another one of these weekends at our church for families who are just like we were...thinking about adoption but don't know where to go from there. We approached one of our Pastors about our idea, He loved it and dove right into helping us plan! I'm so excited to announce the...

www.purereligionconference.com

We're so excited to see how God works and sets the lonely in families during this weekend! Pray for us as we plan & organize this exciting event!

"Gotcha Day" Anniversary

Yesterday was a very special day for our family...the one year anniversary of Samuel's "Gotcha Day"...the day he became a McClard!! I thought I would share some pics of that special day with you!

Our first few minutes together...

Brand new big brother & sister...yup, lots of happy tears that day!!!

Feeding him his very first bottle...

Our first photo as a family of 5!!

...and now for some pics of this year's "Gotcha Day!"

Morning tickles & snuggles in Mama & Daddy's bed...

We took him to Build-A-Bear to make his very first animal!

He chose a soft monkey...which Nathan & Emily have named "Mr. Monk-a-Monk"

Watching the lady stuff his monkey...

Watching Baby Einstein with Mr. Monk-a-monk later that day...

We're so thankful to have had our sweet boy for one year already!!!

One Year Ago!!!!

One year ago today, a very special woman gave birth to our son...I hope she knows how much we think of her and the special place she will always hold in our hearts. We are so grateful she chose life for Samuel and us to be his family. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAMUEL!!! You have brought our lives more joy than we ever could have imagined!

Brothers...and other stuff!

Watching your children bond with each other is one of the sweetest gifts a mother can receive. I've noticed over the past few weeks as Samuel has become more active and is crawling everywhere and developing his own little personality that we all love so much that he has grown quite close to Nathan. It's so sweet to watch Nathan play with his baby brother and much Samuel lights up when they are together. They were playing on the floor the other night and Nathan got up and sat on the couch, Samuel crawled over to him, and reached up for Nathan to hold him, as soon as he picked him up he curled up on him and fell fast asleep. So precious and so thankful for the bond God has created in my boys!

It's hard to believe our little guy turned 10 months old last week! He weighs 19 1/2 lbs and is 30" long...he's going to be a tall drink of water!! He crawls at the speed of lightning, is creeping between the furniture and getting very sturdy on his feet. It wouldn't surprise me if he walked by Christmas! He's babbling lots of sounds, learned to clap his hands, and loves to dance!

'Adopted for Life"

I opened the mailbox today to find a strange brown envelope, as soon as I saw the return address I knew it was what we had been waiting for!! In it was Samuel's final decree of adoption which stated that he was "adopted for life!" Aren't those beautiful words?!?! Here are a few of our favorite photos from the past 5 months...I'll be back with more soon!

Updates...

Yikes, it's already May...how did that happen?!? We have been working feverishly to finish up school, we did our achievement testing last week and are on track for our last day of school to be next Friday. We are so looking forward to some lazy, summer days...

We had our 3 month post-placement visit last week with our social worker...that was the last item needed for the county to issue our "golden ticket" Final Decree of Adoption and we will be able to post some pictures. Samuel is doing great...growing and changing every day. It's amazing to see him turn into a little person, laughing, smiling, and recognizing who we are. I feel so blessed to be a Mom to 3 on this Mother's Day!

Our garden is doing great and we have been picking lots of...

Yes, strawberries!! I got 2o plants free last year from a deal online and laughed when these tiny seedlings arrived at my door...I remember thinking we would have strawberries in about 5 years...was I ever wrong!! They really took off and we have been picking a big bowl of berries every day! We've picked 4 lbs since Sunday!

I spent a little time on the deck while Samuel was napping watching the kids swim and made this cute pillow with the leftover scraps from our birthday banner. My Dad gave us a hammock we are planning to hang up this weekend and I thought it would be cute in it.

and finally, a pic of this big kiddos swimming...we filled the pool over the weekend and this kids have been enjoying their afternoons out there!

Settling In...

It's hard to believe that this time last week we were anxiously awaiting the phone to ring to hear news if Samuel would be ours forever and now he is part of our family! We were just saying last night how it feels like he has been here for much longer than just a few days. He is such a good baby and we are so blessed by him! Nathan and Emily have been the most wonderful helpers, I knew that they would be anxious to help but had no idea how willing and helpful they would be. They are doing a great job fetching diapers, helping make bottles, and loving on their new baby brother. They have a love for him that is so deep it can only come from the Lord. Emily calls herself "sissy" to him and Nathan refers to himself as "big brother." It melts my heart to see how much this little guy has increased the love in our house!!

We still will not be able to post any pictures for a few weeks, but if you would like to see our little guy just send me an email and I'll send you a private message. For now our dishwasher looks like this every day...
and we just did our first load of "little laundry"...loving every minute of it!!

Forever Ours...

He's home forever!!! What a whirlwind last few days...Thursday was a day our family will never forget!! Samuel is beautiful beyond description, he has stolen our hearts and forever changed our lives. I know what you are thinking...where are the pictures???? We will not be facebooking or blogging any photos of him until his adoption is finalized by the state, but he is ours forever!! For now, my blog will sit on the back burner...I may update every now and again but for now there are far more important things to do. We are up to our eyeballs in diapers and bottles and loving every minute of it! Samuel is a big cuddler and needs lots of snuggling!! Pray for us as we bond with Samuel and that he will come to know he is with his forever family. This verse has been on my heart since the moment I first laid eyes on Samuel and held him in my arms...

"I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well." Psalm 139:14

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!

Last Tuesday night, shortly after 6:00 the phone rang...it was a conversation that will forever be engraved in my mind and heart. It was the director of our agency, she asked me to get Dave on the other line and said the words we will never forget "It's a Boy!!!" Samuel Dalton McClard was born last Tuesday afternoon weighing 8 lbs 2 ozs and 21" long. Needless to say we were bouncing off the walls, crying, screaming, and lots of hugging!! We knew that the next part of the journey would be the longest and hardest part yet as we would wait and pray over the next 7 days that he would be ours forever. We decided to keep the news private and spent this time in prayer for our sweet boy and the birthmother that chose life for him and us to be his parents. We knew that the Lord was in full control of the entire situation and His will would be accomplished! The 7 days has passed and tomorrow morning at 10:00 AM we will see his face for the very first time and hold him in our arms!!

Never in my wildest dreams did I expect this journey to be so life-changing, not just for me but for our entire family. I have seen time and time over again how faithful and sovereign our Lord truly is. The wait was longer than we ever anticipated and now I understand why...hindsight it always 20/20 isn't it??? The Lord knew from the moment our journey began that Samuel would be ours and we would be his parents. I also have to stop and thank my husband for being an absolute ROCK on this journey...I could not (or wouldn't want to) have walked through this with anyone else. He has seen me cry more times then I can count and put up with a roller coaster of emotions for what has seemed like an eternity. During the past 7 days whenever my faith was weak or my emotions were topsy-turvy he would look at me and say "God's got this Hon'...He knows exactly who will be Samuel's parents." Seeing him get ready to be a new Daddy again has made me fall in love with him all over again.

The little clothes are ready, the diaper bag is packed, car seat is in the van, kids have their Big Brother/Sister shirts ready to wear and their is nothing left to do but wait for these last few hours to pass!!!

Understanding the "wait"

Just speaking from my heart again, for the oh, 7 or 8 of you that read this blog!! The summer months have felt like an even crazier roller coaster ride on this miracle of adoption. Our agency is busy and we have heard about different situations and are still waiting and praying about some of those. I had an "aha" moment during our family devotions a few nights ago that is making me understand why God has put us on this journey. Back in July we got a call from our agency about the possibility of adopting a sibling group... would be willing to take a set of 2 young children close in age? Of course, we said "yes" and tried not to get excited. Emily was very excited because she declared sometime back in the spring (in a very prophetic manner), "Mommy, we have waited so long for our baby that I think God will reward us for being so patient and give us 2!" Our agency told us a little about this young woman's story and her name and we immediately began to pray for her...which is pretty much all we can do when we hear news like this.

Fast forward a few weeks in time...we got news that she had not shown up for a meeting with our birthmother counselor so Dave and I just assumed that the Lord has closed the door on that situation and we just continue to pray for our birthmother, wherever she may be. But for some reason, my kids keep praying for this woman by name! It hit me like a ton of bricks the other day when I heard them do this... here they were praying for a woman who is a complete stranger to them, who obviously needs prayer because she was considering making a choice to give up her babies and what if they are the only people in the world praying for her right now?!? God has called us on this journey to teach us about faith that moves mountains and I am humbled and in awe to see my children developing this relationship with their Father at such a young age! I knew that this journey would totally change Dave and I forever, but I had not idea it would trickle down to my kids like this! Please keep praying for us, pray that God would continue to give us patience and strength during this time.

Thoughts on Mother's Day...

Mother's Day is quickly approaching and I find myself thinking of this little one that I have "mothered" in my heart for nearly a year now. While I am so thankful for the amazing children God has blessed me with and given me the privilege to mother for the past 10 years my heart still aches to be a mommy to this new little one. For me, holidays waiting for this little one have been the hardest, I cried on Christmas, I cried on Easter, I've cried as we have celebrated birthdays, and undoubtedly I will shed some tears on Mother's Day. I think only an adoptive parent that has walked this road can truly understand how it feels to have a part of your family and a piece of your heart not with you on a special day.

I have been reflecting a lot lately on this journey that we have been walking for nearly a year now, while it is so not what I would have chosen for our family (I would have chosen to finish our home study and get "the call" the next week!), I can honestly say that I am thankful for it. It has taught me so much about how our lives truly are not our own, we are God's and His will is accomplished in His time, not a minute sooner or later!! It has also taught me what an absolute miracle adoption truly is! Whether you travel 10 miles across town or 5,000 miles across the world to bring your children home, it will be one the most exciting and emotional roller coasters of your life, but in the end when you hold that sweet baby in your arms it is SO WORTH IT (this is what I have heard, we can't wait to experience it for ourselves)!!! Thanks for letting me share my heart! If you are blessed enough to have your momma with you on Mother's Day, give her an extra hug! She deserves it!!!

"Waiting" pics

I'm a planner...it's not a secret. I make lists, am organized, and not a very "spur of the moment" gal. We will only have a few hours notice to prepare when "the call" comes and our baby is here. I feel the need to be prepared now, rather than running around Walmart in the middle of the night. Sometimes I think it is wonderful to be ready, but sometimes it is hard to see these bits of baby things throughout my home each and every day and wonder how much longer I will have to wait to use them. I snapped some pictures of these things to create a page for our baby's scrapbook and thought I would share them...

Towels waiting in the linen closet to bathe you...
Diapers waiting to be changed...

Clothes waiting to be worn...

A bed waiting to be slept in...

A stroller & car seat waiting to be pushed and buckled in our van...

Bottles waiting to be filled...

A storage cubby waiting for your stuff...

"For I know the plans I have for you, declared the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future" Jeremiah 29:11

Waiting...

So, I haven't posted any adoption news lately, simply because there hasn't been any...we are just waiting. Waiting for a baby that needs our home, our family and our love. To be honest the past few weeks have been very hard and a bit of an emotional roller coaster. I have found myself being very impatient, struggling with my flesh and just wishing that we had our baby right now. However it was just the other day during my devotions that God really whacked me on the head and said "Why are you being so selfish, Jen??? This is something I have called you to do, I have already chosen this child that will one day become yours, and you will wait until it is my timing for you to meet him or her, not yours"...

I then realized that God is not the least bit surprised at this wait, but in fact he expected it...and every day that we wait is not without purpose. It's a day spent praying for this baby, praying for its birthmother and the life-changing choice she is going to make. I know that when the day comes when we meet this precious baby face-to-face, then all the waiting will make sense. So for now we wait...and pray...

BABY SHOWER!!!

My sweet friends from church, Jill and Kelly, blessed our family today by throwing us a baby shower. It was a beautiful shower and we were blessed to receive some wonderful gifts for this baby we are all so patiently waiting for...

THANK YOU!

We want to send out a big, heartfelt "Thank You" to everyone who sent us pledges and donations for our adoption "rock-a-thon" fundraiser. So far we have received $ 1,035!!! We've had a few more donations come in during the past few days, so hopefully our grand total will go even higher! Thank for all your prayers and support!

10 HOURS!!!!

It's 6:00 and we are officially done rocking...we made it 10 hours!!! We are so thankful to each and every one of you that made a pledge or donation towards this precious life that will become a special part of our family. We'll tally up the pledges in the next few days and let you know what the grand total raised was! Thanks again for your prayers and support, we love you all!

Update for the rock-a-thon

I have added a Donation button to the right for those of you who are willing and able to donate and help us in our adoption process. We thank each one of you who have so generously given to us. If God lays it upon your hearts to give, we ask that you do so prayerfully. We know that God will bless your efforts and we Praise Him for what He has done for us through our Family and Friends.
Thank you all (ya'll) so much!

3:50...

Jen and Nathan have recruited the neighbors to help in the rock-a-thon....It's almost 3:50 and we have rocked almost 8 hours. Well the clouds have passed, the sun is out and we have been blessed with a beautiful day. It is in the high 80's with little humidity. We had our doubts at first, with the cloud cover and a few sprinkles while I was cutting the grass, but this day has been absolutely gorgeous!

2:50

Wow, the past few hours have flown by..we had lunch on the porch...the kids sat & the grownups rocked. All of our neighbors have stopped down to visit...very cool!

11:45

The kids and I are rocking, and playing Phase 10 (Dave is cutting the grass)! What a fun and relaxing day this will be...