A House for Baby R

It has been quite hectic in our little world over the past two months! We've been to adoption training, put together a baby bed, bought a house, moved in, and prepared for a home study. Whoa! Just listing all of that makes me tired again. Although these events have been stressful, we are so happy to finally be settled in a home and ready for Baby R! In the near future, I will be creating several posts to document the past few events, but this one will include pictures of our new house- before we moved in. 

At the beginning of February, we were leisurely driving around Gulfport and noticed several houses that interested us. After looking up listing prices, we decided we would go ahead and look at them. This was several months before we initially planned to house hunt, but we knew our home study would be scheduled soon and wanted to make sure we had the perfect place to live. We looked at 3- yes, only 3!- houses. I needed some time to be sure I had my mind made up. Jeremy, on the other hand, was sure from the get go! He says that when he knows what we wants, he will do whatever it takes to get it...and until he does, he isn't satisfied! Once I was sure about the house, we made an offer. A few days and negotiations later, the offer was accepted! This was February 6, and our realtor was able to schedule our closing for February 27. So, with three short weeks to pack, we frantically started getting the apartment together. It's all about the teamwork! Ha! 

Closing day came...I had taken off work. We get the dreaded realtor phone call saying we cannot close! I thought: Ah! What are we going to do? We live on the third floor of our apartment building and have no groceries or clothes unpacked! After panicking for a bit, I realized, God has planned out exactly what we are to do. I should be thankful we have a place to live and that we are blessed enough to be moving during the middle of our apartment lease. So, I quickly calmed down and began to realize that this was a small obstacle in the grand scheme of things. Soon, we would be in the house! And soon it was! That Friday- March 2- we closed! Homeowners (x2- we still have a house in Selmer) we are! 

So, now, three weeks later, we are settled in our new home and absolutely love it! I quickly got everything put away, and Jeremy's parents came down to help its decorating and hard work. I am rethinking some of my organizational decisions, but other than nit picky things, we are feeling comfortable here! Here are the pictures of our house from real estate websites, but I will soon post pictures of the house fully decorated. 

 

Kelly Avenue House

Living Room and Dining Room-view from inside front door

Back door leading out to patio

Bath- we are adding another bath this summer

Kitchen

Stove area- I do not have an upright pic of this!

Baby R's Room :)

Back Patio- this is our favorite place 

There you have it- most of our new home. We are enjoying living here and cannot wait to see what memories God has in store for us here. Of course, more pictures are to come. My next post will be on Baby R's bed arrival and assembly...quite an experience! Until then...we are planning on catching some rays at the beach! Please be in prayer for our home study on Monday. This is our final step of the process. We are so excited and anxious yet keeping faith. Hebrews 11:1 :) 

Happy Spring! 

A Few Answered Questions...

1. Where are you in the process?
Well, we are in the final steps of mailing our packet off. We just finished getting our verification or employment and our physicals. These two steps were the last on our list of things to accomplish. Now, we are ready to mail this off! We have training January 27-28. We will find out more useful information then. We are anxious about attending this!

2. Why did you choose DHS-Family and Child Services (FCS)?
Each person we encountered that made us seriously pray about adopting somehow related to FCS. Jeremy and I prayed and continuously had a feeling we should go this way. No matter the organization, we are providing a child with a loving, Christian home.

3. How long it will take?
You'll have to ask The Big Man that one! We do not know any time frame. We will for sure keep you posted once we are "waiting." From then, it could be any day. We are fully relying on God. his plan is perfect!

4. Are you unable to have biological children? Why are you adopting first?
These two questions have an intertwined answer. Yes, as far as we know, we CAN have biological children. However, as our first post says, I am not quite ready for pregnancy! I want to be a mother, but the time is not yet right for biological children. Jeremy has been very understanding on this matter and has supported my feelings. He knows I must be at peace with myself and ready for all of the changes that occur during pregnancy. He also knows that one day that peace will come. I am so blessed to have such an understanding husband! Because of all this, we discussed adopting before instead of after biological children. We began to pray, and this seemed to fall right into place.
So, to answer these two most popular questions: We are able to have biological children, but that is not the direction God is leading us at this point. We have always felt called to adopt, and NOW just so happens to be God's amazing plan!

I hope this "eases" some of your minds. Ha! I am sure I will have more of this type of post in the future. I know a lot of you love to read to stay updated, and I want to make sure that easy for you! Thank you all for the support and prayers!