The Verdict Is In...

Mary Evelyn Richey will arrive around January 16! We are absolutely thrilled over this new addition...

except for Little Man. He may have to get used to the idea of another girl in the house!

Thanks to everyone for the support, prayers, and love. You are greatly appreciated.

Love, 

The Richeys

What a Surprise!

Well, the newest member of the Richey family will be arriving around January 16! We are totally shocked but completely ecstatic.

It's been a while since I've posted, so I want to go back a year ago to catch you all up. Last June, Jeremy and I received a phone call from a friend regarding a woman wanting to find a family for her baby that was due in September. We talked with her and our attorney for about six weeks. We were skeptical, but felt that if it was God's calling it would work out. If not, we would continue with DHS. On August 19, the birthmother decided to go with another family. We were absolutely devastated. A mere 3 weeks before her due date and her mind was changed. How would we ever get over this? It seemed so easy to say we would continue with DHS if it didn't work out, but actually knowing it wasn't happening was a different story. 

Two weeks later, Hurricane Isaac hit. We evacuated to Jackson for a much needed getaway. It was wonderful! Just being away for 5 days helped us so much. The Thursday after we returned home, we received a phone call from DHS about a two month old little boy in need of a home. Jeremy and I immediately felt this was part of our Baby R story, so we said yes. That afternoon, we picked up a tiny, fragile baby. What do we do now? This baby boy was in so much need- of love, attention, nurturing, and healing. All we knew is that we could give that to him. It was definitely a sudden change, but with the help of family, friends, and trusting The Lord, we would get our new "normal" underway. It all began to make sense why our previous adoption possibility didn't work out. God needed us to be this baby's parents whether it be forever for for a short time. 

One special person has passed away since Little Man came to live with us. He was her pride and joy. My Mamaw was my role model. There is no other like her, and I believe Little Man knew it. Although she is greatly missed, this is my last time seeing her. What a moment to cherish!  I just know she jumped for joy in Heaven when she found out we were pregnant. I cannot wait to tell my kids about all the wonderful memories of her.

Over the past 10 months...we have been through many ups and downs over our Little Man's status, but what we know is that we are providing him with the best home possible and are trusting God will keep him safe. We hope that very soon we will have word that he is ours forever. After all, our new baby will need a big brother to watch out for him or her! 

Our life is crazy right now, but we wouldn't have it any other way. We know God is watching out for us and is guiding us in the direction in which to go. So, for now, pray for Little Man and this pregnancy. We are beyond blessed by the love and support from all of you. Jeremy, Little Man, and I want to leave you with a few pictures about our newest member! 

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!

Merry Christmas, Baby R!

We were so blessed to receive many gifts for Baby R this Christmas. We even got some "mommy and daddy" gifts to help prepare us for parenthood. Here are a few pictures of the generous gifts our families gave.



Baby R's awesome gifts



"Mommy and Daddy" Gifts

Over the past month, we have also gathered fabrics and bedding for Baby R's room. It is very exciting to be getting all of these things together! Here are some of the ideas we have so far.


Bed skirt made out of these two fabrics...



Bumper and blanket made out of this...







Pillows and accents made out of the fabrics above and these...

Blankets, baskets, and stuffed animals...



Jeremy and I are so very thankful for all of these wonderful gifts! We will keep you posted on our journey and will give you little updates along the way. We are so very appreciative of all each of you have done. Thank you again!

Just a little update...

I thought I'd give you all an update on our process. Many of you have been so kind to ask about where we are and what is taking place. Well, we are almost finished with paperwork! Jeremy and I must complete our physicals, and I need one more employee verification. After those documents are in our hands, we will mail off our packet! Additionally, we are anxiously waiting for training at the end of January. We are so excited! In the mean time, I am going to post pictures of Baby R's Christmas gifts! So, be looking for that post in a couple of days! It is so special to see how loved this baby is already. God is truly amazing. We are so very thankful. Jeremy and I hope each of you had a blessed Christmas!

It's official...we're adopting!

Now you’ve heard the exciting news about our adoption journey! To some of you, this may be a shock and to others a confusion. So that we may better explain ourselves, Jeremy and I want to take the time to share with you how this decision came about and what we need from you.

Background Story:

From the time our relationship developed into something more serious, we continuously discussed adoption as a part of our family plan. James 1:27 tells us to care for orphans, so Jeremy and I felt that this is something we should follow through with. God’s word shows us the way, and this is one thing that we felt called to do. Adoption was something we were both passionate about, but thought we would save it until after having biological children. Before we married, we decided to support a child through Holt International since we were not at a point where adoption was an option. However, we should have stopped right there because what did I just say? “WE would save it until after having biological children.” Well, we all know how it works when WE try to plan.

Anyway, in the spring of this year, Jeremy and I had come to the conclusion that we were ready for kids. Through learning about and praying for my grandmother’s cancer, I realized our timing- waiting five years - might not be what God had in store. We prayed and had a peace that it would soon be time. We were settled only twenty minutes away from family, and it seemed perfect. God wasn’t opening doors for another church, so we quit looking and thought this was HIS plan. After a few months of being at peace with where we were and trying to decide the perfect maternity leave time, God decided to intervene. He planned for us to move six…yes SIX…hours away from everything we had ever known. With all of the happenings and signs, it was impossible for us to say no to this opened door. So, we picked up and moved. Of course this put a hold on Baby R, but Jeremy and I were okay with that. We knew God would again show us the way. So now, here we are in Gulfport, MS, adjusting to a new life. 

Puzzle Pieces:

Enter Charlie and Lisa Ray- our pastor and his wife…

They are foster-to-adopt parents, and we have learned so much from them. Each time Jeremy and I met with them, a feeling of “I have to help out these kids in need!” overwhelmed me. Apparently Jeremy had somewhat felt the same way, but neither of us mentioned it to each other for several weeks. 

Enter Brandy Moran- my new “teacher-friend”…

She and her husband adopted two years ago. She has shared so much with me about processes and inside details to help Jeremy and I decided what to do…down the road of course…or so we thought. She also shared a story of a friend who just adopted and offered to set up a meeting with her for us to discuss any concerns I had. Her insight and support has been God-sent over the past four months.
       Enter Holt International update…

We received an update on our little girl in China. She is STILL waiting on parents, and this broke my heart. Of course we are too young for international adoption, but this was the final confirmation that God’s plan was being revealed; it was time to begin this journey. 

The Decision:

Since the move, Jeremy and I couldn’t find peace about biological children again, and honestly, I was not ready for pregnancy. After much prayer and putting together the puzzle pieces, - Charlie and Lisa, Brandy, and Holt International- we decided God was calling us to adopt and to adopt NOW! No wonder we were not at peace; we were trying to make OUR plan- not GOD’s plan.  So the journey began…

As for what we have decided, we realize there are agencies all over to work with. However, there are children in our own shelter, in Gulfport, who are in desperate need of a loving home. Because of this, we chose to work with Mississippi Family and Child Services. There are many options available, but we are hoping for a child under the age of one. If God plans for something else, we feel sure He will provide us with how to respond to that situation. It could be a few months, or it could be years, but it is all in the Master’s hands. 

What We Need From You:

PRAYER. It’s quite simple- prayer. We know that through your prayers, you support us. We realize there are many questions because we have them, too! For now we will answer what we are able, but just begin with praying…pray for Baby R, pray for the birthmother, pray for us, pray for the process, and pray for our families.  Most of all, pray for God to show us His plan. 

All we know to say is that this is tugging at our hearts, and we feel total peace that God has the perfect child planned for us. Yes, we realize it is an uneasy process, but it is also a beautiful one. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we are doing for you. After all, you will be a very big part of this process, too! 

We are so excited to have started this adventure, yet realize it will take time. However, we have total trust and faith because God’s mighty hand is all over this process! Jeremy and I want to leave you with our Adoption Journey Verse: “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1. We are so thankful for each one of you and are ready to experience this journey with you.