in absentia

i have been absent from the blogosphere for about three or four weeks now... not writing any blogs, and barely reading any.

i've missed the blogosphere, but plenty of important things have kept me busy, like hanging out with my mom when she came to visit, taking on extra hours at work, getting certified for adoption and getting our place prepared to be taken over by little ones.  though we are getting closer each day to adoption, at the same time various things have come up to put us farther away. 

while not really knowing when this will happen (i would guess early april... could be sooner, could be later), we are slowly gathering/collecting stuff together that we will need in order to take care of the children God is going to bring our way (i have coined the term "baby paraphernalia" to describe the exorbitant amount of stuff you need).

i place a huge priority on living simply/minimally, so i am trying to be discerning in what we get, because i really don't want to buy something we will use only twice.  making things more complicated is the fact that we have no idea what to prepare for... we have requested a sibling set of two between the ages of 0 and 4.  now if you know anything about this age range, you know that there are HUGE discrepancies between children in this age range.  even 6 months in the life of a child this age can mean different clothes, different toys, different car seat, and even a different bed.  we could be placed with twin infants, a 14 month old and a 3 1/2 year old, an infant and a 18 month old or twin two year olds or any other broad range of possibilities.


we are trying to be broadly prepared, while only purchasing minimally.  what would be most helpful in this effort is to get lots of hand-me-downs from other parents.  unfortunately, we basically know zero parents of young children here.  about a month ago, God reminded me of a friend from our old church who told me that every time she needs something, she prays that God would give it to her for free, and He has often answered.  so i decided to start praying for free "baby paraphernalia", remembering how God brought water from rocks for the israelites (exodus 17, numbers 20).

in usual God-like fashion, he has answered.  so far, we have been given two cribs (one converts into a toddler bed...perfect for our situation), two crib mattresses, several receiving blankets, almost 20 pieces of clothing of various sizes, a crib mobile, and a baby sling, as well as various books and toys.

when my mom was here, she also helped me to sew some bibs, which i was pretty excited about (i really enjoy sewing, but i need lots of help/guidance).  i'm also on craig's list a lot, trying to find good deals.  [in case you cant tell, i am all about preparing and planning ahead :) ]


please take a moment to stop reading and pray for us and the adoption.  specifically, please pray:

*for the health and safety of our future children.  they are almost certainly being abused right now in some way, which is why they will be put into the foster care system.

*for God to prepare Alex and I for the challenge and sacrifice of parenting; and that we would parent by the power of the gospel.

*that God would continue to bring water from the rocks.  specifically, at this point we really need another infant car seat, two booster seats, a dresser, bottles and more clothes (more books and toys would be great as well).