Step of Faith

Last Thursday evening we went to an adoption panel put on by our adoption agency. There were two couples that had adopted internationally and two couples that were there with the sets of birth parents who they had adopted from. I can not even begin to describe to you how wonderful of an opportunity this was for us. Each of the 6 couples shared their stories and when they were finished all of us couples getting ready to adopt could ask them anything we wanted. They were so open and honest with us, it was just fabulous.
Being able to hear from other couples who have been through the process before was just priceless. And to hear from these parents who had loved their unborn babies enough to give them a better life just indescribable. It made us think about things we had never even considered before. God definitely used this to open our eyes and our hearts even more in this process. I am so thankful for Thursday night, and the extra peace, excitement, and openness it brought to our hearts!
As we were talking with friends recently it was brought up once again, that adoption is really a step of faith. There are many unknowns and it can get a little scary at times but that is when we just have to trust God and remember as we should in all things, that we are not in control and he is. And that is honestly a huge weight off of our shoulders! I have had overwhelming peace throughout this entire process and I know that without faith this wouldn't be possible.
God is good, all the time. And we are thankful.

HomeStudy Visits

All of the paperwork and fingerprints came back and we are officially ready to start our homestudy! We have our first visit on Tuesday the 8th and the next two will be on the following two Tuesdays. That means we should have our final homestudy on the 22nd of November.
We are so excited to do our homestudy and be ready to be picked! This also means I have about 3 weeks to get our Profile Book completed. So prayers for calm nerves for the homestudy and for us to get the book finished would be greatly appreciated!
Also, we would love to have you all praying for our future baby and birth family as well. It is so amazing and humbling to think that someone could be out there right now carrying baby Masters! We have been praying for our baby and the family that has chosen to give our baby life and would love to have you praying with us as well!

The Nursery

We have been busy getting our nursery ready so we can put some pictures in our profile book. We have been so excited to do this for years, so we have been enjoying every minute of it. We knew we wanted a neutral ocean theme that would work for a boy or girl. First we found fabric that we liked for the curtains and went from there. Here is a little peek at what we have so far...

Old blue dresser that we painted yellow. It is the new changing table.

We found little iron on patches and I glued them to the drawers.

I found this cute fabric that I loved! Mom Masters made a bumper
& crib sheets for us.

My Mom is making the baby a quilt out of the same fabric.

I found these adorable wall clings for above the crib!

And here are the curtains that started it all!

Max & Mollie excited about the nursery!

And of course, a map for the baby to look at while
on the changing table!

The map, a sign we have had for years, & the octopus
Mom Masters made.

I don't have a picture of it yet, but we also have an adorable little crab on the opposite wall that I found on clearance at Kohls a few years ago. His little crab claws stick out to hang things from. Too cute!! So look for more pictures soon! In mean time we are working on a few more little things in the nursery and waiting on our fingerprints to get back so that we can start our homestudy!

OoPs!

Sometimes things go wrong...

Like when you are trying to quickly finish up a little bit of painting in the nursery, slip on the plastic you have down, kick the paint can, which rolls off the plastic & onto the carpet.

If you can't tell from his expression in the picture he was NOT happy. But believe it or not we got ALL of that paint up and out of the carpet. There is an extremely clean spot in the middle of the floor now with a hint of very light blue that you can only see in just the right light.

Needless to say, it was not the relaxing evening of watching football that we had been planning. We worked on cleaning that spot for hours! I insisted on taking pictures because someday he would look back on this a laugh. He didn't think so at the time but I think he agrees with me now!

Going to the Chapel

On October 1st, 2011 my brother Randy married my fabulous new sister-in-law Brittany! They got married at The Chapel in the Hills in Rapid City, SD. We all stayed at The Lodge in Deadwood, SD. It was unusually hot for October and was 94 degrees on the big day! Everything was beautiful and went perfectly! We couldn't be more happy for them. I have never seen my brother so happy and we couldn't be happier to have Brittany in our family!

Showing off the luggage tags we got them!

My adorable parents!

Forever & for Always

Best Man & Groom

Bride & Bridesmaid

The girls

The ceremony

Love this!

In Deadwood

Aren't they gorgeous?

The happy couple!

Deadwood

It was a perfect weekend celebrating love! They had an awesome honeymoon in Seattle, other than being hit by a bus that just kept going after running into them! But that will make a great story to tell for the rest of their lives right? :)

Paperwork, Pee Tests, & More

So far we have finished all of our major paperwork, done our fingerprints, peed in a cup, and on Friday we get to do physicals and TB tests. Every thing we can cross of our list brings us closer to our baby!
We have started some paperwork for our homestudy and can't wait to get going on the rest of those meetings. Things are moving along fast. We know the sit and wait part will be long but we are more than ready to be there & wait for the baby God has picked out for us. We are also busy working on our profile book. At first I was nervous about making this book but now I am just having fun with it. I get to to make a book all about us, our story, & our amazing families! How cool is that!?!?
Stay tuned for more updates as we move along!!!

October

I am pretty sure that EVERY year I blog about how much I love October. And how I love fall & everything that comes along with it. This year is no exception. In fact, it has already been one of the best Octobers I can remember. We have already watched my brother marry his beautiful wife in the Black Hills of South Dakota, celebrated their marriage with a big reception & dance in Chamberlain, and celebrated my Dad's birthday! And there is SOO much more to come! We almost have the nursery done, have started our homestudy paperwork, and are moving even closer to adoption! I can't help but be amazed by all that we have to be thankful for in this season of our lives. God is good!