Serious Shout-out

Can I just give a quick shot-out to all you awesome people who are reading this blog?

The last two-ish weeks, we've paid $5,550 in fees for the adoption. Mind you, we didn't have loads of extra cash stuffed in mattresses in our house. Despite going through a home remodel, plus Adam going out to work for himself (making paychecks less consistent), we knew that starting this adoption when we did was something God was calling us to do.

We didn't know how we were going to come up with the $30,000+ (and still don't completely know), but we do know that our God provides. And He is so great. And it all works in his perfect timing.

We started this process back in January of this year, with enough money to submit our application (wait, actually two applications...) and just kind of let the rest fall into place. Sure, we've definitely been cutting back this year, but we couldn't have done this alone.

From the garage sale, to the t-shirts, to the puzzle pieces (why yes, we do have pieces left) we are so lucky that so many people have asked to help us out in one way or another.

What's incredible about that all? That so far in our adoption journey, we've had to pay around $9,000. And with all of our donations, and profits from the t-shirts and garage sale, we've received roughly $6,000.

Seriously. 

We've got a long way to go, but almost 30% of the cost is already taken care of.

I know there are some people that think, "why would you pay so much money to adopt when you can have your own?" or And I don't really have an answer to that question. Just that this little nugget will be ours. This is the family that God has blessed us with. I'll be the first one to admit that it's difficult to imagine our family without a face, heck, even a gender to put with our little one. But our family is built on faith. Because God put a little picture in our minds, we have to trust in Him. Which can be so hard at times. But He makes the rules. And He brings us awesome people like you.

Hebrews 11:1 says Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. I think that sums things up rather nicely, don't you?

Keep on keepin' on. Thanks so much for taking a step of faith with us and helping our family grow.

High Five For Friday

It's a foggy, weirdly warm Friday around these parts. One of those cozy days where you'd rather be snuggled up to your husband and puppy on the couch watching Netflix all day. But alas, it's not. And that's fine too. Here's a look back at some of the best moments of the week.

1. I did laundry. I did laundry. There is a reason this is number one on my list. We have a laundry room. Praise Jesus, we have a laundry room. I spent six hours on Saturday doing laundry. And it was seriously awesome. I was going through my clothes trying to decipher what really needed to be washed. We've still got a couple more things to finish, mainly tile above the shower, but hopefully thatt will be done soon. A laundry room + a fresh and bathroom, actually. If you could only see what our bathroom was like. .  . You would not be impressed. It was gross. The laundry room // bathroom is the first room on the main floor that is finished, so now our paint colors, trim styles, and other general lets-keep-everything-similar finishings are taken care of. So hopefully we Adam will spend less time trying to imagine what it will be like.

2. The Royals are in the World Series! WHAT! How does that happen? Adam and I have been getting our super-fan on this week watching the two games that have happened. We spent Tuesday as a date night at Old Chicago (one of our favorite pizza and beer joints to go to) and unfortunately watched the Royals lose, but stayed home on Wednesday to watch a "Royal win" (see what I did there?).

3. I'm heading down to the Des Moines Farmers Market this weekend to meet up with an old friend who I haven't seen in a while. I'm excited to see her and spend time with her. Typically I stay around Ames if I want to hit up a farmers market, but the Des Moines market is h-u-g-e.

4. Adam has been working on a small job this week. We're thankful that he's been able to continue to find work while he's out on his own.

5. Adam and I have been indulging in a guilty pleasure in the form of a TV show lately. We've gotten ourselves hooked on a show that (I'm sure) Adam would be embarrassed if he knew I was admitting this. We've gotten hooked on Pretty Little Liars. I'm a little embarrassed just typing that out. But it is what it is. We've started it and now we' just need to finish it. If you're not aware, it's about four high school girls who like keeping secrets (something like that). Anway, it's one of those this-is-too-dramatic-but-I-can't-stop-watching shows.

How was your week? I'd love to hear about it! Happy Friday!

Tiny I600-A Update

I have an itsy, bitsy update from our I600-A. 

It probably isn't even worth a blog post. But, what the heck, I'm feeling sassy today. 

We received a letter in the mail from the Department of Homeland Security stating that they had received our application (i.e. cashed our check), and would be scheduling an appointment for us to get our fingerprints taken. 

And that's it! 

Pretty cool though, it just means we're still trucking right along. 

High Five For Friday

Alright, folks, it's Friday, and that's really good news. But what's really crazy about this week is that we are practically in the middle of October. Here are my top five moments of the week!


1. This first one goes out to the gorgeous Fall weather we've been having. The picture below was taken at Lake Ada Hayden, a lake pretty close to us.

Walking at the lake.

2. We are so dangerously close to having a laundry room, I can barely stand it. It's so exciting to have that "fresh and new" feeling in an older house. The laundry room is just one of many of our home projects, which, actually, was much more than a mere project, seeing as we didn't actually have a laundry room to begin with. That's right, Adam started from the ground (er, floor) up with this one. We've ran into a few hiccups during the whole process, but that's normal, right? It's all about finding what we want and what will work with our budget. Sometimes you need to get creative. We actually started our morning off by waking up early to paint the walls and the ceiling. I'm telling you, we're close. Check out the post on Hometown Renovations for more details on it. Disclaimer: I don't post very often.

3. I'm not sure if I've shared that we're Kansas City Royals fans. Why the Royals, you ask? Well I'll tell you. Back in February(?) Adam and I decided that we wanted to find a team to cheer for. Around here, there are a few options: the Minnesota Twins, the Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals, and the Kansas City Royals. We weighed the pros and cons of each city and team and landed on Kansas City. It's a short three hours away from us, and a neat city. So that was that. We were Royals fans. Of course, we're confident that we made the right choice now that the Royals are going into the post-season, which they hadn't done since 1985. It was a good year to become a fan. And we can say we were fans before they were good. Anyway, they're playing game one of their seven game series, so that's how we'll be spending our Friday night.

At a Royals game for our anniversary in August.

4. On Tuesday night Adam and I had a chance to volunteer with Meals from the Heartland down in Des Moines. We helped package over 250,000 meals on Tuesday night. The meals we packaged will be sent around our state, country and even all around the world. It's a pretty awesome organization.

5. One of my best friends is coming to visit me this weekend! I am so excited to catch up and spend time with her. I'm looking forward to taking her tailgating for the Iowa State and enjoying some of the fall weather.

...And It's Off!

It's off! (airplane emoji)

...(What is?)

Our I600-A has officially been shipped to USCIS. PTL

Go ahead, ask me what PTL means.

...(What is PTL)

Side note: I have way too much fun having a conversation with myself.

Praise the Lord. It's a thing I'm trying to get going. I heard a friend use it and couldn't let it go. You should start using it, too. I think I've successfully gotten my mother-in-law hooked. Or maybe she just says it to me. Can you confirm, MT?

Anyway, PTL is obviously just like saying "Praise the Lord", except more refined. You know, sometimes you just don't have enough time for the entire phrase. So you just shoot three little letters. It can even be used in texting, I'd say you could successfully use PTL anywhere you would use LOL. Seriously, think about it.

Personally, I think it has a nice ring to it.

Anyway...back to the purpose of this post: to inform you that our I600-A has been shipped off. So that means we'll wait for that to get approved by USCIS, get some more fingerprints taken, and get started on our dossier. We're told it should take about 4-6 weeks for approval.

This just means we're one step closer.

I also want to take just a moment to say thank you to all of our awesome friends and family who have contributed to our puzzle fundraiser. I never knew people could be so excited about puzzles. Seriously though, puzzles were your least favorite "toy", weren't they? That's why we'll just keep ours between glass. Anyway, your donation is why we were able to send off the I600-A right now. Which is huge.

Okay, before I start rambling about other acronyms or puzzles, I'll stop. Cheers to Thursday, which is basically Friday, which is basically the weekend, and cheers to being one step closer to baby (toddler?) Negrete.