Yep, this pretty much sums up where we are. Fundraising and waiting. The waiting part I feel pretty good about. I have been here and know that God's timing is best and it will happen at just the exact moment He wants it to. I remember writing this post and thinking that becoming a mom would NEVER happen. That we would just be that family that waits indefinitely. Oh man, I'm so glad that God knows better than me! But looking back on my feelings on impatience it gets me asking myself am I being impatient? I mean, I really want a second child and cannot wait to hold my baby in my arms and have my other baby sitting right next to me asking to hold her brother or sister.
But the answer is no. I'm not being impatient. I'm feeling really at peace with where we are in this process. Like I said, I have experienced the perfect timing of the Lord's will and know that He will do that again. And when we are finally a family of 4, I will look back on the timing and know exactly the reason why we had all these years to wait. It was because I was supposed to be the mom of that specific child. Just like I felt with Emsley. I had to be her mom. No one else's.
Now the fundraising. This isn't my favorite. I have a hard time asking for help. There are people in the world and even in our community who have greater needs than ours. But here we are, asking others to help us. It is humbling to see people drop off shoes, clothes, and know that they are doing this to help us. They are taking time to sort through their stuff and help us. People are emailing their friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, just to help us fundraise what we need to bring baby #2 home!
So thank you to those who have helped and gone above and beyond to help us with this. We have the best community and without you all we would be so lost and lonely. Life is richer because of those who are around us.
And because people have been asking, the items we are collecting are:
SHOES, SHOES, AND MORE SHOES!
Also, clothing, bedding, towels, soft goods. Bags and bags of it. We will be donating to savers so instead of taking it there yourselves, let us take it off your hands!
Drop off anytime (afternoons are when I'm actually home) but you can totally just pile it up outside my front door!
So get collecting people! And thanks for making the fundraising and waiting time amazing and rich!
Showing posts with label Baby Update. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baby Update. Show all posts
Thursday, February 9, 2017
Sunday, January 8, 2017
Where have we been...
Its been a while. Like 5 months. So just where have the Wise's been lately. This is a condensed version of it but here we go...
Back in September we were asked by a family member to consider a placement of a cousin's daughters, ages 3 and 4. They were currently in foster care and looking for family if it came to adoption. This was a hard decision for our family, especially considering everything that happened the last time we were in this situation. We spent a couple weeks praying about it and ultimately we both felt that the Lord was saying yes. So we have spent the last few months talking with social workers and keeping up to date with the girls case. It is a sad story that I don't want to share on this page.
As of right now we don't have any idea where the case is. We hope to get some idea this week of whether the girls will be returning to their mom or if we will be getting involved in their sweet little lives. Our home is open to them no matter what we find out this week. The Lord put the yes in our hearts and we already care about them very much and that can't be for nothing. We are continuing to pray for them and their mom no matter the outcome.
But we have put our life on hold enough. This week we will be submitting our paperwork, profile books, and check to start our domestic adoption. We are soo excited for this chapter and can't wait to hold our sweet baby in our arms. Emsley will be an amazing big sister. She doesn't know about this other situation but is so excited for a baby to join us.
So be praying for our family as we enter this next phase of our lives. Pray for God's provision of funds, peace as we move forward with this but keep our home open to these little girls, and for joy to abound for this next chapter. And as always we pray for our future child's birthparents. What they are about to do is a HUGE choice of love. Pray for peace as they walk this road and support from those around them.
Thanks for waiting patiently with us and we promise to keep you all updated on the growth of our little wise family!
Back in September we were asked by a family member to consider a placement of a cousin's daughters, ages 3 and 4. They were currently in foster care and looking for family if it came to adoption. This was a hard decision for our family, especially considering everything that happened the last time we were in this situation. We spent a couple weeks praying about it and ultimately we both felt that the Lord was saying yes. So we have spent the last few months talking with social workers and keeping up to date with the girls case. It is a sad story that I don't want to share on this page.
As of right now we don't have any idea where the case is. We hope to get some idea this week of whether the girls will be returning to their mom or if we will be getting involved in their sweet little lives. Our home is open to them no matter what we find out this week. The Lord put the yes in our hearts and we already care about them very much and that can't be for nothing. We are continuing to pray for them and their mom no matter the outcome.
But we have put our life on hold enough. This week we will be submitting our paperwork, profile books, and check to start our domestic adoption. We are soo excited for this chapter and can't wait to hold our sweet baby in our arms. Emsley will be an amazing big sister. She doesn't know about this other situation but is so excited for a baby to join us.
So be praying for our family as we enter this next phase of our lives. Pray for God's provision of funds, peace as we move forward with this but keep our home open to these little girls, and for joy to abound for this next chapter. And as always we pray for our future child's birthparents. What they are about to do is a HUGE choice of love. Pray for peace as they walk this road and support from those around them.
Thanks for waiting patiently with us and we promise to keep you all updated on the growth of our little wise family!
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Baby steps
I feel like this is the only way to describe how our family will be growing...in baby steps. We have some great friends who wanted to get together with us to talk about our family. We went over one night and they asked the hard questions: do we BOTH want more kids? do we BOTH want to adopt a baby or do foster care? And then some....but it was so good for us to be thinking these things through. And what came of that time was that Mike just wants at least one more kid (or 20 if he has his say!) and I want the process to be as close to what we would have experienced if we got pregnant. The process is important for me and the growth is important to Mike. That is something we never realized. I mean, I think having gone through infertility it has definitely made me sad that we didn't get to grow our family organically. We didn't get to get pregnant, wait 9 months, meet our baby, then wait a couple years and start the process over. Our process just isn't that easy. We have to save us for adoption fees, fill out a terrible amount of paperwork, get poked and prodded, scanned and tested, then make a profile book, hope a birth mom chooses us, then after a possibly awkward meeting with birth mom, we might get matched and wait till baby is born. Then there is more waiting to see if birth mom doesn't change her mind, then more meetings, and paperwork while we wait for a finalization court date. I mean, I'm tired just typing that out!
So my desire to at least imitate parts of the natural process is important. Even with the money, paperwork, and waiting, the baby part is something I love. I miss Emsley being a baby. Every once in a while I will look at my almost 5 year old girl and feel sad that time is going so fast. She is going to be in Kindergarten soon and yet it feels like just yesterday she was dancing in her diapers with me!
I want to have at least one more kid, to give Emsley a little brother or sister. I can't think beyond one more. It is too much for me! But I love when I see Emsley with babies and loves them so much. She will be a wonderful big sister. So right now, the Wises are filling out paperwork and finishing up our profile book to get our home study going. We have no money but a lot of faith that God provides. And he does and already has! Someone left us a large anonymous check at our house one day and it just reminded us that God is here. This process could take a while, and it doesn't help that we are both working, have a sweet girl who needs and wants our attention, and a life of house stuff, colds, friends to spend time with, and church things going on. But we will get it done and hopefully have more updates.
I still get nervous of whether I can love more than just Emsley but those fears are not of the Lord. I know unconditional love from no one else but Him and plan to show that to my daughter and any other children God decides to bring into our family.
So for now, pray for us that we get our butts in gear and for the birth mom that could be pregnant right now with our child. That God would minister to her heart in a big way and prepare us to love her as well. This is the part of adoption I love. The relationship that God allows to happen with this woman who will forever be in our hearts.
So my desire to at least imitate parts of the natural process is important. Even with the money, paperwork, and waiting, the baby part is something I love. I miss Emsley being a baby. Every once in a while I will look at my almost 5 year old girl and feel sad that time is going so fast. She is going to be in Kindergarten soon and yet it feels like just yesterday she was dancing in her diapers with me!
I want to have at least one more kid, to give Emsley a little brother or sister. I can't think beyond one more. It is too much for me! But I love when I see Emsley with babies and loves them so much. She will be a wonderful big sister. So right now, the Wises are filling out paperwork and finishing up our profile book to get our home study going. We have no money but a lot of faith that God provides. And he does and already has! Someone left us a large anonymous check at our house one day and it just reminded us that God is here. This process could take a while, and it doesn't help that we are both working, have a sweet girl who needs and wants our attention, and a life of house stuff, colds, friends to spend time with, and church things going on. But we will get it done and hopefully have more updates.
I still get nervous of whether I can love more than just Emsley but those fears are not of the Lord. I know unconditional love from no one else but Him and plan to show that to my daughter and any other children God decides to bring into our family.
So for now, pray for us that we get our butts in gear and for the birth mom that could be pregnant right now with our child. That God would minister to her heart in a big way and prepare us to love her as well. This is the part of adoption I love. The relationship that God allows to happen with this woman who will forever be in our hearts.
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Christmas 2012
Today we celebrated Christmas with our little family. We started the day very chill. We took our time getting ready and then made our traditional cinnamon roll breakfast and enjoyed talking to Emsley about what Christmas day is all about. We told her that Jesus was born today and how lucky we are that he was born and came to change our world forever. Daddy even read from her rhyming bible about Jesus' birth and the shepherds. Then we let Emsley run towards her gifts...daddy has put together her new kitchen and it was waiting in the living room (behind a secure baby gate!). She enjoyed that and we opened our stockings and gifts. Emsley loved each gift so much that it was kinda hard to get her to open the next gift. We made the big mistake of letting her open her gift of books first. Our beautiful child loves to just sit and read and it was hard to tear her away from those. But we each got some special gifts but for Mike and I the best part of the morning was watching Emsley explore all her new things and seeing how curious she is!
We then headed to my grandparents house to see them and my Uncle and his family (along with my parents). We enjoyed being there and Emsley was loving the attention! Then my parents headed over to our house to open gifts (they spoiled us and Emsley in such a wonderful way and our girl LOVES each gift they got her!) and ate a nice ham dinner together. It was a nice evening! Love spending such great quality time with my parents. They love Emsley to pieces and she them. Emsley took a fun bath and went to bed early and we had some restful time on our own watching a movie and talking about our amazing Christmas day. It was such a great day and they day is so much more special having a little one who just loves opening presents but who is also wanting to read and learn about the real reason for this day. We hope to have this day be a day of celebrating Jesus' birth for many years to come! We are so blessed this Christmas and continue to feel so blessed with our family and how God's hand is always a part of it. Emsley is a joy and we are so grateful to have her as our daughter!
Here are some pictures to share our day!
We then headed to my grandparents house to see them and my Uncle and his family (along with my parents). We enjoyed being there and Emsley was loving the attention! Then my parents headed over to our house to open gifts (they spoiled us and Emsley in such a wonderful way and our girl LOVES each gift they got her!) and ate a nice ham dinner together. It was a nice evening! Love spending such great quality time with my parents. They love Emsley to pieces and she them. Emsley took a fun bath and went to bed early and we had some restful time on our own watching a movie and talking about our amazing Christmas day. It was such a great day and they day is so much more special having a little one who just loves opening presents but who is also wanting to read and learn about the real reason for this day. We hope to have this day be a day of celebrating Jesus' birth for many years to come! We are so blessed this Christmas and continue to feel so blessed with our family and how God's hand is always a part of it. Emsley is a joy and we are so grateful to have her as our daughter!
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
18 months old
Ok so I know that Emsley is actually a couple weeks past her 18 month old check up but we finally went to the Dr's today because last week mommy and Emsley had the stomach flu. Boo!
Emsley has gotten so big and her personality is even bigger! She is such a cutie...she loves to put on clothes and shoes and LOVES to read books.
Her stats as she turns 18 months old:
-Weighs 28 pounds and is in the 92nd percentile
-Is 33 1/4 inches tall and is in the 90th percentile
-Still wears size 4 diapers but she is gonna be in size 5 soon
-Her clothes sizes are weird. She wears 2T/3T shirts and 24month/2T pants
-She takes a bottle with breakfast and dinner now and loves her regular milk
-Favorite foods are banana, peas, chicken, and spaghetti
-Sleeps great and naps are about 2 1/2 hours now (LOVE!)
-Daddy handles bath time and teeth brushing at night and she loves it
-Is running everywhere and we are having so much fun chasing each other!
-Can say about 40-50 words and even recognizes lots in her books
-Waves at everyone, especially people in the cars next to us while we are driving...kinda funny!
-Has 16 teeth and we can tell her 2 year molars are shifting but she is handling it like a champ
She is a joy! Love this little girl!
Emsley has gotten so big and her personality is even bigger! She is such a cutie...she loves to put on clothes and shoes and LOVES to read books.
-Weighs 28 pounds and is in the 92nd percentile
-Is 33 1/4 inches tall and is in the 90th percentile
-Still wears size 4 diapers but she is gonna be in size 5 soon
-Her clothes sizes are weird. She wears 2T/3T shirts and 24month/2T pants
-She takes a bottle with breakfast and dinner now and loves her regular milk
-Favorite foods are banana, peas, chicken, and spaghetti
-Sleeps great and naps are about 2 1/2 hours now (LOVE!)
-Daddy handles bath time and teeth brushing at night and she loves it
-Is running everywhere and we are having so much fun chasing each other!
-Can say about 40-50 words and even recognizes lots in her books
-Waves at everyone, especially people in the cars next to us while we are driving...kinda funny!
-Has 16 teeth and we can tell her 2 year molars are shifting but she is handling it like a champ
She is a joy! Love this little girl!
Monday, July 23, 2012
Our big girl!
Our sweet little girl is growing up and everyday just gets more fun! We just took her in for her 15 month well check and she has been growing like a weed! She is 33 inches tall (off the charts) and 26.4 pounds (90th percentile). The Dr. was pleased with how well she is growing and how developed she is. Emsley also just started saying "HI" and it is pretty much the cutest 2 letter word I have every heard in my life. I absolutely CANNOT wait for her to get more and more words. This summer has been filled with trips to the water park in La Mirada called Splash with friends, many walks, lunches out, pool time, park days, and some of the longest naps ever! Such a good summer...thought I would post some cute pictures of our big girl!
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Lately...
We have been keeping pretty busy! It has been way too long since I posted so I thought I would just give a little update on our lives lately. Emsley dropped her first nap and I have loved it! I was nervous that it would be hard transitioning to only having 2 hours where she is asleep but honestly it has been great. It gives us the freedom to get out and spend time together and with other people. We usually go to Target multiple times a week to just walk around, the zoo every other week, and sometimes Disneyland. We also go on a walk with friends every Thursday and another playdate usually too.
This summer, a few moms from church got passes to Splash! That is a mini Raging Waters and today was the first day we went and it was awesome!! Emsley didn't get fussy but just held on tight to me and was taking it all in. After taking a break to warm up and relax, we went back in and Emsley was back to her normal self, smiling at everyone and splashing around. It was so great! I'm looking forward to a great summer with some other moms and their kids. The women that go are amazing ladies and I love having a great community of women who are in the same place as me in life to connect and bond with.
We have a busy summer coming up as a family too! Mike still has every other Friday off so we always take advantage of that. Pool time, park, long walks, we went to the San Diego Fair last week. We plan on going to the San Diego Zoo with Mike's aunt and uncle soon and we can't wait. Mike's birthday is in July so we will be having a fun time celebrating his 32nd birthday. We are also celebrating our 7th anniversary in Oahu, just the three of us from August 4-6 and then heading over to the Big Island to meet up with my parents and sister's family for my parent's 30th anniversary. Should be fun and we are looking forward to getting away!
Loving life right now and love our little one. She is so sweet and fun! Everyone says that things get hard when kids start to walk and climb but truthfully, things just get more fun! Well...here is a picture of Emsley...she is getting so big!
This summer, a few moms from church got passes to Splash! That is a mini Raging Waters and today was the first day we went and it was awesome!! Emsley didn't get fussy but just held on tight to me and was taking it all in. After taking a break to warm up and relax, we went back in and Emsley was back to her normal self, smiling at everyone and splashing around. It was so great! I'm looking forward to a great summer with some other moms and their kids. The women that go are amazing ladies and I love having a great community of women who are in the same place as me in life to connect and bond with.
We have a busy summer coming up as a family too! Mike still has every other Friday off so we always take advantage of that. Pool time, park, long walks, we went to the San Diego Fair last week. We plan on going to the San Diego Zoo with Mike's aunt and uncle soon and we can't wait. Mike's birthday is in July so we will be having a fun time celebrating his 32nd birthday. We are also celebrating our 7th anniversary in Oahu, just the three of us from August 4-6 and then heading over to the Big Island to meet up with my parents and sister's family for my parent's 30th anniversary. Should be fun and we are looking forward to getting away!
Loving life right now and love our little one. She is so sweet and fun! Everyone says that things get hard when kids start to walk and climb but truthfully, things just get more fun! Well...here is a picture of Emsley...she is getting so big!
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
12 months old
Here are some stats as she turns 12 months:
-Weighs 24.12 pounds and is in the 90th percentile
-Is 31 1/2 inches and is in the 97th percentile (we have a tall girl!)
-Still is size 4 diapers
-Wears 18 month clothes but we now have 24 month from her party
-Takes 4 bottles a day with 3 meals and snacks too (excited to give her regular milk soon!)
-Loves pineapple, chicken, rice, yogurt, grapes and even more!
-Sleeps great at night but we think she is about to drop her 1st nap (which is ok!)
-Bath time is great...daddy is the pro but she hates her face getting wet
-At her party last Saturday, she stood up for a couple minutes and then Sunday we had her walk in between us and she took a few steps (it was precious)
-Although she is still saying only a few words, she is definitely understanding us more
-Still the friendliest baby and loves to smile and wave at everyone
-Has 7 teeth and those stinkin' molars are hurting my baby
There are so many details that I could share about this little girl. Lately, I have been feeling such love for Emsley that I have been really emotional about it. I just feel like I can't express it enough. This little girl has changed our lives and made us so joyful and we are so in awe of God and his wonderful plan for our lives.
Happy 1st Birthday Emsley! Your mommy and daddy love you and feel so blessed to be your parents. We can't wait to see what amazing memories we will make with you in the next year! We look forward to seeing you walk, talk, take vacations, tell us you love us, and give sweet hugs and kisses more and more. Thanks for being an amazing little girl! We love you!
Disneyland for Emsley's Birthday
Here are pictures from Emsley's 1st birthday celebration. We took her to Disneyland and had a great day with our little girl!
Monday, April 16, 2012
Emsley's 1st Birthday Party
This past Saturday we gathered with 30 of our closest friends and family at Tri-City Park in Placentia to celebrate our little girl's 1st birthday. After pouring rain the day before, the sky allowed lots of sun to come out and we had a nice party. Emsley had her first taste of sweets with her little cake and got a lot of presents from everyone. It was great to be with everyone who loves Emsley.
It's hard to believe that tomorrow our little one turns 1. Mike is taking the day off and we are taking Emsley to Disneyland! Should be a nice day and we are looking forward to relaxing and celebrating together.
Here are a few pictures from the party day!
It's hard to believe that tomorrow our little one turns 1. Mike is taking the day off and we are taking Emsley to Disneyland! Should be a nice day and we are looking forward to relaxing and celebrating together.
Here are a few pictures from the party day!
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