I feel like this question has been on my mind for a while now. What is next...when will we adopt again?? I'm not sure but I know that God is stirring something in both my and Mike's hearts right now. Just like many couples who want to adopt, we have each felt at peace with moving forward with adopting in our own time. The first time, I felt like I was the one ready and Mike came along quickly after. But this time, I have been the one holding up us moving forward and from being able to answer this pressing question. There is nothing wrong with my wanting to wait. I didn't feel at peace and was being selfish with my time alone with Emsley. I have been too comfortable in our little family. God has called us to be a family who adopts children to grow our family. And I have been afraid at what it would look like the 2nd time around as opposed to our experience in bringing Emsley home. Sometimes I made any excuse I could. I want to wait till Emsley is 2, I want to own a house, I want the house to be in order, blah, blah, blah. And each time I set my own timetable, God slowly allowed each of these things to be done...and thus, my excuses and fears have run out.
So what IS next? What is going to happen for the Wise Family?
We filled out an adoption application on the website of Kinship Adoptions. For some reason, I have a wonderful mix of happy, excited, scared silly, and anxious at what lies in front of us. God has been putting on both of our hearts to adopt a child (or children) out of the foster care system. This child might be a 1 year old or it might be a 6 year old. This child might be Caucasian or African American. This child might have been a drug baby or be perfectly healthy. Seriously....I feel so out of control and yet, so in control of what God has been leading us to for SOO long.
A couple weeks ago we watched a friend's little boy and Emsley had sooo much fun. They did the typical struggle for sharing toys and all but they eventually found Emsley's musical instruments and played the xylophone and drums and were laughing and it brought such joy to our hearts watching Emsley with her friend. Imagine how much fun (I'm sure lots of tears) she will have with a permanent friend. And even better is think of how much fun (again, lots of tears) those other little children will have with Emsley and their forever family.
The better question I think right now isn't about what is next for our family but truly about what is next for the child or children that will soon be joining our family. They are falling asleep right now and have no idea that is the very near future (hopefully and prayerfully) they will be sleeping in their very own bed, with their forever mom and dad just down the hall, and a sweet little sister sleeping soundly in the room next to theirs. They will never have to be alone or not have someone to take care of them when they are sick. They will be with us no matter where the Lord takes us in life. What is next for our children is way more thrilling than what is next for us!!
I have a lot of say about fears and insecurities as we enter the world of adopting from the CA foster system but that will have to be for another time and another update!
Sunday, April 28, 2013
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!
Monday, April 30, 2012
Wise Family Pictures
Our friend Sarah Stucky took our family pictures recently. They turned out great so I would share some!
Carlsbad Flower Fields
Last Friday we drove down to Carlsbad to see the Flower Fields. We had wanted to go last year but their season ended. So we were super excited to go. Emsley is pretty much gonna be a full time walker any day now so she didn't want to be in her stroller and wanted mommy and daddy to hold her hand so she could walk. It made it way more fun! I love having a little walker! I don't care about all the comments people make..."oh now you are gonna be chasing her around...have fun". Having a toddler is amazing! So here are pictures from our wonderful family day.
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