Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Distractions

I realized it's been awhile since I've posted, but there's just not much going on in regards to the adoption. There is, as usual, lots going on not related to the adoption. We had a momentary glimpse of parenthood a few weeks ago, when we were offered the opportunity to pursue a domestic adoption. If it had worked out, we would have become parents within the week the opportunity presented itself. However, for reasons I am not going to go into here, it did not work out. We prayed long and hard about this decision, and requested prayer from others, for clarity and wisdom about pursuing this. It was made very clear to us that this was not what God had planned to build our family.

Our pastor spoke a few weeks ago about the things that distract us from the journey God has for us. There have been numerous times during the adoption process when we have been presented with other options to build our family. I always wondered why God would show these to us and then take them away. I no longer believe that. I believe that these other opportunities are distractions, meant to guide us away from what God truly has planned for us if we are willing to wait on His timing. When we pray and truly seek His guidance for our decision-making, every opportunity has fallen through, and not once have we felt grief or distress from that, only "peace which surpasses all understanding"(Philippians 4:7). It is hard to wait, but we will continue to seek God's will for our family and hope that we will build our family before we are Sarai and Abram's age. ;)

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Photos of the beds

From beginning to end...

1. Here is the beginning of the beds after the wood was cut and planed, thanks to a friend of ours who let us use his basement woodworking shop for a day! Also, a special thanks goes out to Kris and James for the use of their garage!!
2. A footboard beginning to take shape:
3. A partially completed footboard (missing the posts and the top piece):
4. A mostly completed headboard (only missing the top piece):
5. A view of the headboard on one of the completed beds, showing the routed and angled edges (and Tigger!):
6. As complete a picture of the bed as I can get:
A couple of things to note: Yes, the headboard really is that big. That's because we designed the beds so that when they are bunked WE can sit on the bottom bunk (to read stories, take temperatures, etc.) without bashing our heads. Also, when the kids are older, we can switch out the youth mattress with a box spring and mattress, at which point it will be nice to have the larger headboard. If we do that the mattress will come up to the top of the footboard (same as our current bed). So what do you think?? ;)