Saturday, November 7, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Frosty...
It's getting Frosty here in Bend Oregon...this is what I woke up to this morning.
Definitely not used to seeing frost on my house or our bbq! :D It was all over the walkway and our car. We had to chip the ice off our car windows. All this to say we are still adjusting. :D
This next picture is of Emmy in her new school uniform. She is in Pre K this year and is loving it. I am all for uniforms but I was uninformed of the uniforms until the day before! So I was caught off guard and scrambled trying to find some. Mondays and Fridays they wear regular uniforms but on Wednesdays they have chapel and wear their chapel uniforms which is shown below. It is so cute! She was being silly so I couldn't get a good picture of her but you can see the cuteness still!
If you all could continue praying for us with the new transitions and with adoption. The soonest we could receive a referral is in two months (could be sooner but most likely not). It could also be another four months. We are so excited to see a picture and hear our son or daughter's name and story! I can't contain myself some days. I want to just see our child now!! :D
It's a different feeling than when I was pregnant. I was anxious to see what Emmy looked like but I also was nervous about giving birth. I knew within a week or two of my due date I would see her sweet face. It was hard but nothing like this. I have no idea when I will get a call and have a sweet picture and a story waiting in my inbox. Crazy right?!
I feel like all the hard labor (paperwork) with the adoption is done and now I wait...which is hard but not in the same way. It's more helpless than difficult. I feel helpless. I feel out of control. I feel uninformed. In the end this sweet child we are waiting for will be ours (God's), and I will one day feel a sense of "ownership", but as of now I feel like an outsider, helpless and unsure of anything regarding OUR child. It's an odd feeling that I can't quite explain. But I know once I see our child and know he/she is mine, the peace and closure will come. Maybe not right away but I will feel like "mommy" to our 2nd child one day soon...I will have all the responsibilities, rights, blessings, privileges, and FUN I do with Emmy. I can't wait!!
So will you pray with us? For us? For our child? Pray for the waiting children around the world...waiting for a forever family to love them as their own!! :D
Thank you!
Definitely not used to seeing frost on my house or our bbq! :D It was all over the walkway and our car. We had to chip the ice off our car windows. All this to say we are still adjusting. :D
This next picture is of Emmy in her new school uniform. She is in Pre K this year and is loving it. I am all for uniforms but I was uninformed of the uniforms until the day before! So I was caught off guard and scrambled trying to find some. Mondays and Fridays they wear regular uniforms but on Wednesdays they have chapel and wear their chapel uniforms which is shown below. It is so cute! She was being silly so I couldn't get a good picture of her but you can see the cuteness still!
If you all could continue praying for us with the new transitions and with adoption. The soonest we could receive a referral is in two months (could be sooner but most likely not). It could also be another four months. We are so excited to see a picture and hear our son or daughter's name and story! I can't contain myself some days. I want to just see our child now!! :D
It's a different feeling than when I was pregnant. I was anxious to see what Emmy looked like but I also was nervous about giving birth. I knew within a week or two of my due date I would see her sweet face. It was hard but nothing like this. I have no idea when I will get a call and have a sweet picture and a story waiting in my inbox. Crazy right?!
I feel like all the hard labor (paperwork) with the adoption is done and now I wait...which is hard but not in the same way. It's more helpless than difficult. I feel helpless. I feel out of control. I feel uninformed. In the end this sweet child we are waiting for will be ours (God's), and I will one day feel a sense of "ownership", but as of now I feel like an outsider, helpless and unsure of anything regarding OUR child. It's an odd feeling that I can't quite explain. But I know once I see our child and know he/she is mine, the peace and closure will come. Maybe not right away but I will feel like "mommy" to our 2nd child one day soon...I will have all the responsibilities, rights, blessings, privileges, and FUN I do with Emmy. I can't wait!!
So will you pray with us? For us? For our child? Pray for the waiting children around the world...waiting for a forever family to love them as their own!! :D
Thank you!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Happy Halloween!
We spent our first Halloween in Bend Oregon (of course) now that we are living here. It was a great night. We've been in town a total of 7 days and have been invited to two events at my sister's friends houses. We've met alot of people and have enjoyed our time getting to know our new surroundings and our new neighbors! Our second day here our daughter climbed under our backyard fence to play with our two neighbor girls!! It was a hilarious sight and something we were looking forward to Emmy having. A fun childhood full of neighborhood friends, and kid friendly neighbors.
As I started saying tonight was Halloween. Emmy had a great time trick or treating and although it was cold...pretty stinkin' cold, we all had fun drinking our soup/wine/coffee/etc. while watching all the kids trampling along in their costume. We really are enjoying it here in Oregon and slowly getting used to the idea this is our new home. We still are missing so much about So. California, most of all our families and friends we left...but we know we will stay close to them.
Well enjoy the pictures and we wish you a HAPPY HALLOWEEN! :D
Next week we'll have more on the adoption...we have to update our homestudy now that we are here in Oregon. More to come!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
It's been awhile...
Sorry it's been so long since my last post!! We've had a lot going on. We have moved to Bend, OR since my last post. It's been such a weird reality to try and grasp. All my "things" and my family are with me in our new house but it still feels like vacation. It's really a strange new feeling. I've moved to a different house but never to a new town. I've always lived 20 minutes from Long Beach, CA and I've always still had the same friends...I've made new friends along the way but still always had the old ones.
Moving from your hometown is so different as those of you know who have experienced that. I don't know my surroundings, and I don't know many people. The stores are different, the weather, the people, the norms, and the dress codes even! :D Everything is so new. With the weird and hard realization of all the new and strange adjustments surrounding us comes a wonderful sense of new also.
For those of you who don't know we just came out of a long three years of my husband going to school full time and working full time. When he finished we had hopes of doing so many things. We had hopes of changing bad habits, and changing certain norms we had developed. For us I could see how that would have been hard to change our normal routine in our hometown. With this move to Oregon we have a new fresh start. We both have such strong desires to stop certain bad habits, or to start great new ones like learning to play the guitar, reading more books, start new ministries. We've already seen a fresh new start at the church we are going to attend. We are new to everyone here and there are no expectations on us! :D
It's a great feeling, but also an uncomfortable one. We love our life in Southern California and will miss it dearly!
We are just thankful for this new, fresh start and look on life. We pray during the waiting stage of the adoption that we would let God work in us for the better. To mold us and shape us to grow closer to the woman and man God wants us to be!! (And little girl He wants EMMY to be!)
Thank you all for your prayers! :D
Love the Beals
Friday, October 2, 2009
Wating children...
Most of you have asked us where we are at now...well we are officially waiting. What's that?! What'd you say?! What do we do while waiting? Well we, um...well see we just...it's easy cuz we can, ummm....I don't know actually. What do we do while waiting?
We've been praying and we've been praying some more. Yep and still a little more praying. :D
During the waiting period we recieve "waiting child" referrals. It's a list of children that are just "waiting" for someone to adopt them. These sweet faces are waiting for a forever family. A family to open their arms and hearts to love them. Most of these children have a disease...HIV perhaps, TB, or Hepatitus. Some of them are waiting simply because they are older and most people pick the babies. Some might have deformities. Whatever the reason...they too are waiting. We have a lot in common.
I pray for these children...we pray. We pray for God to speak into our hearts if one of these children are supposed to be ours. We pray for God's comfort. We pray for families to come forward...and if it's us that we would come forward. But most of all we pray for their salvation. Their little precious lives to collide with God Almighty...and that they would accept His gift of salvation. That they would have an eternal Father.
It's been extremely hard for me to be faced with these children and not cry everytime I see their faces. For me not to be mad at anyone I can blame for letting this happen. I feel helpless when I (we) have so much at our disposal and could help in so many ways...but I don't know where to start but to support orphan ministries, pray, and pray some more. My heart is heavy for these children. For the 147 MILLION CHILDREN who are orphans. It's an overwhelming thought...it's a staggering number.
But God is bigger than that number...so much bigger. He is caring for these children. He loves them.
I can continue to pray and ask God how He wants me to help. I can continue to pray for these children. I can continue to encourage others to step out in faith and ask God how they can make a difference in these children's lives. I can Trust God is Sovereign and is moving mountains in these children's lives. Trust...
Will you pray with me for these children?
Blessings to you my friends! :D
We've been praying and we've been praying some more. Yep and still a little more praying. :D
During the waiting period we recieve "waiting child" referrals. It's a list of children that are just "waiting" for someone to adopt them. These sweet faces are waiting for a forever family. A family to open their arms and hearts to love them. Most of these children have a disease...HIV perhaps, TB, or Hepatitus. Some of them are waiting simply because they are older and most people pick the babies. Some might have deformities. Whatever the reason...they too are waiting. We have a lot in common.
I pray for these children...we pray. We pray for God to speak into our hearts if one of these children are supposed to be ours. We pray for God's comfort. We pray for families to come forward...and if it's us that we would come forward. But most of all we pray for their salvation. Their little precious lives to collide with God Almighty...and that they would accept His gift of salvation. That they would have an eternal Father.
It's been extremely hard for me to be faced with these children and not cry everytime I see their faces. For me not to be mad at anyone I can blame for letting this happen. I feel helpless when I (we) have so much at our disposal and could help in so many ways...but I don't know where to start but to support orphan ministries, pray, and pray some more. My heart is heavy for these children. For the 147 MILLION CHILDREN who are orphans. It's an overwhelming thought...it's a staggering number.
But God is bigger than that number...so much bigger. He is caring for these children. He loves them.
I can continue to pray and ask God how He wants me to help. I can continue to pray for these children. I can continue to encourage others to step out in faith and ask God how they can make a difference in these children's lives. I can Trust God is Sovereign and is moving mountains in these children's lives. Trust...
Will you pray with me for these children?
Blessings to you my friends! :D
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Coffee Fundraiser
Hi friends! All of you have supported us and loved us through this journey. We thank God for you so much. God works in mighty ways and He has provided everything we've needed for this adoption to come to fruition. With many of you supporting us financially, God providing more work for Charlie, and with us cutting back majorly on our finances, God has provided more than HALF of the cost of the adoption. Remember in the beginning we only had the application fee and start up fee. Not even 10% of the cost of the entire adoption! :D God is good.
Since we still have to raise about 20% of the total cost, we have signed up with this amazing organization called JUST LOVE COFFEE ROASTERS. We will soon have a webpage where you can buy coffee, shirts, hats, coffee mugs, etc. and the proceeds will go toward our adoption fund set up by JUST LOVE. We have set a goal to raise $4000.00.
The coffee is from Ethiopia (coffees birthplace) among other regions. So you know it's going to be good coffee!! :D The other part of their organization is that they are fair trade certified. Fair trade aims to help producers in developing countries and promote sustainability. The idea is to help them move towards economic self-sucfficiency and stability in these developing countries.
www.justlovecoffee.com
The founder of JUST LOVE is Rob Webb and here is his story...
"Rob Webb knows coffee. When Rob was two years old, his father started Webb’s Coffee Service, which blossomed into a full-blown refreshment service supplying businesses in Nashville, TN and the surrounding areas, and is now run by Rob.
Rob Webb knows the adoption process. In the summer of 2008, Rob and his wife Emily were called to adopt from Ethiopia. After much prayer and discussion with their first two children they started their adoption journey in August 2008. During the flurry of paperwork and preparation, Rob & Emily read books not only on adoption in general, but specifically on Ethiopia. Learning that Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee caught Rob’s attention, and after reading about the living conditions and wages of the average coffee farmer, he was compelled to take action. What developed through his reading and his trip to Ethiopia to unite with his daughters was a realization that he could combine his expertise and longstanding desire to roast his own coffees with his desire to help others. Just Love Coffee Roasters was born! Roasting Fair Trade Specialty coffees, Just Love uses proceeds to help an Ethiopian orphanage and families adopting not just from Ethiopia, but from anywhere in the world."
When our webpage is up and running we will give you the information. If you love coffee (or can find something for you other than coffee and or a gift for others) and want to support us this is an opportunity for us both. If you enjoy the coffee and support the cause tell others about our webpage and help us spread the word.
Thank you!
Since we still have to raise about 20% of the total cost, we have signed up with this amazing organization called JUST LOVE COFFEE ROASTERS. We will soon have a webpage where you can buy coffee, shirts, hats, coffee mugs, etc. and the proceeds will go toward our adoption fund set up by JUST LOVE. We have set a goal to raise $4000.00.
The coffee is from Ethiopia (coffees birthplace) among other regions. So you know it's going to be good coffee!! :D The other part of their organization is that they are fair trade certified. Fair trade aims to help producers in developing countries and promote sustainability. The idea is to help them move towards economic self-sucfficiency and stability in these developing countries.
www.justlovecoffee.com
The founder of JUST LOVE is Rob Webb and here is his story...
"Rob Webb knows coffee. When Rob was two years old, his father started Webb’s Coffee Service, which blossomed into a full-blown refreshment service supplying businesses in Nashville, TN and the surrounding areas, and is now run by Rob.
Rob Webb knows the adoption process. In the summer of 2008, Rob and his wife Emily were called to adopt from Ethiopia. After much prayer and discussion with their first two children they started their adoption journey in August 2008. During the flurry of paperwork and preparation, Rob & Emily read books not only on adoption in general, but specifically on Ethiopia. Learning that Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee caught Rob’s attention, and after reading about the living conditions and wages of the average coffee farmer, he was compelled to take action. What developed through his reading and his trip to Ethiopia to unite with his daughters was a realization that he could combine his expertise and longstanding desire to roast his own coffees with his desire to help others. Just Love Coffee Roasters was born! Roasting Fair Trade Specialty coffees, Just Love uses proceeds to help an Ethiopian orphanage and families adopting not just from Ethiopia, but from anywhere in the world."
When our webpage is up and running we will give you the information. If you love coffee (or can find something for you other than coffee and or a gift for others) and want to support us this is an opportunity for us both. If you enjoy the coffee and support the cause tell others about our webpage and help us spread the word.
Thank you!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Moving?!
Emmy's first day of Preschool. Such a big girl!
At a her cousins birthday party.Some of you may have heard that we (The Beals) are moving. Well it's true. We are "planning" on moving October 27th. It's soon...truely a bittersweet time for us. We have been praying for 3 years that God would show us where He wants us to "Land". Well this summer God moved...He opened a few doors for us to move to Bend, OR. Charlie will be able to keep his job which is huge...the adoption will not be affected which was our main concern...we will be able to live a simpler lifestyle...we will be able to save more money...and since we LOVE Oregon and all it has to offer we are excited to raise our children in a place like Bend.
Will you join us in prayer for this major transition in our lives?
We are also praying that God would open doors and open our hearts to possibly adopting an older child as well as a baby. We are considering a child Emmy's same age or a little younger. Will you pray with us as we decipher what God's plan is for our family. We want to help take care of the ophans...we want to provide a family for a child most people pass on...we have enough love for an older child...BUT is this God's perfect plan for our family? Is this Him putting this desire in our hearts or is it Charlie and I just feeling sad/guilty for these sweet children who need a home? God does not need us...He makes things happen. These children will not be without love and without a home. God WILL move. We don't want to get in His way. Pray with us God would direct and guide us in this decision. Thank you prayer warriors!!
We will keep you updated...
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