The Princess' Quarters

Thank You

Thank you for your overwhelming repsonse to praying for us! We are blessed with friends, family and a special little girl that we plan to enjoy each day with. She is a breath of fresh air with a personality that is blooming beautifully!
Each day I read 2-4 Bible Sotry books to Hope, she loves books. I lay her down on the bed beside me and hold the book up where she can see it. She kicks those feet and gets her arms going in excitement; all while she's trying to talk back to me or the characters I'm not sure.
As I read to her God is encouraging my heart!What huge task He gave to David, Joshua, Rahab, Abraham and many more. I want their faith, their stamina, their patience. Those stories lead me to:
Psalms 30, its a celebration of God's deliverance, Psamls 31 it speaks of stressful times and depending on God requires complete committment. I wondered if they were in that order for a reason. Why shouldn't we celebrate ahead of time for answered prayer all the while depending on Him during these stressful times.
Please pray that we will have hearts of praise during this time of allowing God to fight this battle for us. A battle where we're unsure of the outcome!
Please forgive us when we're not willing to talk about the issues at hand, we don't have an update each day and when we do we'll be sure to share for your love and prayers are a great comfort to our family!

Trust, O My Soul !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dear Friends,

Let me preface this by saying;
Christ continues to get the glory for all that He has done to bring Hope into our lives and Satan does not like it.
This is not in the hands of man, we know that God can fight this “Goliath” for us!
The Lord gave us Psalms 62:5 when we first learned of baby Hope and we hold to it today.
“Trust, O my soul, in God alone; for my Hope comes from Him”.

We know that Satan has been trying to destroy baby Hope’s life since conception.
The birth father who initially wanted her aborted has now contested the adoption.
We received a call from our adoption lawyer in OH on Monday.
He called to apologize for giving us wrong information in reference to the birth father.
In the beginning of September he spoke without the paperwork in front of him; the correct information is that the birth father did register in time.
However, he did not fulfill the second part of the law and care for the birth mother financially, physically or emotionally six months of the pregnancy.
With this information we will have to prove that we did not need his consent to pursue or finalize the adoption.

The best scenario would be that the possible birth father who registered is not the one.
If the one who registered is the birth father our next step is finding out what the birth fathers intentions are.
If he wants to prove paternity, we may have to do that.
Our lawyer said many give up and we pray that he does, too.
Currently, we are waiting to hear what his intentions are.

Our lawyer assured us that he has done 1200 paternity cases and never lost one.
He is the expert in that area for adoptions.
He says we will fight this the whole way so that our baby girl stays in our home.
Please pray that Rick and I will know how to show our lawyer grace in the midst of our fear and hurt.

We also have a desire to show respect and love toward this man just as we have done with our birth mother.
His name is Richard and we ask that you pray for him by name and that God would get a hold of his heart.

This puts our adoption finalization date of February 4th out the window.
This could be a long case or a short case, we don’t know what to expect right now.
It appears that the law is on our side and we trust that God will continue to bless us with Hope as a part of our family.

You’ve received this email because we trust you for your constant prayers and support.
We will keep our blog updated for information and specific prayer request.
www.adoptionbliss.blogspot.com

God has given us a certain amount of peace just as He’s done from the very beginning…we not only Trust but we Rest in Him.
We love you!
Michelle

You Won't Believe It....

...Hope sur-viv-ed her first day in the nursery and so did I. Her teacher/care giver runs a great ship in there, Melissa is a mother of five and married to a surgeon. It was a great peace knowing Hope would be loved on and well cared for. She met many other new Grandma's and Grand daddy's in there as well! We appreciate all of them!

The church recognized the pastors and wives today for Pastor Appreciation so I had to begin her time in the nursery. Isn't it ironic that Hope also showed me when it was time for the crib. I love how God works those things out so I don't have to guess when the best will be or wonder if I'm really ready for it. It's shows it's not about me/us, it's about what is best for Hope. She is so good with people and we've been specifically praying that she would adapt well with others and new places as needed. And she did...she didn't mind the crib for nap time or the noises. We are grateful.

If you're wondering, I only went back once to check on her and put her to sleep. I realized how much I had missed the worship services and ultimately I needed to be there to be a better mom for her and a better wife for Rick!

I love this blue outfit on her, one made a comment today that "She is pretty in pink, but blue is her color" and we think so too! (Thank you AS and SS for her darling outfit).

Our Little Lady of Pearls

The pearl symbolizes overcoming adversity through radiant transcendence...today I pray that Hope will be a woman after God's own heart and she will one day overcome adversity with His grace!
I was reading the other night out of Shepherding a Child's Heart (awesome book) and one thing really stuck out to me; "Values and Spiritual vitality are not simply taught but caught". This made my prayers change and made me realize that I need to be praying just as much for Rick and I so that Hope catches a love and honor for Christ. That doesn't come easy as we all know living it out is difficult at times. However, God's grace is more sufficient that we can imagine.
Proverbs 13:20 " He who walks with the wise grows wise"....you finish the rest.

Five Little Monkey's Laying in a Bed...

One jumped up and the other one said Roll Over, Roll Over! Yep... guess who rolled over yesterday during tummy time! She is so stink'n sweet. I play with toys in front of her while she's on her belly and she tries so hard to push up on her hands. She has not pushed up all the way yet...but she's trying. Rick is off today and we were both there to encourage her and watch her first roll. One of those sweet moments that I pray we are present and attentive for.

Stately Dressed for Another Celebration of Life

Milestones

Milestones...I don't know whether to love'em or hate'em. We've been practicing nap time in her new bed and she's done quite well. So well that tonight as I layed her in the bassinet she screamed...so I tried her crib and she fell fast asleep. I think that was her telling me she was finished with that bassinet and to let go! So with her monitor set up, the pink walls adorned and a comfy bed to sleep in...Hope has weened herself out of that bassinet! I probably won't sleep as well tonight without her by my bedside, however I'm sure she will and that will make for a much happier baby tomorrow.

Have You Missed Us This Week????

Hope turned 3 months old this past week! She definently loves attention. Her PaPa Nicely was playing peek-a-boo with her in this picture and she was obviously responding with laughter!
Grandparents are wonderful! I love that she gets so much love from others!

Our Little Pumpkin, Sweet As Pie

Sing to the Lord a New Song

Over the years as my heart was hoping to mother I would not allow a good deal to pass me by. Deals like baby shoes marked down, books on sale and so on. One of my best finds was a five pack of Kids Worship CD's. Daily, before I lift Hope out of bed and she's waking up all smiles I turn on one CD. I believe she anticipates this time. Yesterday and today even more she has started singing back to me as I sing to her. When I start with "Jesus loves the Little Children" she begins cooing steadily as if she is singing along with me. It's precious. Her response to music, especially worship has touched my heart. Because she is already imitating us, the song "O Be Careful Little Ears What You Hear", "O Be Careful Little Lips What You Say" seems to be much more important to me.

Psalms 149:3-5

Let them praise His name with dancing and make music to Him with tambourine and harp. For the Lord takes delight in His people; He crowns the humble with salvation. Let the saints rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds.

She Was So Happy This Morning, Then We Went to the Dr's Office!

It was that day Ive been dreading, the day she gets her shots.

She was so cute smiling and cooing at the Dr with arms and legs just a going. He even said he hated to do this to her today, she was in such a good mood. Thats how she is 99% of the time. She had no idea what was coming to her. Then she squealed and screamed like Ive never heard her scream. Ricky had to hold her while I stood behind him in tears praying it would be quick. I'm no good at this type of thing! After we went to the car she calmed down and went right to sleep. She woke up to eat then went back to sleep for a long afternoon nap! Today, she is exactly 12 weeks old!!

She Thinks These Are Hilarious

She laughed out loud when I put these glasses on her! She actually doesn't mind wearing them outside either, she is so fun. We are so blessed to have such a sweet baby. The more I'm with her the more I see how God created her just for us! He is amazing!

Hail to the Redskins!!!!!!!!!!

A Night Out!

I just love this picture, she would not stop smiling as we bundled her up for a night out to dinner!

She Makes Even Camo Look Cute!

Guess What Time of the Year it is at Our House!!???

Tummy Time Was Much Better Today

Hope was a great assistant today and showed a few houses with me! I love that I don't have to leave her and she can assist me in showing homes.
She did so much better today with tummy time and actually laughed out loud when I played with her!
Please tell me how much you love this smile!