Ice Storm

Here in Clarksville we are on the tip of the ice storm. The roads don't seem bad, but the trees are beautiful. When I looked out this morning I was immediately taken back to the Ice Storm of '94. I was in middle school and I'm sure they were calling for snow/ice when it came, but for some reason my parents let me spend the night with Amanda (Lachowicz) Boles. **My dad was probably hoping it would come and wanted the challenge of driving in it to pick me up. And I'm wondering if it was the weekend or if we already knew school was going to be out. Not sure, but either way how fun to be able to wake up with a friend and realize that we were in the midst of an ice storm. I had never seen anything like it.
The main things I remember were the trees and that both Amanda and I had wood stoves at our houses so we had heat and our parents had a way to kinda cook- at least I don't remember going hungry. We were worry free able to simply enjoy the beauty. I didn't think about trees breaking or safely getting to work. It's funny how things have changed in 15 years and how this ice storm brings a different realm of emotions. I hope everyone is safe and sound. I hope those with out electricity can find a way to stay warm. I'm thinking is there any way I can help? We are supposed to have small group tonight and we have to make the decision to call it off or not. (by the way we ARE calling it off-if you are in our group and reading this.) So many grown up decisions, but at times I would like to sit back and just enjoy the beauty as I did 15 years ago. Care free and having fun. Those were the days. Ha.

What are your favorite memories from the Ice Storm of '94?

Theme Song

Here is the song that I feel like could be our Theme Song right now.

The song is by Sanctus Real. There is a tour with Sanctus Real and Matthew West going out pretty soon. I can't think about it for long or I become very jealous, that would have been a fabulous tour for Daniel Doss Band to be on, but no one asked me! (World Vision is sponsoring it with Way FM.) It is coming to Clarksville on Feb. 13th, check here to see if it is coming to a city near you. http://www.sanctusreal.com

So I just have to cling to the lyrics that say- You are up to something BIGGER THAN ME!

Sanctus Real
Whatever You're Doing (Something Heavenly) lyrics

It's time for healing time to move on
It's time to fix what's been broken too long
Time make right what has been wrong
It's time to find my way to where I belong
There's a wave that's crashing over me
All I can do is surrender

[Chorus]
Whatever you're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos somehow there's peace
It's hard to surrender to what I can't see
but I'm giving in to something heavenly

Time for a milestone
Time to begin again
Revaluate who I really am
Am I doing everything to follow your will
or just climbing aimlessly over these hills
So show me what it is you want from me
I give everything I surrender...
To...

[Chorus]

Time to face up
Clean this old house
Time to breathe in and let everything out
That I've wanted to say for so many years
Time to to release all my held back tears

Whatever you're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but I believe
You're up to something bigger than me
Larger than life something heavenly

Whatever you're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but now I can see
This something bigger than me
Larger than life something heavenly
Something heavenly

It's time to face up
Clean this old house
Time breathe in and let everything out

Suggestions for Baby Things Anyone?

We have finished our home study and I am starting to think about baby things. (NEVER DONE THAT BEFORE!) Do any of you have any suggestions about what you like/don't like as far as baby things go. It seems like there are endless options for baby things and it is very overwhelming. I am mainly thinking what are the basics/the necessities that I will need? We don't know if we'll have a long time to get things in order (if the birth mom chooses us early in her pregnancy) or a short time (if the birth mom chooses us late in her pregnancy). Right now we have decided not to buy any baby things until we know a birth mother has chosen us....I don't think I could look at adorable baby things in my house without knowing a baby was coming our way. But me and my planner (list making) personality would like to at least have a list of things that I need. Any suggestions are welcome. :) As well as your prayers for the birth mom that will chose us to find out about us. (the lawyer we are using in Nashville has our profile, but we aren't going with an agency yet....if the process takes too long we may go with an agency later.)

Celebrating a day that will go down in history

I thought this was so cool. No matter how we voted we do have a new President and today is a day that will go down in history.

bit of frustration R-E-S-O-L-V-E-D

I COULD NOT GET OUR BIRTHMOTHER LETTER PRINTED.

***What is a birthmother letter you ask-
Our birthmother letter is the letter telling all about the lovely Doss Family who would like to adopt a baby. It will go out to birthmothers who are trying to choose a family for their precious little one. What a hard decision to make!!! My heart is aching for some mother out there who will make the hard decision to chose us as parents for her blessed little one, and I am believing that God is big enough to put our birthmother letter right into the mother's hands that He has chosen to give birth to the baby we will call ours someday.

anyway back to the frustration...

I took my USB jump drive to Kinko's and they made a copy of the copy they printed from the computer. The pictures lost a lot of their quality and just didn't look sharp or clear at all. They had glossy card stock, but it was only one sided (our letter is front and back) and the other card stock wouldn't go through the copier. So we left with kinda shiny not thick enough paper with bad photo quality copies. :(

I then changed the front pic- it was a black and white and was really good, but after copying it it turned out too dark to see our lovely faces. :) And besides the birthmom needs to be able to see who we are and how in love and happy we are....she doesn't need to be looking at a dark blob...wondering if we will love her child.

So then I headed to Copies in a Flash. They do large orders and told me it would cost lots of money to get the print ready then each copy wouldn't be that expensive, but they would need to do a large order....like 500 or 1,000. Ummm what would I do with that many? Maybe I should have gone for it, but I felt like there was a better less expensive way. At least they were nice.

I really wanted glossy card stock, but have settled for regular card stock on our regular computer printer. And it looks GREAT! The picture quality is wonderful and the whole thing just looks great. I am very pleased. And just to think that the whole time the answer to my frustration was to simply push print. ha!

Here are the two pics on the front:





On the back there are 6 more pics...that represent us. Now I can mail them to the adoption lawyer tomorrow and she will be able to pass them out to any birthmoms who show interest in choosing adoptive parents. YIPPEE!!!

Saving $$$ w/ coupons

Here are the results of my savings:



It may not look like much, but I saved $27.50 at WALGREENS. And I got something called Register Rewards- who knew there was such a thing?!?
***I did thanks to the coupon class I went to with Lori check out her blog www.thecouponconsultant.com.

The register rewards that I got today were for $10 off my next shopping trip. I JUST CAN'T WAIT TO SAVE EVEN MORE $$$. It's addicting.

So today's totals:
$57.96 worth of products
$30.46 amount I paid
$10.00 off my next visit

YIPPEE!!! The main thing I am trying to do while using coupons is getting things we actually use. I may find a great deal on an item, but if we don't use it already then I don't get it. These are all things we use regularly so I knew I could stock up on these.

What are your money saving tips?

Is this an adoption blog?

I'm wondering if this is an adoption blog? I blog and we are in the adoption process, does that make this an adoption blog? Or is it just a blog about our lives that happens to involve an adoption? I'm not even sure. I found out that our lawyer should have gotten our completed homestudy last Friday. I need to get the Birthmother Letter finalized so that the lawyer will have that, I can't find a way to print it...we tried Kinko's but the paper wasn't as thick as I wanted...and the pics weren't very clear (they had to make a copy of the copy). I tried Copies in a Flash and they only do large orders...do I really need 500 birthmother letters? Soooo we'll see if I can print it at home. Then we'll continue to spread the word and trust that God is at work in our midst even though we can't see it yet. :) Exciting times are ahead!

Lessons Learned while Substituting

This past week I began subbing again. It is a very flexible job so I can always pick it up when we aren't traveling much. I had a class that was a handful this past week and I loved it. I loved being around children again and I loved watching them and listening to them. One little boy was telling me how cool it was that his daddy flys a black hawk. I was instantly proud that we live in a military town. Another little fellow was telling me how excited he was when his dad came home from Iraq. WOW!

So here's my lesson- one little girl was finished with her assignment and was granted permission to work on the computer in the back of the room. Another little boy was so interested in what she was doing and why she got special permission. I had to remind him to "just worry about himself" and remind him to complete his assignment. I immediately heard God whisper- You too Emily- Just worry about yourself. ugh. Not a lesson I wanted to learn, or a word I wanted to hear.

It was as if God was saying- Just worry about yourself. I'm trying to work in your life- You keep looking at everyone else and thinking they have all the luck, they get all the blessings. How could it be so easy for them you ask, but you don't know their full story. You don't know what is going on behind the scenes and you don't know MY PURPOSES. Just trust ME to do what I need to do in each and every life and don't lose faith in Me when things don't work out as you had planned....

Thank you Lord for that reminder!

Sunday School Curriculum

If your church uses the Lifeway Sunday School Curriculum for youth then check out this past weeks lesson. There was an add or promo about the Daniel Doss Band. I haven't seen it yet, but have heard about it.

I remember being in the youth group and having those magazine looking books that were our Sunday School books. I'm so thankful for good Sunday School teachers through the years. Mrs. Kitten Parker was one of the best. She loved the Bible and made me want to love it too. She knew the Bible and made me want to know it too. She would get so excited about end times and prophecy. I'm so thankful that she invested in our lives. I'll never forget going through the book of Esther and her unpacking it for us. Our class was small, but she would always come prepared to share the Word with us, for that I am so thankful.

Godiva Chocolate Dipped Strawberries Oh MY

Last night we headed to Nashville to see the lights at Opryland. It is one of my favorite things to do at Christmas, but we ran out of time before Christmas. Let me just say that going after Christmas is SO MUCH BETTER! The crowds were very sparse and we were able to take our time and enjoy the lights.



Outside the front entrance- the pictures don't even compare to the amazing light display.




I LOVE THE WATERFALLS! :)





We had gotten to Nashville in time for an early dinner and a movie then we were at Opryland and it was time for a snack. It was getting late so only one snack shop was open with long lines and they were closing the doors at the Godiva Chocolate Store across the hall. I asked at the chocolate shop if they had any chocolate covered strawberries and Daniel immediately asked if we could get a deal since they were closing. She gave us the last three for the price of one!!! The girl closing the store kept telling us what a good deal we were getting. We were very thankful and were so pumped about getting a good deal! It was a perfect treat for a wonderful day! They were the best chocolate dipped strawberries I've ever had!!! YUMM! Maybe a new tradition has begun!

New Year New Beginnings

Daniel and I had a blast last night for New Year's Eve. We didn't have any plans. I was thinking it might be a dull New Year's Eve...just being honest. But it turned out to be so.much.fun! We both had a little Christmas money to spend and so that afternoon we headed out to the mall. Neither one of us was able to find exactly what we were looking for so we headed to Target and made some little purchases. :) Gotta love Target- we got a puzzle, a sock drawer organizer, and Christmas lights on clearance. Then we went to eat at Outback- we actually put our name on the list then went to Starbucks and had coffee...then came back and continued to wait for a grand total of about 1 hour and 1/2- boy was I glad we went and got coffee. The whole time waiting though we had great conversation about what this past year had in store versus what we anticipated it having in store and how we are grateful for the let downs. We both had such high hopes for 2008 and we've both received tremendous let downs, but we are in such a good place. Daniel released his first album as a signed recording artist- and it didn't make the waves we thought it would. I desired to be a mom and I still have a longing unfulfilled. But we are better because of these things. If we had received the desired blessing we would simply keep on trucking, but because of our denied longings we have been stopped in our tracks and are falling on our faces before God. We've come to understand that what He has in store for us is not always going to be fun or easy, but will always be best. We have no idea what 2009 will bring, but we are boldly proclaiming that it is God's year to have His way in our lives.
We had a great dinner (paid for by a wonderful gift card-even better!) and then came home to watch the ball drop. We prayed in the New Year and the best way I can put it is that we are completely content, but anxiously awaiting all that God has in store for us.

Challenge for the New Year

On Beth Moore's blog: http://livingproofministries.blogspot.com
she has challenged anyone wanting to be a part of Scripture Memory for the new year to post the scripture they've chosen on her blog today.

I have decided to go for it- it will be a total of 24 scriptures for the entire year- two a month. The blog world will create our accountability. Go join if you'd like.

Here is my memory verse-
Psalm 33:22 "May your unfailing love rest upon us, o Lord, even as we put our hope in you."