due to the confidentiality of others, my last post was deleted.
I will update you more on our adoption Monday Morning.
Have a blessed day, the sun is shinning :)

Ok, so we told dfs yesterday that is that if that foster baby goes up for adoption, we would take her.
We took the step, God will do the rest.
Also, Jamie and I always complain, about how we never agree with what the state does for these children, that we are their voice, but no one has ever asked us, they always have these crazy rules they go by,like this baby girl, her mom on her 14th try to become sober, never completed the rehab yet...really? you might give her back to her (we don't agree with that)
It will be a cycle of life, it always is. I have had over 300 hours in child training. I have a ydc, which is youth development credential degree, so yes I know something about children.
so...the good part.
We got a phone call from an agency that ask questions about dfs and how they think things are going, they want our opinion. I need to be in prayer about this. Will you pray for us? We want to speak for these children. These children that are not in safe and loving homes, I know I can't save them all, but I will sure try my best as long as God gives me the gift.
I think it was perfect timing for us to get this phone call.
They are going to call and set up a meeting we can go to and answer questions.

Got to spend another afternoon with baby girl today, she is so sweet. I love her!
I pray that she comes our way...Lord, I'm asking.
She just fits here, but I know, I know whatever God's plan is, it will be perfect!
His no's are for a greater yes, I'm just waiting for that YES!!
So, another birth mom at the Lighthouse will be seeing our profile next week, praying for that too.
Like I said we keep seeing these babies come our way in 2's ...so...whatever that means, we also will embrace.
Well I'm off to work.
Please pray for baby Leila and pray for her mom, please let her make the right choice for her little girl.

I had to go give the baby back this morning :(
It's ok, she asked me to baby sit tomorrow, while she runs errands.
Please pray for this baby, Jamie and I both said we would take her and raise her as our own.
Her mom is in drug rehab for the 13th time, and the state is giving her a shot to do this!!
So, her baby will be in foster care for 6 months, while we wait to see if she can make it through.
All 13 times, she has failed.
I do not understand the thinking of the state and why they give all these parents so many "do-overs"
I know Christ has given me "do-overs" again and again, so I'm trying to understand mercy.
If she is to come here, I pray the flood doors open. Please pray with me.


Also... alot of you know that my life saying is "I refuse to be ordinary" well check out my face book account, my great uncle Fred is a amazing missionary, I'm so blessed to not only know him, but to share blood, he,.... my friends is not ordinary.
His ministry is doing great things, you may watch his video and you can also help his ministry by making a donation, would it not feel awesome to know that you gave money so he can go give of himself so others may come to know Christ!!!
Have a blessed day
Shelley

It's cold outside!!
I want spring!!

We are fostering for my friend Kay this weekend, her daughter went into labor last night and asked us to care for the baby for a couple of days, so she could be with her daughter and new granddaughter. We said "yes"
She is so sweet and I think I love her, I know all of them I love, but she has grabbed onto my heart.
I prayed this morning that if she needs a home and that she could be Marley, that God would let the flood doors open, and if it's not her to slam them shut.
So I'm making a phone call in the morning to see what her story is, if she is even going to be up for adoption. So, will you pray for us? I know this time for her is coming soon and very soon, I can feel it.
God has been so sweet to keep me busy while waiting on him, it blesses my heart!

ok so we got our phone call from dfs, we did not get picked to adopt the 6month old baby girl.
We did get picked to be the back up family, so if for some reason that the judge or the family change their minds, she will come to us.
We do not see this happening.
I told Jamie that I did not see us getting picked,but knew that God already had it under control, so we were just obedient and let them use our family as part of the staffing.
I think God is just telling us to get prepared and get ready, we have no idea what his plan is, but whatever it is, it will be great!
We have the birth mom seeing our profile next Thursday, so please be in prayer for that.
This is the next event we will be looking to see the answer to prayer, his no's are for a greater yes, so sit down hold on tight and here we go again :)
God Bless

Today dfs is meeting to find out where this 6 month old baby girl should live.
They have 5 families to pick from, one of the families is her foster parents.
I told the dfs worker this morning, that if the foster family loves her and they are good people, they should get to keep her, they have had her in their care since she was a week old, so if that was my little girl, I would want the same respect.
This is hard, I do want her too, but really, Go has a plan and I will follow him !

Dear God,
Please be with all the workers this morning as they meet and talk about the future of this baby girl, lead them in the direction you want them to go. Let the outcome of this be to your glory only.
Let there be peace in the choice that they make for her, she has no voice Lord, but I stand on the house made of Rock,knowing that you are in charge of this outcome.
We will give you all the glory and praise in the storm and in the blessings.
It's in YOUR name we pray,
Amen

Today I ran and ran and ran,
I ran to the Lighthouse to pick up our profile book, I ran it to the dfs building.
Our staffing is tomorrow at 9 am. We do not go, they just pick a family while sitting around a table??
Then I will run back and get our book this weekend and run it back to the Lighthouse so a birth mom there can look at it next Thursday, and no she won't have someone to help her pick a family, just her and the lighthouse worker, bless her heart!!
We have a 50/50 shot at this baby, there is just us and one other family that she is seeing profiles, so maybe....Marley?
So keep us in your prayers, today I'm so tired.
I also found out about a long time friend of the family passed away.
Her name was Diane Doctor, my brother and her son, Mark were best friends all through school.
They were also our neighbors and we all went to church together, please pray for this family today, she is now with Jesus and I know he was loving on her and saying "well done good and faithful servant" she was a amazing women, and she loved kids just as much as I do.
Her husbands name is Lynn and she has two sons, Mark and Brandon.
Thank you.

God is moving and I am not going to stand in his way!
We were suppose to foster a baby these next couple of days, well Mary called and said that this mother also chose to parent her baby.
The poor adoptive family was at the hospital waiting on their sweet baby girl to adopt and the mom changed her mind.
For all of you who don't know, in the state of Mo. the birth parents have 48 hours after birth to change their mind, so no matter how many mom's pick us to parent their child, none of it is final until 48 hours after the baby is born and we have been to court, papers signed!
I know it's rough, but really are any of us promised perfect 10 fingers and 10 toes babies?, We are not promised healthy babies, we are not promised full term babies. My friend we are not even promised tomorrow, so LIVE today.
Good news is..... A light house worker already called and another birth mom wants to see our profile next week, yeah, here we go again :)
I pray she has family that is helping her, if not I pray God opens a door for us to go love on her.
So, God is reminding me that he still has this planned it just was not for that one baby, he already has his eye on the sparrow, her name is Marley Claire McCain. God Bless

got a phone call from a worker at the Lighthouse, the birth mom that chose us to adopt her little girl has changed her mind. This is sad news for us, but want everyone to know that we will rise above this storm with our savior, we know he knows what is best for us. He will honor our obedience.
I refuse to ordinary.... :)
Love you all keep praying for us :)

Waiting on the Lord.
I really feel like we have been waiting for a LONG time and we have, a year and a half so far...
I know in God's timing that is a blink of a eye, our whole lives are just a blink of an eye to him.
I prayed last night and today that we get a tax refund, I also have been praying for the birth mom, her mother and the baby.
A friend of mine, another foster mom (Kay) called and asked if I would respite care for the baby girl that we said no too about two weeks ago. I said yes, well her daughter is due with a baby anyday, so if she does not have her baby in the next day or so, she would not need me to care for the baby, because she is not going out of town if her grand baby has not been born yet.
I understand that, so maybe I was not going to get to love on another foster baby for awhile :(
BUT......a worker from the Lighthouse just called, she needs someone to foster a baby girl, tomorrow til Friday morning!! Yeah!
She asked how I felt about doing that while we were waiting for our baby girl, I said GREAT, I need the distraction for sure!
After visiting with her, sounds like the birth mom meeting us, really is not a high priority to her, she has not called them back about re-scheduling our appointment. I thought she would want to meet us more than we would want to meet her, but maybe not.
I don't know how she feels, only how I feel.
This woman's pregnancy is a secret, no one really knows about it,but her mother and a few others.
Maybe she has not grasped what is happening to her body and what is growing inside of her. I don't know if I will ever understand, and I don't know if I'm suppose to.
Many things happen in life that we don't understand, so I'm going to lean on my Savior again, that all this STUFF that is happening is happening for a reason, I love going back after a storm in life and seeing how God placed people in our paths for a reason, or seeing how things that we just did not understand, fit perfectly into his plan, so today I wondering, why would she not call back, why would she put off meeting the family of her child, why would you keep something like this a secret,so many why's, but God just tells me when my mind starts to wonder, I've go this too under my control, trust me follow my plan. OK, Lord I trust you and will follow where you lead...
P.S. we got that refund too, that I prayed for, thank you Jesus:)

So DFS call yesterday.
They wanted to make sure that we still wanted to be a part of the staffing they were going to hold on the 19th?
This is for us to adopt a 6month old baby girl, we got this call about a month ago and we were excited that maybe this was Marley, but maybe not.
So I checked again with Jamie, for he is the one that when I said we could possibly be getting 2 babies, and they were both girls, he was like YES! After he picked me up off the floor, he said why not, we said we would take twins, that is close enough.
We have no idea what God has planned, but any plan he has for us we will embrace.
So on the way home last night I hit Jamie with it is a small possible chance we could have 2 daughters in less than 3 weeks, and we only have named one.
He said ok, you named Mason, I named Marley, looks like it's your turn again, so......
if God has this crazy plan that we might get two girls, we are going to name her Mayzie.
I just also wanted to let God know (cuz he likes it when I tell him what we need next)
A VAN~!!!! LOL
Just daydreaming today, we are excited for whatever God has in store for us, it's getting closer, I believe it's coming!
Have a blessed day

the birth mom canceled her appointment with us today, I felt sad, self-pity and wanted to crawl back into bed pull the covers up over my head and cry, but I did not.
I came down to put on my fb account what had happened.

(FYI)
The birth mom only canceled with us, because she is a teenager and wanted her mom to be there to support her, her mother could not get off work to be there, therefore we will be rescheduling.

So I was having this pity moment when Jamie said read the email from Tony today.
I went to look it up on my email and it was gone, so I emailed Tony and asked him to resend it.
this is the email

"Sowing In Tears
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1, by Os Hillman
02-09-2010

"Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy." - Psalm 126:5

Psalm 126 describes an interesting process that goes against our natural tendencies when we are taken into a difficult period in our lives. Whenever we are hurled into a crisis that brings tears, our tendency is to retreat or recoil in fear and hurt. However, there is a better way that God tells us to handle such times of travail.

Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. "He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him" (Ps. 126:5-6). God is telling us that if we will do what is unnatural for us in these circumstances, He will make sure that what we sow in tears will return in joy. This is one of the most important lessons I have learned when faced with difficult circumstances. Rather than sit back and allow self-pity and discouragement to consume us, we should plant seed during this time. Reach out to a person who needs a friend. Invest in the life of another. See where you can be a blessing to someone. Give of yourself.

The psalmist acknowledges that we are doing this while we are in our pain. However, during this time we are to sow seed. That seed will return to us in another form. Here is what will happen when we do this. "He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him." We will receive joy and fruit from the seed that we plant during this time. Sheaves represent the fruit of a harvest. We will actually get a harvest from this seed.

"You must not let the circumstances destroy you! Too many in the Kingdom are counting on you to come through this because of the calling on your life!" Those were the words spoken to me by a friend one time when I was in the midst of a very difficult business and personal circumstance that was threatening to destroy me emotionally. This person saw what God was doing and the fruit that God wanted to bring from these circumstances. Sometimes we need others around us to push us through the difficult times. If you find yourself in a difficult place today, see where you can sow some seed. Soon you will be reaping songs of joy. "

In Him,

Tony

OK, so I will!!!
Right now Im walking out of my house, I have two bags full of clothes and a tv with remote, I'm going to give them to the thrift store in Blue Springs, I'm going to smile the biggest smile, I'm going to sing praising to the King as loud as I can while traveling, I'm going to Libby's to share this word with other women....I will be reaping songs of Joy in my heart!

WOW, ok ready here we go.......

Thursday afternoon at 1pm I got a phone call from a worker at the Lighthouse, she told me that a birth mom had chosen US to be her daughters family!!!! This birth mom is a senior in high school,has a full ride scholarship to play volleyball and knows this is the right choice for her daughter, the lighthouse worker told me to give a big kiss to Mason, for this birth mom loved his smile and brown eyes (go figure our little boy stole her heart) So we found out that she is due at the end of this month, yes I know less than 3 weeks away!
She told the worker at the lighthouse to tell us that she was already having contractions so it could be sooner than we think, she also said she would love it, if we would be there for the delivery, which blesses my heart.
We are suppose to meet her next week sometime, we are just waiting for a call from the Lighthouse to set that up.

SO...about a month ago dfs contacted us about a 5month old baby girl who was up for adoption, they wanted to include our profile at the staffing. So today I got a phone call that our name was one that was selected to go to the staffing on Feb 19th, this little girl lives with foster parents and want to adopt her, so my words to the dfs worker were, if they are good people, they should get to keep her, why do a staffing? She said it's just the way they have to do it.
After talking to theTapella's they said that one of their little girls was suppose to go to the foster family she lived with, but the state chose for her to go with them (God's blessing) SO I know that all foster parents are not like us, we treat all our foster children as if they are our own.

Next is..... 10 minutes before I was off work dfs called, we have a biracial newborn who needs fostering, are you available tonight? ummmmmm so I told them, we can foster her, but we ourselves are waiting on a child of our own who could be here anytime. I told them I knew a name a foster family that they could call, well by then another foster family on another line said they would take her for the weekend only. So I called Kay (our friend) I told her about this baby and she of course said she would love to take her until....whenever. So I gave her our workers name and number and they said after this weekend they would call her to foster her til further notice.

I asked God for the flood gates to open , and he HAS!!
Please be in prayer for God's plan for all of these babies, and not by accident they are all girls.
God is asking me to do something and I'm not sure what it is???
Please pray for clarity, I will do whatever he wants me to do :)

Feeling good today, spent many hours in prayer and in God's word since the last post.
God has reminded me he hears every word I pray and see's every tear that falls, he knows my hearts desire. I must be patient!
We have a birth mom looking at our profile this week and hopefully will hear some news by Friday.
This seems like a pattern, one looks and then I get a email that she has picked another family, I have no idea what kind of reaction I will have when I get that email that says she has picked us...
kinda started getting use to the NO'S, but I know those NO'S are for a greater YES from my heavenly father.
God Bless