She has a name!

drumroll please.....................

are you ready?

you sure?

Be excited.  We are.

Her sweet, precious name is going to be Maggie!!!!

Maggie (birth/African name) Runner

pretty awesome?  Yep we think so.  Reagan was named after my grandmother - who I was also named after and we believed that it was a great tradition to follow.  Maggie is named after Eric's mother. 

We pray for Maggie every night as we go to bed and she starts her day.  Please join with us.  Our dossier is in Ethiopia and the courts/orphanage and whoever else is going to match us with our baby girl. We know God's hand is in this and we are comforted by that....but you know me, a few extra prayers never hurt nobody :) 

And away it goes!!!!

Yep...today is the day....we are sending out our dossier (aka international paperwork) that is linked to helping ethiopia to match us with our child.  It doesn't look like much, I gotta admit.  Let me tell you...Eric has worked so hard on it.   He has checked and rechecked it to make sure that every i is dotted and every t is crossed.  I don't know what is in store for us.  Are we scared?  Yep.  Are we excited?  Yep.  Are we completely, 100% out of our element?  For sure!!!! but we can't wait to move to our next step.....seeing a pic of our baby girl.  We know and trust that God has her picked out for us....we really can't wait to see!

True Life Story

I love to sit back and just take life in sometimes.....I get overwhelmed with me, me, me....my job, my finances, my family, keeping up with the Jones's so to speak.....and then WHAM!!!!  I am face to face with real life people who are doing some super extraordinary things.....and that is what life is about....it is not about all the junk that I like to throw myself in......

Picture it...6:00 my neighbor comes to the door.  (She is quiet - is single) I think 'what's wrong?' She nicely asks if Eric and I would mind to wheel out her trash cause she just DONATED A KIDNEY!!!!!!!!!! Seriously, donated a kidney.....let that sink in....Has it?  No, really has it......?

We talked - it was a friend of hers from work.....not a pal that she grew up with...not a boyfriend or someone that she was romantically linked with....a friend...........

I look out my front window and my neighbor is a hero.....

Then in my back yard I have neighbors that just returned from their first visit meeting their new son from Ethiopia....yeah Ethiopia.  I told you God is hilarious........

This life is so much more than us....

My front door neighbor - has a friend that would have either been sentenced to a life of  transfusions and other things that I don't know about or even worse death if it had not been for my neighbor's act of complete and total kindness....

Then again, my back door neighbor is adopting a child that in all respect at the mere age of five is considered in most cases too old to adopt......yes, a five year old boy is considered in most families too old to adopt.....I look at my baby and seriously say.....are you kidding me?  If not for my backyard neighbors this boy may very well grow up in an orphanage and then be released into the world...void of love.......what would that mean for him....I won't write it, I am sure that you can figure it all out.

I am so stinkin' selfish!  I hate that about me........I don't mean this in any way other than the plain truth.....We had to write off big checks today....I was so consumed with what it was costing me....nevermind the fact that God honestly made the money multiply and I still don't know how in the world it happened....Eric says miscalculations....but seriously......

Then in the midst of my temper tantrum (not because I don't want to adopt but merely my selfishness) I talk to my neighbor who I rarely talk to - in order to find out that SHE DONATED A KIDNEY!!!!!
If you happen to read this and think circumstances are funny.....YOU ARE INSANE.....God is real and he has an uncanny sense of humor..............

Enough said

Today we went to Adoption Assistance (the organization that we are partnering with for our homestudy).  They had a picnic and according to everyone it is an annual event where all adoptive parents and prospective adopting parents go to well.....just mingle.  I had my camera with me but it was raining and I just don't chance gettin' my ol' camera wet....she is my pride and joy. So, no pictures...sorry!

Nonetheless, they had flags up from every country that was represented there....39 to be exact!!!!  I hate to sound like a dummy but they had countries I had never even heard of. 

What an amazing tribute to lil' ole Kentucky and the outreach that we can have.  The kids were beautiful....

The thing that made me laugh is we were the minority.....we were all just a white family....how boring!!!! Yep....I felt like the minority - HOW AWESOME IS THAT!

We met a family.....they are from Bowling Green and to top it they are Hilltopper alumni (it always does my heart good to meet a fellow Hilltopper) They have four children and are looking to adopt two children....yep I said two. Sometimes God just makes me giggle....I am having a nervous breakdown with one and this mom seemed so confident in that she wanted to add two more to her house...the kicker was that she was simply flippant and merely 'why not' in her reasoning.....

On that note I checked out that mom's blog and found this video....thought it pretty much summed things up...

http://vimeo.com/21014886

Order yours Today!!!!

I really like them! (and it has almost nothing to do with the fact that I designed them)  :)

We will be selling them for $10.00 a piece. All shirts have design on the front and the back as you see below.  Size range from youth to adult (please allow for a charge of $2 more for 2xl and up).  If interested in purchasing one please send me an email at fran1runner@gmail.com with size and color.  It may take up to two weeks for arrival. 

Thanks for looking!

Homestudy was a success!

Okay, Okay truth be told I had a near panic attack right before it happened....but hooray! Ms. Meredith came and it was a great time.  We laughed and talked and she even got a tour of my sparkling clean house.....Good day.  Now hopefully onto the next step.....what's that?  Completing the dossier paperwork, submit and wait on a few govermental forms and then wait for our referral....I think. 

Just gettin' ready

Tomorrow is the day....yep, we have our homestudy.  Who's nervous?  Okay, WE ARE!  So in an effort to impress our social worker with our mad cleaning skills......we are wrapping up a few things.  And well....our lil' Cinderella got into it too.  She cracks me up. She has mono, a tutu, and rainboots....(and yes, I said our girl has mono) yet she wanted to help.  As she said, 'She will do anything for her baby sister.' 

Love this girl!