*Laney's Blog Debut*

He's not a proud daddy or anything!! This has to be one of my favorite pictures of all time! I am sure one day she will be hitting softballs like momma and catching fly balls like daddy! Here is a few fun facts about our Laney Bug!

1. She sleeps all night long! Woo-Hoo!

2. She talks, coos, and smiles in her sleep!

3. She loves her Praise Baby DVD!

4. Anything that lights up or rattles will immediately grab her attention.

5. She spits up on daddy then laughs about it!

We are having the time of our lives right now. She is such a joy to us in everyway! Hope you have a blessed day!!

His Leading Part 1

 So far I have written a few lines and have erased them each time. I am just not exactly sure how to even begin to tell you all the things that has happened in the last month. There is so much I want to write and very little that I can actually elaborate on in the detail that I want. I will do my best to fill you in on as much as I can!

    It all started with a frustrating day and ended in a night of agreement in prayer. There is so much the Lord can do when two people come together and agree in prayer. I know this to be true by what His word says about it and seeing it come to pass in my own life. Earlier that day I had been fighting off thoughts of fear and doubt regarding our journey to adopt. I was not in a great place by the end of the day needless to say so going to a softball game to watch Landon play was not my idea of a great evening. It just added to my irritability. Luckily April was there watching Justin play so we left early to get the boys home. As we were driving home I unleashed my frustration. It wasn't pretty but she is used to me ranting on about things so she listened quietly and gave me some words of encouragement. I don't think I even heard her words I was in the "frustration zone". I know you have all been there before so I know you understand what I am talking about.


 I walked through the front door, threw myself on the couch, and started texting Sheena. In my mind I guess letting April hear my frustration wasn't enough. Of course Sheena started giving me words of encouragement as well, it's such a blessing to have friends who know your heart even when you aren't being yourself. Just being able to talk to both of them which I do alot is like my own little therapy session. I walk away being reminded of the Word and being extremely encouraged. They know how to keep me grounded. We all need good friends like that. That is just another part of His faithfulness. He puts the right people in our lives at exactly the right time.

Wow that was sappy...moving on. By this point I am just wanting to crash on the bed and call it a day. Then Landon comes walking through the door. He knew something was wrong. He knew I wasn't myself. I didn't want to talk. I just wanted to cry. So crying is what I did. Being the husband he is just held me close and never said a word. He listened to me cry out to the Lord and beg Him to take this burden that I was carrying so heavy in my heart. After about an hour of me carrying on like a crazy lady, which the Lord was quick to remind me of Hannah in the temple when she cried out to the Lord and they thought she was drunk. My loving husband took my by the hand. We went to our room held hands and prayed. We completely surrendered the entire process over to Him. We realized we could no longer keep trying to make things happen in the natural. We needed to once again Let go and Let God! We reminded the Lord of the things that were spoken over us and this year. We gave thanks for all He has done and All He was doing.

We started to feel the weight being lifted, our Spirit rejoicing, and a sense of His unending Peace overflow onto us. It was a night I won't forget. We feel asleep in minutes. Are you ready to hear the best part?

I got a phone call first thing the next morning. We had a match! God is faithful! There was a caseworker who contacted our caseworker and asked if we would be interested in a beautiful baby girl. Yes...a thousand times Yes!! I knew she was ours! Hope you have a blessed day! It gets better so keeping tuning in. Lots more to tell you!!

*Praise the Lord....It's Offical*

  Well it is official! As of today we are officially adoptive parents in waiting!! I can't begin to express what joy this brings me! It  means we are one step closer to the child that God has for us. The thought of this little one out there waiting for two loving parents to take care of them makes me dream of the day when we will get to meet. God is so good. I know this because He proves His faithfulness over and over again. I am so excited I could just jump up and down screaming Hallelujah!! It I wasn't at work right now typing this I probably would too!!

 As I am sitting here feeling like a kid on Christmas morning I am starting to think about the kind of parent I will be. I know I am going to take one look at this baby and fall completely in love. I can't help but wonder what they are going to look like! Will they be blonde headed with blue eyes or brown with green or brown with brown? I could think about it all day! I can't believe that I  actually get to call myself a parent and introduce this baby as my child.  So this week I will be putting together a diaper bag, picking out clothes, and making sure we know how to put the car seat properly in the car. That could be funny to watch. You should have seen us putting it together. I think even the dogs thought we were crazy. We never know when we will get a call so we must be prepared at all times. This is going to be one of the most exciting times in our life and I am determined to enjoy every moment.

 We just want to say thank you for all of you who continually keep us in your prayers it means more to us than you could possibly know. This week we are believing for an easy adoption process and for a quick match. I will let you know more when I do!! Hope you have a blessed day!! :)

*And the verdict is...*

  We are still not open. Yep, I said it once again we are still waiting for the approval. After my last post I stated we would be open by that following Monday. WRONG! I received an e-mail exactly 1 hour from my post that let us know they lost some of the paperwork we had turned in at the end of October. They also sent us new forms in the mail to fill out  and send back. I did however send an e-mail asking when we would "officially" be opened but as usually no response. Can you tell I am starting to get down about this whole situation? When we started this process we were told constantly how difficult working with the state was but I never realized it until now. We hear all the time how they need homes for these kids and people need to step up. Well what do you have to say to those who are stepping up but can't get anywhere with your system? I have also heard several people tell us that adoptive parents aren't their priority. Why not? Don't they need permanent homes too?

         If we didn't feel as if this is where the Lord has led us then you better believe I would have quit a long time ago. Anyone who knows me will agree that I am pretty persistant but I can be just as patient as I need to be. I have tried to instill in my mind that patience is a virtue. As I am writing this the Lord just reminded me that He is patient with us, always loving, and forgiving. As his child I am freely able to run to the throne to receive grace in my life regarding patience with receiving our children. I guess you could say that Easter is coming up soon and the devil keeps reminding me that it will be another holiday without a family of my own. The thought of possibly getting to watch our kids hunt for eggs or filling a Easter basket with goodies makes me want them so much more.

      I am so thankful for such great friends and family who have allowed us to love on their kids all these years. It has filled a huge whole in my heart. Even though they aren't technically mine I call each of them my own. No matter what they are all my kids to some extent. I would do for them what I plan on doing for my own someday. I pray that in some small way we can impact their lives in this big world. For now I will simply be content being the best Aunt Cort or Boonda that I can possibly be to all those little ones I love so much. They fill my heart with so much joy!
                       I hope you have a blessed day...sorry for venting! :)

*Something Old, Nothing New*

Spring is in the air!! Oh how I love this cool/hot season. Birds are chirping, trees are blooming, and the windows are always up! Speaking of windows I do have a small complaint about having to listen to trains all night long!! Seriously do you have to blow your engine at 3:00 a.m every single morning?

Starting in a few weeks Landon will be playing softball in a league out at Ben Geren Park. I started playing America's favorite past time around the age of 5 and fell completely in love with this sport. There are still times when I would love to get out there and crush a ball into the outfield while running my legs off to beat the throw to home. As I have gotten older the time to even think about playing has become few and far between. Some of my best memories are of my dad screaming from first base to keep running and my mom jumping up in down while almost losing control of her bladder because of the excitement! We took family vacations but most of the time it was based around where I was playing ball that weekend! This was totally fine with me I got to do what I loved and enjoy the activities in the area! I am so thankful for parents who supported me and allowed me to play sports. I hope that my children like sports so I can wear a shirt that says #24's mom and spend my days getting sunburned! My mom use to never go to the tanning bed because all she needed was one weekend of us playing ball. 
 Landon if you read this you can let the boys have your dull number 15 and the girls get the number of a champion 24!

I truly believe you weren't a great ball player unless you had a nickname! Some of the best names were found while scraping our knees going for a foul or from sitting on the bench while our team batted away! I know girls who are still referenced by those names. I am one of those girls. Nope my nickname never faded out. It has however changed versions depending on which member of my family or friends you ask. To my dad, friends, and coaches it was simply Boonya, my mom Boonie Spoonie, my bro Boondog, my nieces Boonda (couldn't quit get the ya sound so it was replaced with the da) and to my husband Boon.  I assure you they all know my name is Cortney but very rarely do or did you hear that around my house, ballfield, and yes even school. I've already started thinking of a few names to call our kids. We will see what sticks and what stinks! lol!

*Adoption update*: In my last post I stated there was so much I wanted to say but couldn't yet. Well just forget all about that it didn't work out. :( We were suppose to be officially open as of 2wks ago but due to our homestudy guy not turning in our report that didn't happen. I actually knew nothing about what was going until today and the 5th e-mail that I had to send to get a response. Yes, I sent 5 e-mails in 2wks and as of today I was determined to send one everyday until they answered me. Persistance paid off because our caseworker finally contacted us back only to say we will be open by Monday! What that officially means I couldn't tell you but I do know it makes us one more step closer. My emotions have been running high this week just because no one would answer my questions!! I will let you know more as soon as I do! Hope you have a blessed week! Praying for a good response on Monday! :0)

*Today's Useless Knowledge....*

 So I have this gadget on my google page at work that says "Useless Knowledge". Every so many minutes it posts some new uselessness. At this point in time we can't decide if we walk away feeling smarter or just like we ran into a door while looking the other direction. I decided some of this uselessness was worth blogging about so to make your day I will post a few. You can decide for yourselves if you feel smarter or not.

1) Never crush a wasp after it stings you. It's stinger lets off a scent that signals other wasps to come sting whatever is in the area even after it's death.

2) Male swans are the only birds that have a male genital part.

3) War II, the free-tailed bat caves near San Antonio were guarded closely as part of top-secret Operation X-ray. The U.S. military attempted to train the bats to carry small incendiary bombs and release them in Japanese buildings. During one test, bat bomb carriers escaped and set fire to barracks and a general’s car. The project was later scrapped.

4) Mozart once composed a piano piece that required a player to use two hands and his nose in order to hit all the correct notes.

5) Babies have tastebuds all over the insides of their mouths not just on their tongues. Adults and children do not have tastebuds on the middle of their tongues.

6) The sound a camel makes is called nuzzing.

7) From the early Roman Empire until eighteenth-century Europe and America, urine was a main ingredient in toothpaste, because the ammonia in it is an excellent cleaner. Ammonia is still a main ingredient in many types of toothpaste.

8) A rat can go without water longer than a camel can.

9) A rat can fall from a 5-story building without injury.

10)  It takes 3,000 cows to supply a single season’s worth of footballs for the National Football League.

Do you feel smarter yet? Hope you have a blessed day full of useless knowledge to share!!

*Good News!*

I have some exciting news to share with you all!!! As of yesterday our HOME STUDY is complete!! We should be open to receive a waiting child very soon!! Praise God!! We have such an awesome testimony to tell everyone about but as of right now we can't go into too much detail. I can tell you though that the Lord is faithful! Did you know that the Lord wants to show out in your life if you would just let Him? Well this has been a true revelation for me these past couple of weeks. As soon as I made the decision to let go and let God do His thing He has proven Himself faithful every time. All it takes is a little obedience and crucifying of the flesh. Just like Pastors always say it Pays more than it Costs to obey.

I guess I could give you a little more detail instead of just leaving you hanging. This is the short version minus major details but enough for you to know this was the Lord's doing not mine. So here goes.....we have been trying to get our home study since January 13th but no one ever contacted us so we called our case worker and when she sent our information to the home study man it got lost in translation...Imagine that stupid devil...well as of yesterday we were contacted by 2 case workers....and we were contacted by the home study guy.....he was at our house in 20 minutes....In the Natural this is unheard of...Doesn't happen...But I know who was behind it! MY GOD! He has great plans for us and for the child that is suppose to be ours.

Right now we are praying for the right child at the exact time that the Lord wants us to meet. So much I wish I could say but this will give you a reason to check back! Hope you have a blessed day!!