Better Late then Never......

I suppose, huh:)! It has been a busy time from Open House, Adoption meetings, children events/activities, Palmer events, visiting family in Ohio(which was great), to Christmas Shopping, wrapping, and celebrating. So again, better late then never.....

There is a lot of catching y'all up. This could really turn into a very long blog so I will do my best to keep it short. First, MERRY CHRISTMAS to you all! I pray your time today has been spent well with family and reflecting on the true meaning, which is Jesus! I am so thankful for him! While it has been said this is not truly His Birthday, I still love this time where He is the focus by so many. I wish it was a year long thing for everyone. He is so amazing! 

Second, we made our first Puzzle goal! THANK YOU so much to everyone for being a part of this goal! God showed up in some AMAZING ways during this time. It literally only took 18 days to meet this goal. We have an ON TIME God, maybe not always on our time, but ALWAYS on time.

 

This puzzle is going to look so cute hanging above our little ones bed. I cannot wait to explain all the names on the back of each puzzle piece to our little one when he/she is old enough to understand. There are still a few pieces left for those who are still wanting to buy a piece to bringing home our baby. We have a fundraising site at youcaring.com, we found out this site does not charge any fee's, thanks to some friends of ours who are also adopting. Please be praying for them as well during this process. It is not any easy one to travel.

Third, WE HAVE A HOME STUDY DATE!!! I will say it again, because everytime I do, I get so excited, WE HAVE A HOME STUDY DATE!!! Our last meeting on December 4th, with our awesome Social Worker was so hard. It was a very emotional time. Both Al and I had to go way back talking about life, family, and choices made. Many of you know our tesitmonies so you know it was not really a life to be proud of, however, while talking to her she said, "I would have never thought this about you!" What an amazing compliment to God's grace and healing! After about 2 hours of tears, laughter, and even healing we heard the news, "Let's set a date for your Home Study!" This date is a sweet date too, it will be on Al's Birthday which is January 9th at 4:30pm. Please be praying as we get everything ready and that she will feel a sweet presence in our home. I need to add just how good God is. This passed January 9th, we had two precious children leave our care. It hit really hard on all of us and Al said he would not enjoy his Birthday again. I love that God has given him a sweet gift so he can enjoy his day. 

Many have asked what this Home Study all means, let me explain. When Adoption is something your called to do or want to do you must legally have a Home Study. Your Social Worker will visit your home to make sure it is safe for Children, meaning Chemicals, Cleaning Supplies, Medicines or anything else harmful should be locked up or put up high. You must have a Fire Extinguisher and have all outlets covered. It is basic things like this. It will take about a month for our Home Study to be finalized. Once it is finalized we can begin our grant application process and then "patiently" wait for a match. That last part is so hard. 

Lastly, we will have more opportunities for you all to give as you feel led. We are still praying about more fundraisers. We trust God through this whole Adoption. We know He already has our little one hand picked, chosen for us. We know that every cent He will provide, for He already has up to this point. We also know how much we need Him and how much we need your prayers. You are all so wonderful and are a part of something greater. You are sowing eternal seeds. You are loved tremendously! 

We get so excited when people talk to us about our adoption and ask questions, so please do so. We love hearing the kids in our care talk about our baby and how they cannot wait to be a big brother or big sister. I love hearing friends congratulate us and I love when our families buy things for the baby or when we just sit around and think about that day we will meet him/her. This week we were able to make a quick trip to spend a few days with family for Christmas. Here is a picture that got me excited:

I cannot wait for cute little baby feet to fill these booties! We were also able to take some family pictures that my younger sister has been wanting to take for a while. Here are a few of my favorites:

It was good time! My Dad was missed, I have to say though it was so nice to have some happiness and laughter back in our family Christmas's! God is Good people.....HE REALLY IS!!!

Finally I cannot end without sharing our Christmas Tradition we do with our kids. It is so much fun to go shopping for these and wear them to our campus tradition events:

Merry Christmas! Thank you for loving us, praying for us, and supporting us! 

Until the next year;).....

Love,

Us:)

P.S. Here is our youcaring site:

http://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/bring-home-baby-fishburn/274448

we also have a paypal account at brittfishburn@gmail.com

A week of confirmed promises

How many of you have ever made a promise that you did not keep? ✋ My hand goes up and fast too. Either we get too busy, forget, or make ones we just cannot keep and unfortunately someone is left hurt. I don't know about you, but I for one always feel bad if I break a promise, so I try hard now only to make the ones I know I can keep. Promise is a big word and well, I, in my humaness, am not that big. I know someone who is though and He never goes back on His word!

This week has been a week of confirmed promises for Al and me, in many areas of our life. I would like to take just a moment of your time and brag on His promises, not because of anything we have done or because we even deserve them, only because He is a great BIG God with a whole lot of love to pour out on two ordinary people, yet children of Him(wow that is a long sentence). Al and I are in the home stretch leading towards our Home Study. This is the one step that opens our home up to Baby F and opens the door to applying for grants. Pretty much it shows our Social Worker we are truly ready to bring home our baby. This part is expensive also. Al and I are pretty private about this part of the Adoption and have only shared with our closest family and friends all the details. We have been encouraged to share this detail with you though. In order to complete our Home Study we must have $4000.00 paid and this is why we have been fundrausing. There is no price you can put on our baby or any baby at all, it is reality though. We've trusted God all along though because we know this is His will for our lives. 

Ok, by now you're probably ready to hear how He has shown up so here goes. Sunday we were approached by a wonderful man of Christ,( he has the same heart as my Dad did) in his hand a $400.00 check that said, "God loves you!" We were instantly moved to tears, overwhelmed with love from our Father! A few days later we were approached by a couple, who with the same attitude told us a large amount they were wanting to give, and just yesterday another couple told us they were donating $100.00. There have been no words to express our appreciation and thanks. We've had a hard time with this part of the story because who are we in comparison to others. We are eternally grateful and pray many blessings on those who are sowing seeds into our babies life. 

Is this it, no actually. To top it all off we have received this week our next fundraising opportunity. A sweet Spirit filled Lady from our church donated her talent, time, and supplies to paint a puzzle for our nursery and of course this week she completed it. 

God laid the words on our heart and gave her a vision. We think it is adorable as this represents Dad, Baby, and Mom. Thank you Toni for sharing your heart with us! Thank you to those God has used this week to confirm His promise! We love you all! 

So finally here it is the next fundraiser and the one I am most excited for. Why?! You see this puzzle tells a story, one we will be able to share when Baby F grows up, and one you all can be a part. This is how the puzzle came to us:

 

and was it a pain to put together, but we did😄! Now its complete and ready for your names. You all can buy a piece of the puzzle for $30.00 and have your name signed to the back. You will then receive a picture postcard of the puzzle to put on your refrigerator, desk at work, in your car, or where ever as a reminder that you walked this faith walk with us, became a part of our family, helped complete the puzzle, and prayed for all of us along the way. My sisters have set up a Go Fund Me to help make it easy for you all. You will find it listed at the end of this blog. As always, all donations go to bringing home Baby F!

Again, thank you! I know I say it often, but we truly cannot wait to hold our baby. We cannot wait to meet him/her and to love on our little one. 

As you can see its been one of those weeks. Please know though, no matter what kind of week it is, God is always good and will never hold back on His promises. Its been a long journey, with tears shed, but still God! Psalm 119:50 says, "My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life" and He has preseved us, so we hold onto His peomises! Please remember, He cares for YOU!! 

I have one last thing to say about God's promises! He promised to Chasity that she was going to be a nurse and this girl passed her State Board! We literally found out the news Sunday right after our first blessing of the week! We are so very proud of her. The best part, through adversity she kept her hope in God! 

Until next time.....

Love,

Us

PS: My Mom has so willingly excepted my request to take over our Adoption Auction! Thank you Mom!!

Here is the link:

http://gofundme.com/babyfishburn

Movin on up....

We are coming off a pretty busy week! My sister moved on up from singlehood to marriage! It was a beautiful wedding and the presence of the Lord was there! Nick is going to make a fine addition to the family and a wonderful brother. He brings a sense of joy and humor our family has needed! My sister looked radiant. She was a glowing Bride and Nick, a sobbing Groom! We were honored to be a part. Here is one of my favorite pictures from that day of all the girls:

And then another favorite of the Bride and Groom:

We are movin on up too....

Al and I have our official intake meeting next Wednesday at 10am. The good Lord continues to bless us. I am not sure what we've done to deserve such goodness and favor from the Lord. He moves me everytime. We are overwhelmed by all He does. His favor is moving us up in this process and we are one step closer to bringing our baby home. I say this often because I mean it, my arms long to hold our little one. I long for sleepless nights, dirty diapers, and days of vomit because that means we will have endless times of laughter, playing, and cuddling as well. 

Our first fundraiser has been a blessing. It has far outweighed my expectations. Thank you to all who have donated, to my mom and in laws for your contribution, and also to those who have purchased items, you are now officially a part of this journey and our little one will know about you. We will be beginning our next fundraiser soon, once I finish putting it together. Do you all know how hard it is to put a solid white puzzle together? Try tying your shoes without laces....yes its just like that. I keep telling myself it will all be worth it. 

I have mentioned how emotional this journey has been, I want to express just how fun too. I love Al's and my discussions over baby names, which I believe we have narrowed down to two choices for a boy and a girl. We had no trouble picking a nursery color. Al was not too thrilled about the theme, but slowly he will come around😜. I was so excited to have these cute little owls donated and so "K" and I painted them and we will be using them in the nursery. Tell us what you think:

I will save the rest. Its cute isn't it?!

Thank you to everyone who has been praying with us and cheering us on. Several of you have been so encouraging. 

One last thing, we've had some ask how they can donate, here is one of two ways: 

Mail donations to

PO Box 929

Hernando, MS 38632

or

PayPal- brittfishburn@gmail.com

All donations will go straight into our Adoption fund.

Thank you again, you are part of our blessing!

Love,

Us:)

Vulnerability

Today has shown me just how hard it is to be vulnerable. The Lord has us on this amazing journey....and its tough. Those two really do not go together, amazing and tough, but it is the truth. I think ahead and see us bringing home our baby and then quickly put the brakes on when I am reminded all that is left to do. God then reminds me about all the amazing things on this journey that will be shown to us and I start to get ahead of myself again. Have any of you been on the Pirate Ship ride, you know that big boat that swings back and fourth? Well those don't settle well in my stomach. I honestly cannot handle rides like that. I always look forward to getting off and putting my feet back on the ground. Well, this is how I can explain the journey. You are in line waiting to get on, the antcipation is so exciting, then you get on and while it is fun (those rides), there are somethings that you realize you are weak at (like my stomach on these rides) and you just cannot wait for it to be over. Once you are off you realize it was worth the memories made and the laughter. We know after this it will be worth it, its just the steps going through that we have to fully rely on God to help us with. Its faith. That's what it is. Faith in God and we are so honored to be on it. 

Its been a week since we announced we were expecting, in the form of adoption. It is crazy how we can already love our little one and we have yet to know when we will meet. Al and I have prayed about this day for a long time. Parents, when you look at your child can you imagine not having them? Can you imagine birthing them and then lovingly giving them away? It is a hard question. Al and I cannot imagine not having them, its a deep desire for us. We are aware of the challenges and heartache that take place, BUT EVEN still that is worth it. We long to be parents together, to walk through life hand in hand, going through every bump and hurdle, and listening to every laugh and giggle. We long to make memories and to teach our little one the love of God. We long for His will more importantly. This is our story and while it has been painful at times, we are richly blessed, for eternity. 

I mentioned it is hard for me to vulnerable. Adoption is a stretch in many ways, finances are one of those. God has already come through in big ways and we know He will continue. We are asking if you all will prayerfully considering being a part of our family by sowing seeds into our babies life? We have already started our first fundraiser. We opened an online auction through Facebook. This will be an on going fundraiser and new items will be posted daily and weekly. We are praying for a certain amount of money to be raised so we can complete our home study. After all the paperwork, this is one of the most important steps. Once our home study is done our baby can become our family, whenever that may be. It could take 3 months or 1 year, maybe longer. We know we will meet him/her one day though. In a week or two we will be starting another fundraiser. I am the most excited about this one, more details to come on this so please stay with us. 

If you are not interested on bidding online or being part of a fundraiser, but would still like to sow into the life of our baby, please email us at fishburn@palmerhome.org and we will give you the proper steps in doing so. You will be planting an eternal seed. You are also opening your life up and becoming apart of our family. All funds received will be placed in a bank fund strictly for baby Fishburn.

Our arms long to hold our little one. Thank you for joining us on this journey! We love you all!

Love,

Us:)

Oh, what a ride

First, I just need to say, what a ride already! I am sure I am more emotional then what I thought because my Dad is not here and also because I carry a sad heart for my sister. She walks down the ailse in exactly 10 days! It's just a bittersweet time in our family. Thanks to everyone who is baring with me!

With that said, I already know it is going to just be a time of tears anyways. A friend of mine who has traveled this journey already with her spouse said the tears will not end. Looks like I will be stocking up on boxes of tissue. If you see me in passing and my nose is red and raw you will know why;)! Actually this is all going to be worth it. She told me this as well, my friend. She said when we pull up to our house with our baby that no one can take away, it will all be worth it! We know it will be, so little one wether boy or girl, we cried for you for so long, I cannot wait to hold you and cry! What a blessing you already are!

Now for some news! I opened our email today and we have been moved onto the next phase! This is the Formal Application process! We are thrilled and while there is so much more to do, we are blessed that it is still moving on. With that said, there is another fee with this step.....God already delivered it though! We left our meeting last night, which was awesomely overwhelming:) thinking, "Wow"! I was like there is so much to still do, paperwork, nursery, and Al was thinking finances:)! Seriously right after we talked about all that we received a $1000.00 grant and was moved to tears! I love the thought of anonymous givers so if the amazing woman in my life wants to share she can! I want her to know that with or without this grant how much I love her!!! She is forever a part of this journey and we will get to share with our little one what she did to help bring him/her home! Gods got this!!!

Speaking of being a part, you all will have a chance to be a part of this puzzle! We will be starting some fundraisers soon! We understand the struggles in life, trust us we've had our fair share. God has been so great through it all though. How many would love or consider being a part of the journey? A part of the "puzzle"? One of our first fundraiser when it's time will be just that, a puzzle piece. You all will get to buy a piece of a puzzle that we will put together to form a picture, sign it, and then receive a magnet that will have the picture of your puzzle piece so you can pray for our little one. This is all in the works! We have a number we are praying for. Imagine, having this puzzle picture hanging above little ones bed and when he or she is older us explaining how you all had a part of bringing home baby! Al and I are writing a little poem for our baby to paint on this puzzle picture. Please prayerfully consider.

If you are not feeling led, we ask that you partner or continue to partner with us in prayer! Pray for the birth mom, the baby, and Al and I! We love having you all part of this journey! We are getting a glance at the amazing love of our God who choose us and is now choosing for us a little one to love! Words cannot express this journey, I am doing my very best though. It's been almost 10 years since Al and I began the journey of wanting to extend our family. We look back and see why His timing is so perfect, and yet still struggle with waiting. We so painfully want to have our own, to teach about Christ, and to love on. God reminded me yesterday that He has this and to just take it one step at a time.

"Be still and know that I am God....." and He will be exalted through it all!

You all are wonderful! Until next time....enjoy the ride!

Love,

Us:)

Could it be true

Don't worry, there will not be a post everyday, unless the Spirit has me to post or I just have something to share! This one will be short so no need to sit back and relax or pull up a chair.

I have been told by our Pastor that you will know your in the will of The Lord by the attacks that come about! Al and I have been attacked a lot by the enemy, maybe not more then others just on another level, in the area of our marriage and the growth of our family! God said to be fruitful and multiply and many times I really wanted to throw my hands up and say, "God, we are trying:)!" I want to clarify that through it all I still know God is good and I still choose to give Him my life! I always will!

So I have tendencies to get off track and that is where this is headed, so let me pull you all back in. About the attacks, I mentioned a couple weeks ago about the crazy dream I had, we had a baby, a boy in fact(more about this later), it was a sweet dream, just strange and I sensed the enemies presence strongly. When I woke up I was smiling and sad because I did not have that little boy to hold just yet and the stupid enemy was trying to a attack. Could it be true that he does not want this? Of course! He knows the promises God has given us! He knows that He wants us to multiply! Well, again he tried to attack this morning! One of our boys, Johnny, came up to us and said, "Listen to this dream, you were holding the baby and all the other kids were fighting. You guys finally looked at each other and said, 'that's it we are done' and you all left Palmer Home!" He was smiling through it all and we of course reassured him that is not OUR plan. Could it be that the enemy was trying to put fear in him? Yes, but we know God's spirit is that of power, love, and a sound mind! Johnny is ok by the way and very much excited! I became a little discouraged though, we do not want our children here to worry. God is good though! A sweet friend of mine saw me shortly after and shared with me that as she was carrying her sweet little girl she prayed for women who could not conceive. I thought this was so sweet, then she went onto say that 3 times God gave her the vision of me holding a little baby! Yes, there were watery eyes! Tiffany said she was not sure why she never shared that before, and I told her because God knew I needed then! Could this all be true? Yes, it is! It is happening and God deserves all the praise!

There are so many stories I could share with you about things leading up to this journey! I did mention this would be short, I guess nothing really is with me and you probably have pulled up a chair by now! I will say it is strange being congratulated as if we were actually carrying a baby and also very nice! Thank you for congratulating us! There is so much we will just naturally miss out on "not" being able to conceive! 

Could it be though that one day we will? No matter what, we are ready to love and teach about love to our little one! We know he or she will be just the perfect one! Could it be that all along God planned to "Hand pick our baby?" 

Faith is believing.......

Love, 

Us:)

Just gonna get to the point

I've wanted to start one of these things for 4 years, better late then never I suppose!

The whole point was to keep y'all posted on our move here to Mississippi, but shortly after we lost my Dad unexpectedly and it through me into a whole other level of crazy:). Ok, so not really, I did however need time to adjust to a new place, full house of children, the loss of my Father, and well just breathing. The blog got thrown onto the back burner. Now its time to take it off before it burns;)!

So why now, well God has been doing so many amazing things in our life. After I took time to grieve a move and my Father I started seeing life in a whole new way. I am so thankful for the man God has put in my life to walk this journey. Al has been everything I've needed. I pray he can say the same! We love Mississippi, the Palmer Home family, and this journey. There has just been something missing for a while. We started trying for that "something" back in 2005. After negative tests, celebrating life for others, and going to showers with a smile on my face and pain in my heart(don't get me wrong, I do rejoice when there is a baby celebration) Al and I have prayerfully considered adoption. Honestly, we have been talking about it for a while, the time was not right though. Now, it is! God has opened the door and we are going to walk through it!

Our children here are excited and are ready to pick names:). There is so much that still has to fall into place though, but the kids excitement is just more confirmation. 

You see, we mentioned it a year ago and well, it did not go well. You can imagine our excitement when they all were actually smiling this time:).

So the announcement is, we are having a baby, just not the way we thought we would, at this time anyways. I could be like Sarah and give birth at 90:). 

You all probably have lots of questions. Maybe these will answer a few, we are praying for a baby up to age 12 months(Al jokingly says a 3 year old because they are potty trained(;), we will love any race, and girl or boy does not matter. 

We are through the preliminary phase and have our first meeting this Tuesday! We covet your prayers and thank you all so much for your love and support you've shown us! 

Please continue to follow and walk with us on this journey we call life. There will be ways you can become a part!

Psalm 127:3, "Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him."

Love,

Us:)