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:)