It's like having TWINS

When Audrey was about 6 months old or so, Tim and I started to talk about adopting again. We quickly acted on what we felt we were supposed to do. We thought maybe this time since we didn't get a boy the first time we should go to Haiti and adopt from the orphanage that the adoption agency was involved in. We inquired about Haiti and found out that the government was telling all non essential persons to leave the country, that it was getting dangerous. The agency wasn't pursuing any adoptions from there at that time. Well, with that said, we decided to get put back on the adoption list with our agency. I was in the process of trying to put together another book for the birth mothers. Tim and I have an open adoption with Audrey's birth mother and had received a call from her saying that her cousin was pregnant. She told us that she already had a family picked out but wanted to know if she could visit with her so she could see how we did the whole open adoption thing. We had no problem with this, we were waiting for a boy. Little did we know that God had other plans. Within minutes of the birth moms leaving, I got a call asking if we would like to be the parents of the newest baby. This totally took me by surprise. I didn't really know what to say, all I could think of was this can't be happening. I was very ecstatic and completely taken by surprise. I can truly say that the Lord has Blessed me beyond my wildest dreams. I never in my life dreamed I would have it this good. All the glory goes to God on this one.

It's a GIRL

....So here we were talking to the social worker about our home study and we start to find out what they had to offer when it came to adoption. We found out at the first appointment that they were less than 1/2 of the original agency's cost. As I said previously the wait was going to be much longer. We prayed and decided that God was in control of the situation. What we thought was going to take 12-24 months ended up taking less than 3 months after our home study was complete. YES, God blessed us once again. Not only did he bless us, he took all the wait out of the picture. We met our birth mother and she delivered our beautiful baby girl about 2 weeks later. Not only did he take the wait out, but he provided a way for us to take Miss Audrey straight home from the hospital, she never had to go into foster care. This was something I didn't want to happen. You know God blesses us when we don't deserve to be blessed. We aren't sure why God provided all our needs and a child so fast when others have to wait years, maybe it's so I can blog about this and share all the wonderful things he has done. I hope that whatever you are anxious, nervous, sad, or upset about you will know that in a blink of an eye God can choose to change your life and BLESS you beyond your wildest imagination.

Love always, Sarah

New Addition

OK where was I? Oh that's right, God had just blessed us with a huge Mansion. LOL. Really though, we knew at this point we could start to focus on the next plan we felt like the Lord was telling us to do. This was to add to our family via adoption. My whole life I had wanted to adopt, I never felt like it would happen. It was at a vacation bible school that I met a man who told me that he and his wife had 6 children. 4 of them were adopted. It was so God's timing that I met this man. Long story short, he introduced us to his wife and we totally fell in love with this family. This family shared their experience and helped us to get started by recommending an agency to work with. My husband Tim and I had talked on many occasions about adoption, and had realized that we both had the desire to adopt. It was when we met this family that we knew the Lord was again talking to us and leading us to where he wanted us to go and do. We took action, calling the agency, checking on foster care and when it came down to it, we realized we couldn't afford to pay what in the long run would be 1/2 of our yearly salary. We prayed some more to try and figure out what to do. We looked into ways to make the adoption cost lower, one on these ways was to go some where we could get a cheaper home study. It was at the moment we walked in for our first appointment we knew that the local agency was where we needed to be. I give more details at a later post... until then, Bye

Love, Sarah

Me and My House will Serve the LORD

After about a year of working on things, Tim and I decided that we would love to have a home of our own. We prayed that God would some how work a way for us to move into our very own home. We then started to look for a home of our own. We looked at several homes and just couldn't find what we were looking for. We went to the bank to see just what we could afford, thinking that if we had more money we could look at larger homes that wouldn't need immediate repairs. This is when we found that the bank wouldn't lend us any amount of money. This was very devastating because we knew that God was telling us that we were to move and continue on with his plan for our lives. This is when we decided to once more go and seek a home. We ended up at a sub division where you built your home brand new. We knew it was a long shot with our poor credit and previous turn down by the bank. We applied for credit for a new home and WE GOT IT!!!!!!!!!!!! God BLESSED us with a home, not just a home, but a brand new home, one we never could have dreamed of. One that we didn't deserve, one that God had meant for us all along. It took about 6 months from start to finish, for all the paperwork, picking of colors and construction before we could move in. To us, this small 3 bedroom 1200 sq ft home was a mansion!!! GOD BLESSES those who listen and follow his will...

It takes time to heal

Tim and I had decided to give it a go again as I had said earlier. Let me be the first to tell you this was by no stretch of the imagination easy. Healing broken hearts and hurt feelings takes a lot of effort. This is not an over night fix. Fortunately we were BLESSED by having the most wonderful couple from our church mentor us, in addition to all the friends and family who rallied behind us and stayed in continuous prayer for a very long time. We had our good times back again, as well as bad times. After a while the good times were more frequently and often than the bad times. Once we realized that this was for good, and neither of us was going anywhere, we started to really focus on what the Lord had in mind for us. (this is where it gets really good) Tune in again at a later date for hear how the Lord blessed us next........

Love always, Sarah O

In the beginning

Wow, I can't beleive that it is already Tuesday. Well as I told you all I would start to share our story. Tim and I met over 17 years ago in high school. We never dated, however was very good friends. After high school, we both sort of went our own way. I married a guy that I was dating during senior year and Tim moved to join the Marine Corp. I quickly got pregnant. Within 1 year of marriage, I divorced my oldest daughter's dad. I went back to school, lived in income housing, worked as a dental assistant and needless to say struggled financially. I was very much into parting. Tim, after 4 years in the Corp moved back home, (please don't ask about all he did while gone, we don't want to get into that). Tim and I met back up just before Brittany's 4th birthday. It was like the good ol' times. That is until I got pregnant and the pressure was on. We were together on and off. We ended up going to the court house and eloping. This by no stretch of the imagination kept us together. We separated a total of 8 or 9 times. In the mean time Kaylee was born. The entire 1st year, she was sick, sick to the point we took her to Riley Hospital to have tests run to see if they could figure out what was going on. Long story short, Tim and I were 2 weeks from a divorce when we decided to give it a go again, and put the Lord in the center of our relationship and lives 100%. This is when it all changed.... Tune in later to read about the really awesome stuff. I think you will be blessed knowing how the Lord worked what seemed to be self destruction and doom out for HIS glory.
Love always, Sarah

IT WORKED!!!!!!

OK, so I finally got a picture on here. I'm a bit sad because I cannot find the disk with all of us. This was a picture of the girls and I in August. Our close friends Todd and Kristina have their own photography business and took this picture during one of their adoption fund raisers. More on that later. Well, as I said, check back often to find out more about the many blessings the Lord has given us. Love, Tim & Sarah

INTRODUCTION

Jan 14, 2007
Allow us to introduce ourselves. Tim and I have been married for 7 1/2 years and have 4 beautiful children. (hope to have pics up and running soon). 2 of our children are biological and the other 2 are adopted. We have been blessed beyond belief and want to share with everyone the good things God has done in our relationship. Our children are: Brittany age 11, Kaylee age 7, Audrey age 2 and Emily age 1. Please feel free to check back often as I start to share the journey of our lives.
Love, Sarah