Do Not Fear

Be not afraid. Have no fear. Fear not. Do not be afraid

I'm currently in the middle of the Esther Bible Study by Beth Moore. Two weeks ago we had a lesson on fear. According to Beth Moore, the number one commandment in the bible is, in more words or less, "Do not be afraid". She asked us to think about what a life without fear would be like. This was huge for me. Since I could never do her words justice by trying to paraphrase them, here is a quote from her...

"The most critical breakthrough of faith you and I could ever experience
is to let God bring us to a place where we trust Him-period.
We don't just trust Him to let us avoid what we fear most. We determine
to trust Him no matter what, even if our worst nightmare befalls us...
Our only steadfast defense against life's certain uncertainty is
unconditional trust in a Savior who loves us more than His own life."

I want to believe God, not just believe in Him.

Eh

We had a good weekend. Happy Birthday, Dad!!

(There, I blogged)

Already Out of Ideas

Day 5, and I can't think of anything to blog about, so here's what's on my mind.

We just found out that our tenant in the Athens house is not going to renew her lease with us in January. The tenant's daughter is entering the military so section 8 is downgrading her since she'll have one less dependent. The contract we have with section 8 ends mid-late January, so we should have plenty of time to find a replacement. While on the topic of the Athens house, next month we will pay off the smaller loan on it. (we have an 80/20 loan on that house) It feels good to make some progress with it.

I have some news to share when I get the okay, but that's all I can say for now. (Don't you hate when people do that? I do, too ;))

And my mind is pretty empty right now, so that's about it. I'll end with some pictures.

Camryn's 1st Birthday Party

A couple of my favorites from Shiloh's 4 year pictures

Moments Like These

So thankful for moments like these.

Keeping With The Adoption Theme

Richard and I are making the preparations for/seriously considering for another adoption. Which one we are actually doing kind of depends on what day you ask me. I say me because Richard is on board for whatever I choose. He would like a second child, but he would also be fine with only Shiloh. The decision is basically mine to make. That's not a good thing. I can be pretty indecisive. Which means that it may never happen because I'll never be able to make a decision.

In the past couple of months we've (I've) decided we're going to adopt again, told friends to keep us in mind if they know anyone considering adoption, decided maybe we're not quite ready, contacted an agency regarding home study info, had a contract sent to us from the agency, decided maybe we should wait until after the Holidays to start anything, and that's where we are today. I think I'm hoping that maybe between now and January 1st I'll have some kind of an epiphany regarding what decision we should make.

Today I'm leaning more towards a second adoption, but I'm sure that by tomorrow afternoon I will have changed my mind.

Here's What You Missed

Kim is pregnant again. Shiloh is truly going to be a big sister this time. Kim is keeping the baby. I say that because we haven't had the contact I thought we would with Will and his family. Anyway. Kim went trick or treating with us Monday and after we were done Shiloh was sitting on the couch with her. She pointed to Kim's belly and asked her what it was. On a side note, she had already been told of the pregnancy. Moving on... Kim told her her there was a baby in there, and that was all that was said on the subject.

Skip ahead to yesterday morning, Shiloh and I are sitting on the couch talking about how much fun she had Halloween night. Somehow Kim's "belly" came up, and we have a conversation that goes something like this...

Me: Shiloh, do you know that the baby in Kim's belly will be like your brother or sister since you came out of her belly also?
Shiloh: Yeah. I know.
Me: Oh, you do?
Shiloh: Yeah, I know. I've been praying for a baby sister (which she has EVERY night), so she's growing one for me.

After she said that, I was concerned that she thought this baby would be coming to live with her. I asked her about it, and she said that she understood that the baby is going to live with Kim. I think she really gets it. As much as she can anyway.

I'm excited. I really do hope that Shiloh will be able to have as much of a sibling type relationship with this baby as she possibly can. I asked Kim if she had any idea what she's having. When she was about this far along in her pregnancy with Will, she already had a feeling he would be a boy. She said judging by the heartburn, she would have to guess this is another girl. I really hope it is since I know that a sister is what Shiloh really wants.

Speaking of Will, while Kim was over she showed us some recent photos Will's mom had just emailed her. It is CRAZY how much he looks like Shiloh. When he was born there were definitely some similarities. There were some pictures where he 100% had his own look. Then there were others where your guess would have been as good has mine regarding whether or not it was Shiloh or Will. When we saw him around his first birthday I honestly did not see much of a resemblance. Now? OMG. From right below the eyes down, they are identical. You could copy and paste Shiloh's nose/mouth onto one of his pictures and it wouldn't look much different. The only real difference is that Will's lips are a little fuller than hers were. It is crazy. Even their upper, four front teeth are identical. He is adorable. His second birthday is coming up in January so maybe we'll get to see him again.

I'm Horrible!

How could I give you a Halloween post with no pictures?!?

Making Halloween cookies to share with friends

Shiloh and Kim

Buzz, Love Bug, and Rapunzel

National Blog Posting Month

...or NaBloPoMo if you're a real blogger.

I'm not sure if anyone reads this anymore, but apparently November is National Blog Posting Month (who knew?). The goal for bloggers this month is to write a post every day. I've decided to give it a try in an attempt to get myself back in to the blogging world, so here goes....

It's November 1st, which means that last night was Halloween! Halloween is one of my most favorite nights of the year (I'm such a heathen!). I love the sense of community that Halloween night is, for me anyway. Neighbors opening their doors to neighbors, even if only to quickly give them candy and then promptly close the door on them. Just kidding. Shiloh had a blast running briskly walking from house to house with her friends, Tristyn and Easton. As I type this it is 10:10 am and she is still passed out in her bed. Can we trick-or-treat every night???

In all seriousness, we did have great night shared with Kim and The Evans Family. The kids were very polite saying "Thank you" and "Happy Halloween" without having to be reminded too many times. I'm still not sure if they enjoyed trick-or-treating more, or passing out candy to other trick-or-treaters after returning to the house. I am already looking forward to next year, and Shiloh already has her costumes planned out for the next 3 years (seriously).