I am feeling so encouraged this Monday morning! It's hard to believe that we officially kicked off our adoption adventure just last week. The response we are receiving from our puzzle fundraiser has been so wonderful that it's easy to see that God is behind our decision to adopt. We have already had over 50 people email and call for our address to send in their precious donations. I don't think I have ever been so excited to check the mail! I want to thank everyone for the incredible support. We can see that we are not in this alone and that has made such a huge difference for us. How can we fail with so many wonderful people praying and pulling for us?

The puzzle is on its way! It should get here tomorrow or Wednesday and I can't wait to start putting it together with the pieces that have been claimed. I have a feeling that Baby P's puzzle is going to be taking over our dining room table for a few months as we try to put it together. I was having coffee with a couple of my best friends... talking about nurseries (completely premature but exciting nonetheless!) and they had the wonderful idea to frame the puzzle with glass on the front and the back so that it could be flipped around and all of the names could be easily seen... Love it! It's going to be such an exciting day when we get it framed and up on the wall. I am still working on getting the Paypal button working. We started a Paypal account for our adoption last year but it has been so long since we have logged into it that Paypal has locked us out... I'm working on getting it reopened which will make donating to our adoption fund much easier. In the meantime, if you would like to be a part of our puzzle fundraiser you can email me and I will give you our address to mail in your donation. I am excited to post some puzzle photos in my next blog post so look for your name if you have given us a gift!

Until then, I wanted to share some of the ideas that have been buzzing in my head all weekend!

The circus puzzle got me thinking about a circus themed room for Sweet P!

I'm thinking I'll paint my own circus dogs to look just like Hutch... He'd look great in a pointy hat!

Piecing it Together

Good Morning Everyone! Today is an especially exciting day in the Peterson house because today is the day we officially kick off our adoption! We are embarking on our very first fundraiser and let me just say I am extremely excited about it. We're just one little step closer to holding our baby girl or boy in our arms. The fundraiser is really simple, but it's a sweet way for our friends and family to be involved in bringing Baby Peterson home. I have purchased a 500 piece puzzle. I haven't done a puzzle since I was a kid at the beach, so I'm actually a little excited to start working on a big one like this! Here is how the fundraiser will work:

Each piece of the puzzle will represent one person. One person who brought Baby P. a step closer to home! We are asking for a donation of $5 (But we'll gladly accept more!) to own a piece to our adoption puzzle. When you donate, your name will be written on a piece. When all of the pieces have been claimed, we will put it together and have it framed for Baby P's new room! It will hang as a sweet reminder of how many people helped to bring our kiddo home.

Can I just say I think this puzzle is so cute for our Sweet P's new room?! It looks like a circus came to Boerne and is parading around Town Square. Love it.

The name of the painting is Village Celebration. Perfect! If you want to be a piece to our adoption puzzle then please email me at nikkipetersonphoto@yahoo.com and I'll let you know where you can mail your donation, or grab us by the arm the next time you see us! I'm working on getting a paypal button placed on this blog in a few days which should make it much easier for everyone. 500 people is alot!!! I dont even think I have that many close friends. But we are sure that God is going to move in ways we could never have imagined. We're excited to see it completed and will keep ya'll up to date on how its going!

The Turning Tides

It's been a very long time since my last post and for those who were hoping for updates on our decision to adopt, I'm sorry! I guess you could say that we became wrapped up in the world around us and quite frankly, in our own desires.

Our feelings for adoption were so strong last year... We were eager to start! And then we saw the pricetag associated with it... We were knee deep in our renovation and penny-less because of it. Our house was a construction site complete with exposed concrete, nails and wires. To say that we were busy is an understatement. Josh was in the middle of graduate school and training for the Ironman race which he completed in November (Go Josh!) and I was pushing to get my new business off the ground from my college drafting table in our spare bedroom. The point is, we decided it wasn't the right time. We decided we needed to start 'trying' for a biological child and pick up adoption when things slowed down and we were financially ready... In a few years. We decided, we decided, we decided. Let me share something I have learned about the way God works in our lives. He doesn't care about our time-lines, our reasoning or our busy schedules.

When he set the desire on our hearts to adopt, he was speaking so clearly that there really was no denying that it was His plan for our lives. And even now, almost 1 year later, I can tell you that His voice is still coming in loud and clear... Whether or not I was listening is a different story. In May of last year, Josh and I did get pregnant. We were thrilled that it had only taken us 2 months of trying. In late May we miscarried and we were crushed... I can't tell you how completely heartbroken I was. The months that followed, even up until this very post, were filled with my obsession to have it back. We had almost forgotten about adoption... Almost. I still had dreams about it, I still heard songs that brought me back to it... But I think I purposely closed my eyes and ears to what God was trying to tell me. I watched as my friends became pregnant, had their beautiful babies and my selfishness grew as my eyes closed.

I was on the phone with a friend, crushed and heartbroken, explaining to her the trials of the last 8 months. The conversation began with a request for prayer that God would bless us with another pregnancy. But through all of the talk, she asked me about our desire to adopt. I told her about the signs we'd experienced and the ways God was telling us that he wanted us to go. But that we just wanted to have our own child first. She was amazed at the clarity of His voice in our lives! And through her excitement, I finally started to listen and see again. She explained that God has the power to open and close wombs... That God's plan is always greater than ours. I'm not sure how we got so lost on our path. When we made the decision to adopt we were, at that very moment, pregnant. Our child was waiting to be with us! How could I have wanted anything else? How could I have let my own desires get in the way of something God was commanding us to do. Only God knows what is best for our lives and if we were hurting, it was because we stopped listening to him. It was because of our disobedience to him and our introspectiveness. We were hurt because God was not helping us to get our way! But He had already shown us the way and we were swimming hard against the current. I felt myself turn and in an instant, all of the self inflicted sadness was gone. I felt God pick me up.

To my baby: I heard these songs today and I thought of you.

Days will come when you don't have the strength. When all you hear is your not worth anything. Wondering if you ever could be loved. And if they truly saw your heart they'd see to much.
You're Beautiful.
You were made for so much more than all of this.
You are treasured, you are sacred, you are HIS.
Mercy Me - Beautiful

He cries in the corner where nobody sees.
He's the kid with the story no one would believe.
He prays every night, "Dear God won't be please
Could you send someone here who would love me."
Who will love me for me
Not for what I have done or what I will become
Who will love me for me
Because nobody has shown me what love really means.
JJ Heller - Love Me

It doesn't matter what you've heard
impossible is not a word
its just a reason for someone not to try
Everybody's scared to death
when they decide to take that step
out on the water, but it will be alright.
Kutless - What Faith Can Do

Whether or not we get pregnant in the next year is no longer a concern of ours. We know that God is in control and we lay all of our faith in Him alone. In the meantime, we will pray for His gentle guidance as we continue to research and save; We already have $4,000! We are asking for prayer from our friends and family because we know this won't be easy. But are absolutely positive that we are moving in the direction God intended us to move in, and that makes all the difference in a life. If you've just read all of this, thank you for making it through my endless banter! It was tough to wrap the last 8 months into one post... :-) I'm excited to see what the next few month bring as we aggressively pursue our dreams.

A Family Favorite!

We've fallen in love with this song. It's just another way we hear the voice of God changing our life's direction... A beautiful sound! You tube it! You'll love it too. Its by Christian artist, Leeland with Brandon Heath.

Follow You

You lived among the least of these

the weary and the weak

and it would be a tragedy for me to turn away.

All my needs you have supplied.

When I was dead you gave me life.

How could I not give it away so freely?

And I'll follow you into the homes of the broken.

Follow you into the world.

Meet the needs for the poor and the needy, God.

Follow you into the world.

Use my hands, use my feet

To make your kingdom come.

Through the corners of the earth

until your work is done.

Because faith without works is dead

and on the cross your blood was shed

so how could I not give it away so freely?

And I'll follow you into the homes of the broken.

Follow you into the world.

Meet the needs for the poor and the needy, God.

Follow you into the world.

I give all myself

I give all myself

All myself to you.

Updates

A lot has happened at the Peterson house in the last week. I am now and forever working at home as a portrait and wedding photographer which means two things:

1. I get to be my own boss, work in my PJ's and go wherever I want for lunch
2. The laundry, construction zone, dirty dog and lengthening grocery list stares at me all day

This working from home stuff is harder than I thought! In fact, as we speak I am off task. Blogging was not on my list of "to-do's" today and somehow, I've found time "to-do" it.

The point of this post was to give you all a little update on our adoption journey. A few days ago, a good friend of mine gave me the number of a friend who studies law at St. Mary's University. Not only does she study law... She is specializing in International Adoption! Though not graduated yet, she has shown so much excitement in meeting with us to teach us all about adoption and our options that I can't help but be so excited to meet her! We've spoken back and forth through email about what she might be able to do for us and the more we talk, the more I think she's a gift from God to help us through this whole thing. She plans to take the Bar exam next summer which is about the time we will begin our paperwork. It would be great if she were the one to handle our adoption! We are going to try and meet with her this weekend so I will keep ya'll updated on our progress.

Hutchinson Bailey Peterson

This is Hutch.

Our crazy-eyed Catahoula Pitbull mutt. (Think Rachel Ray, not Michael Vick.) With length like a weenie dog (must be the mutt in him) an immobilizing fear of tin foil and a taste for sheet rock mud... this dog does should not be classified as a Pitbull. Nevertheless, we had to search for a vet when we rescued him because many clinics didn't carry the insurance necessary to treat him. Hilarious, when you consider how he sits in front of the mirror and whines at his own reflection. Hutch is a goofy, excitable snuggler and we love him so much! Throughout this blog you will hear me and Josh refer to him so I thought it would be nice for you to "put a face with a name." As our first child, we love him dearly. I'm sure he will take a back seat to the children we'll have in the future. But for now, he has claimed a nice cozy spot in our hearts... and on our furniture.

Something's Gotta Give

I was so excited to hear of all of the support behind us on our recent decision to adopt! What an amazing blessing! We know we are excited to add a member to the Boerne family. The title of this blog is "something's gotta give" because well... seriously, something's gotta give. Before our decision to adopt, we bought a fixer upper (as the previous post explains.) We were so excited to have a house that we quickly decided we needed new furniture, a new kitchen, new bathrooms.... etc. etc. We also were so excited to be newlyweds that we planned countless vacations in the coming year to celebrate all the happenings of our newly married life. ALL while josh finishes graduate school, trains for an Ironman and we are in the beginning stages of starting our family and adopting a child! WHOA! So. It all came to a head last night. Laying in bed, sleepless and grouchy, we determined that there is just a little bit too much self inflicted stress falling on our shoulders right about now! Why do we (as in all people) do this to ourselves? We live in such a "want it now!" world! I was talking to my good friend, Maren the other day and we came to the conclusion that all financial stress in self inflicted. It seems that its so easy to fall into the trap of "never having enough." Needless to say, we are re-prioritizing our lives. We know what is important and its not beach trips and crate and barrel furniture. This post is short and honestly, not very well put together. But, I have to run! Going to meet Josh for some Alamo Cafe and a much needed financial makeover. Why does every important decision in our marriage seem to happen over sweet tea and quick food?