Summer Fun

Family Vacation with Schuitemans

Bridge's Bay Waterpark


Riding the boats at Arnold's Park with cousins Miles and Margo

Playing with the slip and slide.

Abby's trip to Washington, DC

Riding in the burley.

We realized the other day that it had been quite some time since our last post. July was busy with family vacations and get aways and now we are only a few short days away from school starting. Stan heads back for inservice tomorrow. Keegan will start PreSchool next Tuesday. Hard to believe he is old enough already! He is very excited and keeps reminding us that he is big enough to go to school. I think it will be the hardest for Aiden and Mom. Aiden will miss his big brother at daycare and will probably feel lost for a few days. Mom on the other hand can't believe this time has come!

We have nothing new to report on the adoption front. We continue to wait patiently for God's timing, although being patient is really tough:) 2 weeks ago we went to the Katelyn's Fund picnic. It was really nice to connect with other families again in the same situation we are. I think both Stan and I constantly think and day dream about the new baby that will join our family. We pray each night with the boys for the baby that God will bring to our home. Keegan is constantly coloring pictures for our new baby and making plans on where the baby will sit at the table and what toys he/she will play with.

We covet your prayers as we continue our journey. We pray for patience and know that God's timing is always perfect and may not be what we had in mind. Please also pray that we may be able to garner the financial resources needed for this journey. We have applied for a few grants. We received one, were denied on another and still waiting to hear on one. We have faith that it will all work out.

Overdue Pictures!!

Here are some much overdue pictures from our trip to St. Louis!

Keegan and Aiden taking it in from our seats!!

Keegan enjoying the game and looking cool!!!

Aiden just haning out, like his brother!!

Dad, are you enjoying the buffet??

Burning some of that energy off at the hotel!!







As you can see we had a great time at St. Louis with just the four of us, even if it was only for the weekend. We look forward to some of the other vacations we can take with our families later on this summer, as we are truly blessed to have such wonderful extended families!

Anniversary

Talking this weekend we realize we have not posted in a long time to the blog. Time has been flying by!! We recently went on a brief family vacation to St. Louis to watch the Cardinals play. We had a great time and will talk more about that later when we have some pictures to display as well.

Tomorrow is our 8th anniversary! It has been amazing to see how our relationship has grown as time has flown by and look at all the different blessings God has given us in this short time together. I don't think we ever imagined that on our 8th anniversary we would be blessed with two wonderful boys and waiting as patiently as we can on God's timing to adopt our 3rd child!

We have definitely discovered that the waiting has become more difficult as time keeps moving on. I was very anxious and could not wait for the day when Abby was pregnant with both of our boys, but then we had a relatively accurate date that we knew our boys would enter into our lives on (even if one was a little early!). However, with our adoption journey there is no magic date to wait for. So you just have to sit and wait patiently while we keep moving forward with our lives. Every time we make plans for something in the future we always think, what if we have a baby by that point, should we still plan for this? That is where patience in God's plan and timing is comforting in knowing that He has a plan and is in control. It would just be nice to be able to view the itinerary for the plan sometimes!!

We will try and post a few more updates in the next few days and weeks as we find out more and let you know what we are up too!!

Updates and Questions

Hello to everyone. I thought I would quick post this a minute since I have some free time today during semester tests. I wrote most of this up last night, so I thought I would quick add this to our blog. You can definitely tell the end of the school year is near as the young people have more energy these last few days then they have had for months. The excitement is a good thing though as the students are anxiously waiting for summer break and the changes that it brings. That is similar to where are family is at right now. We are very excited and anxiously awaiting the big change that is about to happen. We just don't know when God is going to tell us that the time is right to add a person to our family, but we are excited and patiently waiting for that time.

We have had some more people ask us how things are going so far and more specifically ask us how raising the money for this adoption has gone so far. While both Abby and myself are business minded people, salespersons and fundraisers we are not. We would rather keep track of the money then raise it, like any good accountant would!! Anyway, some people have asked about donating money or when would be a good time to donate. So we thought we would answer some of those questions now.

We have raised a little less than half our needed money for Bethany, so anytime someone feels like giving they may gladly do so. There really is no "right" time. Those wishing to send money can send it directly to Bethany Christian services in Orange City, on our behalf, and then they will credit our account. Or you can send the money to us and we will forward it on to Bethany once we have received it. Either way will work. If you wish to give anonymously, send the check to Bethany and let them know that. We will be unaware where the money came from then, just aware that there has been a donation posted to our account. The Lord has blessed us so far in this journey, and though we may not know where we will get the money for the last half of the adoption we have faith and know the Lord will provide!

Thank you for your love and support that many of you have given us. Please pray that Abby and I will have patience and understanding as we wait on the Lord's timing for this adoption to take place. Pray for the other couples we have meet who are also waiting for a child to adopt. Pray for the pregnant mothers out there who are carrying these children and will be placed with a difficult decision. Pray that God will give them peace and wisdom as the make this choice for their child. One of the couples we met just adopted a baby girl from North Carolina after a very stressful stituation, so that is a definite praise item!!

Thanks and until later,

Stan, Abby, Keegan & Aiden

Pictures

Time to wrestle!

Lets get ready to wrestle!

Keegan and Aiden Easter 2008

Our Journey

Our adoption journey began in October of 2007. Adoption was something Stan and I had always talked about. There have been many different things that have happened to lead up to our decision to adopt including a serious of sermons in church on being adopted children of God, morning devotional, advertisement of an informational meeting at Bethany and the list goes on. We had talked about waiting a few years to adopt however the Lord was tucking at our hearts to adopt now.

Our home study has been approved and we are officially waiting. As the busy time for Stan and I winds down into summer we both find ourselves thinking about this a lot! Wondering when will we get the "call"? How will Keegan and Aiden adjust? We have to put our trust in the Lord that His timing is perfect and everything will work out. We pray each night for the child that will one day enter our lives and for the birth mother who has a very hard decision to make. One night while praying with Keegan before bed, Stan forgot to pray for the baby. At the end of the prayer Keegan said, "Dad you forgot about the baby!" Keegan is more intrigued than Aiden and has a little better understanding of what is to come. They are both very excited as are we!

Till next time...........