Family.... More than words can say...

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him."
1 Corinthians 2:9

But now, this is what the LORD says— he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine."

Isaiah 43:1

Jackson Dillyn Rowan

We were waiting outside our court room, and Jackson decided to mug for his pictures! Ham doesn't even describe him!
Quick,., I am only going to sit here for a second!
We were so excited to have our judge. She was such a great Christian women who told us she "expected" us to raise Jackson with spiritual morals. I almost started to cry. It was as if God placed her here for us to see that He carried us from start to finish. Not all judges are like this, not all judges demand this of their parents. She was such a ray of sunshine!

In the forest... Isn't is amazing that our little guy came from The Forest?

So this was how the Rowan children finished the day.... (Don't worry.. the M took her meds to enjoy this yummy treat!)

It was really big.... and had a LOT of chocolate in it!

Every bear got some!

But these two bears had the Lion's share!

as evidenced by all the continued spoons dipping into the bowl! Notice... it is the same two hands on multiple occasions!

The damage was done.... the 2 oldest children were not feeling so well at this point! I think chocolate overload would be the culprit!

But after dinner they were still all smiles! It was a great day! Jasper could not go this morning because of a practice conflict, but he was at home waiting when we pulled in the driveway!

Derek picked Outback! It turned out to be a great choice! Our waitress just had her two grandbabies move back in with her, so she loved all 4 of our kids!

On June 26th, our lives changed forever. We picked up our son, this wonderfully amazing bundle of joy that was just bursting with energy. God sent Jackson home with us that day fully ready to embrace his new family. Jackson talked and played with us the entire way home, and never once cried or showed us any signs of fear of being with his new family. There was no adjustment period, and it feels as if, he was never not with us. When God created Jackson in December of 2006 He knew that He was creating a perfect child for us. He knew Jackson's birth and first two years of life would be a struggle, but that His hand would protect him. God allowed Jackson to overcome many challenges and suffer no long-term consequences. God allowed him to develop and grow so that he would be ready for us. He even knew the exact date we would meet our son, and He knew the exact date that he would reveal his plans to us. All of this, was a perfect plan, a perfect gift from God to us.

God had blessed us so much through Jackson. Really, with each of our children, including Jasper, God has shown us an amazing gift of love. He has allowed us to open our hearts and love these children unconditionally as if they have always been a part of us. He has allowed our children to experience love that knows no boundaries. He has given us a perfect family that we could not have made if we tried. God has great plans for us, he knows our desires, and he knows our hearts. He sustains us through his unfailing love. He has shown us how great HE is, and how wonderful his plan for us will be. He has been so present, that we have relied on him in all decisions regarding our family. I sometimes joke that we still are not in sync on time lines, but really he has that... I have learned how to acknowledge that and give that back to him.

We have stumbled during this process. It can have the tendency to make you a little crazy. Remember, you are "technically" co-parenting with the State for 90 days. And the State is not your average parent, nor do they think like the average parent. In fact, they are like a disobedient child who is quite contrary. We have struggled with Jackson's brothers. We do not understand the process, we do not understand the spitefulness of their caseworker. We really do not UNDERSTAND why they have different caseworkers. But God has given us comfort. God will take care of those boys, and he will place them where they need to be at exactly the right time. The road is not always easy, but God has never loved us less. He has not let us down, he has allowed US to love him more, to turn to him more, and to trust him more. He is finally carrying all of our burdens, and we are living each day knowing he has us!

When we look back over the last 17 years, we see how God has opened doors for us that led to this adoption. The roads we traveled were carefully laid to bring us to the point we are at today. Without the trials of the past, our hearts would have never grown to fully understand or even begin to imagine the depth of God's love for us. We have been blessed time and time again - through jobs, college degrees, healthy children, and wonderful church families. To imagine ever walking this road without God, just seems so unimaginable, and yet we see many families everyday walking without Christ.

God knew both of our hearts. He knew we were ready. He knew that we were made to be parents, and He knew that we were more than willing to raise the village without question. When you think of gifts you are given, do you really have the right to say no to God? When God put upon our heart the need for adoptive families to step forward, it was never a question that we would not. We knew that if God opened those doors, that we would walk through and gladly accept what he had to offer. We knew that his plans for us would be great, we just never fully understood how great. When you let go, God has no problem taking over for you. His joy is more than you will ever experience alone.

The process of adopting Jackson allowed our family to grow closer to God, and to see really that the little song we sang as children (He's Got the Whole World in His Hands) is so true. Everyday we were blessed by kinds words, good deeds, and love from our family and friends. Not once did anyone ever question our hearts or minds in this process. God showed us time and time again that his plan is so much bigger than systems. And that really, if we were still and went into prayer he would take over. He would gladly carry our burdens, frustrations, and fears through this process. Not only did he carry us, but each of our caseworkers (Adeline and Stephanie) were Christians, our Guardian Ad Litems (Jan and Sue) were Christians, our foster care worker (Lydia) was a Christian. And each one of them MANY times during this process prayed with us, explained processes to us, and carried us in prayer as we waited for Jackson's adoption to be finalized. God also placed us in a church that was supportive. That prayed with us and for us. He allowed us to connect with other adoptive parents (that we had no idea about prior to our adoption) that walked with us and prayed with us. God's hand was so evident, that at times I felt like whatever the situation He would simply take care of it. That is an awesome feeling.

We finalized Jackson's adoption today, but God finalized that adoption long before. We feel so honored to be Jackson's parents. We know that God still hears our desires, he still knows our hearts, and he still desires to.

From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.

John 1:16

Thank you to all of our friends and family who have been on this journey with us!

Holy is the Lord

We stand and lift up our hands

For the joy of the Lord is our strength

We bow down and worship Him now

How great, how awesome is He

And together we sing

Holy is the Lord God Almighty

The earth is filled with His glory

Holy is the Lord God Almighty

The earth is filled with His glory

The earth is filled with His glory

We stand and lift up our hands

For the joy of the Lord is our strength

We bow down and worship Him now

How great, how awesome is He

And together we singEveryone sing

Holy is the Lord God Almighty

The earth is filled with His glory

Holy is the Lord God Almighty

The earth is filled with His glory

The earth is filled with His glory

It's rising up all around

It's the anthem of the Lord's renown

And together we sing,

Everyone sing

The Crazy World we Live in....

It has been a crazy week around here... first a little girl missing, and then found in a dump.. what is wrong with people??? You now have an entire town of freaked out people because someone was so evil! It just makes me sick to my stomach!!!! I do believe that God was with that little girl, and I do believe that whoever did this will justly be punished.

I read an article that said most abductions and/or murders that happen in this country are committed by someone they know personally. Child snatching is very random ( I believe they said 40 true cases last year) but still the fear is just unsettling. It just makes you wonder how a country that was founded upon Christianity has turned so far away from Christianity. The amount of kids who are not involved in church, the number of young adults that have no "religious" connection... it just makes me sad. God is so faithful to those who believe, why would you not?? And surely, if you have kids, how could you sleep at night not raising them in a Christian environment!! There will come a day, and you will have to answer for that! That I know for sure. And I am so lucky that my mom drug took us to church when we complained, and when she had just worked 12 hours Saturday night.. and all the dinners and functions that we were allowed to attend... it really developed my personal belief that God is real, and he has so many good things planned for us! I just wish more people had that relationship with God.

These next few pictures (are kind of gross) but the Big J has been going to Youth at church, and this is just one of their crazy activities.., dealing with light and dark... Something about feeding B cereal and giving him a banana!

It was a little messy to say the least!

Not sure why he is crawling around the gym! Pretty funny though! I have witnessed this before, only looking for contacts during games! LOL

The Little J has absolutely loved the games! Between yelling for Lonnie and Jasper he has had great fun playing with his pom, or eating game food, or just walking around with his dad!

What a season this has been! We have made every game, and stayed until the very end! Derek and I are not huge football fans, but it is amazing what you will do for your kiddos! Only three more games and then it is basketball! We can hardly wait. The Big J should really do well there- and they should have a pretty good season... Maybe we will see some State ball this year!

Let me down... J wanted to run all over Chuck E Cheese. He was not afraid at all! He even learned how to put his "money" into the machines!

The little J loved this horse at Chuck E Cheese... He like the party too, because he had cake and pizza, but the horse was his favorite!

Birthday party at Chuck E Cheese today! That place is extremely busy.. they even had a cop working there to "keep the peace". It had been a long time since we had been there, but really a cop!!!! What is wrong with people!

J and his daddy went to the Hawks game last night, and this is the only picture I got!

There has been so much going on lately, it has been hard to find a minute to BLOG! I think we are finally all over whatever it was that hung around for about 3 1/2 weeks! It was crazy.. never the flu, but sure just yucky stuff! I would like to own stock in Lysol about now because I am sure that people are buying that stuff like crazy!

Life is good though! God is good to us! We finalize the little J's adoption on Monday and we can hardly wait! We are so happy to have this complete! Then, the Guardian will pursue his brothers for us. We still strongly feel that God is so in control of this process and that what He has planned for us is so much greater (and better) than we could have ever imagined for ourselves! We have listened to a lot of opinions on this case, and it seems to sum it up... it is just a big hot mess. And really, the further removed we have become, the more peace we have had from it. We feel that J was placed with us perfectly, and we all have adjusted as if he was never not with us. No problems to speak of, he is on target with all his developmental stuff, and he is pretty much perfect in our eyes.. but then, they all are that way to us!

We are officially 1/4 of the way through this school year! When I say it is flying by... I mean it is literally flying by! We have a really great class this year which makes it so much easier, and all of our students get along really well with each other. The Winter Break will be here before we know it!

It was actually cool last week. I had the air off for 5 days, before it went back into the '80s. We are loving the new Trane, I just wish it blew a whistle when we walked in the door!

We finally pulled down our fall stuff... wreaths, pumpkins, decorations! It is such a great time of year! J learned Jesus Loves Me and he sings it all the time! I know that he is going to be so excited with Thanksgiving and Christmas this year! You can see that he is building his schema of important family events! M & B are excited as well. B has already completed her list, and has it ready to mail to Santa, and M has told us what she would like this year! The Big J is dreaming of a learner's permit, and the little J has no idea who Santa even is!

Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.

Deuteronomy 7:9

The Faithful Servant...

Still looking for a good book to read... let me suggest Crazy Love by Francis Chan- It is a remarkable book that will lighten your load, and bless you tremendously! M will rarely pose for me... not sure why, but in very exciting news.. she will probably be taller than me by Christmas which apparently is a really big deal for her! I don't know why, because I have always told her she will be taller than me! Every year, by the end of the year, my students are taller than me! The test would be to try and be taller than her dad!

Miles of smiles... time to start thinking about Christmas cards.....

Academics, football, girls, homework.. they are wearing the big J out! I will be glad when football is over and we start playing some basketball!

Look at my hair.... B did it all by herself!

M before she became ill :-)

The M is home with strep today! We actually left school about 12:15 and headed over to the doctor, by then her temp was almost 103! YIKES! They gave her a mask, which made her cry (or I would have taken a picture!) and for a quick minute thought she might have the flu... but that came back NEGATIVE so we were both very happy about that. While we aren't exactly thrilled about the strep.. we are thrilled that it was not the flu! Still, the whole ordeal really upset M because the news has talked about the H1N1 virus so much! Now... let's just see if we can keep everyone else healthy... she should not be contagious after her meds, but we will see. We are going to take it easy tomorrow, (well M is, I am going to get a lot of cleaning and laundry out of the way!)

In other exciting news, we did replace our air conditioner this week! What a difference a Trane makes! I just wish it came with a whistle! HAHA. Our neighbor has his own business so that was a nice added plus for us! I am hoping my power bill is now cut in half!!!!!

The whole family is excited about Fall. I bought a really cool table cloth full of pumpkins at Kohls for nothing, and it has excited the little J tremendously! He just loves it, and then to top it off, he picked out 2 small pumpkins at the grocery store, and he LOVES them!We are just waiting on the cool leaves, but we are pulling out pumpkins in anticipation for Halloween. The little J is getting very excited about all the decorations we are seeing around town. It seems like this year there are a lot of outdoor decorations for Halloween! We only put out a bale of hay and some decorative pumpkins and squash but WOW some people go all out! I am waiting to see how the little J does when he gets to trick-or-treat... he is a candy monster!

B & M are dancing this weekend (Sat and Sun mornings!). They will be showcasing some of their dances Saturday night. We are hoping that M is feeling 100% better by Saturday.

The big J has a by this week, so no Friday night lights for us. He does have a big "Sweet 16" party Saturday night, but other than that we will just be hanging around the house! We are still in the process of decluttering... a never ending process around here! It helps that we have purged a lot of "stuff" already, so that makes getting rid of the rest of the "stuff" much easier, and it must be a divine plan because the VVA called today and they will be by Monday :-)

I'm going to close by saying that God is so very good to us. He is a provider, and will give us all that we need! We are blessed. We are employed, we are able to pay our bills, and we have a growing family. We simply could not want for more! As we enter the holidays this year we have so many reasons to be thankful... and we count those blessing EVERYDAY!

Friday Night Lights!

Wow! Another Friday night at the football field! This time it was another "L", but what a facility! I told the Big J that it pays to play ball for a newly constructed school! It was an amazing facility.. NEW.. so clean were the bathrooms, state of the art concession stands (there were two)... I am not to sure about equitable funding there! HA! We are 1/2 way through the season so that can only mean one thing.... BASKETBALL is just around the corner! YEAH!!! The Big J is still playing the entire game... this time he only had one catch for 6 yards...

This was a great attempt "at a catch".... It is a great picture though...

If you would ever look my way.. I might actually have a good shot for YOUR page LOL!

He is just too cool for us!

It is finally getting cool outside! This was M at school Friday... look at all that hair! Friday morning we had a Flag Salute. B loves when we do this! So does our Principal. It is neat to hear all the kids (1250+) say the pledge.

Oh where oh where is the FALL weather at? It has appeared briefly a few mornings, but has yet to stay through the day! We are supposed to have some showers this week that will bring cooler weather, but it could really come today!

The pumpkins arrived around town Saturday at many of our favorite spots. We are planning a big trip to the patch next Saturday. It should be clear weather and perfect for pictures! The Little J is very excited about pumpkins coming to his house! We still don't know what he will actually be for Halloween. He found B's old costume but... his dad is thinking more along the lines of a football player... or some kind of athlete... while I was thinking more along the lines of a cowboy! We will have to wait and see!

And the Little J just thought this was the neatest costume!

Who by the way is now singing all the time! Which is amazing considering he did not know any songs back in June! It is amazing what osmosis can do for you!

I have some more pictures to post, so I will try to get them up.. J is getting up from his nap, and I promised we would have some outside playtime today (as we do everyday!)