Campbell is Here!

Campbell Coker Carlson

born on

November 17, 2011

at 2:21 p.m.

weighing 8 lbs. 15 oz.

20.5 inches long 

Challenge your beliefs!

Boys!

On Wednesday,  we were able to see a healthy and already fast-growing baby boy at my sonogram!  Come November, Lord willing,  we will have another little boy in our home.  This will make the first time in both mine and Jim's lives that we live in a house where the males outnumber the females!

Let me tell you,  I started writing this blog entry this morning but barely got out "Boys!" when I heard a loud bang followed by a holler and cry from Lennox.  I found him on the ground next to the couch that he presumably fell off of and he had a mouth full of blood! Ahhh!  I suppose a lot more of that will be in my future if my next son is anything like Lennox!  He's okay.  He needed a quick hug from Mom and the he was off to the next adventure.  That is the biggest difference I see between my son and daughter.  Sweet, sensitive Dylan would have been huddled up next to me needing consoling for a good 20 minutes after an escapade like that,  Lennox was over it in a matter of seconds, literally.

Well, I better go, I hear change clanging around and Lennox likes to "re-arrange" my wallet.

In closing,  I am thankful for another child, regardless of sex.  I am thankful that God remains faithful even as my faith waivers. I am thankful for a good report at the sonogram and beautiful view of the creativity, wisdom and power of God.  Boys and girls are different.  God made them that way.

Saying you believe something and living like you believe it...

...are two totally different things.  I say I believe and trust God, and know what his word says about trials, his purposes and his sovereign hand; but standing and living on those promises are different than saying you believe them.  I have a sonogram tomorrow.  I try to act really tough and confident- trying to be super excited about possibly finding out if it's a boy or a girl, but in reality, my reality, my sinful, unfaithful natural state, I'm pretty much in "freak out mode."  I don't have the luxury or history of living in the blissful, carefree pregnant state that I so often envy.  I have had way more "bad" sonograms than good ones.  My eyes and my heart automatically scan the screen in a panic mode trying to see movement, a heart beat, anything that says "life" instead of "death."   I know that what ever the outcome of everything God has laid out before me is good, regardless of how it makes my flesh feel, because he is good and I do believe his promises and they have been tested and proved in my own life.  But I am still this fallen creature that tends to want the easy way out, the shortcut, the bed of roses that my flesh longs for on the way to glory.  I have seen the glorious things God does in my life with brokenness and despair.  He makes me to look to him, to cry out to the only one who can help me.  It is not a bitter place to be, it is sweet.  Yet my flesh still presses against it, flees from it.  My prayer is that whether there is weeping or rejoicing in life or death tomorrow, that I would take joy in the God of my salvation and never let my circumstances steal my joy in HIM.

8 weeks ago...

Eight weeks ago we were waiting for THE call, you know the THE ONE we could say yes to! 


Eight weeks ago we were waiting for THE little person to come into our lives, to potentially enlarge our family through adoption of the Lord so chose.


Eight weeks ago I was one day late for my period and God laughed at our plans.


Eight weeks ago we found out that God indeed answers a little girl's prayers for more brothers and sisters but he doesn't need us to help him along by attending a bunch of classes we were supposed to or getting recognized by the state to be fit to care for foster children.


Eight weeks ago we found out that God still wants us to foster and adopt children, but he had a plan to give us another via the womb!


Eight weeks ago a second little line on a pregnancy test didn't quench our desire for more children because we got "one of our own."


Eight weeks ago God showed his mercy, his grace and his sovereignty to our family who knew we believed in those things but now have more evidence of these glorious truths.


Here we are, eight weeks later, 12 weeks pregnant, puking my guts up, and I am praying and hoping that when I quit being so sick, we can get on the list to get a call to take a child into our home.  Call me crazy,  but I just so happen to think that we weren't wrong about God's will for our family- because he has called us to care for orphans, and not just if you can't have kids of "your own!"

Sara and Josh's Wedding Flowers

My job for my sweet cousin's wedding was to be the florist and decorator.  I wanted to share the finished product!
If you know anyone interested in a florist, send them this way!

Taco Casa: You complete Dylan...

Well,  what we had already suspected of Taco Casa is true.  They pretty much rock and absolutely love their patrons.  Jim and I really wanted to get Dylan a Taco Casa T-shirt for her birthday this year, but surprisingly they are hard to find!  So, I just thought I would email them and see if they would lend me a jpg of their logo to have one made in Dylan's size to surprise her.  The sweet peeps at Taco Casa did better than that:  They asked for her size and our address and sent us one free of charge!  We <3 Taco Casa.

Now, if you are newish to this blog and are  wondering what the big deal with Taco Casa and Dylan might be, you should go back to my archives and read the hilarity of it all here.  Her party is next weekend, so I will take a cute picture in her shirt with bean burrito in hand and post it here soon!

They really are way better than the other guys!  Their food is deeelish!  If you have never had Taco Casa (gasp!), go try them today.  If you live outside of Texas, personally I think they are worth the drive!  Tell 'em Dylan sent ya!

Spicy!

I love nice things.  I love cute things.  I adore when those things are mine.  They make me happy, and as a Mom, I tend to set the tone in our home, thus they make my home happy.  I was inspired by  The Farm Chicks' post found here.   I found the spice jars with awesome dual flip-top shaker lids at Spice Barn and the labels I used were absolutely adorable and I found them at Amazon. They were fun to make!

Cooking with pretty things makes you feel good.  Presentation is not everything,but it's huge!  When I cook for my family and I have a smile on my face, it shows in the meal, it shows in the service and I think it helps create beautiful, tangible memories for my children.

I had to throw in one of my other crafty projects:  my stab at embroidery.

I'm not talented, but I think it's cute!

Life is Changing!

Wow. We are just a few weeks from our lives changing forever. We are soon to be licensed as foster-to-adopt parents. That means as soon as we are licensed, we could receive a call to welcome a child into our home. We will be foster parents for the State of Texas first, and if the parents of the child(ren) cannot complete a service plan to be reunified with their child(ren), we will be able to adopt them. It is the most exciting, scariest place I have probably ever been in my life. We are so excited of the possibility of enlarging our family by these means and also somewhat scared to greet a child that could likely have a myriad of issues from abuse and/or neglect into our home and also anxious about the possibility of having to bid them farewell after we’ve fallen in love. But, our God is faithful and his will is perfect.


We do not have to be afraid. Every child that comes into our home will be there because of God’s will, and every child that leaves our home will not leave apart from his will. We will have each day as a gift with this child, no matter what tomorrow holds. We have the high calling of sharing the gospel of Christ with children that may not ever hear his name otherwise. We are called to be reverse missionaries. We will train them up in the way they should go however many days we are blessed with them. If God so chooses, they will be our son(s) or daughter(s) forever. God uses feeble men to save souls. We pray he would use our feeble, little family for his Kingdom’s advancement as well.

Caring for orphans is biblical and it’s the Christian’s duty. (James 1:27) Not everyone is called to be adoptive parents, but all Christians are called to care for orphans. You may not be called to adopt a child into your family, but you may be called to pray for someone who is, give financially to a couple who are willing to travel down the road or across the world to bring an unreached person into their family as an heir, and to your church to hear the Gospel.

Adoption is the Gospel. It is taking someone without a home or a name and giving them a hope and a future. It is what God did for you, if you are his. The King not only pardoned the slave, but he made him a son. He not only made a way for you to live outside the gate without fear of death, but he has brought you into the palace to sit at his table, not as a guest, but as his son. Praise God!

Maybe you have never thought of adoption before. Maybe you have but never realized it is a spiritual matter. Maybe you are called to pray for someone adopting, or maybe you are called to do the adopting. Either way, it is biblical and we are all called as Christians to care for orphans. May you glorify your Father by your service to those who cannot give back to you. It is a glorious Gospel. Ponder the wonder of your adoption today.

Pure and Undefiled Religion

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this:

 to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, 

and to keep oneself unstained from the world. 

James 1:27

The Glory of God

I caught a little glimpse of the glory of God while the snow softly fell on us our last full day in Colorado just before the New Year.   That snowflake was no bigger than a single stitch on my winter coat, but ponder the detail-the God that knows and created every detail of that very snowflake-  and thousands upon millions just like that most assuredly knows your every need and every longing in your heart.  When you trust in him and seek to know him more and delight in him fully- you can reflect his glory just like that snowflake.  And  people will more easily notice his glory in you because you are much bigger and more noticable that a tiny snowflake.  He is worthy to be praised.

"In the same way, let your light shine before others,

so that they may see your good works

and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."

 Matthew 5:16