Listen for His voice

Well I definately don't have any exciting news like my last post but will do a small update today anyways. We are still moving along week by week. The birthmother and I have been emailing and texting back and forth quite a bit. I really do enjoy talking and planning with her. We have a lot in common and similar personalities. I continue to pray for our relationship to grow so that when January rolls around the rest of this process goes as smooth as possible for all of us. We are all planning on getting together again at the end of this month and again in October so we can meet some of their extended family.  She has several appointments, as most pregnant women do, with her doctor and it is the plan right now to for sure make it to the next ultrasound later in the pregnancy (sometime in the 3rd trimester). She is around 21 weeks right now, so halfway there!

The nursery is mostly done except for a few other knick knacks here and there. I have been busily making lists of what we will need right away after the baby is born and what can wait until we have a shower. The plan right now is to wait to do a big shower until after the baby is born and then have more of a "meet the baby/welcome home" party/shower. This set up makes me feel the most comfortable even though I would love to do it beforehand. Aaron has been spending time fixing things that have needed fixed for some time around the house and planning other projects before we don't have time anymore.

I recently joined a "challenge" group of women at our church. It is essentially a share group for women seeking to be R.E.A.L (Radical, Encouraged, Accountable, Loving). We will be meeting once a month for one hour at a local coffee shop to discuss our struggles, how we want to improve that struggle in the next month with God's grace and pray for and with eachother.

Radical: we desire to radically answer the call to follow Christ as young women in the twenty-first century instead of blending into the culture. We seek to cooperate with God's grace in pruning areas of sin, weakness, and hardship. We want to live our lives in a way that gives Him glory and leads other to His Way.
Encouraged: as woment, we need a safe place to share our hearts, the areas in which we are struggling the most, the pieces of our lives most in need of prayer. We form a sisterhood for sharing, knowing we are not alone on our journey to Heaven.
Accountable: we are serious about holiness, but we know the flesh is weak. We will strive to keep each other accountable in areas of sin, weakness, to encourage each other in areas that need growth. Having monthly reflection helps keep us motivated and supported as we cooperate with God's grace at work in us.
Loving: It all comes down to love. True, Christ-like love. We want to follow His example of love in action both within our sisterhood as well as with our friends and family when we leave. We want to learn how to love as He loves.

The woman who thought of/started this group works at the same hospital as I do but in a different area/wing. Our paths don't cross all that often and I only sometimes happen to be at the same mass as her on Sundays. I actually met her a few weeks after our miscarriage in 2010 and attended a group back then but my heart was not ready. My faith was weak at that time and I needed to sort things out on my own. A few weeks ago I began to think of her again and happened to see her at the vending machines by my office. I didn't say anything to her about joining the group again that first day. Then I saw her again the next day at the same place. I felt my heart stir but felt silly approaching her after initially falling off the face of the earth. However, I saw her again for the third day in a row (this is rare). I knew God was telling me something and she felt it too. I finally approached her and inquired about getting back on her email list. She responded so graciously and told me about this new "challenge" group that was starting up. Two days later we got a call from our adoption agency that a set of birthparents wanted to meet us. I truly believe the Holy Spirit was at work that week. I didn't even need to say so as my friend said it for me the first night our share group came together. It is amazing how the Lord can work in your life when you listen to Him. So often I let other voices drown out His.

“Blessed are your eyes because they see,” Jesus said, “and your ears because they hear,”

(Matthew 13:16).