Dear Summer Grace

You will be here in just a few weeks! It has been an emotional roller coaster since we found out you were going to join our family. Everyone is so excited about your arrival.
Jake talks about you all the time. You will always be Baby Summer to him! When he meets someone that hasn't heard the news, he blurts it out before anyone else can. We are loving watching him talk about you. He prays for you almost every night. He also prays for your other mom too! I think it is super sweet.
Your Daddy is working on the room as we speak. You will have to share a room for a bit with big brother, but he is really excited about that too. Daddy talks about how you will be his little princess and how you will hunt for bugs with Jake. Daddy is so proud of you already.
I am getting things together too. Your bedding will be here before long. I fell in love with a giraffe print and pink. We will have a baby shower once everything is settled and you are ours. You will have so many friends at church. All little girls! There will be 7 baby girls born this year.
You have an amazing story and you are not even here yet. One day I will sit down and write it out for you. We just want you to know how much you are already loved and adored. You are a blessing and we thank God for this chance to love you.
Mommy, Daddy and Jake

so excited

I am so excited about the diapers we are going to use!I never thought I would be giddy to see the ups man with a big box of diapers! Hubby was a little worried, but laughed anyway.
Gdiapers are amazing. I practiced using them with my friends baby today and was very impressed. She is long and lean and I was worried there would be leaks. Not one single leak! I used the disposable, biodegradable refill. Diapers.com shipped the wrong size cloth so I will still need to practice with those. Just wanted to let you know my new obsession!

This scares me!

I was reading The Design Girl's blog today and was so sad! Now that we have the possibility of having a little girl it makes me sick. I do know that dance studios have the girls dance to music that I think isnt always appropriate, but come on. This momma would not have let he little girl (the girls are 7) even practice this much less get on stage in front of people.
Hop over to the blog here and see for your self. She even linked to Beyonce's video and she is wearing more clothes than these LITTLE girls.
Why do we insist that our girls grow up so fast. It makes me sick.

Thank God for friends

I honestly have been having a tough few days. I know there are going to be tons of emotions as we get closer to the day of our baby girl getting here. On both sides.

The birth mom is staying with a very dear friend of ours until the baby gets here, and I am getting to see both sides of this process. I get to hear how she talks about going home empty handed. How she feels she is giving away her heart. I know that my friend isn't trying to scare me. She is honestly struggling with being on both sides as well. She said she cant come see the baby right away and then go back home and mourn with the birth mom.

I know that it is Satan trying to steal my joy. I have had FEARS the past few days like never before. Fears of her backing out, fears of her changing her mind before the adoption is final, fears of her being in the same town. Fears. I wont let Satan steal my joy.

I was on Facebook this morning God used a friend. She posted the following verses that I know by heart. Trust in the LORD with all your heart!! Proverbs 3:5-6 For I know the plans I have for YOU, says the LORD!! Jeremiah 29:11 Isn't if funny how we know verses but seem to forget them in times of trouble ect. Crystal didn't even know how much I needed to be reminded that GOD knows the plan for us and this baby girl. She also didn't know how much I needed to be reminded to fully TRUST HIM.

Thank you God for using friends for gentle reminders. Thank you God for loving me even when I (we) forget all that you have told us to do. Thank you God for all that you have done for our family now and in the future. I may not know the plans, but YOU do.
Please keep praying for the birth mom and us.

This is why I REALLY want to cloth diaper

Have you seen the new P@mpers diapers? They have redone their cruiser and swaddler line. Now, this may bring joy to many moms, but many are having trouble. My family included!
We used the Swaddlers and cruisers with our first kiddo and loved them. They were soft and didn't leak at all for us. We couldn't say that about others. I wanted to do cloth with Jake but was a little (a lot) intimidated. He was also in daycare and I figured they wouldn't be to happy about it.I had been reading up on cloth diapering since we are adopting a newborn in July. I figured anything we could do to save money would help since I am now staying home. I know they will be an investment up front, but think it is worth it.
I was at my cousins last week and he kept putting his hands down the back of his diaper and seemed very uncomfortable. I asked her what in the world he was doing and she said he had a bad rash like she had never seen before. She said that she took him to the doc because it had even started to form little blisters. Her doc told her to stop using the new P@mpers because they were causing many (click here to see some of the stuff)for little one. He said to not use them again unless they went back to the previous type!! Little man has been out of the diapers for a while and they started to see results soon after the switch. Man, it really makes you think about all the chemicals we are letting our babies sit in!
I am going to give cloth diapering my best shot this time around. Here is a great site on how to get started! Yes, I know that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and it is their decision to do what they want with their babies behind! I am just saying this is mine for our family!

Our names

I love Kelly's blog! She is a funny lady, but most importantly, she is a lady after God's heart. She has a beautiful family too! She is doing something fun today with baby names. I thought I would jump on the wagon and share how we came up with ours.

Jacob Maxwell
Jake is our oldest child. I really had no choice on his first name. Jacob is Sam's middle name and he always wanted to be called Jake. He figured since he never had the chance then his son would. I loved the name so it was no biggie. Maxwell was just something we stumbled upon. My initials are JMB so we thought it would be neat for his initials to match mine. A friend said for us to say the names together a few times and see if they meshed. We really liked the way it sounded.

Summer Grace
Summer Grace is the baby girl that we are adopting in July! We have had many bumps in the road as far as more pregnancies were concerned. Many rough doctors appointment and test outcomes this year. We thought the season had passed for us to have more kids. Once we fully turned everything over to God, He truly showed us His Grace by opening up the door for this baby. We loved the name Summer and it is by God's grace that we will have her. Summer Grace was the perfect name.

God has blessed us with an amazing son and soon to be daughter. Please keep praying for us and the birth mom. I can't even imagine what she is feeling right now. If you would like to help us bring Summer Grace home, please click on the donate button on the side. We are blessed beyond belief with amazing friends that are helping us along the way. Summer Grace has a truly amazing story and she isn't even here yet!
Hugs,
Jessica

Update

I will be posting an update later today. There has been a lot going on the past 3 weeks. Please keep praying for us as well as the birth mom and her family. Thanks to all that have donated so far. We feel truly blessed! Summer Grace already has such a wonderful story and she isn't even here yet.
Jessica