Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Yet more updates...

So tonight I was spending time with the Lord in the quietness of the house and I was just overwhelmed with the Lord's timing. I know that most of my posts are pretty light but I just have to share what is going on in the Clark family and in my heart.

First of all, we want to officially welcome our new niece Lelia to our family. She was officially adopted last Tuesday and with tears in my eyes I am amazed at just how the Lord works! He gave my sister and her husband a precious little daughter at just the right time! She is perfect in every way and the perfect match for their family and ours as a whole. I am constantly amazed by the way the Lord does what He does.




Secondly, I want to announce that this coming August we are expecting another precious boy! We are officially 20 weeks pregnant! We are filled with many emotions! Shocked, being the first, nervous, and extremely blown away by yet again the Lord's timing. If you aren't familiar with our past I will share. We decided it was time to start trying to have kids in 2006. Not really sure what made us decide that...probably our ages but, nonetheless, we decided that we would stop preventing it. We got pregnant in about 5 months and soon miscarried. It wasn't too bad since we were very early in the pregnancy and not really sure what to expect. We immediately got pregnant again and were blessed with Jackson. He came by an emergency C-section at 36 weeks because of his heart rate being so low. 3 days after he was born I had a seizure and remained in the hospital for the rest of the week. I have been totally fine since then but just that experience made us question having more. But a few years later we decided yet again we should try. So we did. We got pregnant pretty fast this time and things were looking great until 12 weeks in. We miscarried and this time it was tough. It was hard for a few reasons. 1)we had seen the sweet child and his/her heartbeat. 2) Most knew we were expecting so having to relive the loss over and over was difficult. The doctor said that it was unexplained and we were safe to keep on trying. So we did and got pregnant yet again. This time we saw the little one with a heartbeat and thought things were fine until 8 weeks. We miscarried and I was filled with emotions that I couldn't explain. I questioned A LOT! Why was it so easy for some and so hard for others? Was there something we were doing wrong? Had my sin finally caught up with me? And many others. When the 3rd baby was lost we decided it was time to break and seek the Lord. We had been challenged at Collegiate Week at Glorieta the August before our miscarriages about orphan ministry and had decided our role was to give, and serve more directly in that area so we did, never imaging we would one day adopt. Yet in April of this past year(2010) we were confronted about adopting and decided that we would simply move and allow the Lord to shut the door on His timing. Along the way he has shut many doors and opened many as well. In the process we have prayed a simple prayer that the Lord would lead us to our children. It has been a HUGE step of faith and a growing season of our understanding of the Lord and His will, character, and timing. We had decided to adopt in April 2010 and at that time decided that we were 100% content with 1 biological child. I had come to grips with the fact that I was finished having babies and I was okay with that. Yet the Lord's timing, yet seems off sometimes, is always perfect! =) So YES we are still adopting and pregnant. We ask that you join us as we pray! We are trusting the Lord for there is nothing else we can do. We are also going to trust His timing and know that His plan is perfect, even when it seems crazy to us and to others around us!!


Tuesday, March 15, 2011

March and Adoption updates...

Adoption.. To find out about our adoption and updates on our current adoption status visit our adoption blog at: www.clarkfamilyadopts.blogspot.com

March updates:
We celebrated Mardi gras, had a kickball game at our home, and celebrated my birthday. It has been a great month so far. Mardi gras was fun because some students from Tech came to visit and it was so great to see our old friends. We also went to a parade in Covington.


Monday, February 21, 2011

February happenings!

Jackson is still a part of AWANA and he LOVES it. I am amazed each week at just how much he is learning and just how great his teachers are!

Jonathan and Jackson decided to play in the mud one Saturday. It was so fun to watch them! Jackson was sort of unsure about it at first but quickly jumped in and had a blast!! It is nice to have concrete floors for easy clean up when they decided to come in!!=)

The Hoggs saw a show in New Orleans and stayed with us for the night. It was SO much fun having them here. Ethan and Jackson were so cute. Jackson still talks about Ethan a lot!

Boyd and Patsy came to visit and just left this morning after a long weekend. It was so nice to have family come and visit. We had loads of fun from eating out, visiting New Orleans, to hiking!





We also had a super bowl party. It was so refreshing to have college students in our home again. I forgot how much I missed having them around!


A weekly event around here is cooking dinner with our neighbors. We love having them over, teaching them how to cook, and investing in them.



Jonathan is AMAZING!! One Saturday I decided it was time to cover our chairs! Now keep in mind the chairs are my grandmothers whom is 94! The chairs are very very old and needed some love! We went to Hobby Lobby and Jonathan picked out the fabric and as soon as we got home he got straight to work and before lunch they were all done! I am so thankful for his work ethic!!

Valentine's Day was so much fun. We have some friends in town that invited us to a Valentine's Party. It was fun to meet new people and to hang out with old ones. Jackson had a blast passing out his valentine's and also playing with his friends. Jackson also made me a music box at Lowe's the week before. It was so cute and I am so thankful for his sweet gifts!!



Can't wait till March!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

They arrived.....

So I guess that the weather in Dallas improved because as of yesterday our Valentine's Day cards arrived...=) We really like them and hope you do too!!

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Bad News...

So bad news.... We ordered our Valentine's Day cards 8 days ago! And today I tracked them on UPS and they are stuck in Dallas because of "Adverse weather conditions"! What is up with that??!! Oh well, I guess this year the cards will be a Happy "Late" Valentine's Day!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

January...

January is almost over and I can't believe that we have been in Hammond for almost 2 months. Some days it seems like we have been here forever and other days it seems like we just moved here. We still miss things about Ruston but we are learning how to make Hammond home. We love discovering new places and making new friends. Jackson is a part of Awana at FBC Hammond on Sunday nights and he is really enjoying being around the same kids each week. We really like it as well because we have always been a fan of the Awana program. We are still on the hunt for a new church. There are so many to choose from and each are so different. We are finding that it is a good thing and a bad thing! We just wish Emmanuel of Ruston would move to Hammond=) Students started back last week and it was so great to be around them! We got to experience our first Free Lunch and Jonathan spoke at the Worship service called Fuse. He did a great job and it made me really excited about this semester and this stage in ministry. We also got our picture taken for our annual Valentine card...

Monday, January 3, 2011

Merry Christmas 2010 in rewind.


So many gifts!!

Jackson loves him some Lelia!

WHITE CHRISTMAS!

Flintstone Christmas


Hopkinsville Christmas

YUMMY ice cream! (I just love this picture:)

We stayed with the Hogg's while we were in Ruston for Mark and Callie's wedding. Fun fun times!!

Fun wedding.. Jonathan's first wedding and he did so great!

Talking about Jesus=)

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Lights at City Park in New Orleans!