Two months of waiting......

and I'm getting impatient! God is trying really hard to teach me the meaning of patience and I don't like it. Unfortunately he didn't ask me if I liked it or not. For some reason I don't think it's going to be on our timeline or we wouldn't have been waiting for four years. At least we are getting a couple steps closer or at least we feel like we are.

We are going to be fully stocked with diapers before we are even matched! (laughing!) I've gotten into this habit of going to the store and purchasing a pack of diapers when I feel like nothings happening or I feel a little down. At least I'm buying something that will serve a good purpose in the end, right? If only we knew boy or girl we'd really be in trouble. I would have us stocked up on clothes to last the first ten years of their life. Just kidding! Chad would take my checkbook before I got that far.

Praying we hear more soon!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Wishing everyone a Happy Valentine's Day! Today at work we are having a small gathering and we were all supposed to bring something. I tried and tried to think of something creative but there's just nothing that sounds better than a banana pudding. I spent almost an hour looking around Wal-mart for something different. In the end as you can see above the banana pudding won. When I was putting it together last night I took vanilla wafers and drew out a heart just playing around. That's what sparked the heart on the top and then I found the sprinkles. Just had to do it! Anyway I had fun and I'm sure it will be tasty. I guess that's the two important factors. Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Words for thought.....

Today I received an email from a good friend of mine. Many of you probably know Missy but for those of you who don't she is currently at Emory fighting leukemia. She has been fighting since October 10, 2006 and is currently on phase three of her treatments. She had been reading our webiste and wanted to refer me to another verse in the bible:

Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the plans I have for you, " declares the Lord, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

I find this verse to be very true! I'm soo glad she is a woman who walks with the Lord and looks towards him for guidance. I truly believe he is the one getting her through this very hard time in her life along with her family and friends. For as long as I've known Missy she has been a follower of Christ. She was there when we began our struggle to become a family and she was the one that kept me focussed on God's will. She has always told me that I would be a Mommy when the time was right with God.

Missy if you are reading this I have been and will continue to pray for you. Hang in there and thanks for resurfacing that verse for me. I can hardly wait to make the 'I am a Mommy' call to you! I know you will be jumping for joy with me. I look forward to seeing you on your next visit home. Take care!

Here is a quote I ran across today:
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away"- Anonymous

We have a crib.......

and it's even assembled! Thanks to Granny who purchased us this beautiful piece of furniture. I think the baby will be in a nicer bed than we are! Granny ordered the crib from JcPenney and we went ahead and ordered the changing table and full size converting rails. This crib will take the baby all the way to adulthood. It's one of the three in one beds. It will convert from a crib to a todler bed and then to a full size bed when the time comes. The crib is the only piece that has came in so far. We had it shipped directly to Granny's house since we knew we wouldn't be home when it arrived. She went the afternoon of it's delivery and picked up a mattress. She said there was no way we could have a crib with no mattress. I think she's having as much fun with this as we are. Of course actually getting the baby will be the BEST fun!

Thanks to Mama and my friend Meagan we can now warm a bottle every way possible and in every situation we can imagine. Mama purchased us a warmer for home that just plugs into the wall and a portable ThermaCELL (who would have thought of that?). The portable warmer can be used in the car, restaurant, or on the plane. NICE! We even have a backup for the car because Meagan provided us with a car warmer. Our baby will not have to drink a cold bottle!

Update on Chad's fingerprints: Our consultant said that she would check into this for us. She's thinking that they just forgot to stamp his as clear. Worst case scenario we will have to call and request an additional copy that is stamped. She didn't sound like it was too big of a deal. WHEW!

Is Chad a criminal?

Yesterday after a horrible day at work we come home to a message on our answering machine. It's from our homestudy agency and there seems to be a problem. We sent our GBI and FBI fingerprints off back in November for processing. Our GBI has came back and I have my little stamp that I have no history of criminal offences but Chad on the other hand does NOT! Yep you read that right. They didn't clear him! WHAT? He swears there should be no problem. I've even threatened him with his life! (laughing) Could they have just forgotten to stamp his or made a mistake? They didn't attach any 'proof' of any problem. I have emailed our consultant to find out what the next step should be. Just when I thought the paper chase was over! DANG!

Happy Birthday Chad!!!

Chad turned the BIG 30 this past Sunday. Needless to say I had to pick on him about arriving at that milestone. No he didn't get a homemade cake. Shame on me I know! I did however make sure he had one. On my way home from work Friday I stopped by Harvey's and picked up one of their whipped icing cakes. YUM..... Anyway, it was decorated with NASCAR and even had one of those toy cars on top. You would have thought he'd turned 3 instead of 30!

We spent Sunday morning at church and had lunch with Chad's parents. He ordered fried chicken. Did he get it? Of course, he's the miracle baby! I bet he thought after he was married he wouldn't hear that anymore. WRONG!

Pritchard Baby Fund......

We have had several people to ask us what they could do to help out with our adoption. This process is really teaching us alot about our family and friends. All good things, I promise! As most of you know we've taken out the equity on our home, held a BBQ fundraiser, applied for adoption grants, and filed our 2006 income taxes. Our beginning adoption budget was $0. We have now reached the 75% mark to our adoption budget goal amount. YAY! We're almost there!

We really take pride in being self-sufficiant and it has been hard for us to ask everyone to help out. We are trying hard to make our dream of a having a family come true. If anyone is interested we've placed a 'Make a Donation Button' on the right hand side of our blog above our picture. If you will click on the button it will take you directly to paypal for a secure donation. You just enter your donation amount and payment information. If anyone has questions feel free to call or email us!

A month of waiting.....

and still counting. I know a month really isn't that long considering what we will receive in the end. An angel! But considering the fact that we have been waiting almost four years for this to happen it makes it seem like soo much longer. There's not too much to update as of now. We've officially began clearing the 'nursery' of non baby items. We have one or two items still left but nothing major.

We will be picking up Savannah for an overnighter tonight and having dinner with Granny. We have also decided that we should go ahead and let her purchase the crib. We will order the changing table at the same time to make sure they match. We want to be prepared as a 'just in case' measure of precaution. When we're home with our baby we shouldn't have to worry about putting together nursery furniture and moving it around. We should get to be enjoying our new bundle of joy just like everyone else! Hopefully we won't have the typical nine month wait most parents do and we can't buy everything at once.

We appreciate everyone's prayers and hope you will continue to send them up for us!

First Baby Shopping Trip

Saturday, January 6th
(I know I'm a little delayed with my posting. Sorry!)

We made a trip to Macon to start purchasing baby items. We realized that there would be NO WAY we could run out and purchase everything at once. My Mom, Granny, and best friend, Meagan went to Baby depot, Target, and Wal-mart. We now have the basic baby items like bottles, bibs, a few diapers, a few wipes, and one piece outfits. I've never seen soo much baby stuff at one time! My Granny was on a mission to find us a crib but unfortunately we didn't get that accomplished. She and I have since found a really nice one in the JcPenney's catalog. Once we have one I will do my best to post a pic.

The past two Sunday's we have traveled back to our hometown church. It's soo nice to be back in our hometown where we know everyone and everyone knows us. We have a few friends here but there's nothing like seeing people who knew us growing up and seeing people we grew up with. We pray we can continue attending there at Dakota Baptist. It's only about a thirty minute drive and we can visit family while we are there. I think the only downfall will be not being able to go during the week. We shall see how things go!

Happy New Year

We hope this year brings joy and happiness to everyone! We spent New Year's Day with family. Chad's Mom cooked us lunch and my Mom prepared dinner. Both were wonderful!

We told Todd and Erine we had to hold Ethan since it's rumored that whatever you do on New Year's you will do all year long. He broke me in good with a big spit-up and a full diaper! I'm confident I helped him feel better. After he showed Chad what he could do he no longer put in to hold the little guy. He was just trying to break him in right!