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Monday, September 19, 2016

#BLESSED

The weather is finally cooling down in Texas (and by cooling down I mean it is high 80s/low 90s...anything beats those blistering summer temps!) which means I basically want to put up my Christmas tree and light a fire. Fall is so weird down here. Some Halloweens we are wearing shorts and T shirts while others I am scrambling for fleece lined leggings to go with the kids' costumes. Anyway, I am excited to transition my wardrobe over the next few weeks and have been doing a little online shopping at Comfy and Chic Boutique . Do y'all remember when I posted about them in the spring? I remember a lot of you snatched up the Y'ALL shirt I wore, it is definitely in my weekly rotation. I finally jumped on the ripped jeans bandwagon snagged these jeans and can't tell you how comfortable they are! Skinny jeans are pretty much the only thing that I wear since I am so short (flared jeans make short girls just look stumpy...) and these are slim, stretchy, and go great with flats or heels. I also chose the Blessed sweatshirt pictured below because as cheesy as it sounds, that's how I am feeling right now. If you follow me on Instagram or caught my last blog post, you'd know that for the past 3 weeks and for another 3-4, we'll be bouncing around from hotel to grandparents, to our home while our house is repaired from a flood. Do I feel blessed that my house was submerged in water? No. I feel so blessed with the community that we are surrounded by. It's such a weird feeling to actually feel joy among what is a pretty crappy situation. We've had dinner at so many people's homes, hot meals have been delivered to our hotel, my children have been cared for by family and friends so I don't lose my sanity, Ernie is taking a sabbatical at my parents house, and people are loving us from afar by praying and texting. Blessed is an understatement. Thankful, grateful, hopeful, joyful. And I know I will feel the same way when we bring our baby girl home in 8 ish weeks. It takes a village you guys!

So back to Comfy and Chic. Over the summer I hosted a trunk show ladies night at my home where Comfy and Chic set up shop, brought food and wine, and it was seriously such a fun night. I think there were 35 women in and out of my home. If you are local in Austin and looking for a fun and different ladies night in (mom's group, co workers, neighbors)... host a Comfy and Chic Boutique trunk show! It is FREE and they bring the food and drink! You just have to open up your home and invite your friends. Head on over to their website or Facebook and start your fall wardrobe shopping.

Use the code RUTHIE15 for 15% off your entire purchase. 

Oh... and head over to my Instagram for a $50 gift card to Comfy and Chic Boutique!

Find Comfy and Chic Boutique





Okay and with Halloween coming up.... how hilarious is this graphic tee?!


Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Our house... the flood, the floors, and God being good

So this is the first post I've written a few weeks... yes I have posted some but those we pre written. Basically our lives have been turned upside down and the dust has kind of settled (literally) and I realized I hadn't written anything about it. Before you read on, know that we are all physically safe. Praise God for that. 2 weeks ago on the evening of September 1st I arrived home at 5:45pm to standing, rushing water in our entire downstairs. I was alone with the kids as Jon was on the road for work, due home the next afternoon. I can't even tell you how scary it was... I can hear the sound of the rushing water now and I felt like I was in the twilight zone. I just started screaming.


I ran to where I could hear the water rushing from and that was our powder room. Something was loose and water was flying everywhere at a high pressure and quick speed. Lucy followed me inside and slipped on the water so she was crying, I was crying, and Ford was very confused. Ernie had been home and freaking out the entire time. What a couple of months it's been for him, poor guy. Anyway, I called 911 because I didn't know what else to do and then called Jon. I tried to turn off the water main but it did nothing for the spraying water. Luckily the neighbors had a contractor outside working on cutting their cabinets and he came running over to help me. The culprit? The hose line that connects your toilet to the wall. You have them at each water source... toilets, sinks, dishwasher, fridge. And this one was made out of plastic, thus bursting because of too much pressure and deterioration. Long story short... the firefighters showed up and were absolutely amazing. Thank you A shift at the Lake Travis Fire Department in my neighborhood... I am going to bring you dinner soon. They stayed for 3 hours and used shop vacs to remove as much water as possible. I had neighbors in my house moving furniture upstairs and to their homes. A friend came to get my babies and Ernie, people brought dinner, and Jon finally got back into town about 9pm. An emergency relief company (Blackmon Mooring) sent someone to walk us through this and had a crew show up at 11pm with about 45 fans and dehumidifiers. Our precious hand scraped wood floors were soft and coming up, the walls, the toys, the rugs. We are thanking God that I was only gone for 2.5 hours and not all day or all weekend. We had planned on going to my parents lakehouse the next morning so if it had happened a day later, the damage would have been much much worse. I am also thankful that Thursday mornings our housekeeper comes and I prep the house by picking up everything off of the floor, putting everything away, etc. So my camera, laptop, more toys, ipads, etc were put away and unharmed. We spent a few days at my parents lakehouse and came home to a house that was torn apart. No floors, no baseboards, no doors, tons of dust, etc. We finally had an adjuster out here today (major delay in a contacting company they use... this is day 14 of the flood and pretty ridiculous) but they are amazing and going to take great care of us. We've been staying at a hotel and are going to try to stay at the house for a few days before construction starts... a hotel with 2 kids and no kitchen has not been ideal. It has been crazy, chaos, and very humbling. It could have been a lot worse. God was with us, continues to be with us, and will carry us through. Floors and baseboards can be fixed. I've had my breakdowns, especially since our baby girl could come in as little as 5 weeks, but I am finding joy. We were told that it will take about a month for everything to happen so I have my eyes set on that. Exactly a month from today is my birthday and that would be the greatest gift ever to be back in our house. 

So as if I wasn't already the worst blogger ever, I probably won't be posting much while our house and lives are in limbo. The kids are happy and healthy and we are hanging in there! We have had dinner brought to us the past couple of nights and have them next week as well. Our friends and family have been wonderful and I know there will be so many silver linings once we are on the other side of it. And I am ready to be on the other side of it!

I've felt this to be a spiritual attack at times, Satan must hate that we are opening up our home to adoption in the name of the Gospel but my God is bigger than that. The enemy won't win.

Thanks for praying friends!

Sunday, September 11, 2016

Bringing Her Home

I came across Lucy's coming home from the hospital outfit a couple of weeks ago and oh man my heart was a mess. How could she have ever been that tiny? Lucy wore the most beautiful jumper, bonnet, and booties from Baby Beau and Belle home from the hospital and I pray that she has a daughter one day who will do the same. Since we are having our 2nd girl, you'd think she would get stuck in all hand me downs but we are running into a huge problem. Baby girl will be born in the total opposite season as her big sister Lucy so anything besides jammies won't really work (which you don't really have to tell me twice to go shopping for tiny little newborn girl clothes). I am ALL for hand me downs and borrowing because cliche... they grow so fast... but I wanted our sweet 2nd daughter to have a beautiful coming home outfit that will become a family heirloom for her. The thought of bringing her home (and yes she has a name but we decided not to share it until she's ours) is very emotional. I know she will beautiful and I want what she is wearing on the day she becomes ours to be beautiful, special, and sacred. To semi-match her sister (because I can't get enough of matching sisters), we chose the Clementine Jumper and set from Baby Beau and Belle. Y'all I can't even describe the beauty and quality of this collection and how much I love this company. The lace is so beautiful and intricate, even the tiny newborn booties are so detailed and unique. Baby Beau and Belle collections make the perfect outfit for baptisms, christenings, sip and sees, weddings, and holidays. And sizing is not just for babies, they have boys and girls collections and gifts as well. I cannot wait to see my daughter in this gorgeous outfit, knowing she is mine forever!



If you aren't familiar with adoption... I will explain how things will work. We have talked tentative plans but you know babies... they come when they want, sometimes with no warning, sometimes they have to be booted out so we are flexible and just so excited for the time to come! When our expectant mama goes into labor she will call our case worker. Our case worker will call us to give us the low down and meet our EM at the hospital. Once it is confirmed that our EM is truly in labor (dang false alarms), we will hop on an airplane to start the journey of picking up our daughter. As amazing as it would be to be at the hospital when the baby is born, we are praying that the labor and delivery for our EM is short, safe, and easy. Luckily there are a few daily direct flights from Austin to Las Vegas on Southwest and we have a gaggle of miles so hopefully we'll be able to get on a flight asap! We will head to the hospital where we will get tagged with parent bands and get unlimited access to our girl. The hospital our EM is giving birth at is extremely adoption friendly (makes me sad that there are hospitals that are not) and give adoptive parents lots of support. The required period before birth parent relinquishment is 72 hours in the state of Nevada so then we wait. And pray and get to know our baby girl. We won't get custody of her until relinquishment is signed. If there is room in the hospital, baby will stay there for 72 hours/or until relinquishment but if the hospital needs beds and baby is ready for discharge, our agency has a cradle care family that will care for our baby. Cradle care is temporary foster care and this family is so gracious to offer their home and loving services to families waiting to get custody of their fresh newborns. Once relinquishment is signed by the birth family, baby is ours, irrevocable in court. At this time, the state of Nevada will submit an ICPC (Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children) to the state of Texas and we must remain in the state of Nevada until we are approved to come home. Basically it is one state saying "This baby was born and the adoptive parents are from your state, can they come home" with lots and lots of legal paperwork. We are told to expect it to take 7-10 business days so Las Vegas will be our home for the first few weeks of a family of 5. I've had friends who it has taken 4 days to be approved and others 2 weeks so again... everything is up in the air. We've decided that my parents will fly up to Vegas with Ford and Lucy once we get custody of our daughter, I would be able to do 4 days but can't imagine 2 weeks without my babes. We don't have to stay in Vegas specifically, just the state of Nevada while we wait. We found out that part of the Grand Canyon is in Nevada and 3 hours away from Vegas so we may go there for a few days... not knowing what life will be with 3 kids, 3 and under. Once ICPC gets approved, we head home as a family of 5 and let the fun begin. Hopefully all of the people on our flight back from Vegas will be too hungover to be annoyed with our crew... 2 lap children and a 3 year old. YOLO.

Will we have a Halloween baby? Will we spend Thanksgiving at a casino buffet in Las Vegas? It probably sounds stressful to most people the thought of not knowing when and where you'll be for up to 2 weeks with a newborn but that's what makes this even more exciting. God HAS provided and He WILL provide.

We will finalize her adoption 6-8 months after she is born. What does that mean? We will have physical custody of hers and she will be OURS, but our agency will have "official custody" of her until we finalize. I put that in quotes because I am not sure what it is called. She will be our daughter, on our insurance, we can fly where we want, do what we want, so there is nothing to worry about. We will have a few visits from our social worker from the time we get home with her until finalization but nothing should stop finalization. And that will happen over the phone for us since we are out of state.

Phew that was a lot of information! Sorry for the overload but I realize that very few people know how the adoption process works. If you have more questions, feel free to email me!



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