TRAGIC DAY for the Chapman Family

I'm sure many have heard by now, That Steven Curtis Chapman and his family has suffered a Tragic Loss last night with there 5 year old daughter.

Copied Directly from there website:

MARIA SUE CHAPMAN, DAUGHTER OF STEVEN CURTIS CHAPMAN, DIES IN ACCIDENT AT FAMILY HOME
NASHVILLE, TN...5/21/08... At approximately 5pm on the afternoon of Wednesday May 21st, Maria Sue Chapman, 5 years old and the youngest daughter to Steven and Mary Beth Chapman was struck in the driveway of the Chapman home in Franklin, TN. Maria was rushed to Vanderbilt Childrens Hospital in Nashville, transported by LifeFlight, but died of her injuries there. Maria is one of the close knit family’s six children and one of their three adopted daughters.

More than five years ago, Chapman and his wife MaryBeth founded The Shaohannah’s Hope Ministry after bringing their first adopted daughter, Shaohannah, home from China. The ministry’s goal is to help families reduce the financial barrier of adoption, and has provided grants to over 1700 families wishing to adopt orphans from around the world. Chapman is a five-time GRAMMY ® winner and 54-time Dove Award winning artist who has sold over 10 million albums and garnered 44 No. 1 singles.

Please Please keep this wonderful family in your prayers as they will need them. Thank you

FAVORITE FOTO FRIDAY #40 Fun In The Sun

Here is our little princess having fun at the beach...She wasn't sure at first but then we found her a little section back away from the ocean and she made herself at home. She LOVED it, almost as much as I love her.

Well we will be doing this in the next few days....

Do you ever just like being prepared....If you remember back in December we filed for our FREE one time extension on our I171H and who wouldn't go through with it since it saves us like $900.00. Well we had our finger print appt on January.5 and we just kinda left it as that because 10 days later we took custody of Grace. But when we lost Grace I started worring about where our new I171H is...The nice lady called me back to say she was waiting on our updated home study and then she would send out the approval.. So we have to do our Criminal Records checks for our update on our home study....Then the home study will be on it's way to the USCIS office in Tampa Florida so then we can get that Million Dollar piece of paper that allows us to bring another Orphan home with us to the USA...

For all the Mothers Out there.....

I hope you all have a Happy Mother's Day

Favorite Foto Friday #39 MOMMY AND ME

This is Madisyn and Mommy a few months ago and again in April at the beach. I love this little girl to the moon and back.

Happy Mother's Day

to all the Mommy's out there

Today Is....

Today Is:
National Day Of Prayer
For The
Orphans Of Guatemala
PLEASE join with us today as we lift up the children and families caught in the process of adoption and the children that have no families as well.
Please read James 1:27 today.
No matter who you are, you are called to be a part of the life of orphans. If God sees it as pure and perfect, then how can we not get involved? We are ALL called to love, pray and DO.
Thank you for giving your time today to make the difference in the future of the life of a child.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thanks for first loving us and adopting us as your own. Thank you for teaching us in your word how you need us to be your hands and feet and care for the orphans of the world.
God we unite today in this special time of prayer asking for you to reach out and do amazing miracles in the country of Guatemala. We pray you would turn the hearts of the kings (the government) and show them YOUR love and compassion for the children that so desperately need families and to be HOME. We pray that you would touch their hearts and minds and lead and guide them. We bind up the plans of the enemy to keep these children captive and forgotten. We pray that mighty angels would go now to comfort them and protect them. Lord We pray that each child would feel your presence and know your love. We pray that you would touch the hearts of the caregivers and help them to love and care for these children the way you would. We pray that the new process of adoption would be set up quickly and that it would be one of integrity and truth. Father we pray that ALL cases in process would be released and that these children would be allowed to come home to the families that love them QUICKLY.
Father God we thank you that you love us and care for us and that you are faithful to hear our prayers and answer them. Hear our cries today oh Lord and set the children of Guatemala FREE.
Father God with all that we are we cry out to you for the Mommas out there right now that have children in Guatemala. Oh God - we can only imagine what they are feeling right now. We pray that your peace would flood their souls and that your grace would sustain them. Lord God we ask you to meet every need in their lives. If they need financial help - We pray that it would come quickly from places they never dreamed it would.
Lord strengthen the waiting families and show us how to encourage them and love them through this difficult time. Father God - you perfectly designed a Mother's heart for her children - so we pray that you would comfort them in the ways that only you can dear Lord.
Teach us ways to help and how to make a difference in the country of Guatemala. Lead us and guide us and NEVER let us forget for a moment the children that still wait for families. Touch the hearts of your people Lord and help them to see the great need in Guatemala. Prick our hearts daily Lord and let our hearts always be broken for things that your heart is broken for.
We ask these things with GREAT faith - knowing that you are a good and loving Father,
In Jesus Name ,
Amen

Spoken from the heart...

Okay bad news is why I wish I would find out everything before I speak. Savannah will not be joining our family as she can't be placed in a home with other children. Now just sit and imagine the pain this child has had to face that she can't be around any other child. This is extremely sad to be because honestly do you know how hard it is to find a married couple that want to adopt an 8 year old girl??? That is going to be hard to do. I hope and pray she does find her family and my heart breaks for this little girl.
Okay, I know that alot of you that read my blog is probably thinking does this woman really knows what she wants she is awful wishy washy...I'm really not I'm just unsure where my heart is going. My desire to have more children came many years ago after my son was born. I knew I wanted more and at the age of 18 I started trying....I did the whole nine yards, Clothes, shoes, decorating, and I just knew I was going to have a girl. Well 8 years later, NO baby and an ended marriage I sorta gave up the chance to parent again. Then I met Jed and he wanted children and we knew with my infertility we would have to adopt. SO we found Madisyn and fought tooth and nail to get her home, And we did...And we couldn't be more happy or could we.
Our hearts isn't done, We knew three months after bringing her home we wanted another child. Which country, what would we need to do first, Where will the funding come from, Where would the funding come from??? That would be our biggest optical. I wanted to do domestic, No wait my heart is in Ethiopia so lets do that country, But there are so many orphans here so lets do domestic with the chance of being in the hospital room when the child is born. Then we met Megan, OH dear sweet Megan....She was 7 months pregnant with the intentions of not keeping the child. Could this be our next baby....She promised us it would be. SO when little Mariah was 6 weeks old we were asked to come and get her, And be her parents...So A big sigh of relief left us that day thinking okay we are done for now...so the next four months were perfect, Hectic but perfect. Then the tragic day would come and we would lose Mariah to her Birth father....OMG...
SO after I beat myself up on what I did wrong or what I should have done, I dove right back in to wanting to adopt again...Do I know what country? NO.....Do I know when? NO.....But I do know it will happen.
But you know what I am doing first, I'm giving my life to the lord...Not half way, Not a couple of Sunday's a month...I'm giving my FULL life to him, I want him to control me and me not control myself because I'm not doing something right. I love him and I know who he is, But I want him to be my SOLE....I want him to have my SOLE.....So you are looking at a new and improved blogger, mother, wife and friend....We will have another child, Who knows maybe two..But it will be when God wants us too!

Now for some cuteness to tide you over from the heart post..

Madisyn was at a birthday party and couldn't wait for the cupcakes..

I had her dad lick some of that sweet icing off and she didn't want to wait...

Random Sweetness

Edited to ADD: We could never FORGET about Madisyn while searching for another child that is just Crazy.....It is just very important to our family for Madisyn to grow up with a sibling. I had three sisters and my husband had one brother and siblings are very important to us. So could we forget about Madisyn in this UMM I don't think so!

Okay Okay...Here is goes

Me and my family have a Hugh heart for children. We would take all the orphans in with us if we could. Every week I see where someone dropped off a baby in the woods, Or someone punched a baby in the face, Or someone threw a baby into the air and hit his head on the ceiling and then let him fall to the floor because he was crying too much..This makes me sick to my stomach.

So here in Florida we have a website called Hillsborough Kids.....It is kids that are in foster system(but there not) does that make sense. These kids parents have already had there rights terminated and they are legally free for adoption...There are about 147 kids on this site and more added daily. Well yesterday I was looking at the site as I do about 5 times a week and fell head over heels in LOVE with an 8 year old girl name Savannah...She is the sweetest thing I ever saw and she looks so innocent.

So Moral to my story, Me and Jed are going to the adoption orientation and then we will spend 10 weeks in Mapp classes then we will be legally registered in the state of Florida to adopt any child on this web site that is available. So we are on our way to hopefully giving Savannah her forever family and her forever home......As soon as I know a little more(because they can't hold a child for us), I will post a picture of her for you guys to see. That is the only bad thing is they won't hold a child, if someone already is completed with there process and they want her they can adopt her, So that is why we are praying that our process goes quickly because I really really want her...I'm scared to show her picture just in case.....Which I guess isn't a big deal because you could go to the web site to see her...So keep your eyes open on my sidebar and I will post her picture.....I'm so in love, So keep your prayers on us please...God is good and he is A~W~E~S~O~M~E in my book!

BIG BIG news happening for the Reavers....

Okay so I have some BIG news coming your way and I know it is going to blow you guys outta the water. I've lost a piece of my mind since Grace has left us and I am losing more of it everyday...(that comes with age too). But NOT anymore, Something great is about to happen for our family and I am so Freaking excited I can't stand myself.....Please just let me know you got my back, And I may ask for some support, NO money but support in other ways.....More to Come..Now that I have your attention!

I had to Share this Photo....SBP Rocks...

Okay so it didn't turn out quite like the photo show had it...I did the cartoon on this picture and in my photo album it is the coolest thing I ever saw...Not so much here, You get more effect if you enlarge it though...So just click on it and enlarge it.

And also my SBP rocked this time, She sent Madisyn the outfit in the picture which I love because I love PINK & BROWN together, A set of pajamas....And she even sent Grace two outfits....Which will be going to the family who lost everything in the fire...Thank SBP you ROCK!

Madisyn looks like she has something on her lip, and she looks Sad but It's not I promise it is the CARTOON image....Our couch looks funny too...OH well I thought it was cute!!!

Can You say AWE.....

We added another member to our family, And no we didn't adopt again YET....But this little girl is the cutest thing you ever saw and Madisyn adores her...

We refer to her as MISS KENZIE....

She is a 10 week old Cocker Spaniel that we adopted from a small town near us...Isn't she the cutest thing evah....

I REMEMBER This all too well....

It was on Friday the 13th 1983 when my family's house caught on fire...My dad rushed to get everyone out and he managed to put out the flames with a water hose, So he thought...Just as we all got back into the house, back into our beds....The flames broke out again and this time it took the fire dept to put it out...They named it the worst house fire in 1983. Everything was a total loss. So this morning when I got up, I always read the paper online and I saw a family of 10 including 5 children had lost there entire house to a fire....It happened at 1:40 in the morning and luckily all the family got out in time....The children ranged in age from 4 weeks-age 10.

The lady made a comment" We lost everything, we don't even have shoes...But importantly enough we don't have diapers, bottles, or anything at all for our kids"

So I knew I had to step in and help...I was able to gather about 7 garbage bags FULL of stuff for the 4 week old, the 1 & 3 year old, and some stuff for the 7 & 10 year old... I'm even donating a pack and play for the infant to sleep in.

It's so awesome to help another family and I feel so proud to make these kids smile again!

This is the actually house of the family of 10

Favorite Foto Friday #36 SIBLINGS.....

This weeks theme is Siblings...Madisyn has a brother which is almost 15 and lives with his dad, So I don't have a whole lot of pictures because there are more interesting things than sitting on Mom's house...

Madisyn and Austin sometime around October 2007

Madisyn and Austin meeting for the first time February 2007

And of coarse we can't leave out little Gracie...She was our doll baby, we miss her so much it hurts... But she will always be considered ours in our hearts so here is a pic of

Madisyn and Gracie February 2008

Don't forget to read my last post...There some good news for me, And a good thing for my family!

Another Week Gone and SOME EXCITING NEWS...

I haven't took any recent pictures because my good camera needs a new battery, And I don't like the way the old camera's pictures upload, I can't edit or do anything special to them..So here is some Blast from the Past photo's....

Madisyn and my Daddy meeting for the first time

February.14,2007

Madisyn and my Daddy again on Thanksgiving

November.22,2007

And my sweet little girl, Not long after coming home, And NO the dog hadn't chewed on this before....LOL she loved that toy!

And for the Exciting News.....

I have been babysitting every since Madisyn came home. Well one of my mom's questioned me this morning about becoming registered. Well so Guess what I am going to get Registered and open my own HOME DAYCARE....I have had as many as 4 at a time, So being liscened I can have 5 and charge the same as a daycare..So more money for me and benefits for my parents.
So now I just have to complete the 30 hour training class and take the exam, and then I will be set..I've wanted to do this for about a year now, and have just not had the time to do it. But Madisyn is almost 2 now and my sister will watch her while I complete my training, and some I can even do online. SOOO can I get a BIG WOOOOHOOOO for me finally doing something with my life.

And this also means Bills will get paid off quicker and Our 2nd Adoption can get started quicker!

More Clothes....Listed on My WEB SITE...

Go check it out....I've listed a bunch of clothes that are Gymboree with Tags..... Just 4 Kids

Just Because Pictures....Sit back and Relax

First off I wanna say I hope everybody had a great week...My days are getting a little better with each one that passes.I don't have a whole lot to say but Everyone out there that has been there for me Thank you Very Much I really do appreciate it. And here is some pics for your enjoyment pleasure..

I solely miss this face so much....

And does everyone remember Easter, My nephew Jimmy can always make her smile..NOT TODAY

And this is our cat Delilah, She stays outside and we made her a Cartoon...

So enlarge this one and check it out...

Where did this little baby go? This was last year a few days after Madisyn came home..

And this she was about 10 months old...she was so freakin little and had NO hair...

And Madisyn enjoying spaghetti this girl loves her some Spaghetti....

And Madisyn modeling her Children's Place Spring outfit...Like she needed more clothes.

Actually she is getting into a 2T and 24 months and I don't have those yet. So we are slowly buying clothes for spring and summer...

I love this picture....she looks so sneaky and cute..

OMG, I can't believe that just happened....

And can anyone tell me the story yet on Guatemala adoptions? Does anybody know if it is going to reopen again? Just curious, We are taking our next adoption very slowly, But we are researching countries...And GUATEMALA IS #1

Day by Day....

Okay we are taking One day at a time..I still lose it occasionally when I see her stuff, Or hear a song, Or see her pics..Okay so I'm still a wreck. The only question I have is HOW DID THIS HAPPEN TO US??? But it will take time. The last 5 days I haven't had any other kids except Madisyn which has been really good because we spent everyday together. I love her to death!! Saturday we went with my sister and her family to the beach. SO o here is some pics for you from the beach.....
Warning: There are some X-Rated Pics, and NO i didn't capture a whale......

My sisters camera takes little pics, but here is my princess lovin the water

She found her a spot about 5 feet from the shore line and was happy as can be

Here she is running back and forth into and out of the water

And the sweetest thing you ever saw....Mommy and Daughter

Sorry this one jumped outta place, Madisyn wouldn't lay in the pack and play and take a nap, So literly 3 1/2 minutes after we got into the van...This is what we saw....

And now for the X-rated Pics...I don't really want to show this much skin to everyone, But I want you all to see how stupid I was that day...It has been 4 days and I still can barely move...

And back to the beauty queen....

PS: I have jumped on the selling band wagon so click on my link on my sidebar and check out my great deals...When we decide to adopt again, We will be solely searching for a boy, So goodbye to all Madisyn's clothes...Most are GYMBOREE and most are NEW WITH TAGS

PSS: My baby did wear a bathing suit but got irritated with the constant changing from diaper to swimmy so I left it off....BAD MOM Oh well....LOL

A Better Day Today......

Okay where do I start....This whole situation has been a nightmare from day one. The birth mother of this child NO one will ever know how evil she is, She lies and is so manipulative that I feel she is filled her body with demons. And I'm not saying that because I dislike her, I'm being serious. Even her own dad agrees. She needs alot of help. She told us some terrible stuff about Grace's paternal side of the family, And when they showed up here they were crying as hard as me because they felt so bad for my feelings. They weren't the way I pictured them from what I was told, And they defiantly didn't act the way she placed them. They came to visit Grace when she was 2 weeks old and they tried to take her then but Megan wouldn't let them. This is there niece, granddaughter and daughter. So do I blame them for wanting her, NO...Grace's aunt has been sending money to the BM all this time because she thought the baby was with the BM.
As weird as this may seem to alot of you that read our blog, I have the biggest sigh of peace about this. For the past two or three weeks I knew it was going to happen because as soon as the BF got word that the baby wasn't and hasn't been with the BM then he immediately said he wanted her, And he had every right in the book in the state of Florida to have her. We could have tried to open a DCF case on the father for abandonment, drug use, history of violence....But a couple of things Who knows if that stuff is true. The abandonment isn't true because as I found out Friday they have been sending the mom money. The drug use he admitted to being a heroin addict 2 years ago....The history of violence the only thing the cops could find was the bad checks he had written. So is he a bad person I HAVE NO IDEA...But I put myself in his shoes...And would I want a stranger to raise my daughter(even though it is a GREAT home) or would I want my daughter to be with me and my family.....DING DING DING...I would want her with my family, POINT BLANK.
So I'm sorry if alot of you don't understand, Did my family even love Grace, HELL yeah we love her, We will never stop loving her. But should we shut down our lives and sob for days over something we had NO control over. No I don't think so, We gave it to god and he does have plans for us, We may never see them but he does have something for us and we love him for that.

In loving Memory of our Sweet Angel Baby Grace

Dear Grace, You have left our home to live with your birth family. But don't think for one minute that you will be forgotten. We love you from here to the moon, and you will never be alone. Your Big sissy still looks for your car seat when we get in the truck and she still says Ummm Baby, and we have to tell her that you went home, and she doesn't understand now but she will when she is old enough...And I hope that your family tells you about us...So for now I have to say GOODNIGHT to you, and I hope all your dreams come true. We love you Little Miss Gracie Girl...Love forever your family The Reavers 2008

Memory in our Hearts January.2008-April.2008

Sad Day at the Reavers..... :(

Hey everyone things didn't go so well today. The lawyer was really really honest with us and told us straight up that we couldn't do anything without the fathers consent and he wanted her so We knew he wouldn't sign nothing....Well no sooner than we got home, We found out he was in Polk county looking for our house.....So we had a detective pretty much stalk our house today to protect me from the father. Well they showed up, And The BM got arrested in my yard for a warrant for drug possession. and Grace is now on her way to Puerto Rico to live with BF's sister and mom. So we are not very happy campers in our house tonight. Thank you for all your prayers, I really love that all of you guys are here for us.

Tomorrow is the BIG Day.....

Me and my family have a Hugh prayer request....Friday the 4Th of April we go and met with our attorney about Grace. As many of you know her father now claims he wants to come and get her. Well behind the story I felt bad for him so on March.19 I told him that if he was going to take her to please do it sooner than later, better yet to go ahead and come and get her. Well he beat around the bush and said that he couldn't until he had some stuff worked out. Okay so through the weekend we went back and forth and NO true answers ever came out...SO on Monday I tried to write him again and he has my email addy blocked and he won't answer my phone calls. So the last message I left him was " I will see you in Court Pal, SO be prepared to fight" and still NO return phone calls. So here is where all of you come in...Please leave a prayer here in the comment section, Even if you never comment please do today so that I can show Grace one day HOW many people prayed her to her forever family.
Tomorrow we met with our attorney to see what we can do legally. He has known her whereabouts for months and still NO contact until now...SO hopefully we see the light at the end of the tunnel tomorrow. We love her and we will fight to the end to keep her. Thank you

Help this family stay together through Prayer....

Don't let this smile fade because she was placed with someone she doesn't know!

And last but not least, Don't let these two get separated because our hearts would heel but Madisyn would be torn apart and I can't bear to see my little angel hurt in the least little amount..They are my babies and I know God will see through this and help make the decision right for the sake of these children.

So please pray, Leave a prayer comment or just let us know you are thinking about us. Thank you everyone I don't know where I would be without y'all.