BEADING AGAIN!

I apologize for being so quiet in August, this month has been crazy!  First off, we had an amazing vacation.  My kids loved being with all the cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents on my side.  It was really wonderful for them.  As always its hard for me to leave, I watched them drive home in one direction and the four of us drive the opposite direction and there is something that is very sad with that for me.  It's always difficult to be so far away but we're holding out great hopes that we will be home for Christmas this year.  I think it's been about 11 years since I've been home for Christmas. :)

After we got home I headed back to work right away and completed my last days at Stryker.  How BLESSED I am to have had the opportunity to work part time again this summer, it was the answer to my prayers when Jason and Abigail were still in Uganda.  Because of my part time work we were able to replenish the last amount we had spent on Abigail's adoption.  SOOOOOOOOO grateful to have no debt.  Truly that was Gods doing.

And then we had our Oliver tragedy.  Thank you all for your encouraging comments and emails, they were so comforting.

Today we did a bead show in Texas Corners!  We met so many wonderful people!  And yes we are bead showing again and I'm sure that you all have the anticipated question of why?  As we continue to pray through this we feel that God is leading us back to Uganda and it is our plan to begin another home study next June for up to two children.  We wanted to wait for Abigail to be here for a year and this gives us time to financially prepare ourselves.  OH and Americans are only having to stay 2-3 weeks now.  Ahhh.......that sounds refreshing and MUCH less stressful!  I am however SO SO grateful for the time we had in Uganda.  Looking back it was so awesome to be able to spend that much time in her culture and the bonding we were able to have there.  It was difficult for Nolan but he doesn't even remember the time gone and it was God's way of testing our faith.  I learned what love is in Uganda.  I learned that love has no boundaries and is not determined by DNA or skin color.  I learned that my family, our love, and our marriage is so strong it can endure anything.  And best of all I learned and our hearts can in no way, shape, or form be broken from God.  For that alone I have been blessed.  

So we are once again giving this to the Lord.  We continue to witness at the bead shows and continue to bring more attention to the poverty stricken conditions in Uganda and ways people can help.  So I'm gearing up for the fall shows again!  I can't believe it!  We have no idea what age we will adopt or what sex the child will be, or how many it will be.  We just know that God is leading us back to Uganda,  I feel it now more then ever.  Nolan wants a brother and Abigail wants a sister.......Abigail said today, "we are going to have two babies!"  Hahaha.....

So today I ask for prayers for our upcoming bead shows and prayers for our future children who have no idea they have a family waiting for them and already working hard to bring them to us.  I'm looking forward to the new posts of testimonies and adoption processes again!  

Have a great week with Jesus!

You are the helper of the fatherless. LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear, To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, That the man of the earth may oppress no more.

Psalms 10:14,17-18

Our Beloved Oliver........

Ohhhhh how hard it has been for my family the last couple of days. I feel like my heart is truly broken. We had to make the agonizing decision to put our family cat to sleep. After we got back from vacation we realized our sweet Oliver was sick. 2 weeks of agony and realizing there was nothing else we could do for him we laid him to rest on August 21.

After sobbing and bawling for the last 2 days I can't help but think "it's just a cat!" But he was so much more then a cat to us, he was family. It's amazing how the best of friends can come in the form of an animal. I have an enormous soft spot for animals, I always have.

I got Oliver when I was a single mom, I wanted Nolan to have a pet to bond with, he was the start of new beginnings for us. He was the big fat fluffy cat that shook in his cage from fear at the Kalamazoo animal rescue. It was love at first sight for us. We applied for him and took him home 2 days later and he was known as the "Man of the house."

Oliver was there with me through some really dark times. I cried many nights with him in my lap. He was the buddy that laid with Nolan everyday all day when he had H1N1, he was so worried about him, and laid there after both of my surgeries. If one of the kids were crying he'd be concerned enough that he'd be right by their side to make sure they were ok. He would curl up with us at night and snuggle and was a best buddy of Jason's when I worked at the CPA firm out of town. Truly an awesome friend.

I know that the bible makes no reference to our pets going to heaven, yet I lean on the idea that God knows what makes us happy and he provided Oliver for us to love. My children, dogs and cat are all devastated with the loss of Oliver. My dog Lizzy paced and whined for him yesterday, she just knew something was wrong and it broke my heart. Jason had the daunting task of taking Oliver to the vet, holding and comforting him in his final moments and coming home and burying our beloved friend in back yard. Later on the kids adorned the small grave with flowers, crosses and many prayers.

Abigail was surprisingly sad yesterday. She talked about being sad for Oliver. This was good in terms of bonding, that in the short time here she bonded with him. She's never been around animals of this nature and in Uganda it's not customary to have pets like we do. Nolan has had tons of questions and he went out this afternoon by himself to pray for Oliver. It was very sweet.  It's a lot for kids to take in, yet I didn't want to give them the ol' Oliver went to a farm story.  I thought it was fair to be honest with them and let them have the chance to grieve him in their own way.

I apologize for not posting anything from our vacation yet, we've been wrapped up with Oliver things for the last two weeks. My heart weeps for our dear friend and I pray that if it's in God's Will that Oliver may be in heaven laying on a white fluffy pillow playing with the wrinkles.  You will be missed friend.

Psalm 34:18

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit

We are home and we are fabulous!  I'm sorry I haven't posted anything I'm trying to catch up here!  I'm working my last few days at Stryker so I'll get caught up at the end of the week!

OH YEAH, and we had a BLAST!  My kids want to know when we're moving to Minnesota :)

Heather

Vacation time!!

Ahhhhhh.........I have two small children that are so darn excited for this vacation they can hardly stand it.  I don't think we'll be getting a whole lot of sleep tonight over here!  They can't hardly wait to get onto the water slides tomorrow!

After Abigail arrived we realized that with two very tall parents and two kids, our little Hyundai Elantra no longer fit us.  Nolan's seat was behind Jason and he could hardly fit!  He's getting so tall!  So we said goodbye to our beloved car nicknamed "Wicked White" and said hello to our newest addition "Pam" (Nolan named it).  Our new baby girl, a Honda Pilot is now loaded down with all the Osborn essentials for the week and ready to roll.  We are SOOOOO excited to take a trip in a bigger vehicle that will actually be comfortable!  GO PAM GO!

So blessings to everyone and their week as we are about to embark on our first Osborn Family Vacation and Abigail will be meeting her new grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins on Thursday.  CAN'T WAIT!!!!

Have a beautiful week!

Heather