HOMESTUDY PART1

Guess What?

First - I need to preface this by saying that our God listens to us even when we are whiny and frustrated and answers our prayers. Sometimes He makes us wait because that is what is best for us. Sometimes he answers fast - just because He is a bit of a show-off.

We started praying on Sunday that God would let our homestudy contractor call us this week. Not only did our contractor call us, but we are starting our homestudy on FRIDAY!!!!!!

Our contractor, Codi, called us tonight and scheduled us for 5:00 Friday evening. She will be interviewing us about our families- so Mom, Dad, Fred, Cyndi - be prepared. We will be airing all your dirty laundry and telling her all the ways you messed us up as children. For example- I asked for a puppy one Christmas - a real puppy- and I got a STUFFED puppy. That is the reason I have three dogs now, because I was scarred for life by the stuffed puppy. Fred and Cyndi- you are "rumored" to have spanked Ryland for playing in shaving cream when Jilian was the culprit, then you LAUGHED when the truth came out. Ryland still cries about that sometimes. That is also why he never shaves and is always scruffy- shaving cream makes him sad.

Jilian, Lane, Hayden and Hilary - we will be telling stories about you too. We will be telling stories about false college class cancellations, matresses in the road, lipstick markings in the buff, and little boys in their under wear selling OU bobbleheads to their neighbors, eh Chuck Nuck? Your secrets are not safe with us!

Actually, she just said we would spend 1-2 hours talking about our families. I have no idea what she will ask, but since we came from the best families in the whole world, I am sure that by the end of the evening she will love you all without ever having met you. We love you all more than we could ever put into words and we are so excited about what God is doing in the life of our family. We just hope that we can be parents who are soft-hearted like Fred, generous like Cyndi, fun like Jeana, and good advice givers like Mike. We are so lucky to have been yours. Lord willing Gurt will share those same sentiments someday. We can only pray.

Prayer Focus:
1)Pray that Codi will be able to see straight into our hearts and by the end of our first meeting that she will know and be full aware that we want a "Gurt" in our life to love. Pray that God will keep our nerves calm and that we will be able to say all that we want to say. Please try to remember us specifically on Friday at 5:00 if you remember. We will update soon after and tell you all about it.
2) Pray for Gurt. Pray that his care-givers are meeting all of his needs. Pray that he feels loved and safe, pray that he has a full belly and is healthy. Pray that even though we have no idea who he is ,that even know God is preparing him for us.
3) Pray for Jil and Jon's little bean that we love already.

Have a great week- we love you all like crazy!

Ryland and Mindy

PS- If anyone you know wants to foster a cavalier, my organization really needs people who have a fence to foster these sweet dogs. If you know anyone who is interested please let me know.