The night Russ and I decided to adopt from Ethiopia ....I was up late searching blogs...pretty much freaking out.  We knew it would be a girl and we would name her Lucy.  That night was the night I came across Lucy Lane's blog.  God used her video to confirm that we had made the right choice. 

I had the amazing opportunity to meet Lucy Lane (and Kristy) and am so thankful for the insight she gave.

Well, now Lucy Lane has been home for 1 year and they have the cutest video to celebrate her first year.  Check out the end of the video where they have pictures of all the families that decided to adopt because of her video and story.  We are honored to be one of those families!!!! 

Lucy Lane Gotcha Day - One Year Later from kristi johnson on Vimeo.

I cannot wait to have our video of our Lucy's first year home!!! 

Whew.

The past two weeks have been amazing....but very full!  I got the great experience of going to Nicaragua to visit my new friends Rick and Mary Ervin.  I will post more about that trip later.  I was in town for a couple of days ....in which I got to celebrate my birthday.  Russ decorated the back porch with beautiful white lights....so sweet!  Lastly, I went to the beach with my mom's family (plus my mother-in-law).  What a great time...experiencing God's creation...with people that I love.  Here are my last two weeks in pictures:

Active Volcano in Nicaragua

Market in Granada (the oldest city in Nicaragua)

Our back porch for my birthday :)

Gulf Shores, AL 

My mom and my Granny (Sure wish my granddaddy was in this picture)

My sweet Mother-in-law Birdie

Me telling Russ to point to the place where Lucy will hopefully be sitting next year....you can tell from his expression what a GREAT idea he thought that was:)  Oh, I wish she were here with us already!

LOST Finale

Sorry, I am a little behind posting pics but....here are some from our LOST party we had with our friends Beth and Ben.  If you do not watch LOST...these will mean nothing to you:)

LOST cupcakes

With Hurley's numbers.....

On the Menu: Mr. Cluck's Chicken

Fruit

Dharma Salsa Con Queso

Dharma Cola

Apollo bars

And Charlie's hand  :)

There have been mixed reviews on the finale but The Polsgrove household liked it. I do hate that the show is over......we loved our Tuesday nights watching it with friends.

Pics (Finally)

It has been CRAZY around here!!  But, I did want to show you pics from our BBQ Fundraiser.  We made over $3,000  which was amazing. We want to thank Ms. Debbie, Pat and Sarah, and all of our amazing friends who did a great job planning and doing this fundraiser for us.  We also want to thank Mr. Jim from BBQ by Jim's for hosting us :)  Thanks to Brandy again for donating the perfumes for our raffle....we made around $400 off of the raffle!!!!!

Russ and I were able to enjoy the night and talk with so many people.  Some we already knew but many we did not.  It was so cool to be able to tell them Lucy's story.  Hopefully, God will stir hearts towards  adoption.  We would love to see people in our community adopt...there are so many children out there that need a loving home.  

We are getting really close to reaching our travel budget......thank you to all of our friends and people in our community that have supported us in this.  God has blown us away with support.  Hopefully, we will receive that referral soon!!!

Awesome friends!!!

Awesome youth!!!

Awesome people helping out in the kitchen.

Thanks again Sarah for all your hard work!!

Jessica selling those raffle tickets :)

Thanks Mom (aka CoCo) !

Lucy's Future Friends :)

Pat and Sawyer (Lucy's Future Friend as well )

Margaret counting the money we made.

Lucy's awesome "aunts."

Month 4

Today marks Month 4 that we have been on the waiting list!!!  They say the estimates for a referral are 5 1/2 months to 9 1/2 months so we are getting there!  We simply cannot wait to get that call and see a picture of our precious baby girl!!  We are still trying to rest in the fact that God has had this planned since the beginning of time so He knows what is best.

Happy 5th Anniversary to Us

Russ and I celebrate 5 years of being married today. Our journey together has been an amazing one....full of ups, downs, friendship,  fun, and laughter. 

I thank God for the joy He has given me through this man.  I am cherished, adored, loved, supported, and cared for.  I thank God I married my very best friend.  This life would not be quite as fun without him in it :)

"Love is friendship set on fire." ---Jeremy Taylor

Song of Solomon 8:7

"Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away."

Mother's Day

First I want to say that I have the best mom, mother-in-law, mamaw, Granny, and Meme in the world.  I treasure them and they have all shaped me to become who I am today.

Mother's Day was a tough day.  I didn't think it would be...honestly didn't think too much about it. I woke up to a card from Russ.  Do you remember the song "Stacy's mom has got it going on" ???  Well, the front of my card said "Lucy's mom has got it going on."  MADE MY DAY!  I love my husband.

Next I went to my cousin Lauren's son Cason's dedication.  The last time I was in that church was at my grandfather's funeral.  Also, Cason was my grandfather's prized possession so it was so hard to experience that day without him. The entire time I thought about Lucy.  Was she born yet, if she was...was she okay...when would we get to meet her.....  I felt like I had this huge secret.  A few people made mention that I really was a mother but most of the people I met that day had no clue.  No clue that I think, dream, crave my child that is across the world.  She is so real to us.  We talk of her everyday. 

While most days I am sure that God's plan was correct (as if I know better??) about my grandfather passing.  But then I just miss him....which leads me to thinking about my last conversation with him....which was about Lucy.  I then mourn all over again the fact that they did not get to meet here on this Earth.

And then God does His thing and gives me hope and peace just when I am at the end of my rope.  This time I had myself a good little cry and then praised Him for this journey called life.

oh, and just one more thing.  There are ways to be a mother other than birthing a child.  My mom and aunt are mothers to many of their students, my aunt practically raised us, etc. Thank you to all the women out there that play a role as a mother.  You have no idea the impact you are making on someone's life.

Run Forrest Run

Russ and I both ran the Gumtree 10 K race on Saturday.  Let's just say his goal was to finish faster than his previous race....mine was just to run the entire race and finish.....without throwing up :)  We both achieved our goals!!!!  And it was actually fun.....sort of.

Raffle Winner

Congrats to Angela McWhirter on winning the basket of fragrances!!!  So fitting that she would win...her and her husband adopted a daughter from Russia.  They were one of the first people we met with when we started thinking about adoption :)

Thanks to my lovely assistant Jessica for drawing for us.

Shaking up the tickets.

And...drawing.

Winner!!!!

I know you are so glad I did a play-by-play with pictures.  Now you can all feel like you were present for the drawing!

Thanks so much for supporting us.  There are times where I feel like we constantly ask for people to support us...but I know deep down these are all God's ways of providing for this adoption and showing us what it means to truly live in community with others.  

Also, thanks to my cousin Brandy for donating the basket for us to raffle.  Such a creative way to raise money.  Thanks Brandy ;)

We are still on the waiting list.  Continue to pray for God's timing and for our baby girl.

Taco Bell is Awesome.

These guys rule.