The Odds

16. March 2013 · 3 comments · Categories: Adoption, Faith · Tags: ,

Never let the odds keep you from doing what you know in your heart you were meant to do.
In our agency alone, there are over 800 waiting families. 800 wonderful families scattered all over the United States. We are one of those families, hoping and praying for a miracle. We’ve been officially waiting for a year as of today.

The waiting hasn’t gotten any easier. We don’t give up. We do all we can to spread the word and we pray like crazy to get through the hard days, but we never give up.

We’re committed. We were meant to be parents. Daniel was meant to be a daddy. I was meant to be a mommy.  And adoption is how we will build our family. We aren’t giving up just because we need to wait a little longer.

Because we’ll wait as long as it takes,

Christy and Daniel

Love

14. February 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Faith · Tags: ,

Please visit Daniel and Christy's adoption website at http://amalg.us.

Sending love your way for the things you do to help support and uplift our family. Happy Valentine’s Day!

With Love, the ever hopeful, prospective adoptive mommy,

Christy

It Might Be Hope

29. January 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Adoption, Faith · Tags: , ,

So much of how we keep moving forward everyday is about one thing. Hope. When I have it, it makes the whole world open up. My steps feel lighter, I feel the sun on my face, and the future is full of promise.

Sometimes while waiting, I get stuck in worry. It pulls me down and makes the walls close in.

Sometimes I need a pick me up. A reminder of the reality of our situation. We are SO blessed to be in the position to adopt. Thanks to adoption, we have a hope for the blessing that we’ve spent years praying for. We are blessed to even be considered by those who find us on this journey.

This is a song has helped me shed the worry I have been feeling and reminds me of what a miracle it is to have HOPE in our lives.

It’s hard to recall what blew out the flame.
It’s been dark since you can remember.
You talk it all through to find it a name
as days go on by without number

You’ve been here for a long, long time

Hope has a way of turning it’s face to you
just when you least expect it.
You walk in a room,
you look out a window
and something there leaves you breathless
You say to yourself
it’s been a while since I felt this
but it feels like it might be hope

Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. -2 Nephi 31:20

Hoping, praying, and living life as a waiting adoptive mommy,

Christy

The Reason- Giveaway

17. December 2012 · 6 comments · Categories: Faith, Spread the News · Tags: , , ,

5x7-0005 copy

Giveaway Closed

This time of year, as we celebrate with friends and family, I am constantly reminded of the true beauty of the season. Daniel and I have a testimony of Christ, our Savior. We celebrate and treasure His humble birth, sinless life, selfless sacrifice, and eternal glory.

Daniel and I aren’t perfect people. We made mistakes, just as all do, but we have hope through Christ that we can find forgiveness. We have His example to follow, so that we can keep trying to become better people and of better service to our Father in Heaven.

This photograph is of a nativity that we display in our living room year round. We keep it out because it serves as a reminder to always be grateful and mindful of how blessed we are to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives.

As a gift this season, Daniel and I would like to offer this photograph to all those who would like it. Please leave a comment with your email address before December 23, 2012 by 9pm PST and we will send you a file for a 5×7 copy of this image to print or use online.

We would be grateful if you would share our website, blog, or facebook page with your friends and family. Each share helps to bring us closer to finding the person who will help make our dreams of adopting a child come true.

Blessing to you and yours this Christmas! May your hearts and homes be warm and merry!

We remain your ever hopeful, prospective adoptive parents,

Christy and Daniel

My Conversion Story

06. October 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Faith, Our Story · Tags: , , ,
Endowment Day

Christy and Daniel at the Temple
(Click to Enlarge)

I was raised with the sure knowledge that Jesus Christ is my Savior. I had a testimony of this at a very young age and have known of the power of the atonement throughout my life. We never consistently attended church as a family, but we were Christian in faith.

When I was 14 years old I met a guy at high school, named Josef, that I eventually started to crush on. When I took a step back, I wondered why it was that I liked him. The main reasons ended up being that he had high standards, he wasn’t at all profane, he was kind… overall just one of the best people I had ever met. I asked why he was this way and he explained it was his church and his beliefs that made him who he was.

Time went by and I continued to wonder about what it was he actually believed. I started looking at myself and realized I wasn’t happy with the way I was living my life and wasn’t making choices that the Savior taught.

I started asking Josef and other friend, Melaney, about their church. It was the first time I had ever heard about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. After some time I decided to pray about what they were telling me. It was the first time in my life that I actually prayed and received an answer. I had a sure feeling that what they were teaching me was true and to continue finding out more about the church.

I started making changes in my behavior by living the standards the gospel taught. I spent the next several years studying the Bible, finding out more about the church, and praying about what I was learning.

Christy's Baptism

Christy with the Missionaries
(Click to Enlarge)

I went to my first meeting at an LDS Church just after I graduated high school. Within a month of attending my first meeting, I was baptized. A year and a half later I married my husband in the Redlands California Temple.

Though the many challenges I’ve faced over the last ten years of membership in the LDS church, I’ve had my faith to sustain me. I have know so many wonderful people thanks to my association with this church. It has strengthened my marriage. I have found meaning and peace in my life. I have been blessed. I know in time, the gospel of Jesus Christ will provide the keys and inspiration that will help me be a mother of faith and gentleness to the children sent into our care.

-Christy

We Knew

11. September 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Faith, Our Story · Tags: , , ,
Family- Daniel and Christy Engagement Photos

-Click to Enlarge

From the moment I first saw Daniel, I knew he was someone special. I later found out that he was pretty curious from the start about me, too. =)

There was something about that connection that has always stuck with me. Daniel has always felt familiar to me, like he was a long lost friend, but from some distant place I don’t really remember.

Though it sounds strange, we both knew very early on that we were meant for each other. Within days of meeting, we had a discussion that led me to confessing to him that I was supposed to marry him and he responded with the words that will never leave me, “I know”. With little understanding from anyone, we moved forward, because something inexplicable had happened. We had faith that God had led us to each other.

We’re certain that most of the people that came to celebrate that December day we were married were confused or concerned, but almost nine years later, we’ve only fallen deeper and deeper in love.

We’ve seen our share of storms in life, one of the biggest being the challenges we’ve faced bringing a child into our family. Daniel has always been there for me. He has lovingly listened and comforted me as I’ve struggled to understand what God’s plan was for us. He has held me and uplifted me and made our little family of two abundant in love.

Announcement PhotoWhen I look at these photos, I know of the hope and the joy we had to see what the future held for us. Nine years later, we still hold that hope and it has become more sacred and precious to us. We know there is a plan. We know that when the moment is right, God will bless us with the child that he’s intended for us all along.

-Christy

In My Heart. On My Mind.

12. August 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Everyday Life, Faith · Tags: , ,

Adoption has given us many opportunities to reflect on who we are and what is important to us. When you constantly need to be open about who you are, you find that the most precious and simple things bubble up to the surface.

I love my husband. I love him so immensely that not only can I not imagine life without him, I don’t want to. He is my best friend. I am a better human being by having him at my side.

I have faith. There were many times in my life that I was holding on to that faith by a thread, because of pain or loss, but I held tight to God’s promises, knowing that He could see me through. This love and constancy in my life has given me trust in His plan.

I’m surrounded by good people, doing their best everyday. There are quiet acts of service. Supportive friends that rally together to uplift and cheer. We have fantastic people in our lives who love us despite our faults and bouts of awkwardness and we love them back wholeheartedly.

We aren’t perfect and that’s ok. We do our best, but we make mistakes from time to time. We pick ourselves up, ask forgiveness, and try again with determination to do it better, to do it right. We learn. We adjust our path. We try.

-Christy

Hope and Strength

11. July 2012 · 1 comment · Categories: Everyday Life, Faith · Tags: , ,


My mom has always been a rock for me. She has become my best friend and growing up, I always felt like I could come to her with any problem or concern. She also instilled in me a foundation of faith. Throughout my life, I’ve relied on that faith to help and sustain me through pain and joy. Without her and that foundation, I don’t know where I would be.

I made the below for her to use as a sceen saver for her new laptop using her favorite scripture and incorporated another favorite symbol of faith, a lighthouse. My mom has not had an easy life, but she’s persevered though it all with grace, beauty, and immoveable faith. I want nothing more than to be like her and teach my children what she has taught me about HOPE and STRENGTH. I love you, Momma!

Isaiah 40:31

-Christy

This Tiny Bit of Present

13. June 2012 · 2 comments · Categories: Adoption, Faith · Tags: , ,

The past week has been difficult. We were notified about a couple adoption opportunities, one of an infant that was a few days old and another that was due in December. In both situations, we asked to have our profile shown and in both, someone else was chosen.

This being our first chance to have our profile looked at, that we were aware of, I managed to get my hopes pretty high. We batted around names, I fleshed out our baby registry, and I started imagining what it would be like to hold our baby, bring our baby home, watch our baby sleep.

Getting the news that we weren’t chosen was really hard for me. I felt like we were finally close. I know that those babies will be blessed with loving parents who have been waiting for them, and that’s a comforting thought. But I still hurt. I still wonder when our child will be brought into our lives.

It occurs to me that right now we’re living in a very narrow space. The past, with our failed family plans, hurts to look at and the future is completely uncertain. All that is left in focus is this tiny bit of present. But we aren’t giving up. We’ll keep moving forward and someday,  we have faith, it will happen.


-Christy

Ambitious Cooking

02. April 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Everyday Life, Faith · Tags: , ,

It’s funny. Every time our church’s General Conference comes around, I get really ambitious in the kitchen.

General Conference is broadcast on TV and I have a rough time sitting in front of the TV without something else to keep my hands busy. So this weekend, while I listened to the speakers, I made:

-Homemade Breakfast Potatoes, Cheesy Scrambled Eggs, and Apple Slices
-Corned Beef, Cabbage, Potatoes, and Carrots (my favorite meal of all time…)
-Chicken Tortilla Soup
-Turkey Soft Tacos
-Bacon Cheese Potato Rounds
-Coffee Cake (my first cake from scratch!)

We invited our friend and her kids over for dinner on Sunday and we all played in the backyard with our dog, Doozer, and picked oranges off of our tree. Even though everyone ate eagerly, there was barely a dent in the feast I managed to compile. It’s ok though. I think it’s awesome to have so much stuff in the fridge to dig into for leftovers!

Getting back to General Conference… =)

A talk that pricked my heart was given by President Boyd K. Packer regarding children and families. Becoming a mother has been on my heart nonstop these days, so here are some excepts that stuck with me.

“It is the challenge of mortality to be a worthy and responsible parent.”

“Husband and wife should understand that their first calling, from which they will never be released, is to one another and then to their children.”

“One of the great discoveries of parenthood is that we learn far more about what really matters from our children then ever we did from our parent. We come to recognize the truth in Issiah’s prophecy that a little child shall lead them.”

“Fathers and mothers, next time you cradle a newborn child in your arms you can have an inner vision of the mysteries and purposes of life. You will better understand why the Church is as it is and why the family is the basic organization in time and all eternity.”

There was also another talk given by Cheryl Esplin about being a parent in Christ’s church.

“Our role as parents is to do all we can to create an atmosphere where our children can feel the spirit and then help them recolonize what they are feeling.”

“We will teach our children to understand as we take advantage of every teaching situation, invite the spirit, set the example, and help them live what they learn.”

This scripture was mentioned in both of these talks.

Children are an heritage of the Lord… Happy is the man that has his quiver full of them. Psalm 127:3, 5

I am fortunate that as I prepare for motherhood, that the Lord is preparing my spirit. He is continually teaching me what a blessing and tremendous responsibility it is to be a parent.

Client Newborn Photo by Christy

One parting quote by Elder Neil L. Andersen that I will be turning to again and again.

As we trust in the Savior, promised miracles will occur… As you love Him, trust Him, believe Him, and follow Him, you will feel His love and approval.

-Christy