home again!!!

Thank you all so much for your prayers for our sweet Forrest while he was in the hospital. He was such a trooper, and he was definitely a hit with the hospital staff! We are so grateful for the excellent care he had from his doctor and so many wonderful nurses. We are even more grateful to be home, and I'm happy to say, he has hardly skipped a beat!  Our schedule is a little off, but we are getting back into the swing of things. Thankfully, he is pretty laid back and seems to be adjusting well.

How can you not fall in love with this sweet little face?

Thanks again for all your prayers, and thanks to everyone who called, emailed, texted, and came to visit us while we were in the hospital. We are blessed beyond measure with wonderful family and friends!

t minus one day...

Thanks so much for everyone's prayers and concerns for baby Forrest. We have been so blessed by the love and support of our family and friends! I am happy to report that he is doing great and his doctor is very pleased with his progress. We are set to get out of the hospital tomorrow! We are so ready to take our baby boy home! Thanks again for all your prayers!

only two weeks left to order...

Don't forget to check out our towel fundraiser...only two weeks left to order. You don't want to miss out on these adorable towels. Thanks so much to everyone who has already placed an order! I promise you won't be disappointed!

Click here to view all order options!  Thanks again for your support!

ships passing in the night

This week we entered a whole new realm of parenthood! Our sweet baby developed a high fever late Monday night and had to be admitted to the hospital in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. He was so pitiful, it just broke my heart. Thankfully, his doctor was able to determine what was wrong, and was able to get antibiotics started. He is doing so much better, not quite 100%, but definitely a huge improvement since Monday. We have bought ourselves a ten day stay at the hospital for him to get a complete course of antibiotics. Patrick and I have been swapping nights so that one of us is here with him at all times, so we truly are like ships passing in the night. We are just grateful that his infection can be treated, and that he is already improving. It looks like we will be here until next Friday as long as he continues to improve. We have been blessed with a wonderful doctor and excellent nurses, which we are very thankful for. God has given us lots of "angels" here at the hospital to remind us of His presence! Please keep baby Forrest in your prayers!

(Cover)ed

Do you need a baby gift, birthday gift, or just a fun prize for the little ones in your life? Then get (Cover)ed with these adorable custom hooded towels! And don't forget - it's never too early to start Christmas shopping!

I am thrilled to introduce our first family fundraiser!  We are partnering with (Cover)ed to sell custom hooded towels for children! We had actually scheduled this fundraiser before we were ever matched with Forrest.  Thanks to the generosity of the ladies of (Cover)ed, they are allowing us to participate after his arrival to help offset our adoption expenses.

Each high-quality towel is 54 x 30 inches, with the attached hood measuring 10 1/2 inches long and 15 inches wide. They are large enough for toddlers and big kids, but are also great for snuggling infants. They are perfect for the bath, beach, or pool. The towels come in a variety of colors and personalization options.

Each towel is $25.

Our family will receive over 50% of each towel sold to support our adoption!

If you would like to purchase a towel please email me at callen820@gmail.com and put (Cover)ed in the subject line. You can also leave a comment on this post with your contact information. Cash or check is preferred but Paypal is also accepted. All orders must be placed directly through me in order for our family to benefit from the sale.

To see all the color and design options available for purchase click here.

When placing an order, please include towel color, design color and initial color (if needed). The end date of my sale is Monday, August 22nd. All towels are handmade and will be ready approximately 3 weeks from the end of my sale. If you live in the Columbus area, there will be no shipping expenses. If you live outside of the Columbus area, please include $2 if ordering one towel and $3 if ordering two or more towels for shipping. If ordering 5 or more towels, shipping will be $2 per towel.  If you live in the Columbus area and would like to see a sample please let me know.  I have adorable sample towels available!

Please pass the link to this fundraiser on to everyone you know!  Feel free to post it on your blog, facebook, or via email.  We are hoping and praying to place a huge order on August 22nd!

Lastly, please take a look at the (Cover)ed website. It is a relatively new ministry started by two women in Alabama who have a heart for adoption and the call to care for orphans.  Their ministry helps families like ours to make adoption more attainable.  Thank you so much for your support!  

home sweet home

WE'RE HOME!!!  We got home late Monday night, and I've never been so happy to be on Georgia soil.  Though we enjoyed our time together just the three of us, we were so excited to be able to bring our baby HOME!  We got a call mid-afternoon Monday that we were cleared by ICPC to travel home. You've never seen two people move so fast - within 2 hours we had packed up our hotel and were headed to the airport!  We were definitely nervous about flying with a newborn, but Forrest was a champ and slept the entire flight. We were met at our home at 1:00 am by his two grandmothers and one of his aunts who just couldn't wait to meet him.  It was a wonderful "welcome home" to see their faces!

We have been showered with lots of love by family and friends since we arrived home.  It has been so sweet to introduce Forrest to so many of the people who have been praying for him for so many years. He is one loved baby, and we are so very blessed that God brought him into our family!

introducing sweet baby Forrest...

Our lives were forever changed last Thursday, July 7th when God brought this precious baby boy into the world! Forrest was 8lbs 4oz and 20in long upon his arrival. We were blessed to be able to be here for his birth, something we weren't sure if we would be able to do because of travel. Tears of joy streamed down my face as I saw and held my son for the first time! He has already stolen our hearts and I cannot imagine our lives without him! God has been so faithful and given us so many affirmations throughout this experience that this was and is His perfect plan for our family! Now we are sitting in a hotel room in our home away from home waiting on our ICPC clearance to travel home. Hopefully we will be cleared in the next week. Though we would love to be home, this time together has been so sweet for the three of us!  We are so grateful for all of the prayers that have been lifted up on our behalf, and we ask you to continue to pray for us as we transition home!

"For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition I made to Him."  I Samuel 1:27

he has beautiful blue eyes!

already praising the Lord!