Day 17 With The Peanuts at OneTrueMedia.com

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Gotta a Little Bling For My Baby Girl:)

Each year in America, approximately 1,350,500 babies are aborted. That about 3,700 per day.....1 every 24 seconds. For every 100 live births in the U.S. there are 31 abortions.
On October 18, 2010...there were 3,700 babies aborted.....

minus 2.

Birthmothers fight hard for the lives of their babies. They fight against the tide of our culture, the advice of many "professionals" and their own fears. At great loss to their own hearts, they not only choose life, beautiful life, but a future within a family for their little ones.

The love and sacrifice of our birthmother humbles me. It challenges me. And it makes me want to fight for the lives of the 3,700 babies lost each day, and the precious hearts and souls of the ladies who carry those babies.

Today, we hold in our arms 2 precious children......proof of the handiwork of God, and a living picture of the war we are fighting.

They are fearfully and wonderfully made!

We Love Our Peanuts!

If I can figure out how to type with one finger while holding 2 precious babies....maybe I can actually blog one day:)

We are so in love with these babies! Kenny and I still look at each other daily and ask, "Can you believe this?"

When we started the adoption journey, we had no idea the blessings the Lord had in store for us! I'll leave you with a few pictures..........one day I'll sneak in some blogging moments.:)

Our 5 precious treasures!

Evangeline (7)

Landis(5)

Samuel (2)

Jordan and Eliana (12 weeks)

Twin Tip #1

You have just been entrusted with an incredible honor.

Sit back and enjoy those babies!

(Eliana is the most happy baby....until I whip out the camera. Sweet baby girl does NOT like having her picture taken!

They are going to grow up soooo fast. Yes, twins are work.....blessed, glorious work!

Count each minute a privilege!

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"My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.

For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;

For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. For He who is mighty has

done great things for me, and Holy is His name."

Luke 1:46-49

The Call, Goattcha YA"ll Day and Home....All In Under 48 Hours!

The past 5 days have been the most unexpected and exciting days of our lives. I know I am so late in posting all that has occurred. Yes, we have been busy.....hardly a moment to sit at the computer! Mostly, I have waiting, in my mind trying to word and express all that has happened, all that my heart feels. I know realize this post will never be able to capture our amazement at the work of the Lord......it will merely scratch the surface of His blessings!

It was just a normal Monday. The thing about a domestic adoption is.......you have no timeline. You finish your homestudy, turn in your profile, and wait. There are no list serves, time estimates, monthly updates, numbers.....you just wait. You could be waiting a day, a month, or 5 years. You just wait.

So, it was just a normal Monday....Monday, January 3rd, 2011 to be exact. Nothing was out of the ordinary, except that dream I had the night before. Sunday night I woke in the midst of a dream about twins that was so vivid I got up and looked in the cradle beside our bed. The cradle, given to us by a dear friend....was the only item in our home that would even suggest we were hoping for a baby. Since we have not know the age, timeline or if we would be adopting a girl or a boy, we pretty much have bought nothing....and had months ago passed on most of the baby items from our other kiddos. Oh, that dream! I got up on Monday morning, loaded up the kids and headed out to run a few errands and buy groceries. At lunch, I told Kenny about my dream. I could not get it out of my head and heart. At about 2:30 that afternoon, I quickly turned on the computer to check my mail. There was a facebook message from a lady at our agency asking simply, "Julie, are you there?"

"Yes, I am here!", I messaged back. Something in my stomach turned. What was that about? Moments later I received an email from our caseworker, asking me to call her to talk about my sewing some placements for her dining room table. I laughed when I first miss-read the word "place mats" for "placements"! I call the office and got on the line with our caseworker. I noticed it sounded like I was on speaker phone, and that made me wonder if something was up. Connie asked if our line was down, she had been trying to call about the *placemats* for a few hours. No....our line was not down, we had been receiving calls all day! Well, she asked if I would be willing to sew some placemats, and I said , "sure! I'llbe happy to!" THEN, my heart stopped as she said,

"There is something else I want to talk to you about. How do twins sound?"

I hit the floor and starting sobbing. It was over. The wait was over. We had babieS. One girl, one boy....perfectly wonderfully and fearfully made. I was, and am in total awe and wonder at the Lord's hand in this adoption. We never in our wildest dreams could imagine who He had in store for us!

The next day was a blur. I mean really...how do you process and prepare for twins in a day? It was so much fun calling relatives, telling the children...and scampering to borrow car seats and swings! In a number of hours I had over 300 emails and 120 facebook messages of love and congratulations. The outpouring of love and encouragement has been amazing!

On Wednesday, at 1:00, we drove the familiar route to Covenant Care. Only this time was different. This day, we would go in, and have our 11 week old twins placed in our arms. Our birthmother, a noble, courageous young lady, was in my heart and on my mind every second.

The anticipation of sitting and waiting on our foster family to come through those doors with our babies was killing me!
It was love at first sight!
Our first picture with Eliana Mesheal and Jordan Kenny.......dressed in beautiful outfits picked out and purchased by their birthmother. I think I am going to frame those little outfits in a shadow box and hang them in their room! My heart was so full it could just burst!
We then went downstairs to present our babies to Evangeline, Landis and Samuel and all of our relatives. Here we are with our precious foster family. Notice something? Yup, they have twins as well!
We are so thankful to now be a family of 7!

It was amazing to watch my mom hold her grandbabies for the first time!

Evangeline had so much fun getting to play with Jordan and Eliana's "foster sisters".

We loaded up....and headed HOME. Every seat in the van is taken my a car seat! Ha....I love it!

The first few hours at home were bliss. We would all just look at each other and laugh. "Can you believe this?", we would ask over and over!

Kenny is the most wonderful Papa. He has already mastered loving both babies at the same time!

Sweet Jordan.
He has the most beautiful, tight, little curls. Jordan loves to be help and cuddled.

He also loves to eat!

My little Eliana. Eliana means "God has heard and answered." And that He has....in ways we never imagined!

Eliana is a very happy baby! She also loves to be held.....and gets tons of loving by all of us!

This week has been a perfect dream. Our hearts are full of praise and honor to Christ! He has formed and knit together 2 perfect, precious treasures.....and so honored our family by placing them in our arms. Our birthmother will also forever be a part of our forever family. Her love for her children is great.
I have so much more I want to share....but both babies are waking up and hungry!Never a dull moment:)

A sweet friend of our and awesome photographer came to take pictures at placement.......you can view them HERE. If you follow me on facebook....you have been hammered with pictures these week:) We're pretty proud of these blessings:)

I'll leave you with a quick video of us meeting the babies. And soon I must share the amazing details that only the King of Heaven could weave together!

Ok, Jordan's "hungry button' just got pushed....gotta run!

Introducing Our Babies!

The last 24 hours have been a whirlwind.....with such a wide range of emotions.

I do intend to post just what that blessed call was like......but that will have a wait a bit longer!

We had at first planned on bringing the babies home today (yes! less than 24 hours after even knowing we had twins!)....but our precious foster family has grown very attached to these 2 little ones over the past 11 weeks, and asked for just one more day together. I pray this day is wonderful for them...and we are so eager to meet this family tomorrow!

I know what you all really want, are pictures:)

We got the ok from our agency to post pictures of the most beautiful babies in the world....our son and our daughter!

Introducing Jordan Kenny and Eliana Mesheal Johnston!

I cannot wait to get my hands on these peanuts and kiss all over those precious checks!

Tomorrow, at 1:00....we will get to do just that!

Thank you, thank you for all of your kind words and encouragement.....they are all treasured!

Off to "ready" the house. I read just yesterday morning that having twins was like being in a submarine. Guess we are about to find out:)

Does God not move in a mysterious, wonderful way?!?!?!?

WE GOT THE CALL!!!! WE HAVE TWINS!!!!!

Praise my soul, the King of Heaven!

Today, every second of every minute of every hour of the past 18 months was made so worth it.

WE GOT THE CALL!!!! WE HAVE TWINS...A SON AND A DAUGHTER!!

Our little ones are 11 weeks old today, the most beautiful babies you can imagine!
I have so much to share, my heart is so full. But for the moment, I'm going to have to leave you hanging with just a few pictures.We need to get some sleep, because it may be the last time we do for awhile. OUR BABIES ARE COMING HOME ON WEDNESDAY!!!
Needless to say......we are popping with excitement!

And feel like the most blessed family alive!

A family of 5 today....is just about 36 hours....we will be a family of 7!

Can't wait to tell you more.....just leave you that for tonight!!!!