Thankful for having Emily home

This weekend Emily took a road trip with some of her school friends. I'm glad she had a great time, and I survived, ate, and managed on my own...but realized all over again how much fun we have by just being together.

I'm glad to have re-realized this while she was gone. I believe it is these simple reminders that keep us continuing to grow stronger together.

Thankful for time-savers

I'm thankful for the time-saving DVR.

Last Sunday evening I was able to watch the Titans game in just over an hour. During the game, Emily and I took a walk and got yardwork done. It was a blessing to take advantage of the time-saving DVR and still get to enjoy the game.

Decorator Extraordinairre

I'm thankful for my wife who is willing to do whatever it takes to get good deals on home decorations. In this case, she rode in the back of the truck holding a lamp.

It wasn't freezing, but it wasn't very warm.

Way to go Em!

Sunset walks with my wife

I'm thankful for sunset walks with my wife.

We are able to enjoy the fresh air ... which is pretty cool this time of year. We are away from phones, chores, & projects and the only distractions are chats with neighbors or things we see along the way.

Last night we walked and talked about stuff going on ... no real agenda, but just good time spent together. I'm thankful that Emily is into simple stuff that keeps us close ... like walks in the neighborhood.

Please comment below with any stories from walks with your spouse, or other simple things you do to stay connected.

Thankful ... the place to start

This month I will try a new thing for me... I'm going to run with a blogging theme of photos. My theme for November is "thanks."

.... sooooo creative, I know.

Last month when I was inspired by a friend's blog theme which was Orange October. Grace is a talented photographer with a lot of creativity... so I know I can't rival all that ... but I certainly need to give her credit for the idea.

So, throughout this month I'll post pictures & stories of stuff I'm thankful for....and hopefully it will encourage or inspire you too.

Jeremy

What can I do to pass time?

As we wait on our sweet baby, everyone has suggestions of things to do to pass time. Many people have said, take trips, redo your house, read books, but as I have sought the Lord about what I could do to help take my mind off the waiting, God has reminded me of my passion to encourage. I am not sure what it is about encouragement but I love to encourage, to see others feel loved, and to add a little bit of brightness to their day. Maybe it is because I love the feeling of being thought of and encouraged myself. For the next two weeks, I made a personal goal to encourage one person per day through a hand-made, encouraging card. Isn't it amazing how when we do something for someone else in need, we forget that we are waiting or struggling ourselves? Here are my first 3:

1. for my sweet mom and dad who did so much for me while I was there. There is just no place like home.

2. for my Aunt Liz who drove me to the airport on Wednesday.

3. for my neighbor who had knee surgery today.

Time in Texas

I am visiting my family in Texas! It has been a fun trip to spend time with my family and to relax with my family.

Today I got to talk briefly with my cousin Merri, who adopted sweet Cora about a year ago. We were talking about what she did to pass time as her and her husband Steve waited to get Cora. It is always just refreshing to talk to someone who has walked this road, felt the pain of waiting, and who now has THE baby God had ordained to be in their family. She reminded me today, that no matter how long it takes, how hard it is to wait, or how difficult the process may seem, God has a child for our family. He also has a plan for those who have supported us and who have watched us walk through this process as well. We talked about how exciting bringing that baby home will be for us, but also for our families, our friends we work with, our neighbors and our church. We pray that this process is something that brings glory to God, that our lives would change because of this process and that people who have stood back and watched would be changed and would only be able to give God credit. God is good and His plan to create families is perfect. I needed a reminder of this today. I wait in anticipation to meet our baby and to watch His plan unfold before me.

Baby Room Details

I sent a letter to Layla, who has an incredible blog, with pictures of our baby room. My friend Courtney showed me her blog and the stripes in Layla's reading room. Layla posted my pictures on her blog and the response from people has been overwhelming. Some of you wanted to know a few details about the baby room, so I am going to hopefully help with that. Since the adoption process itself is so expensive, we were really on a budget with this room and I was thrilled with the way it turned out. It was also such a fun project for us to do together to help take our mind off all the waiting and also to give us a feeling that we were doing something to get ready for the baby!

So the Curtains: The Bamboo shade is from Target and the white ruffle curtains are also from Target. The picture of the window area is posted above. The curtains were $19.99.

The bed and dresser actually came from a great baby re-sale store called Once Upon a Child. This bed and dresser was the floor model so we got a great deal on it. We got an even better deal because the dresser was the same style but was white, so we bought them together, sanded and painted the dresser to match the bed.

The glider is also from Once Upon a child. They have floor models there but they also have books of fabric that you can pick out and order a chair. We found that these chairs were cheaper than Babies-R-Us, Target, USA Baby and many other babies stores. The only catch is that because we picked the fabric, it did take about 7 weeks to come in. The only place that had gliders cheaper was Wal-Mart but after reading reviews we decide to go this route. The good thing about this chair is when the baby grows we can use it somewhere else in our home.

The giant safety pin was ordered online from: a place called Uptown La-De-Da and was $47.00.

We used the same colors to paint the bathroom and did one stripes through the middle. We are finishing up this project this weekend and I will post pictures of the finished product on Sunday night.

Please let me know if there is anything else you wanted to know what. Thanks again for your kind words about our baby room and for some many moms who have adopted sharing your stories and encouragement!

Thanks for looking!

Emily

Baby Room Tour

Emily is a great designer & hostess ... look out Design Star!

She's also entered some pics of the room on HGTV's Rate My Space. Click here to rate it and comment on the HGTV site.

A Heritage

I read psalm 61:5 this morning...check it out... I have worried in the past about not having a heritage, legacy, son to pass down the family name. This verse assures me though that the name more important than "echols" is the name of the Lord...and there is a heritage with those who fear His name.

A Heritage

I read psalm 61:5 this morning...check it out... I have worried in the past about not having a heritage, legacy, son to pass down the family name. This verse assures me though that the name more important than "echols" is the name of the Lord...and there is a heritage with those who fear His name.

Tax Free Weekend

We were out tonight at Target and got some "taxfree" diapers and a set of little onesies. We are slowly accumulating diapers while we wait.

JE

Practicing being a parent

This week on our walk, we stopped in at the neighborhood park because my dad and Scott were in town visiting.

While we were visiting and watching Scott swing, Emily put Ladybug in the baby swing. It was pretty funny to see a dog on the swing, but also sweet to see Emily talk to her and gently swing her.

We aren't crazy...just practicing for when we get a child, and trying to have some fun while we are waiting.

Been a while...

It has been a while since I've posted. We have worked on some final touches on the baby room...gonna post a video tour when we get the glider in.

Emily had an "essentials" shower hosted by some sweet friends in the neighborhood. Her mom was here and that was a fun day. I'll get some pics and have her write a bit about it.

I've been traveling a good bit with work, but camps are ending this week and next... And I am done with my summer travels which is nice.

Friends have been very kind to ask about updates regarding our adoption, but there are no new updates other than being "officially" on the waiting list.

Since camps are done, I am gonna write more here on at least a weekly basis...occasionally more often. For family fun and random stuff you can follow me on Twitter. Twitter.com/coachechols

Yield

There is an object lesson here. We can either yield to God's direction or be broken.

I commit to seeking the Lord's path for our family ... And following it.