Fun Times!

What a fun weekend of preparation we've had at the Gillispie house! Both Eric and I feel such a sense of peace about our decision to adopt two of Liberia's children. It is so nice to have a plan (although we certainly pray for the Lord's plan, not our own)!

Taevy and I had a great time shopping for baby Kendi yesterday. She has become quite the little shopper and endures the adventure every bit as well as her adult companions (right Grandma B?)! I feared that Taevy may become a bit jealous of all of the purchases we are making for Kendi but it's quite the opposite. She is having a great time and everywhere we go she says, "Mom, we have GOT to buy this adorable outfit for Kendi!" That's my girl! Seriously, it warms my heart to see that she thinks of Kendi as her sister already. It's obvious that the Lord is preparing Taevy's very sensitive heart for the changes that are coming.

As for Canan and Samren--well, I expect them to be thick as thieves very quickly once Canan gets home (at least if Samren has anything to say about it). Samren is SO excited about the thought of sharing his room with his new "big boy little brother" and often comments about how much fun it will be to play "Race Car NASCAR" with Canan ("Race Car NASCAR" is Samren's word for playing cars).

We aren't able to prepare for Canan like we are for Kendi because we don't know if he will be 2, 3, or 4 years old yet. We'll have to do a mad dash to prepare for him once his picture comes! In the meantime, it is so much fun to prepare for a baby girl again. I have longed to buy all of the sweet baby girl clothes since Taevy outgrew hers years ago.

The biggest event of the weekend was last night when my friend Kristi and I went to the Just Between Friends sale here in Tulsa. www.jbfriends.com Ladies, if you haven't been to this sale and have little ones to buy for you have GOT to go!!! It is a humongous consignment sale of good clothes at GREAT prices! It took me 2 solid hours to get through the 6/9 month GIRL clothes, and that was only looking at each piece for 2 seconds or less! In the end I was able to purchase 30 outfits for only $102!!! And I'm not talking Wal-Mart outfits folks! These outfits were Gymboree, and Gap, and Old Navy, and The Children's Place, and Baby LuLu, and House of Hatten. Me being the Wal-Mart shopper that I am I had no idea of the value of some of these clothes. I picked up one outfit for $4 and my friend Kristi said that it was originally a $50-$80 outfit. During checkout the lady told me that I could easily sell that outfit for $30 on Ebay if I wanted to. I don't buy baby clothes for even $30, so I can't imagine spending the originally $50-$80 for that one little outfit! It feels really good to know that we were able to get baby Kendi some really nice outfits and still be good stewards of the money the Lord has given us.

I feel so blessed to accept the responsibility of these two new little ones. The love in my heart for them grows each day. It may seem silly to some of you that we are buying things for these as yet unknown little ones, but all that we do to prepare for them makes them real. And they ARE real. Canan is already alive somewhere on this planet, and Kendi is as well (whether in her birthmother's womb or already born). We challenge you to let your hearts begin to love them as well. If these children were in my womb we would all gather round and pray for their safety. We would listen to their little heartbeats and FEEL their life. We don't have that luxury with Kendi and Canan, but they are no less real. How lucky we are to know that these children will benefit from the love of our wonderful family!