I can't wait to meet our little boy......

I have a better plan. . . .

Did you know that you have to pray with a right heart??

Seriously if we want our prayers answered we need to come before God with a right heart.  Ever heard the saying its all in how you ask...Yep I have found that to be true with God as well.


My prayers for four years sounded the same. I begged to become pregnant. I cannot tell you how many times I sobbed because the words wouldnt come out, but God knew what those sobs meant. I asked, I begged, I sobbed, I whined, but each time I asked the same thing Lord would you please allow me to get pregnant. Would you let this be the month that my dreams come true.

For four years I waited and God didnt answer. I didnt understand I was crushed, I was confused, I was ANGRY. I asked Why??!!! Why Lord are you allowing  single woman to conceive, woman out of wedlock.....

Time went on and I was still praying. We then felt the call to move to Montana. While we were there I began changing. In serving the Lord I became closer to Him. I began to seek His will for my life and not my own. I begin to want to surrender to His plans for my life whatever they maybe.

I wasnt anger anymore. Then I met Mandi ( Alayahs Mom) who some of you may know is a single mom. Oops...Kinda hard to admit that you questioned why God would give single woman babies when your new friend is a single mom. Mandi told me her story one night. I wont share because its her story to tell, but I will never forget when the words come out of her mouth. I have never told her this, but It felt like after so many years God answered my question. "Alayah saved my life".

 All at once I understood. I knew that my God is faithful and who are we to question His ways. He has a plan and purpose for EVERYTHING He does. Even giving single moms babies.


From that point on my prayers began to change. I still asked, I still prayed, I still sobbed, but my heart was different and the words were different. "Lord would you give Jeremy and I a family."   My heart was finally right with Him. After that I didnt pray to get pregnant. I just prayed for a child to love and care for.

Then last year our family received a huge blessing when Kinlee  came into this world. I cannot tell you how She has changed our family.

 I cannot explain to you the way we all perk up when she is carried into the room,  but I can tell you that once again my question was answered and my God reminded me not to question His ways.  I know that I can speak for ALL of us when I say She is loved to the moon and back :) 

 Time went by and Still I prayed and asked for a family. Next thing you know its your turn

  So really all those years when I prayed and thought God hadnt answered He really was saying No thats not my plan for your life,  I have a better plan for you.



I encourage you to seek Gods will and to strive to pray with a right heart and be able to sincerely say not my will but your will be done.

I assure you God is faithful and will answer those prayers  just sometimes his answer is I have a better plan......

I completed the ice bucket challenge!!

  You have probably heard by now about the ALS Ice bucket challenge right??

The Ice Bucket Challenge, sometimes called the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, is an activity involving dumping a bucket of ice water on one's head or donating to the ALS Association in the United States. It went viral throughout social media during the Northern Hemisphere Summer of 2014.^[1][2]

The challenge dares nominated participants to be filmed having a bucket of ice water poured on their heads. A common stipulation is that nominated people have 24 hours to comply or forfeit by way of a charitable financial donation. 

What is ALS??

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease," is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed

You may be saying doing the challenge  is awful why not just donate, but the ice bucket challenge has raised 42 Million so far. All the videos and the challenge have raised so much awareness as well as funding. If your reading this then I challenge you :)

Youcaring

   Hey after more research we have decided to use a new fundraising site called You caring. It works much like go fund me except they do not take 10% of our donations. Here is the link to give on our you caring site.
https://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/bringing-home-baby-c-/220667

Sorry for the confusion hopefully now we will not have to change again. We will not take down our go fund me account since we advertised it alot of places so its ok to still donate there also if you would rather. Thanks for your patience as we are just learning ourselves.

Have a happy tuesday!!!

You are our hope. . .

    Dear Baby C,
           I know  people are gonna tell you lots of things, obviously not when your a baby but when your older they will.  They will tell you we tried for "our own" baby but could never have one so we adopted you. Well maybe not that rude, but possibly. They might say we couldnt have "our own" so God sent us you. Even though thats nicer its still not true. Baby C. you are our own. You are our son. You were always meant to be our son. No I didnt give birth to you. I wasnt there for your first cry. I didnt get the privilege of hearing your first laugh or seeing your first smile. I may or maybe not be there cheering you on as you take your first steps. I missed alot of milestones and nothing can change that. However  I will be there for all the important milestones in your future. I will be there ( bawling) when your caregiver places you in my arms. I will be there the day we carry you out of the only place you have ever known as home :/ It will be the best day of mine and your Daddys life but it will hurt knowing it will be terrifying for you. I will be there for the LOOONNNNGGGG plane ride home, holding you, rocking you, playing with you, doing my best to help you understand I am here to protect you and you have nothing to fear. I will be there when we walk into the airport with our family all around. I will be there when you meet your grandparents and all your family and friends. I will be there when you enter our home for the first time. I will be there when you sleep in your room for the first time and for the first time in months ( possibly years) I will breathe a sigh of relief knowing finally we are under the same roof. On down the road  ( good Lord willing)  I will be there ( crying like a baby) on your first day of school. I will be there when you have your first heartbreak. I will be there when you go to prom ( Ill be the one taking 2000 pictures :)  I will be there when you graduate high school.   I will be there for all your future milestones.
     So when people say hurtful things hold your head high and know that You are our son. You are not here by chance or because we couldnt get what we actually wanted, you are here because Gods plan for all three of our lives. You are here because you are OUR SON. You are loved, you are wanted, you are ours. :) We love you Baby C.  We are all waiting for you, we are all excited, we are all praying, We are all in love with you....You are our hope little man :) You are what we want.....You are ours :)

  

A challenge. . . .

   We are challenging all of our friends  and family to give $35 to raise funding for our adoption. If everyone would we could exceed that $5000 and see Jeremy cut his hair and beard!!!!  The hair and beard getting cut is just for fun but  the money is a need. The next step will cost $4650.
 You can donate at this link http://www.gofundme.com/8q2v58
I know $5000 seems unreachable trust me I really do,but $35 doesnt seem that bad?? Cant give the whole $35 no problem, any amount will help us reach this next goal. Cant give at all? We absolutely understand, but please pray for our funding. We know that God has a plan and will supply for this need.

My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

Bye Bye Hair

    If we can raise $5000 Jeremy has agreed to cut his hair and beard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We all know how much needed this is.....

 All the money raised will go towards our adoption. The next step is almost $5000 alone, so yes this fundraiser may be funny but the money is not just for fun its NEEDED.

If you would like to donate and say bye bye hair you can do so a couple different ways.
 To donate online you can use our paypal account jeremymalone@gmail.com

You can also donate online at our go fund me account http://www.gofundme.com/8q2v58.

If you would like to write a check or send cash you can send me a email at stephaniehmalone@gmail.com and I will send you our mailing address.

Please write bye bye hair in the memo.

Thank you for all that you do. Please remember our adoption in your prayers

I want to be His mother.....

 I know its hard to understand when your not in our shoes hearing God whisper adoption and point us in that direction day after day. Thats ok its our calling to answer we know everyone wont agree with it. I want people to know that I want to be his mother.  I know you think im talking crazy and you think what I mean is I want to get pregnant, but nope I want to be "His" mother. God has changed my heart in so many ways that sometimes I feel like im a different person, and I now understand so many things that never made sense before. Others will say that we adopted because we had tried so long to have our own to no avail. I however 100% believe we never got pregnant because  we were suppose to adopt. Im not saying that no one adopts who has biological children we have several friends who have, and oh what a blessing ALL of their children are. I know this is how God has chosen to grow our family. Will we have biological children in the future?? Only God knows the answer to that, I know that if we do others will say that we gave up to soon. Nope wrong again. Baby C was meant to be our first child I believe that with all thats within me. Seriously I am meant to be His mother. And I love Him. How do you love someone you have never met and know nothing about?? I dont know ya'll I cant explain it. I dont know why all I wanna do is protect him and keep him safe. I cant tell you how I long to read him bedtime stories and tuck him in each night. I cant understand myself the feeling that its time for me  to grow up and put myself second. I dont comprehend the way my heart flutters when I simply open the door to the room that will one day be his. All I know is God has placed a desire in my heart to be " His" mother. Not a mother like before, but "His" mother.


I can remember while leaving in Montana feeling God speak to me about adoption. I remember around the same time everytime I turned around someone was preaching about psalm 37:4  (Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.) I thought to myself God is gonna allow me to be a mother I just knew it. Of course at the time I assumed that would mean conceiving . All along I had it all wrong. God wants us to desire what He desires. He wants us to surrender our lives and desire his will for us. Then He will give us those wonderful blessings that end up being exactly the desires of our heart even if we didnt always realize it. He has placed a desire in my heart to love, protect, and care for a little boy in Hong Kong, China. I dont know his age, I dont know his birth given name, I dont know his medical needs, but I know one thing for absolute certain......I want to be His mother.

A update and some answered questions.

           Hey guys just a little update to let you know all is well. We are still waiting to hear back from our home study so no new news there.  We had an amazing photo shoot and cannot wait to share the pictures with you!!! Ivy did a fantastic job and She absolutely captured the joy we feel in  knowing that God chose us to  be our little mans parents. The joy in knowing that our prayers have been answered and although the process will be long and we will have struggles and hurts and in no way will it be easy at the end of this journey is a precious baby boy.  Our precious baby boy. How overwhelming is that?!?!?

         We also have some name reveal photos that we are so excited about. We love the name we have chosen for our son. Some are confused in how we have a name or even know its a boy when we do not yet know our son so here are the answers to those important questions :)

            Obviously Jeremy always wanted a son. I absolutely did not care either way. We were asked by our social worker if we wanted to specify the gender and we both sit there silent not knowing the answer. We had always thought we would just leave it open and be surprised. Obviously knowing that we had no definite answer She told us we didnt have to tell her right then we could talk about it and let her know later. I prayed and prayed because I was dead set on not specifying that was our plan that was always the plan, but I could feel God speaking to me about a son. I dont know why , but I knew in my heart that I would have a son. We decided to specify the gender. That is how we know " its a boy" :) !!!!

   We always wanted to pick a name. When we moved into the house we are renting in Sweetwater (that is a " God story" all in itself ) We moved the refrigerator and found one alphabet magnet. The letter "C" We had already been brain storming names and at the moment we both knew. So we looked at baby names and books and talked and discussed and after many weeks we picked a name.  The decision to not share the name was just something we wanted to do. We wanted that one special secret that just the two of us shared. It has been so special for us to share that with only each other. Making it that much more special when we do share his name with family and friends.

 Why change his name??
Its not because we "wont like His birth given name"  Its just what we have chosen to do. So much will be up in the air until we know Him. Know his name, his age. Then we will be able to make actual decisions, but for now I will let you in on the plan. It all depends on so many things, but we do plan to keep his name. Will it be his first name or his middle name we cant answer that because we dont know. The name we have chosen will be in there somewhere first name, middle name  we will know in time.

He will always have his birth given name in his name, I never ever wanna take that away from him. His past will always be apart of him, we never wanna hide or cover up any of it. We want to celebrate who he is and would never want to change him.I feel  strongly about this and pray that I will always do my best to help him understand the beauty of adoption and the story of how God brought Him to us.

We plan to reveal his name ( the one we have chosen) sometime after we hear back from the home study.    

So keep those prayers coming. Pray that all paperwork will be acceptable and that all is there and accounted for.  Pray that if it be Gods will we would hear "Your home study has been approved "

Thank you for your continued prayer and support.