T and I have decided (finally) that a new blog should be created to facilitate the telling of our story....  It will be about our adoption journey, but it will also be about our daily lives, our marriage, our work, our studies, and our faith.  Who knows what else will come up, but at this point, our journey toward adoption will be one of main topics for writing and posting.  That said, there's lots of other things we like to post about, and our adoption journey will be moving along quite slowly for a while.  The blog wouldn't be too interesting if we only posted when something new happened on the adoption front.  I've begun posting over there already, and I'll stop posting on this site as a result.  Sorry to steer you in another direction, but it just seems to be time for something new.  We're going to try to keep it a secure as possible.  There will be some posts that will be open to "Friends" only.  If you'd like to be a "Friend," establish for yourself a xanga account, and add us as your "Friend." 

I've dedicated our first post to my friend Leah because it's her birthday, so head over there and check it out!

www.xanga.com/tsschubert

I've really been wanting to post a nice, long, informative entry.  Well, it's not going to happen today.  Here's a short update, though.

Last week was insane.  Trev and I packed up all our belongings, loaded most of them in a U-haul truck, and transported them to my parents' house.  Our things now occupy one of their guest rooms, corners of their attic, portions of other rooms....  Basically, we've taken over the parsonage.  The stuff will stay there until the last days of July when we'll load it all up again and drive to Chicago... just to unload it and unpack it in our apartment (yes, we've signed a lease for an apartment near MBI).  After the moving fun, Mom and I took off on a little road trip, driving to Chicago, via Jill & Grady's house in Iowa.  I had 3 interviews lined up with schools in Chicagoland on Monday and Tuesday.  It was a whirlwind trip, but Mom and I had fun.  AND . . . the trip was productive!  Fast forward to Thursday.  I received a call from the principal at Humboldt Community Christian school.  She offered me the job!  I prayed over this decision with Trevor through the weekend, and I called the principal back this morning to accept the offer.  I start August 18!  I will be teaching 6th grade home room and middle school history/geography/Bible!  I'm pretty stoked about this and look forward to all that God has in store for me as I venture into my very own classroom.  On the adoption front:  We've selected an agency for our home study.  We have a bundle of paperwork that we're starting to tredge through.  We'll be meeting with representatives at the agency August 11.  Yeah!!!!  Some things are certainly coming together.  The road ahead is long, and adoptions are currently on hold in Liberia.  They're working on re-writing policy, so.....  Only the Lord knows the plans he has in store for us! 

 This is about a month overdue, but I wanted to post a bit about my birthday.  It was a wonderful day.  Well, the celebrating lasted about a week, and I felt pretty spoiled, but I'm not going to complain about it :)

T had the day off, and he'd asked me earlier what I wanted to do.  There was some mention of driving through the Hills, going wine tasting, hiking around, going out to dinner, etc.  I told him I really wanted to try a restaurant we'd never been to but that I wanted him to pick one and surprise me.  Because the weather was nasty, we eventually opted to stay in town and paint some pottery at a local place called Pottery 2 Paint.  It was so much fun!

After that we went out to eat the The Imperial, a great Chinese restaurant in town.  T bought me flowers - now these weren't just any flowers. They were potted, purple hydrangeas!  They looked just like the ones we had at our wedding.  Even after all the agony associated with flowers leading up to our wedding, they turned out to be so beautiful and quite abundant!!!  I love purple hydrangeas.  Lilies used to be my favorite flower.  And I still like them.  And of course, roses are a lovely classic.  But hydrangeas . . . .   Anyway, T brought them home two days before my birthday to make sure I was surprised.  I was.  They're still sitting on my kitchen table in full bloom even one month after the fact. 

Jeb and Jacqueline gave me a really cool purse I'd seen a week or so before my birthday and wanted so very much!  They heard about it from T and asked him to snag it and wrap it up for my birthday.  I think it is becoming my favorite purse of all time.  I like the bright color and how organized it is.  Notice the Christmas wrap . . . .

I also received a box in the mail from England!!!  It was full of goodies from good friends, Jon & Leah. 

Another box came from Alabama . . . . I was a bit confused about this one until I opened it up.  Sarah was on Spring Break there and sent me some fun things. 

I celebrated again with Mom, Dad, Molly, and Kyle back in Salem while we were visiting over Easter Weekend.  I was very blessed by them and their gifts and personal touches.  Molly's cake was delicious! 

What do I want for my 24th birthday?  To have my baby home and in my arms!  It's hard for me to imagine that actually happening, but only God knows if it will, how it will, when it will.  I was really feeling how empty my arms are while I was in church on Sunday.  We were surrounded by mothers and fathers and their babies.  Looking down  from the balcony, I could see two little Liberian boys hoisted on their parents' hips.  They serve as a frequent reminder to me of the journey God is taking us on.  Have I always wanted to be a mother by age 24?  No.  Certainly not.  When T and I recited our wedding vows on July 7, did we expect to have 3 or 4 years alone before bringing children into our family?  Yes.  Before December 3, 3007, had I ever expected to embark on a journey of adoption with Africa being the continent of my heart's focus?  No.  Am I unhappy living here without my little one now that I know the things I do?  No.  I love this place, this moment we're in.  T and I get to have "date nights"  almost 4 nights a week.  Really, whenever he's not at work is a date night for us.   I am free to serve in our church, helping with the youth group and special events.  We are able to help other couples by watching their kids while they go out for some time "alone together."  I like this stage so much that sometimes I feel like I could live in this stage many many years and be so very happy!  We both know we have some growing up to do, some things to learn, before God makes us a Mommy and a Daddy.  And we pray for this growth - for opportunities and experiences that will help us become the parents God wants us to be.  But we feel bonded to a certain little some one who is some where out there in the world.  We pray that the Lord provides some one to be there for that little person right now while we can't.  We pray that someone is there when our little one wakes up crying in the night.  We pray against things like "bugs in the water" and other things that might hurt our child.  Only the Lord knows where our prayers are being answered and how they're being answered.  Only the Lord knows when we'll get to be the ones to hear the sounds our child makes.  To be the ones to respond to the cries, to comfort, to meet all the needs that Mommies and Daddies are expected to meet.  Lately, I've been waking up more often during the night.  The silence seems a little out of place.  It always reminds me to pray.  Someday, I hope the sounds I hear in the night will prompt my heart toward prayers of praise and thanksgiving for the little miracle I hear in the next room. 

-Steph

P.S.  Posts soon coming about smoothies, Easter, and a Newsboys concert. 

P.P.S.  Thanks for praying!  The interview went well.  I should hear something by Thursday.