The Next Leg of The Journey

It's been a year since I was actively blogging. It's been two years since I last announced that we were ready to pursue adoption again. It's been six years since Rob and I first began our adoption journey.

Our road to adoption hasn't been a clear, straight path. Early in our engagement, Rob and I were convicted that adoption should play a role in our family. We were surprised and blessed to get pregnant right away, and our fertility has played a large role in the ups and downs of our adoption journey.

We weren't eligible for international adoption because our pregnancies have all been close together, and now we cannot realistically afford it. A sibling group of children was placed with a different family after the agency learned that we (their first choice for the children) were expecting another baby. We stopped our training with an adoption agency three years later after learning about our unplanned fourth blessing. And our quick move and job change out of county closed the door on our fourth attempt at adoption.

The Lord is faithful and He has a plan that it bigger than our own. Four boys, seminary training, several moves, a new ministry that we are settling into, and 7 1/2 years of marriage have changed us. It is growing us and making us better equipped for the adoption challenge.

I've been reluctant to announce that we are trying again because all of our past attempts have not resulted in an adoption placement.

However, it is with great hope that we let our friends and family know that we have gotten back onto the horse. We found an amazing agency and caseworker that have been willing to do the training at our pace, in our home, and surrounding our busy schedule (PTL)!!! We have completed our 21 hours of training and received our certificate. We will have a home inspection next week and then finish up the last odds and ends. We are hopeful that we may be matched with an adoption placement within the next few months!

Since we are going through the state, we will be required to "foster" the children in our home for six months before an adoption hearing can be scheduled. But, Lord willing, there will be another precious child or two in the Broussard family next year!

Please keep our family in your prayers as we continue to prepare. There are a few more steps that need to be taken before our license can be issued. Additionally, pray as we prepare our hearts and our children for the addition of other kiddos.

The older ones are very excited and keep asking if we have found any kids that need a family yet. They also have decided that they want a sister since they "already have plenty of brothers." We'll see what the Lord has in store on that front. :)

Pray also for the children that we will bring into our family. By the time they change goals from reunification with their birth families to an adoption placement with a forever family, their young, tender hearts have likely endured abuse, neglect, counseling or therapies, and being shifted into various foster families as needed. These children need healing, safety, unconditional love, and to rebuild their childhood.

It's an awesome undertaking, but we feel equipped to invest in these children and are willing to walk alongside them in their own journeys.

I know that I will have a fuller understanding of what my adoption into the family of Christ means as a result of this. I pray that the children that come into our life will begin to feel God's immense love and compassion for them as well!

Thanks for walking with us and encouraging us all along the way!

Christmas Letter 2012

Season's Greetings from sunny Ajo (pronounced ah-hoe), AZ! Our family has had quite a year of transition. In February, Rob was called to serve as the Senior Pastor of Ajo Calvary Baptist Church in a little, rural, desert town with a population of about 3,000. It's been a big change from life in the city. We used to think living in San Tan Valley was rural back when we were in East Valley Phoenix. But this little town of Ajo has one red light (which isn't really necessary), one grocery store, 6 restaurants, no drive-thrus, 3 gas stations, one closed copper mine, a local newspaper which is still the primary place to get community information, a handful of churches (one for each major denomination), a pool and two parks. You can easily bicycle from anywhere in town to anywhere in town. We don't have a hospital but are blessed with a community clinic. The population increases by 2/3 each winter when a large number of snowbirds descend upon the town. Many businesses are only open in the winter and even the grocery store diversifies the products they stock when our northern visitors come back to town.

Needless to say we have had our fair share of adjustments to make. When we first accepted the position, I stocked up on all kinds of pantry and toilettry supplies, invested in a well-equipped first aid kit, and bumped up our AAA plan to the platinum level. I felt so far from civilization! In reality, it's only 1 1/2-2 hours to get into Phoenix, so we plan our Walmart and Costco carefully. and are thankful to have Rob's family still so close for regular visits!

The church family at Ajo Calvary has warmly welcomed our family. They've been so generous and gracious during our transition and are hugely supportive of Rob's ministry and the needs of our family. Down here, your friends are your family, and while we did go through culture shock, we quickly found that there were amazing people walking with us on this journey and we were anything but isolated and alone.

Rob was ordained as a minister in April 2012. At the ordination service, he also baptized our oldest two boys who made professions of faith this year! What an exciting and humbling time as a parent! The highlight of the baptism was watching our 4 year old, Luc, scoot his way out from behind the curtain along the ledge of the baptismal pool to catch a glimpse of the congregation, only to lose his balance and dunk himself prematurely :) We have a video of that moment but it is something I will never forget. So funny.

Seminary graduation happened in May, which brought Rob great relief from the pressure of balancing school and work. But he and I both miss the classroom environment, learning from wise professors, and savoring the friendships that were made while cramming for a Greek final and running on high levels of caffeine. We are both hoping that we can do some doctoral work together one day.

I am staying very busy as well. I work with the Children's Ministry at church at least 2-3 times a month. When we joined the church the number of children in Children's ministry nearly doubled. We have experienced quite a bit of growth since then, and our children's department has expanded to 3 classes. An awesome young couple joined the church at the same time we did. They came with a heart to start a youth ministry, which delighted us! We wanted to start a youth ministry as well, but neither of us had enough time to adequately lead it. Now Rob and I get to play a support role in a dynamic group of teens called CrossTrain who are being led by a capable team.  When the vision was cast, we had no teenagers in our church. Each Wednesday night now, we have about 10 students learning about God, being invested in by great adults, and building solid friendships. We are hoping to start a Coffee House out of the church to be run in large part by the youth. And if you know my love for all things espresso, you know how this plan delights my heart! I also became a Pampered Chef consultant this fall and am thankful for the opportunity to be a part of a great company and spend time working outside the house in a fun way!

Homeschooling the boys this year has brought new rewards and challenges. Marc-Andre is in 1st grade and reading very well now. He loves math and regularly begs for extra math lessons instead of his other book work. Luc is in Kindergarten and is flying through the lessons. He had the advantage of listening and participating in a lot of Marc-Andre's Kindergarten work last year, and so he is very confident with the matierial. We have been supplementing his studies with the 1st grade math and some world history to help keep it challenging. I am excited that next year we will begin a learning rotation which will have them doing a lot of work together. This will help me as their teacher a lot! We also tend to do a lot of schooling during naptime now that Mathieu and Josef are more active and vocal. It's hard to school when they want to be in the middle of everything! But it has it's advantages too, because they are enthusiastic about learning and want one-on-one time with Mom too. So I do alphabet songs, color and letter games, and a lot of storybook reading to the young ones.

Our family project has been a garden/greenhouse/chicken coop installation. Our first attempt at gardening was quite unsuccessful. We were not prepared for the local javalinas that get into everything: digging up gardens, knocking over garbage cans, and eating compost. We are thankful for local friends who have the gardening experience and know-how to help us fortify our yard, plan our site, and develop a garden that will sustainably produce vegetables and fruits for our family. Armed with a plan and better resources, we have broken ground and are making progress in the backyard! Being able to garden almost year-round is a huge advantage to desert living!

The boys have kept busy too. The local Community Center offers free sports leagues for school-age children. MA and Luc have participated in both t-ball and soccer here. All of them love that we live on a quiet street so they can spend a lot of time riding around on their bikes. Mathieu learned to ride with training wheels this year and the two older boys, who have been riding with two wheels for over a year now, were proud to graduate up to larger big boy bikes. They also officially have a Boys bunk room at the house. We have acquired two sets of bunkbeds and will soon be transitioning Josef into the big kid room! And I am very excited to only have one boy left in diapers! There is a light at the end of the tunnel and we are excited to be transitioning into a new phase of parenthood with our growing, active kiddos!

God is growing us all and we feel so blessed to be on this Kingdom journey, raising our boys to love the Lord and offering the hope of Christ to our community! This Christmas we are rejoicing as we celebrate the birth of Jesus our Savior! Praying a meaningful, joyful, and love-filled Holy-day for you and your family!

With love,

Rob, Mary, Marc-Andre, Luc, Mathieu, and Josef Broussard

Broussard Family Christmas Letter

Christmas 2011

Another Christmas season is upon us, and I think it is helpful to have Christmas so closely follow Thanksgiving, since we have all just been able to reflect upon our abundant blessings.

The biggest change for us this year, is the adorable little guy sitting on Rob’s lap in our family Christmas photo. Josef Daniel Broussard joined our band of boys on June 10, 2011. He has been a delightful addition to our family, full of smiles and absolutely endearing with his “baby bird” hair that sticks straight up in the air. He is a happy baby and his brothers are smitten with their newest playmate.

Rob has had a very busy year. He bought a commercial cleaning franchise last year and has worked very hard to build the business, adding contracts and employees at a steady rate. While it required a huge amount of sweat and sleepless nights at the beginning, we have been so blessed to have him home more than he has ever been able to since starting seminary. He gets to spend his days with the family and is usually home in time to tuck the boys into bed at night! This has given him much more time to dedicate to his studies and to invest in and expand his ministries.

Mary has her hands full as a stay-at-home mommy to the four young boys, but she wouldn’t trade her job for anything in the world. She is homeschooling the oldest boys and has found it so rewarding to witness her children starting to read and helping them memorize Scripture. She looks for opportunities to do lots of hands-on learning and field trips with the kids. She is active in the Preschool ministry at church and recently submitted a proposal for remodelling the Preschool wing, which will allow her to use her love of painting to create murals in each classroom for the kids to enjoy.

Marc-Andre is an active and inquisitive Kindergartener who regularly surprises friends and family with facts and vocabulary that is advanced for his age. He loves soccer and has enjoyed learning how to ice skate at a hockey clinic this fall. He is a fabulous big brother and very attentive and caring with his siblings. He turned 5 in September and celebrated with a LEGO birthday party and a special trip to Legoland with Luc and his Nana and Poppy Broussard.

Luc, while in preschool, has done an impressive job of keeping up with his brother’s Kinder curriculum and is learning phonics and starting to read just like Marc-Andre! He and his brother learned to swim this summer and both boys learned to ride bikes without training wheels this year. Luc loves learning about great white sharks and is frequently seen donning his superman cape and boots, defending good and defeating bad guys.

Mathieu is growing up fast and is excited to be included in “big kid” activities. He is regularly found on the heels on his big brothers and cousins. He now sleeps in the big boy bedroom, is learning and using new words at a rapid rate, and appears to be giving Luc a run for his money as the most adventurous, dare-devil Broussard brother. He is diving head-first into his Twos, excercising his will and wanting to do everything by himself and his own way. We are bracing ourselves for a whirlwind year!

This coming year will bring some exciting changes. We look forward with great anticipation to Rob’s seminary graduation. He is already sending his resume everywhere, and it is exciting to think that at this time next year we could literally be anywhere in the world! Or we could be right here. We are doing our best to be at peace with the unknown and are putting our trust in God’s plan, knowing that He already has the details taken care of!

Thank you for your love and friendship! We wish you a very Merry Christmas!!!!

Celebrating the Birth of Jesus Christ,

The Broussards

Rob, Mary, Marc-Andre (5), Luc (4), Mathieu (22 mo) and Josef (6 mo)

The Sleepy Swaddle

Inspired by my little Houdini who always manages to wiggle out of his swaddle blanket, I tried something new in an attempt to get some much needed rest. The result was 8 1/2 hours of uninterrupted sleep by my almost 3 month old from 10:30 pm until 7 am! Perfect! So I thought I'd share this little trick with you in the hope that is provides you with some extra shut-eye as well!

I use Swaddle Designs swaddling blankets, but any good sized receiving blanket would do. In fact, hop on over to your local fabric store and pick up a yard of your favorite lightweight cotton flannel or jersey knit and serge or zigzag stitch the edges of a 3 ft square and voila! The perfect swaddling blankie!

Start by centering your infant along one edge of the blanket, with his head laying above and clear of the fabric.

Bring baby's arms down by his side. Take one of the top corners of the blanket over baby's arm on that side, and tuck fabric under your infant.

Do the same thing to the other arm using opposite corner of the blanket.

Take the two bottom corners of blanket that are free and spread them wide.

Fold them up over baby, keeping fabric under his chin and clear of his face.

One at a time, tuck corners under baby! 

There you have it! A wiggle-proof swaddling method that will have your infant sleeping more soundly at night! Hooray!

Here is my little guy, almost 3 months old, waking up after 8 1/2 hours of solid sleeping! Yay!

A Mommy To BOYS!!!!

Life is full of adventure.  We recently welcomed our FOURTH BOY into our happy family. He was a surprise gift from the Lord, created specifically to bless our lives and lovingly entrusted into our care.

Having four kids in five years can feel a little overwhelming. Birthing four BOYS was something I could have never prepared myself for. This mommy was the girliest sister in a family of all girls. When I dreamed about being a mom, I always envisioned daughters, complete with tea parties, hair bows, and tutus.

I remember being at the 20 week ultrasound for my first child. I could see it before the ultrasound tech confirmed the news: we were having a boy. Of course I knew there was some chance that we might possibly have a boy, but I was flooded with a wave of fear and insecurity as I started to process the reality. What do you do with a boy? Deep breath, big smile (your husband has, after all, determined a name, envisioned a hockey team, and made half a dozen phone calls while you have sat trying to picture yourself with a son).

What is the relationship between a mommy and her son? I had NO idea. I only had sisters and I had only watched my mother parent girls. Boys play sports, boys get dirty, boys wrestle and play rough, boys don't care what they wear, boys play with bugs, boys are good at math and science. Boys look at their daddy as a hero. How do I, the mommy, fit into their world? How do I relate to a boy?

It started to occur to me after we learned that are third child was yet another boy, that perhaps God was calling me to parent boys! :) Perhaps, even though I didn't feel prepared for the calling, the Lord had been preparing this girly girl for such an undertaking her whole life.

So it really came as no surprise to me at all when baby #4 was male. It felt complete. Two pairs of brothers. They would always have a playmate, be able to share everything, challenge each other, and hopefully become the best of friends.

The true significance of this family dynamic is not the laundry, the grocery bill, the cuts and bruises, or the fact that we could start our own sports league. The weight of this calling is much greater.

God has chosen ME, over any other woman, together with my husband, to raise these boys to be men that will fear the Lord; be Godly husbands, fathers, and church leaders; have a strong work ethic, a compassionate heart; be defenders of the weak, respectful of women, and positive contributors in society.

This is no small task, and it is certainly humbling. It is not something I want to approach lightly or with any hint of contempt. It is an awesome role to be the Mommy to a boy. Having boys doesn't mean that I have to lose my femininity; it means that I must embrace it because my boys will learn how to regard and treat women based on how I conduct myself and how I relate to my husband. Having boys doesn't mean that I have an inferior role in the parenting task; it means that I must be even more intentional and more teachable and more dependent on God for guidance. Having boys doesn't mean that my home should be without beauty; it means that I must teach my children about stewardship of our home.

Having boys also means that God wants to challenge me and bless me in unexpected ways. It means that I stop and investigate the strange (dare I say, beautiful) bug that we find in the bathroom. It means I learn to sew superhero capes and dinosaur tails for dress-up rather than princess clothes. It means that I have to sit back and hold my tongue as my adventurous 2 year old makes it all the way up a rock-climbing wall unassisted. It means that I am the only princess that my husband gets to spoil. It means that when I need a girls night, he goes out of his way to make sure that can happen. It means that I get to give my boys the opportunity to not only excel in math, science, and sports, but I also get privilege of exposing them to art, music, cooking, dancing, and reading.

When my boys get married, they will know how to be gentlemen. When they are fathers, they will know how to be tender. When they are confronted, they will know how to listen. They will know this because they had a feminine mother. Sure, they will be adventurous, strong, protective, and disciplined. They will be all boy, but they will be well-rounded boys because they had a mother and a father that invested in their character.

We get asked all the time if we are going to try for a girl. All I know is that adoption is still on the horizon for us. Whether or not God will chose to enlarge our family with more boys or by adding some girls to the mix, I have no idea. But for now I am truly content to love on my little men, and am willing to answer the call to shape them into the men God planned for them to be.

Christmas Prayers

I love Christmas and the entire holiday season. I love the music, the decorations, the food, and the traditions.

I just finished sewing Mathieu's stocking a few weeks ago. Our stockings are one of my favorite family traditions, started by my great grandmother, and carried on by my entire side of the family. Each is hand made and has the name cross-stocked across the center. When we add a new member to the family, either by birth or by marriage, 3-4 stockings must be made for that person in order to ensure that my mother and grandmother have our family completely represented along their fireplace mantles each year.

As I was making the stockings for Mathieu, I couldn't help but wonder what the stocking would look like for the new baby? What color would it be and what name would I stitch on it? We will answer some of those questions next month following our 20 week ultrasound!

I started to wonder how many other stockings would eventually be added to our fireplace? What children had yet to join our family?

Since I am fairly confident that this is my final pregnancy, I started imagining what the faces, ages, nationalities, and genders would be of our adopted children. I wondered if they had already been born.

I feel this overwhelming urgency to gather all of my children into my home where I will know that they are safe and cared for. What will Christmas look like this year for the children that We have yet to adopt? Will they receive a gift? Will they learn about Jesus' birth? Will they feel safe, have a bed, or experience love this holiday?

Lord, I pray for the orphans and all the children in foster care. I pray for the ones that you have chosen to join our home one day. I pray that they would be protected. I pray that they would experience You this Christmas. I pray for loving Christians to help meet their needs.

God, give us wisdom, patience, and endurance as we walk this long road toward adoption. Use our time of waiting to teach and transform us.

Thank you for sending your own Son, a helpless Babe, to walk in our midst and sacrifice Himself, so that we might be forgiven and be called the adopted children of God. Thank you for making a Way for us to be a part of Your forever family.

Clear Answers and New Directions

I'm embarrassed that it has been a month and a half since I last posted a blog on this site. Truthfully, I have mentally "written" several posts that just never made it onto the computer. Part of me has a lot to say, and a part of me has had a lot to process.

Most of my blog readers also follow me on Facebook. You are aware of our latest BIG SURPRISE and many of you are wondering how that will affect our journey toward adoption.

I will back up and fill in the gaps. In September, I blogged about life throwing you curveballs and how Rob and I have been in prayer regarding growing our family. Our hearts both equally desire for adoption to play a part in our family growth plan. We believe it is a special calling and we are unified in our hope to add children into our home in that way one day.

We also have limited means and resources. It would be foolish to fill our home to capacity if we were unable to fill the needs of each family member in it. We always want to be good stewards of that which has been entrusted to us, and we really work hard to make smart choices with regards to our finances and giving.

With those two things in mind, we had been actively praying for God to direct us with regards to family planning (both biological and adoptive). Birth control has been a tough subject. We had health and ethical concerns with many of our options, and had made an appointment with our OB to discuss a plan so that we could pursue adoption fully for the amount of time it took to bring a child or children into our home.

Ours prayers on the subject were fervent, but I remember telling Rob that I didn't expect a clear answer from God as to which birth control method to choose, but felt like He would honor our prayerful and informed approach to whatever choice we ultimately made.

Days before our appointment, I was standing on the bathroom scale, frustrated that all of my treadmill training was producing zero results and hoping for my period to just start so that I could lose this water weight and be ready for our OB appt to start whatever birth control method we decided upon. Then I started doing the math. 1, 2, ...5 weeks. Hmm. Impossible because we had abstained for a week surrounding my ovulation. But still.......

I put off buying the test for a day, because I KNEW I couldn't possibly be pregnant....again. Then off to the Dollar Tree (because, oh yes, you can buy them there for a dollar), and while I'm at it some glow sticks for the boys, and some helmets for their Army of God outfits. I bought three tests, again assuming that they could be for future late months, but truly believing the second pink line would not appear.

The next morning, the results were vague. Ever so slight pink line. In my head I knew that was positive, but I wasn't willing to make the call until that pink line was dark and undeniable. Two days later, on October 2, my husband got a text message: "It's official. Second pink line."

Really, Lord, so soon? I have a half marathon in a month!!!!! We want to adopt! We don't have insurance!

Rob came home that evening, with a dozen red roses. "We got our clear answer," he beamed. It was true. God answered quite clearly, but not the way I was expecting at all.

I called the Dr and switched the "nature" of my appointment to prenatal. I felt embarrassed going in pregnant again 8 months after Mathieu. Why???? I'm the biggest advocate that children are a blessing! We always said we wanted 4 biological children. I wanted a sibling closer in age to Mathieu. But I had already given up that reality as we prepared to devote our attention to adoption instead.

I also had trouble letting the reality of being pregnant sink into my heart. At my appointment, I asked my OB to schedule me for the earliest ultrasound appointment possible. I couldn't bond with the idea of it, until I saw the little life (which also calmed my fears of another miscarriage). She scheduled me for the next week.

"You're not as far along as you thought," the tech told me. "Only 6 1/2 weeks." Well, that explained how I was pregnant, I thought to myself. There wasn't much to see, just a little white blob. But that little blob had a fully formed beating heart which I got to hear during the sonogram. Life is truly a miracle!

She printed off a little black and white photo, handed me a CD, and said congratulations! I walked back to the waiting room with such a big smile on my face. It was finally real. I was going to have another baby after all. Mathieu was going to be a big brother, and God gave us the gift of a fourth child and with it the promise of provision for yet another.

The call to adoption is still there. The timing is once again uncertain. But for now we rejoice in the beautiful children entrusted into our care. What an honor and a joy to think about who this new little person is that God went to great lengths to ensure made it into the world and into our family! We love you already, Baby Broussard #4!