What a weekend

Well Memorial Day has come and gone in a flash. We were busy as Im sure many of you were. We went with Regroup to Devils Lake WI on friday and got home late sat.It was fun, but as usual i was ready to be home.

Sunday we had a relaxing day at home. We went to breakfast with my parents, a usual event for a sunday morning. Then Josh and I went to church, aslo a regular activity. We did some georcy shopping and rented movies. The reast of the night was quiet.

Monday my dad had his first race of the season. He has a Honda S2000, which he has modified, and he races is at BlackHawk racetrack in south beloit. He has been doing it for a few years now, and loves it. I have grown up with racing, before he started racing his soprts car he race go carts until he got into an accient and broke his wrist and 3 ribs. Well unfortunatly he got into a nother accident this weekend. He is fine, he had his helmat and harness on (including a fire suit, but there was no fire). His car took a bad beating, but nothing that cant be fixed. e said his back end started to slide sideways, he corrected slightly and ended up heading face first into the gaurd rail. YUCK. I have pictures and will post them later.

On a happier note, we sent out round one of Foster Parenting paperwork! Keep praying!

Vacation

I NEED a vacation. Anyone want to take me? I am thinking a carribean island, like Grand Caymen (my most favorite place in the world). I think im going to have to do some investigating and try to convince Josh. Anyone wanna come with? Till then, I will be thanful for the weather the Lord provides and try to be thanful for the beautiful state of Illinois... ugh.

NKOTB

New Kids on the Block have made a reunion! My life is now complete. They are on the Today show right now and let me tell you, they suck. Why do groups try to get their career going again? It is clearly not going to work for New Kids On the Block. I used to love them, but man. Turn it off, and go back to being had beens. Yuck

Step 2

The past few days have been great. Josh and I told his mom and dad and we are waiting to inform the rest of the family on mothers day. Since this will impact the ENTIRE family, we feel it was important to include everyone and open up discussion about it. So far, everyone has been super supportive. The only concern is about having to give the children back. I agree, this will be the most difficult part, but I also know there are more children who need a loving christian home, even if its only for a few months. We are also hoping to get a baby who will be eligible for adoption. We would love to adopt, so, keep that in your prayers.

Here are a list of prayer requests, if you get a chance please pray over this list. Thank you all for you support and love through this. When we get our first placement we will have a big party for you all to meet him or her!

*Pray that Josh and I contiune to seek God will in this situation.

*Pray for the agency we are working with

*Pray that the process goes smoothly and we get approved.

PS. Here is a link of the agency we are going through. http://www.evancfa.org/index.htm

Children in need

May is national foster care month. Since Josh and I are in the begining stages of getting certified to become foster parents, I figured I would give you all a few statistics. I found them on Fostercaremonth.org. Check out the websit if you get a chance.

*16,272 children were in the foster care system in illinois on January 31, 2007.
*52% of those children were male and 38% female
*half a million children were in forster care as of sep. 30,2006


There is a HUGE need for foster parents in Illinois. Josh and I are so excited to get our first placement and to start this amazing chapter in ourlives. The process takes about 90 days. So about 3 months from now we will be expecting our first child! Please join us in praying for the future children to be placed in our home. Pray the God gives Josh and I the knowledge and patience to be foster parents. Ask the Lord to make us a blessing tho many child who will then go on the bless others.

This is going to be a difficult path, but we want you all to join us. And be praying for ways you can help. These children are our future, make a difference in their lives and change the world. It will be rewarding!!

Happy Foster Care Month!

April showers....

Bring May flowers!!!! I love tulips and they are all starting to bud!! This makes me so happy, May is my most favorite month of the year and I cant believe it is already here. Josh and I have a very busy month. He finally finishes his night classes. I will get to see my husband before 10:30 at night on tuesdays. We are planning on going out of town for a night at the very end of the month to devils lake. We need to get the pool opened and ready for summer and swimming. I have to work a few weekends and I am sure more stuff will come about.

Still no word from the organization we are planning on working with for foster care. I am very anxious to get this started. People think we are crazy when i tell them we are doing this. They don't understand our heart for hurting children and our love for helping. My family is very supportive and also excited to see what happens. Josh and I are keeping our options open and praying for a child who can be adopted. This is something i have ALWAYS wanted to do and with a ton of prayer and guidence from others we feel it is the perfect time. Josh has taken a little longer to really jump in, but he thinks he is ready now. Josh is the planner and I am the type that just follows her heart and doesnt really question the things God wants me to do. That is one of the biggest differences in us and we are learning to deal with it in eachother. We will be married 3 years this summer and we are still learning so much out about eachother. Keep us in your prayers and we will keep you updated!!

What a Week

What a week it has been. I started working and I love it! The people are great and the hours are great! I couldn't be more happy.

Even more exciting than work is that Josh and I are starting the process to become foster parents. We are so excited! I will keep you updated. Other than that not to much going on. My grandma turns 80 this weekend. A little girl I used to babysit for has an ice show (she ice skates) and we are going to that. Hopfully we will have time to see our best friends. Who knows.

Answered Prayers...Part 2

God is always working in my life and i often forget that. However this past week has been AWESOME! I went to regroup on wed. night last week and met a lot of super nice people. I was and am so excited about the relationships that are going to be cultivated there. That is a HUGE blesing in itself.

As you know I have not had a job since January and have been frantically looking for one over the past few months. I have tried every aspect of the Job world to no avail. It has been a difficults few months for josh and I going down to one paycheck (well his second job brought in a little money but not much). Josh recently decided to quit his second job to be able to attend regroup with me. We were worried about that drop in income again, but knew God would provide! And He has!

I met a girl at regroup last week and she called me this weekend (i still dont know how she got my number). She said that her mom was looking for someone to work with her company, and if i was interested. So after a few hpone calls and prayer, I have a interview today at one! I am soo thnkful and cant wait to see what else the Lord has planned for me.

Ps. I also met a lady at church on sunday who works for a company as a case manager for foster parents. She gave me a number to call about becomming forster parents! YEAH! God is realy at work in our lives!

Answered Prayers

Well tonight Josh and I are going to dinner with someone from ReGroup. ReGroup is the young adult group at our church. I have always wanted to go, but they meet on wed. nights and Josh works that night. I didn't want to go alone, not knowing anyone. Anyways, I got a phone call last night from a Lady from ReGroup who wanted to meet us for dinner. That way when I go on Wed. I will know someone. Very nice. It might be a little strange eating dinner with a complete stranger, but I am Pray that it will go well and a new friendship might be made. This is something we have bee praying for for a while now, and happy that the Lord answered prayers!

The weather is finally getting nice and the grass is turning green! YEAH. I feel like summer is so far away but I know it is comming soon.

Framends Forever...with a new addition

Well it is starting to sink in that my best friends are going to be parents. I cant help but be excited and worried. How is our friendship going to change? Is it going to change? SHe was my maid of honor and I was hers. He was Joshes best man and Josh was his. We are the 4 amigos and soon there will be a new member. I know that things are going to change, they have to. They now will have a ton of responibility and a child who will depend on them for every need. Crazy how things change. Dont get me wrong, i could not be more excited for them and happy, but I am scared. I know God is faithful and I am trying to put my faith in Him.

Baby??

Yes there is a baby on the way, but not for me. My very best friend is pregnant!!!!! Can you tell I am excited?!?! I dont even think excited is the word, actually, there is no work that can describe my feelings right now. Just amazed.

She is at least 20 weeks and is expecting in Aug sometime. I can not believe it. In november I had a dream that she was pregnant. I called her and she insisted that she wasnt. Later that month she missed her period and I told her to take a test, it came back negative. Not pregnant. As the months proceeded, she gained a little weight and started peing a lot. She pees a lot anyways so no one really thought anythingof it. On vacation she was say she had stomach pain and deided to make a doc. appointment. Around 9 i got the phone call and a text message of the sonogram picture!! Ahhh...then she told me how far a long she was and I was shocked. My dream was right. I am now 2 for 2, who will i dream about next?!?! haha

Needless to say her and her husbands family are thrilled and can wait to be aunts, uncles and grandparents. Its going to be an exciting next few months and God will really be work in their lives as the prepare for parenthood. The gift of life is amazing and a true blessing.

I pray that the Lord wraps His arms around them and gives them the knowledge they will need. I pray that He esaes their worries and provided them with overflowing amounts of love for eachother and the baby. Continue to mold the baby into a Child of God. Keep it healthy and let it grow big and strong. I pray that the baby is big in love for you, big in spirit, big in love and big in joy. Thank you for the blessing of love and friendship. I ask that you help Josh and I to have the right words to say, let us be a strong sholder for them to lean on. Thank you for this amazing little baby and its praents. Amen.

Health

Around Christmas time I was experiencing some health issues. I was sick to say the least and had been on 12 different medications over a 3 month period. The doc. didnt know what was wrong, and all I knew that I was tired of coughing and feeling horrible. After a series of doc visits and 4 ches x-rays they finally found something. A spot on my left lung. THe continued to give me medications to try, but nothing was clearning the sopt up, in fact it was getting bigger. They ecided to send me to the hospital for a CT scan. I began to panic, thinking I had lung cancer. I have never smoked and didn't think the possibility of getting lung cancer exisited. However, the docs still didnt know. I did my CT scan hoping for the best. About 2 days later we wer told that the docs still didnt know what was going on. I was instruced to come back for another ct scan in 3 months. Well we are comming up on the 3 months and I am sooooo nervous. I will keep you all updated!

Is summer ever comming?

I am begining to think that summer will never come. A few seconds ago I was looking out the window at the pool. I was day dreaming about the big pool party we are planning this summer and i realized that it is almost April and we still are waiting for a nice weekend. Today it is raining cats and dogs, and our sump pump has been going off consistantly for the last 3 hours. The down spouts on the house are overflowing and the yard looks like a swamp. Can you tell I am ready for summer? Josh and I are planning a few hikeing trips this summer and I cant wait for nice weather to start training. Lord please send some nice weather our way!!

Vacation

We are home and safe after a long journey to Branson MO and back. The drive went well and we arrived in Branson safe around 6 pm. We unloaded the car and checked our condo. It was very nice and overlooking Table Rock Lake. We enjoyed our week,if you ask me it ended all to soon. We laughed a lot and enjoyed spending time with our best friends. Some highlights of the week were Josh and Will getting called on stage to dance at Island Fire. Jim Stafford sharing Amanda and I's funniest momment to the world. Acrobats of China amazed me with their flexability. Playing tennis and being amazed by Joshes super human strength. Last but not lears our trip to the top of the St.Louis arch, absolutly terrifing!Its good to be home and getting back into the swing of life. Josh headed back to work today and I am still looing for a job. Please pray that the Lord provides me with a job soon, money is getting tight and soon we will be in over our heads. God works in different ways and we are being challanged daily to remail faithful that he will provide. Human nature is to worry and doubt but I need to keep remembering that the Lord will provide for us. Please continue to pray. I will keep you updated.PS. Josh is almost done with his Masters Degree!!! What a blessing, he is currently seeking "whats next" pray that he can finish strong and prepare for his Action Research Presentation!!Thank you for your friendship, the Lord has blessed us with AMAZING friends!!

Cleaning house

This past weekend Josh and I preformed "operation end of winter clean." We spent most of the day sat. cleaning. We even touched up the paint that had chipped off. The walls look fresh and the floor shines like new. I hate cleaning, but i love the feeling of a clean house. We bought new rugs and 2 new light fixtures. Oh the joys of home ownership. I can't wait to tackel the basement this summer and have the mother of all garage sales!!

Church Life

After Josh and I got married and move an hour away from everything we knew, we began to look for a new church home. We had always gone to the same church and the process offinding a new one seemed exhausting. Over our first year of marriage we attended many different churches trying to find the one that God wanted us to serve at. After many prayers and discussions with eachother and friends we decided the Harvest Bible Chapel of Rockford was the place for us. We have been there a year now and still are having trouble fining relatioships there. At our old church we knew everyone and everyone knew us. Here we know no one.
After we joined, Josh decided to go back to school and I also decided to go back to school. THis limited our connection to church. We just simply didn't have time to get involved. Now that Josh is comming to the end of school we can start thinking about getting nvoloved. Please pray that the Lord places strong christian friendships in our lives and that He creates time to get involved.

Life as a Horton

This is where we call home. After Josh and I got married we moved here and began our life together as Mr. and Mrs. Horton. Life as a young married couple and a homeowner has proven to have its own difficulties. But we the strength of the Lord we have made it almost 3 years and are still going strong. We live in a VERY small town just north of Belvidere, Illinois. We have no stoplights, no fast food, no georcy store...nothing. However, we have a simple life here and would not change it for the world. God have provided us with great neighbors and recently brought my parents to their dream house only a mile away. Life here has been a true blessing and one we try not to take for granted.

I am getting ahead of myself. Josh and I had been dating for 5 years before we got engaged. Yep, we were high school sweethearts. We went to different schools and met on a church retreat.

A lot happened from the time we got engaged and when we got married. Josh graduated college and I graduated from Cosmetology school. The Lord had many adventures planned for us during that year. He was really shaping us into His image. Our engagement flew by and soon is was July 17,2005 the big day. It was hot, I am talking fry an egg on the sidewalk hot. But we were excited. All of our family and friends were there to celebrate. It was a perfect day.

We have now been married 2.5 years and are getting excited about what the future holds. Josh is about to finish his Masters of Education. I am currently in my last year of school. I am getting my BA in Human Services. My dream is to work for an adoption agency and help children find loving families.

What does the future hold for us? We are waiting for the Lord to show us. We are praying He blesses us with a child this year and continues to grant us good health. We are also praying that the Lord places new friendships in our lives. We feel we have a lot to learn and pray that God will provide us with srtong Christian relationships. Join us in prayer, 2008 is going to be a GREAT year and we can wait to see what the Lord has planned!

-Erin