The barn is changing, both inside and out. At the beginning of the year, it was much more quiet, and somewhat more clean. Fast forward a few months, and four Icelandic sheep later… the barn has life again. Of course yall already know, who the ring leader is in this circus… We have adapted a fun little routine with this little crew, to a point –all we do is just open up the certain doors and they know exactly what to do. If you haven’t met our little crew, we have of course the world famous Grace the Sheep, we also have two boys, (no-names still), we just call them the boys. One of the boys is a weather, and the other a ram, and the ram has a beautiful pair of horns.
Over the past few weeks, there has been a little turmoil in the barn, as we need to keep Grace and the boys separate for a few months, if you know what I mean. Well Grace not terribly attached to the boys, still did not like having doors in her way… This perfectly fine functioning old barn door was the poor victim of a Grace that was going to get her way…
It is quite understandable… sheep are herd animals, so they want to be with their herd. In hope of keeping the angry lady a little more happier, we set off to find her a friend… If you have been keeping up with the Instagram stories you have probably caught a few sneak peeks of the newest member, but we are going to formally introduce her once we both agree on her name.
While we are not big on metaphors around here, we do like to sit back and try to find signs God puts in front of us. This broken down door in our old barn is exactly that. Grace, both ours and His, has torn down this door forcing us to get out and do our first repair of this tattered barn. We held off on farm animals to get our feet under us, but some of it was because we didn’t know a whole lot of stuff on livestock. Yes we had cows, but they weren’t ours. But, we realized that’s what this farm is all about. We are not here to turn dirt to dollars, we are here to learn and find those small things in life that puts smiles on our face. Adoption has been a door clattering open and shut, filled with a bunch of unknowns… but we are taking steps in a positive direction. We have asked a friend and his wife out to dinner, whom have recently added two little ones to their now family of four, all through adoption. As Grace tears down this barn, we are learning… We are learning what a farm with a little herd of sheep needs, and adapting to their needs. Putting another one of our stamps on this old farm. I put the door back together, and popping out some old nails and throwing screws into place. The weathered wood is pulling some great character out, but it has maybe one more winter left in it, before an entire new remove and replace.
We are so excited to see some light at the end of some of our small tunnels. As our farm grow, we hope you enjoy our journey here on our little farm blog. And don’t forget to keep up with us throughout our day on our Gram (here). Thank you for stopping by, and as always… Give Grace.
Our ferility story is so similar to y’alls in some ways. It’s hard, but we love it.
God’s grace to you, God’s grace to hurting children, your grace to hurting children…His ways are sometimes difficult, but I have no doubt that the journey you’ve already been on, has somehow been whats best for the bigger purpose of your life and has been preparing you for whatever is to come. Painful times in your lives create compassion towards painful times in their lives. Adoption is ALWAYS the broken but redemptive road. Born from loss, on the childs part and many times on the adoptive parents part as well. But never a second best. Always a choice. As I saw recently, adoption means you can tell your child, “No, you weren’t born of my body, but we looked out at the whole and chose YOU.” I don’t know you all personally but it’s apparent you have so much love to share. Prayers as you begin this road to decide if it’s God’s will for you. Prayers for wisdom, prayers for healing and preparation of your hearts and your future childs heart, if adoption ends up being a gift given to you.
Beautifully put. Thank you Janice for your words of encouragement and perspective. It really means a lot to us to hear feedback like this. Happy Tuesday.
Beautifully written. Love, love following the Galvans. ♥
what a lovely blog. I love watching the stories of Grace and your growing family. Thank you for sharing.
James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…
What a great calling indeed. Many prayers for God’s guidance and bountiful blessing for you both.
So beautiful. Thank you for letting us into your lives! Wishing you all the best!
I have been following your blog & story for many months. I wanted to say that a child born of your body is not always the only way to create a family. I so wanted to suggest adoption or surrogacy to you & your husband but soon realized that one must come to that conclusion on their own & am so happy to see that you are embracing the possibility. My best wishes & best of luck to you both.
Thank you for sharing your story. Love watching the stories on the Gram. You are a great couple and a team! Keeping you both in thoughts and prayers. Sending love 😍
Its so remarkable how God throws signs at us every now and then. The fact that you recognize his sign is putting your foot in the right direction. Let me tell you a story about a couple I knew growing up that had a similar fertility journey… I was in high school and my boyfriends older sister and her husband tried for many years (10) to have children. They were 30 years old by the time they put aside the fertility drugs, the late night disappointments, heartaches and picked up an adoption application. (I am not 100% sure it was an application because I was only a senior in high school at the time.) They decided to adopt a baby boy from Russia. It took 8 months for the process to be completed, that much I do remember, and he was almost a year old when they brought him home on a plane from Russia. I remember how amazing the atmosphere was in their home (my boyfriend at the time lived with them.) They were so happy and that beautiful little boy (that I had the pleasure of babysitting) brought them so much joy and luck. His new parents stopped trying to have babies and just enjoyed him. Three years later they found out they were pregnant. Their adopted son was about four and they had no idea how it happened or why it happened but it did, and it did again a few years later with twins. I’m not saying that will be a definite but God knows his timing and his works have reasoning. The boy they adopted from Russia would never have found such a loving, wonderful family with out them. He is now 13 years old and almost 6ft tall I swear (I’m only 5’2)…he plays football like a pro and has the manners of Mother Teresa herself. I don’t think his life would be so amazing without wonderful parents he has. If you choose to adopt, imagine the amazing life you would give a child that otherwise wouldn’t have one. Good luck in your journeys and adventures of this beautiful life you are both building. Much love!