Our Hide Out Pt.2

I couldn't get my post to let me edit "Our Hide Out" so I decided to make a part two. I think that I was discussing our walks on their property and here are some pictures of the lake and the giant rainbow that went from one end of their property to the other the day before we went to court. It was awesome and I tried my best to capture it. Our camera is from the dark ages of first generation digital cameras and doesn't do the rainbow justice. I was so excited about it that when Steven returned from a Wal-Mart run, I ran to show him the picture that I took explaining how awesome it was. He was like cool, you mean like this and he pulled out his camera phone to show me the same rainbow over town. My bubble was burst but he did bring me goodies to ease my photographic disillusionment.

This picture below makes me want to eat a bowl of Lucky Charms. ;-)

When we were not walking outside we were inside adoring our little Shiloh, changing diapers, making bottles, and watching shows like God TV and the History Channel. The Peckhams had Direct TV so we took advantage in the wee hours of the morning to watch Mike Bickle do the Daily Devotionals on God TV and watched some cool documentaries on people like Abraham Lincoln and places like Tibet and China. We are not huge TV watchers but if you are going to watch TV on a huge big screen you might as well watch something educational right? We ate a lot since the kitchen was free range and desserts were plentiful. Anyone that knows Steven and I, know that we have the self control of Water Buffalo during the rainy season in Africa, not much. We could eat all day and then at night go back for seconds.

After our day at court we felt very ready to head home. Not that there wasn't enough room because in a 8500 sqft house that is not true. We wanted to be near friends and closer to family to share our little one. We got 6 glorious days to bond with Shiloh and we think so very highly of her we wanted others to as well. We just had to finalize where we would be staying in Kansas City Kansas till our state clearance came and we could hit the road. Tuesday the 16th we got up around 10am and took our time getting all our stuff together. That is one thing that I have really enjoyed. I usually rush around and we are usually get up and get there people, but since Shiloh has come into our lives we are now take your time and take it easy people. I am liking the change.

We left Andover and our mansion hide out around 2:30pm on Tues. the 16th and traveled for about an hour before we stopped at a McDonalds. Now normally when we travel it is drive thru service only, but then again we are now the take your time people and take our time we did. Between feeding Shiloh, changing Shiloh, eating and then starring at Shiloh it was about and hour stop. We arrived in Lenexa, Kansas around 6:30pm to the Banderman's home.

The Bandermans are a family that attend IHOP and have agreed to take us into their home and family till our paper work is final. Steven and Debbie have been married for 15 years and have two teen sons. They moved to KC about a year ago and are currently finishing their foster care applications in Kansas. Their hearts at the moment are to help couples that are adopting. like us, and then also to do interim fostering for babies before they go to their adoptive homes. As with any family that moves to KC for IHOP their story is one of faith and provision with lots of guessing in the middle. Waiting on what God would have them lock into and getting their kids established in the IHOP teen scene. We love them and they have been a huge blessing taking us in.

On Tues. as we arrived bringing in bags and bags of stuff Debbie led us to their master bedroom and told us that she was going to take the guest room so that we would have more space and our own bathroom. We were humbled and blessed. Their room is spacious and the bathroom has a killer jet tub that I hope to take advantage of sometime while we are here. We got settled in, set up the play yard with its bassinet, got the changing area set up and a bottle station. When the Cooper's move into your house we move in with many stations and many bags. We have a baby suitcase with her blankets, burp rags, outfits, socks, etc. We have a suitcase, a toiletries bag, a food bag, and a misc. bag. Debbie asked how long we thought that we would be staying and with an honest answer I had to tell her that we were not sure. Maybe a week or a little longer. We hoped by that Friday that our Missouri papers would be filed and we would get clearance but we couldn't guarantee. She was happy and said, "you are welcome as long as you need". Her husband was away on a business trip till Friday and one of her sons was on a school trip so we were not a crowding factor for now anyways.

As we settled in to our new hide out I had to laugh at our kooky adoption process and now the fact that we were literally 20 min. from our house and yet we couldn't go there, at least not with Shiloh. That though we had already been through so much and Shiloh at 6 days old had traveled to three different cities, Missouri had not yet recognized that she was ours and we could be charged with the equivalent of kidnapping if we went into Missouri without their approval. It is wild and I felt a little like an outlaw. But we are happy to be close to home and so blessed with how God continues to provide for us in this journey.