*Quotes That Stick*

I saw this quote today and it's exactly what I needed...

"Waiting on God requires the willingness to bear uncertainty, to carry within oneself the unanswered question, lifting the heart to God about it whenever it intrudes upon one's thoughts.” 

-Elisabeth Elliot

I know that our trying to become parents and our adoption process is completely in the hands of my Father in heaven. I know that when we are supposed to become parents he will make it happen for us. He knows when, how and where our little one is going to come to us. I just need to make sure that I am "willing to bear uncertainty", our path through adoption will most likely throw us some curves and lead us through some hard times (ex: adoption placing not going through, financial struggle, long waiting periods, doubt). And I need to make sure that I am "lifting my heart to God about it whenever it intrudes on my thoughts", I can do this through prayer prayer and more prayer. He knows what we are going through and he expects to hear from us about it. He's there to help us, prepare us, comfort us and guide us! And I will most definitely being "carrying with me the unanswered question(s)"... Where? How? When... when??? And I need to be able to "bear" that question while it is constantly in my head, consuming my thoughts.

So, this is me, recognizing once again that God has a plan for me. I will continue to wait... Wait and pray :)

*Busy Summertime*

I have kind of been burning myself out lately with work, house-keeping, adoption stuff, photography, and family/friend outings. Plus we still... yes, still... haven't gotten internet at our house so I have to come to the ranch every time I want to do more than just post a quick comment on facebook from my phone. And after returning e-mails, paying bills, updating our adoption profile and reading everyones blogs I am so done with my computer and don't feel like blogging. Hopefully soon we will figure out our living situations and finally get me some internet hooked up!

Just a few highlights from this month:

1. OUR BACKGROUND CHECKS FINALLY CAME BACK. Our profile is now officially on our adoption agency's website and we are all ready for a dear birth mom to pick us to become parents! Now the hardest part begins... waiting! I am having a hard time not checking my e-mail from my phone every 1/2 hour just in case Sandy (our case worker) decides to tell us about an interested birth mom... I will definitely have to learn patience!

I have a bag all prepared for quick access just in case we get a call and have to go pick a baby right up, or if we will be staying overnight in a different town or just because it makes me feel better to be prepared. That's only 1/2 of what's in the bag haha

2. This month has been full of shipping cows shipping cows shipping cows. Ever since we got that semi-truck it has been nonstop cow shipping for Joey. I hadn't hardly seen the guy the whole 1st half of this month! He would leave at 4am and not get back until 10pm. Sometimes he would even take the truck to where ever the cows where and stay in the sleeper so he wouldn't have to get up so early the next day. Coatsy and I were getting used to having the big bed all to ourselves :) Now Joey is getting ready to start haying haying haying. We have probably 5 or 6 extra fields this year to hay because of the new ranch and also the new place we are leasing (Indian Creek). So, here's to another 2 months of Joey leaving before the sun comes up and not getting home until well after it's gone down.

The Semi

3. Last week was awesome because we were in-between shipping and haying so I was able to get Joey basically all to myself for 5 whole days! I had bought tickets as soon as I heard that Def Leppard was going to be kicking off their Rock of Ages tour in Salt Lake City and that Poison was going to be joining them. Joey laughed at me because I had to pull over my truck and mess around on my phone for 30 minutes until I had finally got 2 tickets for us haha. So we started off our "together time" by running to Tooele to fix a fence and look for a couple pairs (a cow and her calf) left behind (which we found, sneaky ladies). We then spent the rest of our night at the USANA Amphitheater at the concert. It was a blast, I finally got to see my 2 favorite bands live!

 Us waiting for Poison to come on

We had some pretty awesome seats 

Our after midnight Taco Bell run that we brought back to the hotel. We look tired!

The next day we spent in downtown Salt Lake. I got to do some shopping at the Gateway mall, we went to see Avengers because Joey still hadn't seen it, we had an early dinner at PF Changs and then we took our time on our way home where we ended the day by doing a little irrigating together (aka: being drained alive by mosquitos).

The whole rest of the weekend we spent in Paris...... Paris, Idaho (dang it haha), where we camped for Joe's family reunion. It was great. Besides the torching in the daytime and turning into the Abominable Snowman at night. Coatsy had a blast. He only lasted a day though before we decided to take him back home haha.

4. I have finally decided what I want to do school-wise. I am going to be pursuing my photography degree online as soon as possible and then starting up my own little business (JencyJo Photography aka: J. Jo Photo). I am excited. I am passionate about photography and would love to learn more about it and share it with others. This way I will also be able to take awesome photos of my own children someday.

Here's a sneak peek of  the photo-shoot I did of my adorable new nephew Zac. He was my 1st infant photo-shoot! It was hard, but pretty cool at the same time! And they turned out great!

5. We will be going to visit my parents who are currently in (and have been for almost a year now) England! We are planning on going to September! I have been there multiple times but this will be Joe's first time! I am excited for him to go to castles and little Bed & Breakfast cottages, to eat in the pubs, to try Fish & Chips and Steak & Kidney pies haha, to get to experience something new! It will be great. When I was a little younger I used to always think about going on a plane ride with a boy and how I could fall asleep on his shoulder instead of the side of the plane and now I get to do that! :)

6. We are currently in a stand still/don't-know-what-the-heck-we-are-gonna-do about our living situation. I wish we loved the house we are in because it's 100% free living and it's in a wonderful location, full of space to spread out and have privacy. We just have been having a hard time living there lately. Even Joey has been feeling like it's not where we are supposed to be living anymore. So now we are stuck with not knowing where we want/should/can move to. Should we stay in this town, move to a neighboring town, move to the new ranch, move onto the old ranch... Rent? Buy? Build? Ahhhh.... So there, I shared a little of my frustration with you haha. Right now we are just making do and praying that we will figure something out.

There! I hope this post let y'all in on a little bit of what has been going on in ours lives at this moment. Basically we are running around 100 miles/hr like chickens with our heads chopped off and we are trying to enjoy life at the same time. So far so good :) I promise to do better with posting on here and also on our adoption blog waitingforourlilcowboyorcowgirl@blogspot.com.

A picture I took of Panama Red before we went for a ride

*Insight?*

I wouldn't mind some thoughts or comments on this post I wrote over on our adoption blog. Really tried to put my thoughts into words in this one... Hope it came out okay!?

http://waitingforourlilcowboyorcowgirl.blogspot.com/2012/02/they-belong-together.html

Thank you :)

*Our Adoption Story*

Check out (and share!) our adoption blog at:

http://waitingforourlilcowboyorcowgirl.blogspot.com/

to read about the events that lead up to our adoption decision! Thanks! Love you all!

*Update: Adoption & Our New Ranch*

We've been a ball of stress/excitement/exhaustion around here lately because... wait for it...

1. We bought another ranch

and...

2. We are all ready to start our application process for adoption!

I get giddy and/or more like panicked just thinking about it all! This time next year we could possibly have a child, in a brand new house, on our very own Idaho ranch! Joey, his older brother Brett his dad (Monty) all decided to expand our ranching business, and even though this new ranch (Winecup Land & Livestock) will be a "separate" operation from the Winecup Cattle Co. here in UT, we will still just be "The Winecup Bunch". Joey will still continue to work for the WC Co. and someday, however it all works out, it will all be one big operation. But, for the sake of not losing our minds with the particulars they will be considered 2 different ranching operations run by the same 3 guys... Make sense? As for The WC L&L ranch.... It's located on the northern side of Bear Lake, in a beautiful location. It is smaller than the WC Co., it has 450 acres and can run around 300 head of cows and we also have a summer forest permit close by for the same amount of cattle. It has a super nice shop, barn, bunk house, scales, corrals and outdoor arena. AND... it comes with about 1000 head of cats... They run the place. We're in love with it. As for the cattle, Joey has applied for a 1st time Ag. loan and we have already bought 5 bulls and are looking at about 90 head of cows at the moment and are in the market for around 100-200 more before they start to calve and prices sky-rocket more than they already have (so, if anyone knows anyone with bred, nice looking, Angus cows who calve around the end of March/early April for sale PLEASE let us know!). And wish us luck... this is a big step for us all!

As for our adoption process, I'm glad to say we have decided on one adoption agency for now. We decided to go through LDS Family Services and we are working with a couple different offices here in UT. The wait has been because of 2 things... the first was the decision of which adoption agency(ies) to go with and second was when we decided on LDSFS we had to have our LDS Bishop fill out a letter of recommendation and he must have been pretty busy because it took him quite a while to get them that letter. But, as of this past Friday we are now in the LDSFS adoption system and working on getting all of our paperwork started, finished and turned in! We also have to take some classes before we are all ready to be eligible to adopt! I will keep this blog and also the blog we made for our adoption updated on how this process is going and when exactly we are "up" for adoption! Hopefully it will only take a couple months and then when all of our paperwork and classes are done with it can take anywhere from that next week to... well, a long time. So here's to prayer and faith and hoping that we are meant to adopt a beautiful little person into our family someday (soon we hope!).

Here is the blog we made specifically for our adoption process. We would love it if you would share this blog with others. It will be a little less about our personal everyday going ons and more about us and our adoption journey. I will be working on it more and more (right now it isn't anything special and I have hardly written anything on it...). If anyone has any suggestions for this blog or would like to help "spruce" it up a little please, let us know! Thanks for your thoughts and prayers we have gotten this far, we appreciate every little bit!

http://waitingforourlilcowboyorcowgirl.blogspot.com/

*Family*

I stole this from a friend's blog, but I had to, I just love it! Thanks http://www.meandmineblog.com/! 

This says everything I feel in just a few words. I love family, I can't wait to add to mine!!!

*Baby Steps*

Today I stopped in at the LDS Family Services... It was surreal to actually take this big of a step. Yesterday it was all talk, tonight we are going over mountains of paperwork, check lists and articles. Through this agency we are required to do a lot of things... One of which is I need a doctors note implying that I am infertile, which I don't know yet whether I am or not. The case worker/manager didn't think I would have to go through an OBGYN because my regular doctor has already been helping me try and get pregnant (charting, advice, tips and what not), so we'll see if he would be willing to fill out an infertility paper and write a note for now until I am able to go and actually get all the tests done. I really liked this agency and it is a possibility this is the agency we will be going through. The application and home study is pricey, but the good part is that money we will spend on them will eventually go towards our actual adoption when we get placed with a child, where with other agencies they charge separately for the application/home study AND the actual adoption. Also, with this agency they have an option where you can help the birth mother out if you feel like you can where you donate $3000 dollars towards things for her (ie: Dr's visits, the birth, rent, food, phone bills and so on), if she doesn't use it all (it's all monitored through the agency so she doesn't spend it on things not needed) then you get the amount unused reimbursed back. Where as, in some other agencies you could be charged for (if it's what the birth mother wants/needs and you are willing to do it... you always have a choice) all of her birth medical bills and/or other things that can easily add up to more than $3000, so there isn't a set amount like LDSFS has. Does that make sense? Anyways, I had a really good feeling towards this agency but, we are still going to look into a couple others first. We want to make sure we make the right decision before we spend (a lot of) money on applying.

I got to talk to my sister-in-law who with her husband also went through the whole adoption process and she gave me some really good advice, shared some of her story and also offered to help set up some fund raisers as soon as we are on a list and our adoption process has begun. I am so glad I got to talk with her, I also informed her that she will most likely be getting tons and tons of phone calls, visits, cry sessions and so on during this whole journey and she was all for it. Joey and I feel so blessed right now. We can't thank those enough who have already helped and shared their support, advice and love to us! Everyday I have little things here and there that just solidify our decision to adopt is the right decision :)

Just read some of the things that have been shared with us so far!..

"I am praying for you and sending all kinds of good vibes for a fantastic family or situation to come your way with a child that you can provide a fantastic life for."

"I think thats wonderful, there are so many kids in need of loving parents."

"YES set up an adoption fee, every little bit helps."

"I truly admire you for moving forward in a positive way and looking at this with a beautiful attitude. You're inspiring to me while I try to come to terms with why this is happening to me. Thinking of you, and so excited that you are starting on the wonderful path to becoming a mother! How fantastic!!"

"Keep with it, the process is long, emotional, and stressful but its SOOO worth it. Stay close to the Lord!"

"Adoption is expensive. But, worth it."

"So excited for you guys and all your adventures coming up...adoption...good for you!"

"...maybe this is exactly why you haven't had your own yet, GOD has one already picked for ya." 


"Love you guys you will make amazing parents no matter how it happens."

Those are just some of the wonderful things people have said to us so far, and not even counting the phone calls and face to face conversations we've had with others. Thank you all so much! We know we couldn't get far in this process/journey with out you and your love and support!

Love,

Joey & Jency

This picture was hanging up in the case workers office and I kept looking at it. It's beautiful. I want to be a mom!!!

*Adoption*

Well, here's the deal. Joey & I are hoping to adopt. We've been discussing making this decision for a while now and we strongly feel like it is the right thing to do. We have wanted to start a family for almost 2 years now and so far have not been able to on our own. We are not 100% sure why that is, I haven't been able yet to seek professional/medical help on determining exactly why. We are hoping to be able to here soon, but in the meantime we still feel very strongly that adoption is the right answer for us now. We have prayed, discussed, and studied adoption and have even considered Foster Care with the hopes of adopting that way, and we know now that we want to start our adoption process ASAP. We are wanting to go through LDS Family Services but are also looking into other adoption agencies too (any suggestions?). We are struggling with the idea of the future expenses of this choice, but we know that we will be able to work through it because we know we are doing the right thing. We are both SO excited to hopefully soon add another loved one into our lives! We have been wanting this for so long, I have always known I wanted to adopt, ever since I started thinking about children and having a family someday (so, oh, probably since Jr. High haha). I think adoption is so beautiful, from the birth mother's selfless choice of wanting the best thing for her baby which in some cases is adoption, to the amazing case workers that place that baby into the best matched family possible, to the adoptive parents who want to give that baby a loving, supportive, special home. I can't wait to get the ball rolling and hopefully hold a precious little person in my arms who was always meant to be there!

We would love anyones help with things like:

- Your advice

- Your adoption story

- Spreading the word

- Letting anyone who might be looking to place a future little one into a loving family that we are wanting to adopt

- Your prayers

Thank you so much. I pray everyday that if this is the right choice for us (which we believe it is) that everything will go smoothly and work out great and hopefully {fingers crossed} soon :)

P.S. I am wondering if anyone would be willing to make a button for me linking to this blog with possibly a picture of Joey & I with the words "Hoping to adopt" or something similar on it. I will be keeping this blog updated with our adoption happenings as well as our everyday activities. I would love it if a baby's birth parents were to see our blog and want us to be their little ones parents. You never know right? If anyone would be willing to help me with that, that would be amazing!

Also, we have considered this but are not sure yet until we are completely set up and registered to be eligible to adopt... But, I was wondering what everyone's thoughts were on us starting up an adoption fund... Good idea? Bad idea? Selfish? Please let me know. I know we would be eternally grateful for any help, but I don't want to seem cheap or anything similar to that when it comes to something this important to us... Thanks!

Love,
Jency & Joe

You can get a hold of Joey & I either through this blog or please e-mail us at: Jenc.West@hotmail.com!