What We're Doing

Hey I know it's been a very long time since I've posted on here but some pretty big things are going in the Malouf home and it's high time I got back on here.

Ray and I are opening our home to children in foster care in our area.  There are way too many foster kids here and not enough homes open to care for them.  So this past spring God spoke to our hearts separately about opening our home and we immediately began the process.  We went to an informational meeting with The Call (Children of Arkansas Loved for A Lifetime) of Benton County and got the ball rolling from there.  A few weeks later, we took the recommended classes and since then we have been waiting for a home study.  A social worker is coming in an hour to do just that!  My house is the cleanest it's ever been, by the way.  A few weeks later, we should have a final walkthrough of our home and then be open to taking a child.  It's so crazy to think that we could have a kid here in just a few weeks!

We plan on taking one kid at a time but we will pray about every call we get and just be obedient to what God wants.  We know this is huge.  It's seriously a huge deal.  We also know down to our bones that this is what God is telling us to do.  We have an extra bedroom and lots of love to give these kids that have been through too much in their short lives.  We just want to show Christ's love.  That's all.

I'll try to keep this updated as we go through this journey if you are interested.

Crazy Arkansas!

Ray and I went down to Little Rock on Monday afternoon to visit his brother who was in a car wreck the day before.  His injuries are not life threatening but they are serious enough that he was taken from Fort Smith to UAMS for surgeries.  Pray for him if you think about it.  They said it will be about 6 months before he walks again.  I can't even imagine that!


While we were there we heard the news that more storms were going to be heading our way so we decided to leave Tuesday morning to pick up Owen from my parent's house.  My mom is so nice for watching him for us!  Then we heard there were going to be storms in both NWA and Fort Smith so we just decided to stay with my parents.  They have storm shelters at all of the schools there which I think is such a great idea.  I don't know why we don't have those up here.  So around midnight the news said the storm headed to south Ft Sm was showing rotation.  Right after that, the sirens started going off and it was like the sky just opened up and dumped its guts out on us.  We snatched up Owen and got in the car and drove around the corner to Beard Elementary.  It was hailing, raining, thundering, and lightening so bad!!!  Sweet baby Owen did not make a peep.  He was drenched and had been woken up in the middle of the night but didn't cry at all.  The whole time we were in there, he just looked around and was cute.  After about 30 minutes the sirens went off and we went outside.  It was crazy.  Not a drop of rain or anything.  The whole experience was surreal.  It really freaked me out and I don't get too scared of storms.  Tornado sirens are something I have grown up hearing.  I guess it's different when you have a little life to look after.  I am so thankful that God kept us safe.  I am praying for all those who weren't as fortunate.

Testing

Well Shoot

Hi I don't really like blogging that much.  Sorry.  

Here are some pictures for you.

John Mark McMillan | Death In His Grave Performance

This is just amazing.

Some Pictures

Here are some brand spanking new pictures of Owen.  There are only two cause blogger takes an insane amount of time to load.  Time is not something I have to spare lately.  Chrissy, before you gripe that there are only two pictures on here, be thankful that there are actually two new pictures on here.

Late Christmas Post

Here are a few pictures from our Christmas in Fort Smith.

My mom got us an incredibly amazing camera this year and this was my first time to get a hold of it.

Man I love those scrunchy little toes!

Ray can make this kid laugh more than anyone else!

Our first Christmas with Owen was so much fun.  He didn't really care much about presents but he sure did love the wrapping paper! 

I got the idea from another blog I read to find a word to live by this year.  My word for 2011 is consistency.

What word defines you this year?