Meet the Shaneyfelts

Archives for February 2019

Life is Hard AND God is Good

I’m not quite sure how to begin today’s post so I’ll just cut to it–

Earlier yesterday, Dustin and I received the worst news.  Our birth mom decided to parent the baby.  The little baby, who we were so excited to call our son, hasn’t been born yet, but she’s made the decision to parent.

Please excuse me if my thoughts are jumbled because I’m still processing the news and my emotions.  Because we’ve been so open about the fact that we’re adopting and our match, Dustin and I felt it was best to go ahead and tell everyone now as opposed to later for a couple of reasons.  Even before we got the news that she’d changed her mind, both Dustin and I had multiple people talk to us about our upcoming due date and arrival because everyone has been so genuinely excited for us.  People literally ask us every day and everywhere we go, and it would be so awkward of us for someone to ask us who hasn’t heard.  And also because we still covet your prayers.

This has been such a confusing time for us.  We’re angry, hurt, confused, and yet, I sympathize with her because I know she’s bonded with that baby.  She’s felt him kick.  And while we trusted that she would follow through with her word, I can’t stay angry at her for her decision.  Yes, I’ve loved that baby since the day we were matched 4 months ago, but I’ve also loved her and prayed for her.  And this must be what God says is best.

We’ve both been blown away by close friends and family who have covered us in prayer and have spoken truth to us in this time.  Adoption is so hard.  Infertility is so hard.  The strong desire to be a parent without any success is so hard.  And we don’t understand why God allows some things to happen, but He does.  I’m reminded that God is always good and everything He does is for His glory and our good–that is, to be more like Christ.  Dustin and I reminded ourselves that when we began this journey, all we have wanted is for God to be glorified.  So in the midst of our pain, we are trusting in Him and His plan for us and our future children.  Even when I don’t understand what is going on and it hurts, He knows what’s best.  He only does good things.  Life is hard because sin entered the world in Genesis 3 and the world has been groaning for redemption ever since.

I’m reminded of this verse from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians:

“For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.  So death is at work in us, but life in you.” 
-2 Corinthians 4:11-12

Our suffering here on earth is for Jesus’ sake–He gets the glory through it all. 

Please pray for our hearts as we try to figure out what is next.  We so desire to be parents, but I’m so scared this is going to happen to us again.  We don’t want to be ruled by finances, but the reality is, we’ve lost money now that she’s changed her mind.  Pray that we trust God in His plan for us.


Coffee Talk Wednesday!

I’m doing another Coffee Talk Wednesday with y’all because let’s face it, I’m doing good just to get a blog post up at this point haha!  Hopefully the beautifully styled shoots return soon….but it has to be sunny for that to happen ha!

So, let’s pretend we’re sitting in a comfortable coffee shop and I’m drinking a skinny vanilla latte 🙂
-Yesterday started what feels like our 40 days and nights of rain.  Not really that long, but I think into the weekend?  Some areas are even expected to get 10 inches of rain, though, in that time, so I’ve been paying attention to the reported flooded areas.  Let’s also hope the ceiling in my classroom didn’t leak overnight because it rained so hard last night…yuck!


-The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills started up again and I really have decided it’s my favorite franchise.  Teddi is probably my favorite cast member and then maybe Dorit after that because of her random accent haha!  I’m not liking her look this season–80s??  Please don’t bring back the 80s fashion, Dorit.


-Some of my students have been so excited about the baby coming soon that they ask me every day.  Yesterday, I had a sweet little girl bring me a present and it was such a kind, sweet thing for her to do–although she is such a sweet little girl naturally!


-Have you heard about the Faster Way to Fat Loss program?  Sometimes referred to as FWTFL?  I’ve been researching it a lot lately–especially after lots of bloggers have posted–and I’ve decided I’m going to start it in April after things are most likely calmed down.  I could write a whole post on how fertility medicine messed up my metabolism, and I just need a jump start to get back to where I used to be pre-meds.  This is one of the blogger reviews that sold me.


-When Calls the Heart is about to begin a new season and I am excited!  That is one of my favorite tv shows!!  It’s based on a series of novels, so I bought those on my iPad and have been slowly making my way through them.  I’m currently in book 3 and the books are WAY different than the tv show.


-I’ve started doing yoga at home a couple of days a week.  I finally found a channel where the yoga is challenging and mostly doable for me.  I love feeling stronger and also a little more flexible.  I sleep really good on days I do yoga!


That’s enough of my ramblings for today–I hope y’all have a good Wednesday!

My Favorite Children’s Books (So Far!)

I posted on IG stories this weekend about sorting through all of the children’s books I’ve either bought or received as gifts just trying to get things organized.  And while I was trying to organize those books, I started flipping through some of them and instantly started crying as I was reading them!  I don’t know how I’ll ever make it through reading these books at bedtime 😂

**One that I didn’t take a picture of because it’s actually in our bedroom is The Jesus Storybook Bible.  This is a MUST and I cannot wait to read this every single night!  And I highly recommend this for any age….whether you are 6 months or 60 years old!

**When we first began discussing adoption, I was very contentious about buying books that featured characters of all races.  I’ve noticed lots of children’s books have all white characters, and regardless of the race of the child we adopt, I wanted to make sure that our children’s books feature a wide variety of races being represented.  Even if you have biological children, I challenge you to look at the characters in your children’s books and see which races are dominant.


I ordered this book from Amazon and when it came in one day, I read it out loud to Dustin while he was fixing himself food in the kitchen.  I had to stop midway to hold back tears.  This book is so beautifully written (if you’ve never listened to Shai Linne’s music, you need to!!) and encourages the celebration of diversity because God made us that way!  You shouldn’t say you are “colorblind” because you aren’t and that discounts the fact that God made us different colors–and we should see that a celebration of who God is!



I bought this book when I realized that getting pregnant was going to be much harder than I expected it would be.  As I flipped through this book while organizing, I came across the page that talked about the first time holding your baby and that’s when I lost it.



My mom bought this book for me in 2007 and wrote me a really sweet note on the title page.  This book is similar to I’ll Love You Forever so a really sweet book!



This book is another one with the message of celebrating the different colors God made us. But this one also talks about how God loves color because of all the different colors in nature–it’s a great book, too!!



When we announced our adoption, we did so with a newborn gown with a lamb on it.  So lambs became a semi-theme of the nursery.  My mom bought me this book one day after we got matched with our baby, and it goes along with the Jellycat lambs we have!



My mom got Dustin a bunch of children’s books for his last birthday with the theme of being a daddy and this was one of them.  I love this one because it’s about the love a daddy has for his children and how he protects them.



My bff Janie surprised me with this book (the author of this is the same author of The Jesus Storybook Bible)!  This one made me cry because it’s all about how your family is your family and your house is your home–something that’s I’ve really thought a lot about with adoption since I will not physically birth our child.  And this book really reiterates that message without really doing so–if that makes sense haha!



Another Sally Lloyd-Jones books (can you tell I love her), this one is about the celebration of the gifts that God has given us and how He has given us all different gifts.  So what one person has isn’t the same as yours–beautiful illustrations, too!



This is a board book that focuses on counting to 10 all while thanking God for making every part of you!  This book really helps point out that God is your creator and you were made wonderfully!


These aren’t all of the books I have, nor will these be the last books I own!  If you have a favorite, please leave me a comment so I can add it to my list on Amazon!