Meet the Shaneyfelts

Archives for 2019

For His Glory

Wow–the past ten days have been a whirlwind of crazy emotions and now we have the best news to share with y’all!!

WE HAVE A SON!!!

Just to recap–on Thursday, February 21st, we found out that our first adoption had failed because the birth mom decided to parent.  We were absolutely devastated.  I wrote about it here.  Then exactly ONE WEEK later, we received a call about a baby boy born who is now our son.  God is so good, y’all.  So good.

We are so excited to introduce Harrison Booth Allessandro Shaneyfelt!!
Born February 27 at 11:46pm in Corpus Christi, TX
He weighed 4 lb 7 oz and is 17 inches long

Harrison is a name that Dustin and I have loved for years–way before talk of babies.  Booth was Dustin’s grandfather’s name and we love that we’re able to give him a family name and Booth is someone Dustin admired.  We are keeping the name his birth parents gave him as a second middle name because we love them so much and are so excited to have them in ours and Harrison’s life forever!  



Because he was born prematurely, he is currently in the NICU, but he’s making gains!  We are praying for no longer than a week NICU stay, but we know that it could be longer.  Paperwork for ICPC doesn’t begin until after he is discharged from the hospital and that could take up to 14 days.  Obviously, this is more than we had planned for.



We stepped out on faith and are trusting the Lord in all aspects of this adoption because we truly know that He is behind it all.  Yes, we’re terrified of the financial aspect, but we know God is sovereign over that.  

If you would like to donate to our Adoption Paypal account to help us cover the extra expenses with Harrison’s adoption, you can do so at paypal.me/DustinShaneyfelt
**I plan on doing a HUGE post later describing in detail the past few days, but right now, I am lacking on so much sleep!


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!