The Process

Thank you to all of you who were praying for us yesterday during our first home study visit! It went very well. The majority of what we went over was our family backgrounds and we, of course, got some more paperwork to do! :)

Many people have been asking me about the process and how it works, so I thought I'd give you a quick run down of what I know so far. Keep in mind that there are different types of adoption: international, domestic infants (infants from the U.S.), and through the foster care system. There are similarities and differences in how the process works for each, so all I can speak to is how it's working for us with a domestic infant adoption.
 
The first thing a family does once they commit to adoption is to find an agency to work with. That is a process all on it's own! Once that agency is picked, you fill out an application for that agency to see if they'll work with you. Once you're approved through them, you begin what's called your homestudy process. This is basically a series of 3 meetings you have with the person from your agency that you'll be working with (this is the point in the process where we're at). From what I know of that so far, you are given paperwork to work on throughout, some training to do, and you answer many questions about you, your family, your relationships, and probably many more things we haven't experienced yet! ;) We will also put together a "profile" about our family that will be sent out to prospective mothers. Once your homestudy is complete after the 3rd visit, your agency sends out your profile to other agencies. Then we wait. We wait for the birth mother of our future child to find us and choose us.

Ah, waiting. My favorite.

To be honest, there's not a lot about this process that I'm afraid of. We know that God has another child out there for us and we KNOW that God keeps His promises and works everything out for the good of those who love Him. But there is one thing I am dreading.

Waiting.

Waiting for God to provide the money we need to complete the homestudy. Waiting for the birth mother to choose us. All I can do in the waiting is pray. But the reality of being a follower of Christ is that prayer is the single most powerful thing we can do. I am learning to live in that truth.

Anita, the woman we're working with through God's Children Adoption Agency (who I'm sure will become a fast friend), is coming over again on Tues., April 12th. I'm excited that she'll be joining us for dinner, too! She really will become a part of the family. :)

And in the end, all the waiting will be worth it.

A Clean House & Answered Prayer

I am sitting in a spic and span, completely clean house - and I'm praying it will last until Saturday! A girl can hope, right? Saturday morning is our first home study visit. The representative from our adoption agency that we'll be working with is coming over to meet us. For the first time. Today was my only day to clean, so I had no choice! I've been told by a friend who has worked with this agency before that they will not be going through all my closets and cupboards. Articles online have told me that she will not take a white glove to all the surfaces in my home. But still. . . I needed to clean. I certainly don't want her to think I don't take this seriously or that it's not important to me. I resisted the urge to clean out our closets and scrub every nook and cranny. However, I did consider scrubbing the plastic mat that our boots sit on.  :)

Shifting gears entirely, I have to write about what happened the rest of that Sunday morning in November. God is just too good not to share! At the end of the service we were given a chance to respond to what we heard from the front. Were our hearts opened? Did we acknowledge that God has a part for each of us to play in taking care of the orphaned? I went forward and got down on my knees before God and cried out to Him. Would He allow US - me - to take His light to the dark places? I sat and cried, praying over the precious little ones who need to know that they have a Creator who loves them with all He is. I asked God to show us what He would have us do and then give us the resources to do it. 

Within 2 hours - I was given two $50 gift cards, 2 job offers (temporary ones), and $80 secretly slipped into my purse. I'd say God answered.

Bringing Light to Dark Places

I never intended to start a blog. For the life of me, I couldn't think of why anyone would be interested in reading it. I still can't. But, I've been encouraged by a few people to start one. . . so here I am. The reason I decided to start one now is simple. . . . God has started us on a journey called adoption and we firmly believe that any journey God sends us on is never just for us. The things He does in our lives are meant to be shared - it's His testimony - so I'm happy to share it. I will be honest and forthcoming with all parts of our adoption process (with out going into too much detail when it's not necessary). Adoption takes time, patience, soul searching, answering hard questions, many ups and downs, and yes - money. People don't like to talk about money very much, but the way I see it is this: God will get the glory in all aspects of our adoption journey, and money is a huge way where His hand is going to be seen as we step forward in faith! So, in order to make sure God gets ALL the glory through our process, no part will be off limits for me to talk about. 

We always said that adoption wasn't a matter of "if" but a matter of "when." The "when" hit me hard early November, 2010. For months prior to that day, my heart was becoming more and more tender to the orphan again. I could not even watch a short video on Operation Christmas Child without choking down tears. I was pushing away thoughts of how to rearrange my house or how many more kids our living room could handle. What was I thinking? We can't afford this right now! We don't even have any baby stuff anymore! Then the first Sunday of November came. Adoption was the focus at church that morning - and I came armed with kleenex! Two couples who have gone through their own adoption processes shared from the front that day. Both were powerful. But one of the women said something that I could not shake. She said she had come to the point of realizing that adoption was not about her, or her family, or even that child(ren) they had hopes of bringing home. It's about taking His light to the dark places. 

And so begins our journey as we rely on God to help us bring Light to dark places.