The end of 2011 is here. All I can think as the new year approaches is...
"Will our son be home in 2012??"
The probability is very unlikely. It's taken us a little longer to get our side done than we had hoped. Nathan has had to be out of town so much these past several weeks and it's slowed us down. Our goal is to turn everything in for our home study in another week so we can be assigned our case worker. Then to charge forward on building our Dossier. I truly hope that we can be finished with our Dossier and have it sent to Honduras by the end of March or beginning of April at the latest. From there it will take several weeks to be translated in Honduras and then we wait for approval. Once approved we get a number and an idea as to where we fall on the waiting list for a child. And then we wait... We've been told that once we get on the waiting list it can be anywhere from 6-12 months. Once we receive the referral we have to wait for a court date, go there and meet him, accept him officially, come home, and wait another 2 months or more before going back and being able to bring him home. I pray it happens fast!! We are so ready for our little guy! If you add all that up...the only way he will be home in 2012 will be GOD.
Christmas time has been a little hard for me. So much joy as we carry out our traditions and gather with family. In the back of my mind I keep thinking, "He should be here." When ordering the kids matching Christmas shirts I thought, "I should be ordering 3." My heart aches for him to be here so he will be safe and loved forever. I'm thankful for this ache. It's hard, but this feeling is what will drive us forward as we push through the logistics and the hardship of waiting. It confirms that God has called us to this and that he has a son picked out for us already.
Lord only you know when our little guy will be home. Watch over him, protect him, and give me strength until he's home.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Little Updates
We are almost ready to be assigned a social worker to do our home study interviews! I'm really not nervous about the interviews. I know that we have a great family and can offer a wonderful life to a child and I'm looking forward to it.
Both Nathan and I have finished our online course. We had thought we'd be taking it together but we had to each do the class separately so that ended up working better for our schedules.
We had our first conference call with our Family Coordinator. The conversation went really well. She seems both knowledgeable and eager to help. I love that you can tell our agency is Christian. It's nice to receive encouraging emails on a weekly basis filled with scriptures and to have workers saying they're praying for us. :)
Our kids both had their physicals done. Weston's was easy because of his age, but Addison had to have the blood work done. That was a sad adventure but thank goodness it's over!
In the coming weeks we will be working on tackling the lists of papers and requirements to submit in our Dossier.
Thank you all for your continued support and prayers!!
Both Nathan and I have finished our online course. We had thought we'd be taking it together but we had to each do the class separately so that ended up working better for our schedules.
We had our first conference call with our Family Coordinator. The conversation went really well. She seems both knowledgeable and eager to help. I love that you can tell our agency is Christian. It's nice to receive encouraging emails on a weekly basis filled with scriptures and to have workers saying they're praying for us. :)
Our kids both had their physicals done. Weston's was easy because of his age, but Addison had to have the blood work done. That was a sad adventure but thank goodness it's over!
In the coming weeks we will be working on tackling the lists of papers and requirements to submit in our Dossier.
Thank you all for your continued support and prayers!!
Friday, November 4, 2011
Deep Breaths of Peace
I opened up the Home Study packet while I was alone. Mistake number one. I should have waited for Nathan because I started to stress. There is so much involved! Then yesterday we were assigned our Family Coordinator with America World. She will be assisting us throughout this whole process. In her long email she attached 13 documents. I didn't even open them. I just forwarded it to Nathan so he could print them all off because we don't have a printer at home. When he got home I asked if he was able to do that and he replied, "Yes and the 1st one is 37 pages by itself." I started to worry. Second mistake.
Remember how I said I needed to breath in deep breaths of peace?? Well I had forgotten. I started to worry and stress because we have a lot to do with the home study before we actually get assigned a social worker. All of the paperwork, including the 13 documents sent by our coordinator, are time sensitive. My worry wasn't about if we could do it, but will be able to read over all the documents by the end of the week together as she suggested and will we find the time to actually start getting all of the things done? (Oh and did I mention the online course we have to take starting now?) Once you start you have to "keep the ball rolling" and that is hard to do with an ever changing schedule.
But today I took in those Deep Breaths of Peace. God has called us to this and despite Nathan's super busy schedule, we will make this work!! I'm ready to take this on and start knocking it out one by one. We are planning to start on it tomorrow. So if you come by our house this weekend...I promise we did not rob a paper factory...we are just taking some big steps toward bringing our son home!! (Am I the only one that tears up each time I read that? I can't wait!!) :)
Remember how I said I needed to breath in deep breaths of peace?? Well I had forgotten. I started to worry and stress because we have a lot to do with the home study before we actually get assigned a social worker. All of the paperwork, including the 13 documents sent by our coordinator, are time sensitive. My worry wasn't about if we could do it, but will be able to read over all the documents by the end of the week together as she suggested and will we find the time to actually start getting all of the things done? (Oh and did I mention the online course we have to take starting now?) Once you start you have to "keep the ball rolling" and that is hard to do with an ever changing schedule.
But today I took in those Deep Breaths of Peace. God has called us to this and despite Nathan's super busy schedule, we will make this work!! I'm ready to take this on and start knocking it out one by one. We are planning to start on it tomorrow. So if you come by our house this weekend...I promise we did not rob a paper factory...we are just taking some big steps toward bringing our son home!! (Am I the only one that tears up each time I read that? I can't wait!!) :)
Monday, October 31, 2011
Moving along!
We got accepted last week with the other agency that we applied to do our home study with! Their application seemed less involved in some areas and more involved in others compared to America World. We had to give very detailed statements of faith answering specific questions. I really enjoyed writing mine and getting to ready Nathan's answers! :)
On Saturday we received our packet full of all the information we need to get started on our home study. There were a lot of pages! This weekend we were too preoccupied with other things to take on the task of going over so many pages. It can be a little intimidating to me each time we receive an envelope full of so many pages but the excitement I have to move forward always gives me the nudge to tackle them. For this minute they are sitting in the envelope they came in, but I look forward to taking that deep breath of peace and diving in once again. I'm tickled each time we take a step forward!
On Saturday we received our packet full of all the information we need to get started on our home study. There were a lot of pages! This weekend we were too preoccupied with other things to take on the task of going over so many pages. It can be a little intimidating to me each time we receive an envelope full of so many pages but the excitement I have to move forward always gives me the nudge to tackle them. For this minute they are sitting in the envelope they came in, but I look forward to taking that deep breath of peace and diving in once again. I'm tickled each time we take a step forward!
Monday, October 24, 2011
Taking the next step
We decided that the best option for our family was to proceed faster than originally planned in order to have our home study done locally and cut down on costs and travel. Today we sent our first agency fee of $2000 into America World! Isn't God awesome?! We know this is only the first step but I have to give God the glory for providing this money!! We are believing that he will continue to send forth the money as we proceed on this journey!
In order to have our home study done by this other agency we first had to apply with them. We sent in all of our paperwork and our $200 today as well. Praying the Lord's will be done and that hopefully we will be approved soon so we can get our home study going in order to meet our deadlines.
One step closer to meeting our son!! :)
In order to have our home study done by this other agency we first had to apply with them. We sent in all of our paperwork and our $200 today as well. Praying the Lord's will be done and that hopefully we will be approved soon so we can get our home study going in order to meet our deadlines.
One step closer to meeting our son!! :)
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
The Next Step
"We can be certain that God will give us the strength and resources we need to live through any situation in life that He ordains. The will of God will never take us where the Grace of God cannot sustain us."
I was reminded of this quote today and it spoke to me in my time of need!
The Next Step is really a two part deal. Simultaneously we will have to submit our first large payment to the agency called our Commitment Fee and pay for our Home Study. We are currently praying over which Home Study program we need to use. Our agency is actually about to be certified and have a Home Study program in Georgia but it will be 300 miles north of us since we are way down by Florida. This would include a lot of travel fees on top of the initial cost. The other option is to use an agency closer to us to cut out those travel fees. The con to that is the process can take a little longer. It seems like using the agency close to us would be the best for us financially. The clincher is that if we do want to use the other agency, we will have to submit our Commitment fee and all of the paperwork to our agency before the end of October due to the fact that America World will soon be requiring all families to use their Home Study program if they have a program in place in the state you live in. Which is understandable but it also means we would have to also come up with the money for the Home Study at the same time.
It can be overwhelming. There is lots and lots of paperwork to go through, decisions to be made, and the question of where is all the money coming from. And we've only just begun! :) But this quote reminds me... God has called us to adopt, He has placed this on our hearts, so HE will bring it to pass! We are asking God to supply us with the answers and the funds. There are so many wonderful things that are going to come out of this adoption and many lives will be blessed, but one thing I can already seeing done in me...my prayer life has grown dramatically and my spiritual walk is being strengthened. Because of this, I'm learning so many new things!
The adoption process can take a very long time so updates might not always be frequent but we greatly appreciate all the love and support our readers have already given. Thank you for your continued prayers!!
I was reminded of this quote today and it spoke to me in my time of need!
The Next Step is really a two part deal. Simultaneously we will have to submit our first large payment to the agency called our Commitment Fee and pay for our Home Study. We are currently praying over which Home Study program we need to use. Our agency is actually about to be certified and have a Home Study program in Georgia but it will be 300 miles north of us since we are way down by Florida. This would include a lot of travel fees on top of the initial cost. The other option is to use an agency closer to us to cut out those travel fees. The con to that is the process can take a little longer. It seems like using the agency close to us would be the best for us financially. The clincher is that if we do want to use the other agency, we will have to submit our Commitment fee and all of the paperwork to our agency before the end of October due to the fact that America World will soon be requiring all families to use their Home Study program if they have a program in place in the state you live in. Which is understandable but it also means we would have to also come up with the money for the Home Study at the same time.
It can be overwhelming. There is lots and lots of paperwork to go through, decisions to be made, and the question of where is all the money coming from. And we've only just begun! :) But this quote reminds me... God has called us to adopt, He has placed this on our hearts, so HE will bring it to pass! We are asking God to supply us with the answers and the funds. There are so many wonderful things that are going to come out of this adoption and many lives will be blessed, but one thing I can already seeing done in me...my prayer life has grown dramatically and my spiritual walk is being strengthened. Because of this, I'm learning so many new things!
The adoption process can take a very long time so updates might not always be frequent but we greatly appreciate all the love and support our readers have already given. Thank you for your continued prayers!!
Monday, October 10, 2011
We got accepted!!
I just received the call we've been waiting for! We have been accepted into the Honduras Program with America World Adoption!! This is their website if you'd like to take a look... http://www.awaa.org
When Sarah told us she was calling to say Congratulations my heart leaped and my eyes filled with tears! I called Nathan immediately. We are very, very excited! This is the beginning of an amazing journey! Please be in prayer with us as we take each step in faith. You can follow our journey on this blog. I will update as we continue to move forward.
Thank you for all of you who have been praying for us!!
When Sarah told us she was calling to say Congratulations my heart leaped and my eyes filled with tears! I called Nathan immediately. We are very, very excited! This is the beginning of an amazing journey! Please be in prayer with us as we take each step in faith. You can follow our journey on this blog. I will update as we continue to move forward.
Thank you for all of you who have been praying for us!!
Friday, September 23, 2011
A letter to my future son
My dearest little boy,
I always knew I wanted to adopt. I'm so thankful your daddy wanted to also. Your daddy and I prayed for a long time about when to start this process and where to go. We are so excited to begin because that means we will get to meet you soon.
I dream about what I think you'll look like. I believe you're already born but maybe your still growing in the womb. I dream of what you'll like to do and what you're personality will be like. It's the same as when I was pregnant with your brother and sister. Instead of you growing in my tummy, you're growing in my heart. Each day will bring you closer to my arms. I can't wait to hold you, to love on you, to make you feel safe, and to tell you that you will always be loved! I pray that you don't suffer much before we've met. I have no idea what your life will be like before us or who your birth parents are. I pray they treat you well. No matter what, I will forever be in debt to them for giving you the gift of life. Each day I pray over your birth parents and for you. I pray that no matter where you are you are being fed and loved on. I pray for the social workers and the people at the orphanage that will take care of you. I know the time between now and when you become ours will be hard for me. The thought of knowing you are out there somewhere without your mommy makes me sad. But I am trusting in God to take care of you. I'm believing he will give me the strength to be strong until you're home.
Your brother William-Weston is too little to understand right now that he is getting a brother but I know yall will be best friends. I wonder how close yall will be in age. He's an active little thing so full of fun and personality. I can't wait to see yall playing sports together or wrestling around. I always wanted two boys and a girl.
Your sister Addison is excited. She loves being a sister and when your daddy asked if she wanted another brother or a sister, she proudly said brother! She will be like a mini mommy and I promise to try and keep her from bossing too much. ;) She gets it honestly though. She keeps asking me what we will name you and I tell her we aren't sure yet. Addison was concerned you would have to sit in the back of our car because there wasn't a bench in the middle. She told mommy you have to sit in the middle with her and Weston because you are her brother and friends sit in the back. That made mommy tear up. She started praying that God would bring us a car that would allow you to sit in the middle and he did! Your sister will want to help you and teach you things. She can't wait to have you and Weston be a little older to play with her. I love the fact that she will have two brothers watching out for her.
Your daddy is an amazing man! I can't wait for you to meet him. He loves you already too. He will teach you how to be a man of integrity, about business, about cars, how to drive tractors, how to be a leader, about sports, and so much more. Oh and we are Georgia bulldog fans in this family so he will teach you how to bark and avoid colors like orange. :) He's strong but loves his kids. If he's tough on you, it's only because he wants to raise you right but he will always love on you. Your sister and your brother love to climb on daddy and I dream of seeing you joining them. Little warning though, daddy likes to tickle!
And I'm your mommy. Just saying that brings tears to my eyes. I'm a combination of soft and tough like your daddy. I love to dance and be silly. I can't wait to hear you laugh! I love making my babies smile. I want to teach you to be a gentleman. I will make sure you eat healthy and throw in a few treats every now and then. Your mommy loves chocolate. I am excited to read you stories and to tuck you in every night. I look forward to taking you to church with us and teaching you about Jesus. I pray even now that you will have a heart after God the same as I pray over Addison and Weston. I give lots of hugs and kisses! And I like to tickle too. :)
My son you are so loved already! I know that God has picked you out to be ours. As you grow there may be times that you feel funny about being adopted or wonder why you look different. Please know that we will be jealous of your tan and mommy is excited to have a child with darker hair like hers. But more importantly, you are OUR child and we already love you as much as your brother and sister. To us adoption truly means you were brought to our life a different way but that you are still God's gift to us!
My love forever,
Your Mommy
I always knew I wanted to adopt. I'm so thankful your daddy wanted to also. Your daddy and I prayed for a long time about when to start this process and where to go. We are so excited to begin because that means we will get to meet you soon.
I dream about what I think you'll look like. I believe you're already born but maybe your still growing in the womb. I dream of what you'll like to do and what you're personality will be like. It's the same as when I was pregnant with your brother and sister. Instead of you growing in my tummy, you're growing in my heart. Each day will bring you closer to my arms. I can't wait to hold you, to love on you, to make you feel safe, and to tell you that you will always be loved! I pray that you don't suffer much before we've met. I have no idea what your life will be like before us or who your birth parents are. I pray they treat you well. No matter what, I will forever be in debt to them for giving you the gift of life. Each day I pray over your birth parents and for you. I pray that no matter where you are you are being fed and loved on. I pray for the social workers and the people at the orphanage that will take care of you. I know the time between now and when you become ours will be hard for me. The thought of knowing you are out there somewhere without your mommy makes me sad. But I am trusting in God to take care of you. I'm believing he will give me the strength to be strong until you're home.
Your brother William-Weston is too little to understand right now that he is getting a brother but I know yall will be best friends. I wonder how close yall will be in age. He's an active little thing so full of fun and personality. I can't wait to see yall playing sports together or wrestling around. I always wanted two boys and a girl.
Your sister Addison is excited. She loves being a sister and when your daddy asked if she wanted another brother or a sister, she proudly said brother! She will be like a mini mommy and I promise to try and keep her from bossing too much. ;) She gets it honestly though. She keeps asking me what we will name you and I tell her we aren't sure yet. Addison was concerned you would have to sit in the back of our car because there wasn't a bench in the middle. She told mommy you have to sit in the middle with her and Weston because you are her brother and friends sit in the back. That made mommy tear up. She started praying that God would bring us a car that would allow you to sit in the middle and he did! Your sister will want to help you and teach you things. She can't wait to have you and Weston be a little older to play with her. I love the fact that she will have two brothers watching out for her.
Your daddy is an amazing man! I can't wait for you to meet him. He loves you already too. He will teach you how to be a man of integrity, about business, about cars, how to drive tractors, how to be a leader, about sports, and so much more. Oh and we are Georgia bulldog fans in this family so he will teach you how to bark and avoid colors like orange. :) He's strong but loves his kids. If he's tough on you, it's only because he wants to raise you right but he will always love on you. Your sister and your brother love to climb on daddy and I dream of seeing you joining them. Little warning though, daddy likes to tickle!
And I'm your mommy. Just saying that brings tears to my eyes. I'm a combination of soft and tough like your daddy. I love to dance and be silly. I can't wait to hear you laugh! I love making my babies smile. I want to teach you to be a gentleman. I will make sure you eat healthy and throw in a few treats every now and then. Your mommy loves chocolate. I am excited to read you stories and to tuck you in every night. I look forward to taking you to church with us and teaching you about Jesus. I pray even now that you will have a heart after God the same as I pray over Addison and Weston. I give lots of hugs and kisses! And I like to tickle too. :)
My son you are so loved already! I know that God has picked you out to be ours. As you grow there may be times that you feel funny about being adopted or wonder why you look different. Please know that we will be jealous of your tan and mommy is excited to have a child with darker hair like hers. But more importantly, you are OUR child and we already love you as much as your brother and sister. To us adoption truly means you were brought to our life a different way but that you are still God's gift to us!
My love forever,
Your Mommy
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