Monday

We will get our homestudy on Monday. Our profiles came yesterday afternoon. I have everything ready to go to the post office so we should have a package on it's way to the agency by Monday afternoon. Then we will have to wait for official approval but after we mail the package, there is nothing more for us to do except apply for grants & continue to raise the remainder of the money that we need. For a little over 2 months, we have been doing the paperchase to get everything ready & we are close to having it all complete. So let's home we don't hit a glitch on Monday & that everything goes smoothly!

Still Waiting

Sensing a theme of things?? We most definitely are. We still haven't received our completed homestudy. It should be any day now. We know it's all in God's timing so we are leaning on that. Our final profile books should be here tomorrow. I'm hoping to get our homestudy tomorrow because then I will be off to the post office to get everything mailed to our agency. We will be ready for this phase of the process to be done. I'm sure waiting for a call is going to be difficult in a different way. We have 4 blessings to keep us busy so I hope the waiting time goes fast! We have quite a few things in place to be ready for a baby again. If I'm honest, I will say it's a lot of work but oh so much fun too! Who can't get excited about welcoming a new family member? We know this will be life changing for us. I can't imagine adoption not changing someone. We know God is going to use this to do His work & change those around us too. We know this is the path that God is leading us down & at times feel so unequipped to do this. We don't know why He chose us to go down this road but we agreed to follow His calling & we know He will provide us with the strength do deal with all the ups & downs we will experience.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

We just wanted to say thank you to everyone who made our tip night fundraiser such a wonderful night! We are humbled & amazed by all the wonderful support we received! Also a HUGE thank you to all who worked with us last night. You all worked so hard & we appreciate it so much. Word cannot even accurately convey how much we appreciate everything! God has so blessed us with wonderful people in our lives!

Fundraiser reminder!

Tomorrow night (May 11) we have our tip night at the Sioux Center Pizza Ranch from 5-8. This is a great fundraiser for us because they donate a portion of the sales from that time frame & we will be washing dishes, busing tables, & refilling glasses for tips. Tax deductible donations can be made out to Bethel CRC! We hope that God blesses the night not only in helping us raise money but to also help us further His kingdom by being Christian examples! Continue to keep us in prayer as we are getting the remainder of our paperwork together to send to the agency & for our grant applications!

Thinking of Adoption??

Here is a post by an adoptive mom who's blog I read. This was a post that really got to me when we were contemplating the start of this process. If anyone has thought of adopting but doubts & fears took over, this is the post to read! Thanks for speaking these words Carly!

"Has the thought of adoption ever crossed your mind? Do you excuse it away quickly,with a quick "that's not something I can do?" Well, all I am asking is for you to take that little thought and explore it. It very well may be nothing more than a fleeting thought, but it might be the voice of God, pressing something upon your heart. All I can say is that it can't hurt to at least explore the option, right? There are a million reasons not to adopt. For us the reasons were: A. It's too expensive and we really don't make much money B. We really aren't amazing and didn't feel equipped to take on adoption. As we began our journey we learned that there are so many options to help fund an adoption. God provides. Period. We also learned that no one is perfect, and no time is ever perfect. I remember asking a social worker before we began, "We have two kids and the youngest is only one. Do you think that would be ok for us to adopt?" I remember her saying "Ah yea." Now I realize she was probably thinking, "What's the problem? Two kids? One year old?" We just thought for sure they would figure out that we were just a couple of dumb kids who didn't have a clue what we were doing!







Now that we have been through the process our eyes have been opened. The need is OVERWHELMING! I know it doesn't make sense. The expense, the difficult process, the waiting, but that is adoption and there is just no getting around it. The truth is there are literally millions of kids who NEED homes and they need them NOW. How many of us, if a child was dropped on our doorstep would say "no"? Reality is that the problem is THAT urgent. We just don't see it in our daily lives so its hard to believe its going on. But it is. Just check out the 800 waiting children listed on Rainbow Kids and maybe you will start to feel the urgency.






I know adoption is not for everyone, or maybe just not for you right now, but there are little ones going to bed each night with out a family to call their own. No one to tuck them in, with a promise of being there tomorrow, the next day, and until forever. I just picture Trent and Ethan alone, without us. That is who these children are. They are real. The process may stink but that is not the orphan's fault, nor does it change their situation. We constantly ask why God allows these things to go on but the Bible says that WE are his hands and feet. He has provided for these kids. Homes filled with empty bedrooms, extra food, and most of all love, which we can never run out of. That is not to say its easy or not a sacrifice. But nothing worth doing is ever easy.






So if it has ever crossed your mind, just think about it a little more. Explore it. Talk to someone who has been there. Get on the computer and research. Most importantly, pray. God won't lead you astray. If He isn't asking you to adopt, He will make that clear, but if He is, He will also provide all that you need to accomplish His will. The Bible makes it clear in James 1 that we are to care for orphans and widows, whether it be through adoption, prayer, money, or encouragement. The amazing thing about caring for others, we are fulfilled, we get the blessing.






My desire is not to guilt anyone. We are all called to different things and when God wants us to do something we have peace, not guilt, fear maybe, but peace always. Have confidence in what God has called you to even if its not adoption. I just hear so many say "We thought about adoption but...." That "but" might be valid or it might just be a lack of knowledge and information about adoption. Don't let that "but" stop you from at least checking it out. I don't think you will regret exploring, whatever conclusion you come to."

They're Baaack!!

Just got a phone call from our social worker! The fingerprints are back!! Can we just give God glory on that one?? Time estimates were anywhere from 4-13 weeks so being just a little over 4 weeks is a wonderful thing! We should have the notarized copy of our homestudy by next weeks & as soon as our profile books come in, everything can go to the agency! With our homestudy complete, we can also file our grant applications. I can't believe that we will be ready to go(or paper pregnant, as some would say) here in a couple of weeks! Just crazy! Then a whole new waiting begins. I am hoping that the summer home with the kids might be able to distract me if we end up waiting for a while, which we know can happen.

Just a reminder to all those who are local that our Pizza Ranch Tip Night is next Tuesday, May 11 from 5-8. We are praying God's blessing on that evening & that we may be a testiment to His love in the work we do!

Blessed

There are so many times that I forget exactly how blessed we are. When I do have a chance to sit back and reflect, I can't imagine why I don't realize it all the time. We have a wonderful home, financial stability, great kids, wonderful church family & a wonderful extended family. We are much more blessed that most people in this world & yet we can tend to not recognize what we have.

Last night we were blessed enough to be reminded of a huge blessing that we have. The blessing of friends. The blessing of giving. As part of our fundraising, we are doing suppers in our home for a donation. Brian is very well known for his ability to cook ribs. They are so good that I never order them in a restaurant because I know that I will just be disappointed so I don't even bother. Anyway, we were blessed to have 4 couples join us for a wonderful rib supper. It was a great evening of food & hanging out. Toward the end of the evening, they were kind enough to give us their donation. We are so blessed by these wonderful people! I'm not going to name names in this story but I just have to tell it because both Brian & I were humbled by this act of selflessness. 1 of the women there was explaining that there was some extra money that she had put in. Earlier that day, she was explaining to her kids where they were going & why. Her oldest son then said how neat it was that we were adopting & if he could give some of his own money. As she was telling me this story, I was doing everything in my power to get rid of the lump in my throat. It may not have seemed like a large dollar amount but it meant the world to us. This boy felt so compelled in his heart to help us bring our son home that he gave some of his own money. Oh, the ways God is working in our hearts & the hearts of others through this journey, even in the small ways through a very selfless act of boy whose heart was tugged by God to give to our fund! The only word to describe it is HUMBLING!

Yet again, still waiting for fingerprints! We are making some phone calls to try to get a time frame of when we will see those back. I tried to call 1 phone number & I do have to say that I really don't ever care to get that person on the other end ever again! She was rude & mean & wouldn't even answer the 2 questions that I had. I know she probably deals with all kinds of people in a day but when someone is being pleasant & just asking a couple of questions, it was totally uncalled for! I don't know this person's life story so I try to be a little forgiving but if how she treats people on the phone is any indication of what kind of person she is, we need to pray for God to soften her heart! Can't wait to update with more news than we are just "waiting"! And yes, it's all part of the journey!