We Are Expecting!!!!

It is official!!  We are all approved and ready to adopt!  It is bittersweet as I think about this…I am so excited to be on this journey toward becoming a family with the children God is preparing for us.  However, in the preparation is pain.  They are going through a loss that I will never quite understand - even in my fervor of excitement and anticipation, my heart aches for these children who will soon call me mom.  I already want to earn their trust, to protect them, and love them! YIKES, "Mom" so much responsibility it is really starting to seem real.

Friends, can you pray for us as a family - that the Lord prepares our hearts for each other.  Pray that the Lord grants Beaver and I the wisdom, love, courage, and grace we need to parent these gifts the Lord is bringing into our lives!

Someone, I am sure without even thinking, asked me why I did not want kids of my own.  Let me be clear, these will be my own…our own! Beaver and I chose adoption over conception long ago, these will be our "real" kids. 

We understand there are questions that you have, please feel free to ask and share in our excitement - We Are Expecting and we are so excited to share this journey with you! Thank you for sharing in the journey and for being excited for/with us!

We also want to explain the next steps. Once children are identified as a potential match for us, the kids social worker will get our file if she agrees we would be a good match for the kids then and our social worker will get the kids file.  We will review and decided if we should proceed, if yes, we sign an intent to adopt…a contract to adopt these children even without meeting them.  To some, this sounds scary, but parents who conceive never get to choose or meet their child first either. Plus it shows commitment so that people are meeting the kids and then they never see them again. They have already had enough loss.

Then the visits start! The visit increase as we go start with an hour or so visit until overnighters then weekends etc…it is about a three month process and could mean trips all over the State. This process will be our priority over the next few months. We will be careful as we plan ahead but we ask for your understanding if we need to make changes to or cancel plans or are not as available as we typically might be!

Coveting your love, encouragement, and prayers…it takes a village, my friends, it takes a village!! 

XO, ht