Found this on another adoption blog I follow and I loved it! "Adoption is very messy. It is beautiful and full of God, but it’s not simple or tidy. There is lots of stuff to sort through and many miracles must take place every time adoption happens. It’s such a beautiful picture of the way God has adopted us. Our adoption as sons and daughters in God’s family is messy, too. It involves repentance and brokenness and usually some tears. But in the end, this way that God has provided through Jesus, this way back to him after things were messed up by sin, brings a perfect reconciliation of broken things in our lives and our relationship with him. Just as adoption is a perfect reconciliation of physical brokenness: a husband and wife who are broken because they can't conceive, and a child born without a whole family. It all comes together to create a new, whole, un-broken family. Two broken things made whole, for the glory of God. God adopting us – children who sinned and messed up his perfect original plan – is the ultimate reconciliation of what was broken in the Garden of Eden. It all comes full circle in some crazy, mysterious way.I think that those who are touched by adoption will agree that it is a miraculous and blessed thing to be a part of, one that changes you and opens your eyes; one that leaves you forever imprinted with the image of God and the whisper of his love in your life.Our God is the God of miracles, and I am so blessed to be adopted into His eternal, victorious family!"
Awesome right??
So our profile has been "live" for a couple of weeks now. We have no idea if our profile has been shown to any families yet, but we are hopeful that our call will come anyday. Yesterday was an antsy day for me. Not sure why, just waited for the phone to ring. I probably looked at my cell phone a million and one times. Not to mention scoured the adoption angels website at the 6 waiting families to see if any had been matched yet. It's not that their "competition" so to speak, but it is interesting to read their profiles and look at their photos. I try really hard to not compare our profile to theirs. Continue to trust that God has our baby picked out and there is absolutely nothing else we can do to our profile to make a family like us, make her want to pick us. So we wait. We did receive word from TX that they had received our fingerprint cards and will be sending directly to NC ASAP which is great. Most agencies won't show your profile until your background and prints are cleared. But our awesome agency started showing us a couple of weeks ago before our prints were received.
Last week we were overwhelmed by kindness and generosity, again. I work with some amazing folks and they so generously created 15 beautiful gift baskets of various themes: beach, garden, cooking, baby, etc. They then sold raffle tickets for one week. I had the great honor of pulling the winning ticket for each of the fifteen baskets. (My Mom won a great basket complete with a giant giraffe which will be great in the nursery, this was not RIGGED!) All of the raffle proceeds went to our adoption fund. They raised $1040.00!!! Isn't that incredible??? I tried to say a few words to practice for Spaghetti dinner next week, and I couldn't hold it together. Tears everywhere. I don't think I was the only one though. :)
Bought 2 tiny onesies today. We have collected a few little things (non gender specific) to take with us when we journey across state lines. My fave so far is a yellow zippered sleeper that says: I love Mommy. Ahh I LOVE it!
Thank you everyone for your continued prayers, generosity, kind words, and for being our cheerleaders!!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
We made it on the big screen...
Have I mentioned lately that I am thoroughly impressed with our agency?? Since we made the first phone call to them in the beginning of February, things have really moved at lightening speed. (Compared to how things had previously been moving..) God has really moved things right along for us!! In just a few short weeks, we have completed all our paperwork, received our official waiting family letter, and today our online profile was published on the agency website!!! This is HUGE!! So huge, that when I was scrolling down the waiting family list on the website (something I do frequently), and I saw US, I was almost sick. Ha Ha I couldn't believe it! Whoo Hoo. I know they have been showing our profile for a couple of weeks now, but being listed on the website means even more birth families will be able to see us.
I can't even imagine!!! Our birth mom could be reading our profile online right now! She could be considering adoption, browsing the agency site, read our profile, and hopefully she will see our hearts. She will see our desires. We know and trust that God has already chosen the baby we are to adopt. I can't wait!!
My sweet dear friends at work made 15 beautiful baskets to be raffled off with the proceeds going to help our adoption. We can't believe how much participation there has been. I can't believe there are so many people that desire to help. I am overwhelmed and I don't know how to properly thank everyone. Our Sunday School class is hosting a spaghetti dinner for us on April 6th. I'm gonna try to speak, gonna need to pray hard to hold it together.
The nursery is coming along so beautifully. Last weekend we put the bedding on the crib and it looks fantastic. My whole adult life I have only ever purchased things for other people's babies, I can't believe that it will be our baby one day, hopefully soon.
Please continue to pray for the birth family, our agency, our social worker, and for the whole process. Thank you so much! Love - J & K XOXO
I can't even imagine!!! Our birth mom could be reading our profile online right now! She could be considering adoption, browsing the agency site, read our profile, and hopefully she will see our hearts. She will see our desires. We know and trust that God has already chosen the baby we are to adopt. I can't wait!!
My sweet dear friends at work made 15 beautiful baskets to be raffled off with the proceeds going to help our adoption. We can't believe how much participation there has been. I can't believe there are so many people that desire to help. I am overwhelmed and I don't know how to properly thank everyone. Our Sunday School class is hosting a spaghetti dinner for us on April 6th. I'm gonna try to speak, gonna need to pray hard to hold it together.
The nursery is coming along so beautifully. Last weekend we put the bedding on the crib and it looks fantastic. My whole adult life I have only ever purchased things for other people's babies, I can't believe that it will be our baby one day, hopefully soon.
Please continue to pray for the birth family, our agency, our social worker, and for the whole process. Thank you so much! Love - J & K XOXO
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Parents in Waiting, Paper Pregnant or whatever you wanna call it!!
YAY!!! One of the most important dates in our adoption journey has finally arrived!! In the mail this evening we found a "Parents-in-Waiting" letter from our agency!!!....
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Clayton,
We would like to congratulate you on your new status as Parents in Waiting with our agency. We have found your home study to be complete and received clearance on your criminal background check. At this time, we will begin to present your profile to Birth Parents. We will also continue making contact with you throughout the adoption process to ensure we have all required documents in place.
When selected (I love that it say WHEN and not IF), a committment packet will be mailed to you containin all the birth parent information, including all available information that we have gathered (Birth Parent profiles, medical records, photos, info on siblings of unborn child, etc) You will have five days to review the birth family information, ask questions, and talk with your family before you make your decision.
Another section read: This will probably prove to be the most trying and difficult time of your adoption. You have worked hard to get this far and now all you can do is wait. :)
WOOO HOOOOOOOOO When we ripped the letter open at 9pm in our dark front yard, squinting to read the print, I screamed! A loud, squeal of joy! So excited to be Paper Pregnant!! I received an email from a good friend yesterday filled with encouragement. She closed the letter with a specific prayer for begging for some kind of confirmation to ease my mind - an email, a phone call, or a letter to show things were progressing. Today, we received this great news. Thank you Lord for always sending things at the right time and reminding us that you have everything in your control.
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Clayton,
We would like to congratulate you on your new status as Parents in Waiting with our agency. We have found your home study to be complete and received clearance on your criminal background check. At this time, we will begin to present your profile to Birth Parents. We will also continue making contact with you throughout the adoption process to ensure we have all required documents in place.
When selected (I love that it say WHEN and not IF), a committment packet will be mailed to you containin all the birth parent information, including all available information that we have gathered (Birth Parent profiles, medical records, photos, info on siblings of unborn child, etc) You will have five days to review the birth family information, ask questions, and talk with your family before you make your decision.
Another section read: This will probably prove to be the most trying and difficult time of your adoption. You have worked hard to get this far and now all you can do is wait. :)
WOOO HOOOOOOOOO When we ripped the letter open at 9pm in our dark front yard, squinting to read the print, I screamed! A loud, squeal of joy! So excited to be Paper Pregnant!! I received an email from a good friend yesterday filled with encouragement. She closed the letter with a specific prayer for begging for some kind of confirmation to ease my mind - an email, a phone call, or a letter to show things were progressing. Today, we received this great news. Thank you Lord for always sending things at the right time and reminding us that you have everything in your control.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Braxton Hicks (again), Lemon Parfait, and a Test of Endurance
Well....it has been an interesting couple of days. I've hesitated in sharing this but decided I would although names will be changed and vague details will be given. If you remember back in October I wrote about a Braxton Hicks of Adoption instance that occurred when we were made aware of a potential independent adoption situation. Well, it happened again!! A friend contacted me yesterday with some crazy news. She knew of a situation a few months ago (unbeknownst to us) where a woman was pregnant, already had a couple of children, and she was considering adoption for this baby. My friend contacted her and told her that she had a friend (us) that were trying to adopt and if she chose that route she could introduce us. She didn't hear anymore more out of her until Sunday night when the mother called her from the labor/delivery room sobbing that she wanted to place the baby girl for adoption and she wanted to meet us!!! (We still did not know this was going on) However, the boyfriend (bio father) is adamant about not placing the baby for adoption. Here in lies the problem....this makes for a legal risk situation. It's her right, he could contest, etc. Also, the woman's mom has stepped up and said she would help support the baby if she chose to keep her. It was an exciting little while. But mostly it makes me sad knowing there is a baby girl lying 5 miles down the road whose family is fighting over her. One wants to give her the kind of life that she admittedly is unable to provide, the other not allowing her that chance. Pray for this whole family as they need peace and healing, and strength. We have not heard anything else. We told our friend that we would speak with her if she wanted to. But we really don't feel like this is supposed to be our baby.
This posed a very interesting question though. Are we still interested in an independent adoption? The answer is possibly. Depends on the situation. We are working with Texas, we are deep in their process, but we will have to consider all opportunities as they arise. Who knew this would happen again??? I am so thankful for that friend who thought of us, who prayed for us, and was willing to help in any way.
So..continuing on....we have painted the nursery a delicious Lemon Parfait! It is beautiful!! We also repainted all the molding and trim a lovely white. It looks so fresh and clean! Next, my friend Lora will begin on the Noah's Ark mural. Can't wait to see the zebras, giraffes, monkeys, oh my! The crib bedding came in today too, and I almost broke down. It is precious. Never in my life did I think I would be purchasing baby items for us. But here we are, still no match, but preparing as though baby will be here tomorrow! Crazy I know!
We stood in line today for over an hour waiting to get fingerprinted. We had to leave before we made it through the line because I was already way over on my lunch break, but the kind guy said we could come back on Thursday and he would move us to the front of the line. Yay, for kind people. You would not find that kind of service at the DMV! ha ha "Back of the line"!!!
Next week our amazing Sunday school class is hosting a spaghetti supper for us with the proceeds going to the adoption fund. We are overwhelmed. We don't know how to thank people enough. I would love to be able to stand up pour my heart out to all in attendance, but I know I will be reduced to a blubbering idiot. No one wants to see that before they dig in to their spaghetti. I am not one of those pretty criers, nope, I'm the red eyed, puffy lips, snot nosed, snorter who gets choked up easily and words fail to flow. Hmm, people might attend just for show. ha ha Gonna have to pray big time.
I'm getting tired of the race. I know there will be a happy ending to this journey (yes, I'm that optimistic), but the last few days I have really been exhausted. For months we have been working so hard to prepare, plan, process, and push things to happen. And I don't regret it at all!! But maybe I will feel differently when the fingerprints are finished and the background check is in so the HS can be finalized. Then we really won't have anything to do in the process except wait. Oh, more waiting. haha We are hopeful that when we are officially official with no red tape in the way that we will be matched quickly.
Thank you for the prayers, texts and msgs of encouragement, and for following our journey. We could not do this without you all.
This posed a very interesting question though. Are we still interested in an independent adoption? The answer is possibly. Depends on the situation. We are working with Texas, we are deep in their process, but we will have to consider all opportunities as they arise. Who knew this would happen again??? I am so thankful for that friend who thought of us, who prayed for us, and was willing to help in any way.
So..continuing on....we have painted the nursery a delicious Lemon Parfait! It is beautiful!! We also repainted all the molding and trim a lovely white. It looks so fresh and clean! Next, my friend Lora will begin on the Noah's Ark mural. Can't wait to see the zebras, giraffes, monkeys, oh my! The crib bedding came in today too, and I almost broke down. It is precious. Never in my life did I think I would be purchasing baby items for us. But here we are, still no match, but preparing as though baby will be here tomorrow! Crazy I know!
We stood in line today for over an hour waiting to get fingerprinted. We had to leave before we made it through the line because I was already way over on my lunch break, but the kind guy said we could come back on Thursday and he would move us to the front of the line. Yay, for kind people. You would not find that kind of service at the DMV! ha ha "Back of the line"!!!
Next week our amazing Sunday school class is hosting a spaghetti supper for us with the proceeds going to the adoption fund. We are overwhelmed. We don't know how to thank people enough. I would love to be able to stand up pour my heart out to all in attendance, but I know I will be reduced to a blubbering idiot. No one wants to see that before they dig in to their spaghetti. I am not one of those pretty criers, nope, I'm the red eyed, puffy lips, snot nosed, snorter who gets choked up easily and words fail to flow. Hmm, people might attend just for show. ha ha Gonna have to pray big time.
I'm getting tired of the race. I know there will be a happy ending to this journey (yes, I'm that optimistic), but the last few days I have really been exhausted. For months we have been working so hard to prepare, plan, process, and push things to happen. And I don't regret it at all!! But maybe I will feel differently when the fingerprints are finished and the background check is in so the HS can be finalized. Then we really won't have anything to do in the process except wait. Oh, more waiting. haha We are hopeful that when we are officially official with no red tape in the way that we will be matched quickly.
Thank you for the prayers, texts and msgs of encouragement, and for following our journey. We could not do this without you all.
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