A mind and spirit revival! Things are unfolding!

I want to stand at the top of the tallest mountain and scream at the top of my lungs.

WOW! Things are unfolding in an awesome way, filled with little affirmations that some will no doubt say are purely coincidentally. I wholeheartedly, without a doubt, know that God has heard our prayers. He knew that we (okay, mainly me) needed a "sign", something to occur to let me know we are on the right path. I re-read my last post, and it makes me sad. And excited to see how things have changed in just a few days. OK, you can exhale now, we have not been matched yet, but....and a very serious but..... we are so much closer than we were before. And the amount of peace that surrounds the new developments is tremendous. Let me begin....

As you all know we have been waiting to wait for months with the NC agency. In October we were told there were so many waiting families that it they were not able to take any more at this time, but hopefully by spring. Well, we decided (after the braxton hix situation) that we would proceed anyway and hire the agency to independently handle our home study. So glad we did! Our amazing social worker Dawn is incredible. Caring, generous with her time, flexible, and so much more. She has been excited for us since the start and it has been a real pleasure to work with her. We completed 3 HS visits in December, and the last one in January. Dawn has been busy finishing for approval. During this time we have become more and more disenchanted with our current agency. When we asked if we would be able to attend the required meeting that is ONLY held in April and September, we were told that they were not sure yet. Zero communication. That bothers me. So the disenchantment continued to build which led us to start second guessing the path. Not the path of adoption as a whole, just the path to the end result. We started looking at other agencies. Others had great advertising and wonderful appealing aspects with promises of more communication, quicker results, etc. But we still had no real peace about any of them. By the end of last week, I was ready to ban myself from the Internet. I felt really down. This is probably a good place to plug my awesome husband. He is amazing. He is a tough and strong but a soft place to land. He keeps me hopeful. He doesn't show his excitement and enthusiasm the way that I do. But I see what most people don't. The glances in the baby room, the talks about baby names, him declaring "I just want the little person here already!" I love him.

Anyway.... we decided not to pursue one particular agency that we had been discussing for several days. The very same day we spoke with a couple that we have known inadvertently for awhile. They began to tell us their adoption story. They had also been through the battle of infertility. They said they could not tell us what to do what they suggested we look into their agency...in Texas! My first question, is why Texas? Several reasons really. First, the agency in Texas only deals with families that have documented infertility. Second, the laws in TX are much different in NC. In NC, the birth mom can terminate her rights after birth, but has 7 days to change her name. In TX, she can terminate her rights at 48hrs, and there is NO 7 day waiting to see if she will change her mind. HUGE!

Agency facts that I learned from the director today:

Work with only about 15 or so families at a time.
Average wait time is 6 months, could be shorter, could be longer
Place about 60-65 babies per year.

Large majority of babies are Hispanic due to the population. These babies are often hard to place. When the director told me that today, I promptly said "We'll take two!"

The women are tested for every disease known to man, taken to prenatal appointments and counseled weekly. Communication between us and agency would be very frequent.

WHEN we get matched we will also receive a profile on the birth mom to make sure we won't to proceed. This is great! When it is time for delivery Jeff and I will fly to San Antonio and will probably have to wait a few days, possibly a week for the interstate compact between TX and NC. During that time we can explore the city and enjoy every minute of our new baby. I pray we are able to spend time with baby's first mom.

So, I can't wait to tell you about the ways God is working, even in the smallest ways!! When I emailed Dawn to tell her about our intentions of looking into TX, I included the whole story about the couple who told us about the agency in the first place. Her reply was great! Not only does she know them, she helped facilitate some of their paperwork so that they could come home by Easter in 2008! How awesome is that??! She also got the stipulations from TX that need to be included and incorporated them into my HS now, instead of having to get an update later. BONUS!

Then, I discovered that an old friend/co-worker of mine now lives in San Antonio!! Another BONUS!! She is already excited about planning some things for us, what a huge relief it is to know that we have at least one friend in the city!

Then, while talking to my friend at work about hoping that the hotel has Internet because I want to be able to check flights, send pics, etc, (we don't have Internet on our phones), she easily said "Oh, well that's easy, I have an old laptop you can have!!" Seriously!!!

Then, my dear friend Kristyn, who is going to be a fantastic Thirty-one consultant asked me to host a party, which of course I would. Then she said a % will go to our adoption fund. How amazing!!

We can't explain the peace we have. The excitement we have. The love we already have for our birth mom and baby. The awe in how God works. We choose to be optimistic.

The finances will work out, the agency is exactly the amount that I can withdraw from my 401K. Praise the lord.

Now, we can focus on raising funds for the attorney fees ($2k), potential birth mom expenses (in case she doesn't have insurance,etc), and travel expenses. (Flight,hotel, car) But we have some fundraisers in mind, but more important than that, is that GOD always provides a way!

I know this post is all jumbled, sorry about that.

So, occasionally we allow ourselves to envision traveling home, stepping off the airport, and seeing so many of our family and friends who have come to welcome us home. I only allow myself a few seconds of picturing this. But one day, maybe one day soon, our homecoming day will be a reality and not just a dream.