Updates

It has been a while since our last post and I just wanted to update everyone on the process. As I have said before the adoption process can sometimes be quite a lengthy process and this has proven to be true in our case. I know many of you have asked and are wondering why it is taking so long for us so I wanted to answer the question for you. The main reason is the age that we have selected. Our age range is 0-5 years old. When we started the process we were told this age range was the hardest to get and had the longest wait time. The younger kids are always the ones that most families want. There is a waiting list of possible families for this age range and several of the families have been waiting a lot longer than we have. Another reason it is so difficult to adopt children of that age group is because usually the foster families have first choice and most of the time, they adopt the younger  children. We also had some special requests because of this being our first child.

Despite all of these conditions we have still had the privilege of being recommended for possible matches. We were even selected in the top 3 families for one child and were interviewed for a possible match. Although we were not selected we did have the opportunity to experience our first interview which will help us have a better understanding of what to expect next time. Although this was heartbreaking and very difficult for us, the experience helped us remember that we have to trust God in this process. His timing is perfect and even though it sometimes gets tough we have him to lean on and know that his plan is better than ours. He has called us to adopt and he has the perfect child for us and it will all happen in his timing. We have the opportunity now to fully trust God and leave it at his feet while we rest in his promises. We are humbled and thankful that he has allowed us to even have the possibility to adopt and give him all the glory!

For I know the plans I have for you declares The Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future

Be still and know that I am God

These are the verses that we cling to and the promises that we have been holding on to. We have peace and know that when our day comes it will be a God ordained miracle!

Please continue to pray for us and for the child that we will be adopting.

We are so happy that our friends the Hall's and the Samuels' have already been matched with children:) please pray for them as we'll as they walk through the process and follow God's call to adopt.

Happy birthday Babies

Well if you know me at all, you know that one of the hardest months if the year for me is April.... Oh how I dread this month every year! The doctors describe it as post traumatic stress... For the last couple of years April has come and gone with no problem but this year it has been tough! I think that God is teaching me something... After so many good years I was shocked to find myself running out of the room after a conversation about babies and crying myself to sleep at night. I thought I had moved on from moments like these but the truth is, even though I know  that God has  a plan and that he has healed me, I'm still human....and I will never forget. That's what Jesus is for. If I had it all together and never struggled with it I wouldn't need him! But I do need him!!! He is the only one who can give me strength in my weakness....because I alone can do nothing. There has still been no word yet in possible adoptive children and we are waiting to begin working towards our foster care home study but in the mean time I will wait while  God works in me..... Happy birthday this week and next  to all my angels in heaven! Know they are celebrating it up in heaven with Jesus!!!!

Happy birthday Chris, Alaina and Isaac

Hello Again

Well it has been quite a long time since I have updated the blog, but that is because we are in the waiting process. When you are adopting it is so exciting in the beginning when you are filling out paperwork, completing home studies and obtaining approval but after all those things happen the waiting game begins. It is the most un-exciting thing about the whole process. We are approved and just waiting for the call that says we have been recommended for a child. That has happened for us once already, but we were one out if five families chosen for this particular child but in the end we were not the family chosen. Yes, this was disappointing but we know that God has the perfect child already picked out for us.
This week we were able to attend the Project 111 kickoff event. Project 111 is an organization who's goal is to find Christian homes for children who are in foster care and need to be adopted in the state of Florida. We attended this event thinking that it would be just an event to encourage us and keep us positive about the adoption process but little did we know that God was going to speak to us and open up our hearts to a new process. While we were at this event we heard story after story of foster children who's lives were changed when they were given a home and parents through foster care. We heard Michelle from the joy fm's testimony as well as from her daughter Crystal who went through the foster care system. Through all of this both Eddie and I felt the Holy Spirit tugging at us. After the event we both turned to each other and said " we are supposed to foster" it was an immediate consensus. Without even speaking to each other during the event we both knew God was speaking to us. We spoke with Michelle and decided to speak with our adoption agency about what the process would be to start fostering.
Next week, we begin the paperwork to begin the foster care licensing process. Please pray for us and for the process. We are listening to the call that God has put in our hearts and obeying his word to take care of the least of these. We want to help as many children as possible. Our human side is afraid and nervous but we know that God will be with us!!! We are so excited to see how God will use us and how our hearts will be blessed by fostering.