August 26th marked another important date in our adoption journey. That special Friday was the day our new caseworker came to our home for a visit. Since Covenant Care is using our home study, this was a get-to-know-you visit. It was honestly like having a friend come over for some time to chat and catch up.
After hearing about one of the wonderful Covenant Care case workers, it was such a temptation to call the agency and request to have that individual assigned to our adoption. However, it was worth the wait to see who God assigned to us. Our case worker is from the same area in NC that we lived in for 6 1/2 years. She moved here 1 1/2 years ago, and we moved here 2 1/2 years ago. She attended a NC church that we know people from. She loves Jesus. She sees her birthmom caseworker job as a ministry. She has heard of our former NC pastor's wife. She formally worked at the NC adoption agency we were going to use if we had stayed in NC. She was at several NC adoption dinner banquets that we attended, but we never met there. Those kind of situations don't just happen. Those are circumstances that God orchestrates!
The visit with this new caseworker confirmed to us once again that pursuing this infant adoption is the direction God is leading us to go. She took time to explain the process to us again and answered our questions. We found out that we will rarely know about our portfolio being shown to birthmoms. In fact, we may not even know about it until we receive a phone call telling us to be at Covenant Care in two days for placement! We also learned that once our portfolio is shown the process could take as little as Christmas time or as long as next Christmas time.
As we have seen in our almost 9 years of marriage, God has perfect timing for everything. In His perfect timing we will be united with God's child for us!
So what's next? You guessed it . . . waiting and waiting and waiting . . . and fundraising and fundraising and fundraising. Our support letters will finally go out soon. We have another jewelry party fundraiser on Oct. 7th. Our portfolio needs to be made. Our portfolio will be turned in on October 14th (the day of our 2nd mandatory agency meeting). Once our portfolio is received with our $1,300.00 showing fee, birthmoms will be able to view our portfolio! Who knows what then!
In the meantime we have gained two important child items . . . a family vehicle and a baby bed! Eric was in a car accident several weeks ago which totaled his just paid off car! Since we had no choice but to purchase another vehicle, we decided on an SUV that has plenty of child space (the first time we weren't getting a vehicle just for us!). Eric's parents also came up last Sunday to celebrate Eric's birthday. They brought a baby crib with them! It was such a blessing to see Eric and his dad put the crib together.
Stay tuned for more updates. Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support. It is a blessing to know that so many people are rallied behind us on this adoption endeavor!
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
1st Covenant Care Meeting
Our first Covenant Care meeting took place on August 19th. Several months ago August 19th seemed like it would never come! On the morning of the awaited August 19th, excitement brewed within us as we prepared to travel to Macon for this mandatory meeting.
Even prior to the meeting God was at work preparing the way. Eric was terribly sick last week which landed him in the ER on Thursday. Thankfully Eric's symptoms turned out to be severe dehydration resulting from a virus. Although very uncomfortable from hospital procedures, Eric was able to make it to the meeting. This meeting is only offered twice a year, so it was a big deal for us both to attend! That's a God event for sure!
The meeting was very informative. The 25-30 couples in attendance learned about Covenant Care's history, philosophy, ministry, goals, expectations, and process. Concluding the meeting was our case worker assignments - the moment we have been waiting for for months!!! We have been praying that God would place us with the case worker He wanted us to have, so it was a blessing to finally meet her. Our caseworker already seems to be a perfect fit for us - of course she is since God put us together! We told her about our completed and approved home study because we are ready to move forward to the next step in the process. She said she would contact us soon . . . soon it was!
We received an email last night from our caseworker! We will meet with her this Friday! Please be praying for our meeting. Pray that God will guide our conversation, that He will give our caseworker wisdom to know how to direct us, and that God will give us patience and guidance. Also be in prayer for the baby and birthmom that God is preparing us to meet.
Even prior to the meeting God was at work preparing the way. Eric was terribly sick last week which landed him in the ER on Thursday. Thankfully Eric's symptoms turned out to be severe dehydration resulting from a virus. Although very uncomfortable from hospital procedures, Eric was able to make it to the meeting. This meeting is only offered twice a year, so it was a big deal for us both to attend! That's a God event for sure!
The meeting was very informative. The 25-30 couples in attendance learned about Covenant Care's history, philosophy, ministry, goals, expectations, and process. Concluding the meeting was our case worker assignments - the moment we have been waiting for for months!!! We have been praying that God would place us with the case worker He wanted us to have, so it was a blessing to finally meet her. Our caseworker already seems to be a perfect fit for us - of course she is since God put us together! We told her about our completed and approved home study because we are ready to move forward to the next step in the process. She said she would contact us soon . . . soon it was!
We received an email last night from our caseworker! We will meet with her this Friday! Please be praying for our meeting. Pray that God will guide our conversation, that He will give our caseworker wisdom to know how to direct us, and that God will give us patience and guidance. Also be in prayer for the baby and birthmom that God is preparing us to meet.
Friday, June 10, 2011
New News and Second Steps
Word was received today from Covenant Care Services that our pre-application has been approved!!!! We are one step closer to being parents of a domestic infant from GA!
So, what now?
Our home study was completed with the previous adoption agency, so that step is complete. However, there are still several more months of waiting ahead.
June - Fundraising, fundraising, fundraising! We will be sending out support letters for our matching grant. We also have the puzzle fundraiser that we are working on. Raising the funds during June and the upcoming months is crucial, because a child will not be placed in our care until all the money has been submitted to the adoption agency (around $13,000 plus the $1,300 to show our portfolio to birth moms).
July - Mission trip to Thailand (July 6-25)
August - Covenant Care mandatory meeting on August 19th in Macon, GA (this is when we will meet with our case worker for the first time)
September - hopefully working on our portfolio that will be shown to birth moms (birth moms and families will look at our portfolio to see if we are the couple they want to parent their child)
October - 2nd Covenant Care mandatory meeting on October 21st in Macon, GA (hopefully our portfolio will be shown around this time)
Waiting is the word of our lives! How about yours? :) We wait for one thing, and then there is something else to wait for! However, waiting does increase faith!!!!! God's plan is perfect, and waiting is part of that plan. As a dear friend told us tonight, God is still getting our child ready for us. When it's God's perfect timing, He will allow us to meet. One cannot go wrong with God's timing! Although this isn't exactly our time line (we would like the adoption to already be done), God has a perfect time line already mapped out.
Part of God's perfect time line is us going to Thailand. It is because of the change in adoption direction back in March that we are able to go on our church college mission trip to Thailand again. Eric had two of his college interns compile a prayer/scripture reading calendar for the Thailand team to use in preparation for the mission trip in July. Today's reading is Daniel 6, the familiar story of Daniel and the Lion's Den. In this story, Daniel is thrown into a den full of hungry lions as punishment for not worshiping the king or false gods. He remained faithful to God, constantly served God, and prayed to God regularly, even when it was not popular among the other leaders he was surrounded by. The Bible reveals that God protected Daniel from the lions, which opened the eyes of the king and others to the power of God. God took care of Daniel. I'm sure Daniel was not exactly planning on spending time in a lion's den, but God had that as a special part of His timing. God used Daniel's challenging circumstances to bring others to Himself. Verse 23 says, ". . . no injury whatever was found on him, because he had trusted in his God." This event allowed God to be exalted in the kingdom when King Darius said, "For He IS the LIVING God and enduring forever, and His kingdom is one which WILL NOT be destroyed, and His dominion WILL be forever. He delivers and rescues and performs signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, who has also delivered Daniel from the power of the lions." Although we may sometimes feel like we are in a den of preying lions of waiting, we are praying that God will use our circumstances to make Himself known, exalted, and honored.
We look forward to keeping you updated on God's hand in this adoption journey He is leading us on!!!
Prayer request:
- pray that we will patiently wait for God's timing
- pray for the birth mom
- pray for fundraising
- pray for Covenant Care (adoption agency)
- pray for Promise686 (grant agency)
- pray that God will continue to prepare us for the child(ren) He has for us to care for (and the same for the child/ren)
- pray that first and foremost that God will be made known, honored, and exalted through this process - He has us on the journey for a reason much bigger than we could ever ask for or imagine!!!!
So, what now?
Our home study was completed with the previous adoption agency, so that step is complete. However, there are still several more months of waiting ahead.
June - Fundraising, fundraising, fundraising! We will be sending out support letters for our matching grant. We also have the puzzle fundraiser that we are working on. Raising the funds during June and the upcoming months is crucial, because a child will not be placed in our care until all the money has been submitted to the adoption agency (around $13,000 plus the $1,300 to show our portfolio to birth moms).
July - Mission trip to Thailand (July 6-25)
August - Covenant Care mandatory meeting on August 19th in Macon, GA (this is when we will meet with our case worker for the first time)
September - hopefully working on our portfolio that will be shown to birth moms (birth moms and families will look at our portfolio to see if we are the couple they want to parent their child)
October - 2nd Covenant Care mandatory meeting on October 21st in Macon, GA (hopefully our portfolio will be shown around this time)
Waiting is the word of our lives! How about yours? :) We wait for one thing, and then there is something else to wait for! However, waiting does increase faith!!!!! God's plan is perfect, and waiting is part of that plan. As a dear friend told us tonight, God is still getting our child ready for us. When it's God's perfect timing, He will allow us to meet. One cannot go wrong with God's timing! Although this isn't exactly our time line (we would like the adoption to already be done), God has a perfect time line already mapped out.
Part of God's perfect time line is us going to Thailand. It is because of the change in adoption direction back in March that we are able to go on our church college mission trip to Thailand again. Eric had two of his college interns compile a prayer/scripture reading calendar for the Thailand team to use in preparation for the mission trip in July. Today's reading is Daniel 6, the familiar story of Daniel and the Lion's Den. In this story, Daniel is thrown into a den full of hungry lions as punishment for not worshiping the king or false gods. He remained faithful to God, constantly served God, and prayed to God regularly, even when it was not popular among the other leaders he was surrounded by. The Bible reveals that God protected Daniel from the lions, which opened the eyes of the king and others to the power of God. God took care of Daniel. I'm sure Daniel was not exactly planning on spending time in a lion's den, but God had that as a special part of His timing. God used Daniel's challenging circumstances to bring others to Himself. Verse 23 says, ". . . no injury whatever was found on him, because he had trusted in his God." This event allowed God to be exalted in the kingdom when King Darius said, "For He IS the LIVING God and enduring forever, and His kingdom is one which WILL NOT be destroyed, and His dominion WILL be forever. He delivers and rescues and performs signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, who has also delivered Daniel from the power of the lions." Although we may sometimes feel like we are in a den of preying lions of waiting, we are praying that God will use our circumstances to make Himself known, exalted, and honored.
We look forward to keeping you updated on God's hand in this adoption journey He is leading us on!!!
Prayer request:
- pray that we will patiently wait for God's timing
- pray for the birth mom
- pray for fundraising
- pray for Covenant Care (adoption agency)
- pray for Promise686 (grant agency)
- pray that God will continue to prepare us for the child(ren) He has for us to care for (and the same for the child/ren)
- pray that first and foremost that God will be made known, honored, and exalted through this process - He has us on the journey for a reason much bigger than we could ever ask for or imagine!!!!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Grant Approval and Baby Steps
Taking Baby Steps: I know we are still waiting for our approval with Covenant Care (which we should have in about 2 weeks), but I purchased our first piece of baby clothing this week: a Georgia Bulldog shirt (on sale at Wal-Mart for only $!)! It's been a while since I enjoyed looking at baby clothes, but I'm excited about looking at baby clothes now. It's hard to look at baby clothes when you've been told you will never have your own baby, so that's been something to work through. This new step in our adoption process has even made me feel okay with going in to Babies R' Us to get a baby gate for our puppy. :) Eric and I are excited to see what lies ahead!
Friday, May 20, 2011
Received
We received a confirmation email today from Covenant Care Services. They have received our pre-application. We should be receiving another email within three weeks letting us know when our pre-application is processed.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
The Next Leg
As always and without fail, God answers our prayers. We have been praying for wisdom about the next step we should take in the adoption process. Over the course of the past month we have requested information from several adoption agencies and have contacted many people. We both have a heart for the nations, so we were first looking at other international adoption options. We found an international adoption agency that would help us in our pursuit of a Chinese adoption, but then found out that both adoptive parents must be at least 30. The age requirement does not work for Erin! So, what next? We then proceeded to look at other international options as well as domestic options (America). Several years ago, when we first looked into adoption, we wanted to adopt an infant. God has brought us back to that spot. Having a puppy has even helped confirm that desire. Even though we have to clean up poop, loose sleep, and sacrifice our own desires to play with the dog, she's still worth it. On May 4th, a church member approached Erin to ask about our adoption process. Once hearing our latest news, she informed us of a wonderful, Christian adoption agency (Covenant Care Services), that she used for her son's adoption. After researching and praying, we are now in this friend's shoes. Yesterday we mailed our application and home study to Covenant Care, and it was received this morning at 9:06! This agency was willing to accept our home study (which our case worker graciously updated for free)! The agency should probably be able to use our fingerprint documents, too! This means we will not have to start completely over! We are excited about this next step. Please be in prayer for Covenant Care Services as our application is reviewed. Also pray for our future child - pray that God will unite us with the birth mom He has divinely appointed for us. Pray that God will receive all the glory through this next leg of our adoption journey.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
180 Degree Turn
On March 24th we completed our blood work as planned. Later that day, we received word from our girls' orphanage that the girls no longer desire to be adopted. Their mom has re-entered the picture and says that she is working on getting her life back on track so she can earn her parental rights back. This news was confirmed by several individuals, indicating a closed door. We were very sad and on an emotional roller coaster at first because we deeply love these girls, but we are trusting in God's plan and have a peace about moving on. We spent the last 14 days in prayer about this situation and in reading the first 14 chapters of Proverbs. God's Word never ceases to comfort, minister, guide, and speak to us.
Please pray for Princess #1, Princess #2, and their mom. Pray that they will continue to learn of God's love, that they will enter into a personal relationship with God, that God will put more Christians in their path, that they will believe they are truly beautiful, and that their hearts will be guarded. Pray for us as we seek God's direction for the next step He would have us take. Thank you to those who have supported us so far; your contributions are not in vain and will help in a future adoption. To those who are reading this blog and have considered adoption, please do not let this discourage you. Putting yourself out there and taking the risk of adoption is worth the opportunity you are offering to children. We know that God has a perfect family put together for us, we just haven't met them yet. In this time we rest in God's promise: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths" (Proverbs 3:5-6).
In the meantime, we have expanded our family anyway . . . we now have a puppy to love on and care for! Here's a picture of our Frenchton (half French Bulldog and half Boston Terrier). Her name is Chara (pronounced Car-uh) - Greek for joy. She is our temporary joy, but Jesus is our forever joy, even in the difficult times!
Please pray for Princess #1, Princess #2, and their mom. Pray that they will continue to learn of God's love, that they will enter into a personal relationship with God, that God will put more Christians in their path, that they will believe they are truly beautiful, and that their hearts will be guarded. Pray for us as we seek God's direction for the next step He would have us take. Thank you to those who have supported us so far; your contributions are not in vain and will help in a future adoption. To those who are reading this blog and have considered adoption, please do not let this discourage you. Putting yourself out there and taking the risk of adoption is worth the opportunity you are offering to children. We know that God has a perfect family put together for us, we just haven't met them yet. In this time we rest in God's promise: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths" (Proverbs 3:5-6).
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