Sunday, December 29, 2013

Family

Through this holiday week I have discovered how truly blessed we are to have the families we have. I've always known how amazing our families are, but this new phase in our lives does not just effect us (although it MAINLY does) it also effects our families that will ALSO be loving and accepting our child into the family.

Our little family took 2 nice road trips to see family over Christmas break! We were greeted with the same love and excitement that we usually receive, but this time our families also welcomed the idea of having a new child in their lives. One from Haiti.

"My daughter is adopting from Haiti" My mother tells a store clerk....

"Here's some funds to get things started" my mom-in-law said to us as she passed over part of our Christmas gift! Excited to have her new grandchild as soon as humanly possible!

My brother-in-law giving us funds out of his savings (even as he begins a new journey in his life).

"What's the next step? How does this work..." Excitement and acceptance filled our families dialogue as we talked over Christmas!

It's kind of funny because my husband and I didn't even consider for a moment that our families would be nothing but excited for us on our new adventure. Mainly because we have both been raised with such loving and supportive families.... I never knew what a complete blessing it was until this Christmas arrived. Family giving us prayers, thoughts, questions, excitement, and even some money to get things started. We could not have felt more loved and cared for!

I can't just stop with family.... because our friends have given us so much love and support as well. They continue to send nice notes over email and facebook. Each person willing to hook us up with friends or family member that have gone through the adoption process, give us an encouraging words, or help fund us!

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!

As we prepare for this new bundle of amazingness, our families and friends are too! We feel so blessed that you want to be a part of the journey. We feel so blessed that we have people that care for us so much. The thought of this process seems less and less scary with all of you by our sides. Thank you again for your rich blessings that you have given to us whether through kind words, prayers, and even some of you blessing us with some funds for our adoption. We could not feel more loved on this Christmas.

With your help, we are able to start our journey this January! 

We start with the first step: our home study! :)

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Our Commonly Received Questions

Since we've announced our great news.... I'm sure you can only imagine the questions and comments we've been getting... So I thought I would clear some things up for those of you who are wondering:

1. How is the adoption going?
It's a process and starting it all takes time! :) But we are working on it.... Mostly... we're not even sure! :)

2. Why are you doing international adoption when there are so many kids around here?
First of all, there are kids everywhere and we love them all.... and if it was up to me I would adopt a ton of kids... from anywhere.... But it's just not possible, so we went with the best option for our family right now. We are not against domestic adoption, and we would love to adopt someone from around here, but that is not what we are doing this time (maybe we'll get another chance!).

3. Are you going to find out about fertility stuff? 
Well, maybe some day! :) I would love to find out if there is an easy fix, but unfortunately even the easy fixes are costly (or could be).... and we really want to focus our funds on the adoption. So, in due time.

4. Why did you pick Haiti?
It came down to the fact that this was where we felt drawn to after our first informational meeting, and then it ended up being the best fit for our family as well. We spent a long time debating and discussing this, and we are really excited about it!

Comments we've gotten:
- You don't want a kid the other kids will be able to pick on.
 No, we do not.... no one does. We don't want our son to be picked on right now, and will pray for him and our child right now that they will not be picked on. And when they are, we'll be there to help love them and show them God's mercy and teach them an awesome lesson on forgiveness! :)

- You are so much stronger than me!
No, God is.... we're just doing our very best to take this all one step at a time, and trust in God. Please continue to pray those things for us!

- 3 years is a long time!
YES IT IS!!!! Please stick with us for our long journey. We are excited to take it with you, and I know we're going to need all the positive prayers, thoughts, and encouragement we can get! For an impatient person, this is the ultimate test!


If you have any other questions please leave them below and I'll try my best to answer them! :)






Sunday, November 24, 2013

Our Hatian Creation

We decided on Haiti!!! We are excited to start this long 3 year journey with you all! We hope that you pray for our family, our child that is waiting for us to bring them home, and our agency as we walk through this adoption together. We are excited and scared...

I have to admit the entire time we were talking to all the country representatives I was SOOOOO scared. I was scared I was going to pick the "wrong" one, scared that we don't have (and won't ever have) the funds for this, scared that we could put all this time and work into it and never get to have our child come home.....

Then one night I put on a tape for my son to listen to as we cleaned. It's a GT and Halo Express tape... I mean tape.. It's old school.... and it is AWESOME! If you ever can find these tapes it is WELL worth the money. I grew up listening to them... and my awesome mother kept them and gave them to me to let my son listen and grow up on them. He loves them as much as I do! :) Anyway, they sing Bible verses and there is always a central theme to each tape. This tape's theme happened to be "HAVE NO FEAR! God has got it!"

"Have I not commanded you be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified. Do not be discouraged. For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go! -Joshua 1:9

and

"Do not fear for I am with you. DO not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and protect you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand" -Isaiah 41:10

 WOW! Talk about hitting ya right in the face with the facts! I said... Amen... I hear that... and called the agency the next day to let them know that we are ready to start our adoption process! We're ready to get our child from Haiti!!! The Lord is in control and we are trusting! :)

 

Thursday, November 14, 2013

God's Plan and Adoption

Since people have read the first post, and heard my story I have had overwhelming love and positive thoughts, prayers, stories, and encouragement! Thank you SO much for those! We're going to need that in the next 2-3 years as we go through the adoption process! :) Please keep them coming through this time, and don't forget "The Man" because he's going to need them too! (Although I doubt he would ever admit it!)

One comment that came to me a lot was that this must be God's plan for me. That the hardship of not getting pregnant and miscarrying is all in His plan for me. That these things were put in my life to obviously bring me to adoption. Which is truly nice and thoughtful, and in our minds it explains why bad things happen to people we care about and love!
But I want to clear that up real quick.... I do not think God planned for me to have these hardships, just as I do not think God plans for kids to suffer in other countries, or kids to die early from horrible diseases, or any hardship of any kind. Those things happen for one reason... The devil is awful and has brought sin into this world and we are living in it.
I do, however, believe that despite of all these hardships God has destined us for good, and He works through those hardships to bring good things from them. God is a loving and all powerful God perfect in every way. One thing I do know for sure: God placed in my heart a LOONNNGGG time ago a love and desire for adoption. I cannot think of a time I didn't want to adopt at least one child in my life time. I know that these hardships brought me to this option quicker, but we are NOT adopting because we can't get pregnant and stay pregnant. We are adopting because we are excited about loving a child that would otherwise never experience real love. We are excited about having a brother/sister for The Bash.

Although we will still walk the hard walk of trying to get pregnant again, we will focus our attention on adopting a child and know that God does work for the good of those who love him. (we may end up with 6 kids after all of this..... and I never thought I would be excited about being a bus driving mom..... but for some reason I am hoping for it a bit now!)

Please continue to keep us in our prayers. We are currently working with our adoption agency to figure out which country we are going to adopt from. A serious choice among many!

We'll let you all know once we have made our choice!

In the mean time, please stop by and look at the coffee we are "selling." The proceeds go to our family to help support our adoption.... PLUS it would make a fun Christmas gift or tasty morning delight for you!


Thursday, November 7, 2013

The Road to Adoption

This road has not been an easily traveled one.

 Let me give you a little history. I live in small town Kansas with my wonderful husband, a 3-year-old boy, and a mutt (who used to be our baby). :) I have been married for 7 years to... we'll call him "The Man."  We decided, about 4 years ago, to start our family. We have always talked about our family. We have "debated" whether we should have 2, 3, or 4 kids.... We have always kinda agreed on 3 kids for sure, but never just one! We both are part of a family with siblings and love them too much to not give our own children that same joy!
We decided we wanted to start a family in late August and by October I was found out I was pregnant with a baby boy.... we'll call him "The Bash" (if you know him, you know why!) 9 months later we were graced with the sweetest, loving, hilarious, smiley, and CRAZY little boy ever! Our lives changed, and if you are a parent you realize what I mean by changed! I can't think of a moment in life without him. Not sure how we made it as long as we did without knowing him.
Well after his 1st birthday we started the discussion of our next child. When The Bash was about 1 1/2 years old, we decided it was time to start trying again. Now, if you know me at all..... even if you don't I will tell you one thing.. I like things to have happened YESTERDAY.... So the fact that we tried for a good 6 months made me very impatient. But.... right at 7 months I found out I was pregnant again and we would be having our 2nd child..... Only to find out 2 weeks later that we had lost it. My first miscarriage. Not only do you lose your baby, but you lose all the hopes and dreams that were poured into that baby.
A couple months later we decided it was time to try again. Almost 11 months later we found out we were pregnant again! The joy was unspeakable. We were both super excited. I made it past the 1st month, 2nd month..... and then... 3 months into the pregnancy (right before you're about to tell the whole world... via facebook I'm sure) I miscarried again. This one was 'harder' if there is such a word for it. I had to go in and do minor surgery and it was awful... I cannot wish that experience on anyone! May the Lord provide healing in your heart if you have or are going through that now....
A few months later we decided to begin the process over again, and that is where you find us today. We have been trying since then (over 6 months) with no avail. Right after the last miscarriage I told The Man that I would be more interested in adopting a child, then spending a bunch of money trying to figure out what is wrong with me.... Which planted the seed in his heart and mind. So when I came home from Women of Faith Conference in September and told him that I wanted to adopt he was ready!

That is where we meet today. My husband and I began our journey into being adoptive parents just yesterday night. We filled out our 10 page application together after The Bash went to bed. We put our worth, history, and personalities (as best as a person can) on paper. As soon as you press send and pay your $250 all types of thoughts ran through my head.... and I laid up last night thinking of them all.


So I hope those of you who are reading this and know how powerful and amazing God is please pray this prayer for us:

Dear God,

You are almighty, powerful, and all knowing. Bless this family as they walk on a path with a lot of unknowns. Help them to trust YOU in all their ways. May they keep in their hearts your good and pleasing will for them to go out and spread your love!

Amen


Thanks for reading and thinking of us. Keep checking for updates.... it's going to be a LONG ride :)