Mailing in our last set of paperwork

I can't believe we have FINALLY finished the last set of paperwork necessary for our adoption process. We have filled out about 20 pages of personal information, education, papers to sign, financial statements, etc. We also had to individually fill out approximately 100 personal questions about our life and our points of view. We have had to get physicals done, copies of birth certificates, our marriage certificate, background checks, and so much more. We do this with joy and happiness in our hearts because we know with every step we take and every question we answer we are getting closer and closer to our child that we long to meet and finally bring home.

On Friday, October 20th, we had our 1st informational meeting with Bethany Christian Services in Charlotte, NC from 9 AM to 4 PM. What a special day it was filled with laughter and tears. We felt that for the first time this was really happening as we finally got to see the face of Bethany and meet our Social Worker. We were able to hear powerful testimonies from adoptive parents as well as a birthmother. God touched our heart in so many ways and opened our eyes in new ways. The picture below was taken right after we got done with our informational meeting. This picture cannot even begin to express the joy we felt at that moment knowing that we ARE going to be parents one day.

What is next for our adoption process?!?!

Well, once our Social Worker receives all of our paperwork, she will contact us to schedule our 1st out of 3 meetings. Two of the meetings will be at her home and then the last meeting will be at our home. This will be a time for her to get to know us better and go over everything discussed in our paperwork as well as prepare us for the last few steps of our adoption process. While these 3 meetings are going on, we will work on putting together a photobook created for the perspective birthmother as well as create a web profile for Bethany's site. Once all of this is complete, we will wait for our Social Worker to finalize her recommendation for us for adoption and then we will wait until a birthmother selects us for the adoption.

There are still a few more steps to go until we are officially ready to start waiting for our official referral but we know that in God's timing everything will happen and we will be blessed with our little one. Thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers! We love you all!