A Long Overdue Update...

I know it has been a few months since our last post.  We have had a busy summer and took a break from blogging for a few months.  I know many of you have been asking where we stand in the adoption process, so the answer to your question is...we are still WAITING!  Haha!  The word "waiting" has become a very common word in our vocabulary over the past few months.  Now, I know a few people have not liked how open we have been with our adoption process and our infertility struggles, so just a heads up that the next few paragraphs to follow will be a detailed update on what has been going on with us and this process.  The desire of our hearts from day one has been that if someone can learn from our adoption journey, and can find hope in it, as well as see how our amazing and wonderful God will work out all things in His timing and glory, then it is definitely worth it to share our journey.  So here we go...

Since our last post, we have been very busy closing on our new house.  We finally feel completely settled and at home.  God has blessed us in so many ways, and we can't wait for the day, that in addition to the sound of our little dog's feet running around,  we can also hear the sound of our little baby's feet.  The process of building the house helped keep us busy and not focused on the waiting process with the adoption, but now that we are settled we have definitely had those moments of anxiousness where we wonder how much longer it will take.  Due to our recent move to our new house, we had to update our home study to contain the most recent information on our new home and its location.  During this home study we did receive some discouraging news that the waiting time now with our agency is between 1 to 3 years, instead of about 1 year as we had originally been anticipating.  The extended wait is due to the slower flow of birth mothers coming to the agency in order to pursue the adoption process.  We know that in God's perfect timing that He will bring the perfect child to us.  Until the time of placement, we will keep on waiting and trusting.  Here are a few pictures of the new nursery...

 

We have always said that we would be completely honest with our adoption journey. So to be completely honest, I will say that the waiting has not always been easy.  I can't tell you how many times we have spent crying and praying and seeking guidance as we go through this process.  We have joked that the nursery has become an amazing prayer room during this time.  We often sit in the nursery and stare at the wall over the crib where we have the verse "For this child we prayed, the Lord gave us the desire of our hearts" 1 Samuel 1:27. We know that God's ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and that He sees the greater picture.  The positive thing is that we have had a couple of potential leads on placements during this waiting period, which shows that the process is working.  However, none of these leads ended up working, which just means that it was not the right time for us to have a placement.  It at least gives us hope that the process is working and some day we will receive that placement.

One piece of advice that so many couples who have adopted told us is that we need to enjoy this time together and have fun traveling and doing all the things we have always wanted to do.  Kelly and I love to travel, so this was something we definitely wanted to enjoy doing right now in order to keep our minds occupied.  God has blessed us in so many ways and one of those ways is with a company I work for, Thirty-One.  God has allowed me to earn so many trips and do things we never thought we'd be able to do. Last year, Thirty-One afforded us a few opportunities to vacation for FREE in some amazing places. Over this summer, we have taken a couple of trips with just us, with Thirty-One and with groups from our church.  We plan to take a trip with our New Beginnings group from church, as well as finally having an opportunity to take our anniversary trip for this year.  Even though we have been blessed to take some wonderful trips, we have still kept our focus on continuing to save money for our adoption fund.  We still have a ways to go to reach the necessary amount for our entire adoption cost, but we know that God will provide the money and help give us the wisdom as we save for adoption. Some people believe in putting their lives on hold during an adoption. For us, we realize that these days of waiting are some of the most precious that we will share as husband and wife. The memories we make during this time will be the foundation upon which the future years of our life are built. We can't wait to for our baby to join us, but until then, we'll keep moving forward together, and trusting in our Great God!

Ok...I think that covers everything in our update.  I know that is a lot of information, but we have always believed in being open and honest in this entire adoption process.  We hope that some how God can use the things we share about our journey to be an encouragement to someone else.  We know that God is allowing us to walk this journey to grow us closer to Him and to each other.   We also know that this entire journey is going to allow us to treasure and enjoy that moment when we are finally placed with our little one so much more.  Here is a special song that has really spoken to Kelly and I through this process. We have the lyrics to this song printed on the last page of our adoption book in hopes that they can be an encouragement to a birthmother when looking at our profile book.  I hope it can be an encouragement to you today as well.