A Confession

So...I got my facts mixed up a bit regarding our education classes this weekend. I thought I had been told that they were parenting education classes...but really, they were adoption information classes, and they were GREAT! :) There were 4 other couples in the class with us, and we were able to turn in another big chunk of our paperwork which was a huge blessing!

Also...the most exciting news....we will be able to have our social worker come and do our homestudy in 2 weeks from now!!! Yahoo!! Originally, I thought we had to complete all of our paperwork before our homestudy could be finished, but apparently not!

So basically, these are the only things we have left to complete before we can be considered a "waiting family":

1. Proof of house/car insurance coverage.
2. Joe's autobiography -- thankfully, he will be working less hours next week, so he hopes to finish this up :)
3. Our letter to the birthmother -- this will be our first impression to any birthmother who comes in wanting to form an adoption plan for her child.
4. Our portfolio -- a 12 page scrapbook summing up who we are and what our lives are like.
5. Our homestudy -- which will be done in 2 weeks!!!!!

And that's it! :)

I tell ya, it's absolutely exhilirating...

We had the opportunity to talk to several adoptive families who came in with their kids and shared their stories over the weekend. It's amazing how each one is completely different. I can't wait to see how the Lord orchestrates our story! :)

Other things we discussed in our education classes:

• Transracial adoption -- being prepared for inappropriate comments, different types of skin/hair care needs, etc.
• What to expect at our first "match meeting" (This is when we meet the birthmother who has chosen us for the first time).
• Glimpses of what the process is like emotionally for birthmothers (this was heartwrenching...)
• How to talk about adoption with your child.
• How to bond with your child and help them adjust to a new home

And so much more...

Needless to say, we are getting very excited -- and scared to death -- as we approach the "waiting" period. The next 2 weeks will be a flurry of activity as we try to clean our house, paint the soon-to-be-baby's room, finish Joe's autobiography, and at least start our portfolio.

Here's how you can be praying:

• Persistence - as we try to finish up our paperwork and get things done around our house. As I speak, Joe is tilling up our garden so that our backyard will look presentable (finally....).
• Wisdom - as we write our letter to the birthmother and begin our portfolio. Thankfully, I was able to see quite a few portfolio examples, and I think I have a good idea of where to start and what I want to do with ours! But it's a daunting task...
• Our vehicle situation - We are still searching for a replacement for Joe's car, though right now, that's not at the top of our list. Even if we don't find one before a baby is placed in our home, that's ok. We trust that the Lord will provide us with what we need, when we need it.
• Birthmother/father - As always, we pray for the woman we will have the honor to meet someday. Please pray that she is safe and makes wise choices for herself and her baby.

As always, thank you so much for your prayers! We look forward to telling our baby how many people were praying for him/her someday... :)

Parenting Pointers

As a part of our adoption process, we are required to attend 2 days of education classes.

In otherwords, 2 days of parenting pointers. :)

Thursday and Friday will be our days of classes, so we'd appreciate your prayers. I'm not really sure what to expect, but I'm actually quite excited about it! We plan to bring another batch of completed paperwork, which means one step closer to our home study! Yippee!!

Here are a few prayer requests:

• Specifically,  that the Lord provides us with a Christian couple to connect with while we're in our education classes. (Preferably someone close to where we live...but I don't want to be too picky. :) )
• Wisdom in answering questions. Neither Joe nor I excel in answering questions when we're put on the spot, and I have a feeling there may be some of that happening this weekend.
• Continue to pray for the birthmother who will choose us in the future...that she would be safe and make wise decisions regarding her baby (whether she's pregnant now or not).
• Continued wisdom in pursuing adoption grants, etc. Most financial assistance is offered at the completion of a home study. Obviously we're not to this point yet, but I still want to be scoping out the options for the future...

Thank you so much for your continued support and prayers, we appreciate it so much!!

Facebook vs. Blogosphere

Just trying to get some feedback....as I continue to post adoption updates and other blogs, would you prefer that I have the blogs imported directly to facebook where you can read them there? Or post a link as my facebook status so that you can read it in blogger?

Laundry Lament

Yesterday I went to do a load of laundry, but couldn't find the detergent anywhere! At first I thought I was just looking for the wrong shape -- I'm currently using Purex 3-in-1 laundry sheets, and they come in a box rather than a bottle (It's a laundry sheet that contains detergent as well as fabric softener and transfers from the washing machine to the dryer). After searching for several minutes, I finally asked Joe if he knew where the detergent-sheets had gone. He had no idea either. Confused, I decided to use a detergent sampler that I had received in the mail, since I was buying more detergent later in the week.

About an hour later, when I went to transfer the load from the wash to the dryer, guess what I found?

Only the entire box of laundry sheets....guess that load will be extra clean!! :)

stream of consciousness

I'm imitating one of my favorite blogger's styles by having a "stream of consciousness" post. All this means is that I have a bunch of random thoughts in my head, and they may or may not make sense when put into words... :) So, here goes!

Regarding our adoption paperwork -- we still have plenty left to do, but I now feel like we've made a lot of headway by finishing all our questionnaires last night! Talk about a burden being lifted! I was so excited we got them done! Everything else seems small in comparison...Now we just have to start tackling our 4 page autobiographies....*gulp* Pray for clear minds - and that I won't be too wordy! I have a bit of a problem with wordiness.... :)

In other news -- Joe's car decided to poop out on us a few weeks ago. We took it to the shop for a routine oil change and asked them to check out a funky noise it was making on the back left side -- turned out it needed $1000 worth of repairs! Between a leaking/thinning gas tank, a bad strut, and a few other things that I can't remember, it all added up to more than the vehicle itself was worth. So....we decided to look for a family vehicle (used) that wil be in our price range, hopefully. We are praying that the Lord guides us to the right vehicle, and that we have the wisdom to know if it's a good buy or not!

Over Memorial Weekend we went to Iron Sharpens Iron, a conference that my alma mater has every year. This year's topic was "The Quest for Holiness", and Joe and I came home encouraged and spurred on in our walks with the Lord. It seemed only appropriate to me that we would be challenged to pursue holiness in our daily lives as we're pursuing adoption. When you think about all the parallels between God adopting us as His children, and us adopting a baby to be our child, you can begin to see the connection....(I hope to do a post on this sometime soon...as it really is mind blowing...)

And I guess I'm giving up on my whole "Fervent Friday" idea...oh well. I tried. :) I'll probably still post song lyrics every now and then, so we'll just take it as it comes. :)

The End. :)