We're Expecting...

But not in the traditional way.

Today our portfolio (which we finally finished! yay!) officially went "in the books". This means that we could be chosen any day now by a set of birthparents.

Can you say exciting? That doesn't even come close!!!

You have all been such a blessing to us through your encouragement, prayers and support -- thank you!! Here are some ways you can be praying specifically:

• Health - for the birthmother and the baby.
• Patience - for us as we wait to be matched. I tend to be a worry-wart and a planner, so facing the big unknown is a little out of my comfort zone. Pray that I am able to leave it all in the Lord's hands and trust His timing.
• Preparation - We have been blessed with a crib from some family friends, but there is much left to do to prepare! We will not be having a baby shower before our little one's arrival, as that will only intensify the waiting, and we want to wait until everything is finalized. However, I will be buying some diapers, onesies, formula, bottles and a few other baby items beforehand. (And I know that my mom has been picking up baby things at garage sales and the like -- she's an excited Grandma-to-be! :) ) It's all new to us, so wisdom and peace would be great in this area. :)
• Finances - Our first big adoption payment has been paid (praise the Lord!), and our second will not be due until the adoption is finalized. We have been so blessed by the generosity of friends (thank you! thank you!! thank you!!!), and we trust that the Lord will provide us with every cent we need along the way. I don't want this to become a source of worry, so again, pray that we can just trust in Jehovah Jireh, Our Provider.
• Comfort - for the birthfamily. This is a huge sacrifice and act of love on their part, and it's way harder than anything I've ever faced. Pray for a special measure of comfort, peace and hope for the family. That they wouldn't live a life of regret, but look forward in hope.
• Future - there are so many aspects in the future that are unknown...how our relationship with the birth family will be, the hospital time, the time in between the baby's birth and the adoption finalization, how we'll adjust, how the baby will bond to us, and so on! Basically, anything that you can think of -- pray for it! :)

Thank you again for holding us up in prayer! You will indeed be blessed! :)

Home Study

So I'm sure you're dying to hear how our home study went. That is, those of you that I haven't seen in the past 2 days. :) So here we go...

Laura (our social worker) showed up half an hour early...haha...not intentionally! But it did cause me to run around a little bit like a chicken with my head cut off, but it was all good. When she arrived, we finished up all the little bits of paperwork we had left to do...mostly just giving her what we had already filled out. Joe was at the computer, frantically trying to finish his autobiography so she could take it with her, and she was very understanding of that, which was nice.

After collecting our paperwork, she had me show her around the house, and she just pretty much walked into the rooms to see what it looked like, but she wasn't down on her hands and knees and "inspecting" or anything like that. So....I felt kind of silly doing all the hard work we had to clean our house - but at the same time, I was grateful that it was clean. And it's a huge load off my shoulders since I'd need to clean/organize in the future anyway.

After seeing our house, we sat and chatted for a bit and she asked if we had any questions. One main question we had was whether or not we would be able to adopt privately if someone we knew connected us with a birthmom who happened to live outside of our state. The answer is yes -- in fact, the fees drop considerably and LSS continues to work with us and the agency in the other state to make everything run smoothly. That was very encouraging!

Then, Joe finished his autobiography, and she took it hot off the printer! ;) My fabulous sister-in-law (who took our pictures with Quincy for our portfolio) had finished editing the pics the morning before Laura arrived, and so I was able to go and order prints in town quick so that Laura could take them back with her. I didn't plan on having those done by Friday originally, but it was such a relief to have that part finished!!

Now all that is left is for the rest of our references to be submitted (only 2 left - yea!), mail our finalized "Dear Birthmother Letter", and finish our portfolio (the scrapbook of our lives). Yay!! We're hoping to have all that finished in the next week or two, and then at that point, we will officially be in "the book" for birthmothers to look through. Crazy! And very cool... :)

And, as many people have been asking, here are the long awaited pics of the nursery -- painted and everything! :) Enjoy!!

We plan to have the crib where the fan and basket are now. 

And, unfortunately, I think we're going to have to trade the corner bookshelves in for something more space efficient...

 

See the lovely shag carpet on the floor of the closet? 

That's what originally covered ALL of the floor. 

Lovely, isn't it? 

We hope to get a rug to help muffle sound in the future...

OCD

I just want to say that I think even my favorite TV star Monk would be pleased with the state our house is in now... Let's just say it's clean. Very clean.

Funny how motivating one little home study can be... :)

Anywho, I will post pictures in the next week, but I just wanted to give a big thank you to my parents who came up and joined the whirlwind of chaos at our house! They did a FANTASTIC job of helping me get organized and helping us accomplish some things.

And my husband is a saint. I can't tell you the amount of work he's done this week. Simply amazing.

There were others too...helping Joe cart brush to the dump, dropping off items at the thrift store for us, lending us their painting supplies...you know who you are. Thank you, thank you, thank you....

So, our big home study is Friday at 2pm, (tomorrow, but since it's already 11:15 pm and most of you won't read this until Friday, consider it today...haha) so if you think of us, pray for us, please. I'm not sure what to expect, but I'm trusting that the Lord will guide our lips. :)

Thanks again!!