So What's Next?

For my family and friends who are not as familiar with the adoption world as I have become in the last 3 years here is a little run down on what is next for us.

We have been assigned our family coordinator with our agency and she has hooked us up with all our check lists and guidelines for putting our dossier together. This stage is called the paper chase and can take anywhere from  4-6 months...our goal is to have this completed and turned in by Garrett's birthday August 3rd.

dos·si·er

ˈdôsēˌā,ˈdäs-/

noun

1. 1.

   a collection of documents about a particular person, event, or subject.

   
   

   
   

While simultaneously working on our dossier we will be going through a home study. We have our first meeting with our social worker on Monday, we will meet with her 3 times, one time in our home. The sooner we can get our home study done the sooner we can get our dossier complete as we can not apply for our   1-600A without it  (Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition).

There are a lot of new words in here for some of you and it sounds intense. I won't lie, it is. We have ordered birth certificates, marriage licenses, requested letters from our employers and references, scheduled our physicals and lab work, filled out paperwork for background checks, ordered online training and I have said lots and lots of prayers over these binders that have become a big part of my life. Everything will have to be notarized/certified/checked and double checked, we will make a billion copies and then send off all originals.

We are trying to take it all one day at a time, one item at a time but most times I go to bed thinking I could have gotten more done today.

We are hoping we won't have to do a lot of fundraising although we might do something fun here soon for those who want to get involved a little bit. We hope to do most of the saving and apply for grants on our own but it's going to mean a shift in life style for a little bit as big checks loooom over our heads for the time being. I am trying to give away this biggest anxiety to the Lord because I know he will provide and he will make a way.

So for now please pray for us and our family as we keep chugging along and by all means please let us know if you have any questions, we love talking about this new journey we are on and want you all to be as much a part of it as you want!

It looks different for everyone

Have you heard of IF:Gathering?? I had not heard of it until last weekend when it was popping up all over my feeds...instagram, twitter, facebook, you name it. This conference was VIRAL and what a fantastic message to have swarming the interwebs.

I found late Sunday that it had been live streaming all weekend...whoops missed it but luckily it was going to stay posted for a couple days and man did I devour my computer screen.  I will say Jennie Allen and Rebekah Lyons spoke straight to my heart through that screen, God put these amazing words in their mouth that I had heard before but not ever really heard...know what I mean?

The message lit something inside me, the message about equipping our generation of women to be free and run our race. To give each other the freedom to be human and to admit our brokenness and our mistakes without judgment but instead with love and  understanding. The message that this race that we are running, this calling we feel it looks and feels different for everyone.

Not many people understand my desire to adopt a child of a different race and culture or to travel to these third world countries and love on babies and the poor who live there...you know I don't really get it either it's just there on my heart. You know what's cool? Just because it's on my heart doesn't mean you are less for it not being on your heart. Maybe your calling looks like a homeless shelter in the inner city, maybe it's being a Sunday school or VBS teacher, maybe it's holding book/food/clothing drives, maybe it's advocating for trafficking or maybe it's fighting to end hunger or puppy mills. Whatever your calling is whatever is on your heart GOD put it there. He put it there for a reason don't ignore it, be proud and just live it.

I heard this during one of the sessions and it hit home so hard for me "It doesn't look like stages, books or adoption for everyone." I read a lot of blogs, I watch these women become authors, speakers, humanitarians traveling on blogging trips and I feel totally inadequate to them. I don't have the money to do that, I have 2 small kids who need me at home, I can't put a proper sentence structure together, I have like 2 blog followers. What am I supposed to do?? Where do I belong??

I belong here at home, folding laundry, wiping butts, doing crafts for the valentines day party and filling out a whole freaking lot of paperwork for an adoption that has me shaking in my boots and ready to throw up. My time will come when I can travel more and who knows what God will bring me to in the next 2, 5, 10 years down the road if I just let him work through me. Maybe I will end up on a Sole Hope trip (for now I have a shoe cutting party) maybe I end up leading a mission trip (for now I pray and go when I can)

I know this is all over the place but what I am getting at is this...women lets not judge each other because our hearts look different, our callings are different, lets embrace each other, love each other and encourage each other in our races.

BIG NEWS... It Is time!!

I have been waiting for a long time to share this news...3 years to be exact :) We actually made this announcement before. Before a bouncy baby boy with blonde curls and blue eyes entered our world, before our baby started preschool and became a little girl, before we moved out of our tiny house and into our new home.

Here it is...

from

Ethiopia

The picture Lydia is holding has been in our house for years, we have been praying for direction, we've been saving like mad and we had a financial goal we needed to meet before we could LEAP. We had our sweet Garrett and I could not be happier that we waited because he makes our lives better, the wait times are longer now and things are always uncertain in an international adoption (any adoption for that matter) but we finally knew it was time when we hit our goal after Christmas.  We know God has a plan for our family, a plan for this process, for the wait for the uncertainty that still remains all we know is that it was time to take the first step. So we have signed with our agency, we have received our family coordinator and our first set of direction into the "Paper Chase".

We know there are tons of questions and I love to talk about it and for now my head is swimming with all that needs to be done in the next 4-6 months in getting our dossier ready but all I know is that 3 years ago a piece of my heart was pulled to a country I have never been to and was aching for a baby that I knew I wouldn't carry in my belly but in my heart. 

They are excited!! 

Ahhh Garrett's face is the ultimate!!

Also Lydia never takes the hat off except for bedtime and school, thank you Sheriff Callie and snow days!