The Last Step

I'm writing today with some very exciting news! We have just scheduled our home study interviews which is the last step!

Since I finished school for the year last Friday, I have been working on getting all the paperwork finished up and turned in. We turned in the very last of it yesterday. Bekah, our adoption "consultant" (at least that's what I call her), put all of our file together and sent it to our new social worker who will conduct the interviews and help us through the remainder of the process along with Family Adoption Services.

The social worker, Edie (yes, it's a woman...long e at the beginning), contacted me today to set up our interviews. After having done this all before with the foster care process, we know what to expect of the interviews. We set them up for June 12th at 10:30. She said it should take about 2 hours which is a lot shorter than the foster care interviews took. This is due to the 4 page autobiography we had to turn in. There aren't many questions left to ask that we didn't answer in that document.

Once this part is complete, they will finish the home study write up and we will become legally able to adopt a child. Then comes the hard part in this whole process.....waiting. Once our home study is complete it is simply a matter of waiting to be chosen by a birth mother.

This is all becoming very real! I'm really hoping that we will be one of those lucky couples that doesn't have to wait a long time for their baby, but I know that God will bring us OUR child in HIS timing. Please continue to pray for us, Family Adoption Services, the birth mother, and the baby. We cannot wait until the day we can post pictures of our baby!

One simple letter

I just finished writing our birth mother letter. I sent it to both sets of parents for them to look over it. Both sets said the letter sounded great. I'm so glad to have it done because this one letter could literally change our lives forever!

Honestly, while I was writing the letter I was simply focusing on making sure I included enough information while at the same time not giving too much personal information. Now that I'm done with the letter and have Michael's and our parents' approvals, it is really sinking in that this is all that a birth mother will have to decide if we are the family for her child. Wow! Two pages of information is all she gets. This will be the biggest decision of her life. This is a decision that will change all of our lives forever....and it's based off a two page letter.

I have so much respect for these birth mothers. Can you imagine being pregnant and scared? You make the choice to give your child the life that you can't give them by allowing your child to be adopted. Then, the agency gives you five letters from couples that match or closely match the characteristics you have asked for in an adoptive family. You then have two pages of information about this couple to decide if this is a family you can see raising your child. I don't know if I could do it!

Please continue to pray for us in this process as we come to the end of the home study and enter into the waiting period. Especially pray for the birth mother. Pray that she will be strong, that God will give her a sense of peace, that she will have a healthy pregnancy. Pray for the baby, that he/she might grow healthy and strong, pray that the delivery will go smoothly.

Keep in mind with our agency, we will not know we are matched with a baby until he/she is born and is 5 days old. They wait 5 days to call us because after 5 days, the birth mother must go to court to gain custody of the baby back. Therefore, once we get a call we will be able to immediately go get our baby. All of the pregnancy and delivery will have passed so that is why I ask for you to go ahead and pray for these things every time you think to pray for us and our child.

Thank you for your love, support, encouragement, and prayers!