Our 1st Homestudy Visit

   Dan and I had our 1st of 2 home study visits yesterday!  We met at her office this time, and she'll come to our home for the next.  (Then we're DONE!)  Dan and I weren't really nervous, but we didn't really know what to expect.  Our social worker said she thought she had recognized me at the training session, and then figured out who I was!  So we had the same home town and high school in common, and she knows what kind of family I came from!  (I still can't get over how crazy that is!)  She is really nice, laid back, and we're glad to be working with her!
   So for our first visit, she basically just asked us many of the questions Dan and I answered on our individual questionnaires for our application.  It didn't feel like a job interview, where you're hoping you answered it right, but just basically like she was trying to get to know us, while also taking notes!  When she'd ask us a question about what we'd do in 'such-n-such' situation, we'd say "we've already talked about this situation, and this is our thought".  She said, "Wow, you guys must really talk a lot!"  We really do, and I am thankful for it!
   So all in all, it went GREAT!  We're scheduled for our final visit at our home for next Friday.  She said at that time, she'll give verbal consent, and then she'll type up our home study and pass it on to her supervisor for approval.  Once it is approved, we're OFFICIALLY home study approved to adopt!!!  (Paper pregnant) She said it will probably take about a month for that to happen.
   Dan and I can hardly believe how easy this has been!  God has been so good through it all!  We're just praying for patience now that we're going to be entering the waiting period.  Many people say that is the most difficult part of adoption.  We're really curious to see what kind of response we get through our own outreach efforts!  We wish we were just able to go into the waiting family book, but we're praying that things work out with our own outreach efforts.  We know one of the biggest outreach efforts is 'word of mouth'.  So please, tell everyone you know that we're hoping to adopt! :)  I know my mom is pretty good at this, out of her excitement, she tells just about everyone she knows (and doesn't know) that we're adopting!  That is such a great, free tool!  We're working on a website and profiles that we will have online to hopefully connect with birth parents.
  Also, our car is going to get its new transmission on Monday!  It comes with a hefty price tag, but it also comes with a 3 year part/labor warranty.  So that is nice to know that if it dies again in the next 3 years, we won't have to pay for it!  It will be a really nice car once its replaced, and we're excited to have a working vehicle! 

Grandma

I just wanted to update on my Grandma's surgery and thank you for praying!  She made it through the surgery!  She had quite the team of doctors in the 4 hour surgery.  They are confident that she isn't paralyzed and that her neck pain should be gone.  Praise God for an answer to prayer!

Outch!

In a recent post, I mentioned we got a new car, and were loving it...  Well, we're not loving it at all right now!  A couple days after we bought it, the transmission went out...  Seriously?!  It drove perfect for us when we test drove it, and as soon as we paid for it and drove it away, it started acting funny.  We just found out today that the transmission is shot and needs to be replaced.

It is difficult to see the good in trials like these, but we can take comfort in God's word.  Here are a few verses I've been thinking on lately...

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."
Isiah 55:8-9

 "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.  Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:11-13

"And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope:"  Romans 5:3-4

"And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?  For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." Heb. 12: 5-11

James 1:3 "Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience."


It is grievous going through this trial, but I am thankful for a Heavenly Father that cares for us as His children, and this trial of our faith is for our PROFIT, and to increase our patience, (which I know will be a necessary attribute as a parent)!

Also, I have a prayer request for my Grandmother, Lorraine.  She is having a surgery tomorrow that is quite risky.  She has some major issues with her neck with bone spurs and such that are causing her a great deal of pain.  If left untreated, she'd likely be paralyzed.  The surgery is risky, but she said she's fine with any outcome, whether it works, and she is healed, or if it doesn't and she goes home to be with the Lord.    Please pray for her, and for the surgeons performing this surgery, and that she will come through the surgery with her neck issues fixed!

Also, if your buying a car in the near future, check the transmission fluid.  If it's black, don't buy it! :)

AdoptionKnits on Etsy

After many promptings from friends, I finally made an Etsy account to sell my knitted baby items!  As you all know, adoption is expensive, and with me not working, I really want to help out with saving funds for our adoption!  I'm hoping this is a good way to do it... :)  Here's a link to my account, I will hopefully add a few more things soon. 
http://www.etsy.com/shop/adoptionknits

1st Homestudy Visit

We heard from our social worker last week and our first home study visit is scheduled for next Wednesday!  We're so excited to get the home study completed!!! Hopefully only 2-3 visits total.  Funny thing is, my sister graduated with our social worker!  Small world... 

In other news,  we bought a new (to us) car this weekend.  We're excited to have air conditioning and windows that roll down, especially in this heat wave!  :)  Dan has been working a lot of overtime, we are thankful that his company is so busy, and that he has that option!   

Please continue to pray for us!  We are praying that the Lord will orchestrate a situation where we connect with the birth family through our own outreach efforts, and we can avoid going into the LSS waiting family book, and the $5,000.00 price tag that goes along with that!  Also, I would ask for prayer for the birth family, whoever they may be.  That the Lord would comfort and guide them through the trials they are or will be going through!

Sorry I've been so terrible at posting, but things have slowed down  a bit on the adoption side of things.  We're hoping they start to get exciting soon!

Update

I haven't had much to blog about lately, we have been waiting to hear from our agency about starting the home study.  Since our lovely government had shut down, we figured our background checks would be pending for quite a while.  It had been about a month since we turned them in, and they can take up to 8 weeks. 

I emailed LSS this morning and asked about when we'd be starting the home study, and how the shut down would affect us time wise.  Well, awesome news is is that our background study results were returned to LSS JUST before it shut down!  So that means our file is 100% complete, and they'll be assigning a social worker any day now to begin our home study!  

July 2nd I turned 25...  Dan says it sounds old.  :)  Dan and I had fun celebrating!  We hung out at a beach in the morning, picked strawberries in the afternoon, went shopping and out to dinner in the evening.  Great birthday!  One of my gifts was a new vacuum...  I can't believe how NASTY our carpets were when I vacuumed with this new vacuum.  It looked as if our old vacuum was doing nothing the past two years seeing what came out of the carpet!!  Needless to say, Dan and I were happy that we replaced it!

Dan picking strawberries