Zero... We're IN!

This morning we received wonderful news!  We were welcomed into the agency book!  I just returned from the post office after sending our profiles in to the agency.  We are SO incredibly excited! (As I am sure you can imagine!) I also just want to reiterate how thankful I am to be on this journey.  It definitely hasn't been the easiest journey, and it definitely has tried my patience at times (and it isn't even over yet), but I am truly thankful to be where I am today, and I wouldn't change a thing!  God's timing and His ways are perfect.

We have been blessed by so many people and have been witnesses of God's power and have seen prayers being answered.  Anonomous donors, gifts and words of encouragement from friends and family, phone calls out of the blue saying 'they are there to help in any way,' garage sale fundraising, receiving a grant from a great organization, countless prayers, sharing prayer requests, and shared excitement over this baby.  I received a text from my sister this morning that said, "The Lord has His hand on ALL of it!"  It's true!  He really does!  I love being a witness to all of His marvelous works, and I am happy that we can share it with you all.  Thank you to everyone for your love and support! 

At my parents on Easter

Dan getting Wesley to smile (LOVE this picture)

Some Pictures

I noticed my blog is looking very wordy with a big lack of photos!  My camera is kind-of on the fritz, but I have managed to take some pictures recently.


The newest member of our family arrived in January.  My brother and his wife welcomed their third, adorable son. Meet Wesley..

Wesley 2 weeks old

My sister holding Wesley (3 months)

My mom with Wesley

Grandma B. meeting Wesley for the 1st time

We've really been enjoying the warmer weather and we've been utilizing our deck and patio set a lot!

Dan and I were out and about Monday, and the sky looked CRAZY.  I was so happy I had my camera with me!

I've got to be better about taking pictures!  I always forget, but I am so happy when I manage to capture moments in pictures.

Well, no other updates, just some random pictures!

#1

We are now the first family on the waiting list, meaning the next email I receive will tell us we are going into the book!  We are so excited!  (and honestly, a little nervous!)  The list has continued to move very quickly, which means the agency is placing a lot of babies in homes.  Please continue to pray for Dan and me during this time!  We're so excited to continue on this journey of adoption...

#2

Well, as the title says, we're already up another notch on the waiting list!  We're SO excited it is moving so fast!  We've got our profiles finished and printed and now we just need to have several documents notarized, and they'll be all set to send to the agency!  We're excited to move onto another phase in the adoption process!  We haven't had to pay any fees for a while now, so we'll get to do that part too when we go into the book...  (Which isn't very exciting!)  We appreciate prayers during this time.  We pray the the Lord would bring us the right situation soon, and continue to provide for our needs! 

#3

Another quick update... We are now 3rd on the list!  :)

#4

I just wanted to give a quick update...  Dan and I are #4 on the waiting list for our agency's waiting family book!  That means in the next month or so, we'll be in the agency book and have our profile shown to potential birthparents!  We're super excited to be so close!  We pray that our baby will come quickly...  We're so ready to be parents!

His Ways Are Perfect

   I haven’t given any updates in a while, so I thought I should do that!  Things have been interesting this past month, and it has been fun to see God working!  (This is kind-of a long, twisty story, so bear with me!)

   Last month we were contacted by a Christian woman (I’ll refer to her as Patty) who had found our profile online.  She had befriended a young woman (I’ll refer to her as Leah) in a hospital in MN, who was faced with a difficult situation.  Leah’s son had a severe health condition, and she had no means to parent him, so she was making an adoption plan.   Patty was praying for Leah and wanted to help her either find a family that would take Leah and her son in their home so she could have the opportunity to parent her son, or find a Christian couple that would be willing to adopt the baby.  She came across our online profile and contacted us, feeling like we were an answer to her prayer.  Dan and I prayed and considered this situation, but didn’t feel the Lord was telling us this was the child we were to adopt.  So, we continued to pray for Leah and her son, not knowing what part we should play in this story. 

   Patty called us a few days later after Dan and I had made our decision, and she had wondered about a family I had mentioned to her, who had a baby that had the same health condition, if they would be interested in adopting Leah’s son.  So, I contacted a family (the M family) from our church, who knows this family, and gave them Patty’s phone number to talk with her about the situation.  The M family talked with patty that night, and they decided to pray about the situation, and see what the Lord would have them do with this situation.

   Well, the M family decided they wanted to meet Leah, and possibly offer their home for her and her son, if she decides she wants to parent her son.  Well, they met with Leah and Leah said that they were an answer to prayer, and she has since decided to parent her son, and she has moved in with the M family until she can get on her feet.  She is professing to have been born again, and has been coming to our church!  It has been great to be able to meet her and her son after first learning about this situation!  She is currently working on getting her license and an apartment so she will be able to care for her and her son.

   The interesting dynamic to this story and an update on our adoption situation is this…  Back in October, Dan and I decided to get on the waiting list for our agency’s “Waiting Family Book.” We were then 23^rd on the list.  After discussing some things further with our agency, they said because we weren’t open to one area of the open adoption, we couldn’t be in their book.  So, because of this news, Dan and I decided to try our online advertising, not knowing what else to do!  Fast forward to a couple weeks ago. Dan and I had decided we wanted to get back on the waiting list, being more open to the area that we previously weren’t very open to, and because the list was now 32 people long!  My social worker responded back to me saying that she never did remove our name from the waiting list, because we said we’d consider this particular situation!  So we found out that we are # 7 on the list, as opposed to #33!  

   If this miscommunication hadn’t happened, and we knew that we were still on the waiting list, we would have never paid the money to do our online advertising.  But now, seeing Leah’s situation; her getting saved and being able to parent her son, this all came to happen because we had our profile online!  When God wants something to happen, he makes it happen! 

So I wanted to share this testimony of God’s power, and how He does work everything out for good!  We’re excited to get into our agency’s book in the next month or two, and have our profile shown to real people!  We’ve got a couple more months on the online profile, so it would be wonderful if we connected with our child’s birth family through that still.  God has continued to give us patience and peace through the waiting and the unknowns!  He has provided for all that we have need of!  We do appreciate continued prayer for us regarding our adoption, and pray that our little one comes soon!

I feel like this song has been my "theme" song lately!  I cry every time I hear it.