Tae Kwon Do

As I stated in an earlier blog, we have enrolled Christian in Tae Kwon Do. He loves it! He’s doing a great job of learning his moves too. It’s so fun to watch him during class. He’s so cute saying,”Yes sir!”. He practices alot at home, which is good. I hope he sticks with it. They said he could be a black belt in 2 years. Being a black belt in tae kwon do doesn’t mean he’ll be able to beat up everyone, it just means he’ll be proficient in the art. I will keep you updated on his progression. Be blessed!

Our Final Visit

Robby and me with our wonderful social worker, Sue Ann Brown. Christian took this picture.

Thursday we had our final home study visit. It went really well. Our social worker said she would turn it in to APAC on Friday. APAC will review it to make sure everything is in order and send it to Montgomery. Our home study is finally finished! We started with our classes and everything at the end of July 2008 and now we are finally done. I just want to encourage anyone who is thinking about adopting from state DHR to do it. Don’t be afraid. Everyone has been so great to us during this whole process. I thought our home study would be so scary and terrible and it was very pleasant. There are so many children who need permanent homes. You can check them out at www.adoptuskids.org Have a blessed week.

The Final Stretch

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and new year. I haven’t written in awhile because there was nothing to update. Our social worker had to have her appendix removed around Thanksgiving and that pushed us behind a bit. That’s one of those things you can’t really plan for. I didn’t get upset about the delay because I know God has a reason for everything.
Sunday we got a call from our social worker telling us she was back on the case and was calling our references. She wants to meet this Thursday for the last time, just to make sure we have everything filled out and ready to go. She said our home study would be done by the end of the week!! I’m super excited.
After the home study is finished it will be sent to Montgomery. Once there, social workers will begin the matching process to find the right child for our family. It could take a week or a year. The waiting will be the hardest part. Please pray that we don’t have to wait long.
On another note, we enrolled Christian in Tae Kwon Do this week. He’s had 2 lessons so far and he loves it. He looks so cute in his uniform. I love the fact that his instructor is a christian and talks to them about God. I’ll post soon with pictures.
Have a blessed week!

Adoption Update Time

It’s been awhile since my last update. The holidays have kept me busy but I’m back and ready to blog. We had our 2nd home visit and it went as smoothly as the first. Now we have to have individual interviews but she said we could meet at Starbucks or somewhere for those. We also have to take Christian to the doctor and get them to sign a paper saying he is free of communicable diseases. Should be easy enough. Then everything goes to Montgomery and the matching process begins. This really takes awhile! I’m trying to be patient. It took me 6 years to get pregnant. This is alot faster than that.
Thanksgiving was great. We visited our families and ate lots of good food. I have so much to be thankful for. Our social worker said not to expect anything to happen during the week of Thanksgiving but we should be back in business this week. Keep praying for us. It’s all coming together.

Our 1st Social Worker Home Visit

We finally had our first home visit yesterday. I was so nervous and I cleaned house all week in preparation. I had no reason to be so terrified. Our worker is wonderful! She was so nice and immediately put us at ease. She even made positive comments about our house. I told her that I had been so worried and she reminded me that her goal is to get me approved so that a child can have a home. We are on the same team. I felt so blessed. I feel like it was nothing short of a miracle that our social worker got changed at the last minute. I can’t imagine having a different one.

Now for the funny parts of the visit. Christian lifted up our living room rug for her and proudly announced that it used to be real dirty underneath but we vacuumed it because we knew she was coming. He also put Mickey Mouse ears on her about halfway through the visit and she wore them for the remainder of our interview. It was all a bit surreal.

She’s coming back next Saturday for another home visit and then will have a final visit with each of us separately. It’s a long process but I finally feel like we’re moving along. Keep us in your prayers. Have a blessed week!

Home Study Update

Now that we have completed our classes, all we are lacking are our home visits with our social worker. We have our medicals and everything else completed now. Our social worker called today and set up an appointment for this Saturday. That gives me a week to stress over every minor detail in my house. I know that God is in control and that I shouldn’t be worried but it is hard for me. I’m not the best housekeeper in the world but I’m definitely safe and loving for a child. I hope my social worker sees me that way.

Keep praying for us. I feel like this journey is almost over. I see the light at the end of the tunnel and it’s just around the corner. Thanks for caring. Have a blessed week!

We Have Graduated From GPS!

Tonight was bittersweet. It was our final GPS class. It’s great because we can now move forward in the adoption process and we have no more homework to turn in. It was sad because we have become such great friends with the people in our class. We are used to seeing these people every Monday night for 3 hours. On the bright side, we passed around  a sheet and got each other’s contact information. I really hope I stay in touch with some of my new friends. It’s nice to have people who understand exactly what you’re going through.

We had a great meal tonight and played a fun game that reviewed everything we’ve learned in our class. Then it was time to hand out our certificates. APAC also gave us a thermal lunch bag as a gift. Traci, our wonderfully sweet instructor, gave a sweet introduction to each class member as they came to get their diploma and we all hummed pomp and circumstance. It was really quite moving. Afterwards, a couple of people from our class got up and said how much they appreciated the class and felt we had made a great group of new friends. Being the softie that I am, I got a little misty. Ms. Edna even gave us an extra lunch bag and told us to take it home to our little boy. They got along so well last week. I will really miss Edna. She is so much fun!

It really was a great experience. I am glad we were a part of it. I would encourage anyone interested in fostering or adopting to take the class, even if your state or agency doesn’t require it. I feel that I have learned so much.

Now on to the future. Please pray that our homestudy goes as well as our classes and that we find favor with our social worker. I am excited about what’s in store for my family. Be blessed!

Changes Along the Way

It’s funny how things change. When we started out on this adoption journey we set guidelines about the age of the child we would like to parent. We were pretty firm that 9 would be the absolute oldest we would consider. However, we prayed that God’s will would be done and that He would show us the child that is meant for our family. We look at the waiting children website constantly, listening for a sign from the Holy Spirit. Yesterday, we both felt a connection with one of the children. Now, let me back up a minute and say that we had decided earlier this week that we would actually feel comfortable parenting a child that was a bit older. Maybe 10 or younger we thought. The child we felt a connection with is 12! Even though we’ve only been married 11 years we both felt completely ok about it.

Robby pointed out that we work with the youth in our church and would have no problem at all taking in one of those kids and they are teenagers. Also, we plan on adopting more children and could always get a younger one at another time. We just want to get the child that is right for our family.

We submitted an inquiry on this little girl, which is the first step. Hopefully when our homestudy is complete and sent to her social worker we will be given a chance to adopt her. She is a beautiful child and I would love to be her mom.

Please pray that we will find favor with her social worker and with our social worker who is doing our homestudy. Also, please pray that this child will feel the same connection to us that we have for her. Have a great week and be blessed!

Only One GPS Class Left!

Last night was our 9th GPS class. That means we only have one left. I can’t believe the time has gone by so fast. We had a panel discussion last night that included the social worker who will be doing our homestudy. She is very nice. Christian went with us last night and got to meet all of our new friends. He had a blast. He drew pictures for everyone. I’m glad he was able to come along to one of the meetings. I think it made this whole process more real for him.

Now all we have left to do is get our physicals, go to our last class, and have our home visits with our social worker. We should be done in just a few weeks! Please keep us in your prayers. I am anticipating a great miracle in our family. Be blessed!

Adoption Update

We had our 7th GPS class last night. Only 3 more to go! I am very excited. One thing that I found out last night is that it could take 3 or 4 months for our fingerprints to come back so that could hold our homestudy up from being mailed in to the state. I’m hoping it doesn’t take that long but in the majority of cases it does. I have to remind myself that when I was pregnant it took 9 months for the child to get here so 4 to 6 months isn’t really that bad. After the paperwork is mailed in then the matching process starts. They will be trying to find a child that they think would be a good match for our family based on the homestudy.

We also learned last night who our social worker is and that she should be contacting us this week about setting up our home visits. That is exciting and scary to me at the same time. I know social workers are wonderful people and that their goal is to find homes for these children but it is still a bit unnerving to be put under the microscope. I pray that she sees our hearts and expedites the process for us.

Please pray that our homestudy won’t take forever and that we will find favor with the social worker. Also pray that I quit stressing about the house. It’s impossible to keep it spotless with a 5 year old and I’m sure a good social worker will understand that. It’s still stressing me out though. Finally, pray that we are quickly matched with the child that God has had planned for our family from before time began.

Have a blessed week!