Going Forward

Just wanted to post a quick update. We have decided to go forward with the application and trust that God will provide for us if this is His will, which we believe it is. We are still within $1000 of the minimum annual income requirement and I read that exceptions are made on a case-by-case basis. We worked hard to pay off most of our debt last year (we sold one car and are paying off the rest with our tax return) and minimal bills, so I think they will still accept us. And Chad is working on finding other work to supplement his full-time income. So, as soon as we get our taxes back and have some cash, we are going to submit our application and tell our families. I am really getting excited as it becomes more and more of a reality that we are going to adopt and bring home a little girl next year!

Putting Application On Hold

Well, it turns out we can't submit our application after all. We just learned yesterday that Chad will lose his part-time job in 60 days, which puts us below the minimum income requirement per family member for the Russia program. He still has his full-time job at Teen Challenge, but it's not enough. We do have 60 days for him to find something else, but we're not sure where God is leading us. Please pray for us as we figure out what to do.

Application Completed

At the advice of a good friend, we have taken some time to explore our hearts on this adoption and what our 'perfect' scenario would look like and realized that Russia is the best program for us (and where we have felt led from the beginning). We have completed the application and are ready to submit it to FTIA just as soon as we collect the last few items we need and get our remaining finances in order. We are both very excited to get started on this adoption journey. We're not allowing fear to keep us from following our heart's desire to add another child to our family.

Answers, Answers!

Wow, I just had the most incredible weekend! I went to the "Captivating" retreat in the Colorado mountains with my friend, Missy, and I am more certain than ever that this is the path for us. I just really felt God speak to my heart His heart for adoption and our need to take risks and live the adventure. I believe He has put the desire to adopt a child in our hearts and He will provide for us. Likewise, He removed the desperate need from my heart for another birth child for the first time since Abby died. In faith, I completed the adoption application this weekend while overlooking the beautiful Buena Vista valley and Colorado mountains with a joy in my heart that another child will soon be joining our family and that we are in for the adventure of a lifetime. Before I go, I would like to share these excerpts from "The Spirit of Adoption" written about God's heart for the orphan and plan of redemption through adoption from the America World Adoption website:

Parenthood was designed to be the outcome of God's beautiful union of marriage. The path toward parenthood, however, can be as winding and varied as the people who travel it. For many couples pregnancy is an easy and effortless milestone in their life. For some, however, the road to parenthood is a long and difficult path, filled with heartache, disappointment and an ongoing sense of failure.

In Genesis 3:16 (NKJV) God says: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children . . .”

This verse tells us that pain is to be a part of this world, even in marriage and childbearing. The broken condition of this world is a reality we must all face. Knowing the condition of this world is significant to our understanding of the blessing of adoption. When we know that suffering is part of a loving God's plan, then we can understand that the existence of orphaned children is not an accident or failure of God's plan.

Have you ever considered the fact that Jesus was adopted? Yes, Jesus' earthly father Joseph adopted him. In fact, the Gospel of Matthew traces the bloodline of Jesus not through his biological mother, Mary, but through his adoptive father, Joseph. Even though one might easily pass over this fact as insignificant, this detail reveals something amazing about God's nature. God does not make mistakes, and He certainly doesn't need a back-up plan. Through this footnote in history we see that for Jesus, adoption was not Plan B.

God's plan of redemption for an imperfect world was set in motion through the very concept of adoption. Not only did He ordain his son Jesus to be adopted, but He made adoption the only way we could become a part of His eternal family. It was His good pleasure to adopt us. In fact, it is His ideal mechanism to establish relationships.

Psalm 113:9 says, "He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the LORD." (NIV)

This verse doesn't say that God makes barren women fertile-although that is certainly within His power. The key phrase is "happy mother." A "happy mother" is God's Plan A. How can a barren woman become a happy mother unless she adopts? Just as God has decided that some couples will experience parenthood through biological birth, He also has ordained some couples to experience parenthood through the miracle of adoption.

(taken from http://www.awaa.org/stories/spiritofadoption.aspx)

One little girl died and now another little girl across the world has hope because there is room in the hearts of her parents for another child. Perhaps we were ordained to experience parenthood through the miracle of adoption from the start ...