Our Adoption Journey

Hello friends and family! Thank you so much for visiting our blog. Doug and I thought this would be a great way for loved ones to keep up with where we are in the domestic adoption process and follow us along on our incredible journey. This will be a great way for us to keep everyone up to speed so to speak and also express feelings, thoughts, concerns, etc. (Those of you who know me personally know that I'm not always the best at following through on stuff like this :) but I'm going to try REALLY hard to update things regularly!) We also want everyone to feel free to post comments on here. We are hoping that someday we can turn this blog into a "Life Book" for our child so that they may read and know the story that brought them to us.

We are so excited to see what God has in store for us on this journey. We cannot wait for the day that he blesses us with a child we can love, treasure, and raise up to be a child of God and spread his good news. We also can't wait for our child to meet each and every one of you and be a blessing in his or her life the way you've been in ours. Like I said, please feel free to post comments or ask questions. As most of you know, Doug and I are both open books :) We are more than happy to share anything with you if you have questions.


Adoption is such a wonderful thing and if it weren't for our "trials" we would not be able to enjoy this beautiful blessing that God is giving us. We have no doubt that God has a plan for us and that he has a child for us to love. (Psalm 139:13-16) Please continue to pray for us as we prepare ourselves to be parents. Please pray that we can continue to grow in our relationship with the Lord and in our relationship with each other. We love each and every one of you and look forward to sharing this blog with you.
With Love,

Doug and Andrea

Sunday, March 20, 2011

March 20, 2011

Well, we only have two more weeks of sessions online and we'll be all done with the training classes.  I'm working on my "self study" now which is about ten pages of questions about yourself.  I'm sure that sounds pretty easy, but it's kind of been hard.  Doug hand-wrote his answers out...he's going to make them work to read his ;)  I'm typing mine just because I make a lot of mistakes and change my mind so much that it'll be easier to type. 

We also ordered two more books to read.  One is called, "Talking with Young Children about Adoption" and the other is "Dear Birthmother."  We're hoping that each of these will help us more in prepping for the years to come.  We already love our child and know how to take care of their physical needs like feeding, changing diapers, etc.  We just want to be sure we understand things from their point of view because neither one of us was adopted so we have no idea as to what kind of feelings he/she may have.  We know that we will provide them with as much love, understanding, and guidance as we can.  But we want to make sure we can be prepared emotionally as to what topics and questions that may come up throughout their lives.  We have faith in God that he will help us in all this if we ask for it, but reading these books can only help us even more. 

Most of you reading this will be a part of our child's lives so we encourage you to learn more about adoption if you don't already know.  There are some great books out there to read.  And please ask us questions along the way.  And you can ask anything...cost, the process, emotions, thoughts, etc.  We love sharing :)  We are by no means social workers or adoption counselors, but who better to ask questions than those who are going through the process.  We may not have all the answers but will try!  And if you have any information to give to us...PLEASE do!!  The more info. the better! 

Oh and I forgot to mention that we joined Post Oak Baptist Church here in Russellville last Sunday and are very excited about being a part of such a great church.  We have met some wonderful people and look forward to getting to know them.

That's pretty much all the updates we have for now.  Two more weeks of training, turning in our paperwork, and waiting to schedule the home study...that's where we are :)  Hope everyone has a great week and enjoys the warm temperatures! 

1 comment:

  1. Andrea & Doug,

    Wow! You both are going to be the most amazing parents!! I know with the love & support of our family and God's blessing we are going to have the most wonderful new addition - baby Bayles!! You have all our love, support, and prayers as you prepare for the most important event in your lives. Being a parent is the most rewarding experience and we cannot wait for you to share in this joy.

    Love in Christ,

    The Honaker's - Casey, Bonnie, Jackson, and Bailey (the doggie)

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