It's official...Our home study is approved!

We got great news today...Bethany Christian Services official approved our home study!  We passed!  It has taken a little longer than we thought, but I have to say, we have been blessed because there were no major issues or hang-ups throughout the process.  So let the wait begin! 

I know many of you have been praying for us and we can't thank you enough.  We know that God is not only listening to our thoughts and our hearts but also yours as well.  And we would like to ask you to be sure and pray for the birth mother (whoever she may be) and her baby.  She is making some very difficult decisions in the days ahead and is making a huge sacrifice that many of us will never experience.  Please pray that if she doesn't know her heavenly Father that Bethany or Doug and I might be able to minister to her; to let her know that God loves her more than anything, that she is a precious gift, and that He treasures her.  Pray that she make a decision that is right for her and best for her child.

I hope that God will bless us with a child someday soon and that our two person family (three if you count Brinkley) will grow!  We hope that we can raise a beautiful child and experience the joy that children can bring. 

Have a wonderful week!  Will continue to update when there's news to be told! :)

Love,
Andrea

Our Last Home Visit!

We had our last home visit this past Wednesday!  YAY!  Again, I think it went fairly smoothly.  We talked about a lot and really had to open up about our lives.  Doug and I have been through a lot in the time that we've been together and been married.  We have faced some extremely difficult challenges and satan has tried his best to take advantages of those down times but through our prayers, and the prayers of others, the Lord has shown us His love and protection.  I also feel that the Lord has faced us with challenges; of course not because He wants to harm us, but because He wants us to turn to Him so that he can show us the wonderful plan he has for our lives if we will trust in Him and seek His will.

We are really enjoying being members at Post Oak.  I just really feel that God is working in the church.  So many of the people there have such a passion for Christ and showing and teaching others about His love.  I have total confidence that if we EVER needed anything, that ANYONE in that church would do whatever they could to help.  Their outreach is definitely strong.  We're still getting to know people and seeking to get plugged in, but I know that that will come in time (and of course we have to make the effort)

It's amazing because for once in my life, I truly see God's hands at work in mine and Doug's lives.  Of course He's been there all along, but I'm just now paying attention.  This morning, at church, I was thinking...if we had had a child two years ago, when we originally started trying to conceive, I wouldn't have had the relationship with Him and Doug that I do now.  My life and our marriage has changed so much in the past two years...He's been using this time to bring us closer and praise God for that! 

Well, enough of my rambling....I just really had a few praises that I wanted to let everyone know about! I will be sure and keep everyone up to date as we finish up the "easy" part of our journey!  Once the home study is approved and we turn in our birth mother profile (which I am working on now....just taking a break)  we will officially begin the wait (the" hard" part).  There probably won't be many updates after that unless we get a call.  I know I always say this, but I am sooo excited!  I can't wait to meet our baby! 

Have a great week! Thanks to whoever is still following!  :)  I know it's been pretty uneventful, but it's extremely exciting to us so thanks for the support! 

2nd Meeting

We had our second meeting with the adoption counselor on Friday.  It went well.  We had to meet individually for about an hour a piece and talk about our childhood and our families.  It's weird because I am an extremely open person but it was kind of difficult to tell your life story to a somewhat stranger.  And it's hard to sum up your life in about 20 min.  But, we made it through, and I think both of us did fine.  We will meet again on June 1st at our home.  This will most likely be our final visit of the home study process unless there are some things he feels he needs to follow up on. 

Doug is currently reading "Dear Birthmother" and I am reading "Twenty Things Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew".  I can't speak for Doug, but I love the book I'm reading.  I hope it continues to give me insight into what our child may be feeling at some time or other.  I never really realized that not only are Doug and I going through a "loss" with infertility, but our child will also experience a loss through the loss of his/her birthparents.  I hope that I can try to understand this pain and loss that my child will experience but also show them that they will always be my child and that not only will we always love him/her, but that they have a heavenly Father that will never leave their side and will always treasure them. 

I know many of you have been praying for us and we can't thank you enough.  But we need your prayers so please continue to pray for us and pray for our child. 

Successful First Home Visit!

We had our first home visit on Friday (May 13th) and everything went well!  Our social worker just sat down with us and asked a few questions (mostly ones we had already answered) and then did a quick tour of the house.  The only thing we lacked was a first aid kit which we got the next day!  It really wasn't bad at all and Brinkley did behave himself :)  We will meet with him again this Friday and then in two weeks after that.  So we will be all done in June!!  I have to admit that the time has gone by fast (I know to some of you, it may seem like it's taking forever) but I am grateful that Bethany has such a detailed process to select families for babies.  It's evident that they really do care about children and want to make sure that adoptive families are prepared for a child. 

God continues to bless our lives and continues to carry us through this journey to becoming parents.  I don't praise him enough for all the great things he has done for us and continues to do.  He is preparing our hearts for a beautiful child...his child, and I only hope that we can show our child God's amazing love. 

Have a wonderful week!  Hopefully it will be warming up again!

First Home Visit Scheduled!

We received an e-mail from our adoption counselor yesterday letting us know it was time to schedule our first home visit!!!  We are super excited.  So glad we've made it to this part of the process.  Our adoption counselor is extremely nice and super helpful.  I feel so blessed to have someone we are so comfortable with.  And he seems like he has a really good heart. 

The visit is scheduled for May 13th so please keep us in your prayers.  I'm sure we will be fine, but still a little anxious.  We're going to have to have a little talk with Brinkley (our dog) and tell him he needs to be on his best behavior!  But I have a feeling I already know how he'll act.  Hope our counselor likes dogs!

Well, I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.  Enjoy the sunshine...we haven't seen it for a while!

It's in the mail!

Just a small update:  We mailed in all of our home study paperwork today!  It was quite a large stack of paperwork too!  So glad to have that finished and out of the way.  One small step but such a huge relief.  We should be scheduling our home visit soon! 

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

We're done (with training)

We're done with our training!!  We finished last week and it feels so good to be done!  Though we did have some trouble on correspondence (with one person only) we really learned so much the past two months.  We will be turning in our paperwork this week and once they receive the paperwork they will be calling to schedule our appointments for the one-on-one interviews and the home study. 

We did find out that Bethany is using a new method for their home studies called SAFE.  It may cause the home study process to take a bit longer but only weeks, not months like I was imagining!  This method is supposed to be more effective/efficient and helps to ensure that they are placing the child in a stable home and to help us prepare for a child.  I hate that it may take longer, but if it helps them to do a better job and helps prepare us, then I am all for it. 

It's so nice to have everyone's love a support.  I can't tell you how much it means to hear words of encouragement and to hear the sincerity in people's voices when they ask about how the process is coming along.  Our child will be surrounded by people who love him/her dearly.  Hope everyone had a wonderful Monday.  Hope this week goes by fast for everyone.

Love,
Andrea