Waiting, Thinking, and Dreaming

Ok, so it has been a while since you heard from me. Sorry about that. Life has been busy lately, but not on our adoption front. Seems like NOTHING is happening for us. as far as we know, the agency is not working with any birth moms who are interested in our profile. Oh, I know that God is working on fronts not seen, but this waiting thing is driving me crazy! If you know me well, then you know that patience is not my strongest suit. Yet here I am...here WE are.

Like any expectant parent, the wait to hold that little bundle of joy is excruciating. Unlike biological families, adoptive families don't have an 8-9 month away due date. The adoption wait time for placement is indefinite and impossible to put a time frame on.  Some adoptive families are placed with babies close to home study approval or before they even have funds raised. I even know two different families who were asked to parent a baby even before they had completed homestudies! Some families wait 3+ years. For some, infant adoption, sadly, never happens.  Reality tell me that we are only about 6 months into the "official wait time" after home study completion. My heart tells me that there is this piece of my heart (and our family) missing and that baby needs to get here NOW!

I love to tell people that we are expecting. The looks of their faces as they look at my (ever-shrinking!) waist are humorous mixtures of expectancy, confusion, and bewilderment. I love to tell people that we are growing our family! Adoption is my favorite topic. Joshua's story is fun to tell. I love how God brought him to our lives and tell him often that "I waited my whole life just to be your mommy." I am sure that I could never have written a story as unique and awesome as the one God wrote when he planned how he would bring Joshua to us after 12 years of waiting and infertility. And I know the story of how Baby #2 becomes part of our family will be just as awesome and God-fingerprinted. I just want to know it now. Like the end of a good book or a riveting movie, the way is unknown to us, and we are so curious to know it!

The wait is hard. I am not going to lie. When I hear of families being placed with a child, I get the same excitement/longing as I did when we were childless and I heard of yet another pregnancy. I am thrilled beyond measure when I learn of miraculous adoption placements...and yet I am filled with longing for our little one. I dream of him/her/them. I try, just like a biologically expectant mama. to imagine what the little one looks like, what they might become, how unique his/her/their little personality will be, and so on. The wait feels terminal...and exciting!

Soooo...here we are. Waiting. Thinking. Dreaming. Expecting. Would you pray for us to be patient? Would you pray for our child's birth mother/father to be healthy and safe and to make wise choices for themselves and the little one? Would you pray for our baby to grow healthy? Would you pray for the birthfamily as they prepare to make a very hard decision? Would you pray that God will bring our paths together in HIS timing and that we will wait on Him? We could sure you the prayers. Thank you for reading this mama's heart cry today.

FULLY FUNDED! (Jehovah-Jireh-The Lord will provide.)

God has been at work again this weekend. From Thursday to Saturday, God brought in another $550 for baby fund. I am awed at how God is doing this. One pair of donors requested that we not thank them for the contribution, but rather thank God who gave them an abundance so they could have the privilege to share. I thought alot about that. Their sweet, humble spirits point us to Christ, the giver of all good gifts. I do thank God for his provisions. I thank Him that he nudged hearts to donate to our miracle. There are lots of good causes for which we have opportunities to share. There are so many requests for monetary donations in this world today. Eric and I are touched that so many people have been submissive to the Holy Spirit and given to help us bring home baby 2. In a day and time when expenses are high and cost of living rising, God once again defied all odds. Amazing. Jehovah-jireh - the Lord will provide. We are humbled. AND.......

We are excited to announce......that with the combination of funds raised and the money from the job that the Lord gave me (Which I forgot to add in this morning!).....WE ARE FULLY FUNDED!! God has used so many believers to bring us to be fully funded...in less than a year! (Unless God brings us Twins! hahaha! Then that is another story!).When we started fundraising for this adoption last July, we were overwhelmed by the high dollar amount. We put in $6,000 from our savings to get us started. We didn't know exactly how God was going to bring it all in, but we knew he would. He enabled us to save some money by being extremely frugal and we were able to add another $1,000. Then he gave me a job, which has added the final amount needed and a little extra (which we will keep on saving in case God does give us twins.ha!) God.Is.Awesome.

Thank you to all our friends and family who have donated and prayed. We are so very thankful for you. Please keep up the prayers.Pray for the baby and the birth parents. Pray for good health. For wise counsel. For peace in decisions. Also please pray for us. Now we have no "goals to achieve," the wait may seem terminal. And my curiosity is killing me. My imagination is working overtime. We have baby clothes for both genders, so that is set. However, it is really hard to set up a nursery without a gender idea and with no supplies. We will begin looking for nursery stuff here soon. (YAY!!)

I hope that God brings him/her/them soon. I like to tell people that I am expecting but I just dont know when I am due. With Joshua it took almost exactly 2years and one disrupted adoption. I hope for a shorter, less painful path this time. But the Lord plans our steps. He knows what the path will be. He goes before us. He protects from behind. He walk with us. So now, we wait. We dream. We trust in the Almighty God to work out his will in our lives. We are so excited! Stay tuned for updates. As they come, we will let you know!

Thank you for sharing our journey.

"Faithful is he who calls you who also will do it." I Thess. 5:24

I have posted a lot lately, but I am so excited that I want to share the God is doing! Look how God provides. Look how God tells the doubters that this is his plan! LOOK WHAT God is doing!

Since my last post on Sunday, $300 more has come in! 2 donations via our Paypal link (to the right of this blog) and 3 donations via personal checks. We are now UNDER a $1000!! I am awed.

We started this Take 2 journey in June of 2014, and look what God has done in less than 12 months! We started with $6,000 from savings (and some left from our previous adoption fund) and then saved another $1,000. God has used 3 private home parties/fundraisers, a giant yard sale, a spaghetti dinner, a concert, the sell of personal goods online, and gifts from individuals to bring in almost $10,100. God has provided $7,500 in grants that have been promised by ShowHope and the NAMB minister's adoption grant. I am amazed. I am grateful. I love the affirmation that we are on the right track. I love the confirmation of I Thessalonians 5:24, "Faithful is he who calls you who also will do it."

THANK YOU!