Sponsor a Child

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Yummy coffee & Adoption!! Can it get much better?

As we get closer and closer to our home studys completion. We are thinking more and more about different ways to raise money for our adoption! I was referred to this website by a friend, and we prayed about it and decided to give it a go! I actually had the opportunity to taste their coffee myself, and it is fantastic!!! Andrew and I will receive 5$ for every bag of coffee purchased towards our adoption. So we are asking all of you to consider buying a bag for yourself or for someone you know! You could even consider giving bags as gifts for Christmas... they also sell tee shirts and other things as well, and we get proceeds from each of those too!

http://www.justlovecoffee.com/TheDarlings


Thanks for all the Prayers & Support! and keep them coming :)

Blessings
Liz

Thursday, October 22, 2009

What a relief!!

its been about an hour since our social worker Brenda, left our house! She spent about 3 1/2 hours here....

i seriously have been going crazy! SO SO nervous about this meeting and how things would go, we cleaned and cleaned.... and cleaned lol but after she was here about 10 minutes, we were laughing and talking very freely and openly... She said, "wow i feel like ive known you guys for years!" haha funny enough i felt the same way! Im SO impressed with her knowledge and how caring she is... She really does do this for "the children", not the money... this isnt a "business" to her, its a cause! I LOVE THAT!!! she was very open and honest with us, and was very encouraging!! After we had talked for a while and shared basic information and paperwork... We took her on a tour of our house! She made lots of positive comments and really didnt have anything negative to say... :) We made our way upstairs and showed her all the rooms, when we got to the nursery full of all the baby things... she stood in the middle of the room with her mouth open just looking around! she walked over to me with tears in her eyes... she gave me one of the warmest hugs ive had in a long time, then she cupped my face in her hands, and said with tears rolling down her cheeks "you have my heart, we need to get you a baby NOW!!!" i was so shocked and felt so cared for in that moment! We arent just some family on a list to her... you can tell that she takes this very personally, and i LOVE that!
After the tour we went back to the kitchen for more talking, and she asked us what we were looking for in a child... what are we open to as far as race and gender! when we said "ANY" she asked us if we were sure? and then got this HUGE grin on her face and said, "OOOOOO this will be fast!!! you wont wait long" she went on to tell us how she gets calls about babies all the time, and if we are open... it wont be long at all! i couldnt believe what i was hearing... and from then on the rest of her visit was smooth sailing..... we are SO increadibaly excited that we could have a baby soon, and WE are SO SO ready!! I have such peace about this situation, such calmness.... I know that our baby is out there, and we will be together soon!!

Our next meeting with her is on November 7th, and we're going to meet her in Deep Creek at andrews parents house! (we have to cover her milage expenses and its much closer there, plus she will get to meet them!!) We have our physicals and chest xrays on the 10th and then we just have to wait for our clearences to come back, and then we're ready for a baby!! :) She also has lots of other adoptive families right in our area, and she is going to connect us with them!! :):):):)

So now we begin looking for adoption grants and different fundraising options! We trust that God will provide this need for us.... I believe that our baby has already been chosen and nothing or no one can stop the will of the OUR LORD!!!!!! if anyone has any suggestions on fundraising ideas or organizations that give grants please let me know!

thanks for reading & for the prayers!!! They are SO working... So keep emm coming!!! :):)

ill update soon!

Blessings
~Liz

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Preparing for our first "home visit"....

Our journey began almost 3 1/2 years ago... Even before we were married we talked about adoption, it was always in the future-tense always after we had our "own" (biological) children. After years of infertility treatments, and many losses! We have come to realize that more than we want babies who look like us... We just want BABIES!! no matter what they look like, we just want to be parents. So about 3 weeks ago we found a social worker, called her and began this intense process!! First things first, we had to get our fingerprints done (2x for each of us) at the police station, i was nervous... Andrew just kept telling me to relax it was no big deal, but he was nervous too! haha the sheriff that was taking our prints had lots of questions for us and was VERY nice which eased our minds... then we had to fill out our FBI child abuse clearance forms! (so many questions) and signature release forms (still not sure what that's for?).. we overnight ed all of the forms to our social worker Brenda, and now we just wait and prepare for this next chapter of our lives...

It wont be along wait because our 1st "home visit" is on this Friday the 23rd! Andrew has already taken off work, we have spent the whole weekend cleaning and organizing the house, cleaning the walls, touching up paint, organizing cabinets and closets (just in case she looks in them lol) we have sent out the questionnaire form to our family and friends and lined up almost, all of our references... there is much more to do though...

I must admit i am really "loosing my marbles" over all of this... I'm a nervous wreck! Andrew is the complete opposite, very calm and collected... he just keeps saying,"Hunny, BE YOURSELF!" and i look back at him thinking, how?? this one person holds all the cards in determining whether we are "allowed" to be parents or not! I find my mind frequently swirling into worries of... what should i wear? (what does a "good" mother wear?), what should i bake that morning, to fill the air with lovely smells,(what is a "good" parents smell??) I'm contemplating making homemade applesauce, cookies, or muffins... i cant decide so maybe ill just make all 3!!:) haha We've already set up a grooming appt for the dogs, so they don't "scare" her off one the first visit with their excitement. We're buying a new coffee maker (the kind that grounds the coffee first) so we can make her a cup of yummy coffee! -- if she even drinks coffee!!

**according to our social worker this whole home study process should take about 8 weeks and being as we are about 2 weeks in... we just have about 6 weeks to go, before we are officially "Paper Pregnant"!!**

-Paper Pregnant is the term used for adoptive parents who have an approved home study that are waiting for the placement of their child/children...

There are 3 options to choose from when looking into adoption all have pros and cons...
*There is International Adoption - where an international agency in the country of your choice "matches" you with a baby, you make trips to the country and spend time there to get your child. this is a great option for some, but it can be very expensive and require A LOT of out of the country travel... It can also take along time to get your baby!

**There is Domestic infant adoption - where you sign up with an agency or lawyer and "market" yourself to potential birth mothers who are looking to place their unborn babies for adoption. This is also a great option for some, in that it almost guarantees you will get a newborn fresh from the hospital. It can also be fairly expensive, and uncertain... as birth mom can always change her mind after placement (until her rights have been terminated) and get the baby back!

***Lastly there is adoption from the foster system - this type of adoption is the one we have chosen... once our home study is finished we will sign with our local state agency, and wait for a child that will be a good match for us to come along! We are open to any children under 3 years old... although we would prefer a newborn baby! going this route of adoption, isn't without risk... chances are we will have to "foster" our children for a while before they are available to be officially adopted and there is always a chance we could have to say goodbye to some, before our forever baby comes along! although i hope and pray we don't have to... we may get a child/children with some challenges, but we feel like these children needs loving parents all the more... and we can give them a safe, loving environment to grow and flourish!!

I will update here often and i hope that everyone will keep up with our journey and pray, pray, pray for us throughout all of this!!

Hugs & Blessings
xoxo