Officially Waiting

Our profile has been received, and we are now "officially waiting" to be an adoptive, forever, loving family to a precious little one!

We are so excited! ... and GRATEFUL to the Lord and those He has placed around us to support us during this journey (I cannot stress this enough-we LOVE you all and appreciate you so much)!

Quick Update!

Our home study has been sent to the Bethany office in Mississippi, and all paperwork is in and approved! Our profile book is being ordered tonight, and as soon as we get it back and get it to Mississippi-we will be an option of a family from which the birth mothers can choose. I will let you know when our profile is there!

So again, a baby could be placed with us quickly, or it could be months-but we are trying to be as prepared as possible on our end. We are waiting with joyful anticipation to see God's story for our child and family unfold. We have SUCH a peace about the timing of the placement, as we trust God and know that He already knows the precious little one who will be a part of our family!

THANK YOU to all of our friends and family who are supporting us in this journey...you have NO IDEA how much we appreciate you more than Kevin and I can express in words...truly, we are GRATEFUL. God is loving us through people right now, and we are resting in His goodness.

Who We Are

Who are we? For a family looking to adopt domestically, a common part of the process is making a profile book about yourself to describe who you are to the birth mother or birth family. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, maybe-but maybe not. This is the first impression (and possibly the only) impression that the birth mother gets from you. Then she makes a decision of whether she would like you to parent her child based upon what she sees in the book. So, it is important to communicate effectively through words and pictures what you want her to know. But how do you accurately describe all of who you are and what you are about in a few short pages?

How do you begin to describe... how much you are going to deeply care for that birth mom and her child?... how much you have been dreaming of the day that you get to bring this child home?...how excited you are to meet her, and for her child to know how much she loves him or her?...how much you are going to teach the child about Jesus, and the grace and mercy He gives us?...how you have a community of friends and family who are looking forward to supporting her child as he or she grows? ...how you would do anything in this world to protect her child?...how you will hold and love the child?...how you desire for her to be at peace with her decision?...how you will give her child the best opportunities as possible in life?...how you will make sure the child knows the love their birth mother has for him/her?...how you will be involved in the child's life in a "hands on" way?...how you are not going to abuse the child or abandon the child-that we will forever be his/her family?

THEN on top of all those important issues, there is the day-to-day kind of stuff to cover. What do we do for a living? what do we do in our free time? who will care for the child during the day? what do we like about each other? what kind of community do we live in? what does our house look like? do we like sports, traveling, theatre, arts, music? our favorite food, movie, TV shows? and why are we adopting?

This can all sound overwhelming, but really the most important thing is for families to just be themselves. That is who the birth mothers want to see...someone who is honestly portraying themselves as who they really are. Then that tends to attract birth and adoptive families together who are similar in their views and values.

So, I pray that as we make our profile book, God will show us the right pictures to input and give us the appropriate words that touch the heart of the birth mother He has planned for our adoption story. I have confidence that He will. Making a profile book (and birth mothers looking at it) could be filled with pressure with thoughts such as, "What if she does not like us?" The truth is that no matter what we put in our profile, God already knows the exact child we will bring into our family. We rest peacefully in His sovereignty over this process.