1st Meeting

So we had our first meeting with the foster agency! It was our “initial home safety review,” in which we were told what we needed to change. Being as we already have 2 little ones, we are pretty well baby proofed. There are a few specific regulations we will have to accommodate, but nothing too taxing.

Our licensing worker was super sweet and enthusiastic. She made us very comfortable, and we got the feeling that they try to come alongside, help and encourage their families. She said that everybody in her office was great like her, I surely hope so!! :) We are very enthusiastic. I can't believe that after all these years of talking and dreaming, we've really taken the 1st step!!

Up Next:
We have a class on Thursday. In June we’ll start a 2 hour a week for 6 weeks class. We have 2 Saturday classes, CPR training and some (ok, a lot) more paperwork to fill out. And that’s it for the foster licensing! After we’re approved for that we’ll start the adoption home study, which, from what I hear, I much, much more in depth. That won’t be until August at the very earliest, and it takes a couple months on it’s own.

I want to use this blog to talk about the “why” we’re doing what we’re doing a little... So here goes!!

Why are we adopting?

Because we have been loved much, and want to love much. Pictured is my all-time favorite piece of furniture, a dresser my mom hand painted for Karis. On it, she painted the verse 1 John 3:1: “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” That says it all. We have been loved with a love deep enough and strong enough to reach down and save us. Loved enough that the King would die for us--and adopt us as His own. I have a hard time understanding this, comprehending this. I think that’s why Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:17b-19 “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” I think it’ll be a lifelong journey to understand how God loves us, as the Holy Spirit enables. I do understand enough to know that God loves us a whole lot. And that motivates us to love others. I am in awe that God can use me, a broken vessel, to bless others. But I rejoice that when He does, He gets the glory!!!

The truth is, we love to love kids. I remember when Karis was born how my heart just felt like it grew. Grew with love for that little one. And then came sweet Ella, and my heart grew some more. I have a very distinctive memory of being in the hospital with Aletheia and thinking how much I just loved to love her. I thought, “uh oh, this feeling could get addicting, I might end up with quite the kid collection!” I love my kids, and love to love them. Nothing makes me happier.

Announcing!

Our family has an announcement: we are going to be signing up to fost-adopt!! We have always loved kids and this is something we have been thinking, praying and dreaming about for years now. We have weighed all the options for adoption, and have chosen fost-adopt through the state as what we hope will be the best fit for our family. We are very excited about what this will mean for our family!!

I want to use this blog as a way of sharing with everybody the process as we go, as well as explaining some of our thoughts and motivations for adoption. Since we'll be going through the state, I'm going to leave off all personal identifiers.

As excited as we are about this, we recognize that it won't be perfectly seamless or free of difficulty (we're ok with that!). We would love prayers from you, our wonderful friends and family, who have always supported us. I can't think of anyone that has a more loving support system than we have... Wouldn't it be selfish not to share???

First step: meeting with the agency. We hope to be licensed in 5-6 months, ready for kids by November!!