Making Progress

We are making progress.

Orientation...
On October 26-27 we attended our long awaited orientation. I know it was only June when we decided to adopt, but I guess the previous 5 years of attempting to add to our family made it feel like much longer. We weren't exactly sure what to expect from the orientation, but we were anticipating it as the next step toward bringing home our child. Since it was in Abilene and both of Ryan's grandmothers live just outside in Cisco, we also enjoyed visiting with them and being lavished with delicious home cooked meals and conversation.

The orientation was more than we could have hoped. We met the whole staff and 9 others couples who were in attendance as well. The first day was full of information shared from various staff members, our favorite of which was Bob, who had me and Ryan laughing the whole time. For some reason no one else seemed to think he was as funny as we did. :) They shared that their mission/ the heart of their agency was to care for, love, serve and share the gospel (the love, grace, adoption we receive thru trusting in Jesus' life, death and resurrection) with the birth moms. They provide homes, take care of their finances, provide counseling and help carry the weight of their burden. That is when I knew for sure we had made the right choice for our agency.

Shout out to CHFS (Christian Homes and Family Services); we love what God is doing through you! If you know of someone who is pregnant and in a desperate situation, please share with them about this agency.

Day 2 we shared in the stories of 3 young ladies who had been adopted, 3 birth moms and 2 adoptive families (who were in orientation this time last year and already have their children, yay!) It was beautiful, heart warming, encouraging, heart wrenching and hopeful. So many emotions! Each perspective gave us more insight and understanding, but hearing from the birth moms totally changed me. Listening to their hearts and seeing their pain opened my eyes to this other person who will also be forever a part of our story. This person who is essential to how we will grow as a family. As they shared how the adoptive moms of their children loved and ministered to them, I wanted also to do the same. I had entered in to this journey with a very narrow scope. God keeps pulling the lens further back so I can see the bigger picture of what he is doing and it is so much bigger than just us and even bigger than rescuing a child. This is huge, and I will share more in my next blog.

Paperwork...
I wish there was some way I could express to you the amount of paperwork involved in adoption. Those adoptive families out there, you know what I mean! When I first started I was hoping to just knock out some forms "real quick" so I could feel like I made progress. Real quick.. hahahahahaha. Every form I opened was pages and pages of every detail of our life, our parents, sibling, grand parents, etc. Im talking research. Just figuring out all of my addresses for the last 10 years was work in itself! We are nearing the end of the paperwork and have the remaining to complete: our autobiographies, letter to our birth mom, 10 page photo album and home study. Then we will submit everything for approval and wait.

Fundraising...
We have raised $6,150!!! We are so thankful for those who have given so generously and sacrificially. In order to complete our approval process and have our profile shown to birth moms we are needing to raise $3910. Then the remaining money will be due at the time we are matched with a birth mom and when the adoption is finalized. We hope to do this through continued donations and the December event that has been postponed to January (details to come shortly). If you have planned on donating a basket for the raffle at this event, or want to, please let me know and please get them to me by the end of December.

Off to work on our paper work....