| 7-June-07 We're at a standstill momentarily. It is both good and bad. My mother may be coming to live with us and so we're having to submit some paperwork on her and look for a bigger place to live. The Foster/Adoption rules state that children of different genders can share rooms as long as they are all under the age of 6 (which ours will all be - unless this takes longer than we are anticipating), however they cannot share a room with an adult. So, we need to find a place where we'll have at least three bedrooms (one for John and I because we are not of a mind to share our room with my mother, one for my mom, and one for the children). So right now, we are waiting to find out if my mother is coming and we are looking for a 3 bedroom place, just in case. Because of all this, we've put building the beds on hold. It doesn't seem a good use of time and energy to build them, just to disassemble them and move them. So, the upside is that my mother may be joining us. But, the downside is that our adoption progress has stalled for the time being. We have, however, received lots of positive responses from our friends and family and they have provided us with resources to purchase some of the needed things (towels and such, bed linens, and a fully outfitted crib in case we welcome an infant.) We are trying to remain patient and trust that God is not late or forgetful, but that He knew what we were going to need before we ever got to this point and in His infinite wisdom and care, has already provided. We just need to wait for the manifestation of that provision. 9-August-07 We are finally moving forward again. We were able to move into a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house at the end of June and are settled in now. A friend has generously given us a set of bunkbeds. Now, we are waiting for the weather to dry out and stay dry so we can cut the lumber for the second set. As soon as the beds are done and in place, we can have our final homestudy. We are also still waiting on background clearance to come through. There is only one office that handles all the background checks for all adoptions, foster families and day care providers and there has been a significant backlog. Everyone told us, long before we started this process, that everything takes longer than you think it will. They were right, but I wasn't really prepared for this. We're trying to stay focussed and keep moving ahead on everything that we have control over. Sometimes at night I dream of our children, even though I don't know anything about them yet. 5-October-07 Well, things with DHR have stalled. Our social worker will not return phone calls and doesn't send the paperwork we request. We can't get any information from her about anything. So, with a bit of disappointment and frustration, we are going to stop and start over. We have found an agency called Angel's Haven Outreach in California. We are going to pursue African adoption through them. we will have a local agency complete our homestudy for us. this is where a big leap of faith comes in. The African adoption will cost about $8,500 USD, not including our $1,250 homestudy, $670 immigration papers, $160 international background clearance, and plane tickets. So, we are looking at a huge outlaw of money to make this happen. We don't have this kind of money - not with my ongoing medical bills and grad school tuition on a teacher's salary. But, God is faithful and he is the one who has called us to this. We trust that He will make a way. Fortunately, even though we have lost all of the time we spent with DHR and all of the paperwork through them has to be redone for international adoption, none of the preparations we've made at home is wasted. We are also encouraged by my cousin's recently completely adoption. It helps us to remain hopeful in the face of disappointments. 26-March-08 Nothing has really changed in the past six months, which is disappointing, but we are trying to continue to be hopeful and search for resources everywhere we can. Right now, our church is in the process of setting up a fund to be distributed to adopting families and we are excited about the possibilities there. We spend a lot of time in prayer. We also are working on continuing to clear up our finances - we have outstanding medical bills and school loans as one might expect. Paying these off will free up more money to put toward the adoption. Brainstorming also takes up a lot of energy right now. We are trying to get creative, easier said than done! |
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