I honestly never thought I'd enter the blog world. Never cared much for them, really. But I succumbed to the worlds of Facebook and Twitter, so I guess a blog was only the next logical step, right? Here is what I've decided: like it or not, we share life with everyone around us: family, friends, acquaintances, hair stylists (gossip central) and even random people in line at the grocery store. (Don't tell me you never make small talk with those people!) I for one have come to appreciate immensely the special people that I get to share my life with every day. They make me smile, give me encouragement, pray for me, laugh with me, cry with me, and listen to me... and I get to do all of that for them. I am blessed. Over the past few years I have realized more and more that opening up and sharing honestly about my life can be a truly enriching experience. It often helps others become comfortable opening up, and you know what happens? We figure out that we all have a whole lot more in common than we thought. We share fears, joys, worries, hopes, praises, and prayers. If a blog is just one more way I can share my life with others - especially those far away from me - then I'm all for trying it out.
So why an upside down life? Because sometimes it feels like life is so uncertain and uneasy, it's like trying to stand on your head and keep going like everything's normal. And because sometimes all you need to do is flip the way you're looking at a situation in order for it to look different... better.
Aaaaaaaannnnnnndddd....... Because we're ready to share with the world that our life is about to be turned upside down. Why? Because WE'RE ADOPTING!
That's right, folks. Yesterday we completed part one of our home study. Our case worker was super sweet and easy-going. She made the whole process much less stressful! We each spent some time chatting with her about our lives from childhood up until now, she talked with us together about our choice to adopt, and shared with us how all of the procedures would work. She spent a VERY short amount of time actually looking over our house - turns out we may not have needed to do all the prep work after all! She honestly has no idea if we have medicines or cleaning supplies within a child's reach or if all of our outlets are covered. LOL, praise the Lord for allowing us to be over-prepared and not the opposite!
The second part of our home study will be on August 3rd, and from there it will be roughly 1-2 weeks before it's officially approved. After that we can move ahead with our agency and prepare for placement! We're thrilled to have the first part of our study complete, and are so very thankful for the prayers and well-wishes that we received yesterday. Also a very special thanks to those who wrote our recommendation letters - they were amazing and we feel very blessed to call you friends.
So what's the deal? We are working with Graceful Adoptions out of Iowa. They place adoptive families within two weeks of approval, and families are placed with a birth mother in her third trimester. We are excited and a bit nervous that we could be welcoming a child into our lives by Thanksgiving! We have also not ruled out the possibility of a private adoption should the situation arise. Those things tend to happen by word of mouth, which is part of the reason we are sharing this with all of you.
What's next? Fundraising. We are planning a yard sale most likely for the weekend of August 6th, so start grabbing all the junk you want to get rid of! We have also tentatively scheduled a lunch & music fundraiser for Sunday, August 15th.
Our prayer right now is first and foremost that we would simply continue to follow the Lord in taking our next obedient steps. It's been a long and not always easy process so far, but we have seen His guidance and provision one step at a time. We are also praying over applications for grants and matching funds that we will be sending the minute our home study is approved. Because our agency works so quickly, we need money quickly. We plan to hold off on going "active" with our agency until we are comfortable with the finances, but also hope to be able to complete an adoption by the end of the year.
We'll continue to share more with you over the next few weeks. For now, welcome to our upside down life!
