The Journey Has Begun!

John and I have started the process of adopting a little girl. This is something the Lord has been laying on our hearts for awhile now. The Lord has shown us that this is the time to start pursuing that adoption. The timing doesn't seem to make total sense from the world's point of view. We have three little ones already and we just spent a good chunk of our savings on the purchase of our first home (which is requiring quite a bit of fixing up). However, God's ways are not our ways and we trust in his sovereign wisdom. We are excited about the possibility of having a daughter soon. I have been wanting a little girl for years, and John would also like to have a daughter. We have already been to the informational meeting and met with our social worker for our first interview. At the interview, we talked for quite a bit about the process of adopting a child. We were given an impressive stack of paperwork to fill out, which includes everything from background checks, fingerprinting, and medical exams to detailed financial information, an autobiography of our lives, and some required reading on adoption. There is a lot to do and fill out! We also attended a two day seminar that was training for being adoptive parents. We are about 80% done with the paperwork now. The biggest thing we have to do now is finish the two books that we are required to read. Once the paperwork is done, we will have a series of interviews at the agency and begin what is called a homestudy. One will be a joint interview and then they will interview me by myself and John by himself. They will also inspect our home to make sure it is a safe and loving environment that is suitable for another child. Once all that is complete, we will put together a profile book. This is a short book that pretty much portrays who we are and what our life is like. The profile books are shown to the birthmothers and that is how they choose the family they want their child to go to. After that, we wait to be chosen and then we wait for the baby's birth. Our journey has definitely begun! I will be using this blog to keep you up to date on the status of our adoption and to share our prayer requests and praise reports. One day soon, I hope to share a very special picture as well....a picture of our little girl!