We're Adopting!

I created this blog as a way for me to share my thoughts as we are on our journey to adoption.  Since beginning this process, I have had SO many emotions running through my head!  It honestly reminds me of when I found out that I was expecting our daughter--I immediately wanted to go out and announce it to anyone and everyone within hearing range!  But, I know not everyone wants to sit and listen to me go on and on...but for those that do, welcome to our site! :-)

I know our announcement to adopt came as a big surprise to many of our friends and family.  I promise that we were not trying to keep anything from anyone, and I hope we haven't hurt anyone's feelings by them finding out this news in a non-personalized way.  It's something we prayed about for a long time, and once we felt the Lord telling us this was His plan for us, we just went for it!  I thought ya'll might like some background info on our reason to adopt and such though, so I wanted to write an entry about that...

As most of you know, we often refer to L as our miracle-girl.  We were TTC for a long time (well, OK, anytime you want to be pregnant and you aren't, it seems like a long time! lol) and then found out DH had cancer.  We were told it was very likely we would not be able to get pregnant on our own...but God had different plans:)  Just two months after DH's surgery, we found out we were expecting!  I guess a big part of me thought that since we were able to get pregnant with her that once we were ready for another child we would be able to get pregnant again...but that just hasn't happened the way I thought it would.

After TTC for over a year, we began talking with my OB about possible problems.  DH went through some testing and I had a laparoscopy done, and our dr was convinced we would be pregnant very quickly...but again, it just didn't happen the way we thought it would, or hoped it would.  I always thought I would want to go through fertility treatments, but once I was faced with that possibility and prayed about it, I just did not feel a peace about it at all.  I had no desire to go that route, yet I was desiring a child so badly...I didn't understand...until we started praying about adoption.

I think adopting a child had always been in the back of mind.  "I'd love to adopt a baby one day...once our kids are older maybe..."  but as I began praying through adoption and looking into it more, my whole thought process began to change on it.  Without realizing it at first, my prayers had changed from "Lord, please let me get pregnant," to "Lord, please expand our family and bless us with a child."  I also started thinking of how our daughter would pray each evening, "Lord, thank you for my baby brother and sister."  She wasn't asking for God to give her a baby brother and sister--she was praying for them as if they already existed...and I began to wonder, does our baby already exist?  Is our daughter or son (or both!) already growing inside of their birthmommy's belly?  And as I sifted and prayed through these thoughts, I began to have this overwhelming desire to parent this child that I did not even know.  I began to view our struggle to conceive again as a blessing--had we not struggled in this way, adoption would probably have just stayed in the back of our minds.  But because of our struggle to conceive a child on our own, God was growing within us a desire to expand our family, and He was showing us that He had CALLED us to adopt.

I began researching agencies, but just did not feel a peace about any of them.  I really wanted to find a well-established Christian agency that was near our area, but I couldn't find anything that matched up to what we wanted...until a good friend of ours "just happened" to mention Christian Homes in Abilene.  I immediately got on their website (www.christianhomes.com) and felt an instant connection with this agency!  She told us about Christian Homes at our Annual New Year's Eve party we have to celebrate DH being cancer free--this last year, we celebrated him being cancer-free for FIVE years...and then we came home and rang in the new year by filling out our pre-adoption application!  What an exciting start to 2012!

The agency allowed us to get the necessary information in quickly and invited us to attend their winter orientation--there "just happened" to be one spot left for it!  We attended this past weekend and it totally affirmed our decision to use this agency!  The staff is just wonderful and full of Christ's love.  I love the ministry that they provide to birthmothers, and I cannot wait to adopt through them!

Since some of you have asked for more specifics...

We hope to adopt an infant domestically, most likely through an open adoption (I'll be blogging more about that another time.)  We would love to adopt a bi-racial child, but are definitely open to any race.  (And I'm not-so-secretly hoping for twins!:)  There are no guarantees, but the time-frame is typically 9-12 months, so we are very hopeful to be inviting our child(ren) home before the end of the year!  Please join us in praying for our baby!