Noonday Collection Trunk Show Fundraiser

I forgot to do a post about this, but back in November, Annette Pittman hosted a Noonday Collection Trunk Show as a fundraiser for us. It was a great morning of meeting new people, talking about adoption, learning more about the Noonday products, and of course eating yummy food!

The Noonday Ambassador was Katie Eller and I was so blessed to meet her! Not only is she and her husband in the adoption process as well, but we discovered that she is using the same consultant as us, Tracie Loux, from Christian Adoption Consultants. It was so neat to be able to talk with her. What a blessing from the Lord!!

Noonday Collection has a two-fold mission. They sell beautiful products like necklaces and scarves that are made by people from around the world. This helps to create jobs for the artisans, so that they make an income to sustain their families and have an impact on their community. And, anyone that is adopting can earn funds as well.

So, after a fun morning, we were able to raise $212 that was sent straight to our agency. A big thank you to Annette and everyone that stopped by to shop and support us!

Trip to Florida...

So, how much can you fit into 30 hours?? We made a whirlwind trip to Florida to meet our new birth mom that we have been matched with, and even made it to the beach!
We flew into Tampa and our visit started at McDonald's...meeting our birth mom and her children, along with one of the agency representatives. We got them all something to eat, let the kids play and got a chance to talk. They were all very outgoing and it was a pleasure to spend time with them. After that, Josh and I headed to downtown St. Petersburg and had a nice dinner and walked around down by the water looking at Christmas lights and reflecting on the day.
The next morning we met her and another one of the agency social workers at a 3D/4D Ultrasound place. Having an appointment at the doctor's office for an ultrasound didn't coincide with our trip, so the agency set this up. Although it was a little awkward at first and she didn't talk much, it went well. The baby cooperated and we got to see her in action. And yes, they confirmed that it is a girl. She kept winking at us and at one point was sucking her thumb. We had mixed emotions, but were thankful to be included in this experience.
Next, we headed to lunch at a local place called Cheddar's. The 2 agency ladies, both of which are super nice, joined us for lunch. We had great conversation and got a chance to get to know her better. Josh was even able to pray with her before we left. I won't go into all the details of her situation, but we feel more at peace now that we've met her.
She reminded us that it's only 9 weeks until her due date. Because she is moderately high risk, she'll begin going to the doctor weekly for ultrasounds and NST's (Non-Stress Tests). So, now we wait...

Oh, but before we headed home I told Josh we HAD to at least put our feet in the sand and water for a few minutes. So, we drove over to Madeira Beach and actually had about 1 hour to relax. We walked on the beach, found some chairs to sit in, collected a few sea shells for Rachel and enjoyed the sunshine and 80 degree weather!! We thought it was fairly comical to have the A/C blasting in the rental car and then about 4 hours later, to be back home and blasting the heat. I definitely see why people like to live in FL during the winter months.

So, that's the most recent happenings with our adoption journey. We hope to do one final fundraiser starting next week. We've got about $4,000-5,000 left to save/raise over the next month and feel fortunate to have come this far over the past year or so as we've been working towards our goal. We continue to pray daily for this sweet mama and her baby. We're praying for God's will and that He'll continue to lead us all. Join us!

The Ups and Downs of Adoption!

It's been 2 months since I posted a new update. But, it's not because nothing has been going on. On the contrary, there's really lots to write about. So, let me start with the facts...

After getting matched in October, we went and met the birth mom in Georgia, along with her son and other representatives from the agency, AmericanKidz Adoptions. Although it was a long and quick trip, it went well. We felt really good about things and enjoyed meeting her.

Then, more recently we got a call from the agency that she had changed her mind. She told them that while she knew she couldn't take care of another child, she didn't think she could give her up either. Josh and I were really not that upset...God had been preparing our hearts. We both felt like she might do this, and honestly we were thankful that she made this decision now and not in February. We felt like it took a lot of integrity on her part to do this, knowing that all financial assistance would now stop. We are continuing to pray for her...that God will help her be able to take care of this baby and that she'll come to know Him as her Savior.

So, after hearing about this, we were told about another birth mom in FL. It's a long story, but basically after choosing a family they had another immediate situation come up for another baby and adopted that child. So, she was back at square one--like us. We looked over her information, prayed and talked, and made arrangements to speak with her over the phone. We didn't feel complete peace, mainly just because it came up so fast and we didn't have time to get all of our questions answered. However, we felt like we should just trust the Lord for what He might be doing and to step through this next open door. So, we've made plans now to go and meet her next week. We'll also get the chance to accompany her to an ultrasound appointment.

Now, aside from the facts...there's lots of feelings. It's been quite an emotional roller coaster. Last Sunday in Rachel's Sunday School class we were studying the story of Jacob wrestling with God. I could totally relate because that's what I've been doing. But, in the end it always comes back to trust, faith and surrender. I have to believe that the Lord has a perfect plan and that He is faithful!

So, we ask for prayers in the weeks ahead....and I'll try to do a better job with updates.

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful." Heb. 10:23

We've Been Matched!

Well, it's been a whirlwind over the past week to say the least. But, we have exciting news---we've been matched with a birth mom and she's having a baby girl, due in February!

Last Tuesday afternoon I was checking email and realized there was an email from one of the agencies we sent our packets to the previous week. I read over the potential situation, learning about this expectant mother--her medical and personal history and about her adoption plan. I called Josh at work and asked him to read over it as well. Sometimes you have longer to decide, but this agency was going to be presenting profiles to the birth mother the next day-Wednesday. So, after reading over it and praying, we decided to go ahead and give them the okay to present.

So, last Wednesday afternoon we were wondering when and if we might hear something, but since this was our first time presenting, we weren't quite sure what to expect. However, around 5:30pm I got a call from the attorney at the agency and she informed us that after having reviewed a total of 8 family profiles---she had picked US! I think my first words were, "Really? Wow!" She told us to call her the next day and she'd be glad to talk to us more and answer our questions. So, we did....because after 24 hours we had definitely come up with a page full of questions. Our conversation made us much more confident and excited!

Last Friday we got to speak with the expectant mother over the phone, and next weekend we'll be going to meet her in person.

We look forward to loving on her and making sure she knows that we are going to love her baby! This process definitely brings up lots of emotions. Our joy will be her pain, and we are just thankful that she has chosen the gift of life for this child. Even though her choices might not have been the best, her choice to carry this baby and then to make an adoption plan, shows so much courage and sacrifice. She's already teaching us so much!

Please be praying for us and for this expectant mother and her baby! We are praying for her health and that of the baby, for the rest of the funds needed, and for our relationship with her. We know that the Lord is in the midst of it all, and we are trusting His plan.

The Packets Are Out!

Wanted to provide another update...

We received our FBI clearances in the mail on August 21 & 22....it took a month. SO, not too bad for a federal agency. ;) At that point, I spent time putting our packets together. Tracie, our consultant, had talked with us back in July about agencies that they work with and which ones she would recommend us sending our information to. So, we decided to send them to 2 agencies and 1 adoption attorney, all in Florida. They work with agencies in other states, but Florida is the closest and would be easiest for travel purposes and to help cut down on the travel costs.
The packets consist of a copy of our homestudy and 2 copies of our profile, along with a cover letter from us. So, I got them all ready to send...and then we waited. Like I mentioned in the last post, Rachel started school and Josh started a new job pretty much right at this same time. So, we made the decision to wait about a month before actually mailing them out. It's so hard to know how things will go...we could be matched really quickly, or it could be a while...who knows? So, on Sept. 23rd after I picked up Rachel from school, we headed to the post office. Now's it's sort of out of our hands. We'll wait to hear from these agencies and when available situations come up that they think might be a good fit, they'll let us know. We'll have the opportunity to learn about a birthmother who has made an adoption plan and we'll decide if we'd like to have our profile presented to her. If so, we'll wait to see if she picks us and ultimately be matched!
We're excited to finally be at this point of the process and anxious to see what will happen next. We are trusting the Lord to work out all of the details and the timing!

A Progress Report...and Changes!

Just wanted to take a few minutes to provide another update on the adoption front.

During the month of June, I spent time working on our profile. This is like a photo album/scrapbook that tells all about us. This is what will be presented to potential birthmoms that they'll look through in order to learn about our family, ultimately deciding if they want to choose us to adopt their child.

I used a software program that our consultant Tracie recommended called, "myMemories Suite" by Polaroid. I love to scrapbook, but this was obviously all done on the computer. It took me a little bit to get used to the program and then to come up with the pictures and text, answering all of the pertinent questions that needed to be included. This is a service that our consultant can provide, but since I'm so familiar with scrapbooking, I felt confident that I could do it, and save some money. My goal was to complete it by the end of June, and I wasn't too far off. I sent it to Tracie to look over around July 4th and once I'd had a few days to tweek it, we got them printed. A big thanks to the UNCG Print Shop for printing them for us!

So, our next task was to get our fingerprinting done and sent to the FBI and SBI for clearances. We should have done this a while ago, but kept putting it off because we had to take time off work to go to the Sheriff's Department together. Anyway, we've gotten our clearance back from the SBI and are still waiting on the FBI.

Once this comes back, I'll put together packets to mail out to the various agencies that Tracie is recommending. We'll be sending them copies of our homestudy and profile. This will sort of be the official start to bringing our next child home. It will involve us learning about birthmoms and situations and deciding if we want to present our information...and then if so, waiting to be matched.

We also have plans to do at least 1 more fundraiser this fall. We've been continuing to save money this summer, but still have more that we'll probably need to raise prior to getting matched. We would appreciate your continued prayers and look forward to sharing more in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, we've got plenty of other things going on! Rachel starts Kindergarten next Monday, August 26th. She'll be attending Gibsonville Elementary School. And the other big news is that Josh is starting a new job! He'll be leaving the Dean of Students Office at UNCG and going to work at Elon as the Director for the Office of Student Conduct. While this move is a little bittersweet, he's excited for this new challenge and looking forward to new opportunities. I'm an Elon Alum, so I'm excited to have more opportunities to go back to campus. SO...this fall is going to bring lots of change. We're confident that the Lord is walking with us and will continue to guide our steps throughout this adoption process. We trust His perfect plan and timing!

Matching Grant Deadline...We Got It!

Today was the deadline to have donations sent in to Hand in Hand Christian Adoption for the Matching Grant we received. We are excited to announce that we raised the needed funds to get the grant matched, and even exceeded it! We needed to raise $2,500 to get $2,500 from Hand in Hand...and as of today we had gotten donations totally $3,170. So, that will allow us to now have a total of $5,670 to be used for our upcoming adoption expenses. We are so thankful that the Lord provided this grant and are so blessed that family and friends have been willing to give. We are grateful!! This isn't something we could do on our own and it's such a blessing to be able to have others walking this journey with us.
Our next step is to complete our profile with hopes to start presenting to birthmoms later this summer.