On to the next step!

Thank you so much for praying for Jake and I during our home visit Friday night. It went really well. It was supposed to begin at 4 but our social worker didn't get there until 6:30. She did a placement that day and was trying to get all the paper work in by 6 so the family (from out of state) could make it home with their new baby by Christmas. So, Jake and I didn't mind waiting at all.

She loved our home, saying several times how beautiful it was (thank you to all my sweet friends and family who made it that way). It helped that she came in the evening when our house was lit by a few lights and lots of candles. Everything looks better against candle light, right? We had all our medications, cleaning supplies and other potentionally harmful items in a safe,locked place. We have the beginnings of a baby's room set up with a crib, changing table and rocker. All these and many more were requirements. We basically have the safest house around right now! She also loved our dog, Gomer. That was answer to prayer...not because he is a bad dog by any means, he just gets very excited and clingy with new people.

So, all in all, we passed with flying colors and can move to the next phase. She gave us some paper work (nothing to fill out, though!!) to look at. Papers we will sign at the hospital, papers explaining what to do when we get "The Call" and other info sheets as we prepare to bring our baby home. She told us that we can start to get a little excited and prepare a little more because this is like my pregnancy! Yay, for not having any baby weight to lose! There is an upside to every situation.

Now we are starting to work on our profile. This profile is filled with our "stats" like who we are, our ages, occupations, religion, race, education, etc. Also, a letter to the birthparents and lots of pictures of us, our home, our dog, our family and friends and trips we've taken. This profile will be shown to birthmoms/parents and that is how we will be chosen. There are meny steps after that before we actually have a baby but we can talk about that as it gets closer.

If you could be praying for us as we prepare this profile we would appreciate it so much! Especially as we write the letter to the birthmom/parents. I have already written her several letters in my mind as think of her unbelievable sacrifice and gift to us. Pray that God would be close to her and she would know His presence even if she doesn't have a relationship with Him right now. And please pray that God would give us wisdom and grace and love as we write her this letter. We are praying that she would hear our hearts and know our desires for her and this baby. Jake and I could also use your continued prayers for us as we walk this road. To be honest, some days are so good but most days are just really tough. But because we know and love the Lord, there is beauty in this pain and that beauty is all of you who lift us up in prayer, who come and clean our house, who already love this baby and birthmom, who stand for us when we are to weak to stand alone and who show us daily what it means to be unconditionally loved by the Father. We love you all so much.

We hope that you have a fun, relaxing and meaningful Christmas!!

Home Visit

Hi Everyone! I'm sorry its been so long since I posted anything. It kind of takes alot out of me when I write and I just haven't had the energy lately. This is going to be really short, I just wanted to ask for prayer. We have our home visit tomorrow from 4pm-6pm. We're feeling really good about it thanks to some wonderful and amazing family and friends who have cleaned and organized our home (cleaning and organizing...not my thing!). However, it is still a bit scary to think of a goverment social worker coming to examine your home and observe the way you live to see if you're fit to be parents. So, we're asking the Lord to keep us calm and relaxed and to remember that Jake and I and our home don't have to be perfect and that God knows what He is doing even when we don't have a single clue. And could you please pray for strength and rest and health for Jake and I. We are overwhelmed and exhausted with waiting, paper work, decisions and home repairs.
We cannot thank you enough for your prayers and support. I'm overwhelmed by God's love and care for us even as I write this and know how many people are loving us through this. I will write more after the home visit and let you all know how it went. Thank you again so much.

Thank you for praying!!

We had our intake interview with Bethany last Wednesday and it went so well. I wanted to write sooner and let you all know how it went but my brain was a little melty after 2 hours of interviewing! So now I'm sitting here writing with a crazy stiff neck (because that's what happens when Joy gets stressed) to tell you how amazing our God is.

Leading up to the interview we were a little nervous..."Will they like us?" "Are we too young?" "Is there anything that would keep us from getting a baby?". And going through many emotions like frustration because people that just get pregnant don't have to get the third degree for wanting to be parents. But God is so faithful and confronted every one of our fears and got us thinking rationally. YAY...for rational thinking!!

So we met with our social worker Rhonda, who is an adopted person and an adoptive parent. Needless to say she is intimately acquainted with this whole process inside and out. She asked us everything under the sun from how did we meet to our testimonies to how do we plan to discipline our kids and so much more. We're pretty sure that Rhonda now knows more about us than anybody! We prayed that we would be honest and transparent because God is going before us and already has a sweet baby picked out, we don't need to worry. At the end Rhonda went over the interview with us to talk about our "chooseability". Is that a word? Anyway, she said she didn't see any reason not to move forward. She said we're young, married long enough, stable and good looking (I'm serious...she said that!). So, she doesn't think we'll have long to wait. But we're trying not to get our hopes us about that. We just keeping trying to remember that God knows when our baby will be conceived, when they will be born, when the mother will seek Bethany out and when we will get that call. We are not doing this alone, thanks to all of you who carry us through your prayers and Praise to God for holding our hands and holding us up when we're too weak to stand. My favorite passage from the Bible has been fresh on my mind lately and that is Psalm 139. I have longed to place my hand on my growing belly and pray that passage for our baby but now I pray that God's hand would rest on the womb where our baby grows as I pray,"You knit me together in my mother's womb, I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made". How cool to picture God's hands holding our baby already.

So, now we continue to move forward with...you guessed it: more paper work!! We each have a little 8 page packet of essay questions to fill out and finger printing and some other legal stuff. Then Rhonda will schedule our individual interviews, our home study and then we can turn in our profile and start waiting!

Thank you so much for your prayers and comments and emails and encouragements. Our praises are that we are using an amazing christian adoption agency with an outstanding reputation and that our social worker loves Jesus and loves adoption and already loves us! Our prayer requests would be that we wouldn't stress about finances and for the health and well-being of our birth mom and baby and for the strength to make it through the tough days. Thank you again for taking the time to read this and pray for us. We are truly blessed.

It was a miracle

Our garage sale was amazing this weekend. Our goal for the enitre weekend was $500 and we were going to be super excited and feel incredibly blessed to have reached that goal. Well, God had something else in mind for us. Our total for both days was $2,933.03!!! How amazing is that?! The most we have ever made at a garage sale was $80. So, needless to say we were left speechless and in awe of this God who knows what we need, when we need it.
Thank you so much to all our friends and family who were praying for us this weekend and to all those who donated items, stopped by, helped us both days. This would have been a much more difficult task without all of you by our side.
Well, I hope to have pictures posted soon but our computer is just not cooperating. So, check back...they should be up this week.
We also have our intake interview with Bethany this Wednesday at 9:30-11:30. We are very excited but also a bit nervous because we don't really know what an intake interview is so we don't know what to expect. We would really appreciate your prayers!!
Thank you again for loving us and praying for us....we can't wait to tell our son or daughter someday how much God loves them and how much all of you have loved them before ever meeting them.

Well, I'm very new to this world of blogging. Its kind of scary...so we'll see how it goes. We wanted to create this blog so we could share this journey with our family and friends. We are so excited as we anticipate the long awaited homecoming of our first child and scared out of our minds as we look at all the paperwork and waiting and all the unknowns. So, thank you so much for walking this road with us. Through all your love and support we are reminded of God's intimate love and care for us.

We have 2 fundraisers we are going to be doing so far. The first is a garage sale Sept 28 and 29. If anybody wants to get rid of any junk and donate it to us we would love it! Jake or I can come pick it up anytime, just give us a call. The second is TBA because we don't really know the details yet, so stay tuned!

Thank you for all your encouraging emails and notes. We are so blessed and so humbled. We have 28 steps total in this process and we have already completed 1-5. YAY!!! We have to focus on the small victories! Thanks again for all your support! I'll try to be diligent in my posting so come back and visit!