Adoption Update

We are officially finished with our MAPP class. It was a total of 10 classes during the course of 5 weeks. We attended on Tuesday and Thursday nights. The class covered everything from how to introduce yourself to kids that come into your family to signs of of past sexual abuse and everything in between.

The class if free and offered by the state with a free homestudy at the end. We originially had our homestudy scheduled through Angelic Adoptions. But after talking with a lady that has been in my shoes, I realized that when you go through a private adoption agency for your homestudy they usually do not give you a copy of it. You just have to sit back and wait for the agency to do all the work for you. Whereas, the state (more specifically, The Boys Home) will give you a printed and electronic copy of your homestudy so you can send it out to as many differerent agencies as you want in the timing you want.
So, we canceled the homestudy with Angelic Adoptions, put the $1400 back in our pocket and signed up for MAPP classes.

During the course of the classes, which are geared toward both adoptive and foster parents, God changed my heart. We started out saying, "I don't care if we have to spend 30,000 of our hard earned dollars towards a baby, we are not putting ourselves through the emotional trauma of 'fostering to adopt'". We were not willing to take the risk of getting attached to a child(ren) only to have it given back to their parents.
Well, after going through the class and getting the FACTS about foster care, God started working on my heart. These kids did not ask to be in the position they are in. Talk about emotional trauma. "Who are you", God was asking me, "to say you are not willing to go through the emotional trauma of helping a child(ren)? You are a stable adult with a stable life and a stable God. These kids don't have any of that. Are you willing to show them Me?"
Oh sheesh. I heard Him talking. I knew He was right. I knew how I had to respond, because you see, He has been asking me to do this for a while and I stomped my feet and said NO NO NO, this is about me.
I want a child. I want to be pregnant. I want to decide how this goes down.

During this class I felt God grab me by the elbow (just like I do to Silas) and whisper firmly in my ear: This is the last time I will ask you to obey Me before there will be consequences for your disobedience.

Well, let me tell you what, I am a stubborn little girl, but I know when my Father says OBEY ME you better do it now with a cheerful heart, knowing obedience produces great rewards.

The next morning I called Todd and said, "we need to talk". I explained what God was saying to me and he agreed that he was feeling the same way. And so the decision was made.
It is amazing how God sustains you when you choose to obey. He has opened our hearts and our minds to things we never thought we would be able to handle. And now these things have become exciting.
I always thought "deciding to obey" meant having to do something you don't really want to do. But, I am here to say that when you make this decision God changes your heart.
The verse "He will give you the desire of you heart" comes to mind. And as I studied this verse I realized this does not mean He will necessarily give you the object of your desire, but that He will actually change your desire. This is what He has done for us.
We are hoping our home will turn into a haven for these children in need.

Here are the details of our decision:
Our homestudy will be finished within 45 days. This includes 2 visits from a social worker to inspect our house, background checks (which are already finished) and financials.

After this we will be excepting Foster Children that will soon be eligible for adoption (this way we have the chance to adopt them at the end of a 90 day stay in our home). Some of these children already have their rights terminated and are just waiting for adoption.

During this time, we will also be sending our homestudy out to different adoption agencies looking for any other children (not in Foster Care) that are needing adoption.

Because we would like for our adoptive family to look like us, we are looking for a caucasion sibling group, 5 years old and younger (although we wouldn't turn away a group that has up to a 10 year old), with up to 5 children. This is for Foster or Adoption.

We are praying for these children everyday as they are somewhere in our State wondering if anyone will ever care for them. We pray for their safety, both emotionally and physically. We pray God will expedite their arrival to our house. We pray that this process will be as smooth as possible for them. We pray for their health as they wait for us to find them. We pray that God will give us wisdom to know exactly how to meet their needs.

While all of this is going on, there is a lot happening in our house. We are setting up a nursery and kids room and mom is moving all of her furniture into a storage unit while she looks for an apartment.
It is hard to know exactly what we will need. I guess it will depend on the age of the kids... which means we will have to wait and buy things when we find out their ages. In the mean time we are buying things like toothbrushes/toothpaste, towels, shampoo, blankets.... most of these children will be coming with the clothes on their back and nothing more. So the agencies suggest you have basic things stocked in your home. This preparing helps the time pass.... sort-of like collecting cans.

Which, by the way, is going great! We are doing another cash-in later his week which will put us up to almost $200 - we are using this money to purchase the things before mentioned.

Well, I guess I have rambled on enough for now. Stay tuned for more updates! :)