Tonight we had our final "home study" visit. It seems so crazy and it's becoming more real that we are adding to our family.
What does this mean? It means that our social worker will finish up the necessary paper work to approve us for adoption - we've spent over 10 hours basically sharing our life story. We are still waiting on a few documents before we can be approved - thankfully I was able to take care of one of those today - after spending more time on hold than actually talking to a person and thankfully I held myself together because I had requested this document on April 28 and was suppose to receive it in 7-10 days....well, giving them the benefit of the doubt and a month later still nothing...I was a little on edge. The gal on the phone was just what I needed...calm, gentle and kind...which helped me to chill out because it wasn't her fault the other dude told me it was taken care of. It also worked out perfectly that she could fax the document to Nate's work and thankfully it arrived before he was headed home for our meeting!
What needs to happen before we can be a waiting family for placement?
*all the necessary documents need to be to our social worker
*we need to take 2 online courses (not as intimidating as it sounds really)
*we will be attending an orientation training this Saturday (ALL DAY! It's going to be a long day of travel and meetings. We will be traveling with another couple so I'm thankful for that and I'm sure we'll have PLENTY to talk about!)
*we need $ to get to the next step, praying that God will provide (if you'd like to know more about how you can help, please call or email and we can give you the specifics)
*then we need to print out our profile book
We just finished a very crazy and busy May! With June just around the bend we face another full calendar. Adoption meeting, trip to South Dakota, Pizza Ranch summer meetings...and other stuff that's not at the forefront of my mind. I'm looking forward to spending a lot more time with Jacob and finding our new routine. This has been a little more difficult than I anticipated, but hope we find the groove soon.
Summer is here!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
recent happenings
Life the past couple weeks has been beyond crazy. Various activities, meetings, visits, school year ending, the added pressure of putting together the preschool graduation, the weather getting nicer. Over the past 2 days, I have taken 2 naps! Guilt-free! My body was exhausted and it was all I could do to make it through each day...typically a longer day as I was up later too. I'm very thankful for my job, the activities my family is involved in, but I'm glad this week is a little more calm. Thus, time for a blog update!
This boy is just so handsome! I love it. Nate and Jacob bought me some flowers and tools for my garden for Mother's Day! I love this picture, so adorable. We've had a lot of fun playing together on my less strict schedule this week so far. I have a TON of clean-up, but I refuse to clean up longer days than my normal work hours! It will get done, and if a week from now I'm not finished, then I may feel some added pressure. Yesterday we needed to run to Orange City b/c of cell phone issues (anyone in NW IA & AT&T would know what I mean) so I quick threw a lunch together for a picnic and Jacob and I enjoyed a picnic in the park and lots of playing too!
We are a solid month into our adoption process. What have we done? A lot of paperwork, fingerprints, 2 home study interview sessions and working on our profile book (it's essentially finished). As we were working on our profile book we wanted to show some of our favorite family things so we did stage a few shots!....one of them being fires in the backyard...(we did have to take advantage of the perfect evening for a fire anyway!)
...and Sunday morning cinnamon rolls. A tradition we started when we got married. (Normally, one, two or three of us are in our pajamas still while eating them...)
This past weekend was Tulip Festival in Orange City. I had a college friend and her daughter come stay with us, we had a lot of fun! Jacob and her daughter were so fun to watch and listen to.
Jacob wanted to find yellow (his favorite color) tulips to sit by...this made it a little more difficult to get a picture, but so cute how he wanted to look at the tulips while he sat!
There's a little pose
We tried out a few rides, including the big slide! We climbed up the quite narrow stairs, get to the top and Jacob says, I DON'T WANT TO GO DOWN THAT SLIDE. Too bad buddy....we're going! By the time we were at the bottom he wanted to go again! Some times kids just needs a little nudge to find out they like something.
Then we went another day with dad! Still a little uncertain, but overall liked it! I like how his hands are grasping Nate's shorts here.
So now that the major active parts of the adoption process are becoming checked off and school is finished a lot of stress has left, hooray! We have a couple of meetings/classes we need to do that will be time consuming as well, but seemingly manageable as well. The summer will provide a nice time frame to work on grant applications. We hope to be "waiting" by the end of June - providing all paperwork/background checks/fingerprints etc. come in on time. We don't foresee any reason why it wouldn't, but of course, if we could foresee, then we'd know about it and change it now!
This is so different this time around, perhaps because we've done this before, yet it seems strange. Some things have stayed the same, others have not. We know this is all in God's timing and we trust that His plan is perfect. It's scary, for sure. It's hard not knowing when a baby will enter our lives - and there are certainly times that we are so tired by Jacob's bedtime that we think, how are we going to do this with a baby?! I'm guessing we'll be in bed a lot earlier! ha!
Thanks for checking in! We have our last home study interview next week, plus a huge orientation day.
*Prayer Requests*
-decisions we need to make along the adoption process
-that our profile book may truly reflect who we are as a family
-travel next week as well as smooth visits/meetings
-adjustments in our life (jobs, no childcare for summer)
-families who have been waiting for a long time for placement
-storm victims
This boy is just so handsome! I love it. Nate and Jacob bought me some flowers and tools for my garden for Mother's Day! I love this picture, so adorable. We've had a lot of fun playing together on my less strict schedule this week so far. I have a TON of clean-up, but I refuse to clean up longer days than my normal work hours! It will get done, and if a week from now I'm not finished, then I may feel some added pressure. Yesterday we needed to run to Orange City b/c of cell phone issues (anyone in NW IA & AT&T would know what I mean) so I quick threw a lunch together for a picnic and Jacob and I enjoyed a picnic in the park and lots of playing too!
We are a solid month into our adoption process. What have we done? A lot of paperwork, fingerprints, 2 home study interview sessions and working on our profile book (it's essentially finished). As we were working on our profile book we wanted to show some of our favorite family things so we did stage a few shots!....one of them being fires in the backyard...(we did have to take advantage of the perfect evening for a fire anyway!)
...and Sunday morning cinnamon rolls. A tradition we started when we got married. (Normally, one, two or three of us are in our pajamas still while eating them...)
This past weekend was Tulip Festival in Orange City. I had a college friend and her daughter come stay with us, we had a lot of fun! Jacob and her daughter were so fun to watch and listen to.
Jacob wanted to find yellow (his favorite color) tulips to sit by...this made it a little more difficult to get a picture, but so cute how he wanted to look at the tulips while he sat!
There's a little pose
We tried out a few rides, including the big slide! We climbed up the quite narrow stairs, get to the top and Jacob says, I DON'T WANT TO GO DOWN THAT SLIDE. Too bad buddy....we're going! By the time we were at the bottom he wanted to go again! Some times kids just needs a little nudge to find out they like something.
Then we went another day with dad! Still a little uncertain, but overall liked it! I like how his hands are grasping Nate's shorts here.
So now that the major active parts of the adoption process are becoming checked off and school is finished a lot of stress has left, hooray! We have a couple of meetings/classes we need to do that will be time consuming as well, but seemingly manageable as well. The summer will provide a nice time frame to work on grant applications. We hope to be "waiting" by the end of June - providing all paperwork/background checks/fingerprints etc. come in on time. We don't foresee any reason why it wouldn't, but of course, if we could foresee, then we'd know about it and change it now!
This is so different this time around, perhaps because we've done this before, yet it seems strange. Some things have stayed the same, others have not. We know this is all in God's timing and we trust that His plan is perfect. It's scary, for sure. It's hard not knowing when a baby will enter our lives - and there are certainly times that we are so tired by Jacob's bedtime that we think, how are we going to do this with a baby?! I'm guessing we'll be in bed a lot earlier! ha!
Thanks for checking in! We have our last home study interview next week, plus a huge orientation day.
*Prayer Requests*
-decisions we need to make along the adoption process
-that our profile book may truly reflect who we are as a family
-travel next week as well as smooth visits/meetings
-adjustments in our life (jobs, no childcare for summer)
-families who have been waiting for a long time for placement
-storm victims
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
THE NEWS!
Our dear family & friends,
What a fine day we are having in Northwest Iowa. Bright blue sky, light breeze, with the sun beating down at a balmy 72 degrees. This surely is the day the Lord has made. What do you do when you have the afternoon off, yet work to do and want to be outside? That's right, take the work outside and kill two birds with one stone. That's what I'm doing. Jacob is snoozing away and I have shop set up outside...fabulous!
In the last month the Lord has placed something very important in our hearts. A call that we cannot ignore. We feel that the Lord is calling us to adopt another one of His precious children. We have since taken action. Over the past 4 weeks we have been diligently filling out paperwork, attending meetings, appointments and keeping this a secret! The blog will be updated soon (next couple days or week, life is busy with school ending this week for me and a friend coming to visit for a couple days). I have been writing on the blog about this journey, however, I have not posted the writings. I encourage you to read the blog to get up to date and stay up to date. For various reasons we cannot and will not post all information about our adoption. We will need to keep some things to ourselves. If you ever have questions, we want you to ask, and if it's something we cannot share with you, we won't!
I'll try to answer a few commonly asked questions first:
1. Can you take shortcuts with paperwork because you've done this before? No! All paperwork expires after a year and we are using a different agency - New Horizons Adoption Agency. They are located in MN but have a social worker who lives not far from us. We will not need to go to the office frequently - phew - it's a 2 1/2 hr drive.
2. What stage are you in? We are in the home study phase...3 total visits and we have visit number 2 tonight.
3. Are you approved/when will you? We are not technically approved yet...at the end of the home study they will evaluate all of our paperwork, background checks, medical, employment, and financial status....we don't anticipate any of this holding things up, but you never know.
3. Are you specifying gender/race...etc? No, not yet anyway.
4. Is the cost of adoption less than before? No! It's increased. We're frightened by that aspect, but at the same time, we know that God called us to this purpose and He will provide for us...how? Through generous gifts of others. He did it with Jacob's adoption and don't doubt he can't do it with this child.
4. Where will the baby come from? It's loving mother! We don't know what state, etc.
5. Time frame? 3 mo-3 years-ish. It could be shorter and it could be longer! God knows and we pray we are ready for when that time comes.
So without further ado...bring on child #2! Jacob is very thrilled to be a big brother. I'm sure it will be a little bit of shock when baby arrives, but we think he'll do fine. And according to the subject...we are ready to play man to man defense...we hope! That part frightens us as well, lots of teamwork and getting to bed on time and prayer, right?!
We hope this finds you well and ready to take on a new member of our family. We appreciate your prayers along the journey and please don't be shy or feel like you're stepping on toes with questions.
Nate, Mary Beth & Jacob
...so now if you scroll down to "I will move ahead" you can read from the beginning. Wow, this has been confusing publishing posts later...Hope it all makes sense to you as you read. There are some dates in there to give you an idea...
What a fine day we are having in Northwest Iowa. Bright blue sky, light breeze, with the sun beating down at a balmy 72 degrees. This surely is the day the Lord has made. What do you do when you have the afternoon off, yet work to do and want to be outside? That's right, take the work outside and kill two birds with one stone. That's what I'm doing. Jacob is snoozing away and I have shop set up outside...fabulous!
In the last month the Lord has placed something very important in our hearts. A call that we cannot ignore. We feel that the Lord is calling us to adopt another one of His precious children. We have since taken action. Over the past 4 weeks we have been diligently filling out paperwork, attending meetings, appointments and keeping this a secret! The blog will be updated soon (next couple days or week, life is busy with school ending this week for me and a friend coming to visit for a couple days). I have been writing on the blog about this journey, however, I have not posted the writings. I encourage you to read the blog to get up to date and stay up to date. For various reasons we cannot and will not post all information about our adoption. We will need to keep some things to ourselves. If you ever have questions, we want you to ask, and if it's something we cannot share with you, we won't!
I'll try to answer a few commonly asked questions first:
1. Can you take shortcuts with paperwork because you've done this before? No! All paperwork expires after a year and we are using a different agency - New Horizons Adoption Agency. They are located in MN but have a social worker who lives not far from us. We will not need to go to the office frequently - phew - it's a 2 1/2 hr drive.
2. What stage are you in? We are in the home study phase...3 total visits and we have visit number 2 tonight.
3. Are you approved/when will you? We are not technically approved yet...at the end of the home study they will evaluate all of our paperwork, background checks, medical, employment, and financial status....we don't anticipate any of this holding things up, but you never know.
3. Are you specifying gender/race...etc? No, not yet anyway.
4. Is the cost of adoption less than before? No! It's increased. We're frightened by that aspect, but at the same time, we know that God called us to this purpose and He will provide for us...how? Through generous gifts of others. He did it with Jacob's adoption and don't doubt he can't do it with this child.
4. Where will the baby come from? It's loving mother! We don't know what state, etc.
5. Time frame? 3 mo-3 years-ish. It could be shorter and it could be longer! God knows and we pray we are ready for when that time comes.
So without further ado...bring on child #2! Jacob is very thrilled to be a big brother. I'm sure it will be a little bit of shock when baby arrives, but we think he'll do fine. And according to the subject...we are ready to play man to man defense...we hope! That part frightens us as well, lots of teamwork and getting to bed on time and prayer, right?!
We hope this finds you well and ready to take on a new member of our family. We appreciate your prayers along the journey and please don't be shy or feel like you're stepping on toes with questions.
Nate, Mary Beth & Jacob
...so now if you scroll down to "I will move ahead" you can read from the beginning. Wow, this has been confusing publishing posts later...Hope it all makes sense to you as you read. There are some dates in there to give you an idea...
Date Night
After a week of meetings and work every night this past week and not seeing each other very much we decided that we needed a date night on Friday. After a look into the budget envelopes and seeing very little (end of the month) we knew it would have to be cheap! Jacob was super sad he couldn't go on date night too, but he loves his babysitter, and knew he would have fun. We headed to Sioux Center for some good ole Culvers and thoroughly enjoyed taking our time eating our hot meal and having good conversation.
After our dinner we headed to a local coffee shop to work on typing some things for our application. It was a relaxing environment on a rainy, windy evening. I was able to enjoy a carmel mocha as well! Soothing. We were able to finish our work and enjoy a game of Sorry! No matter how that game starts or how many times one person gets "sorried" the game always comes down to the wire! It was fun and we enjoyed it.
Here we sit on Sunday night waiting for just a few pieces of information for our application. We're hoping to get the main piece tomorrow or Tuesday and get the packet mailed off. We have to wait for medical physicals and a letter from our health insurance. We're hoping to start the home study process soon - a couple weeks? Not sure really.
It was great to get out, enjoy a pleasant evening together and accomplish work at the same time. We're looking forward to some calmer winds this week and sunshine!
After our dinner we headed to a local coffee shop to work on typing some things for our application. It was a relaxing environment on a rainy, windy evening. I was able to enjoy a carmel mocha as well! Soothing. We were able to finish our work and enjoy a game of Sorry! No matter how that game starts or how many times one person gets "sorried" the game always comes down to the wire! It was fun and we enjoyed it.
Here we sit on Sunday night waiting for just a few pieces of information for our application. We're hoping to get the main piece tomorrow or Tuesday and get the packet mailed off. We have to wait for medical physicals and a letter from our health insurance. We're hoping to start the home study process soon - a couple weeks? Not sure really.
It was great to get out, enjoy a pleasant evening together and accomplish work at the same time. We're looking forward to some calmer winds this week and sunshine!
Happy dance!
The weather is less than desirable once again and it makes me sleepy! It takes all that I have to not lay down on the couch while Jacob naps and shut my eyes. I wish I had the desire and will to get more accomplished during my afternoons home! The phone got me off the couch today, a book I ordered arrived at the store in town, awesome! So once I was up, I got going on a roll! A load of laundry started, the living room picked up...Jacob's toys sorted and put back together in the right drawer, box, basket, etc. I was making progress and proud of myself and how good it felt!
Then the mailman came, I didn't want to get my hopes up and didn't really want to check the mail because I'd either be disappointed our application packet didn't arrive or get consumed in it and not keep going on my roll. So, here I sit on the couch again, consumed by information and actually quite surprised that it doesn't seem like as much paper and work as I thought it would be. It will still take time no doubt and appointments and researching and digging up information, but it's do-able!
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! That's how I feel....excited, yet so incredibly freaked and nervous all at the same time.
So again, I put a smile on my face and no one knows the real reason! One step at a time, forward we go, following God's will for our life. He knows the plan and we're on it. We know it will be just what God has for us, we just don't know what that plan actually looks like or when it will all be revealed, but we know that God is GOOD and that his goodness will come through.
So I'm not going to get consumed in the packet and start filling out any paperwork until supper is made, my house work is finished for today and Jacob is in bed. I do not want to take time away from him because I'm too consumed. There will be plenty of time for it all, I need to prioritize, organize, and get moving, so here I go!
Then the mailman came, I didn't want to get my hopes up and didn't really want to check the mail because I'd either be disappointed our application packet didn't arrive or get consumed in it and not keep going on my roll. So, here I sit on the couch again, consumed by information and actually quite surprised that it doesn't seem like as much paper and work as I thought it would be. It will still take time no doubt and appointments and researching and digging up information, but it's do-able!
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! That's how I feel....excited, yet so incredibly freaked and nervous all at the same time.
So again, I put a smile on my face and no one knows the real reason! One step at a time, forward we go, following God's will for our life. He knows the plan and we're on it. We know it will be just what God has for us, we just don't know what that plan actually looks like or when it will all be revealed, but we know that God is GOOD and that his goodness will come through.
So I'm not going to get consumed in the packet and start filling out any paperwork until supper is made, my house work is finished for today and Jacob is in bed. I do not want to take time away from him because I'm too consumed. There will be plenty of time for it all, I need to prioritize, organize, and get moving, so here I go!
Waiting on pins and needles
Last Thursday, April 21 we mailed off our first packet of information - our pre-application. I'm waiting impatiently to get our application packet in the mail. I have a million other things to do, but would much rather work on that! I was on pins and needles waiting for the mail to arrive today in hopes...the mailman spewed into our mailbox today...we have a mail slot technically...and it took him 4 times to get everything in today. I was super hopeful. Nothing. Bummer. Now I have to work on.....
In reality, it's fine this paper work isn't here yet because I would have a hard time going to bed at night because I would be working on it, getting my school work finalized for the last 4 weeks of school and would fail to get housework done.
Something I did this weekend to preoccupy my time (rather than work on the above list of things that I should have done) was begin uploading pictures to make work of our profile book. We had handmade our profile book for Jacob, but with the convenience of photo websites to make albums - we're doing it. We also figure it's about the same cost wise with a lot less mess. We spent a TON of time and money and our living room was a disaster as we worked on it, this way is much cleaner, less time (so far) and will cost about the same (we have to have 5 books - we had 3 for Jacob) We don't even have the guidelines yet for the profile book, but we have a general idea and figured it wouldn't hurt to start, right...it was something I could to feel like we were making progress!
Tonight I get to go to my adoptive moms group that meets monthly. I will have to sit and bite my tongue. I wonder how long we'll keep this a secret. It's fun not telling anyone, especially because we want to get into it a little bit more - I guess the same way you keep it a secret when you find out your pregnant and don't share until you know there's a heartbeat or past that "12 week" mark...
So where are we on our journey with #2?
*pre-application (basic info, basically saying we want to adopt and they send us the REAL paperwork)
we are right here, turned in the pre-app and are waiting for the official application
*application (finger prints, back ground checks, medical checks, more paperwork)
*home study (9 hours of meeting with the social worker - finding out who we are, what we do, how we grew up, what kind of parents are we, also this is when we work on our profile book, fees...)
*finish profile book/turn it in once homestudy (basically a 10-20 page paper written about us that says we'll be fit parents) is written - after our meetings our social worker puts together the information she gathers into the paper.
*Become a WAITING family for a child (profile book is now available to show to expectant mothers/fathers and are hopefully chosen to parent)
*Bring home a precious child
What's the time frame for all of this? 6 mo to 5 years. To get through the application and home study parts we figure it will take us about 2 months. That would put an anticipated date of becoming a waiting family somewhere around June/July. It all depends really on how fast/slow we are with paperwork and how fast/slow govt documents come back (ie: background checks, fingerprints)
We know it's in God's timing and he already has the child for us. We'll take it one step at a time.
In reality, it's fine this paper work isn't here yet because I would have a hard time going to bed at night because I would be working on it, getting my school work finalized for the last 4 weeks of school and would fail to get housework done.
Something I did this weekend to preoccupy my time (rather than work on the above list of things that I should have done) was begin uploading pictures to make work of our profile book. We had handmade our profile book for Jacob, but with the convenience of photo websites to make albums - we're doing it. We also figure it's about the same cost wise with a lot less mess. We spent a TON of time and money and our living room was a disaster as we worked on it, this way is much cleaner, less time (so far) and will cost about the same (we have to have 5 books - we had 3 for Jacob) We don't even have the guidelines yet for the profile book, but we have a general idea and figured it wouldn't hurt to start, right...it was something I could to feel like we were making progress!
Tonight I get to go to my adoptive moms group that meets monthly. I will have to sit and bite my tongue. I wonder how long we'll keep this a secret. It's fun not telling anyone, especially because we want to get into it a little bit more - I guess the same way you keep it a secret when you find out your pregnant and don't share until you know there's a heartbeat or past that "12 week" mark...
So where are we on our journey with #2?
*pre-application (basic info, basically saying we want to adopt and they send us the REAL paperwork)
we are right here, turned in the pre-app and are waiting for the official application
*application (finger prints, back ground checks, medical checks, more paperwork)
*home study (9 hours of meeting with the social worker - finding out who we are, what we do, how we grew up, what kind of parents are we, also this is when we work on our profile book, fees...)
*finish profile book/turn it in once homestudy (basically a 10-20 page paper written about us that says we'll be fit parents) is written - after our meetings our social worker puts together the information she gathers into the paper.
*Become a WAITING family for a child (profile book is now available to show to expectant mothers/fathers and are hopefully chosen to parent)
*Bring home a precious child
What's the time frame for all of this? 6 mo to 5 years. To get through the application and home study parts we figure it will take us about 2 months. That would put an anticipated date of becoming a waiting family somewhere around June/July. It all depends really on how fast/slow we are with paperwork and how fast/slow govt documents come back (ie: background checks, fingerprints)
We know it's in God's timing and he already has the child for us. We'll take it one step at a time.
Step one: check!
Today (April 21 - not sure what date will actually show up when we actually "publish" this) we mailed off our "pre-application" to our adoption agency. I meant to take a picture of it, but that's not very exciting to look at! It was quite exciting sending it off. We anticipate filling out a lot of paperwork in the coming weeks. If you know me, I'm a "all in or nothing" kind of gal, so I don't think it'll take us long to get it finished. The difficult aspect here is that I am less than a month away from the end of my school year which also means added stress with year end reports, grandparents day, graduation. Motivation and priorities will prevail.
Another notation about today is that we met as a family with our future social worker. We had lots of questions and just wanted to make sure things would go ok and get those questions answered so we wouldn't be blind-sided.
We've been sneaky with people, not telling the "whole" truth. It's hard when you go from this meeting straight to being with family! There are actually a few people who know that we are pursuing this at this point...the person we needed to have notarize a bazillion pieces (not really, but enough for Jacob to want his paper stamped and signed too!) of paper (and their spouse) and the social worker. It's fun to keep it a secret and now I am trying to find a fun way to "announce" our "being pregnant with adoption".
Praying this journey forward!
Another notation about today is that we met as a family with our future social worker. We had lots of questions and just wanted to make sure things would go ok and get those questions answered so we wouldn't be blind-sided.
We've been sneaky with people, not telling the "whole" truth. It's hard when you go from this meeting straight to being with family! There are actually a few people who know that we are pursuing this at this point...the person we needed to have notarize a bazillion pieces (not really, but enough for Jacob to want his paper stamped and signed too!) of paper (and their spouse) and the social worker. It's fun to keep it a secret and now I am trying to find a fun way to "announce" our "being pregnant with adoption".
Praying this journey forward!
I will move ahead, bold and confident, taking every step in obedience
These are the words in a song that have recently rung true in our lives, beginning on Saturday, April 16.
For the past couple of months we have been through some tough parenting trials. We wondered how on earth people ever have two kids...let alone 3 or 4 or 5...! There were definitely times when we thought just out of the shear exhaustion that one child does to us, we can't possibly have 2 kids! Well, we feel as things have gotten better (and will probably get worse) that we would pursue the idea of a second adoption! It's definitely crazy to think about and we are embracing this journey. It seems surreal.
At this time, we haven't turned in any paperwork, but have started filling it out. (Perhaps by the time I actually publish this post and share with the world we'll be further along, I hope!) We initially received a packet of information from one agency back in December, just for basic information. Then in January, we received information from a different agency. We didn't really do much with this information other than browse it over and set it aside. We knew (from friends who are in the 'wait') that things have changed in the 2 1/2 years that we have been "out of the process" and we wanted to find out what. But, that's also when parenting was tougher and those thoughts of "no way!" were in our minds. After various meetings and talking with each other and feeling led down this path again, we decided that we can't ignore it any more! I wrote a post 2 weeks ago (which by the time I actually post this, that post will also be officially posted) about how Jacob was saying how he was going to get a 'bruder or sister'...which totally surprised us at the time because a 'bruder or sister' for him was far from our thoughts. We don't talk to him about brothers or sisters, so we're not sure where that stemmed from...cousins or kids at daycare?
Anyway, we haven't talked to Jacob about adopting a baby yet...not sure when we will, I would predict around the time that we are officially "waiting" since our time frame is uncertain. So I guess we would appreciate it if you didn't talk to Jacob about a brother or sister at this time.
We definitely had/have some concerns about this journey, just as we did when we started the process with Jacob's adoption. We ask that you will join us in praying our baby home! Our biggest concern comes with the financial aspect. We were blown away by the financial support we were given with Jacob's adoption and we wonder how it will look with this adoption. We trust God in providing and ultimately that's why we are starting the process because God WILL provide. There are also other concerns we have such as time off work, adjusting to two kids, the financial aspect of life after placement...the added cost of a 2nd child, daycare, the bedroom situation in our house and of course, just facing the adoption process again. Please pray for us.
We know what an incredible support of family and friends we have as we experience the power of prayer with Jacob's adoption. We look forward to an infant in our home again (despite the late nights, less sleep) and especially seeing Jacob be a big brother. He loves babies and has become so much more gentle with our cats as well.
Some things we know: this journey WILL be different than Jacob's journey. We could wait a month, we could wait 3 years. Motivation to get paperwork done could be more/less (who knows!), I felt we were so on top of all the paper work the first time, that it may be a little more difficult to embark on it all with a busy child. The trend across our country seems to be abortion or single parenting. We also felt like we had a short wait in Jacob's adoption and this could be a lot longer. It's hard to remember back to the process the first time and I'm going to try hard not to compare this adoption with Jacob's. EVERY adoption is different. We also know that God KNOWS. It's already planned out...amazing isn't it?! Our God is good and we trust in HIM.
That's why this song spoke to us, and we may have to remind ourselves quite often. Here are the full lyrics to John Waller's song "While I'm Waiting":
I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait
I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I'm waiting
I will serve You
While I'm waiting
I will worship
While I'm waiting
I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait
I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it's not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve you while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord
God's blessings to you and we ask you to pray for our family and future baby, expectant (or not yet expectant) mother and all those involved in the process.
(Since I'm not going to publish this post yet...to those of you who I have had to lie to or change the subject on or dodged your questions about future children...we knew, you just didn't :) and that's ok)
For the past couple of months we have been through some tough parenting trials. We wondered how on earth people ever have two kids...let alone 3 or 4 or 5...! There were definitely times when we thought just out of the shear exhaustion that one child does to us, we can't possibly have 2 kids! Well, we feel as things have gotten better (and will probably get worse) that we would pursue the idea of a second adoption! It's definitely crazy to think about and we are embracing this journey. It seems surreal.
At this time, we haven't turned in any paperwork, but have started filling it out. (Perhaps by the time I actually publish this post and share with the world we'll be further along, I hope!) We initially received a packet of information from one agency back in December, just for basic information. Then in January, we received information from a different agency. We didn't really do much with this information other than browse it over and set it aside. We knew (from friends who are in the 'wait') that things have changed in the 2 1/2 years that we have been "out of the process" and we wanted to find out what. But, that's also when parenting was tougher and those thoughts of "no way!" were in our minds. After various meetings and talking with each other and feeling led down this path again, we decided that we can't ignore it any more! I wrote a post 2 weeks ago (which by the time I actually post this, that post will also be officially posted) about how Jacob was saying how he was going to get a 'bruder or sister'...which totally surprised us at the time because a 'bruder or sister' for him was far from our thoughts. We don't talk to him about brothers or sisters, so we're not sure where that stemmed from...cousins or kids at daycare?
Anyway, we haven't talked to Jacob about adopting a baby yet...not sure when we will, I would predict around the time that we are officially "waiting" since our time frame is uncertain. So I guess we would appreciate it if you didn't talk to Jacob about a brother or sister at this time.
We definitely had/have some concerns about this journey, just as we did when we started the process with Jacob's adoption. We ask that you will join us in praying our baby home! Our biggest concern comes with the financial aspect. We were blown away by the financial support we were given with Jacob's adoption and we wonder how it will look with this adoption. We trust God in providing and ultimately that's why we are starting the process because God WILL provide. There are also other concerns we have such as time off work, adjusting to two kids, the financial aspect of life after placement...the added cost of a 2nd child, daycare, the bedroom situation in our house and of course, just facing the adoption process again. Please pray for us.
We know what an incredible support of family and friends we have as we experience the power of prayer with Jacob's adoption. We look forward to an infant in our home again (despite the late nights, less sleep) and especially seeing Jacob be a big brother. He loves babies and has become so much more gentle with our cats as well.
Some things we know: this journey WILL be different than Jacob's journey. We could wait a month, we could wait 3 years. Motivation to get paperwork done could be more/less (who knows!), I felt we were so on top of all the paper work the first time, that it may be a little more difficult to embark on it all with a busy child. The trend across our country seems to be abortion or single parenting. We also felt like we had a short wait in Jacob's adoption and this could be a lot longer. It's hard to remember back to the process the first time and I'm going to try hard not to compare this adoption with Jacob's. EVERY adoption is different. We also know that God KNOWS. It's already planned out...amazing isn't it?! Our God is good and we trust in HIM.
That's why this song spoke to us, and we may have to remind ourselves quite often. Here are the full lyrics to John Waller's song "While I'm Waiting":
I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait
I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I'm waiting
I will serve You
While I'm waiting
I will worship
While I'm waiting
I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait
I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it's not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve you while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord
God's blessings to you and we ask you to pray for our family and future baby, expectant (or not yet expectant) mother and all those involved in the process.
(Since I'm not going to publish this post yet...to those of you who I have had to lie to or change the subject on or dodged your questions about future children...we knew, you just didn't :) and that's ok)
Jacob "gets it"
Jacob is such a talker, loves telling stories, is usually quite accurate when retelling something and also has quite the imagination. So the past couple days he has randomly started talking about a "bruder" or "sister" or "little baby". We don't know where this is coming from, because we certainly have not been talking to him about this. But yesterday at lunch he says, "I'm gonna have a little baby." and puts his little hands together as if he is holding it. So we asked him several questions about this little baby....one of them being where he was going to get this baby and he replies with something like this, my grandma G___ is going to get one for me. (grandma g is biological grandma)
He gets it, he gets adoption, and that's how we build our family. We don't focus our attention to babies being in mommies tummies. He knew he came from grandma g's family. It brought tears to my eyes, Nate and I looked at each other as if to say to each other...did you hear that too?! Just simply amazing. Makes me smile just writing about it!
Then, fast forward a couple hours and he starts talking about this "bruder" again and proceeds to tell 2 people at 2 separate times that he is going to have a "bruder" and both of those people look at us like, really?! Unless God is speaking at us through Jacob, we know of no "bruders" on their way, or "sisters" for that matter. We'll just stick to Louie as his "bruder" for now. They like each other.
He gets it, he gets adoption, and that's how we build our family. We don't focus our attention to babies being in mommies tummies. He knew he came from grandma g's family. It brought tears to my eyes, Nate and I looked at each other as if to say to each other...did you hear that too?! Just simply amazing. Makes me smile just writing about it!
Then, fast forward a couple hours and he starts talking about this "bruder" again and proceeds to tell 2 people at 2 separate times that he is going to have a "bruder" and both of those people look at us like, really?! Unless God is speaking at us through Jacob, we know of no "bruders" on their way, or "sisters" for that matter. We'll just stick to Louie as his "bruder" for now. They like each other.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
May Day
Happy May Day! Even though it feels NOTHING like May. We have had high winds since Wednesday. We walked to church this morning - in winter coats and Jacob decked out in his hat! I, however, still wore flip flops! Later, we thought we would try to have some outside time today, but we couldn't last long, too cold! This upcoming week is looking better! We were able to go to the park for a little while and get some yard work done also this weekend which was a success.
This little guy loves to play basketball!
Believe it or not, this hot actually does go in! After the ball bounced off the top of the backboard, it fell right through the hoop! Crazy!
On Friday (ok, so like once a week for the past month) we went to Bomgaars to see if the baby chicks were in yet....they were! I just happened to have the camera in my purse :). He liked watching them.
Then a worker came and helped so I could get a couple pictures of Jacob holding the chick! So sweet! (Let's just hope they don't have any sickness that they passed along...hopefully the sanitizer helped with that too)
After the chicks we headed to the park. Our park has this lion water fountain that Jacob is obsessed with. Jacob's love of lions prevails. Unfortunately, the water was not on, so he couldn't take any drinks. Maybe next time.
This was his favorite way to go down the slide...
Can you tell he just loved the freedom to run?! It's hard for me to keep up with him because I don't fit through, around and under the equipment like he does!
He is scooping up rocks, then climbing a set of stairs to overlook an area where he throws the rocks (fruit snacks) down to the elephants. Very creative!
This swing was perfect for him....better than a baby swing and a regular swing...a nice big spot to sit on and wide handles. Can you tell he loved it?!
I forget what Bible story we were reading here, but Jacob is really into heaven - since the Easter stories we had been reading. Everything is going to heaven, and they're going to be so happy to see him there! We try to explain that we don't know who/what God has chosen to enter the gates of heaven, but it's a difficult concept to grasp.
One ofour Nate's Saturday activities included digging our the bottom of a wood clothesline pole...our awesome neighbor helped Nate too. He tried yanking out our other metal one with a jack, but it was so rusted out that it just cracked at the bottom - and since that one is surrounded by a lot more cement, they just pounded the junk out of the sharp edges and made it slightly below ground level. I have a nice round piece of cement in my vegetable garden, but I have plans for that. The plan is to put a retractable clothesline in - attach it to the back of our garage and cement in a base for a pole that we can take in and out - should eliminate a dangerous pole in the middle of our yard. yeay!
We are in need of a few other home repair projects - we have 4 doors in our garage that need to be installed in our house - entry doors. We need to have the entry doors painted and then we need to find some cheap, good handiman to do the installation process. If you know of someone....let us know!
The other decision we are working on is what color to paint our house. I think we finally have it narrowed down, but I plan on making our house look like Picasso's to test the shades. I am ready for a finished product for sure!
Have a great week!
This little guy loves to play basketball!
Believe it or not, this hot actually does go in! After the ball bounced off the top of the backboard, it fell right through the hoop! Crazy!
On Friday (ok, so like once a week for the past month) we went to Bomgaars to see if the baby chicks were in yet....they were! I just happened to have the camera in my purse :). He liked watching them.
After the chicks we headed to the park. Our park has this lion water fountain that Jacob is obsessed with. Jacob's love of lions prevails. Unfortunately, the water was not on, so he couldn't take any drinks. Maybe next time.
This was his favorite way to go down the slide...
Can you tell he just loved the freedom to run?! It's hard for me to keep up with him because I don't fit through, around and under the equipment like he does!
He is scooping up rocks, then climbing a set of stairs to overlook an area where he throws the rocks (fruit snacks) down to the elephants. Very creative!
This swing was perfect for him....better than a baby swing and a regular swing...a nice big spot to sit on and wide handles. Can you tell he loved it?!
I forget what Bible story we were reading here, but Jacob is really into heaven - since the Easter stories we had been reading. Everything is going to heaven, and they're going to be so happy to see him there! We try to explain that we don't know who/what God has chosen to enter the gates of heaven, but it's a difficult concept to grasp.
One of
We are in need of a few other home repair projects - we have 4 doors in our garage that need to be installed in our house - entry doors. We need to have the entry doors painted and then we need to find some cheap, good handiman to do the installation process. If you know of someone....let us know!
The other decision we are working on is what color to paint our house. I think we finally have it narrowed down, but I plan on making our house look like Picasso's to test the shades. I am ready for a finished product for sure!
Have a great week!
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