Brad's Turkey - Spring 2011

April 16th. Brad was hunting in the pouring rain and crazy wind. He got his turkey about 7:45am. 11.5 inch beard and justa little over inch spurs. Thanks to Ean Green for his blind.  We're going to have a good supper tonight!!!  We like wild turkey sooooo much better than store bought!!!

God Is Guiding

I missed Bible study last week because Brad and I were on a date.  :) 

I was finally able to listen to the lesson this afternoon (Esther Session 6 by Beth Moore).  Wow!  It fit our situation so well.  Beth referred back to a story she shared in session 3 about their bird dog.  Sometimes the dog will see a squirrel and go to full point.  Beth's husband has to literally pick the dog up (it's still in full point) and turn her a different direction so they can continue on their walk.  Beth shared that God often uses a crisis in our lives to change our direction.  That night (session 3) my mind went to our miscarriage and how God used it to lead us to adoption, a totally different path than we had planned.

Today as Beth reminded us of the dog story and shared that "God appoints or allows circumstances (often crises) in our lives to redirect our paths" my mind went to the closing of the agency through whom we wanted to adopt.  I feel a lot like Beth's dog - I was at full point (completely at peace with adoptiong through BCAS) but God has picked us up and turned us a different direction.  I just feel like He hasn't put us down yet.  We do NOT know the direction He wants us to go.  The funny thing is, that's okay.  We are at peace knowing God knows what He is doing!  We trust His plan!  (Little by little the control-freak in me is learning to let go and let God direct my steps ONE AT A TIME!!  I'm learning to rest in Him and let Him be the One in control.)

Please continue to pray for us as we seek God's direction!  We want His will -- whatever that means!  We plan to explore some adoption options because we believe God has led us to adopt.  We are not pounding on lots of doors, but are trying to be sensitive to how God wants us to proceed.  If He totally closes the adoption door, we are okay with that too.  We are blessed to know that God is in control and He is not at all confused with our situation.  We trust that He will reveal His plan in His time and in His way.

We have had a truly exciting answer to prayer this week!  Brad found a used van for us.  It's a 2005 Town & Country.  It was everything we wanted and we were able to pay cash for it!  God is so good!!!
To God alone be the glory!!!

Surprise!

Brad totally surprised me last night.  He came out of the room where I thought he'd been working on grades for his classes and picked up a stack of papers he'd just printed.  He came over to where I was sitting, said "Have I told you lately that I love you?", bent down and kissed me, and handed me the stack. 

It was almost all of his paperwork for the adoption. I really didn't think he'd be able to even start it until he got a few days off from teaching.  He'd been secretly working on it for a couple weeks.  He had decided to finish it before Kenaniah's birthday.  He wanted to give it to me that day, but since I'd been pretty down he decided to give it to me early!!!  I was so excited.  We e-mailed it to the agency last night.

We still have a few more things to do, but I feel like the most important things are done!!  WooHoo!!!!

Please pray for God's direction, His timing, and His perfect will in the rest of the details.  We still have no idea on a time frame.  It's in God's hands.  We trust His plan!!!

Starting the process

As I said before, I didn't tell Brad what I felt God might lead us to do.  I didn't know if God was really asking us to adopt or not.

Fast forward to February!  God began to speak to Brad.  He had several things happen in such a supernatural way that he couldn't ignore them.  He prayed and prayed.  Finally he looked at me and said something like, "I don't know if this is the right time to say this" (it was late at night) "but I think God might be leading us to adopt."  I pulled out my journal and showed him my post from November 26th.  We were both amazed at God's guidance.

We decided to follow where He leads.  We called a friend who adopted around 20 years ago to find out what agency they used.  When he said they'd used Bluegrass Christian, we contacted the agency to get information.  We met with Kati (the counselor for birthmoms) and got basic information from her.  We connected well with Kati.  She spent time with us and asked us our story of what brought us to consider adoption.  We were very impressed with the ministry this agency has with expecting mothers.  We filled out the basic application and sent it in in early March.

Because Mary (the lady who works with adoptive parents) had several things going on in her family, she wasn't able to get in touch with us until late June.  We began to wonder what we should do.  Thankfully, we prayed and waited.  We met with her in early July and received the assignments to do and the paperwork we needed to fill out.  She said one of the most important things for us to do was to write our birthparent letter.  (This is a letter to expecting mothers that shares about us, our family, our community, etc.  The mother then picks what family she would like to adopt her child.)  Mary said everything else can be rushed if necessary, but we can't be picked unless we have that letter in.

We sent our birthparent letter in early August.  We're working on paperwork and making progress.  Brad hasn't had time to do much of his part because of his work, but if we get chosen, he can do it pretty quickly.  We will do our homestudy after our paperwork is in.  After the homestudy is complete, we'll begin applying for scholarships, etc.

We'd appreciate your prayers as we follow God's leading.  We would love to raise a son, but more than anything we want to bring glory to God.