Last week we were interviewed by phone by the board of Katelyn's Fund. Only four of the board members were able to make it (so they said we had an easy night), but we shared our story and answered their questions. At the end of interview, they each prayed for us and our adoption journey. It was wonderful to have them take time to pray over us. What a privilege and a blessing. We knew they were interviewing others and would then be praying over applications and we should hear from them in around three weeks.
This week has been a little difficult as we've been waiting to hear about our no-interest loan for which we applied. We were told the review usually takes 4 to 6 weeks and then we'd be notified by e-mail or phone. Monday marked 7 weeks since they received our application. If we are approved, we should be able to tell our agency that we're ready to be matched. I know I need to remember that I'm waiting on the LORD, not a loan. I also know that He is using each detail to help bring us the son He wants to be part of our family. Knowing these things helps, but it doesn't take away the anticipation or the emotions that go with the process.
I was encouraged yesterday by the following passage. "...waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But, the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy. Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along." ~ taken from Romans 8 (The Message)
We received a call today from Sheila at Katelyn's Fund. She said we've been approved for a full grant - $3000. Praise the LORD!!! I was so surprised to hear from them already. It was such an encouragement in the waiting. We can't tell our agency that we're ready to be matched yet, but evidently God is not ready for us to be matched. And, as a framed quote in our first agency said, "Faith in God includes faith in His timing."
Lilypie Waiting to Adopt tickers
Showing posts with label paperwork. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paperwork. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Both Hands & Paperwork Progress
We got a call from Lifesong for Orphans yesterday. They approved us to do the BOTH HANDS fundraiser. We are excited and have quite a bit of work to do to get a team together, etc. Please pray for us as we organize the project, etc and pray that God will be glorified through this fundraiser. If you want to read more about it, you can see our previous blog post or go to http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/bothHands.html.
Today we did our fingerprinting again. Everything has to be done within 12 months of the child's placement in our home. So, we've been redoing physicals, criminal checks, etc... I must admit it's been a somewhat frustrating week because I've been confused about some of the paperwork. After several people helped me, I think today I finally understood what we're supposed to do. I don't say this to complain. In fact, I almost didn't admit it. But, if any people reading this are in the adoption process, they need to know that the adoption journey has it's ups and downs. Hold on!!! It will be worth it!
Some quotes from Hope for the Journey that have really encouraged me are
“This is what God has called us to do. We know it’s messy; we know it’s uncomfortable, and it’s going to turn our lives upside down, but this is God’s heart.” ~ Steven Curtis Chapman
and
"The adoption journey is not easy, but every hour of toil, every obstacle encountered, every tear shed, every sleepless night--all are but a shadow of the price that God paid for us."
and
“Looking back at the wait and setbacks we had endured to adopt our son, God’s timing could not have been more perfect. God knew exactly how to connect us to the child he created for us.” ~ Kerry Hasenbalg
Today we did our fingerprinting again. Everything has to be done within 12 months of the child's placement in our home. So, we've been redoing physicals, criminal checks, etc... I must admit it's been a somewhat frustrating week because I've been confused about some of the paperwork. After several people helped me, I think today I finally understood what we're supposed to do. I don't say this to complain. In fact, I almost didn't admit it. But, if any people reading this are in the adoption process, they need to know that the adoption journey has it's ups and downs. Hold on!!! It will be worth it!
Some quotes from Hope for the Journey that have really encouraged me are
“This is what God has called us to do. We know it’s messy; we know it’s uncomfortable, and it’s going to turn our lives upside down, but this is God’s heart.” ~ Steven Curtis Chapman
and
"The adoption journey is not easy, but every hour of toil, every obstacle encountered, every tear shed, every sleepless night--all are but a shadow of the price that God paid for us."
and
“Looking back at the wait and setbacks we had endured to adopt our son, God’s timing could not have been more perfect. God knew exactly how to connect us to the child he created for us.” ~ Kerry Hasenbalg
Saturday, May 29, 2010
So glad we waited on God!
God has been working behind the scenes as we've been waiting on Him. It has been amazing to sit back and let Him work. Now I don't mean we've been completely idle. We felt clear to do our homestudy with Adoption Assistance, Inc so we filled out paperwork and had a homestudy visit. We've looked at some placing agencies, but just haven't felt clear for one reason or another. The ones we've leaned toward either wouldn't work with us for some reason (like we already have children or we don't make enough money) or had a very negative evaluation from someone we trust. So, we've just waited. We are so glad we did.
As we shared in our last blog, God's Grace Adoption Ministries gave us a matching grant of up to $2500. Generous friends donated $1129.85 so it will become $2259.70. PRAISE THE LORD and THANK YOU to the friends who gave!!! Unfortunately, GGAM cannot tell us who gave. They will only tell us the total given. This is frustrating because we cannot thank individuals. So, if you gave and you're reading this, thank you. We deeply appreciate your gift!!! One group that gave was the Pro-Life Ministry from Kentucky Mountain Bible College. It was so encouraging to be supported by college students (who don't have much money) and to be reminded that God will provide in ways we don't expect.
Sunday I (Marie) was called and asked to participate in a ministry opportunity in October. I said I'd pray about it and I was to give an answer by Wednesday. I prayed and talked it over with Brad and planned to call between 4 and 6 to say "Yes!" because I could see no good reason to say "No!" Brad told me that if God wanted to close the door, He could make it clear. Well, at 4 o'clock the phone rang. It was a lady from an adoption agency that wouldn't typically work with us because we don't make enough money. They have a required gross income that we don't meet and then they want you to make $10,000 more per child. I had e-mailed the agency briefly explaining our situation and asked if they made any exceptions. Instead of simply replying to my e-mail, she called. We talked for quite some time and she said that Adoption Assistance does such a good job with home studies that if they approve us, she doesn't care how much we make. WOW!! The agency also had been refusing to work with most families who can have biological children, but she told me they changed that policy this week. God is into details!!!! It sounds very hopeful that we may have a baby much sooner than we were expecting. Brad & I felt that the possibility of having a baby by the time of the ministry opportunity and the fact that I received the call at 4 PM (the time I had planned to call to accept the opportunity) was God's way of closing the door and I called to say, "No!"
That night we began filling our paperwork for Graceful Adoptions. We still have some more to do, but it's not too much considering what we've filled out previously. Much of it is similar to what we've done before, so it's not difficult, it just takes time to put it in the format this agency wants. It will cost over $20,000 to work with this agency and we will still have some other expenses. We cannot use the two grants we've been given until we are almost finished with the adoption process. (This is to guarantee the grants given support adoptions that are completed.) We know that God is leading and as someone said, "Where God guides, He provides."
I continue to be encouraged by the quote from George Müller, "The greatness of the sum required affords me a kind of secret joy; for the greater the difficulty to be overcome, the more will it be seen to the glory of God how much can be done by prayer and faith."
As we shared in our last blog, God's Grace Adoption Ministries gave us a matching grant of up to $2500. Generous friends donated $1129.85 so it will become $2259.70. PRAISE THE LORD and THANK YOU to the friends who gave!!! Unfortunately, GGAM cannot tell us who gave. They will only tell us the total given. This is frustrating because we cannot thank individuals. So, if you gave and you're reading this, thank you. We deeply appreciate your gift!!! One group that gave was the Pro-Life Ministry from Kentucky Mountain Bible College. It was so encouraging to be supported by college students (who don't have much money) and to be reminded that God will provide in ways we don't expect.
Sunday I (Marie) was called and asked to participate in a ministry opportunity in October. I said I'd pray about it and I was to give an answer by Wednesday. I prayed and talked it over with Brad and planned to call between 4 and 6 to say "Yes!" because I could see no good reason to say "No!" Brad told me that if God wanted to close the door, He could make it clear. Well, at 4 o'clock the phone rang. It was a lady from an adoption agency that wouldn't typically work with us because we don't make enough money. They have a required gross income that we don't meet and then they want you to make $10,000 more per child. I had e-mailed the agency briefly explaining our situation and asked if they made any exceptions. Instead of simply replying to my e-mail, she called. We talked for quite some time and she said that Adoption Assistance does such a good job with home studies that if they approve us, she doesn't care how much we make. WOW!! The agency also had been refusing to work with most families who can have biological children, but she told me they changed that policy this week. God is into details!!!! It sounds very hopeful that we may have a baby much sooner than we were expecting. Brad & I felt that the possibility of having a baby by the time of the ministry opportunity and the fact that I received the call at 4 PM (the time I had planned to call to accept the opportunity) was God's way of closing the door and I called to say, "No!"
That night we began filling our paperwork for Graceful Adoptions. We still have some more to do, but it's not too much considering what we've filled out previously. Much of it is similar to what we've done before, so it's not difficult, it just takes time to put it in the format this agency wants. It will cost over $20,000 to work with this agency and we will still have some other expenses. We cannot use the two grants we've been given until we are almost finished with the adoption process. (This is to guarantee the grants given support adoptions that are completed.) We know that God is leading and as someone said, "Where God guides, He provides."
I continue to be encouraged by the quote from George Müller, "The greatness of the sum required affords me a kind of secret joy; for the greater the difficulty to be overcome, the more will it be seen to the glory of God how much can be done by prayer and faith."
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Moving New Direction
Today we went to Bluegrass Christian Adoption Services to pick up our file. We had a wonderful time meeting with Mary and talking about our future.
We praise the Lord for His faithful guidance. Through our meeting, He confirmed the direction we believe we are to move. We were already leaning toward transferring our case to Adoption Assistance, Inc in Danville, KY but didn't feel clear on it. Mary told us she feels very strongly that we should go with them and that she already talked to the director about us.
We plan to begin working with them ASAP. With this agency we can adopt domestically or internationally. We are open to however God leads us and as we've said all along, if He totally closes the door on adoption, we are fine with that.
We praise the Lord for His faithful guidance. Through our meeting, He confirmed the direction we believe we are to move. We were already leaning toward transferring our case to Adoption Assistance, Inc in Danville, KY but didn't feel clear on it. Mary told us she feels very strongly that we should go with them and that she already talked to the director about us.
We plan to begin working with them ASAP. With this agency we can adopt domestically or internationally. We are open to however God leads us and as we've said all along, if He totally closes the door on adoption, we are fine with that.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Labor pains?!?
I read an interesting article tonight. It's titled "Hurry Up and Wait..." I'll put the link at the bottom of this post in case anyone wants to read it, but here are a couple quotes that really stuck out to me.
Referring to the waiting time adoptive parents experience, Rebecca Robinson says, "I often describe it as the adoptive parents' time of labor. You are expectant parents with no idea of when to expect your child. It can be an emotional, painful, exciting, frightening, joyful time. One thing it's not... is predictable."
"Rarely does adoption occur in a neat, organized, time-oriented, totally predictable manner. It is a time when we have little or no control over much of what occurs and it is enough to make some of us want to yell, 'An epidural, please!'"
Wow! What a great explanation! I was hoping we'd be the exception and our adoption would happen quickly. I like neat, organized, and predictable! It was a nice dream, but not reality. :)
It's been 13 months since we felt God leading us to adopt. We applied to BCAS in March 2009 and began our waiting then as the lady who works with adoptive families was too busy to get back to us. We finally heard from her in May and her in July. Then we began the hours of paperwork, meetings, fingerprinting, reading, etc...
If we were pregnant, we'd be packing our bags for the hospital trip and waiting for the first signs of labor. Instead, we've learned that our agency is closing and God has other plans for us. We don't know what they entail, but we KNOW that they include hope and a future, not just for us, but for the son He will bring us. (Jeremiah 29:11)
After two successful pregnancies, I must say that in many ways, this is much more difficult. Of course, I have to remember that I have 3 beautiful girls from those pregnancies and they have erased many of the memories of the difficulties. For now I'll claim what the article says, "Remember that your child will come to you. ... You will soon be parents and your wait will be over. I believe that just as the pain of physical labor is forgotten with the sight of your child, your 'labor pains' will also fade to memory when you hold your little one."
http://www.lifetimeadoption.com/for_adoptive_families/hurry.html
Referring to the waiting time adoptive parents experience, Rebecca Robinson says, "I often describe it as the adoptive parents' time of labor. You are expectant parents with no idea of when to expect your child. It can be an emotional, painful, exciting, frightening, joyful time. One thing it's not... is predictable."
"Rarely does adoption occur in a neat, organized, time-oriented, totally predictable manner. It is a time when we have little or no control over much of what occurs and it is enough to make some of us want to yell, 'An epidural, please!'"
Wow! What a great explanation! I was hoping we'd be the exception and our adoption would happen quickly. I like neat, organized, and predictable! It was a nice dream, but not reality. :)
It's been 13 months since we felt God leading us to adopt. We applied to BCAS in March 2009 and began our waiting then as the lady who works with adoptive families was too busy to get back to us. We finally heard from her in May and her in July. Then we began the hours of paperwork, meetings, fingerprinting, reading, etc...
If we were pregnant, we'd be packing our bags for the hospital trip and waiting for the first signs of labor. Instead, we've learned that our agency is closing and God has other plans for us. We don't know what they entail, but we KNOW that they include hope and a future, not just for us, but for the son He will bring us. (Jeremiah 29:11)
After two successful pregnancies, I must say that in many ways, this is much more difficult. Of course, I have to remember that I have 3 beautiful girls from those pregnancies and they have erased many of the memories of the difficulties. For now I'll claim what the article says, "Remember that your child will come to you. ... You will soon be parents and your wait will be over. I believe that just as the pain of physical labor is forgotten with the sight of your child, your 'labor pains' will also fade to memory when you hold your little one."
http://www.lifetimeadoption.com/for_adoptive_families/hurry.html
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
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!!!
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!!!
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