Homestudy Interview No.1 CHECK!

Today was our first homestudy interview and to be quite honest, I was so thankful that it happened.  You see, we battled the stomach bug at my house all weekend and weren't sure if everyone would be well in time; but the Lord is gracious and merciful and we proceeded.  It was pretty painless with lots and lots of information and quite a bit more homework before the next and final visit.  

Our social worker is wonderful and even from my hometown, so she had to travel two and half hours to make the visit (bless her).  It was a very pleasant visit and just seemed to make this process all the more real.  We are looking forward to our next visit with her where we will get down to business!  

We are praying for the child that the Lord has for us as well as the precious birth mom, would you do the same?

These two don't forget to pray for their new sibling, they are so very excited!

Ready Set GO...

So the first t-shirt sale was an absolute HIT!  We will be taking orders for the next batch that we'll tentatively plan to order by the second week of June.  I am so thankful for the overwhelming response and from the bottom of my family's heart, THANK YOU!

We are gearing up for the next fundraiser which is going to be a yard sale tentatively planned right now for June 22nd.  If you've been thinking it might be time to de-clutter or get rid of some things that are just collecting dust, here is your chance.  We'll even do our best to come and pick up anything and everything you want to get rid of.  

Everything in this adoption process has already picked up the pace and so we are trying to keep up with it.  Please please please pray for us and our little family member to be, we are anticipating the future with excited hearts and expecting God to glorify Himself in and through this adventure!  

The Ball is Rolling Faster!!!

The Homestudy process is officially in high gear!  We filled out our homestudy application and all the paperwork that goes with it a couple of weeks ago.  Part of all that paperwork was background checks and fingerprinting.  That is usually estimated to take at least a month to do...not even a week!  Those are complete and we received the approval paperwork in the mail this weekend.  Our first homestudy interview is next Tuesday!!!

We are so very excited and overwhelmed!  This is all becoming so very real, so very quickly!  As the ball rolls a bit faster, I have been pondering what the birth mother of our child is thinking about right now...is she facing the decision that will ultimately lead her to us, is she scared, does she have anyone close to her to encourage her and help her through her pregnancy, is she about to give birth...my mind is flooded with all sorts of thoughts, but one constant thought I continue having is, "We are preparing for you sweet baby boy or girl!"

Alarming Statistics

ALARMING STATISTICS!!!


-There are approximately 45 million abortions per year worldwide.
-In the US, there have been 40 million since 1973, when abortion was made legal.
-There are 126,000 abortions per day worldwide.
-In the US each day, there are 4,000 abortions.
-Planned Parenthood is the nation's largest abortion provider.
-Every fourth unborn child is aborted.
-An unborn baby is killed every 20 seconds in America.
-Abortion is the most frequently performed surgery in America.
-95% of abortions are done as birth control, 1% are done because of rape/incest, 1% because of fetal abnormalities, and 3% due to the mother's health problems.
-Abortions outnumber live births in 14 major metropolitan areas.
-45% of the women that walk into an abortion clinic have already had at least 1 previous abortion.
-Child abuse has gone up 500% since the legalization of abortion.
-95% of women who have had an abortion say that the abortion clinic gave them little or no information about the fetus living inside of them.
-Many people believe that women who are victims of rape and become pregnant by this violent act is a good reason for them to have an abortion. In Victims and Victors (Acorn Books, 2000), a book written by David Reardon, Amy Sobie, and Julie Makimma, 192 women were interviewed. These women had had abortions after they became pregnant from rape. Nearly all the women said that they regretted the abortion, and over 90% said they would discourage other rape victims from choosing abortion.
-49% of pregnancies in America are unplanned. 50% of these unplanned pregnancies are ended by abortion.
-55% of women who have abortions have at least one living child already.
-43% of women will all have at least 1 abortion by age 45.
-There are 50 million abortions performed each year worldwide. Out of these 50 million, 30 million are performed legally.
-52% of females who have abortions are aged 25 or younger. Teens take up 20% and women aged 20-24 take up the remaining 32%.
-Of women who have abortions, 66% plan to have wanted children in the future.
-Black women are 3 times as likely to get an abortions as white women are; Hispanic women are 2 times as likely.
-Women who claim to have no part of any religious affiliation are 4 times more likely to have an abortion than women who are religious in some sort of way.
-Catholic women are 29% more likely than Protestant women to have an abortion.
Out of all the women who have abortions, 66% are unmarried.
-Out of all women who have abortions, 75% say they had an abortion because the baby would have interfered with their life; 66% say that they couldn't have afforded a baby; and 50% said they didn't want to be a single mother or were having problems with their partner.
-14,000 abortions are done because of rape/incest. (This only makes up about 1% of all abortions.)
-93% of abortions occur in clinics/doctors' offices.
-The majority of abortions performed occur at 7-8 weeks into the pregnancy (38%).
-16% of abortions are done at 6 weeks or less (even though almost all clinics will not perform abortions less than 6 weeks, because it would be too hard to make sure all the babies' body parts are out).
-23% of abortions occur at 9-10 weeks, 11% at 11-12 weeks, 7% at 13-15 weeks, 4% at 16-20 weeks, and 1% for 21-40 weeks.

Never called, "Mommy"

Mother's Day for so many is not a day they care to acknowledge for various reasons, and one of those reasons may be because although they carried a child for nine tough months, and then gave birth to the child, that child has never called them "Mommy."  The reason for this is because their child calls someone else, "Mommy."  The child they carried for so long is a member of someone else's family through adoption.

As we have entered into the world of adoption, my views have been reshaped and redefined as I have begun to understand some of the hardships and situations that so many women face.  I used to have a very hard hearted and judgmental attitude towards some of these things and people, but now my outlook is a bit different.

Life does not always go as smooth for some as it does for others, and for many different reasons, people's lives are shaped and formed differently.  We are not all born into families that surround us with the Word of God, or taken to church from an early age, or tucked in bed at night and prayed with.  Some grow up having to figure out life for themselves and sometimes learning the hard ways that certain choices may not have been the best ones.  That is why the hope of the Gospel should compel us to find these people and lovingly offer them a hand.

My heart has been fixated this week on birth mothers that choose life for their child or children but never get to see the outcome of the precious life brought forth because they were not the ones who raised the child.  My heart aches for the birth mothers who through tears signed relinquishment papers to give over their parental rights to someone they felt could give their child a better life then they could.

Some would look at these women with much disdain and judgement and if I'm being honest, I could say I once was one of those people.  But now I look at these women as heros in a sense.  They walked the tough road of pregnancy, endured sleepless nights of discomfort, awkwardness, hunger and weight gain, and then hard labor that would bring forth the miracle of life that they would say goodbye to within hours or even minutes after the child makes his or her entry into the world.  What a sacrifice!  Especially in a world that offers so many "convenient"ways to "dispose" of this child.  These women have made the selfless decision to give life not only to the child, but to the families that want these children and value their lives!

Happy Mother's Day to the precious women who chose life for your child or children even though they don't call you mom.  You are still as much a mother as any of the rest of us in that you sacrificed yourself for the life of your child!  

Everybody Loves a T-shirt...First Fundraiser

Well, we're off and running.  Thanks to a friend of ours from college, who started a very helpful fundraising site called "Fund the Nations"we have an awesomely designed t-shirt in three fabulous color choices.  We decided to start our efforts of fundraising with a t-shirt for several reasons, one is so that we'll be sporting them through this entire adventure and drawing attention to the cause of "adoption", also as a reminder to those who purchase to pray for our child, our family and this mission, and of course the obvious reason to help raise the funds to bring our child home.

Adoption is a costly thing in many ways, and so we are putting our faith, hope and trust in the Father who tells us and shows us all throughout His Word that He does all things well.  I have absolutely know idea how all of the funds will come together, but I say this with complete certainty that I know HE WILL PROVIDE!  We are strapping our seat belts as we begin this next chapter of our lives and as God continues to hold the pen.

If you want to join the effort with us in bringing our child home, there will be tons of ways to do so, and this will be the starting line of the first.  Thank you in advance for your heart to be a part and know that you are a part of something so much greater than a really cool t-shirt!  May the Lord bless you and your family as you are a blessing to ours!

To order a shirt you can either let us know or you can purchase and pay right here from our blog.  The options are in the right hand column.  Simply choose the size and color from the drop down menu and click "add to cart." It will take you the rest of the way through.  We thank you from the bottom of our hearts!!!

Let us know if you have any questions!!! Thank you again!!!  We are told the shirts run true to size.
We do have sizes available for children from Youth Medium to Youth XL.  The orange shirt is quite a bit darker than it appears in this picture.

Throwing the Dart

The idea of adoption was a beautiful thought to us in the beginning, but as we began researching the direction to go in, it quickly became an overwhelmingly daunting task that continually left us with hundreds of questions.  We researched, researched, and researched some more.  We felt like we were standing at a dart board full of dots.

The three routes of adoption we were searching and praying through were Domestic, International, and Foster to Adopt.  The reality we finally came to in our indecisiveness was that we obviously can't adopt them all and even though to narrow down our choice would mean saying,"no" to millions; it inevitably means saying,"Yes!!!" to one.

So standing in front of the dart board, we finally threw our dart and it landed on Domestic.  After much prayer, discussion and research we have finally landed...PRAISE THE LORD!  We chose this particular route because of something very near and dear to our hearts which is the Sanctity of Human Life.  As we sought out information through different agencies, websites, blogs, testimonies, etc. the Lord gave us much purpose in our decision.  We believe that every human life has value because of the Creator that gave it life.  We believe that there is only ONE race, the human race with many different ethnicities.  We believe that God shows no color distinctions when "adopting" us into His family and so therefore we see that there should be none when adopting into ours.  One of the realities that kept confronting us in our research was that in the US 9 of 10 abortions are non-caucasian. These birthmothers are finding fewer and fewer adoption agencies willing to take their soon to be born babies simply because there is a lack of adopting families willing to take them. This sad reality often leaves them feeling helpless and they turn to an abortion clinic as their final decision. Although there are many statistics that would overwhelm your heart, the point is that these children need families.

In our pursuit, we know there will be many challenges both practical and financial, and even things unforeseen, but the clarity we have in it all is the beautiful picture of our own adoption through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We are certain of God's promises to sustain us through what He calls us to.

Please be praying for our family as we seek to add another family member.  We are excited, overwhelmed, and anticipating great things and we are looking forward to watching God work!