Well, the home study is done, and we received a copy this past Tuesday. In the meantime, our FAS presented us with two different children. One boy, "D" had to have a decision made on him in less than hour because he was being presented to match committee for potential match with another family. Kevin and I only had about 50 minutes to digest his file. It was just too fast, so we believed it was God's way of telling us to let it go. So we passed on "D" and prayed that this other family would be the best match. The other child was a few years out of our 0-12 age range, and we are keeping him on the list, but exploring other potential matches. We inquired on some other children in Hillsborough county...2 of them were not a good fit for us and the other 2 were already matched and in the process of being finalized.
Shannon will present our family profile in the "Reverse Match" meeting later on in July. This is when the adoption specialists present potential adoptive families to the case workers of adopt-able children, and they try to match children with families. We may have other potential children come out of that meeting.
In the meantime, Kevin and I are browsing Heart Gallery websites and sending inquiries to case workers in other counties and even other states! We sent out an inquiries from Miami to Philadelphia! We've probably sent out 20 inquiries on different children and now we just sit back and WAIT AGAIN.
As we read child profiles, our hearts break to read the pain and suffering many of these children have had to endure in their short life. We just want to take them all in and love them. However, God has the perfect "match" out there, and we're trusting Him to use His divine providence to clearly open the doors to that child/ren.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Background Checks are BACK!
Hurray! We got the email this morning. Our background checks have come in!!! Shannon was on vacation this week, but she sent us the email to make sure we knew right away. She brought our file on vacation with her to work on it some, so we can have it early next week.
Keep praying. The light at the end is getting closer, but we still have many more hoops to jump through.
Keep praying. The light at the end is getting closer, but we still have many more hoops to jump through.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Home Study & Background Checks....Meanwhile Back at the Ranch
Home Study Visit #2- Home Study Done!
Happy 28th Birthday, to Kevin! Shannon came back this morning to complete the second portion of our home study. She asked us many questions individual questions about our background and life. We discussed our families and life growing up. It was a challenge and blessing to describe our life in just a few simple words. We also had to describe the personalities and relationships with our parents and siblings. We laughed and smiled at all of the fun stories. It reminds us of how immensely blessed we are to have the families that we do. As we talked about our families, we reflected on how much we are like our parents. We are proud to say that when you have 4 amazing, godly examples of love, grace, and mercy in our lives. We believe it is their testimony of Christ’s love that pointed us to the direction of adoption. We can’t fathom the life of a child without that testimony and love in their life. Our eyes fill with tears to think of those children without that hope of a future in Christ. When it was time to share about our siblings, we realized the uniqueness and “special-ness” of each relationship with our brothers (in-law) and sisters (in-law). Kevin so thoughtfully said afterward, “answering those questions just gave me a whole new appreciation and love for my family. They are just as much a part of this adoption process as we are.” Thank God for Family!!! This child/children has a family full of love to look forward to and not to mention 10 awesome cousins to play with.
Background Checks, Oh Background Checks!
Still no luck with the background checks! It’s going on 15 weeks now. Good news is that Shannon is getting daily progress updates on the status of the checks. We are still in the pending process. They are hopeful to have all pending background checks completed before July 1st. This is when Hillsborough Kids turns in Eckerd (agencies that manage foster care/adoptions in HIllsborough). Mallory keeps thinking they have been lost, but with daily tracking reports, Shannon is fairly certain that they have not been lost. We are going to check into getting the finger prints done again to see if that would help anything. So we are going to anxiously wait and pray for July 1st.
Meanwhile back at the Ranch....
We’ve been trying our best to be prepared for the impending process. We’ve attended adoption support groups and more trainings. Last week, we attended a support group about sibling group adoption. Great information and things to pray and ponder. We also caught up with some of our friends from our MAPP class. Many have been matched with their child and are in visitation. It’s so wonderful to hear their heart-filled stories and to see them beam with pride and love as they talk about their sons and daughters. We long for the day when we can say MY “son” or “daughter.”
We continue to cling to God’s perfect timing. He is holding up a our background checks for some reason, and may be because our chid/children is not ready for us.
Adoption... For me?
While this has been arduous process,we understand the benefit far exceeds the wait. We would encourage all of our friends and family to pray and consider adoption...especially foster care adoption. You may not get a baby, but a forever child who prays for you every day! As a child of God, you have been ADOPTED into the family of God. What a beautiful picture of God’s love for you if you were to adopt a child into your family.
Heart Gallery
http://www.heartgalleryofamerica.org/
Adopt Us Kids
http://www.adoptuskids.org/
Wednesday’s Child- CBS Tampa
http://www.wtsp.com/life/community/adoption/default.aspx
Monday, June 11, 2012
Home Study Visit #1
Our visit is done! We weren't sure what to expect, but we were pleasantly surprised at the ease of this morning's visit. Shannon, our adoption specialist, spent the morning in our home. She met Sophie and loved how friendly she was. Sophie was a big show-off and kept wanting Shannon to play with her tennis ball. Shannon looked around the house and commented on the large dehumidifier in our bathroom. She seemed understanding of our predicament with the water damage, and was glad that our builder was taking care of fixing the damage.
We spent a little over an hour going through general questions about our family dynamics, support network, work schedules, perceived parenting style, motivation to adopt, and types of children we're willing to adopt. This visit seemed like an introductory visit and getting to know us better.
Next week (on Kevin's birthday-June 18), Shannon will come back to the house to do a second interview with us separately. She will talk with us each individually to talk about family history, experience in childhood, educational background, and more specific personal information.
Our background checks have still not come through. :( PLEASE keep praying. The home study can not be approved until the background check comes in. This is our biggest obstacle at this point.
The large dehumidifier in our bathroom after finding water damage under our bathroom cabinets on Friday morning. Not the perfect timing in our minds, but God's timing is perfect even when it appears chaotic to us.
We spent a little over an hour going through general questions about our family dynamics, support network, work schedules, perceived parenting style, motivation to adopt, and types of children we're willing to adopt. This visit seemed like an introductory visit and getting to know us better.
Next week (on Kevin's birthday-June 18), Shannon will come back to the house to do a second interview with us separately. She will talk with us each individually to talk about family history, experience in childhood, educational background, and more specific personal information.
Our background checks have still not come through. :( PLEASE keep praying. The home study can not be approved until the background check comes in. This is our biggest obstacle at this point.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Finally Progress!
Well, the background checks are still not back. Boooo! But we did get the approval to start the home study. Yay!!
Shannon, our family adoption specialist, was so wonderful to advocate for us to move along in the process. God answered our prayers. Her supervisor had an open mind for us to complete the home study without the background checks. As soon as we got approval to move along with the home study, Shannon emailed us, and we set the two dates for the home study.
June 11th and June 18th are the days to be praying. Shannon will come out to our house two different times to meet with us and interview us. In the first interview, we will be interviewed together to talk about our family and reasons for choosing to adopt along with the types of children we are interested in adopting. The second home study visit is when we will be interviewed separately.
We're not completely sure of everything that home study will entail, but we trust God prepared us for anything we face in the home study. The rest of the week will be filled with cleaning the house and making sure we're presentable for Shannon's visit.
Please keep praying that the background checks to come through. Our home study will not be approved and finalized until the background checks come in.
Pray! Pray! Pray!
Shannon, our family adoption specialist, was so wonderful to advocate for us to move along in the process. God answered our prayers. Her supervisor had an open mind for us to complete the home study without the background checks. As soon as we got approval to move along with the home study, Shannon emailed us, and we set the two dates for the home study.
June 11th and June 18th are the days to be praying. Shannon will come out to our house two different times to meet with us and interview us. In the first interview, we will be interviewed together to talk about our family and reasons for choosing to adopt along with the types of children we are interested in adopting. The second home study visit is when we will be interviewed separately.
We're not completely sure of everything that home study will entail, but we trust God prepared us for anything we face in the home study. The rest of the week will be filled with cleaning the house and making sure we're presentable for Shannon's visit.
Please keep praying that the background checks to come through. Our home study will not be approved and finalized until the background checks come in.
Pray! Pray! Pray!
Friday, June 1, 2012
Progress...We Think!
We know the blog has been silent for a long while. It's because things on the adoption front have been very quiet. It's been three months today that we submitted our finger prints for national background checks. What was a 8 week wait turned into a 10 week wait and now 12 weeks. Needless to say, we're going crazy with the waiting. We guess the Lord figured that we need to learned some patience because our faith has certainly been worked and tried. James 1:3, For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow (NLT). So we'll just consider these 3 long months a growing time. We can not proceed any further in the home study and adoption process until our backgrounds come back clear.
Mallory has been doing much of the email correspondence with our adoption specialist, Shannon. She received some "good news"...we think. Shannon will be approaching her boss on Monday to get permission to continue in the home study process without the background checks. She hopes to start the home study and while we are going through that the backgrounds will FINALLY come in. The home study will be pending approval until the background checks come in.
Please be in prayer. Pray for three things: 1). Shannon's supervisor would be open and willing to let us start the home study without the background checks. 2.) The back ground checks would come in quickly! 3.) That the process would proceed without any more hold ups throughout the summer. Mallory will be off of school for 8 weeks during the summer, and we will be able to prepare more fully with a lighter summer schedule.
Our hearts are ready for our child/children, and the hard part is waiting. The Lord's timeline is best. We're trusting in His perfect plan. Thank you to all of our prayer warriors out there!
Mallory has been doing much of the email correspondence with our adoption specialist, Shannon. She received some "good news"...we think. Shannon will be approaching her boss on Monday to get permission to continue in the home study process without the background checks. She hopes to start the home study and while we are going through that the backgrounds will FINALLY come in. The home study will be pending approval until the background checks come in.
Please be in prayer. Pray for three things: 1). Shannon's supervisor would be open and willing to let us start the home study without the background checks. 2.) The back ground checks would come in quickly! 3.) That the process would proceed without any more hold ups throughout the summer. Mallory will be off of school for 8 weeks during the summer, and we will be able to prepare more fully with a lighter summer schedule.
Our hearts are ready for our child/children, and the hard part is waiting. The Lord's timeline is best. We're trusting in His perfect plan. Thank you to all of our prayer warriors out there!
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