Maybe and Maybe Not!

It's been a interesting 2 weeks for us. Kevin's brother and three boys came to visit in Florida (did all of the touristy things), and then, we hopped on a plane to visit family in PA for a week. In the midst of it all, we were attached to our iPhones taking calls and sending emails about potential matches.

One call came last Friday, it was our adoption specialist. She told there was a sibling group that was a potential match. She forwarded us their child studies and we fell in love with them. With a hope and prayer, we consented for our file to be presented the following Wednesday before the match committee for a match with this boy and girl. We knew we had a long shot because many other families were interested as well. The email came Wednesday afternoon that is was a "No." The little girl had requested that she be matched with a family that is the same skin color as her. Unfortunately, we didn't fit the bill. We really want to honor her request, so the match was made with another family. We happen to know this family and we are extrememly happy for them! It put our hearts at ease to know they got a wonderful family, but it was still a little sting to the soul.

In the meantime, we've still been in contact with other counties and case workers about potential matches. We've read many child studies and we cringe at the hurt the children have gone through. So many prayers have been sent up on these littles one's behalf. We're still waiting and praying for that perfect "match." God has them out somewhere waiting on us. It's a beautiful play that God is orchestrating and desigining. He sees both sides ours and our children, and He just smiles as He hears our prayers. He's has something special in store for us. The music to the soundtrack of our lives is playing in the background, and it's foreshadowing a big event in the future...a beautiful climax in our story.

While we wait, we're working on the house. We bought a new media unit for the living room to house all the additional storage that is coming out of the bedrooms to make room for the children. It needs paint! Next, is new flooring (hopefully) in the living areas to make the house a little more child-durable. :).

In preparation for meeting the child/ren, the Everitt side updated the family portraits to introduce themselves to the new family members. Next, we need to get the Alexander side updated with the addition of little Maddox.

Next Wednesday, our adoption specialist is presenting our file at the "Reverse Match" meeting where the case workers and adoption specialists all work together to match children with families. Hoping we'll get some news out of that meeting. Continued prayers are always requested.

Love to all!

Where to start?

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.

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.

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