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
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