Where we are Now!

It's been a challenging few weeks for us. After our last post, we received a call from Jacksonville. We had been selected for a 7 year old boy. It was out of the blue. We were shocked. Within a few days, we had various email exchanges and a large conference call with his caseworkers and therapists. We were hopeful this would be it! It was an emotional week for us. Through much prayer, tears, and wise counsel, God showed us that this boy was not meant for our family.
It was a difficult realization to come to because we so desire to be a family
for hurting children. We know God has special families for each special child.

In the meantime, a hurricane blew by us and we're still waiting....

We're now in the waiting process to see if we will be matched with an 11 year old child here in Hillsborough county. The waiting in between the phone calls and emails are the most difficult. It makes it hard to plan for things like holidays or vacations because we just don't know if we'll have 1, 2, 3, or no more to add to our plans. This whole process has sure took Mallory's planning gene for a ride! We're truly living the words of the sweet song, One Day at a Time, Sweet Jesus! It is our hope and prayer that we'll have big news to share in our next update, but if not, we'll just keep living one day at a time.

Love and thanks to all of our prayer warriors out there. Thank you for the sweet notes of encouragement, chats, and hugs. Words can not express our gratefulness for your support. We love all of you!!!

Kevin & Mallory

From Focus on the Family
Not every family is called to adopt.  But helping support adoptive families is nearly as important as welcoming a child into your home.  Unfortunately, many families don't receive the support from friends and family they desperately need.  The good news is that help is as easy as cooking, cleaning, childcare and prayer.

At Focus on the Family, we recognize that adoptive families need the support of those around them.  That's why we created "Wrapping around Adoptive Families," a simple resource that provides practical tips for helping families.  It's built on the idea of W.R.A.P.:
                                        W - Wrestle in prayer
                                        R - Respite care
                                        A - Acts of service
                                        P - Promises of God

If you or your church is interested in supporting the adoptive families in your community, consider downloading or ordering copies of this resource.  We've also provided bulletin inserts and posters to promote within your community.  All it takes is connecting the gifts and talents around you with families in need.  So what are you waiting for?  Start Wrapping now!
  
Download the Wrap Booklet Here

The Waiting Continues Again

I've been receiving many requests for a blog update. Unfortunately, there's not much to update. It's been a month of ups and downs. We've been presented with some child studies and all of them have not been the "match" we've been waiting for. I wish could go into all of the details, but it's not best that we share such details in a public forum like this. Hopefully, we'll be able to share all of the details some day with each of you.

Right now, all we can ask for is prayers. There are some far off potentials in the distance. We're not sure what will come of them. It's completely out of our hands and in God's hands. All that we can do is pray that the Lord will turn the hearts of the case works, supervisors, and judges that have "say-so" as to what families get what children.

We're learning how broken this system is, and our heart aches as we don't feel that there is a true advocate for us in this whole process. Ultimately, we have an almighty advocate who intercedes for us, and we know He is holding up this process for some reason.

We long for the day when we can look back at this time in our lives, smile, and say, "God meant it all for good."

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.