Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Adoption Class # 3: Infertility and Adoption

Last night we walked into that office standing tall, handed over our 19 page thick home study questionnaire and paid our bill in FULL for the home study. It was a glorious moment. So much work done! We also got to meet our social worker last night! She is really nice and we met some families who worked with her as well and they loved her. Her name is Linda, and she will be doing our interviews, home inspection and working with us throughout the rest of the process. Things are really moving along!

The class last night was good. We talked about dealing with the grief of infertility. I think we were surprised as we both began to talk about our pain in the past tense. There is still residual pain, and this will always define us in a way, but last night we realized that we have dealt with our grief and are now in a really good place. God is so good and faithfully He has healed our hearts.

The second half of the class they bring in a panel of people to share their experiences of the adoption process. This time it was three couples with their newly adopted babies. They each told their story of meeting the birthmother, doctor appointments, the birth, emotions, bring home the baby, and the relationship they have with the birthmoms now. Each story was a little different but all of them were really encouraging.

While they talked, all I could think about was: that will be us, we are going to be sitting together with our little baby smiling at us, because we are their mommy and daddy. We will be a family.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Yard Sale Success

Saturday was the most tiring day of our lives, especially since it came after Friday which previous held that title. Saturday we had a Yard Sale.

Over the last month we have been collecting items for a Yard Sale. Going through old clothes, books, etc. We have also been getting donations from people in our community for us to sell. The backroom in our house was piled high with all kinds of treasures. Friday we had to sort through everything and price it. Our house looked more like a furniture store that some kids lived in than a home. The signs went up at 11pm Friday night and we quickly fell into bed.

The sale started at the glorious hour of 7am. Which meant we were up at 5:30, even Melissa. We had great friends who came and help set up. They came of course for Prontos donuts we provided, but also out of the goodness of their hearts. There was a ton of stuff to sell and really nice things too! We are so blessed by this community.

The sale started off slow but we had a great late rush starting around 10. We were haggling and bargaining away. The time flew by. Adam was in charge of keeping track of what we were making and he had all kinds of predictions. There was even talk of statistically if we made proportionately the same amount every hour as we did in the first three hours we would reach our goal kind of thing, lol. That came from the boys. Adam loves numbers. Throughout the day Adam was collecting the larger bills from my money pouch, and every time he came I had one or two, I felt like they were growing in there.

Our reason for this yard sale was to help pay the last part of the Homestudy. Before the weekend we needed $900 to pay in full. We felt we would probably make about 400-500 on the sale and then we would just save the rest over the next couple of months. I could have cried when Adam told me what we made: $750! I didn't cry, but I did scream and do a little happy dance. On top of this two families gave us checks for the adoption fund. so the grand total: $900

God is so good and so faithful!

We can not wait to go to our adoption class on Monday night, turn in our completed homestudy paperwork and hand them a big check! We are so full of joy and thankfulness right now it is overwhelming. God has been so amazing in the ways he has provided for this whole process. Thank you thank you to everyone who helped out and all of you who have been praying for this. We love you!