That is all we know. J was supposed to call me yesterday with more details and she never did. I must admit, I’m beginning to feel that no news must mean bad news.
adoption
Archived Posts from this Category
April 10, 2008
Sarah at 6 AM
Most of our children have a pretty high tolerance for pain, but one is so dramatic that you think they are likely to pass out at any moment from the sheer agony they are suffering. You have to understand that we have been to the dentist two times with the drama child and found that the unbearable pain was from a loose baby tooth, so for around $100 a pop we told to have them wiggle it out. This was what was in our mind as Sarah came into our room (always at bedtime) over the past few weeks. We thought she was just tired and had a baby tooth being pushed out. Finally on Tuesday she started complaining during the day ( here’s where you will be super impressed with our compassionate parenting skills). Tuesday also happened to be the day Hannah B. was spending the night for her birthday. This is a very rare treat at our house, we think it’s generally best for children to sleep in their own house & there was a little grumbling at the discovery that Sarah & Ruth would not be included. In our defense we thought, based on prior knowledge, that this might be playing into the toothache. Sarah had a dentist appointment at 9 Wendsday morning so we were getting the offending tooth taken care of, just maybe not as soon as we could have. She woke up Wendsday morning with a swollen face & a fever. We went to our appointment to find we had a very sick litle girl on our hands. It was one of those mother moments where you know you have failed your child. I felt awful for her, I told the dentist that I thought she was having a bad attitude on Tuesday. So we left the dentist with pain medication, potent antibiotics & a sheet of instructions for the E.R. doctor just in case her eye started swelling shut and we had to be seen imediately. On the way home I called Laurie about a breastfeeding issue and she told me the lovely story of a child that was in the hospital the same time as her nephew, he had a tooth infection that was not treated in time and spread to his brain. Great. I thought there would be swelling around the tooth if it was infected but apparently it can swell up pretty fast. Next time we’ll be in a bigger hurry. BTW so you don’t think we’re to awful the dentist told us last year that she would lose this tooth before the cavity became a problem.
Sarah had a rough night. She got a little sleep but if she moved the pain woke her up. We’ll have another day of laying around watching movies and I hope by tonight the swelling will be going down.
Adoption
When we first started down this road I went searching for websites and blogs that would tell me exactly what was going to happen and when. I’m a real need-to-know kinda person. It’s a constant struggle. Of all the sites and blogs I found none gave me the answers I wanted so I thought, if I was gonna blog about the adoption process, I’d give lots of details so others starting on this journey would know what to expect. Since when is growing a family predictable? It just doesn’t work that way. Just as all families are different, everyones adoption journey will be different. It’s been an exciting trip so far, lots & lots of drama and the shows not over yet. The reality is that most of what’s been going on is just not appropriate to share on the net.
So where we are now. We have completed our Homestudy and all paperwork is in except a letter from the kids Dr. I noticed this morning that I had posted a prayer request on march 13th for an adoption related matter. We had been presented with a birth mother that has special needs beyond race that make her baby particularly hard to place. She had been due two days earlier. We prayed about it and gathered lots of medical advice and came to the decision that we could deal with the possibilities, in fact we reconsidered our acceptance level in general. We honestly feel that the Lord will equip us for any baby has for us. We had complete peace about this baby and were joyfully willing to have our profile shown but we were still wrapping up the loose ends of our homestudy and we just didn’t see any way we could raise the 9800.00 needed on such short notice. I had to call J and tell her we weren’t ready. That was so hard, I hung up the phone and cried. In such a short time I had started to feel a connection with this mother and child, she was making such a hard, selfless choice for her child and we felt we were letting her down. Of course, we know this is all in the Lords hands and He obviously had another plan this child.
Fast forward to now- Last week we spoke with J and I asked if they had found a family for this baby. No they haven’t, but there has been a mistake. They have no idea where the mistake came in, this lady has had sonograms including one at L.C. but somehow the due date got mixed up and she is due May 3rd instead of March. J wants to show our profile and is waiting for us to tell her to pull the trigger. We need 9800.00 at placement. Placement is when we actually pick the baby up and our placement check is due then. This could still be the babe God has for us. Please pray for this mother and baby & for us as we wait.
My desk at full production
If anyone has any fundraising ideas we would love to hear. As we approach the seventh anniversary of Abby Grace’s birth (4/28 ) we are running our first ever sale at Abby’s Grace Originals with all sales going into our adoption fund. Ellen and I are burning the candle at both ends to update the site and get new products on. If you or anyone you know would be interested please share our web address with them. If you ever thought you needed 15 or 20 diaper bags on hand for quick gifts now’s the time!
Ellen is making Farm Overalls just for our adoption fundraiser. Available soon at our site & on Ebay
March 27, 2008
O.K., it didn’t actually ring. I had to call her. In all my dealing with this lady, she has never returned a call. Anyhow, she says she mailed out B’s birth certificate today! This is a huge blessing. A few months ago we were told we would have to go to court to get the kiddos registered. Annice (superwoman) had gotten permission to close out our homestudy while we waited on this last piece of paper, but it will be a relief to have it done. When it gets here we’ll send off copies to N.B. & L.C. and that will be done. We are now chasing paper & letters of refererence for grant applications. All we need now is $ and we will be one more babe richer.
We have come up against some oppostition that was totally unexpected and has caused some hurtful situations. Please pray that the Lord will give us wisdom in dealing with this and bringing about reconciliation.
Do you think we’re to old for a baby? 
We have had wonderful support (even amidst their concerns) from family-once the shock wore off- and for that I’m truly greatful. I’m especially greatful for the sweet gift I received (cart cover) not so much the gift (even though you know I’m kinda freaky about shopping cart germs) but the fact that you are thinking of baby and including him/her into the fold of grandchildren already. I love you and thank God for you.
March 24, 2008
Our home-study was officially finished last week, we got our FBI fingerprints run & medical checks done.
We’re just wrapping up a few odds and ends & moving on to fund raising. Our agency spoke to us about showing our profile to a mom with a particular need but we had to tell them we didn’t have our funding in place. That was a tough day, but I am constantly reminded that this is all in the Lord’s hands and we can rest in the knowledge that it will all come together in His time. We are in the process of applying for grants. The need is great in the area we are adopting and things move fast once you get to the point we are at but, unfortunately, the grant process does not move fast at all. We will get our paperwork in & wait. We have seen the Lord do wonderful things in this adoption & it’s really exciting to see what will be next. Whatever comes next, our family has been forever changed and we are so thankful for the lessons we are learning.
If you are thinking of adoption we can fix you up with a wonderful social worker!
March 11, 2008
Got a call from the friendly lady at the SS office & Annie is done! Hurdle #? ( I’m not sure what # but I’m actually compiling a list ) The point is , the Lord has worked out so many obstacles in this adoption that it blows my mind! As Amber said, about someone else’s adoption, the last Sunday with us “Isn’t that awesome how God worked that out?” Yep! Awesome!
