Where we are suposed to be

Not sure if I mentioned before but we bought our first house - closed on it Oct 7th!! Well since then we have been remodeling and making changes. . . . lots of painting, all new windows, new bathroom, new kitchen cabinets, new roof (on the bck side), new carpet and new flooring will be the major changes to the house. We are slowly getting there... I am hoping to be moved in by Christmas! :) Originally I had hoped to be moved in by Dec 1st but ... well.. it isn't happening :) This Friday the carpet guy will be coming and I am sooo excited!! I will be posting a couple before and after pictures once we get settled. Both of our families have helped out SO much and we couldn't have done it alone.

Kyle and I continue to talk about what direction we will head for our next adoption. So many decisions... sooo many decisions. I have talked to alot of great people who really have a heart for what they do - and I have also come across the shady people who are making a killing off of the women and babies involved in the adoption process. We know we want to send our stuff into Project Cuddle. But we also want to be a part of somewhere here in our own state. This past week I spoke with a woman from an agency with reasonable fees whose majority of infants placed have been in our area. They are of course in need of families open to african american and biracial infants (like everwhere else) so when she heard we were open to any race she let us know she was REALLY interested in working with us with the possibility of even reducing the fees on a scale for our anual income as a help to us. (Please pray for favor in this area as that would of course be WONDERFUL!). Their one office does their fees based on a sliding scale f your income without a minimum... but we are not in their "district" ... of course the branch whose district we are in has a minimum on that sliding scale. I asked if it was possible to work with their other branch or if they would honor the other branches fees... she is going to let us know. Soooo... PRAY that it happens :)

Anyway - I have REALLY felt a peace about working with them - like this is where we are supposed to be. Kyle is on board and feels like we should pursue working with them. I have spoken with several GREAT people (other facilitators/agencies) but it just didn't seem like we were supposed to be there. Now the wait for here could be alot longer. They don't "specialize" in adoption....they don't advertise as heavily as other agencies. Last year between the three branches there were 16 adoptions. Now that doesn't necessarily mean it WILL take a long time... but it could. But when the right woman chooses us - the wait won't matter :) I just need to keep praying for patience and KNOW i am where we are supposed to be.

There is one reason I am hoping it is sooner rather than later. . . breast feeding. I have continued to breast feed Cali for a couple reasons (one I am waiting til winter is over) but one big one is that that I want to breastfeed our next child. . . even if they are adopted. I would rather still be breastfeeding Cali so I can naturally feed next baby. We will see though... maybe it won't work. But I was hoping :)

Anyway - pray for us/with us - for the adoption grant and for direction... and patience for God's timing in everything :)

foster to adopt

I am not sure if I have mentioned in the past that we have our foster care license. We have had it (our license and homestudy) since Sep 2006 and we get it updated every year - staying on top of our classes/workshops. We will also be pursuing this route if at all possible. Having two little girls tends to make it difficult because we want to make sure they are safe first and foremost. Our case manager is keeping us in mind though so who knows if that path will take us somewhere. We have submitted our homestudy on two different children but everything seems to take a while when dealing with the state. In the mean time we are pursuing a domestic adoption - we will see what happens first :)

We'll give it a try!

Please pray with us as i apply for a grant for our next adoption. I am sooo excited and nervous as to what the outcome will be. i know god will provide for us - he always has. I am still nervous. :) I will be sending our application this week - I will keep you posted!

Any little bit they award would be amazing - so helpful!

Ahhhh!!!! I just wanted to share! :)

My babies are growing!

Here we go!

I am putting one of these together to help keep track of our adoption earnings. When we adopted Kinsey we weren't prepared and we didn't attempt to save in advance. We didn't even think that would be the way we would adopt. Because of that we took out a loan and paid for our adoption like that. Well, with recently purchasing a home we are trying to get "adoption money" set aside to be more prepared.

Adoption has become a big business. Adoptions are incredibly exspensive. People are making a killing and its one of those things that really gets me mad. We are going to be VERY particular in who we work with and we want to keep all of our exspenses around $10,000 (which is LOW compared to most). Of course then you have travel and finalization exspenses but we are hoping to raise as much of it as possible.

Unfortunately we will not benefit from the adoption tax credit. This is something else that REALLY gets to me. We have talked to two tax people and I guess we don't make enough money. But hey - again - its a faith thing. We know God will provide.

I am excited though - I am going to open a seperate checking for our adoption exspenses so cash I get here and there I can put into it. You know every little bit adds up :)

We are SO excited to be starting this crazy journey again .... a little nervous too. Its such an emotional rollar coaster. But its WORTH IT. Worth every dime. Worth every tear.

We really believe that we are called to adopt. We believe that God calls us to be open to these women and babies. Open to take a child in when a woman feels she can't parent but has dreams for that beautiful baby she carries.

We are hoping to adopt a child... the race doesn't matter... the gender doesn't matter... we are just excited about adding a child to our family. :) We have our home study complete. We would like to "technically" be on a list after we get moved into our new home. That means its coming up fast.

We will be sending our stuff into Project Cuddle... and possibly a couple other places. We will see where God takes us. Its crazy... our family may look exactly the same this time next year... or ...we may have another little family member :)

Thanks for all of your support. I can't wait to update you on how things go - the good, the bad and the scary. :)