A Big Announcement!!!

Let me first preface this post by disproving what you're probably thinking.


No, I'm not pregnant. 

Now that we have that out of the way - what I do have to share is just as exciting! But it took a lot of time and a lot of work on my heart to get us to where we are now.

Ray and I have made the recent decision to........

Wait for it.....

wait for it.....


wait for it.....
............
..........................
 FOSTER to ADOPT!!! :-D


But believe me, this was no small decision.  As I've mentioned before in a previous post - Ray and I have "not tried, not prevented" to have a second child since Micah was four months old. Yeah, that's almost two years. 

Nearly two years of waiting.  Waiting.  Anxiously waiting.  At first I expected to get pregnant as easily the second time around as the first.  But over the months, that hope began to fade.  Hope faded into disbelief.
I struggled with depression over "being infertile" for a while.  Questions arose in my mind - especially the "why?" Honestly, I never found out the "why."  God doesn't always answer all of our "why's." But he always shows us the way.

It wasn't until a couple months ago that my heart started to open to adoption.  It was through my women's bible study group (hosted primarily by Erin McCullough, one of the best neighbors ever!) that God gave me hope. 

The Bible is full of people that screwed up.  Two of these people are Abraham and Sarah.  Abraham and Sarah wanted a child so badly - but after decades, were completely barren.  They thought they could get around God's will and go their own way, which didn't turn out so well. 

But God still blessed them with a son.  Their only son.

Good gracious, it nearly makes me cry to type that.  Here I was, with only one child - my only son - wishing so deeply to have another.  I felt selfish, really.  But God gave me hope.  I had only waited for baby #2 for 18 months.  Sarah waited for 20+ years. 

God spoke to me through that lesson in Genesis.  But that didn't open my heart to adoption.  Just waiting.
A couple months ago I started seeing a little girl for speech services.  She was adopted from Haiti and had two siblings that were also adopted domestically.  That was really where my heart started to change. 

"But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven." (Matt 19:14)

The Bible teaches that children are a blessing.  But it never says that only biological children are a blessing (though they are!) Christians are also commanded to "Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow." (Isaiah 1:17) 

I really can't even begin to say how God changed my heart - but He did.  And the one person that I expected to be against it is actually for it.  That would be my husband.  Ray isn't exactly an "emotional" type of man - but in his eloquent words, "adopting isn't really just about adding to our family - but it's about saving a child's life, ya know?"

I couldn't agree more myself.  And believe me - once we came together in the decision to adopt, my joy was unspeakable!!! It's been unbearable for me to keep in a secret as long as I have (about two weeks - I'm bad with secrets!) I'm just as excited as I would be if I were pregnant - but I can have all the coffee I want and don't have to worry about the weight gain.  ;)


The Facts:
There are roughly 29,000 children in Texas' foster care system.
57% of these children are 1-5 years old.
There are roughly 13,000 children in Texas waiting to be adopted.  This number was only ~8,000 in 2003.
The need is there!!!

Our Bible Verses:
"Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy." Psalm 82:3
"Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear: To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress." Psalm 10:17-18

Our Song:
Kings and Queens by Audio Adrenaline 
http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=WDGYYGNX

Our Expectations:
We expect the wait to be hard.
We expect a lot of questions.
We expect people to question us and our motives.
We expect having a foster child to be challenging.
We expect people to have mixed reactions to our announcement.  Some will be excited, some won't understand.

Our Agency:
Covenant Kids out of Plano, TX.

Our Desire:
Boy or girl age six months to three years old. Our new little one could not even be born yet! :)

Our Plans:
We just emailed the application (all TWENTY PAGES of it) yesterday.
Our references should be checked soon.  :)
We plan to take the required classes when they have the new series offered in McKinney in February, 2014. 
After the classes comes the home study.
We should *hopefully* be licensed and ready to accept a child come March or April of next year! :-D

Our Requests:
Please pray for us!
Pray for our child. Pray that they will stay safe.  Pray that their needs will be met.  Pray that they will be kept from harm.  
Pray for his/her mother and father that are struggling.
Pray for the process and everything to go smoothly.


More posts to follow detailing our adventure in foster-to-adopt-ing..... :-)