Adoption update

We did hear back from the adoption agency this week. Because of our move to Florida, it is going to be necessary to "hold" our application until we get to Florida. Applications are only good for six months and at that point they need to be redone. Because each state has different regulations and rules, we would have to get our "home study" redone when we move to Florida. A "home study" is basically meetings with a social worker as they draw up a report about your family and home environment. These are fairly expensive and not something you want to have redone. As a result, it will be best that we wait until after our May transfer and after resettling in our home in Florida. I, of course, am hoping that our May transfer results in amazing news. If it does not, we will finish our application and proceed with our home study.

This news was a little disheartening to me. I was hoping we could move forward with other paperwork with the agency prior to starting the home study. However, the adoption process is a little tricky. Most of the things you do (paperwork, applications, home studies etc.) expire after six months to one year. You therefore have to do things in a timely manner. If at any point in the adoption process we were to get pregnant, it would mean a lot of our paperwork, money, and time would "expire". JB has told me not to concern myself with this. He has said that if get pregnant and as a result, lose money, we are going to not care at all. I believe this in my heart but am trying to get my head to believe it.

So basically, our current plan is to transfer in May. If positive, pause the adoption process for awhile. If not positive, move forward with adoption and decide as we go when to do subsequent transfers of our sticky babies, all the while simply trusting the Lord that He knows best, and we will walk accordingly.

I have gotten some wise counsel this week and while I was initially disheartened with how difficult these journeys seemed, am feeling better and more positive and aware that the Lord is in control. Sometimes, when things seem so daunting, it is difficult to remember that, but I know the Lord has all of our children, biological and adopted, in the palm of his hands, and I look forward to getting to hold one of them on earth in the next few years. I told my Tante Jan, I wish I could just jump forward three years, see our child, and then come back here and live these three years knowing that there is a child at the end. But in the end, I do know that, I just have to trust the Lord to get us to that point in HIS time.

Trust is a word I thought I knew the meaning of. Then, just when I thought I did, I realize I didn't, and I have to start learning all over again!