One Less Orphan

I've decided to move this site to a new location...I hope you continue to follow our journey!

http://3lilgsto4.blogspot.com/

I'm so thankful for God's amazing grace...I don't deserve it but he so freely gives it.

The last few weeks have been an incredible time of growth and surrender for me. When I began my adoption journey almost a year ago I admit my motives were selfish; I wanted a daughter. Because I was looking to fill my need I struggled when things didn't go as I'd envisioned. But God has reached down, grabbed my heart, and is reshaping my desires to His...not an easy process I might add. I still want a daughter and I still get anxious, however, I've found myself at a place where I can have my palms open and say your will not mine. It's going to take constant prayer and surrender for me to stay in this place, but I'm willing to put the time in to keep my heart open to whatever Gods plan may be.

Having our little man here with us has allowed me to have a 'test drive' to caring for 4 kids. It is SO much harder than I thought it would be!! We finally are in a groove and its working but going anywhere with 4 kids is crazy! I'm realizing that this, parenting 4 kids, is beyond me. This test run has made me and my hubby think "wow, why are we signing ourselves up for this? What are we doing?" I’ve come to realize we aren’t signing ourselves up; we were signed up and are being obedient. It's less about my wants and more ‘wow God, you sure? Ok you lead.’

The road of adoption is anything but easy, the only way I'm going to make it through it is by having faith and trust in the wonderful planner. I'm so excited to see what He has in store for us!

We still have four little men in our home plus one big man and a man dog. I'm thinking this little guy will be with us for at least a couple months....we are waiting on a few key pieces to find out how long he will be here.

To be honest...going back into baby mode has been hard for us! But I think we are finally adjusting to all that having a baby along entails. My boys are in love with this little guy as he is with them, they are huge helpers, and seem to truly enjoy playing with each other. We had the privilege of spending his first Christmas with him; all he wanted to do was eat the paper!

Taking this case has been a big eye opener to how frustrating it may be when we take a case we are hoping will lead to adoption. As wonderful as this little guy is we have no intention of adopting him, which is why I don't mind that we are about to have our third social worker in the short 3 weeks he's been with us, or that I know absolutely nothing about what's going on with the case, and that communication with the ever changing social workers has been very limited. I am going to have to do a lot of growing to make it through this journey! I am very much a planner, I like to know what's going to happen and when...this path we are on is anything but that. (I have a feeling all adoption is like this.) This is where my faith has had to come into play, because honestly I've truly been tempted to walk away from adoption and just birth another baby or I've been hoping a mom would contact us and want to give us her baby girl, but I know God has placed adoption on my heart and I have to have faith that He will be with me on this crazy journey.

While I'm waiting for the call on a baby girl I've been doing some research to try and figure out how Washington state works as far as placement of children....so far I'm learning hopefully I haven't been a pest to anyone!

Yes, that is correct....my home currently has 4 little men in it! We received a call at 12:30 Friday night about an 8 month old baby boy who needed a home. How can you say no to a baby who has nowhere to go? I will never ever forget the night he arrived, we received a phone call then an hour later there was a baby dropped off in our entry way! For the most part the boys are loving having him here, they are so helpful (almost a little too helpful!) Our youngest is the one having to make the biggest adjustment; he loves being the baby and is having a hard time adjusting to his role switching. I don't expect this little guy to be with us too long...maybe a couple weeks.

Having to care for four children has REALLY opened my eyes to what is coming....I honestly don't know if I could handle a newborn. It's a lot of work!

I am very thankful we are able to love on this little man however long he's with us.

This morning I got the official call that the baby we visited will not be coming into care, the state was able to find extended family for her. I'm very happy with this, I had an off feeling about the case from the start and I'm thankful this baby will probably be able to avoid foster care (even though she would have had one of the best foster families)

We are now waiting again for a placement, I've figured out this is my least favorite spot to be. I much rather be working a case or investigating a potential case then sitting around waiting! But this is where we are and I'm going to enjoy our family of 5 however long that may be.

Last night I had a training meeting for new foster parents called "I'm licensed, now what?" There was lots of great info shared and I was very thankful I went, but as I was driving I was struck with the reality of what we are doing... news flash we are licensed foster parents, who would have ever seen that coming?! I know I sure didn't! While I was growing up having foster care/children in my life was never something I saw as a negative some of my other siblings have a different outlook but I never had any problems with it. At the same time I never ever planned on bringing it into my life. I don't know how much of Gods hand is in the details of my past catching up to my present but I feel very fortunate to have the little bit of experience I have. Dealing with this latest case (a whole other story) has reminded me how much of a roller coaster ride I've strapped myself into. But I've decided to rest in the fact that God has a baby for our family, it may not be the first one we care for but she is out there.

Update on the latest case, it's not looking like this baby will be coming in to care (which is great!) So we are waiting once again for a call.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! My fabulous family drove up from Vegas (20hrs!) to spend the holiday week with us. We had a great time....and as it just so happens I was able to use my mom’s very experienced opinion on a possible foster placement.

Yes, we are officially licensed! We found out last Monday that all of our paperwork was complete, and our license was mailed out to us. Yay!!

Wednesday I received a call from our friends who are also adopting through the foster care system, they had received a call on a baby girl and due to extended family concerns are unable to take her placement. We've spent the last 4 days gathering as much info as we could and visiting the baby, as it stands now we are going to proceed with this placement! Very exciting but also very risky...I have a strong feeling this will not be an adoptive placement, I think the birth mom may get her act together and get her baby back. But all the professionals are telling me otherwise.

I unfortunately can't tell much of anything on our blog or really in person for that matter, there are safety and confidentiality concerns. If you happen to e-mail me or run into me I can probably tell you a few general details.

The baby is not ready to come home yet but should be in the next few weeks. I am struggling with if I should visit her before she comes into our home, she is a bit of a drive away and she may not become our daughter. If she does become our forever baby I will regret I didn't visit her, but it also keeps me from getting too attached if she does leave. What would you do?

Please be in prayer for this placement that God's will would be done and I would be obedient to His plan. One thing I experienced while holding the baby and looking into her eyes was a strong urge not for her to be with me; but just to know Jesus, I don't know what this child’s life will look like but my biggest prayer is that God will intervene (if that Him doing a big work in birth parents life, being with us, ect.) and that this child will know the overwhelming love of our Lord and Savior!

I will update further when I know more information…one little fact her birthday is on one of the days I entered info in on our time line. J

Well last week was not the week. I was reading back over my blog posts and realized it's been a month we've had everything complete and have been waiting. It has been a struggle to wait but I'm also a little thankful for the time we've had to get ready for the foster road ahead of us. There are days when I think 'what am I doing? I have three kids at home, I'm very involved in my church, and starting foster care is going to change almost EVERYTHING! Are you sure you want to change everything, for everyone in your family?' But then I rest in the fact that God has planned our road, all I can do is be faithful to the call he's given, and be grateful for the time he's allowing us to prepare.

This past Friday was a big night for the adoption ministry I've been working on at our church. We had our very first informational gathering! I was SO nervous! I had no idea how many people would show up, but God was with us. We had over 30 people come to learn more about adoption! What was so amazing was that most of the people there had no idea what road they were going to take towards adoption, all they knew was that God was working on their hearts in this area and they were going to learn all they could. We also had 8 people sign up to stay connected in a growth group as they go down their adoption path. So privileged God allowed me and the team to help these people take a step in obedience!

Thank you Jenna for your support through the coffee site! So very thoughtful of you to use our coffee as your adult Christmas gifts!

http://justlovecoffee.com/oneless

I found out yesterday that our firends who are going down this foster adopt journey with us are officially licensed foster parents as of yesterday! Yay!! I also found out that Rusty's background check came in and we are just waiting on mine, figures I would be the one to hold us up. It's looking like we may be licensed this week which is exciting news.

We are still waiting, I start every week off hoping it will be the week we hear from our licensor, so far we haven't received that phone call. I don't think this time of waiting would be so difficult if we weren't going into it with the thought of 'adoption.' I have been working on changing my thought process from adoption to fostering and I've come a long way, at the same time I'm excited to have a baby girl in the house! Hopefully soon I can update saying we are licensed!