Hello,
We have a date for the 8 hour training class: Thursday, April 23rd. Wow! That is very exciting and coming up very quickly. Our plan is to have the class Thursday and then have the garage sale that same weekend. Lots to do! Things are moving very quickly in regards to the paperwork part. The home study can be set up that next week if we turn in everything this week. Cross your fingers.........if the home study is completed at the end of April then we could be approved by the middle or end of May. After that we just wait for a birth mom to pick us for an interview.
It is amazing how God is working this all out. He is in total control and I have to keep reminding myself that. Financially we are being very frugile. I cooked beans and rice this weekend. Talk about saving money. Beans are cheap! :) But it is all worth it.
that is all for now. Take care and God bless,
Jenny
Lilypie Fourth Birthday tickers
Lilypie Third Birthday tickers
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
First of many updates
First of all, I have to say a big THANK YOU for all the great emails we have received about our blog. It is really awesome to have so much support. And funny story, one of my friends asked if we picked the color of the blog background because it was the option closest to maroon. Of course we did, what do you think it would be - orange? I would hope everyone knows us better than that.
Well, the application is completed. Now we just have to put together all the documents that they need to go along with it - tax returns, insurance info, etc. We should be able to turn it in this week. Then more of the waiting game. We have to keep telling ourselves to be patient and remember that if we were having a baby naturally we would have to wait 9 months so we should not expect anything quicker through adoption.
We should know this week about the training class they are putting together for April. Hopefully this will be easy to schedule amongst the other families that are also in the process. I'm anxious to know how many other families are in the process with us. Not that I'm competitive or anything, but I'd like to get a realistic analysis of what our odds are. Granted, just because we are able to move through the process quicker does not mean that a birth mother will pick us over the other families. It is one of those many things we must give up to God and let him control instead of trying to decide for him.
So what do we do while we are waiting? We are planning a garage sale for the end of April. We have several family members who are donating items for us to sell so hopefully we can raise a lot of money that way. Also, we are supposed to be doing some "required reading" on topics about adoption and raising children. Anyone who knows me just a little bit probably knows how well the reading idea is going to go over. If you take out the required reading from school, I can count on one hand and almost one finger how many books I have read for pleasure. In fact, I can't even tell you the name of the last book I read nor how long ago it was that I read it. I need to ask if books on tape are an acceptable option, although that might put me to sleep while I'm driving which won't be good either.
Next step for the blog is trying to figure out how to use the slideshow option to put a variety of pictures up for viewing.
Gig'Em
Jerry
Well, the application is completed. Now we just have to put together all the documents that they need to go along with it - tax returns, insurance info, etc. We should be able to turn it in this week. Then more of the waiting game. We have to keep telling ourselves to be patient and remember that if we were having a baby naturally we would have to wait 9 months so we should not expect anything quicker through adoption.
We should know this week about the training class they are putting together for April. Hopefully this will be easy to schedule amongst the other families that are also in the process. I'm anxious to know how many other families are in the process with us. Not that I'm competitive or anything, but I'd like to get a realistic analysis of what our odds are. Granted, just because we are able to move through the process quicker does not mean that a birth mother will pick us over the other families. It is one of those many things we must give up to God and let him control instead of trying to decide for him.
So what do we do while we are waiting? We are planning a garage sale for the end of April. We have several family members who are donating items for us to sell so hopefully we can raise a lot of money that way. Also, we are supposed to be doing some "required reading" on topics about adoption and raising children. Anyone who knows me just a little bit probably knows how well the reading idea is going to go over. If you take out the required reading from school, I can count on one hand and almost one finger how many books I have read for pleasure. In fact, I can't even tell you the name of the last book I read nor how long ago it was that I read it. I need to ask if books on tape are an acceptable option, although that might put me to sleep while I'm driving which won't be good either.
Next step for the blog is trying to figure out how to use the slideshow option to put a variety of pictures up for viewing.
Gig'Em
Jerry
Friday, March 27, 2009
hello all,
This is my first entry. Aren't we cool now that we have a "blog". :) No really, this is very exciting and we are more than happy to share it with all of you. I would like to thank you for all for your love and support during this journey. God is amazing and He has given me strength in all this even when I was upset at him. It is really cool to see Jerry's strength and faith grow also. What an amazing, strong man he is. He has totally been my rock in the last several years when I have been a complete basketcase. Imagine me...freaking out about things!?
Once our paperwork is finally complete, I can't wait to start thinking about the baby's room and what will go in it. Of course, I am ready to go shopping and buy everything but Jerry reminds me of our focus and that we will be able to do that soon. We are talking about baby names and we have come up with........oh....i am not gonna tell you guys that yet. But it is definitely fun to talk about them. For so long it was a sore subject because we didn't want to talk about baby names because we weren't even sure there would be a baby. Now we know there will be a baby just not sure when.
well, that is all for now. stay tuned for more details to come. Next week we should find out when our training at the adoption agency will be. In the meantime, please pray that our sweet puppies behave themselves at the home study......that is my biggest worry right now.
love to all and God bless,
Jenny
This is my first entry. Aren't we cool now that we have a "blog". :) No really, this is very exciting and we are more than happy to share it with all of you. I would like to thank you for all for your love and support during this journey. God is amazing and He has given me strength in all this even when I was upset at him. It is really cool to see Jerry's strength and faith grow also. What an amazing, strong man he is. He has totally been my rock in the last several years when I have been a complete basketcase. Imagine me...freaking out about things!?
Once our paperwork is finally complete, I can't wait to start thinking about the baby's room and what will go in it. Of course, I am ready to go shopping and buy everything but Jerry reminds me of our focus and that we will be able to do that soon. We are talking about baby names and we have come up with........oh....i am not gonna tell you guys that yet. But it is definitely fun to talk about them. For so long it was a sore subject because we didn't want to talk about baby names because we weren't even sure there would be a baby. Now we know there will be a baby just not sure when.
well, that is all for now. stay tuned for more details to come. Next week we should find out when our training at the adoption agency will be. In the meantime, please pray that our sweet puppies behave themselves at the home study......that is my biggest worry right now.
love to all and God bless,
Jenny
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Application Process
Wow, is it amazing how much paperwork is required. Especially when you think about how much paperwork is necessary to have a baby naturally - none. But we don't mind because it only helps to make sure that we make the best fit possible for our unborn child. We also have several things to do around the house to make sure we are ready for the baby.
We hope to be through with the application this week and turn it in to be reviewed. There are still several steps to go but there is also plenty of time. Although, hopefully that time will fly by. It is hard not to get excited because we can see that starting a family is truly going to happen soon. After 6 years of being unsuccessful on our own it is nice to not have that monthly stress of did it happen this month and if not why not. It is pretty cool to think that our baby is out there somewhere being cared for by a birthmother who is showing tremendous courage by giving the baby up for adoption.
We are truly blessed as God kept pushing Dave Ramsey into our lives about a year and a half ago. Dave Ramsey is a christian financial advisor based out of Nashville, TN with radio, television and books about living debt free. We got on his plan around July of 2007 and have been just amazed at how working to become debt free has changed our lives. I highly recommend to anyone in debt that you go to www.daveramsey.com and start following his plan. We have right at $10,000 left to pay off but that is really nothing considering we started with over $73,000 - not including the house of course.
I could go on and on about how much getting out of debt has changed our lives, but most of all it has brought Jenny and I even closer together. Especially since we cut out eating out and movies from our budget. We spend a lot of time together which is great. She is my best friend and I can't wait to be able to see her become a mom.
I sort of feel like Ricky Bobby in the movie Daytona Nights. When he was being interviewed after driving in his first race and he didn't know what to do with his hands. I'm not real sure how to end this post or any of the posts but I guess I'll learn. I just hope I don't wind up sitting in a car with a live cougar.
In Christ,
Jerry
We hope to be through with the application this week and turn it in to be reviewed. There are still several steps to go but there is also plenty of time. Although, hopefully that time will fly by. It is hard not to get excited because we can see that starting a family is truly going to happen soon. After 6 years of being unsuccessful on our own it is nice to not have that monthly stress of did it happen this month and if not why not. It is pretty cool to think that our baby is out there somewhere being cared for by a birthmother who is showing tremendous courage by giving the baby up for adoption.
We are truly blessed as God kept pushing Dave Ramsey into our lives about a year and a half ago. Dave Ramsey is a christian financial advisor based out of Nashville, TN with radio, television and books about living debt free. We got on his plan around July of 2007 and have been just amazed at how working to become debt free has changed our lives. I highly recommend to anyone in debt that you go to www.daveramsey.com and start following his plan. We have right at $10,000 left to pay off but that is really nothing considering we started with over $73,000 - not including the house of course.
I could go on and on about how much getting out of debt has changed our lives, but most of all it has brought Jenny and I even closer together. Especially since we cut out eating out and movies from our budget. We spend a lot of time together which is great. She is my best friend and I can't wait to be able to see her become a mom.
I sort of feel like Ricky Bobby in the movie Daytona Nights. When he was being interviewed after driving in his first race and he didn't know what to do with his hands. I'm not real sure how to end this post or any of the posts but I guess I'll learn. I just hope I don't wind up sitting in a car with a live cougar.
In Christ,
Jerry
Monday, March 23, 2009
Our first attempt at blogging
Forgive me if this is bland to start with. We rarely even look at blogs much less thought of writing one ourselves. But we figure this is the best way to get information out about our adoption process. We will be married for 9 years in June of this year and have suffered through infertility issues for 6 years. We finally came to the conclusion last year that we would have to adopt in order to have children. So the journey began in January.
We visited with 2 different adoption agencies and decided to move forward with Generations Adoption out of Waco, TX. They truly made us feel at home and are a christian organization, which is very important to us. They are a smaller agency as they have only been around for 5 years. After we had our orientation in February, the next step was to be the application and an 8 hour training class that was scheduled for June.
To our surprise, they sent us an email last week informing us that they have several birthmothers of mixed race children that are due in the summer and they do not have enough approved families that are open to adopting mixed race families. So they have asked us if we would be open to an earlier training class so that we can finish the process and be approved and waiting for the summer. It is awesome to see how God is working to bring a child to us on his timeline and not ours. He truly is in control.
This is just the first post of many so I do not want to make it too long, just in case I screw something up and have to start all over. More to come later, I hope to get into a habit of posting once a week.
In Christ,
Jerry
We visited with 2 different adoption agencies and decided to move forward with Generations Adoption out of Waco, TX. They truly made us feel at home and are a christian organization, which is very important to us. They are a smaller agency as they have only been around for 5 years. After we had our orientation in February, the next step was to be the application and an 8 hour training class that was scheduled for June.
To our surprise, they sent us an email last week informing us that they have several birthmothers of mixed race children that are due in the summer and they do not have enough approved families that are open to adopting mixed race families. So they have asked us if we would be open to an earlier training class so that we can finish the process and be approved and waiting for the summer. It is awesome to see how God is working to bring a child to us on his timeline and not ours. He truly is in control.
This is just the first post of many so I do not want to make it too long, just in case I screw something up and have to start all over. More to come later, I hope to get into a habit of posting once a week.
In Christ,
Jerry
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)