Our Decision to Adopt

Our decision has been made public, we have decided to adopt! Now the real work begins!!

As an adoptive parent there are many options, you can go through an adoption agency, the County/State, or you can adopt from another country. We personally know people who have done each of these, we love and respect them all and see each as an excellent option. Furthermore, unlike naturally conceiving a child, we have the option of age, gender, ethnicity and "problems." Someone please tell me how in the world we are supposed to make this decision!! At this point, we have at least decide on two things, we would like to adopt here in California, and we are not able to spend thousands on the adoption process. This narrows down our options to a low cost adoption agency or the County. We have decided to pursue both for the time being. For fostering to adopt through the County you are required to attend a half day orientation to receive the initial application. We attended the orientation last month and have been working on the application. The county requires a physical, TB test and CPR certification prior to submitting the application. Hopefully we will be able to complete all of these and submit the application by the end of the month!

We recently informed our families that our intent is to adopt (prior to posting it on the blog ;-). We were not ignorant to the possibility of this news being difficult for our families to receive. However, to their credit, they all received the information with not only grace and encouragement, but excitement! We are so blessed to be surrounded by such supportive friends and family. I can not tell you how much joy you bring us.

Emotionally, I have been all over the place. I must admit that each month I still struggle with the prospect of not being pregnant or nursing a child again. But, as our fertility doctor said, Landon may have just been our little miracle! And yet, adoption is a miracle in itself, it is a reflection of the love Christ demonstrated to us by adopting us into His household! My prayer for us is that we would value and trust in the Lord and that our actions, in obedience, would demonstrate our faith.