Nursery

While adoption is a beautiful thing, sometimes it's nice to just talk about becoming a first time parent and the excitement that it brings.

While some adoptive families don't create a nursery because it can be hard to look on an empty crib while waiting, Derek and I have delighted in building our nursery. We love looking in on it and seeing the hope that it represents. We love sitting in the rocking chair that was my grandparent's and praying for our little one and their family. We love reading over the notes and cards that you've sent when we need some encouragement.

Each time we add something to the nursery we feel closer to our little one, and although we're far from finished, we'd like to share some of those pictures with you.

Home Study Approval

Hi everyone! We've got great news- our home study was approved!

We were originally told that we would receive our approval in the mail, but after a couple of weeks with no letter (and the post man wondering why I checked the mail every hour) I decided to email our agency to see what was going on. They told us that we were approved, but they were waiting on us to complete our last educational classes (something we were not originally told). Fortunately those will be completed by August 7th, so we're planning on announcing it later that week once we receive the confirmation paperwork.

Although we're a little bummed that we have to wait a few more weeks to be officially approved, it does give us a little longer to fund raise for the home study fee, and to complete our family profile. Derek is working like crazy on our profile and we're both ready to cross it off the list. This part of the adoption process has been weighing on us and we're ready to be in the next stage- the waiting stage!

Bethany On TV

Just received an email that our adoption agency, Bethany of Indianapolis, will be on tv. For those of you who have cable here is more information and the schedule:

“I’m Having Their Baby” follows would-be moms as they make the most difficult decision of their lives – whether or not to place their babies for adoption. They want better lives for their unborn children and brighter futures for themselves. The cameras follow these women in these docu-series as they search for potential adoptive parents, make their birth and transfer plans and ultimately struggle to go through with their decision.

Thanks to the excellent work of several Bethany branch offices in the last year, 6 of the 12 stories being told are Bethany adoption stories with no other agency having more than one story! The TV show worked hard to not let the show impact any expectant parent's decision to parent or place their child for adoption, but they only filmed women in their final trimester who were very seriously considering adoption. In the end, 10 of the women chose to place for adoption while 2 chose to parent. Here is the schedule of when each Bethany adoption story will be aired.

Below is a list of the episodes of the Oxygen show which will air beginning at 11 PM Eastern/10 PM Central:

July 23 - Features 2 Bethany stories from FL and GA
July 30 - Features 1 Bethany story. The birth mom is Mariah and her counselor was Katie Weber of IN
August 6 - Features 1 Bethany story from the state of WA
August 13 - Features 1 Bethany story. The birth mom is Brandalynn and her counselor was Irene Evans of IN
August 27 - Features 1 Bethany story from VA

8 Years Of Bliss

This week we celebrated 8 wonderful years of marriage. Although we're in the middle of a No Spend month, we were still able to thoroughly enjoy the day with gift cards. We saw the new Spider Man movie, ate (and ate!) at the Olive Garden and then had yogurt at the local Sweet and Swirly.

We really do enjoy spending time together and consider each other our best friends. It was so much fun sitting over lunch talking about how this would probably be our last anniversary with just the two of us, so we had better enjoy it.

I am so excited to be a family, but it was really nice to sit together and pretend that the rest of the world doesn't exist. I just love that man.

DesignBomb

Hi everyone! I'm sorry I haven't updated as quickly as I would have liked, but we've had a very busy week.

We are expecting our home study approval early next week and with that comes the dreaded $7,800 bill that we've been telling you about. Derek and I have been praying that God move large financial shaped mountains because there was no way we could do it. We had run out of options- there was no more savings account, no more hours at work, no more side jobs available, and we were losing steam.

We decided to try another Baby Blitz where we give it all up to Him and just be available for whatever He calls us to this week, and to say the least...it's been incredible!

It started with Derek selling some action figures, and then an unexpected check for some yard sale items we had previously sold, and then we received a beautiful donation (thank you!). And then came the button sales....oh the buttons.....

Derek has a 1 inch button company on facebook called DesignBomb and this week it blew up! A friend of a friend spread the word that we could do buttons for a 31 National Conference and let me tell you, those 31 ladies are crazy for anything that says 31. Through those orders, we have been able to raise over $500. Never thought we'd fund an adoption through 1 inch buttons, but what a blessing it has been!

You thought that was the end of Baby Blitz? Tsk. Tsk.

Yesterday I opened the mail and we received a large check from our past insurance company as a refund from the latest insurance laws they passed. Unbelievable.

Our week is not done and God has already blessed us with over $800 in unexpected funds. It's such an honor to know that when we cry out to Him (man, was there a lot of crying), He not only listens, but moves.

Oh Yeah

Our home study is officially in review! 

We're just waiting for approval in a couple of weeks and then we can get this show on the road. We can't tell you how excited we are to finally yell this from the rooftops and get this wonderful blessing out in the open. 

Thanks for being patient with us as we waited for the right time to announce this. Your prayers and encouragement during this private time have held us up and kept us going.  But we're tired of keeping what God is doing a secret, so it's almost time to bust the doors open and start celebrating!

Quick Update

The Process:  Some of our home study paperwork was misplaced and we have to mail some more forms which could put us behind a couple of weeks, but God knows what he's doing.  We're looking at getting approved towards the end of July which gives us a little more time to raise the funds, but does put us behind a bit.

We attended our Pre-placement meeting this week in Indy and we learned a lot more about the details of what happens when we are matched with a family, including what happens in the hospital, and the finalization process. Again, it really showed us that we made the right choice of working with Bethany Christian.

Our family profile is coming along nicely and we were lucky enough to get some pictures with a professional photographer this week. Check them out, but we're keeping the best for later!


The Finances:  We're working on getting some button orders completed, selling a few donated items, and we're hoping for a few more personal donations to get us closer to our goal of $8000.  In the mean time we're praying that God move this giant mountain or at least show us He's chipping away at it.


We have started a "no spend month" to save some extra money in July. No clothes, entertainment, or iced coffee unless it's free. Our goal is to have some extra money at the end of the month to put in our jar. Yikes, but so worth it!

Grant writing is under way and man is it overwhelming! Each grant has different requirements and instructions, so we're taking our time. We need to raise as much money as we can through grants, so everything must be completed correctly.







The Prayers:
For our little one and their birth family to feel loved
For us to reach our goal of $8000 by the end of July
For our paperwork to go swiftly into the right hands