So much to say, so little time....wait...reverse that

We still have no new news to report to ya'll. We've been in limbo for the last couple of weeks coming to an agreement on an age range that AFAA and All Blessings will accept. AFAA says our homestudy looks great but there is concern over our requested age range...0 to 18 months. All Blessings (our home study agency)would like us to be approved up to age 5 to prevent delays in bring our child home. This has been a frustrating couple of weeks but I feel we are on the verge of moving forward. Jason and I decided that we would get our homestudy approval for 0 to 3 years old and then state a preferred age of 0 to 24 months. God knows our heart's desires and we just have to remember that He is in control of every step.

This past weekend we went to Oklahoma to visit Casey and the girls. Hannah was having a girls weekend at the lake so we missed her. On a surprise note, my sister, Courtney and her boys made the trip up so it was good to get a quick visit in!!

A little bit of news...

Heard the definition of faith today described as "ceasing your efforts".  This stood out to me because it's a reminder to give up control and completely trust God.  I find this pretty fitting considering some of the emails that were exchanged this week.

 AFAA sent an email to our homestudy agency asking if we would be interested in increasing the age range we are looking at adopting.  Cheryl, from AFAA advised that the wait will be longer for a younger child and the waiting timeline is uknown.  That wasn't exactly positive news to receive this week.  "Uknown" is not a real great word to hear...considering that I'm such a planner and like to have some sort of clue as to what is going on.  Jason and I have thought about it and still feel that God will provide a baby for us to adopt.  Our requested age range is 0 to 18 months at time of placement and we will continue to pray that God will work and move in this.  I hope we can use this time to continue to save and raise money and enjoy the time we have left as a family of two.

More pictures...less of an update

Still no word from AFAA on whether we are approved and moving forward.   I sent an email to them a couple of weeks ago and have heard nothing as of yet.  We are working on being patient and enjoying the summer.  We got to spend a day at the lake with family for the 4th of July and thoroughly enjoyed this holiday off of work!  I hope to post more of an update soon!

 





Anniversary and Birthday Fun!!!

On June 24th Jason and I had our 5th wedding anniversary and had a fun weekend together.  We decided to attempt a nice hike on Saturday morning.  It was an interesting trip to Busiek State Forest and we quickly realized that we have a lot to learn about hiking :) We pulled up to a gravel parking lot where men were running around without shirts on and shouting back and forth to each other.  I was instantly worried that we just interrupted some sort of outdoorsy-ironman type race.  Nope, this was just a large group of intense runners and we were fixin to look like the city folk that just entered unknown waters.  We couldn't figure out where the trails started or ended.  We had to cross a small body of water...and I couldn't walk the entire hike with wet shoes!  I attempted to walk barefoot over the rocks but midway Jason picked me up so we could get on with the hike.  I then sat in horse poop while putting my shoes back on....wow...this was only the first 5 minutes!  Needless to say we survived and were able to have my birthday dinner that evening :)



Today I turned 28 years old and had a great day.  I work with some great people, have a sweet-as-pie husband and an amazing mom that made this day complete.  After work Mom and I went and got pedicures...we've decided this is our new favorite thing to do!  The day ended with a yummy cake that was bought against my will.  Sometimes Mom's do know best :)



P.S.  We are still waiting to hear that our formal application has been approved by AFAA.  They should have ALL of our paperwork and in the process of reviewing it.  We shall continue to wait....

Misplaced Worship...

Our church started a new 10 week series on the Ten Commandments.  This was our first week of it and the sermon was over the 1st Commandment:

"Do not have other God's besides me."

-Exodus 20:3

Our preacher went on to talk about the areas that can distract us from God and can become the center of our worship...money, pleasures, family and even church.  For the last few weeks I've been feeling kinda blah within certain areas of my life.  I feel like days and weeks go by and I don't even realize where the time has gone.  Some days it's more like existing and less like living.  I thought about the distractions of this world and realized that I've been putting "worship" in other areas and not where it belongs.  Our preacher stated that there is an expectation of a pay off when we misplace our worship...we expect to be satisfied and it never happens.  How true is that?!  Today's message was a good reminder for me...think about where your worship is going.  

Today is also a very special day...Father's Day!  Although my Dad isn't here to spend the day with, I sure have thought about him alot.  I'd give anything to have him be here now...to know my husband and to one day know his grandchild.  My Dad and I went through a lot of ups and downs and spent a lot of time "butting heads".  We were more alike than either of us wanted to admit.  I have a lot of great memories and stories about him and am thankful for the time God allowed me with him.

Jason isn't an official Dad yet, but he sure likes to practice the discipline part with the dog :)  I know that he will be a great dad one day and thankfully he has an amazing dad of his own to learn from.

Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there!

                                     

It's in the Mail!

Finally made it to the post office this week with 2 ridiculously over-stuffed manila envelopes that were addressed to AFAA.  Our home study is complete and once AFAA receives our application and paperwork they will review our home study and verify that everything matches.  So, from here it looks like we wait to get approved by AFAA and I'm not sure how long that process takes. 

Other things going on...

Jason sold his truck last weekend so we have been a one vehicle family and that's always fun :)  Luckily it was his short work week and it wasn't such a big deal. We were hoping to find a replacement this weekend but that doesn't look like it will happen.  So, now we move into his long work week and hope that something comes along soon...real soon!

Other than that, we've just been plugging away and will continue to keep you updated!

All...Most...Ready

We've had a few obstacles with getting these last pieces of the paperwork together.  Our home study agency has issues with their PO Box which is a problem when your references are trying to get forms and letters mailed in.  We've been waiting on some lab work to come in to get our medical exams complete.  As of yesterday we got all the info in from our doctor that we were waiting on...yay!! 
Our home study is now ready to be emailed to AFAA (our placement agency) for review.  AFAA requests a rough draft to be sent to them to check over wording and verify that things will translate correctly once it's received in Africa.

We are almost ready to mail off ALL this paperwork! My house will instantly look cleaner!  Next week is the goal...I'll keep you posted.

I've had a few interesting conversations about adoption in the last few weeks.  I've started thinking about the questions, responses and the people that I've shared these conversations with.  I've thought about the differences in Christians and non-Christians in how people perceive adoption.  For the most part Christians seem to "understand" adoption better.  They can understand that we can bring a child into our home and love him/her like they were biologically ours.  They can understand that sometimes you just walk by utter faith because you can't possible see how details will work out.  They can understand that adoption is the means into which we entered God's family and it's how He is choosing to create ours.  I believe that non-Christians have a harder time wrapping their head around this journey because they don't have the foundation and understanding of being apart of God's family first. 
I'm sure I will continue to have conversations like I've had recently and I'm sure they will continue to stretch me.  God is moving and working even in the smallest exchange of words and actions.