First, I want to sincerely apologize for the silence of this blog! There has been a lot of back-and-forth logistics over the last few months, and I simply didn't feel comfortable posting until we knew for sure which path we were going to take. And now we know our path!
Over the last few months we been looking into adopting an 11-year-old girl through private, domestic adoption. (DISCLAIMER: While I would love to go into detail about her, I will reveal only what is absolutely necessary. There are several reasons for this position. First, she is 11-years-old and will be able to introduce herself once she joins our family, so we aren't going to stick our noses where they don't belong! This will be a pivotal way we start earning trust with her. Secondly, we have learned that sharing every piece of information isn't wise because it can be twisted and skewed to appease negativity. Lastly, we already view her as our daughter and won't broadcast her history to the world any more than we would broadcast our own.) After receiving specialized training, doing our homework, and attending an adoption conference, we feel God has lead us and equipped us to pursue E at this specific season in life.
About E: She likes sports and being independent. She especially enjoys being with younger children, so we looking forward to seeing her thrive as a big sister! She has dirty-blonde hair, brown eyes, and wears glasses. She does well in school and makes friends easily. We are looking forward to introducing her to all the wonderful people we know!
So, how did we get here? Well, as you all know, our experience as foster parents was challenging. There were huge blessings that resulted from the relationships we formed and the lessons we learned, but we are assured that God no longer wants us to be foster parents. After our last foster baby left us in August, we attempted four different times to adopt older girls through foster care in Texas. Unfortunately, our interest was never matched, so we weren't able to proceed. Also during this time, a friend pointed out our girl, E, and we began considering her as well. But we simply couldn't be very serious about E until we knew for sure that foster care was no longer our path. Now we understand that God had much for us to learn and experience as foster parents, but it simply wasn't the end result for our adoption efforts. And we are excited for this new journey with E!
As far as our progress goes, E's legal guardians have agreed to our adoption of her. This is HUGE, so now we will try to hurry and get our agency papers and necessary fees mailed in so she will only be available to us. Then we are supposed to have some Skype sessions and eventually a family visit with her (she lives in another state). So we are still very early, but it's exciting to be moving along! :) We are looking at having a finalized adoption within a couple months.
That all being said, we desperately need your prayers: for clarity, finances, protection, and wisdom. Our boys, extended family, and close friends are all thrilled about the soon-to-be addition to our family, but a lot still has to be done before then. We will be launching a special prayer project for E this week (fingers crossed) and start working on a wish-list of items we will need for her. There's also been talk of an adoption shower (similar to a baby shower) if there is enough time to plan it! Also, there will be a meal calendar available once we bring E home, so that will be another way to help. We appreciate everyone who has already asked about our needs, and we sincerely appreciate your loving interest.
Phew.
That's it for now, but stay tuned for more updates. Thanks, friends!
