In case you missed our Facebook post last Friday, we’ve received the green light from our adoption agency. For the last sixteen months, we’ve worked on raising the first half of the funds ($13,000), filling out the paperwork, taking required parenting and CPR classes, reading the required books, created a family photo album profile, and done a home study. It’s been quite a process so far, but it’s far from over.

There are a few questions that we’ve been asked fairly consistently over the last couple of months. In case you’ve wondered the same things, here are the questions and their answers.

What happens next?
Now that we are on the waiting families list, we wait! When a birthmother is ready to choose a family for her child, the agency will show her family profiles that might be a good match based on information they’ve learned about each party. Of course, if she sees a family on the waiting family website she likes, she can always specifically request more information about that family.

She will rank the families that she’s presented, and a meeting will be set up with her number one choice. We will only know we’ve been presented to a birthmother if we are chosen for a meeting.

At the meeting, we will meet with her and will discuss many things. There is a checklist of information that we need to cover in that meeting that is very comprehensive.

After the meeting, we are both asked to wait and pray for 24 hours before we make a final decision about whether this would be a good match.

If both the birthmother (and father if he’s involved) and we agree that it is a good match, then we will have a little more time between then and the birth to get to know each other.

What will you know about the birthmother?
We will learn a lot about the birthmother, and hopefully the birthfather, at the match meeting and subsequent meetings.

Based on all our research and from what we have learned from friends who have placed children for adoption, there are a few things we know about her already.

• We know that she is placing her child for adoption because she LOVES the child, and she knows that she can’t give the child the things he/she will need. She is not a heartless, unfeeling person. She is making a very difficult decision that is based on the best interest of her child instead of her selfish desires.
• We know that she won’t ever forget her child, and she will always delight in receiving updates or being able to periodically visit, if that is possible.

How much notice will you have?
There is really no way to know for sure. It depends how far along the birthmother is when she is matched with us. It could be several months before the birth, or it could be at the hospital if she decides to place the child at birth. In that scenario, we’d have about 48 hours-notice before we bring the baby home.

How are you preparing?
We are hoping for several months advance notice, but we are preparing for the 48 hour scenario just in case. We have the nursery ready, a car seat, stroller, and some other basic supplies that we know will be needed regardless of age or gender. We haven’t started buying diapers, clothes, toys or bottles because we aren’t sure how old or what gender the child will be. We have been saving money for our baby fund, so that if we have just 48 hours, we can quickly go get what we need once those questions have been answered. If we get an older child, we have a bedroom set in storage that we could put together quickly.

How old will the child be, did you want a boy or girl, and what ethnicity?
The age range we listed was birth to 2 years. Our agency mostly deals with newborns, but occasionally older children are placed.

We didn’t specify whether we wanted a boy or a girl. When you have children the natural way, you don’t get to choose. We trust that God will choose us to be parents to the child who needs us as parents.

We said we’d be open to any race. God loves us all regardless of the color of our skin.

How much more does it cost?
The total adoption will cost right at $26,000. Before we could get on the waiting list, we had to pay the first half.

When we are matched with a birthmother, we will owe an additional $12,000, and then when the adoption is finalized, we’ll owe another $1,000 to the lawyer.

This whole process has been a leap of faith. We felt like God was calling us to adopt, and we didn’t have $26,000. That was quite daunting. We’ve seen God move in mighty ways to provide the first half of the funds.

We currently have almost $3,000 of the second half raised. It is quite scary to be put on the waiting list when we still have $10,000 left to raise, but we know that God will provide and we see ways that he is already moving to do so. We plan to apply for several grants and will do more fundraisers.

Please join us in praying for:

The birthparents! They are in a difficult situation and have very hard decisions to make.

• Please pray that they will choose LIFE, first and foremost.
• Please pray that the birthmother will make wise and healthy decisions while she is pregnant.
• Please pray for peace and comfort for them as they make adoption placement decisions.

Us!

• Please pray that we will be able to wait in peace in a way that brings God glory.
• Please pray that we will remember to be intentional about enjoying our time together as “just a couple” before we become parents.
• Please pray that we will be ready when the time comes.

The Child!

• Please pray that God will protect this child and that he/she will be healthy.

The Process

• Please pray for wisdom for all involved when the time to make decisions is here.
• Please pray that the process will go smoothly and that a good relationship with the birth parents will be established. This is best in the long-run for the child.
• Please pray that when the time is right, the money will be there.

Thanks!