As they say in the adoption world, we are officially "paper pregnant".  Ya'll that means all. our. paperwork. is done!  We are home study approved!  I know it seems to have been such a quick process...I mean we only technically started the process the beginning of August.  But ya'll...this has been in the works in our hearts for years, and we are SO ready. So to us, or at least to me...each step seems infinitely longer as we get closer to meeting our sweet baby. We celebrate each step because that means we are that much closer. We are so grateful for a Savior who knows the plans he has for us and our baby and is walking alongside us in this journey.  He knew that I needed this approval to be in my mailbox today. His timing is always perfect.  

So what's next?!  We will meet with the Social Work Supervisor at our agency, hopefully sometime in the next couple of weeks. She is the one who sits down with the birth parents and helps them choose a family that is right for them. So this meeting is important. We will work on our family photo album, write a letter to our birth parents and she will get a feel for our family values and dynamic so that she can best match us. Please, please pray that she loooovvvvess us. We want to be the first album she reaches for when she is helping a birth parent make decisions.  We are hoping that after this meeting, we will be able to create a profile on the agencies "waiting parents" list. Although, there could be more steps...we just don't know. 

At this meeting, we will also have to put down a good chunk of the adoption cost at $7,000. The bigger chunk will be due at placement. We are so grateful for all the donations so far and appreciate your generosity and your obedience to the Lord with your finances.  The Lord has provided us with $5266.85 in donations and fundraisers and we are so humbled by his faithfulness. The total cost of our adoption will be around $30,000 so we are grateful for any assistance we can get. However, we do not consider cost to be a factor, because this baby is worth SO SO SO much more to us and with the Lord's help, we will make it happen. 

Please continue to pray...
-for the birth mom. It is likely that our baby has already been conceived and we want special prayers for her, as she will be making decisions daily about her body that could impact our baby's health and well being.
-for my heart. As I said above, this has seemed like such a long process for me because God began to grow our love for this baby in our hearts years ago. Some days I just think how much easier it would be if I conceived the baby, because then I would be in control and I would know WHEN my baby is going to be here. I know that this is probably the very reason that the Lord called us to adoption...because I often feel like my plan is best and that I need to be in control. I am learning and growing so much, but sometimes it hurts and it's hard.  
-for our meeting. Pray that we impress the socks off our Social Worker when we meet with her and that she wants to show every birth mom our album. 

Thank you again for caring enough about us and our baby to read these updates and pray for us. We love you!

Brittany (& Maylon-James)