We are adopting a baby!
Please visit our blog to learn more about our story! https://predestinedforadoptiondotblog.wordpress.com/
Every person who donates to our adoption becomes a part of our story; a piece of our puzzle.
Here’s how it works:
• We have selected a 1000 piece puzzle; every piece symbolizing someone who will help bring our baby home!
• You can sponsor a puzzle piece for $25
• Your name will be written on the front of the puzzle. This way we can remember your kindness, generosity and help in building our family puzzle!
• After the puzzle is completed, we will frame the puzzle and hang it above the baby’s bed. This will be a wonderful keepsake to see all the people who helped bring the newest member of our family home!
YOU will be a part of completing our missing piece to the puzzle.
If we sell ALL 1000 pieces… that will raise around $25,000! This will cover a large portion of our adoption!
We would be so honored if you were a part of bringing our baby home! All donations are tax deductible through AdoptTogether.org and Hoping Hearts Foundation Inc, a federally recognized 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
We will be updating the blog so you can see the process!
Read our latest blog post for an update!
https://predestinedforadoptiondotblog.wordpress.com/2022/10/28/our-home-study-complete-approved/
Our part of the Home Study is complete!! Last Monday and Tuesday our adoption caseworker visited us at home. We really enjoyed working with her and she pointed us to some great adoption resources. We were able to complete the home inspection and all 4 interviews necessary for her to write the assessment where she will make her recommendation to the state. The assessment writing process takes roughly 30 days. Once approved, the Home Study is valid in NC for 18 months. Yay!
Next the agency will reach out to us to begin working on our family profile where you will eventually find us on this webpage: https://www.christianadopt.org/waiting-families
We will be able to write a letter to the birth mother and tell the story of our family. Then the agency starts showing the birth mother the adoptive family profiles when they are around 7 months along. So we may know ahead of time who we are matched with, or we may not be matched until the baby is born and ready to be picked up at the hospital. Only He knows! We are excited nonetheless! Stay tuned …
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Things have really been moving along in this adoption process. Our Home Study paperwork was officially accepted, and we were assigned an adoption caseworker. She called yesterday to introduce herself, provide us with more information on what to expect, and put our home visit on the schedule. Our caseworker lives 3 hours away. So, we are cramming the home visit and all four interviews into two days… this upcoming Monday and Tuesday!
It will look something like this:
Monday afternoon- Home Visit, Joint Interview & Adoptive Parent Interview
Tuesday morning- Adoptive Parent Interview & last Joint Interview
After the home visit and interviews are completed, our caseworker will prepare our assessment to the state of NC. It is roughly 15-20 pages long and takes about a month to write. There may be some follow up phone calls to clarify things or provide missing pieces to information.
We are so excited because with each new step, this adoption becomes more and more real. There is much to do and not very much time, but God is sovereign! Our sweet friends gifted us a visit from their cleaning ladies for this Friday (Thanks, Ash ❤️). My wonderful mother in law immediately prayed for me when my anxiety was starting to take over and offered to become our official errand runner this week (Thanks, Gigi ❤️). Thank you all for your prayers, your words of encouragement, your donations and helping hands. God is always good.
A few weeks ago, Nick and I travelled to Charlotte for an in-person training at the CAS office. We learned about Prenatal Exposure, Newborn Care, and about matching & meeting expectant parents. We heard stories from adoptive parents, a birth mother, and a woman who was adopted as an infant herself who now works for the agency!
It was lovely meeting some of the other couples going through the adoption process. The staff told us that the couples we were learning with that weekend would very well become forever friends. Likeminded people who would share in the excitement, trust in the Lord during the waiting, and encourage each other through the exhaustion that comes with this process. It was such a gift and incredible blessing to get to know the other couple at our table. We went out to eat afterward, and talked about everything from our nursery plans to sharing our prayer requests. We even have plans to go apple picking later in October!
During the training weekend, CAS also bought tickets for the couples and trainees to go see the Lifemark movie. It is based off of a short documentary titled I Lived on Parker Avenue.
I Lived on Parker Avenue is a short documentary about a mother’s agony in choosing what’s best, the joy of a couple starting a family, and young man’s search for where his life began.
https://www.ilivedonparkerave.com/none
It was such a beautiful story and the entire theatre was emotional! We were told the film was a good representation of adoption, and it was neat to see the types of situations on screen that we may be facing in the future. What I loved about it the most is that the adoptive parents showed so much love for the birth mother. They were not intimidated or worried by her resurfacing. They encouraged their son, and truly loved and appreciated his birth mother not only as the one who gave her son life, but also just for the person God made her to be.
If you have made it this far, past my rambling, thank you. I’m glad you persisted because we have some exciting news. Our Home Study paperwork has been accepted, and the Home Study itself officially begins next week!
Stay tuned.
We cannot believe that over $6,000 has been raised in just one week. God always provides, and we are blown away by his provision and your generosity and encouragement. Thank you!
We are hoping to complete our home study and start our family profile in the next month or so. Once that is done we can start meeting with expectant mothers. Please pray for these expectant mothers. We know that they are making such a hard choice in choosing adoption BECAUSE of the love they have for their baby.
Thank you all for your love and support!
