Oh Jeff...

Meet Jeff...Bretley's artic seal from Hawaii.  Jeff has been there for him through thick and thin.  When his brother was in the hospital being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, all the holidays, this years first snow fall, and each and every night, and more.  You can probably tell by Jeff's fur, he is very loved.  Well now Jeff's adventure is getting much bigger....he too is going to be a big brother as Bretley says.  So, today Jeff went to the doctors office with me while I finished up my TB test.  He had to have his own "shots" to prepare for baby too.  The nurse was wonderful and talked him through the whole procedure and even found him a special Star Wars Band-Aid.  Jeff was happy and so was Bretley. 

Yes, I know what you're probably thinking..."she's insane."  Haha, I don't blame you.  The things we do for our children!!  But that brings me to my topic today....getting the entire family involved.  Yes Greg and I have to complete most of the work and we each are going through some big things to prepare for baby, but so are the boys.  We have prepared them and included them in each and every step.  Every safety lock, gate, and preparation they were involved.  Every meeting and class is discussed with the entire family after completion so they feel they were there too.  Choosing to get our foster license also affects them.  Their feelings, whether it be fear or excitement, is real and is always addressed.  They too are apart of this adventure! 


With things wrapping up and our license in hands reach, that excitement has gotten more intense!  The baby's room is coming together and they have enjoyed decorating it with me.  I have allowed them to pick out everything on their own.  Between the curtains and bedding, special blankets and toys...that is all them.  I couldn't be happier.  We understand this journey is going to be a tough one...but we are a team and will conquer whatever is thrown our way!!

Stepping Out in Faith

Welcome to our family blog, a place were I can share our families adventures through this exciting journey.  For those of you who don't know...we are adopting!!  A little girl to be specific, but there is so much more that has happened since our announcement.  Here's our story:


Greg and I have always talked about adoption since we were first together.  It was something we have always wanted to do, but I won't get too much into that.  Let's rewind a couple years.  After having both the older boys we thought fertility would never be an issue...well we were wrong.  So the thought of adoption came up once again and we were ready to go down that path...but God put a stop to that quite quickly and we found out we were pregnant with Bretley!!  About 2 years ago the longing for another child was in our minds.  I sadly am not able to have any more children biologically, but that's okay because we know God has a great plan for our family!!  Greg and I talked more about adoption and even got all the information we needed to get us started....but God closed that door for us.  The following year we once again considered adoption...again God closed that door.  Timing just wasn't right and it clearly wasn't his plan for us.  Maybe it would never be his plan?  We just accepted it and moved on....until recently.  Things started happening.  A little seed was planted once again in our mind and this time our hearts, so we started pursuing adoption once more.  This time the door not only wasn't closed but opened wide.  Overwhelmingly wide.  For those of you who know our family, know we've been hit with some pretty big medical issues these last couple months.  Timing just didn't seem right to "us", but let me tell you...that wasn't stopping God from putting his plan into action.  And so we began.  I made the phonecall to our local state office about our interest in adopting and they got me in contact with the right person.  Not only did I have a wonderful talk with her we were in a required orientation shortly after.  Greg and I don't have the funds to adopt privately so have decided to go through the foster-to-adopt program through our state.  Because of that, there is a chance this little girl might not get to be ours forever...that bothered us, it was crushing really.  It was the one thing that held our hearts back.  How could we possibly deal with a lose like that?  Yet we continued on.  
Or first homestudy interview was this past Friday.  I was so incredibly nervous about it.  Lots of sleepless nights happened leading up to it.  I even cried moments before I opened the door to meet our case worker (we will call him CW).  Would our house be okay?  Would they like us?  Would they think I was fit to take care of a child?  Is this really happening?  Every thought raced through my mind.  CW and I sat down to start the interview and I just had a peace over me, even though moments before I was a complete wreck!!  So thank YOU to everyone who prayed for me!  So, long story short my interview went well and the house checked out.  There are a couple minor things we need to install in the house before our final inspection but overall it was great.  During the interview Jon asked about what Greg and I are looking for....adoption right?  He asked me to keep an opened mind about my (required) Caregiver classes this weekend and consider some things....like fostering.  I thought he was crazy and honestly didn't think twice about it!  Adoption is our main goal and I refused to consider anything other than that.
So that brings me to the actual title of this post...Stepping out in faith.  Here's where that comes into play.  God has quite a sense of humor let me tell you.  I thought we knew exactly what we wanted out of this whole journey but he had a totally different plan.  Saturday and Sunday I sat in a classroom full of several other people who are trying to get licensed to adopt, foster, foster to adopt, relative placement and adoption and other reasons.  We learned some pretty sad statistics about foster children, statistics that really crushed me and started to get the wheels turning in my heart.  Did you know 100+ children are removed from their homes JUST in Spokane County every month?  WOW...crushing.  When I first started considering adopting through the foster care system I had this thought about what exactly a parent who has lost their child would look like.  While yes, some circumstances are that ugly, not all of them are.  People make bad decisions, we all do at some point.  Some people just need some extra time to fix those problems.  My perspective of a bio parent changed.
After listening to stories about fostering and bio parents my heart really took a drastic 180 degree turn.  HA!!  I never thought I would EVER EVER EVER consider fostering a child.  I wish I could share everything that went on in that room but promised an oath of confidentiality.  I will say though, it changed my whole perception of fostering.  I immediately went home to share everything I learned with Greg and low and behold he felt the same way as myself.  God has clearly been working on both our hearts and yes, once again, has a huge plan ready to take action.
So here is where our story changes....yes we are still planning on adopting.  We are looking forward to someday signing those papers.  BUT, we are also opening our heart and home to a child while they are possibly reunified with a loved one, be it their bio parent or a relative.  This is HUGE and I won't lie when I say I am scared to death, but I also know God will be with us the entire way.   We just need to step out in faith and let his plan be fulfilled. 
As of right now, Greg and I are looking to be licensed by the beginning of February....can you believe it!!  We are almost there.  Just a couple more things and it will be official!!  We are still looking at a little girl between the ages of 0 and 3....but who knows?  That might change as well.