couple's interview complete

this morning brian and i had our couple's interview with our adoption agency. it went so well. the lady who is doing our different interviews and home visit is really awesome and so easy to talk with. we pretty much sat in a room with her for about an hour and a half just saying out loud everything we wrote in our self-study (part of our paperwork). i guess they just wanted to put a personality to the answers. she seemed really interested is everything we had to say and loved hearing our story. it's funny to sit there and think that everything i am sharing with this woman is going to help her be able to convey who we are to a birthmother. i pray that we did well. she didn't ask us to explain anything or answer anything more deeply so i guess we gave enough if not more information than they wanted to know.

so the next step will be our individual interviews. i have mine next wednesday at 8:15 and brian is still working out his schedule to fit his in. i'm not really sure what they will ask us in the individual interviews that they didn't ask us today. but i guess we will find out.

i want to thank everyone for covering us with your prayers this morning. we were so excited to finally be moving to the next step in our adoption process and satan was definitely trying to come in and steal our joy. i was feeling really sick this morning and could barely stand up and we also got some frustrating news from our landlord. it all worked out by the end of the day but it made this morning and very satan attacked morning so we are so thankful that we have each one of you praying us through. you're prayers were felt and received. we love you so very much and thanks for continuing to walk this journey with us.

Couples Interview

God is sooooo good. What else can be said? We received an e-mail yesterday setting up our first interview, beginning the home study process. This is it before the big wait. You can imagine the emotions that are flowing through the heads of Audra and I. Excitement, fear, being slightly overwhelmed, and so many more. Please pray that we would have favor with our case worker; that she would see who we truly are and how we wish to truly share God's undying love for this child He has chosen for us. We thank you all in advance. Next Tuesday (1/27) at 8:15 am it begins. Join us on this ride.

brian

finally some communication

i am happy to inform everyone that we FINALLY heard from our adoption agency today. i was so excited i could barely read the email. this was not an email about upcoming meetings or groups but this was specifically to us. It said "Dear Brian and Audra". how exciting. an email about our specific adoption. whoo hoo!!! it couldn't come at a better time.

the email said that everything is in and all the paperwork has been reviewed. someone will be contacting us next week (because this person is out of the office this week) about setting up our interviews and our home and safety visit. this is so exciting! i'm not exactly sure when our interview will be. we leave for vacation in chicago for the last week in january so i'm really praying that the interviews will be before we go (at least one of them). then the first week in february we are moving two houses down to a one story house so our home visit will have to be sometime after we move. then we just wait.

thank you so much for your prayers. we have been holding on to them like crazy. God has blessed us so much and we are so thankful that you are on this journey with us. please pray for us as we prepare for our interviews. this is when we basically share who we are. all this paperwork we've turned in now will be talked through. pray that God would give us words of wisdom as we share who we are and what kind of family we hope to be. please also be in prayer for the lady that will be giving us the interview. pray that she will come with the right questions and an open mind for us to share with her who we are. again, thank you for praying us through this process. we love you.

diapers

we bought our box of diapers while at Publix the other day. it was pretty exciting and a little scarey. they are so stinkin expensive. we decided we better start buying now so we would have to spend so much money at once when the baby got here. the baby books are freaking us out with the thought of over 600 diapers in the first 6 weeks. of course we have no idea what size the baby will be so we don't want to buy newborn sizes. the good thing is that there are so many of my friends that are having babies that every diaper is bound to fit one kid at one time. so it all works out. the reason we went ahead and bought a box is that we had a $5.00 coupon and i can't pass up a great deal with a coupon.

waiting, reading and raising

we are currently in a waiting process with the adoption agency. we are waiting for them to call us to schedule our interviews (we are praying for this to happen any day now). i know God has perfect timing but i am have to say that i am getting very anxious. i'm ready to tell them my life story and get on that approved list. the holidays are now over and i'm ready for everyone to get a move on. but remember God didn't gift me with the patience gene. he gave that to brian. this past weekend was a really hard weekend and i found myself just crying out to God to provide us with the necessary peace and patience to wait.

so right now i am completely consumed with every baby and adoption book i can find. and the more i read the more i realize how much i don't know anything about raising a baby. i mean i never thought that God just downloaded this information in a mom's head when she delivered but surely there is some information that mom's just know. right? who knew that you weren't supposed to use baby wipes on newborns? who knew that the crib's rails should only be 2 3/8 in apart? well needless to say i am learning so much. i am just so thankful that i have so many friends that are also having babies this spring so when i am up in the middle of the night i know there are 3 other mom's up too. God really does have perfect timing.

another great thing that is happening during this waiting period is God providing the funds we will need to complete the adoption process. I am so happy that we are past the half way mark. I know the information on the side doesn't show this but we are waiting for a few things to come through. However, we only hav about $5500 left. That sounds like nothing compared to the $12000 we started out with. God is so good.

So for the mean time we will continue to wait, read, and raise while we wait on our adoption agency to interview us and do our homestudy. please pray that God will expediate the process.