1st Interviews

Today was our first interview as a couple with Jan, the Director of AIM Adoptions. It went really well! She asked us both questions about ourselves and our parents, siblings, any struggles we have faced, and some about our infertility and road to adoption. We feel very blessed to have found an agency that really gets to know us on a deep level, who prays for us and with us, and gives us hope that they will find the perfect baby for our family. So, we are officially signed up with their agency and the next step is to fill out autobiographies (very in-depth about ourselves) and then an all day seminar on May 15th. Thanks for all your prayers!

paperwork

"The springtime sun is as yellow as a daffodil floating in a sea of blue."

It's been a while since I posted, but not a whole lot has been going on. Just normal everyday things with Brian, Lilly, and Dakota. We have really been enjoying being outside in this great weather! As far as adoption goes, we are in the middle of paperwork and more paperwork. Things are going well with this, just trying to do a little bit each night and during Lilly's nap. We are also reading some of the adoption books - right now "Dear Birthmother", kind of dispelling the myths of adoption. We went and saw Nina and Papa this weekend, Nina is hurt right now from a horse injury for those that do not know. Lilly always enjoys going there and seeing the cats and horses - she just wants to stay outside.

We are having some painting done this weekend - our chimney, laundry room, and the new nursery. Even though we won't be getting a baby for probably around 9 months, since the painter is going to be here, we decided to go ahead and have it painted as well.

First Steps

Yesterday we had our first adoption orientation. It was very exciting and definitely confirmed in our minds that this is the path we are called for. We were put in an "adoption group" with 7 other couples who will sort of go through the process with us. Jan, the director, definitely has a heart for adoption, she has 6 adopted children, and has so many stories to share. She shared about all the ministries they have for the birth moms - this really touched our hearts, thinking this is about so much more than getting a new baby, but touching these birth moms lives. Our hearts and minds definitely were opened. We also discussed the legal aspects and the home study. Our next step is on April 14th. Brian and I have interviews with the director of AIM for her to better get to know us and our story that has led us to adoption. We also have an all day seminar on May 15th with our adoption group. Our specific prayers right now are:
1) For patience throughout all the paperwork/family book preparation, interviews, home study
2) For peace about all the financial aspects of adopting a baby
3) For the birth mom - we definitely want to surround her with prayer, even though we don't know who she is

Hop, Hop - Here Comes the Easter Bunny

This last weekend we celebrated Easter. Our Church meets in a arena where they have graduations and basketball games, so we had our service there on Saturday night. It was such a great service - Brian and I are so thrilled to have found a wonderful church home in our community (5 min from our house!) and one where we feel we are truly connected to the worship. The music there is awesome! Before church, they had an Easter egg hunt for the kids, so we took Lilly there for her first hunt. She knew she needed to get an egg, and she did get one egg, and then just walked off proud of her little egg. :)

On Easter day, we went to the Burks for lunch and an Easter egg hunt with the cousins. Lilly was much more into the eggs this time - papa had put coins in them so they jingled - she liked to pick them up and shake them. I made my traditional bunny cake - this is a must-have on Easter in my opinion.

Hope everyone had a great Easter. He is Risen, He is Risen Indeed!

Spring Break

This week was my sprink break from teaching my night class at Cyfair College and my mom came for the whole week to play with Lilly and help me with projects around the house. A BIG thank-you to mom who is such a great worker bee and helped me organize and clean out cabinets, pantry, laundry room, collate papers for school, and cleaned and decorated Lilly's playhouse outside. We also went to the tea room and mom got to see Lilly at Gymboree class. My sister and her fam also came this weekend and we had fun playing with neices/nephew and dad came on Saturday to complete the England side of the family. We also started clearing out our room that will be the new nursery whenever it is needed - this room has been a storage/office since we moved in. We took Lilly, mom and dad to the rodeo on Saturday - Lilly did not make it very long at the actual rodeo, but did enjoy all the sights and sounds of the people and the livestock show. I have never seen so many pigs and cows being shown by the FFA kids.

On the adoptin front, we got invited to attend the orientation for AIM Adoptions (the agency we sent our application to) on March 27th. It is mainly for more information for us and after that we can make an appointment for initial interviews with the social worker. So, we are excited about how quickly we heard back from them and pray this initial meeting with the agency goes well.

The Beginning

Hi everyone! I wanted to start a blog to keep everyone up to date with what is going on in our family's lives. Most people know our journey to have Lilly was a difficult one with so many tests and finally a IUI with Clomid to get pregnant. We feel so blessed God gave us this precious gift in Lilly. Well, of course we want more children and in the fall decided to start trying again. We did a few of the same tests over again and then tried Clomid by itself and then 3 IUI's with Clomid. None of this worked - we were definitely dissapointed, but had already discussed before beginning our journey what we wanted to do this time around. We had decided we would try 3 fertility treatments and that would be it. So what came next...

I think before we even had Lilly is when we started thinking of adoption. We have always had a heart for children who need a home and feel this is where we are being called. I think it was somewhat a relief for Brian and I after the last IUI did not work out, for we knew God had closed that door for now for us and is leading us to a new path. We started researching adoption and reading adoption books and talking to many people who have been there or are going through the process. We are definitely excited about our new journey. We plan to send in a initial application this weekend with photos of us and our home to see if we will be invited to join a particular agency's orientation process.

I wanted to start a blog to journal our adoption process, let everyone how the family and little Lilly are doing, and to post some specific prayers we may have along the way. As exciting as this process will be, I have to admit I have some fears/ anxiety about all the little details that will need to be worked out. I know Brian and I are placing our complete trust in the Lord and we are excited to see the little child the Lord is going to handpick out for us to raise.