What will Father's Day Look Like?

This morning, I am up early.  John has asked for pancakes for his Father's Day breakfast, so the cooking will begin soon.  As I sat in the quiet, I decided to look through some photos, and came across this one of John and the kids.

 

I can't help but wonder... What photo will we have next Father's Day?  Will there be a #5 we are blessed to call our own?  Sitting right there in the middle of all of that love?  There are still MANY hurdles in our way, and we are praying that God will show us His Will for our family very clearly through each of those hurdles. 

 We will need

Medical Clearance

from my doctor. 

~ He will have to say ((in his grumpy bedside manner)) that I am completely fit to become a parent again.  We are not sure of his answer, since he is a glass less than 1/2 full type of guy.  I parent Kyle and Kristelle just fine with this disease, but will he okay me to love another?

Answered!!! 6/23!  

Doctor was totally in favor of this! 

We will also have to pass the hurdle of  guardianship.

If I were to get pregnant tomorrow, no one would question me as to who would care for the child if John and I happened to die before he was grown.  Not the case with adoption.  We have to have a plan for this.  We are hearing that sometimes writing your retired parents down on this form doesn't suffice, but that's the only option we have.  That would be the down side of coming from small families.

Answered!!! 6/19!  Thank you Jesus for friends who stepped in to help with this!

Then there is the hurdle of finances for

all of the legal costs...  yeah, enough said.

But at the end of the race? 
There's a little boy, about to give up hope that anyone would ever want him, love him, call him their own.  That in our eyes, is worth the risk, worth the journey, worth the tears and frustration along the way.  Because God's heart is for us to love and care for the orphans, and that's just what we desire to do.

Break our hearts God,
for what breaks yours.
Show us what WE are
to do with your words.
Remove any hurdle that is
 standing between us
and the path you have for us,
and give us a spirit of
 courage as we walk this journey.


2 Timothy 1:7  God didn't give us a cowardly spirit but a spirit of power, love, and good judgment.

It all helps...

Today,  I spoke with our social worker from our new homestudy agency.  She is ready to get this show on the road!  What a blessing, because our old agency still hadn't contacted us!  So...  I contacted them this morning and politely and calmly told them that they were not the agency to help us.  Praise God, they decided to return our non-refundable money to us!  It all helps!

If you have fundraising suggestions, let me know... we need them!!!  Right now, the thoughts are
~ a garage sale in the fall,
~ another Party of Gold and Silver,
~ and a campaign to recycle old cell phones, computers, toner and ink jet cartridges.  (Let me know if you have any of these, the recycle money is small, but it all adds up!)

So what happens now?

Well, for the moment, we are living in "adoptionville."  So much of our life is centered around that right now.  It won't always be this way, and things should slow down, but this weekend we worked on...

Paperwork: 50+ pages of forms for our main adoption agency in Colorado. (who has handled adoptions from Kolfe in the past)  15+ pages of forms for our homestudy agency here in Arizona.  This is Agency and forms #2, since we will be firing our first homestudy agency.  Why?  Well, 2 weeks later, we still have not heard from them about the paperwork I hand delivered.  We have heard from our home agency that this is already a sign of trouble, because we will not be "waiting" for a child, like parents who choose to adopt infants and toddlers.  There is a real boy, sitting and waiting for us to finish our end of the process... so goodbye agency that is just taking our money and just sitting!!

Furniture:  Well, because of the cost involved with adopting, we are choosing to stay in the home we are currently in, and just find a few ways to make if fit our growing family better.  This means my homeschool room will have to go.  We now have an enormous cabinet by the front door.  Please hold your comments if you come over. :o)  Not all of the changes we will make will be pretty ones!  We also have a really cute 6 seater table for the kitchen.  (Yes, room to grow, if God has that in His plans.) More changes are coming, but that was what we accomplished this weekend.

Classes/books: John and I are working our way through a mound of on-line adoption classes and books.  So far, it has been both enjoyable and informative.  Saturday's classes backed up what I have been saying all along about our big boys.  Emnatu and Ayal, because of their life in an orphanage (since ages 2-3) may physically look 21/22 years old, but their real/emotional ages are closer to 15/16.  I have to say, realizing I wasn't crazy in thinking this, was a huge relief.  It accounts for a lot of the struggles we have (even this week) with Emnatu, in particular.  Being part of a loving, nurturing family helps the growth and development of children so much more than any of us realize.