God's Adoption Profile

As I lay in bed this morning thinking about the past 24 hours, I can't help but think about God. I've been thinking about adoption and how it relates to God. Up until this point, I hadn't given it much thought but this morning it finally clicked. Each and every time we are presented with God's adoption 'profile', we have a choice to make. Some people choose to become part of God's family...but some do not. Even after seeing all the love that He has to offer us, we sometimes choose not to be adopted by Him.

Our profile book was shown to another potential mother yesterday for consideration. Our book outlines all of the wonderful things that we have to offer. Our pictures capture significant times in our life as a couple and as parents. But for whatever reason, we weren't chosen. We don't know why we weren't selected but we do know how much it hurts not to be chosen, especially when we know how much love we have to give.

God must feel the same way. Time after time, He reveals his profile to us yet we often walk away from Him. We choose not to be a part of His life. We choose not to be adopted into His family.

The next time God's profile is shown to you, would you please think about our family? Trust me, I know how much love He has to offer. It's unconditional love. It's never failing love. It's AMAZING LOVE!

Ask yourself: Have you accepted all that He has to offer you through adoption into His family?

It is well...

With MUCH excitement, our profile is being shown again tomorrow to another family who is considering adoption for their child. Up until this point, we've received 4 calls about potential families and we've had our profile book shown to one of them. Unfortunately, we weren't selected but we are at peace about it. That particular situation didn't feel 'right' deep down in our hearts. I can't explain it. We were excited about theopportunity but we didn't have an overwhelming sense of excitement about the possibilities. It's almost like we knew that it wasn't God's will for our family.

Tomorrow's meeting is a little different. For whatever reason, our emotions are pumping faster than ever! PQ is convinced that this is 'our child'...and Papa H and I are trying to remain optimistic yet realistic. Only God knows how this will all play out tomorrow. We might get a call saying that we were picked...or we might get a call saying that we weren't picked. Adoption is definitely a roller coaster ride, that's for sure.

As we anxiously await the news that tomorrow will bring, I can't help but think about the song IT IS WELL by Kutless. Whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say "It is well with my soul"...Check it out...and if you wouldn't mind praying for our family, we would appreciate it!

PQ is going to change the world...count on it!

PQ never ceases to amaze me. He's going to change the world. You can count on it! He recently asked me if he could help the town ban smoking on all public properties. Seriously? He's 7 years old and he is already thinking about the health effects that could arise from cigarette smoke. I love this boy. I love him more than he will ever know!

Earlier this week, a friend of mine who works for the local HMP wrote PQ a note asking him if he would be her 'assistant'. After hearing about his recent declaration, she reached out and asked him to help her tackle the job. Together, the two of them will be working on a presentation for the local town and they will begin planning ways to increase tobacco education and awareness. Within minutes of accepting his new position as 'assistant', he got to work writing 3 pages worth of ideas that he had for the local tobacco policy.

Deep down in my heart of hearts I know that PQ is going to do whatever he puts his mind to. I'm waiting for PQ to figure out what the rest of us already know...that he's an amazing kid who has a heart of gold and a gift to serve. He's creative, he's clever, and he's intellegent. Plus, he's a go-getter...he's funny...and he's extremely committed!

Look out, everyone...PQ is going places!

#53

What a week! Since our last post, we have since heard back from our agency advising that we are #53 on their list of prospective families. Our caseworker made it very clear that the # doesn't mean a thing, considering the fact that every family has their own set of guidelines of what they will and will not accept for referrals.

Hearing #53 definitely made me ponder whether we would see our little bundle of joy in the year 2011. That is; however, until Zandra pointed out that they were #60 with AA when they contracted with them...and within a month, they were flying out to pick up their little girl. So needless to say, things are happening...and there is no way to know for sure when it will all happen.

Someone emailed me earlier today asking if we had a list of items that we need. Up until that point, the only other time that I had given it any thought was when Country Mouse asked me if we had a bag packed. HAHAHAHA! Call us crazy...but we're trying not to go hog-wild until we know for sure who we will be getting. A boy? A girl? Twins? Who knows!!!

What we do know for sure is that we are PSYCHED about the upcoming arrival...whenever that might be. *wink*

Unexpected

It's amazing how the tides will turn when you least expect it. I find myself feeling confident in things, only to eventually be swept from under feet with a curve ball. Earlier this week, we got an email from our agency asking us to review a mother's profile. Although we hadn't received our final welcoming information, they had a person of interest that they wanted to share with us for possible consideration. They asked us if we wanted our profile to be shown to a birthmother who's delivery date was in 4 weeks.

With overwhelming emotions, we prayed over the files before reviewing them. Upon opening the file, we were able to see a picture of the woman who is placing her baby boy up for adoption. As we reviewed the medical files, we came upon some unexpected medical information that left us asking God what He had planned for our family. The mother had previously given a set of twins up for adoption a few years ago and was now faced with another pregnancy. This time, however, she is HIV positive.

Papa H and I researched transmission information from mother to baby during delivery. We screened out to our pediatrician for additional information and we enlisted our closest family in prayer. To say the very least, we were faced with the hardest decision of our life. When we called Uncle L for prayer, he said "And you thought raising the money was going to be the hardest part of adoption". Isn't that the truth. Never in a million years did I imagine us having to make such a difficult decision. We had to decide whether we wanted to pursue this possible referral based on all of the medical information that was being presented.

The chances of transmission was low, however, the chance was still there. What would it mean for our family? What would it mean for everyone in our inner circle? What would it require financially? What would it require emotionally? Was this what God had planned for us? How would we know for sure?

After a lot of prayer and open discussions, we decided that it wasn't the right situation for our family to be pursuing at this time. After meeting Papa H for lunch on Tuesday, we agreed that we would contact our agency and let them know that we would not like our profile to be shown.

But why, we keep asking. Perhaps we needed to talk through an HIV positive situation. Up until that point, it hadn't been discussed. Perhaps we needed to be reminded of the blessing that we do have in PQ. He is happy and healthy and that is SUCH a blessing. Perhaps we are to grow closer together from this experience...perhaps that's it. Unfortunately, we will never know in this life why God chose to have us go through this situation earlier this week. As the peace of mind continues to invade our life, we are certain that God has an awesome plan for us and for this child. Although this child is not going to be coming to our home, he is going to be going to a home that God has hand selected. We are going to continue to pray for the mother and the newborn child and whichever family that is chosen to care for him.

If you wouldn't mind, would you please lift up this family in prayer as they approach the babies 02/12/11 due date?

We've been Notarized!

It's official....our homestudy has been NOTARIZED so we are good to go! Our out of state agency will be in touch with us next week to talk about timeframes and other details. We can't wait...we are SUPER EXCITED!

PQ picked out the color of his siblings room earlier this week. He opted for a shade of dark green (because just about any girl/boy color will look great as accents). Plus, he has opted to take the smaller bedroom if we get a call for twins.

It's all coming together...slowly but surely! :)

Loan Application Update

I am printing off the final documents for the Abba Fund (as I type). We are applying for an interest free loan to help cover the rest of the adoption costs. The loans are available through the Abba Fund for Christian couples who are adopting. It will take 6-8 weeks for a decision to be made whether we get the loan or not. We'll see how it goes...

For now though, we have a FREE concert being put on January 15th by one of Papa H's friends. We're excited for an evening out and about filled with great music and fantastic fellowship! Papa H and I were talking about it just last night. We both agreed that this whole adoption has been a great way to witness to people. Sure, there will be a love offering for anyone who feels led to make a donation towards our adoption fundraising but we're hoping for more than just donations. We're hoping that the concert on the 15th serves as a witness for Christ.

You just never know when seeds will be planted...