Adoption Journey

I have to document this journey on my blog, because I don't always journal as much as I would like to and sometimes I really think my memory is leaving me.

Stan and I started having a weekly date night about a month ago. We realized all of a sudden that with two 16 year olds in the house, there was no excuse for us not to spend some one on one time together each week. So, every Wednesday night, we head out for a glass of wine or a cup of coffee or whatever. On Wednesday, March 31st we were sitting at Brio having a glass of wine and a plate of bruchetta. Out of nowhere, Stan says "I think I'm ready to adopt." I almost fell off of my high top chair, and with only one glass of wine! If he had told me that the next day (April Fool's) I would NOT have been happy with him.

As I wrote in my previous post, adoption has been on my heart since I was a little girl. If you have read other posts of mine on the topic you know that over the years Stan and I have had more than one argument about it. He was not opposed to adoption, he just did not feel the timing was right. When, Lord, will I ever learn to let You work on my husband? All these years, I have badgered and nagged, even though I knew it was wrong. I would repent of it and truly try not to, and I would beg God to take the desire away from me if it was not from Him. What I know now is that the desire was from Him, but He also desired that I let Him be the one to convince my husband. Stan only needs one Holy Spirit and that is not me! Finally, about six or seven months ago, I hit bottom on the subject. I was frustrated with Stan and frustrated with God. I wanted God to just take the "want to" away, but God had better plans. He wanted me to put it on an alter and give it to Him. He wanted me to want to, but he also wanted me to submit to my husband and to Him on the subject. I did. Finally. I told Him that if I never adopted a child that it was ok.

Now, less than a year later, paperwork is almost finished and baby's ETA - 3 weeks to 6 months!

God is so good. Even to me. I am amazed and humbled that even though I am quite slow and it took me way too long to lay that dream on the alter, He was patiently waiting and ready to give me my heart's desire. I am so glad that His timing is perfect.

We have always thought we would adopt internationally, and that is still a possibility for us in the future, but right now we have decided that domestic is where God is leading us. We called the attorney who handled our step-parent adoption in July and found out that she can handle the entire process for us. She referred us to a social worker and she has contacts to locate birth moms. We have our home study tomorrow and our profile book will be turned in on Monday. Once we are picked by a birth mom and the baby is born, we are ready to go. We did not put any race or gender specifications on our adoption, so the attorney feels that it will go extremely fast.

We can not wait to see who God is putting in our family. I kind of feel like I am pregnant....nervous, excited, and more than a little nauseas. This could either go on record as the shortest pregnancy in history or the longest. We will see.

Thanks again for your prayers. I will keep you updated.