Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Giving Thanks

This past weekend was our Canadian Thanksgiving. We had lots of family time, lots of food, so many things to be thankful for. I thought I would take the time to sit and blog about a few of the things I am most thankful for.

I am thankful for my Chad. My best friend, confidante, hero, supporter. He tells me all the time that I am weird but he loves me anyways. :) He loves me for who I am and in spite of who I am. I never cease to be amazed at how God so perfectly matched us and knew just what and who we would need. How He answered my every prayer and hope and dream above and beyond what I ever could have imagined. It is so beautiful and brings such a feeling of security to know that us being together is good, a God-ordained and orchestrated thing. I love being loved by Chad and loving him in return and am so incredibly blessed because of it.

I am thankful for my Emma. She is the very tangible evidence of the reason why I had such a desire from a very young age to adopt. God was preparing my heart from the time I was a young girl to welcome and love my Emma. I am quite certain she is a gift directly from God's heart to ours.

I am thankful for my home, for having more than enough, for my Finlay, for waking up each day knowing that God is in the day and no matter what happens He is with me. I am thankful for health and for knowing that the older I am getting the healthier I am actually getting as I learn new things and find doctors who truly care and as I take care of myself. I am thankful for seasons changing and old things dying away so that new can come again. I am thankful for my in-laws and how they so willingly welcomed me into the family and how they have also welcomed Emma and how we know they are there for us whenever we need them and in whatever way they can help.

I am thankful for my parents. I am thankful for parents who have stuck it out even when at times I am certain one or both of them wanted to pack it in. I am thankful that they have always been there for me. I am thankful that they aren't perfect but are willing to let me see that and to help me learn from their mistakes. I am thankful for the legacy of faith and family that is being passed down from generation to generation in the families of those of us who believe and hold fast to the truth and to all God has done and all that God is. I am thankful that in this day and age of so many families being torn apart and not speaking to each other that yesterday my whole family gathered together to share a meal and laughter and love and to just enjoy being a family.

My sister-in-law said something yesterday as we were going around the table saying what we are thankful for that was one simple word but spoke volumes. She was thankful for salvation. Oh yes! Without that I know for sure we wouldn't have been gathered together yesterday. We wouldn't know the joy and love that comes from being part of a family that will stick together. More than that though we wouldn't know what it is like to walk this earth never alone. To know that no matter what our future holds we are safe in His hands. To know that when our time on earth is done we will see the Lord face to face and finally, finally be able to truly worship and adore Him in a way that our heart's don't totally understand but long for.

This Thanksgiving more than anything I am just thankful. Pure and simple. God is good all the time and all the time God is good.


Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Adoption Profile


I thought I would do something a little different this time around. I thought that I would share our adoption profile with you. When you go on the waiting list you are required to create an adoption profile or birthparent letter as it is otherwise known. It is kind of like a photo album or scrapbook for the birthmom to look at. It should have lots of photos and info about you and your family but a large part of it is a letter to the birthmom introducing yourselves and talking about your dreams for your family. It is a hard thing to do as you don't want to come across as asking her for her baby or making her feel pressured. It was tough to write as I tried putting myself in her shoes. Never could I ask someone to give me their baby and so instead I talked about how much we respected her decision to adopt and that we would be praying for her. I ended up kind of making the whole thing one long letter. I was able to use our last profile and just add in information on Emma and update some photos and do some tweaking here and there.

How this all works is the birthmom is counselled and in a way comes up with a list of what she is looking for in the family that she would like to be matched with. The agency then looks through the list of people waiting and chooses the ones that most closely match that list. They start with the top 10 then the top 20 and so on until they find 6 or so that are similar to the birthmom's list and then they give her those 6 profiles to look through and choose a family from. If none of those work they keep working their way down the list. That is why we never have any idea how long we will be waiting. 

I am attempting to upload a PDF link for you to look at as I can't seem to get it to work any other way. If this doesn't work I apologize and I will continue to try until something does! It may seem like something personal to be sharing but I wanted to share it with the couples who were our references as well as those of you who have wondered exactly how the process works. At least I'm not sharing our home study with you. THAT would be too much information!

For those of you who do want to read through the adoption profile just click on the link below. That should take you to another webpage where you can click "download" and then "download anyway". Don't worry, it's all safe! I tried it myself and it downloaded the PDF.