Adoption - Day 1

It's official, we are submitting our application on Monday and will be on our way to becoming Mom and Dad to a beautiful little baby.

I'd like to be open as we go through this process, since so many people have shared in our journey and struggle with an inability to get pregnant.

First I'd like to say that adopting was not a rushed decision, nor was it a decision out of disappointment with our 2-year-long infertility. Adoption has been a long process for the both of us and about a year ago I opened up to the idea and over the past year I have overcome my fears and have become passionate to be a mother to an adopted baby regardless of if we ever do have biological children.

Second, we have decided to adopt a black baby. This passion stems from a few places. We love the idea of giving our niece, Liberty, a cousin that can relate on a cultural level. But we also love the idea of rescuing a baby from the foster care system and an unstable environment. The need is so great in the south and we feel inclined to adopt from there.

We have opted to move forward with An Open Door adoption agency, based out of Georgia. We will submit our application on Monday and then we will have our home study on Friday of next week. Right out of the gate we experienced our first blessing. The person conducting the home study is actually someone that Tim knows! It was completely out of randomness (a.k.a. God's plan) that we stumbled upon this agency that conducts these home studies and I initially communicated with the person. Tim then made the connection and the rest is history. Not only that but we also discovered the adoption will be about $5,000 less than we were anticipating.

As we launch into this process, we ask for your prayers and support. It's not going to be an easy road and I know that, for me, I will be struggling with continuing to view this time as becoming a mother. Much like a pregnant woman notices body changes and sees the growing baby protruding from her mid-section, I will need to be mentally, spiritually, physically and emotionally preparing to become a mom. This will not be an easy task and I am certain that my demons Mr. Failure and Mr. You Aren't Good Enough will pay me lots of visits and remind me that I'm not really going to be a mom since I'm not carrying the baby. I will fight them off with all I have and pray for God's joy to carry me through.

We also know that this comes with a significant financial burden. The adoption process will cost $20,000. We have complete faith that God will provide and, again, we ask for your prayers and support as we creatively approach good ol' fashioned fund raising.

Well, I've neglected my poor husband enough for tonight. I'm as excited as a kid in a candy store about all this and I already see God's providence leading us to our first addition (besides Tucker, that is) to our family.

Peace

HELLO PAPERWORK!

Ah, Books

So, I think I'm a book hussy. Whenever I finish a book quickly, which is fairly often, I feel parched and desperate for more until I find another book to dive into. The problem is that when this happens, I usually scoop up way too many books and I usually end up starting five books all at once because of my over zealousness for reading. I end up like a kid cowering behind the couch with the cookie jar and all the cookies with a bite out of them.

I love reading. I wish I had more time in each day to spend 2-3 hours reading. Sadly, it is more like an hour every day or two. I went to the library last night to get some more books while I wait for the books I really want to read to come in. I scooped up Francine Rivers' "Unveiled" on the life of Tamar, one of the five women in the lineage of Christ. It's a novella, so I'm thinking it will fly by quickly.

I have recently taken up a new interest in the lineage of Jesus Christ. Because I consider him my Savior and Purpose in life, I am excited to have found a new passion to learn about his lineage. I believe it stems from a few months back when I was reading the first chapter of Matthew from the King James Bible to my Grandma–no easy task. Underneath all the thee's and thou's I noticed that the lineage of Christ, first, includes five unlikely women–I say unlikely because they are just so normal, not royal or divine on their own accord–and, second, ends with Joseph. Joseph, as in Mary and Joseph. This I found fascinating considering there is no actual blood of Joseph in Christ, since Jesus was born through immaculate conception. I know that in Bible times and throughout history it is consistently the man that carries the lineage onto the next generation. It's just something that had never occurred to me.

Granted, this doesn't alter the story in any way, but it sure makes me awfully curious about the lineage of Mary.

Well, that's all the randomness for now. Ciao!

Body Gospel

So I've done it. For the first time in my life I have decided to commit to a workout program. Gulp.

It's one of those things where, yes, I want to lose weight, but I also desperately do not want to fail or give up. I think that's been the driving force behind not committing before this point.

I will post a "before" photo once I receive the DVDs. So, here's to pounding down as many ice cream scoops, chocolate candies, elephant ears and just plain butter until dooms day arrives!

If you want to Body Gospel with me... you can find it at bodygospel.com