A Time to Be Excited, Adoption Story Page 6

Once we decided to adopt, excitement set in. The decision brought so much freedom to our lives. For so many years we dreamt of what our family was going to look like, our hopes would be raised and then shattered. When you are dreaming about having a child biologically, you know that you will become pregnant, a baby will be born, the baby will look like you and have some of your personality qualities, the child will continue to grow. A person who has their children through pregnancy pretty much knows what to expect. When you are growing your family through adoption, you really don't know how your family is going to look. Since we adopted through DHS, we had a lot of options. We were able to decide what age group we wanted to look at, if we wanted a sibling group, what race. Initially we put that we wanted a sibling group ages seven and younger. It was a big surprise when we ended up with a young child without a sibling group, but that is for a different page. This was the time when we were finally able to dream about what our family was going to look like and know that it would soon come true. It was such a happy time in our lives and we could feel the peace that comes from letting God have control of our plans.  It was during this time that I found my joy. I realized that my life didn't need to look how I wanted it to. I became content with the idea of  my life looking how God wanted it to look. That was true freedom. In the next months that joy and freedom grew while we went through the process of adoption. God brought me out of the darkness and into the season of fulfilment.

Shall We Pause for Questions?

As soon as someone finds out that we adopted our little booboochachoo, questions follow. I am cool with this, in fact I take every chance I get to talk about what God has done in our lives. For my readers sake, I thought I might post some of the FAQ, just in case you have been wondering. Also know, that if you ever have any questions about our story at all, feel free to email me. 

Most Asked Questions:

How long have you had Philip?
We got Philip in Oct. 2009, he was almost 21 months when he came home with us. It was love at first sight!

How did Philip come to live with you?
A: We get this almost daily in one form or another.  We adopted Philip through DHS.  Despite popular belief, this was not hard, you do have to go in depth about your personal life, but don't let this scare you. 

Did it take along time finalize your adoption?
A: Philip came home with us ten months after we applied, and our adoption was final about eight months later.  This seems like a long time, but it went by really fast!

Do you have an open adoption?
A:Yes. We believe it is important to keep Philip in contact with his birth family. Through our adoption we have extended our family to include a whole other family, his birth mom, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. This work really well for us and I enjoy having them in our lives.

Where does Philip get his red hair?
A: This is another one we get almost daily. Philip gets his red hair and curls from his birth mom. She has beautiful long, red (a little darker than Philip's), curly hair.
Do you want to adopt again?
A: Absolutely! We believe that God is building our house, and we are waiting for the direction of when to take that next step.

I hope this answers any questions you might have! Again email me with your questions, I love to hear from you all.

The Turning Point Adoption Story Page 5

In every story there is a turning point. Mine started out very dark and took over a year to come about. In August of 2007, Justin and I woke up to the sound of water rushing into our house. We lost almost everything we owned in a "hurricane" on dry land. A creek was literally running through our house.I don't remember much about the next few days, but I do remember how our church family rallied around us. I am so thankful for the people who came and helped us in our time of need. For the next year I was simply going through the motions of life. There were a lot of other things that happened in our lives around that time that were good and if it had not been for those good times, who knows how far into depression I would have gone. Slowly, I repeat SLOWLY, I began to come out of the depression. There was no precise moment that I changed, it was a little at a time. But let me assure you, it was God who did the work in me. I began to feel a closeness to God I had not known before.  I began to know that God was writing my book, and I began to let him.  I guess I finally began to realize that nothing was going to carry me to my destiny except God's grace, God's plan, God's love. There was absolutely NOTHING I could do to change any of that. It was really hard for me to accept that I didn't have to work for any of these things. I had spent my whole life working to earn something from someone, including God. It was in the days that I had nothing left to loose, that I saw God work in a mighty way in me. In October of 2008 Justin and I started to seriously discuss adoption. We talked about everything we would need to take into consideration.  Finally, we were like "Let's do it!".   Whenever we decided, I started to feel such a peace about it. It was finally the moment I had been waiting nine years for, I was going to be a mom!