Welcome to Our Journey

As you may or may not know, Rem and I have been considering adoption for some time now. We have always felt like God called us to be parents to our biological children, but also parents to an adopted child (or children, we don't know what the future holds). We have discussed that we are ready for our family to grow and have actually been throwing around the idea of having another biological child in the next year or so. I believe God has other plans for us, though. He used a high school friend of mine to affirm that now is the time for us to adopt. She has been sharing her stories of adopting two sweet little girls on her blog and in my heart, I know now is the time for us to begin the process of adoption. I brought it up to Rem and his response was, "I honestly don't see ANY reason why we shouldn't adopt now." So here we are, saying "God, we're ready to fulfill this call on our lives." It's pretty scary, not knowing what to expect and knowing this could be one of the most difficult things we have gone through this far in our marriage. As hard as we know it will be, we also know that the reward is great for those who obey God's call! We wanted to let our friends and family in on this journey with us because we know that the more people we have praying for us, the better!

 We had started researching an agency in St. Louis that we found online and were immediately drawn to it, but didn't know much about it. We emailed them and got an information packet and were very impressed with their view on adoption and I talked to a woman at the agency who was super sweet! Things were looking positive but I was still wanting some confirmation that this was the path we should take. I had put something on Facebook asking if anyone knew of anyone who had adopted in our area and if they could get them in contact with us. God worked quick and used a friend in our church to get us in contact with a couple who had been through the adoption process. I got in contact with her last night and asked what agency they had used and was almost shocked when she told me it was Bethany Christian Services, which is the agency we were initially drawn to. She highly recommended it and so I took that as confirmation that we should pursue adoption using this route. Last night, I submitted our preliminary application and talked to the agency today and they said we should be hearing from them today or tomorrow to see if we are a good candidate for their agency (the woman I talked with this morning had already looked over our application and said she saw no reason why we wouldn't be approved). If we are, we will submit a formal application for adoption. If we are approved, we will then have to attend a ten hour educational seminar and complete a home study before we can create a profile and be put on the waiting list at the agency. Yes, there are a lot of steps. It all seems very overwhelming to even type it out but we know God already knows the ending to our adoption journey, so there is no use getting overwhelmed by it. The biggest hurdle we will have to overcome, by far, is the financial aspect of adoption. We are praying that God will give us the right avenues to pursue so that we will be able to afford the adoption process. This too is a little scary for us. If we get approved we have to come up with close to $10,000 in a short period of time to cover our application, home study, and get us on the waiting list. Once we get matched with a birth mom and a baby is placed with us, we have to come up with $13,000 plus attorney's fees to be able to bring our baby home. This is the number one reason we have put off adopting for so long. It's overwhelming that we would have to pay close to what Rem brings home in one year being a youth pastor to get our baby. Yes, it would be MUCH easier and cheaper to have our own biological child but we believe God is calling our family to adoption. This is why we are no longer scared to start the process. We know God will provide the necessary resources in the right timeline for us to be able to move forward with the process each step of the way.

We are just beginning our journey but we invite you to come along side us, wherever this journey may take us. We don't know how long this journey will take or what the final result will be but we know someone who does. We are trusting that He will guide us every step of the way and place people in our lives to help us when we need it the most. Right now, we are asking above anything else, for prayers. Please be praying for us to be approved to become clients of this agency. Pray for the heart of our birth mom, whomever she is. She may not even be pregnant yet. We don't know whom God will choose to birth our child but we want to be praying for her already. Pray for our baby. He or She may not even be conceived yet, but God already knows him/her! Pray that we will be able to come up with the necessary monetary resources that we need to be able to go through this process. Pray for our hearts to be prepared for this journey. We have no idea what to expect but we are ready. Pray that our formal application and home study will be approved and there will be no hang ups in the process. Most importantly, pray for us in any way you feel God calling you to pray for us!

We will be needing lots of prayers and support in the upcoming months ahead as we begin this journey so I will be keeping everyone updated on the progress and in what ways they can specifically be praying. We appreciate everyone taking time to read about our journey and pray for us!