adoption
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monday gratitude.
Right now I’m in a season of waiting. It’s not like anything I’ve ever felt before. I think about our baby throughout the day (and sometimes night) and my emotions are a jumble of wondering, happiness, fear, excitement, sadness, and delight. God gives peace, moment by moment, but still I wonder. How long? What twists and turns will this adventure take? I’ve come to realize that a whole lot of life is waiting, in some way or other. And when I look back on the waiting seasons, I think I’d have to say my biggest regret is what I missed out on along the way because I was so focused…
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day 17: a letter to baby #3.
Dear sweet baby, Today we got approved for adoption; we’re now officially a Waiting Family. You have no idea what this means to me. You’ve been in my heart for such a long time. Did you know that we tried to start the adoption process to meet you when Judah was just a year old? But God closed the door then, and He gave us sweet Amelie. Then we moved to another country and we thought surely you would be waiting for us there. Once again, God’s answer was, “No.” We had to move back home and my heart was so sad. I was really sick. I missed the place…
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day 12: home study.
If you’re new here, welcome to our blog and to 31 Days of Purposeful Simplicity! You can click on the graphic in our sidebar for the full list of posts in this series. I use Sundays this month for family updates. And so now, the home study. We finished our home study this past week. Due to short-staffing issues in our adoption agency office, we waited three months for our home study, but once we got started, we rolled! We squeezed all four appointments into just over a week. The home study process consists of an initial home visit, individual interviews with David and me at the office, then a…
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baby reading.
I’ve been working away, in fits and starts, at my adoption reading this summer. After our home study, I fully intend to skim through Secrets of the Baby Whisperer again — my go-to book on newborns and scheduling with my first two kids. And when the baby comes, whenever that is, I’ll dig into What to Expect the First Year. But my favorite books to read when expecting a baby are Anne Lamott’s memoirs. I believe David’s aunt recommended Operating Instructions when I was pregnant with Judah. It was the middle of summer when I first read it; we’d just moved 600 miles north to Lititz, Pennsylvania, for David to start seminary, and I was 7 months pregnant.…
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adoption training.
David and I attended an all-day adoption training at our agency Friday. When we left, our heads were spinning with information, but it was so valuable. We learned details about everything from our home study to how to fund an adoption to the legal process involved in adopting a child. We heard stories from birth parents and adoptive families and had our eyes opened to a myriad of issues surrounding the adoption journey. We’re so thankful for an adoption agency that is organized and left with all our questions answered, as much as possible. Basically we learned that adoption is one great adventure into the unknown. We haven’t done adoption, but we…
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everything has changed.
We’ve been back from vacation for five days, and what a blissfully slow week it’s been. It took the kids a bit to recalibrate from a week without us. Oh yes, there were melt downs. And drama. Complaints of “But Mum Mum didn’t make us do that!” All of that’s to be expected and after our week on a mountain we’re happy to be home and riding out the storm in a routine. I’ve purposefully kept things quiet around here to give us time to adjust and find our rhythm again. Lots of reading library books, taking walks, trips to the pool, drawing, cooking together, whole stretches of time where my phone and the computer…
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instagram.
In general my phone photo quality isn’t great, but here’s some fun moments from the past couple weeks . . . Today’s my brother Danny’s 27th birthday. He recently moved to Florence, SC, so we’re missing him today. We had a fun library/coffee date right before he left. Star Wars comic books were involved. Watching Frozen and cuddling. He’s growing up so fast. This room is going to get a makeover in the next few months because David and I are moving our master bedroom here to make way for the baby’s room. I’m both happy and terrified to lose our junk room (yes, that stationary bike has got to…
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paperwork.
I turned in our completed paperwork to the adoption agency yesterday afternoon! I may have pushed myself like a crazy person to get it all done in just over a week, but the training class we wanted to attend in April filled up fast so I wanted to be sure we’re on the list for the June 27th training. Our friend Ashley took this photo Sunday to include with our packet. Later on in the process we’ll create a family photo book for birth moms to look through. Right now I feel an enormous sense of relief that we’ve done our part and can breathe for a few weeks until…
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paper pregnancy.
I’ve heard the term “paper pregnancy” to describe the adoption process, and I’m hear to tell you it’s real, folks. Leaving that first information meeting at our agency two weeks ago, my emotions were haywire. I felt actually pregnant in that I knew deep down we’d set in motion something that will end with us having a baby. Our lives are changing. When I went to pick up my kids at Anna’s house after the meeting I burst into tears in front of her and Shari because everything felt so strange and wonderful and terrifying, all at the same time. Since then my emotions have eased a little, but I’m…
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baby #3.
Well that got your attention, didn’t it? Yep, it’s true! Lord willing, there’s going to be a Gentino baby #3. We started the adoption process this week! Ten months ago today I wrote this post about dying to my dream of adopting kids, about learning contentment with my “right now family.” I really thought that was that. A closed chapter. But God has opened it again. He always surprises, doesn’t He? It happened so fast that we’re still reeling in a way from the shock of it. And in a way we’re not. Because it also seems like the most natural thing. You make think I’m crazy but the seed…