Adoption: Updating Our Paperwork
If you’re new to our adoption story, you can read about the beginning of our journey here – our home study, when we went active, as well as what it looks like to say YES to cases:
We’ve also shared about our process of waiting:
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and have put together a Q & A that includes the most frequently asked adoption questions we receive.
In this post, we want to share about where we currently are in the adoption process.
Adoption: Updating Our Paperwork
As we have walked through these last several months, we have so loved hearing from others who are also praying about how they can help children in need of loving homes.
There are truly so many different ways to love others in tangible ways!
It’s hard to believe, but we are currently coming up on it being one year since we went active with our consultants and began seeing adoption cases.
In some ways, this year has felt like a long one, and in other ways, it has flown by as family life for us seems to do.
We continue to remain open to what the Lord has for us. As each situation comes through to our email inbox, we feel a mixture of hope that it might be the one, but also a sense of peace that if it’s not, we can trust God’s plan for us and rejoice in His sovereignty.
We don’t want just any situation to be a match for our family. If God wants to grow our family through adoption, we only want the situation(s) He has for us.
This is what gives us total peace each time we receive a “Not yet.” email.
Over the last couple of months, we’ve started to receive questions from well-meaning family and friends: “What’s taking so long?” – “Does the process usually take this long?” and comments along the lines of “A birth mom would be crazy not to choose your family!” – “Why haven’t you been picked yet?”
Honestly, we’re not sure what’s taking so long. When working with consultants, the process is not typically an extended one like you hear about with other routes to adoption.
The current state of our country is definitely impacting the adoption world as a whole in ways it never has before – We understand this, but beyond that, we do not have an explanation for all the reasons why we are still waiting.
We do know we are not alone in our journey, and we are so grateful we have that assurance.
He goes before us! We’re simply waiting to watch the story unfold.
We’ve now reached the year mark which has included some paperwork updates.
Over the last several weeks, we have been submitting new clearances, requesting updated reference letters, going to doctor appointments to gather fresh sign-offs on our medical forms, and meeting with our home study coordinator to update our Home Study.
A North Carolina Home Study is actually good for 18-months, but since we are working with agencies in various other states, ours needs to be updated every twelve months.
We’re not having to redo all of the paperwork we did at the beginning of this process, but there are several things that are required to be updated annually, and we just in the past few days have finalized taking care of those to-dos.
This time around, the paperwork doesn’t feel as overwhelming. For each piece that has needed updating, we’ve known what to expect and have been able to tackle it fairly quickly.
Many of you have asked how you can help!
We truly would be so grateful for your prayers – those are EVERYTHING to us!
We do have a baby registry on Amazon for those who have requested be able to send tangible items our way. These things we have received are waiting in our guest room closet for what we call our Maybe Baby.
As time goes on, if these items are not used, we have assured our generous friends that everything will be donated to one of the nearby pregnancy centers we have loved supporting over the years: Community Pregnancy Center of Lake Norman.
Our plan at this time is to continue to stay Home-Study ready! We pray daily – together as a family – that if God has a baby (or two…or three!) for our family to love that He will work out those details in His time…and His way.
I can not imagine walking through this process without the peace of knowing that God is in control. We can not make demands of him or place our desires regarding the timing above His perfect plan and good purposes for us.
God, we stand ready and willing – however you would have us serve. We remain committed to abiding in the story You have for us. We want nothing more – nothing less.
