It's Official!

I just wanted to let you all know that we received our Foster Care License in the mail last week. It took us about 10 months from start to finish to complete all the classes and paperwork, and I think we'd both agree that it wasn't nearly as bad as we thought it would be. Bethany Christian Services, the private agency that we're using as a mediator between us and the state, has been a huge help in this process.

We are currently receiving profiles of available kids via email almost weekly, and we are prayerfully reviewing these profiles and seeking God's wisdom as we try to determine which kid(s) He has chosen for us. This process is much different than the Domestic Infant adoption program we went thru to get Abby. With Abby, we submitted our information to Bethany, along with a multi-paged photo album of ourselves and our lives, and it was basically up to the Lord to move in the heart of a birthmom and dad to select us to be the parents of their child. Bethany did a lot of work on our behalf behind the scenes to advocate for us as they met with birthparents, and a lot of the time we didn't know what, if anything, was going on.

This time, we are much more in the driver's seat. Some may think that this way more desirable because you have the opportunity to pick your kids, but really, it's a lot harder because there are so many kids needing a home (8-12 new kids available for adoption every week). Part of you wants to take every one of them home, but you have to determine what is in the best interest of the child, and what will be the best fit for your own family. No kid is perfect, and each has its own set of abilities and challenges, and it's really difficult to read thru each of the profiles and say "is this the one(s) for us?"

Even when we find one that is of interest to us, we can't just say "I want that one" and bring them home the next day. If we're interested in a child, we let Bethany know, and they send our homestudy to the child's caseworker, and that caseworker will evaluate our homestudy, along with other homestudies they receive from other interested parents, and it's their job to determine who will be the best fit for that child. And then the whole learn-everything-about-the-child, meet/greet, interview process will begin. We haven't gotten near that part yet, so I don't know exactly how it will go.

I share all this so you can know better how to pray for us. Are we heroes for doing this? No. Are we ready for what lies ahead? No. We believe this is part of the plan that God has for us, and we are trusting Him to lead us and provide for what we need emotionally, mentally, and physically as we go along this journey.