Had a crazy thought today

So I had a crazy thought tonight as I was ironing some clothes. Yes I iron. Some of you just fell out of your chair and no that's not the crazy thought
I was thinking, what if we adopted twins, how fun would that be! Cris has always wanted twins. I think someone seriously needs to slap me, because that would have never come out of my mouth a year ago. Something is definitely wrong.

Changes

Paperwork Complete!!!! Next in the process is home study where we get a case worker that comes to our home and checks it out to make sure the home is safe for little ones and we are good to go. Already our profile has been sent to an organization called SWAN in Pa that lists all the sibling groups up for adoption in our state then with their help and Common Sense Adoption Agency we will be matched with kids. It could work two ways: 1) we get files of children already legally ready to adopt in Pa that currently live in a foster home and we take them in for 6 months to see if it is a good match or 2) we wait for an emergency situation where siblings need a place asap and get placed into our home to house til they are up for adoption-this is mostly the way we would be able to get a younger child. So as you can tell this is still a long process. We foster to adopt for up to 6 months and then can go to court to legalize the adoption IF their paperwork is signed off and parent rights are terminated. It will be an emotional journey for our family but exciting at the same time.
I currently put my Nest Staging Designing business on hold and started daycare. This helps with our income and also helps prepare Austin for other children in the home. So far so fun!
We never thought we would ever trade in the SUV for a van but yesterday was the big day-Traded the Nissan Exterra for a Quest van. It was bitter sweet as we had so many missionary memories in that suv but now we are ready for the next adventure God has in store.
Recently I had to get some designing ideas out of my head so one day with a can of Egg Yolk Yellow paint I went to town on the old crib. It was nice before the move back to the states but with 7 day moving trip it ended with lots of dents and scratches. The bedroom is now ready for 2 more children at any time.
Please stop and pray right now for our future children that God will keep them safe til they come home to us.

Paperwork

These last 2 months have been very busy. We received our packet of papers to start. As many of you know this is a time consuming process. We started with reading two books. One "Parenting the Hurting Child." It was full of great information to learn about attachment disorders. One thing at the beginning we learned fast was that love is not always enough. Adoption through foster care; these children are placed in foster care because they have gone through something bad enough the state felt they needed removed from home/family to be safe. 95% of these children have been sexually abused. Kevin and I took 4 classes on how to help, encourage, and raise a child in these situations.
So after these classes and books read, we started on the stack of papers. FBI check, background checked, SS income info., references, list all 29 homes ever lived in, took tests, and more. Finally Thanksgiving week we mailed it out! Yes I did the happy dance many times.

You might be a foster parent if...

1) If you sit up late to watch specials about things like meth labs and pediatric psychology on PBS or the Learning Channel...you might be a foster parent.

2)If your friends and family collect coins or baseball cards or wine and you only want to collect kids...you might be a foster parent.

3)If you hear about a child being abused and it makes you want to jam a two-by-four up the abuser's nose on the one hand but thank them on the other hand for providing you an opportunity to love their child...you might be a foster parent.

4)If your income would allow you to drive a big, new truck or a Corvette if you wanted and you voluntarily make due with a 10 year old beater so you can keep the house fixed up to code and add another bedroom with an egress window in the basement to increase your capacity...you might be a foster parent.


Thought you would get a laugh at some of these. Adoption through foster care is a an awesome opportunity God has given us to grow our family. I am reading a book right now "Adopting the hurt child" and I am learning so much on how to comfort a child that has gone through so much. I am grateful that God has chosen Kevin and I for this adventure!

Improvement

Today we filed our first necessary paperwork to get the ball rolling with adoption. We've been motivated in a big way! Through all our prayers that we have been crying out to God about, he answered a very specific one that was weighing on us and in some ways preventing us from moving forward. You've got to understand, we are by no means wealthy. We're wealthy in the Spiritual way, but in the physical, we've got more faith than dollars if you know what I mean.
Two weeks ago God answered a huge prayer of ours by one of you donating $1000 towards our adoption. I have to admit when I saw that email from paypal indicating there were funds available, I first thought that it was a scam. I thought that someones email had been hacked and I was receiving one of those click here for your chance to win $1000. I was completely shocked when I found that it was in fact true! Immediately I called Cris and shared the news with her and she was equally shocked.
Let me tell you what this will allow us to do: We will be able to officially file our application to become foster parents. We will be able to complete all of our necessary background checks, you'd be amazed at how much they want to know about us. We will be able to go through most of the classes we need to become certified foster parents. And we'll be able to purchase most of the necessary materials we need for learning as well.
We learned in missions that the best way to raise funds is simply by communication. In order to finalize our adoption, we need roughly 5,000 depending all the details. The best part about this is the fact that God has chosen us to do this and we'll have the chance first hand to see God use us to bless a child that we have yet to even meet. Thanks for your prayers and if you'd like to get involved with us in this simply click the donate button top right.

New Perspective

Our first meeting with Common Sense Adoption Agency in Camp Hill, PA was a bit more intense than I first thought it would be. I have to admit my view of adoption was a bit skewed. I was just like Crystal, intrigued at the friendliness of the staff and their heart for these children. I was pretty shocked at their feeling of responsibility to the children they had helped place in homes even the point of giving up their personal time to assist in doctors appoints or even counseling new parents about the intensities of being adoptive parents. And that's exactly where my skewed view of adoption was changed. I'm not sure why I thought any differently, probably for the same reason we think that being a CSI is so cool and easy- they catch the bad guy after just one hour, he's tried and convicted- TV makes it look so easy and certainly every adoptable child is just the perfect little person with no character flaws and they all have blond hair and blue eyes. No the shocking reality that I learned that evening was that 97% of adoptable children have been sexually abused, that many of them come from homes that are more meth labs than homes and that the reason they are adoptable is because their birth parents have either given up their rights as parents or have lost their rights because of something they did. Because of this there is a lot that we must be prepared for and for this reason we have a lot of classes we need to take both online and in Camp Hill. Right now we are reading Adopting the Hurt Child by Gregory Peck and learning just how extensive the physical and emotional damage that this little person may have endured. It's a sad and sobering reality but honestly, I believe God built us for this.

Jumping in with both feet-Cris

As soon as Kevin and I decided adoption was what God had placed on both our hearts, within hours I was online researching. Let me just say that can be overwhelming at the beginning. I started filling out request forms for information from the state of Pa adoption foster to adopt. I can remember the exciting day we received our first packet of information with a list of 12 agencies near. How do you make a decision? First we went through and checked off each agency that did not have a website. Seriously, if they are not up on technology, my thought was they could be behind on the adoption process as well. Second, I emailed friends that had adopted locally and asked what they had heard and eliminated a few more. Third, I called the ones left. Talked with them and one just stuck out. I was on the phone for an hour and it felt that I was talking with a friend. We talked about the positives as well as the negative sides of adoption. I liked how things were not sugar coated but direct and the biggest hook for us was how the agency really wanted to keep Austin in mind and involved in the process. Common Sense Adoption Agency in Harrisburg was it! Kevin, Austin, and I took an hour road trip and had our first meeting on August 30, 20011. We walked in thinking we were going to walk out overwhelmed but it was not like that at all. We were so encouraged and really felt that God was totally lining things up. It was easier than we thought.

http://www.csas-swan.org/index.html