Thursday, January 20, 2011
Agency Approved!!!
Today Sharon presented us to the agency for approval in the monthly board meeting. She discussed our meetings, personality test results, home study findings, references etc. (basically just every intimate detail about our marriage and family). She called us this afternoon to let us know we have been approved for adoption through Christian Family Care. We are now in the match book and tomorrow she will distribute our 50 match letters to local pregnancy care centers. We are ready to accept the placement of a baby!!! We are so very excited. Thank you once again for your prayers.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Dear Baby
Dear Baby,
Today I spent the day with Kim. We both registered for our little adopted blessings. Tonight as I sit here and think about you and pray for the mommy who is or will soon be carrying you in her tummy I am overwhelmed. I ache for you. I cannot wait to meet you and your birth mommy. I know she is doing a very brave and hard thing and that she loves you very much. I cannot imagine the kind of strength it takes for her to make such loving plan for you. We have been praying for you for a very long time and know that God has a very precious plan for your life. He has taught your daddy and me so much about who he is since we started planning for you. It is exciting to know that God has had your life planned out all along even though we don't even know who you are yet. You are becoming so real to us. We have your little bed set up and your little clothes hanging in the closet. We don't know yet if you are a boy or a girls so we have bins of blue clothes and bins of pink clothes just waiting to be put away. Today I washed all the diapers Papa Doug & Grammy Deni sent so they will be ready for you whenever you arrive.
Your sisters and brothers can hardly wait to meet you. They have been praying for you too-that God would keep you safe and healthy and that your birth mommy will have wisdom and know God loves her as she makes difficult decisions. We are so glad that we will get to know her and that you will too. I am listening to the hymn cd Daddy bought me for Christmas and am so grateful that we serve such an amazing God. I am excited to learn all about you. I cannot wait to see your little face and begin to get to know your personality and dream about how God will use your little life and be glorified through you. You are a miracle and we love you so much. We have worked really hard to get ready for you now we just have to wait to meet your birth mommy and trust the Lord for each day. You are so loved and so longed for.
See you soon.
Mommy
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
Today I spent the day with Kim. We both registered for our little adopted blessings. Tonight as I sit here and think about you and pray for the mommy who is or will soon be carrying you in her tummy I am overwhelmed. I ache for you. I cannot wait to meet you and your birth mommy. I know she is doing a very brave and hard thing and that she loves you very much. I cannot imagine the kind of strength it takes for her to make such loving plan for you. We have been praying for you for a very long time and know that God has a very precious plan for your life. He has taught your daddy and me so much about who he is since we started planning for you. It is exciting to know that God has had your life planned out all along even though we don't even know who you are yet. You are becoming so real to us. We have your little bed set up and your little clothes hanging in the closet. We don't know yet if you are a boy or a girls so we have bins of blue clothes and bins of pink clothes just waiting to be put away. Today I washed all the diapers Papa Doug & Grammy Deni sent so they will be ready for you whenever you arrive.
Your sisters and brothers can hardly wait to meet you. They have been praying for you too-that God would keep you safe and healthy and that your birth mommy will have wisdom and know God loves her as she makes difficult decisions. We are so glad that we will get to know her and that you will too. I am listening to the hymn cd Daddy bought me for Christmas and am so grateful that we serve such an amazing God. I am excited to learn all about you. I cannot wait to see your little face and begin to get to know your personality and dream about how God will use your little life and be glorified through you. You are a miracle and we love you so much. We have worked really hard to get ready for you now we just have to wait to meet your birth mommy and trust the Lord for each day. You are so loved and so longed for.
See you soon.
Mommy
Psalm 139:13-18
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Home Study Complete!
We are so very excited. Yesterday was a big day. Sharon, our adoption worker, was here for 3 hours interviewing us, interviewing the kids and touring the house. It went very well and we are excited to say our home study is complete!
Sharon will present us next Thursday January 20th for review by the agency and will call us after that meeting to let us know we are officially in the matchbook. We turned in our match letter and match book fee yesterday. Yet another milestone reached! We are so grateful for the prayers and support of family and friends. We are working hard to raise the remainder of our adoption fee. As of next Thursday we will be able to accept placement of a baby if we have our finances in order. We still need a large sum but are again blessed by God's timing. If we do not have enough money raised our tax return should cover the remaining fee amount. God's timing is perfect. We have been so blessed throughout this adoption process to see God's hand at work confirming and providing for each step.
We have been blessed by freecycle and craigslist finds this week of seven cans of unopened formula & a some cloth diapering items. We are still needing diaper covers and have registered at Target and Walmart for the remaining items we need.
We are still working on getting the T-Shirts printed at a reasonable price. Hopefully we will be able to offer them soon.
Please continue to lift our family up in prayer. We are getting closer to meeting our birth mom and baby. Please pray for health and safety for both the birth mom and baby and that God would be preparing us for an open relationship with the birth family. There are so many variables in an open adoption so there is no way to be truly prepared but we trust God will work in this relationship and bring about His glory. Please pray that we will be vulnerable and available for Him to use us.
We love you.
Sharon will present us next Thursday January 20th for review by the agency and will call us after that meeting to let us know we are officially in the matchbook. We turned in our match letter and match book fee yesterday. Yet another milestone reached! We are so grateful for the prayers and support of family and friends. We are working hard to raise the remainder of our adoption fee. As of next Thursday we will be able to accept placement of a baby if we have our finances in order. We still need a large sum but are again blessed by God's timing. If we do not have enough money raised our tax return should cover the remaining fee amount. God's timing is perfect. We have been so blessed throughout this adoption process to see God's hand at work confirming and providing for each step.
We have been blessed by freecycle and craigslist finds this week of seven cans of unopened formula & a some cloth diapering items. We are still needing diaper covers and have registered at Target and Walmart for the remaining items we need.
We are still working on getting the T-Shirts printed at a reasonable price. Hopefully we will be able to offer them soon.
Please continue to lift our family up in prayer. We are getting closer to meeting our birth mom and baby. Please pray for health and safety for both the birth mom and baby and that God would be preparing us for an open relationship with the birth family. There are so many variables in an open adoption so there is no way to be truly prepared but we trust God will work in this relationship and bring about His glory. Please pray that we will be vulnerable and available for Him to use us.
We love you.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Adoption Update
I am excited that we actually have some news to report! We have been waiting for our scheduled meetings to complete our home study and now we are almost done. Last Thursday we had our last meeting in Phoenix with Sharon where she went over the results of our personality tests. She was very encouraged by how well Aaron and I know each other and work together in our marriage. We feel like we are blessed with a wonderful marriage but it was exciting to see that we have a good marriage on paper too. Our next and final step is our home visit on January 14th. Sharon will interview each of us and the children separately. We will turn in our match letter at this time. Then on January 20th Sharon will present us to the board and we will enter the matchbook. Which means in 18 days we will be ready to be chosen by a birth mother!
I can hardly believe we are so close to meeting our baby. Of course it could take some time for us to be chosen but our work is almost done. Now we just wait and pray. Please join us in praying for God's best and His peace during the remainder of our journey. Please pray for wisdom and peace for our birth mom and for health for her and her baby. It will be exciting to see how our story plays out and learn of all the details God orchestrated to bring her to this place. We have so clearly seen the hand of God in our journey and I cannot wait to give Him the glory for all that He has done in both our lives and the lives of the birth parents.
We have been getting our nursery completed and have been preparing our stash of newborn clothes and necessities. We were blessed to find a sit and stand stroller on craigslist in Phoenix for an amazing price. We have been given so many items from friends whose little ones have grown. We have registered at Target, Walmart and Nikki's Diapers for the remainder of what we need but we are pretty well prepared to go pick up our little one when the call comes. Thank you for your love and tremendous support.
May God richly bless you in this new year!
The Reynolds Family
I can hardly believe we are so close to meeting our baby. Of course it could take some time for us to be chosen but our work is almost done. Now we just wait and pray. Please join us in praying for God's best and His peace during the remainder of our journey. Please pray for wisdom and peace for our birth mom and for health for her and her baby. It will be exciting to see how our story plays out and learn of all the details God orchestrated to bring her to this place. We have so clearly seen the hand of God in our journey and I cannot wait to give Him the glory for all that He has done in both our lives and the lives of the birth parents.
We have been getting our nursery completed and have been preparing our stash of newborn clothes and necessities. We were blessed to find a sit and stand stroller on craigslist in Phoenix for an amazing price. We have been given so many items from friends whose little ones have grown. We have registered at Target, Walmart and Nikki's Diapers for the remainder of what we need but we are pretty well prepared to go pick up our little one when the call comes. Thank you for your love and tremendous support.
May God richly bless you in this new year!
The Reynolds Family
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)