Moving Forward!

We had our last home study meeting today!  It was great to talk through life in general and life as a family adopting.  We have learned that there are so many unknowns in preparing yourself for adopting.  I am glad (and I can't believe I am saying this) for this process.  It can be grueling, but we sure are learning a lot and continue to get reality checks about adoption.

Of course, with every home study meeting you think you are done with something only to find out that you actually need to do a couple more things...BUT take heart, I say!  For all we know, we may be postponed a little bit because our child is not even born yet...or there is something we need to learn (or our children need to learn) before we are all united together.  (Looking forward to that day...)  God is in control.  And that is probably best!
So we press on as we wade through these finalities!

"O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.  

You know when I sit and when I rise;

you perceive my thoughts from afar.  

You discern my going out and my lying down; 

you are familiar with all my ways.  

Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.  

You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me."

Psalm 139:1-5

Last Home Study!

Just wanting to share that our last home study meeting is tomorrow morning (Tuesday, August 28th)!!
We are thrilled to be moving on to the next part of the adoption process!

Our last meeting with our case worker will be some extensive one-on-one interviews.  (AKA Jake and I will be interviewed separately, whereas everything before has been together.)  I am interested to see how it goes.  We have to drive to Atlanta, but it will be nice to have some time with each other in the car!  (Funny how married people have to get in the car and go somewhere to get a good conversation in! ha ha)
After tomorrow, it should take about 45 days to process our home study.  Then on to working on our dossier!  (I'll give more details as to what that entails when we start....because I really don't know what all to expect myself!)

Please pray for us as we are about to head into a busy time of the year.  Jake is starting into pumpkin season in just a couple weeks (come out and visit Washington Farms!) which means I will most likely be working on adoption paperwork on my own and practically being a single mom.  (Just a little overwhelming...)

Praise the LORD! 

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, 

for his steadfast love endures forever!

Psalm 106:1

The Never Ending Home Study

Hello All!
I told Jake the other night that I needed to just make a quick post to let everyone know we ARE still adopting! ha ha

It's been a while since I have updated.  The last two months have literally been slammed packed.  Thankfully, we had a vacation somewhere in there.  That was a much needed time of rest and getting away.  It also gave us some down time to finish up some required reading and home study "homework".

The whole Parham clan was able to be there!  (Mrs. Parham and Asher are in the back ground.)
**Photo taken by: Natalie Richie**

Let's just say Asher did not like to be buried in the sand.

As for the adoption status, we have one more home study.  Then on to the (dreaded) dossier part.  I don't know how much you all know about the dossier packet, but one thing I can tell you is that it is a TON of paper work.  Pray for us as we wade through that.  (Hoping it's not too much of a headache.)

When you adopt, you have to go through a sheet of paper and check which special needs you will take, not take, or consider.  This has been a much dreaded task.  Seriously, when you go through the list you think to yourself, "They all deserve a home and a family."  Then you have to get realistic.  What can we afford, what is practical for us, etc.  Thankfully after we were through going through the (long) list of special needs, we felt good about our decisions.  The Lord is in control of who our children will be.  I'm excited to see who they are!!

In our required educational hours we have read and seen some really interesting things.  I'm pretty sure the adoption agencies get you to learn all this to scare you out of adopting!  (Not really...but there are some pretty intense stories and situations that we have read about.)  It is nice to be able to prepare yourself for the worst...and hope for the best!

We had initially hoped to fly through this process, but reality has set in:
It will take a while.
After meeting with our adoption support group, it was nice to be reminded that it is a great time to be learning and preparing yourself and your family.  It is a major commitment.  We seem to fluff it up and make adoption look so pretty and nice....but every day will not be that way.
I am glad to be in God's will.  No matter the cost, I know having these children will be one of the greatest things we ever did!

I will try to give more updates...
If you have any questions, please contact me.  Is there anything you want to know: what is a home study? what is a dossier?  who do I get started if I want to adopt?  can I come to your adoption support group? etc.

Thanks for all your support out there!!