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!!