I'm Speechless-Adoption Update

I just received the "rough draft" of our Homestudy. Which I edited and sent back. I can't believe after all the little things that came up and had to be dealt with that we might actually be finished.

I don't even know what else to say.

Well....maybe.....

YAY!!!! Omigoodness, I can't believe it!!!!!!! Whoopeee! Yay! Hurray! (jump and dance in the kitchen time)

Phew...........( as I wipe my hand across my brow)

Yeah, that'll probably do it.

More News on our Adoption Front

We hit another snag today, and I may have said before that if that happened I was "going to seriously lose it". I was on the verge of that, but I thank God for good friends who stand with me in prayer and are willing to make phone calls and email folks they think will be able to help. I thank God that He has put these people in my life to be there when I need them. It's funny how I left my house tonight kind of depressed and stressing over this new hurdle we've been asked to jump, or I should say I have been asked to jump, and I came home in a new frame of mind, feeling more confident and knowing things will work out.

Adoption Update

I haven't posted much about the adoption lately. How the home study is coming along or anything about LB. I'm pretty sure it's because it's been frustrating and when I wasn't working on the issues we ran into I just didn't want to think about it. And what were these issues you ask.... Well, apparently for a HS you need to include proof that this child will be insured once you have adopted her and she will. But did you know how IMPOSSIBLE it is to get the insurance company to send you anything proving this!? AYE YI YI!! We finally found something online that she can make work, but the agony of those weeks of waiting. OY. The other thing was a letter from a counselor that I saw SEVEN years ago. The counselor is MIA, and for a while there so was any one else who might be able to help me at that particular Clinic. It took me four weeks, but that letter should be going out to our SW some time next week and we will be moving on. Almost there, I think I can see the Finish Line. FINALLY!

Also, our plans may be changng again, but right now that is indefinite. The time is just about up to submit HS's for LB and our SW still feels that it would not be a wise decision for our family. We are looking in other areas and just waiting and praying for the child that is truly meant to be a part of our family. I am still trying to be patient, that's a work in progress. But, it's coming along.

Foster Care Prayer Vigil

I copied the excerpt below from the blog of another mother who is passionate about adoption and the plight of orphans abroad and here at home. Prayer is definitely needed when we are talking about the state of foster care here in the States. Sometimes I think it's not a lack of caring and willing people to step in that is the problem but rather the crud they have to put up with in order to help the kids. I have BTDT and don't have a problem saying that things need to change. I'm realizing that the saying " Be the change you want to see" is right on. Nothing is ever going to change by just talking about it, something has to be done. I believe that prayer is powerful, especially corporate prayer like they are calling for. I hope that thousands of people in churches around our nation get involved with this. I look forward to seeing God work in the foster care system of America, I'm ready to see kids' lives change.

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National Foster Care Prayer Vigil and Your Church

"All of a sudden I was awakened in the middle of the night by people wearing black clothing with badges. I didn't know what was happening ... my brother (Anthony) and I were crying. We were hurt, and we were full of pain. Only God knew what was to become of us.The police took us to the police station. There, they let us sleep in the back of the car until it was morning. The next day Ant and I were taken to a big house to live until our social worker came to take us to a new family ... whenever it was nighttime, I lay awake while Ant was fast asleep. I was crying so much it really hurt, and I was full of sorrow and pain. Sometimes I would even sit at the edge of my bed and call out my mother's name frantically ..."-- Chris, 11, who entered foster care with his brother at ages 5 and 4

Children quietly enter foster care due to circumstances beyond their control, including abuse, abandonment, neglect, and substance abuse on the part of their primary caretakers. They're often shuffled from home to home. Some are eventually returned safely home. Others are blessed through adoption. Unfortunately, so many fall through the cracks and languish for years in group homes, long-term foster homes, and shelters.

Co-sponsored by FamilyLife's Hope for Orphans, Focus on the Family, and Shaohannah's Hope, the first annual National Foster Care Prayer Vigil will be held the week of May 19-25, 2008. During this momentous week, Christians will gather in churches and elsewhere across the United States to go before God in praying for our nation's foster children, as well as their foster and adoptive families, their birth families, and their workers.

Would you consider participating in a prayer vigil in your city? If there is not currently one scheduled, would you consider organizing one? If you are led to participate in or facilitate a prayer vigil in your city, please take the time to visit our website at www.fostercareprayervigil.org to learn how. There you will find materials to help you, as well as a registration page and map displaying local vigils throughout the nation.
For more information, visit www.fostercareprayervigil.org or contact National Coordinator Phoebe Dawson at pdawson@familylife.com.