Annlee

Party Time!

This past weekend was Mike's surprise graduation party! Everyone was all smiles and he was surprised! And our Grandmother and Uncle flew in from New York to join us!

No Early Christmas Present for Us

Brandon and I thought that we would be getting an early Christmas present- word that our profile is currently being shown to birthmothers, but there's been a minor delay. After having our Family Assessment state approved, we were informed that there is also a 1-day state required course we must take to enable our profile to be shown to birthmothers. However, the next course is not until mid-January. So we wait. We had hoped that they would make an exception for us because we have finished everything else and we are having to wait about an extra 45 days for just that 1 class which hasn't been offered since we began this process. But no early Christmas present for us...Our date to begin showing will be January 11th after 4pm...the course completion.

Romans 12:12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

The Latest

We are currently still waiting for word that our profile is now "being shown". We got the Family Assessment approval last week...which means we are state approved! Now, we just wait for our profile to be shown to those looking for a couple just like us! Our profile has all the main points about us...who we are, what we do for a living, what are our hobbies, what is our family life like, where we live and go to church and it is put together with a book of pictures of us (our portfolio). It will be sent to the 3 area offices here in East Tennessee and there is another kept on file just in case someone would like to view us from another state.

Ephesians 1:5 "In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ"

Adoption Details

We don't have many adoption details at this time. The agency has said to plan on waiting about 2 years...but the good news is...is that we are already 3 months into this 2 year wait. However, we do realize that after we are approved, we could receive a baby at any time. And we must be ready for anything! We may get about 8 weeks notice or we could get only a few days notice. It all depends on who chooses us and the situation of our individual adoption. We do know that we will be adopting domestically and probably a child from within the state of Tennessee. However, we are eligible to adopt anywhere in the U.S. We also know that we will probably be adopting a newborn baby of either gender and any race. We know that we will be shown to Birth Parents choosing adoption as a loving option for their child. At some point in time we will be chosen by a Birth Parent to become their child's Adopted Parents. We will be asked to review the entire Birth Parent situation and consider the child to become our own.
We are very confident that God is in control of all of this and are open to considering a lot of different situations. God brought us here and will bring our perfect child to us on His time.

You may also be able to help...please spread the word that we are an approved and waiting family in the state of Tennessee. You never know, your friend at work may have a cousin whose daughter has a friend who is experiencing an unplanned pregnancy and not sure what to do. They may be waiting for the perfect family for their unborn child. Many adopted parents have become parents because of their friends and family mentioning it to the right person at the right time.

Why We're Adopting

We are adopting because we are unable to have our own biological child. We have been trying to have a baby for about 1 1/2 years and when we went to the doctor we found out we were unable to have our own. Although this was a little heartbreaking at first. We both feel nothing but truly blessed to have this opportunity to be adopting! We are so excited to have the opportunity for another to join our family. We feel that God has already planned for the perfect child to enter our family through this unique way.



We have an awesome adoption agency we are using, Bethany Christian Services. You can find out more at http://www.bethany.org/. This site is available to others to get information on crisis pregnancy situations, placing a child for adoption or adopting a child internationally or domestically. There is so much information available today on the web, it is so easy to learn a lot quickly.

Our new pup

Abby is our new energetic puppy. We got her in June at 5 months old. She is the complete opposite of Maggie. She has a lot of energy and loves to walk, run, fetch, wrestle, eat and play with everyone! She has kept us very busy these days. Our goal each day is to be sure to wear her out so she will go to bed and sleep through the night.

We're adopting!

We have decided to start our own blog to keep everyone updated on our exciting adoption journey! We are adopting a baby and have lots if exciting news we'd love to share with our family and friends. Stay tuned to see who will be joining our family in the future.

We began our adoption journey mid July of this year. There is a lot of paperwork, but we finished all the required paperwork at the end of August. After our paperwork was turned in we had 3 interviews... individual interviews, a couple's interview and a home study. We have currently passed each phase- preliminary application, formal application and home study and are currently waiting to be state approved. We hope to be state approved by December 1st.