Do you make a one little word each year? I always do. I haven’t actually picked one for 2018 yet, but I guess I would go with baby. This dream is not new and of course there’s a story here.
If you have followed my blog for a while, you know that my family is fueled by one statement: Love God and Love People. That’s simply what we try to live by each and every day. That motto has lead me to spearhead many huge fundraisers for schools that have been through tragedy. It also helps me to love children that are sometimes hard to love, which I felt was my gift when I was teaching. I also believe adoption is one of the greatest acts of love.
I love how God has created my family. Our journey has not always been easy but it has been worth it. My favorite part of 2017 was sharing our family story with so many teachers at conferences around the United States. I wanted to encourage them to not give up on kids that are hard, kids like mine. Granted, my kids are pretty awesome and doing great at life today but it hasn’t always been this way. It’s taken years of every type of therapy imaginable along with a HUGE support system including family, friends and teachers. I have always believed the age old saying that it takes a village to raise a child. Well, my family needed two.
My husband and I have tried and tried to get pregnant since our last miscarriage almost four years ago. That’s actually the reason I left the classroom. I wanted to try different treatments but was unable to go to the doctor as often as I needed to because getting a regular sub is kind of a nightmare and not actually a thing. Ha. It’s clear that me carrying a baby isn’t in the cards for us {which we are fine with} so we have come to the conclusion that we will adopt again but this time go the private route.
People have asked why we aren’t going through foster care again. Well, first, it’s not so easy to get a baby. If you do get a baby, a family member has six months to speak up for the baby before rights are terminated. I feel like I am pretty strong but I just don’t know that I am strong enough to take in a baby only to lose it. I don’t think my heart can take it. Private adoption just feels right for us.
The downfall to this scenario is that it will cost a minimum of $30,000. Holy guacamole, that is a LOT of money. We are fortunate that we didn’t have to pay anything for our children adopted through foster care but we also knew that we were adopting abused and neglected children that came with a plethora of emotional and physical needs. They have caused us to grow in ways we never thought possible, especially in our faith. I am sure we have prayed millions of prayers over them throughout the last fourteen years. I am so glad that we said yes and their issues did not scare us. We were only 23 when we began fostering so we were young, naive and ambitious. A great combination for sure, ha. Our kids are currently 17, 19 and 21. Nick and I are only 37. We act like that is super young but we also know that is not old. Yet. Next year our youngest graduates high school and we aren’t ready to be in that season of life, hence the adoption.
Nick and I have dreamed of bringing home a baby since the day we were married, over sixteen years ago. We have also prayed for God to change our hearts if that is not part of his plan. But, here we are, still hopeful as ever and dreaming away. I think there are times in your life when you are supposed to sit and wait on God but then there are times when you are supposed to do some of the work. We are entering a season of work and I have never been more excited.
It’s incredibly scary knowing that you have to come up with so much money and kind of fast throughout this process. We launched a teacher tshirt fundraiser on Sunday night. You can buy a shirt that says “Teaching With My Whole Heart” for the next ten days, just FYI. We have also evaluated our finances, looked at areas where we can skim back and made some tough decisions. We are selling our house and downsizing. Really, we don’t need a house this big as we move into this next season and we are looking to save a little money because we know babies have all the needs. Man, all of this adulting is enough to make my head explode. Ha.
We think we have figured out a way to fund half of our adoption so we are hoping for fundraise the other half. I would so appreciate your prayers for us during this season. Nick and I go for our orientation with the agency next week and complete our training in three weeks. Then, we will have our home study. At that point, we put down our fist big lump sum of money and I just pray we have it by then. It’s so weird. Part of me is a nervous wreck but then a bigger part of me has this huge peace. Internally, the two parts are fighting right now, ha. I wish they would get their life together.
Please pray for the birth mother and our future baby. We are praying for her already. We have put no preferences when it comes to our choices for the baby. It doesn’t matter to us what gender or race our baby is. People are people and we will take whoever God created for us.
If you want to follow our journey, you can follow our Facebook page. I will be posting updates there as I have them. For other ways to support our family, you can follow our YouCaring site here. We are so thankful for everyone’s support!
Every year we say, “This year is the year we bring a baby home.” Well, 2018, we are on a mission to make our dream come true. Hopefully this time next year my one little word will be sleep because I am sure I will miss it once the baby comes. Ha!
2018: The Year a Dream Comes True!
Check out our fundraiser!
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