More Story

I'm going to share a little bit about the more recent steps in our adoption journey.

Timmy and I have talked about wanting to adopt, since we got married seven years ago.  At that time it was just an idea- a future plan- something to dream about.  We were too young and financially unstable to put serious thought into it.  But the thing is- time passed-- we got older-- and we knew that if we were serious about adoption it had to become more than just an idea.  Still, we were waiting.

A friend I graduated high school with recently adopted a little boy.

I will never forget seeing her announcement on facebook.  It floored me.  At this point the call to adopt was loud, it was clear, it hurt.  The invitation to step out of the boat had been issued, and I was plastered on the deck, with my eyes closed and hands covering my ears...chanting, "No,no,no".

I wanted to take that step-- I wanted to bring the orphan home... but the fear. The fear was real.

Although now old enough to adopt, I still felt pretty young.  Although Timmy was secure in a job, the cost of adoption seemed great.

And then here-- was a couple the same age as Tim and I-- in a similar life situation-- with the same God given call to adopt.  And their answer was YES.

Timmy and I got to watch their story unfold.  We got to see God do amazing things in the lives of our friend's family. When we were shaking with fear in the boat-- we were given a visual reminder of the greatness of our God.

We got to see Jesus walk on water.

And suddenly, stepping out of the boat didn't seem so scary.

Our Home Visit

Yesterday we had our home visit which is needed to complete our home study.

For those who don't know- a home visit is when a social worker comes to your house and then does a report on the information they gathered during their visit.

Even though we have three kids, and I feel we are raising them in a comfortable home, I was nervous for this visit.  We never really did any baby proofing in our house.  We subscribe to more of a relaxed parenting style.  Of course, we gate steps or make sure the basement door is closed, and it's not like we leave knives and Clorox bottles laying around.  BUT our kitchen drawers open freely, our outlets are uncovered, and even though we have had a toy car "disrupt" our plumbing, our toilet is not latched closed. (With the ages of our kids- there would be pee everywhere)

Prior to the visit, I did some googling, as anxious people are bound to do.  It did NOT comfort me.  Shocking right?

On a totally unrelated note-- Our house now has a smoke detector in every room, two carbon monoxide detectors, three fire extinguishers, our outlets are covered, our medicine cabinet is secure, our doors with questionably toxic cleaning supplies have annoying knobs, and never have the door crevices been so dust free. (That last one is a little weird, but the night before I suddenly noticed all the dust on our doors... )

When our lovely social worker arrived she had the kids show her upstairs and she took a look around our main floor...

She did not demand to see the safety measures we had taken because of the children in the house, she didn't demand to see a printed copy of our fire plan (which I don't have...), she didn't even notice how clean our bedroom doors were.  It was almost like she was more concerned with the kind of people we were and whether or not we would love any child we were blessed with...more than the items on my downloaded How to Prepare for Your Home Visit book.

Our kids wrestled and ran around the whole time she was in our home.  It did not faze her at all.

My past medical history of depression and anxiety, that I was so worried about-- was a non issue.

She even knew a member of our church because he was her daughter's favorite teacher.

It could not have gone better.

Meet Marla

Here she is! And did you notice the post title... I'm doing a bit better than yesterday.

For this post I am going to provide the link to our Family Support Page- where you can read more about our story.

http://reecesrainbow.org/99292/sponsorkronenberger

TBA

Hi.  I have been sitting here staring at a blank screen wondering where to begin.  I can't even come up with a Post title...I'm going to be an awful blogger.

SO for now the title is TBA (Any Arrested Development fans?).

We have big news.  Exciting news! Timmy and I have made the decision to grow our family through adoption.  It is a decision that we've been wrestling with for quite some time.

It's a big decision.  I want to tell you how God has called us to adopt-- how He has led us down this road.  BUT I can't find the words.

How do I describe the years of God working on our hearts?  The certainty that we are meant to do this?

This is the part of the conversation where if we were face to face- I would laugh nervously and say quickly how our hearts have been broken for these children without parents.  Which is true-- BUT that answer is so much less than what God has been doing in our lives.  SO much less.  In person you would naturally be distracted by my rapid arm movements and squeaky voice- and you would not notice that I didn't say much.

 This post is quickly confirming that I talk... alot...but I don't say much.

I don't share the tricky emotions, the genuine condition, of my heart very often.  Sharing our story of adoption is going to be challenging for me.  It's personal. But God is working in awesome ways and I want to share that with you.  I really do.  You'll just have to bear with me.  (Or not, you don't have to read this)

Tomorrow I will tell you about the newest member of our family and our efforts to bring her home! :)

-Jo