Tuesday, May 21, 2013

I'm paperwork pregnant.

"Praise God!", my literal words this morning after reading my e-mail from Lifeline.

We have been waiting about seven months for this day. The last week of October was our last home study meeting (the one that actually takes place in our home, the one I was terrified of!) Since then we have been waiting for a written and approved 'home study' which is a 'report' about our family.
It includes (roughly, for people who may not be aware):
Jon and I's upbringing/history
Finacnces
Religious background
Medical history
Criminal backgrounds checks
Current living situation with our daughters
...etc.
It is incredibly detailed, and they are not afraid to ask personal questions.

I knew it went incredibly well, and the social worker even told me we had past with flying colors! So I was not at all worried about that, but I was concerned when months were passing...and I was hearing nothing. Our social worker that did the actual home study for us left the practice. And more time passed. We have two different agencies. The one that we are only using for the home study and post adoption visits (to be sure the child is settling in well!) , and the agency that is actually our chosen agency that is taking care of it all! The reason we had to have two, is that Lifeline (the chosen agency) is out of state, and the could not come and meet with us personally, or come to our house, so we hired the second agency to fill those roles.
So now we will be dealing only with Lifeline for the rest of the adoption journey!!! ( I am hoping that this too cuts done the waiting time, there will be no more questions between agencies and I will finally be dealing with one person!) Lifeline now has possession of our home study report and approved it!!!
The next step is to finish the 'dossier' (which is a huge stack of paperwork, that includes the home study itself and other legal documents) Please pray that there are no substantial hangups, and that this next mini leg of the race is a smooth one!
Now Fundraising is in full swing! Substantial amounts of money are going to be due soon! And Jon and I are both trusting in God's provision to make a child who is without a family to be part of our family!!! If you are interested in donating please go to our "Puzzle Fundraiser" page!

But the biggest thing I ask is that you pray, pray, pray!
-for the quick completion of our dossier
-that our fundraising is a success
-that our little one knows we are coming for them and that God keeps them healthy in this time of waiting for us!

Blessings,
The Patterson family

Saturday, May 4, 2013

I WILL come to you.

"When you say YES to adoption, you are saying YES to enter the suffering of the orphan, and that suffering includes WAITING FOR YOU TO GET TO THEM. I promise you, their suffering is worse than yours. We say YES to the tears, YES to the longing, YES to the maddening process, YES to the money, YES to hope, YES to the screaming frustration of it all, YES to going the distance through every unforeseen discouragement and delay. Do not imagine that something outside of "your perfect plan" means you heard God wrong. There is NO perfect adoption. EVERY adoption has snags. We Americans invented the "show me a sign" or "this is a sign" or "this must mean God is closing a door" or "God must not be in this because it is hard," but all that is garbage. You know what's hard? Being an orphan. They need us to be champions and heroes for them, fighting like hell to get them home. So we will. We may cry and rage and scream and wail in the process, but get them home we will."
--Jen Hatmaker