And we're in!

It seems the first leg of our wait is now over! Derrick received an email last night (at 11 p.m.) from our temporary adoption worker that we were accepted by the committee last Thursday and have been put into circulation for our adoption! This means that our profile and DVD are available to be matched to any birth mother in central Illinois!

We are really excited about finally being here and now look forward to the next goal, being chosen and meeting the newest addition to our family! When we began the process, we were told that from this point we have a wait of on average two months to three years. This means that things could change dramatically for us very soon, or we could have a couple of years before that happens. I continue to be encouraged by those friends and family members who often remind us that they are praying for us and the birth family because they know that God has His hand in the outcome!

We meet up with our temporary adoption worker sometime next week to sign final paperwork. We are grateful that we have been assigned to the worker in Bloomington, as she was at all of our Home Study meetings. Although we haven't met one on one with her, she and Derrick do have a connection to PA. that they discussed back in the Spring. This is great, because she will hopefully remember who we are and be able to quickly learn more about our case. See...God is even in the small things...like meeting someone with connections to Pine Grove, PA!

Next step...our good friend from college is planning on coming to visit in a couple of weeks. His main goal will be to help Derrick finish mudding and taping the drywall and paint the nursery...now I just have to settle on a paint color!

Thank you again for your prayers! You all are a blessing to us! Corey and Derrick

The presentation...

Derrick spoke to the woman who is now in charge of our case at the agency today. She seems great on the phone-really willing to work with us considering the situation! We will be presented to the committee at the agency on this Thursday. If the committee "approves" of us, then we will be considered in circulation as of Friday! We are both excited and anxious at the same time!

When we began this process, we were told that from this point, the average wait time is between two months and three years. We will now begin attending monthly support groups as we wait for a birth mother to choose us. :)

A bump in the road....

Yesterday we received a letter in the mail from our adoption worker, saying that she is leaving Catholic Charities, and that today will be her last day. This is definately a bump in the road, as it will probably slow some of our paperwork, sitting in the Champaign office, down while they look into hiring someone new. The supervisor will be taking over while they look for someone new, however, she lives in Peoria (1 1/2 hours away from Champaign).

Please pray that our new worker is someone that we connect to quickly, as we really liked our current worker. Please also pray that this person is very organized and is able to quickly get working on current open cases.

Thanks!

Lamentations 3:25-26

"The Lord is good to those who hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord."

As I type, Derrick is finished printing a label on our last dvd to turn in. We plan to go to Catholic Charities tomorrow in order to turn in our last required items: 4 dvd's, 4 profiles, and paperwork. Our profile is a scrapbook, which shows in 20 pages, who we are. Of course I loved working on this, as scrap booking is a great passion of mine! The 4 dvd's are a labor of love...both Derrick and I really didn't look forward to making a 10 minutes video talking about ourselves and why we should be "picked" as parents! In fact, we put off making our dvd until the last possible moment...and then begrudgingly worked on it one Sunday afternoon. Our final paperwork will be used to match us with possible birthmoms.

What I have learned in these past couple of weeks is that God is great! He has provided for Derrick and I in such amazing ways! I quit my teaching job last Spring, something that I was very nervous about doing. I didn't understand why God would ask me to leave a paying job when He also wanted us to consider adoption. I didn't understand how things would come together...which is fine, because God is in control and He knows exactly how it will come together! The above verse in Lamentations is one that I found for a Bible study several weeks ago. This idea of waiting "quietly" on God, was one that baffled me. When you are waiting on God to do something for you, it is REALLY hard to wait quietly! Of course, to everyone else, it may seem that I was waiting patiently, but God (and Derrick) know the truth...I am really good at whining! :)

So now that we are about ready to go into the "pool" of potential adoptive parents, a new wait begins. I hope that I can wait quietly, as I know that God has His hand in this entire adventure!

The following are some of the lyrics from a song by Addison Road. The song is titled, "What do I Know of Holy?"

I made You promises a thousand times
I tried to hear from Heaven
But I talked the whole time
I think I made You too small
I never feared You at all No
If You touched my face would I know You?
Looked into my eyes could I behold You?

(CHORUS)
What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

I guess I thought that I had figured You out
I knew all the stories and I learned to talk about
How You were mighty to save
Those were only empty words on a page
Then I caught a glimpse of who You might be
The slightest hint of You brought me down to my knees

Almost there...

Well, thankfully, we have some news to pass on! We hadn't heard from our worker in several weeks, so Derrick called her yesterday. When she returned the call today, she had some great news for us! First of all, she has approved our video-all we need to do now is make four copies to hand in. This is really good news because making a video about yourself is really not very fun! Second, she informed us that the state of Illinois has "cleared" us...meaning, we are not criminals and seem to be well adjusted enough to be considered parents! We will receive our certificate in the mail saying that we are approved foster parents which gives us what we need to adopt.

The only thing that it seems we are waiting on is one reference to be mailed in. The problem is that we don't know who didn't send it in, or if someone's was lost in the mail. Now we begin the process of talking to all of the people that we had references sent to in order to discover which one is missing. In the meantime, our worker is sending a duplicate copy of the blank form to everyone. We are unable to know the name of the missing reference for "confidentiality reasons." I know, so weird...it is not like we are asking to read them or anything!

Hopefully, we are only weeks away from being put into the pile of approved adoptive families...then the next wait begins! Thank you all for your prayers as we continue this process. I talked with an adoptive family this last weekend, and she said that "at least you know that all this working and waiting results in an adoption." That is comforting...in the end, we will be able to be the proud parents of some little boy or girl!

Corey

Waiting...

Well-we continue to wait on our adoption worker to hear how she likes the video we made for potential birth parents. These past two weeks have been somewhat difficult. The school that I worked at for four years here, started back yesterday. It was very strange not getting up and going yesterday. I know that I've done the right thing by walking away and that God will bless my obedience, but it still hard. On the first day back though, Derrick and I drove to St. Louis to see a Cardinals game. We have had the tickets for awhile, but we took the opportunity to use them and celebrate Derrick's birthday at the same time! It was a treat and the Cardinals won-definitely a plus!

Last year, when the movie "Fireproof" came out, Derrick and I went to see it in the theater. The following song, from the movie, is by John Waller and speaks to how I am feeling now and how I am sure to feel many times during this process! It really is a beautiful song!

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I'm waiting
I will serve You
While I'm waiting
I will worship
While I'm waiting
I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it's not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve you while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord

Home Study is complete!

Derrick and I met with our worker this afternoon and were handed a certificate which shows that we are finished with our Home Study! We have a couple more things to do paperwork wise, and are waiting on approval of our video and birth parent letter. Thanks for all who prayed!

Blessings! Corey

The Journey Begins

What Derrick and I have come to learn in the last several months is that adoption is a journey. Sometimes it seems as if things are moving quickly, and then we have an unexpected delay, a bump along the road! We are so thankful for all of the friends and family God has surrounded us with, especially as we take the careful steps towards completing our adoption. Because of this, we want to keep you updated on how things are moving (or not moving) in the adoption process.

At the end of June, our adoption worker came and visited our home. At the end of that visit, she informed us that she was sending our paperwork to the state and it would take 1-3 months for us to be cleared and issued our Foster Care License. Our job between that meeting in June and tomorrow's meeting, was to finish up any extra paperwork, finish our profile and have a rough copy of our video.

So, Derrick sits at his computer now, and has for many hours, working on burning our video to a DVD. This video is what will be given to prospective birth parents as they make a decision on which family to go with. Also given to the prospective birth parents is our profile. This is a 'scrapbook' which shows the couple who Derrick and I are and what our life is like.

Hopefully tomorrow, we will have an approved video and profile and be finished with all of our paperwork. Then, we wait...on approval from the state and then from our agency.

Thank you again for your prayers! Derrick and Corey