A New Agency...Kind of

Well, it's official.   For those of you who have been hearing about Catholic Charities in the news...they are no longer an adoption agency.  Because of changes in the state laws, which effected CC's foster care work, we have all been moved over to a new agency.  We received a letter in the mail from "The Center for Youth and Family Services," today officially informing us of the change.  This is something we've known about since December.  We aren't expecting many changes at this point.  Our social worker remains the same, as does the adoption coordinator for the agency.  The new agency name is certainly a mouthful...hopefully it will also bring us a new little one in the near future. 


On another note, we continue to have our 'store' open at AdoptionBug.com.  Here we are selling adoption and family themed t-shirts in order to raise money towards our adoption.  If you want the proceeds to go to us, you have to order through this link!  Thanks in advance for your support and as always, we thank God everyday for those people who continue to pray for our family during our wait.

Vacation

Mini-golfing...we love it!

Derrick and I just returned from a nice trip to Orlando in order to relax and refresh! When you are awaiting an adoption placement, it's hard to make the plans to go on a trip.  Derrick has tried to book a vacation for us at this time of year for the last couple of years, and each time I would hesitate.  What if we get called with an emergency placement while we are gone? or...What if we are placed between booking the vacation and going on the vacation...that's a lot of money to loose. 

My goofy husband at Downtown Disney

Cinderella's Castle

Well, obviously, enough is enough.  We took the risk and decided we needed some planned time away...just the two of us.  The best part about the trip...I didn't think about the adoption or any of our other problems while we were gone!  It was a blessing to be away and to just think about the here and now for a couple of days. 


On a different note...we are starting a new fundraiser for our adoption through Adoption Bug.  If you are interested in helping us out, or are just passionate about adoption, follow this link to the website where you can purchase an adoption t-shirt (there is also a family and scripture themed t-shirt available).  Derrick and I will receive a percentage of every t-shirt sold through this link in order to help us out with adoption costs.  

ICK!

I've noticed, in the last several weeks, that suddenly I've been using the word 'ick' an awful lot!  As I sit down at my computer, ready to type, that is the word that comes to mind.  We've had a tough couple of months around this household....ick! 

Today, our social worker came to do our six month monitoring.  Nothing unusual.  Actually, I think I got less stressed about this visit than any other we've had.  Yes, we cleaned the house.  But this time there were several things my list that weren't done, and I was completely okay with that.  During our monitoring, we received an update about our agency, which will be changing names and 'philosophy' in March.  We also talked about the monthly support groups we are mandated to attend, which will also be changing...hopefully into a support group! I'm excited about the possible changes and hoping that they do make the group a more supportive environment.  

Derrick and I have recently been looking into some other avenues of adoption in the last several weeks.  Last week, we were again disappointed to know that money is the obstacle of adding anything else to help this adoption occur soon.  It is very frustrating to want to do more, but not have the resources to do so.  Especially when, even with some penny pinching, there is nothing that could be done in the near future. 

We've decided, therefore, to try and do some fundraising to help offset the costs of anything extra we might do.  Please pray that God will give us wisdom in where we should turn for financial assistance.  There is such a fine between taking the control away from God and waiting for Him to do His work. 

Those who are reading this who know us personally, know that the last couple of months have been heart-breaking.  Please keep us in prayer, things have just been...'ick!'