We're Expecting!

Yes that's right, we're expecting. Not exactly in the typical way, but we have been on an amazing journey this year and we're excited to share it! We've known for many years that God would provide a family for us through the gift of adoption. Now, we're just waiting to see it all play out!

How we got here...

We talked about adopting children before getting married, but our perspective has changed over the last few years as we have learned more about ourselves, adoption and how God has planned to create our family. We've come to see that adoption is not our "only option" or a "plan B," it is God's "plan A" for us and has been his plan for us all along. We believe that He's sovereign over all and that our circumstances have been uniquely designed to lead us to adoption and to provide a home for the child(ren) He has picked out for us.

Choosing an Agency and the process...

After lots of prayer and feeling confirmation in many different ways, we chose an adoption agency and preliminarily applied to the agency at the beginning of June. We found out that we were formally accepted on July 2nd. We found this out right before boarding the plane to visit with family in Kansas. It was perfect timing to be able to share this great news with both sides of our family!

After being accepted into the agency's domestic adoption program, we entered the paperwork process. This is a very time-consuming and in-depth process, but we actually enjoyed it and learned a lot about one another and had to think and talk a lot about how we plan to parent. We are both very thankful because completing the paperwork helped us to get even more excited about becoming parents! We also had training classes and informational meetings with our agency and with others that are adopting in July and August. Finally, our home study began in September. The home study consisted of three meetings with our social worker (who, by the way is the sister of one of our close friends... how special is that!?!) over the course of about 4-6 weeks. We finished this part of the process in mid-October. Our social worker finished writing our official home study report on October 26th and submitted it to the agency's State Director for approval. We were just notified this past Thursday, November 4th, that our home study was officially approved and that we are a "waiting family"! We also have completed and ordered our profile books (photo books that are shown to the birthparents) and those will arrive later this week.

What happens next?

We will be adopting an infant, most likely from North Carolina...and we will probably bring Baby Crisp home from the hospital. We are so excited!!! With domestic-infant adoption, adoptive parents are chosen by the birthparents. Our agency has told us that adoptive parents are typically "matched" during the birthmom's third trimester. This means that we may have a few months notice or we may have no notice at all. Because of this, we wanted to go ahead and get a few things ready (like our nursery - pics to come in another post!) so that we will be prepared whenever we might get "the call."

We don't know how long it might take, but we are embracing the time of waiting and know that God will bring us our baby in His perfect timing.

We would ask that you please keep us in your prayers in the coming days, weeks and months as we continue to prepare our hearts and our home for Baby Crisp! We have lots of faith, but there is also so much uncertainty ahead.

Check back on our blog for updates (we promise to be better about posting)!