Beyond Blessed.

We love our church, we love our church, we love our church. Seriously, we can not say it enough. They ministries there have been extremely supportive and have offered much confirmation throughout this adoption process. This past weekend our church put on what called a "family wellness event" through our foster/adoption ministry. They hosted a day long conference for families with foster/adoptive children in them, AT NOT COST. Wow! B and I figured we were pretty close to that description and felt honored to attend. They conference we fantastic and was ran by the Family Home Foundation who truly just wanted to rally around the unique families that foster/adoption create.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Diaper Dad

Today Bryce and I went on the hunt to research baby necessities. With the possibility at any time we can receive the "come get your kid" phone call, we figured we better start researching, looking, and buying kid things. We visited an adorable posh baby boutique down in Newport Beach, Bel Bambini, before church today. A friendly gal helped answer every itsy bitsy annoying question we had, and then some. She understood our unique situation (0-2 years and unknown gender) and was then selective in the products she showed us, careful to not overwhelm us. We walked out ready (kind-of) to register, with a plethora of pamphlets, and a diaper bag for dad-to-be. My bag had to be ordered, it was out of stock, bummer but it gives us an excuse to go back!

Mama's ordered bag. 

The diaper dad.

B's bag for baby.

Buying things for our soon-to-be little one makes this adoption process just a tad bit real (& expensive). It has been exciting to share God's story with everyone we meet throughout this process, even those helping us chose kid items. God will provide, He always does. 

The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still. Exodus 14:14

Paper Pregnant

The application process has been grueling, seriously. But, we know that is SO worth it. We have spent many weekends and weeknights at local coffee shops trying to tackle the state and county applications speedily. We've had to track down many things that were not readily accessible which was can be frustrating, however the Lord sweetly reminded us to not sweat that details because He is in control, always. 

One step closer to our kid.

We have officially sent off our applications to both agencies, state and county. I guess it is safe to say that we are PAPER PREGNANT (and without morning sickness, whoo hoo)!

First of Many

Bryce and I continued to pray about what this journey of adoption meant in our lives. We felt that the Lord revealed His good work to us quickly, therefore we should pursue it quickly. We began to explore many different agencies that help families unite through adoption - private domestic, international, and county domestic. The Lord showed us perfectly with His timing that He wants us to adopt our first child domestically though our county. Our county does a pre-adoption meeting in which they had out all the required state and county applications and packets and go over the process in depth. The meeting we attended happened to be the last Friday we had off together before I went back to work in September, talk about divine timing. And not to mention the meeting was right down the street from our current apartment.

First picture as "soon-to-be-parents."

Waiting in line for the meeting with coffee in hand. 

We endured enjoyed 5 long note-taking, packet reading, and application filling out  hours.

Let's do this!

The meeting was long, but extremely helpful in many ways. We were told that the paperwork and process should take anywhere from 12-18 months before receiving a child. Although that number can be daunting and discouraging we also know that we serve a God that is perfect in all timing. 

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Jeremiah 29:11

Our Genesis

What is your BIG God moment?

The question was posed to us on July 28, 2012 at church Saturday night. Our church was in a series titled James: Faith in Motion. This series, particularly this sermon uniquely and radically challenged our Faith in God. 

The pastor brought up so many wonderful points that evening, however this is what the Lord taught me and what I wrote down: 

- We are God's masterpiece, He created us so that people can see what He does in us. He who created us is continuously "painting" us. God "re-paints" us through the cross, Jesus' death for our redemption. 

We are not saved by works, but by grace through works. 

- James 2:17 spoke to me deeply that night, "So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." 

- The father prepares us for good works. He puts them deep inside of you. The enemy wants to silence you and the works. However, through Jesus' grace He qualifies you in every way. Then, the Holy Spirit empowers you to carry them out and anoints you to do good deeds. 

- The good works want to explode out of us, God has put them in us. I want them to explode out of me, when I put my faith into these good works and begin to truly marry into the God story. 

At the end of the sermon God put a question on my heart, What is your good work that I put in your heart that you need a deep faith in Me to carry out?

I began to pray, asking God to reveal the answer to that question to me. And He did in one simple word, Adoption. 

This is one of the few times I very clearly heard the Lord speak to me. A wave of emotions came over me. I was emotional, tingly, short of breath. I then began to do what I do with every new challenge I face, I began to plan. I told God how we were going to go about this, orchestrating in my mind which steps would need to be next in order to carry out this plan. It was then that He quieted me and reminded me that this was His plan and all I needed was the faith in Him to carry it out. I then made a promise (or challenge) to God. If this was His desire for my life (and Bryce's too) He would have to reveal it to Bryce and Bryce would have to bring it up separately to me (the power of suggestion can be mighty strong). God continued to sweetly speak to me through intimate prayer on faith that evening in church. 

Church was over and Bryce and I were walking to our car. As we approached our car Bryce asked me, "what good work did God put in you?" I shrugged off his question not wanting to answer it due to the conversation God and I had prior. Bryce then continued, "do you want to know what mine is? I think we need to adopt a kid." My reaction after that is still a blur. God put the same good work deep in both of our hearts, He radically challenged us both in faith, and He revealed Himself to be so real that night to the both of us. We cried, we hugged, we prayed while enjoying a cup of coffee on the beach. 

Thank you for reading our beginning to this journey. We know its going to be an incredible journey to our kid with many cups of coffee along the way.