Starting the Journey

This is a journey that was truly sparked by God and although it seemed crazy at the time, I'm so thankful we took the leap! I regret not starting this blog earlier simply so I could recount every single blessing, big and small. Hopefully I have verbally recounted the testimonies enough that I can recall all of them. When we considered adoption years ago, finances were the single biggest reason that people stayed away from adopting. Looking at our finances, simply qualifying for China was a stretch. As with every country, China had certain requirements every adopting family had to meet in order to qualify. With one income, we definitely started off with a bigger challenge then some. However, GOD IS GOOD and truly provides all that we need!!!
Our first hurdle was our homestudy amount which was $2,500.00. Our homestudy was the first step in our adoption. This was a time of collecting paperwork of all kinds (physicals for all of us, birth certificates, ect.), answering question upon question in written form from our agency, and meeting a few times with our social worker so she can get to know us as family. Judy, our social worker through Holt, was an amazing help as we muddled our way through the mass of paperwork requirements. She was a great coach and advocate for us as we filled out papers such as our medical form which told Holt what medical conditions we were open to adopting a child with. She visited our home twice to see where we lived and talk with us about our marriage, values and childhoods. She then typed up a report including all of our information which is our actual homestudy.
We have amazing friends and family. Some of our close friends, Paul and Chris Sinclair, were big inspirations to adopt in the first place. They adopted three beautiful girls from Columbia two years ago in February and their family. They encouraged us when it came to fundraising (well really with everything!) because they too faced the financial obstacles we did. We brainstormed and we came up with a biscuits and gracy breakfast.
We held on one October 19th at Independence Branch and were blown away by the support.  We prepared for 150 and ran out of food/plates by 8:30 (we had the breakfast from 7:00-10:00). We had well over two hundred show up. Of course, God provided exactly what we needed and more. We were able to raise in excess of $2,500.00. Even more than the money, we were blessed with SO MUCH help with the breakfast. I continue to be amazed and am thankful for all the love and support we have surrounding us as we work to bring our baby home! Goodnight!