The Waiting Has Begun

Our Life Books (3) have been mailed to the adoption agency, so the waiting has officially begun! Could be 2 weeks, 2 months or 2 years...only God knows when our sweet little one will come to us.
We have to attend quarterly support group meetings at the agency. Our first one will be April 24. Once we are matched, then we are required to attend them monthly until the adoption is final.
As I have said before, I am praying for our birth mom and baby all the time. I just wonder if he/she has even been conceived yet. Please join me in praying for the health and well being of our child. There is certainly a risk involved with adoption, you never know what you're getting, so to speak. Not to say there's not a risk with your natural born child, but you certainly have control of how you take care of yourself while you're pregnant. I have had to totally let go and let God. There is absolutely nothing I can do, except pray. It was recently brought to my attention (during our home study interview!!!!!) that I like to be in control...hmmmm...Adam said, "Amen!" ;) Did you know that about me? You are all probably shaking your head YES! Not being in control of the situation, I guess I kind of feel like a fish out of water. This journey is certainly shaping my character...after all, He is the potter and I am the clay.
In the mean time, while we wait, we are continuing to prepare. We still have necessities to buy. I am going to register soon ~ so exciting! Out of all the things we need to purchase the thing I am most excited about is a DIAPER BAG. I know it sounds silly, but it is really important to me. Since I was a wee little girl I would play with my baby dolls and Mom let me have a REAL diaper bag to play with. Oh how I loved that diaper bag. Since then I have longed for the day to have a special diaper bag for my baby. So yes, I will probably spend way too much time, effort, and money where a diaper bag is concerned, but hey it's a dream come true! Stay tuned for the revealing of "The Diaper Bag!"

More Nursery pics

Adam worked very hard to finish the tree to take a picture for our Life book...didn't he do a great job!! We still need to paint another coat and do touch-ups, but I'm very impressed! Again, the wall and ladder colors are not accurate in the photos, they look fabulous in person!

Baby Stuff (Round 1)

THANK YOU G'Daddy and NaNaw (Dad and Lois) for sending us money to get us started preparing for our baby!! Oh how long I have waited to buy baby stuff!! You just have no idea how excited I am.
We made our list of necessities needed to bring our baby home and a registry list for a shower after baby comes home ~ so much fun! We now have our infant car seat, pack-n-play, bath stuff (thank you Kady for the bath tub), bottles, diaper pail, receiving blankets, burp clothes, etc... We have just the minimum to get by in the area of receiving blankets, onesies,etc...because they are neutral, I can't wait to have Pink or Blue! There just aren't very cute neutral items out there (compared to girl/boy items)...you can only do so much with green and yellow. Now we're looking forward to buying Round 2 on the necessities list, just have to wait on the budget...baby stuff is so expensive, but worth every penny!!! :)

Almost Finished!!

Well, our Life book is near completion and so is the nursery (minus furniture and accessories)!!
Here are a few pictures of the new nursery wall color and Adam drawing "the tree." The tree will be a silhouette, so we'll paint it black...to go along with the black and white bedding. Also including a picture of the front page of our Life book.

Thanks for the continued prayers.

Love,
Rachel

Home Study

First of all, thank you to all those who sent texts and emails today and for praying us through! The home study went very well. We had a very enjoyable time with Don. He didn't stay as long as we were expecting. We passed with flying colors and he said we will be great parents...we agree! He said our most important asset is our love for each other and for Jesus. I served lunch and little did I know I prepared all of his favorites! It's neat how God works, even in the little details!
So now we work hard and quickly on our Life Book. As soon as we get that in, then we're up for grabs, so to speak. ;)

Thank you for your continued prayers for our family.

Love and blessings,
Rachel

Moving Fast

WOW! The interview went great. Thank you for your prayers. We were interviewed together and were basically asked questions based on our application answers. They scheduled our Home Study (which means we're IN and ACCEPTED ~ WOO HOO) for FEBRUARY 18, that's SUPER SOON!! AAAAhhhhh we have so much to do before then. We left with a ton of forms: Forms for us, forms for references, forms for fingerprinting, forms for doctors, budget, and on and on the list goes. We have to have physicals, blood tests for HIV, TB test, and a urine drug test. We have an additional stack of questions to answer as well...questions that require a lot of thought and shouldn't be rushed. We also have a lot of work to do in our house to prep for the home study. He gave us the check list he uses for the home study, so we'll know exactly what needs to be done. We'll be the safest house around when this is all over! :)

I am very thankful to be staying home and for the time to accomplish these tasks ~ thank you Lord! Progress on the Life Book is on hold until the Home Study is over I guess... but I am working really hard on it in my head! A HUGE SHOUT OUT and thanks to our Awesome Lifegroup that gave us a $50 Hobby Lobby gift card to buy the supplies for our Life Book ~ I love you guys!!!

The home study on Feb. 18 should last 4-5 hours. We will for sure be interviewed separately then.

I thought this was funny ~ they even want our cat's vaccination records...now I have to make a trip to the vet with Daisy...NOT FUN...anybody want a cat? ;)

Since we came home I have been running around the house non-stop, my mind is spinning...I am officially NESTING!

So I guess our prayer requests are that we can accomplish these tasks smoothly and quickly...and of course for our baby.

Lots of love ~ Rachel

To My Child

"I Just Haven't Met You Yet" (Michael Buble')

And I Know Someday That It'll All Turn Out
You'll Make Me Work So We Can Work To Work It Out
And I Promise You Kid That I'll Give So Much More Than I Get
I Just Haven't Met You Yet

I Might Have To Wait
I'll Never Give Up
I Guess It's Half Timing
And The Other Half's Luck (Nope not luck ~ The Sovreignty of my God and His PERFECT timing)
Wherever You Are
Whenever It's Right
You Come Out Of Nowhere And Into My Life

And I Know That We Can Be So Amazing
And Baby Your Love Is Gonna Change Me
And Now I Can See Every Possibility


Oh You Know It'll All Turn Out
And You'll Make Me Work So We Can Work To Work It Out
And I Promise You Kid To Give So Much More Than I Get
Yeah I Just Haven't Met You Yet

I Said Love Love Love Love Love Love Love .....
I Just Haven't Met You Yet
Love Love Love .....
I Just Haven't Met You Yet

I Love You oh child of mine...my arms are waiting just for YOU and I CAN'T WAIT TO MEET YOU!!

Love,
Mommy