Long Time No See

Wow,  I didn't realize how long it had been since I posted.  I have never been great at keeping up with a journal.  I am really sorry because we created this blog to invite our friends and family along in our journey and I have been radio silent.  I will try my best to post more often.


We are almost finished with our application.  I never imagined it would take this long but it has.  We still need to gather a couple more documents and make our profile book.  This book is a photo scrapbook that is presented to birth mothers so they can get a glimpse into our life.  I have started working on this book several times but it overwhelms me because this will be the first image she has of us and I want it to be perfect.


Luckily, when I get stressed I start looking at baby stuff.  :-)  A month or so ago Mom got the itch to go baby shopping and I was happy to oblige.  I had so much fun looking at everything and getting an idea of furniture and items we might want for our nursery.  I found the bedding that has become the inspiration for the nursery on etsy.  It's navy, white, grey, and mint green.  It's so stinkin' cute but so stinkin' expensive so I am going to try and recreate as much of it as I can.


Matt and I knew that choosing to adopt was not going to be cheap.  $37,000 is a huge chunk of money especially for two teachers.  The agency we have chosen to go with asks for the money when we are matched with a birth mother.  A worry for us is that we will not have the money when it comes time. We could be matched right after we finish the home study or it could be months. We have started saving and have received donations from people near and dear to our hearts.  Our hope is that we will have a chunk saved before our home study is complete then we can apply for grants. There are just so many unknowns when it comes to money and we know we need to lean on God and trust he is in control.


Speaking of raising money...The Diehl family is hosting a huge garage sale tomorrow and we spent all day sorting and preparing for it.  Hopefully, this will be a very successful fundraiser!  So many friends and family have donated items; Matt and I are so very thankful for the love we have received.  If you are able to stop by, we would love to see you and maybe you will find something you can't live without. :-)

The Nitty Gritty

THANK YOU, Thank You, thank you! The love and support we've felt the past week has been unbelievable and encouraging.

With sharing our new journey, comes lots of questions.  Here are some of the questions we've recently been asked.  Please don’t hesitate to ask more!

Domestic or International? Domestic—Our agency that we chose actually only does adoptions in Texas.  So one day we will adopt a Native Texan J

Age?  Infant

What all goes into the application?  Honestly, when I first looked at it I felt sick and stressed.  Now that we have gotten a huge chunk completed, it’s not so bad. Here are most of the items that go into the application, although I may have missed a few:

·        A copy of each from everyone in your household- driver’s license, social security card, passport, birth certificate, insurance card, paycheck stub

·        Vaccination records for animals

·        Most recent tax return

·        Floor plan of house with dimensions

·        Sketch of outdoor area

·        Physical examinations

·        Cpr/first aid certified

·        Autobiographies written by us (for some reason I am nervous about writing this)

·        LOTS of questions about our beliefs, our life as a couple and individually

·        A breakdown of our finances

·        References

·        Profile books-This is a photo album/scrapbook.  It's shown to birth parents so they can get a glimpse into our life and an idea of who we are.