January 11th Birthdays

January 11th.


This is the day my friend Haley was born. She is currently in England with her husband who is in the Airforce, and I miss her sweet laugh so much.


It is also the day my precious nephew Brayson came into this world.


A third birth, our adoption process, happened January 11th. It is the day we submitted our application to be adoptive parents.


We have been talking about adoption since before we were even married, but we never had even considered starting the process before we had biological children-at least I hadn't. I had it in my head that we would look into adoption when our two and a half children were around six or seven years old. Kyle and I have tried (obviously unsuccessfully) to have a baby since May 2013. After a few months of unsuccessful trying, Kyle and I went on a walk for a couple of hours. We talked about how much it sucked that I still wasn't pregnant, but that we were going to trust God's timing. We talked about adoption, where we would adopt from, what gender we would adopt, etc. but decided to wait a few more months until we went to the doctor to see if it was possible for me to become pregnant. We prayed that the doctor appointments would make it clear what we were supposed to do- continue to try to get pregnant or pursue adoption.


After many doctor appointments in December, we realized that the process of us becoming biological parents may be a long one. While it is completely possible for me to become pregnant, we learned that it may take some time. We are doing what the doctors suggest to try to shorten that time, but it is all still an unknown. Once we got that news from the doctors, we started talking about adoption again. 


We knew what country God was calling us to, so we did some research about other couples adopting from there-which we didn't find too many by the way. We went with Beacon House, one of the few services that does adoptions for our country. 


I do some of my best praying while showering. Here are some of the things I prayed for during January 11th's shower:


-Comfort for Kyle and me through this process. I've never heard of anyone having an "easy" adoption process. Comfort in the waiting. Comfort in the unknown.


-Patience for each other. When you're frustrated you tend to lash out at the ones you love the most, and neither of us want to do that to each other. 


-Competency and Speed for those this process deals with. I pray the waiting we go through is as short as possible, and that there will be no mistakes that make us wait longer to become parents to our new child.


-Love and Compassion for those that take care of our child before us. Allow the caregivers to have rest, kindness, and a love for their job that gives our child a loving sense of self until we are able to bring them home. 


-Understanding for our friends and family. I pray they understand what we are doing and why we are doing it. I pray the questions they ask or statements they make do not hurt our feelings, but are positive, uplifting, and loving. 


-Our child. I don't even know if you're born yet, what color your hair is, what color your eyes are, if you have dimples, freckles, or how sweet your laugh will sound to my ears. But I do know that you are already loved. And I pray that you feel that love at all times. I thank God for holding you in His hands and keeping you safe until we can bring you home. 


-The unknowns that I don't even know to pray for yet. For all the acronyms, fingerprints, and home studies that are to come our way. For all the stress that will be put on our lives. For all the tears I am sure I will cry. 

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