Change of Plans, Exactly as Planned!

I'm so sorry it has been so long since we've last updated our blog!  We've had some unexpected things come up that have been hard, as well as being busy wrapping up the school year, but I'm excited to update you all now, on what's been going on!

Our profiles are finished!  The guy who has helped us with our profiles has been amazing!  He has hand delivered some copies to one of our adoption agencies last week.  The rest of the copies are on their way to our house and are guaranteed to be here by Wednesday!  Once we receive those copies, we will mail some to our other agency!

Once we get the profiles to the other agency, they will begin to present us to birthmoms who are looking for people to adopt their children.  The agency who has our profiles already have everything they need to begin matching us with birthmoms except proof of funds.  They will not begin to present us to birthmothers until we can prove that we have all of the money they will require upon placement.  We are not yet able to show this amount in full, so we will continue to wait as we work to save more money for the adoption. 

We want to say thank you, again, for all of the prayers, support, and money!  We could not do this without your help!  Support from our friends and family have been amazing, but we've been blessed by strangers, too!  While donating blood about a month ago, a woman walked in and sat across from me.  It didn't take long for me to notice that she was staring!  I tried not to pay attention and attributed it to the fact that we were on a tiny blood mobile van (I'm not a fan of these, by the way).  In just a few minutes she said, "I know now!  You're Joy's daughter-in-law!...You're adopting!"  She had recognized me because of my mother-in-law sharing our story, and quickly pointed out that she was wearing one of our bracelets that we've sold as a fundraiser!  She said she'd worn it everyday and would keep wearing it and praying for us until our baby made it home!  This was wonderful!  I sat looking at a woman I had barely met who was so supportive and had been praying for us!  Just this weekend we went to a friends birthday party.  We sat across from a couple I'd met once.  She came back to her seat and said, "This might sound really weird but.....are you all adopting?"  When I told her we were she said, "I thought so!  I've been reading your blog!" and continued to ask us all about what was going on now!  The other day while riding a bus with my co-workers, someone started counting all of the women we work with who were currently pregnant.  The count reached 4, and then she added me!  She said I was pregnant in a "different way", but I still counted, and concluded that we had 5 people who were expecting children!  All of these things seem so small, but are in fact so big!  We feel so blessed to have support from so many people who are partnering with us to help bring Baby King home!

And now, we wait!  We will be waiting for calls from our agency to tell us they have a birthmother they'd like to present us to.  Then, we will be waiting to see if we are picked.  At this point we will probably be matched with a birthmother who is still pregnant, but there's also a possibility that we could be called and presented with an opportunity to adopt a child who is already born.  Either way, there are many ways an adoption could begin but then fall through.  At this point there are a lot of things that are still uncertain.  Many things can change with our adoption plan at any point. 

While these unknown factors are hard to think about sometimes, we take comfort in knowing that God knows the path we will take.  He knows our child already!  This is such an amazing truth!  In his book, Adopted For Life, Dr. Russell Moore talks about this reality in his concluding chapter.  As he gets ready to celebrate his son's 7th birthday, he talked about how on that day 7 years ago he didn't know his son, and he wasn't there for his 1st birthday, but even on that day God knew!  He says, "I'd prayed every morning and every night for children.  I would have done so that day too, with a desperate whine to my voice.  I didn't know that day that my prayers had been answered, in a way beyond all I could ask or even think.  I had no way of knowing that the greatest joys of my life so far were here, and yet not here; already and not yet.  God wasn't ignoring me.  He was training my affections to love these two boys, to be a father theologically, not just biologically.  It makes me wonder this morning what else I've prayed for that is secretly answered already.  In the big scheme of things, everything- literally everything- fits into that category." 

Wow!  This year has brought many new challenges and changes of plans for Tyler and I.  But it's amazing to know that things are going exactly according to God's plans!  It is no mistake that we are where we are, embarking on this journey, with you!  No, we didn't plan it exactly this way, but He did.  And He is growing us into His image to fulfill His purposes.  What a humbling reality! 

Please continue to pray for our child, wherever he/she may be right now.  Pray for the birthmothers who are choosing to give their children life but are making the unimaginable decision to put their children up for adoption.  Pray for our agencies as they work to help these birthmothers through this process and help other couples to complete their families by giving orphans homes and families.  Pray for us, that we would continue to raise money that is needed to complete our adoption, and that God would continue to prepare our hearts for what is coming!  Thank you!