Update

For the past month and a half I have been working on typing a lot of information and submitting pictures for our family profiles.  We have told information about us as individuals and as a couple, our immediate family, our extended family, our neighborhood and community, things we value and think are important to teach our children, what we do for fun, how and where we spend holidays and vacations, and lots more!  We have also submitted pictures to show all of these things and another fee. 

I am so excited to have these things submitted.  The next step will be for our agency to begin putting our profiles together so they are ready to be presented to birthmothers.  We may still have some edits to make before they are completed, but once they are finished we will be able to be presented to birthmothers who are planning to place their babies or children for adoption. 

During this time we have been presented with a few other situations with babies and children that were, or would be, placed for adoption.  Although the two agencies that will work with us primarily to find a placement anywhere in the country, our home study agency often forwards some situations from other contacts she has around the country, or from birthmothers who are in Kentucky that are working directly with her.  Tyler and I have no preference of gender or race of a child we will welcome into our family.  For now we are more comfortable with a child who is younger than Grayson at the time of the adoption, but are open to considering situations that involve children of other ages on a case by case basis.  Over the past month we have been informed of some situations involving children who are African American, Caucasian, and biracial, boys and girls, some with special needs and some who are "healthy," and ranging in age from pre-birth to 2 years old.  For some of these situations we would have a very high risk of losing $20,000, or more, and we don't feel like this would be a risk we are able to take at this point.  Another situation with a 2 year old boy would not accept adoptive parents from Kentucky because of additional laws.  We were presented to a birthmother the day she had her baby girl.  She was very sweet and in the end made the decision to parent her child.  Leigh said this was the best possible outcome and, although we would have been so excited to welcome the baby girl into our family, we praise God that she has the opportunity to know and be raised by her birthmother. 

We are looking forward to our profiles being finished and becoming "active" with our other agencies.  We are also figuring out and praying about the large portion of our adoption costs that will need to be available at the time that we do have a match. 

God is teaching us so much right now.  Right now there are a lot of unknowns for us, some related to adoption and others not.  God is teaching us to persevere, and more than anything, to trust and have faith in Him and His plans.  We know that God's plans are perfect and our hope is that whatever happens in our lives will bring Him glory.  We are so excited and anxious to meet baby King when the day comes and to see how God is working other things out, too.  We continue to pray for that time to come quickly!