A year

I can't believe a year has passes since our home study was approved.  Last summer we were told that the average wait time was 6 months to a year (now the average wait time is 1 to 2 years.)  Dan and I prayed and decided to give it a year and if we were not matched up with a birth-mom by that time then we would see that as a sign from God that he was closing the doors to adoption.  I am sad to say that our file has been officially closed with no match.  This has been a year of hopes and dreams for the future and the ups and downs that waiting entails.  I take peace that I know we stepped out in faith and that we didn't back down when fears came.  I am working at not living in the what if's, What if we waited for another year, What if we were supposed to adopt internationally or from the foster care system, knowing that God is sovereign and would have lead us to that if that was what we were supposed to do.  I am prayerful over what any next step might be.  I have felt that I would adopt for about 20 years now.  It is hard to think that the dream is ending.  I put that in Gods hands to do as he wishes.

You may be wondering what we plan to do with the money we raised for our adoption.  We learned about a family from a church we previously attended.  We have chosen to donate the funds to them.
Here is their story: http://5pointscc.org/get-involved/levis-room/levis-story
If you feel lead to support them or get involved here is a link: http://5pointscc.org/get-involved/levis-room

I want to thank everyone who has prayed for us during this process and who have supported us financially and otherwise.  You have been a blessing to us.

New fundraising

I can't remember how I found this company, but I am glad I did.  I love that the coffee is fair trade and that they are committed to helping orphans.   If you are interested and want to try out their coffee use this link to my storefront with them: https://justlovecoffee.com/about/beneficiary/adoptionjourney/

Approved and expecting

It's official we are now a waiting family.  I have a feeling of anticipation in waiting for a phone call that will most likely be months away. I don't know how long I can keep this up.  It's a great feeling, but I know that it is unrealistic and that I sometimes just wish I would go back to they way it was before.  I was happy about adopting, but didn't have the emotional high that goes along with it.  Now I feel the excitement of knowing it may happen at any time.  The problem is it may happen in a month, it may happen in 5, maybe even longer.  The feeling although different reminds me of what I felt each time I saw the double lines on a pregnancy test.  I had thought of us as expecting prior to this, but it didn't really feel like we were expecting.  Now it really feels like we are expecting.  I just miss knowing basically when it will happen. 

The photo is one that Tara from Leigh Wells Photography took.  She graciously donated her time and talent to take pictures for our profile for the adoption. You can check out her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Leigh-Wells-Photography/178091304597. 

With the Christmas season upon us we would love your additional support from using our link to purchase things from Amazon.  Remember that you need to start each search from our link in order for us to get credit for each item you bought.  This has been an amazing support for us.  So for we have raised $225!  Thank you :)

Home study update

I wish I was more of a writing to be able to journal this process, but it is just not a gift given to me.  I do have some exciting updates.  As of Oct 29th we have submitted everything we need to do for the home study.  It is now in the process of getting approved.  I have no idea how long that takes, but I have been checking my email so often hoping for news that we are approved.  I don't doubt that we will get approved I just am excited for it to happen because when it does we are in the waiting stage and that means that we can be linked with a birth mom at any time.  Our family could be larger this Christmas.  We most likely will not get connected that soon, but it is possible.  This process took longer that we anticipated for a few reasons.  On is that our home school got off to a rocky start this year.  I was so busy with school for the first weeks in September I had no time to spend on the home study.  In October Dan was sent to North Carolina for 3 weeks for work.  Hopefully I'll have an update soon stating the Home study is approved.

The homestudy

We are almost done with the home study.   All we have left to do is finish reading a few articles, write up summaries said articles and make another payment to the agency.  We also need to trim photos and glue them into the 25 portfolios that the agency printed out and will hand to birth mothers.  I want to give a big shout out and thanks to my friend Tara of Leigh Wells Photography https://www.facebook.com/pages/Leigh-Wells-Photography/178091304597
for donating her time and taking some great photos of us for our profile. Please think of her for any photography needs.
Our next step will be waiting to be picked.  That could take weeks or months or a year.  It will be in Gods hands.
Please don't forget to use our link to purchase things through amazon.  We earned $180.00 so far!  What a blessing that is to us.  We also plan to have another fundraiser.  It will be easy for anyone interested in helping.  All they will have to do is go to eat at Chili's on Rochester Rd on a specified date with a premade flyer and we will get 10% of your total sales!  How cool is that.  A win win for Chili's and us.  I will post more as we get closer to the date, but first I need to figure out what that date will be :)

Amazon Earnings

I just wanted to say thank you for everyone who is shopping on Amazon through this blog.  We have earned $100.00 just for the month of June and it's not even over yet!  We praise God for this blessing. :)  An now for an overdue update.  Dan and I have both met individually with our case worker to give our own life history.  It was pretty intensive and my meeting lasted over an hour!  We are still reading and reading and reading, but learning a lot about how adoption affects the family and the child.  We have done all our trainings and have written up the profile that the birth mom's will read when choosing the family to raise their child.  We have a friend who is a photographer coming over next week to take pictures which will go into the profile.  We still have things to do, but are hoping to be done with this stage of the adoption by mid Aug and then it is on to waiting to be picked!    I hope to write again soon about some of the things we have learned in the trainings and readings. 
Blessings,
Jill

My next fundraising efforts

A friend of mine is a consultant for MY Thirty one and has offered to give me her proceeds for a my thirty one party.   You can order online at www.mythirtyone.com/marymacfarlane
click My Parties and Davis Adoption fund. 

We also had a meeting with the adoption agency that kicks off our home study.  This process will take 2-3 months.