Hooray for the mail.:) The agency agreement arrived today! It has been years of praying, months of research, and weeks of lining things up to finally start this journey....and now it's really happening! Jim and I have both tried to make double, triple sure that there are no apprehensions because now we start the check-writing phase, and want to make sure we are ready for the road ahead. It is a little bit scary to be honest, but it's a beautiful kind of scary because it allows us to lean on the Lord and trust His providence with all of the unknowns ahead.
We are still praying about the dynamic of our family and trying to decide if we should adopt one child, or a sibling unit. The practical side of me is scared to adopt more than one child, because we already have three little boys to provide for. I want to be good stewards for our family and not get in over our heads. Still, in our hearts, Jim and I both feel open to siblings, and we believe we could make it work, it just might not be as easy at first. For those of you who wrestled with the question of one child or more, how did you decide? Also, I am curious to know what your system is for keeping track of the adoption papers, to-do lists, forms, etc. Jim is the organized one between us, and he takes pride in having things orderly when it comes to files. Right now we are just writing everything down in a notebook (and I really mean everything, from the dates we sent things in, to questions we have, etc). Still, I know we should probably develop an efficient system for the long-term. If you have any tips, I would love to hear about what worked for you.
P.S. Have you seen this story/video? Oh boy, it's a definite tissue alert! I found it from Danielle Bean on Faith and Family Live.
"University of Georgia football coach Mark Richt's family adopted two orphans from Ukraine, one of whom has special needs and was considered “un-adoptable”. This clip from ESPN tells the inspiring story. "
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ReplyDeleteWe applied for 1 or 2 children of either gender. In Poland they MUST already be siblings to adopt more than one. We just waited for our referral and he just happened to be a perfect BOY!
ReplyDeleteFor keeping track, our agency provided us with a step by step list. I believe that St. Mary's has one on their web site. We used Lutheran Service Society of New York.
The beginning is so exciting!! I also used a notebook to write down all the questions I asked with dates and everything. For all the $$ we used a spreadsheet for everything...every piece of mail, FedEx, copies, checks, etc. I like to be organized, but I don't always meet my own expectations :-)
ReplyDeleteWe were open to a single child at first, and as we waited we decided we were also open to siblings. Turns out, after 11 months of waiting we got matched with the perfect little boy for our family!
Congratulations on receiving the agency agreement. I was so excited when ours came. We too are adopting from Poland through St. Mary's. This will be our 2nd adoption but our first from Poland. We have completed our last homestudy meeting and are waiting on the homestudy to be finalized. I started a spreadsheet on the computer where I am keeping track of everything for the adoption. I am listing every document we receive, mail, when we make payments, etc.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the link, that was such a beautiful and uplifting story.
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