Merry Christmas Y'all

Nathan and I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.

I thought you all might enjoy this link to where I made a total elf out of my parents and my nieces. If you need a good laugh, you will love it.

Enjoy!

Home Study Part 1, Completed!

Yesterday, Nathan and I completed part of our home study. We had an interview as a couple and then I had my individual interview. From what I can tell, everything went well. It is very interesting to have someone (a total stranger) come to inspect your home for safety (which is the next visit) and to ask you very personal questions. We felt very comfortable and had no problem opening up to the social worker. Of course, it is rare to find Nathan or myself at a loss for words!

The next step is for Nathan to complete an individual interview and for the social worker to do a safety inspection of our home. She was very careful to call it a "safety inspection" so that she didn't give the idea it was a "cleanliness" inspection. There are certain safety requirements the state has for anyone who wants to adopt, such as a fire extinguisher in the kitchen, smoke detectors and a first aid kit, to name a few. We hope that this interview can take place in the next two to three weeks.

Several people asked me about this interview and most commented that they knew a few parents that they wished had to go through this process before they were "allowed" to have a "homemade" baby. The way I look at it is that everyone should have smoke detectors, first aid kits and a fire escape plan for their home and it is probably a good idea to force us to do it because we might not have thought about it other wise. As far as the questions go, that is good for us too. The social worker gave us a lot of things to think about and study up on. We love to do this, so we were happy for the suggestions.

One funny thing...she asked how we would cope with the wait. I assured her I was a pro, after all I waited 7 years to marry this guy! Nathan was worth the wait and this baby will be too. Could someone please remind me of this in about 8 months?

Guess What?

Our social worker called last Monday and has scheduled our first home study interview for next Monday afternoon! Isn't that exciting? It is for us...this feels like progress.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the process, this is a huge step in bringing our baby home. Of course the states, countries and agencies involved want to make sure that we are suitable parents and that our home is safe for children. After this step is complete, we are able to start with other necessary steps such as immigration paperwork, grant and / or loan paperwork and required reading and studying.

A social worker will come to our home for two visits. She will do a couple's interview, individual interviews and a home safety inspection. Each of the three interviews will take 1.5 - 2 hours (I am counting on 2 hours given our propensity to chat). On Monday we will complete our couple's interview and my individual interview. I should be exhausted!

I have asked around for advice and everyone says, "Just relax!" Sure, no problem! I will say that over the phone our social worker seemed to be very easy to talk to and I am sure she will be even easier to speak with in person.

This weekend will be spent sprucing up our home and making sure there is nothing here that could harm a child. If you need us, we will be here at home.

Please pray for us to be able to exactly speak what our heart feels when we are asked all the probing questions!

Have a great week!

More Showers of Blessings

Sometimes in this adoption journey, I find my self thinking, "God did we hear you right? You want us to adopt a baby who lives a world away? You know what a big effort that is? Do You know what enormous cost that is?" Like He doesn't know...but don't you love the fact that we can ask God questions? Each time I think this, I feel like God says yes, this is what He wants us to do. Of course, there is no verse in the Bible that tells me so, there is no billboard (wouldn't that be handy), there is no burning bush, but I can say there is the still small voice. I could tell you many examples of how, when we have stepped out on faith, God has shown us what He intends for us to do. A lot of people told us that this journey would be one of faith and that there would be a lot of ups and downs and from what I understand, our "roller coaster" ride is only beginning.

When we look at the size of this in many ways, we are overwhelmed. This last week was one of needless worry about all the details. We don't know how this will all work out, but we seem to sense God saying "I will supply all your needs." Last week we received several amazing phone calls of support. One that touched both of hearts is a benefit that a local salon wants to do for us at the end of January. We were so touched that these friends would be willing to give up their time and money to help us - we are so humbled. As we know more of the details, I will share them. For now, to the organizers of this day, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you! You are all so kind to want to help us. I don't know if words could adequately express our gratitude.

Thank you also to our family who is very supportive, we could not do this without you!

Adoption Book Review

Over the last year or so, I have done a lot of research on adoption. Seldom do Nathan and I do anything without diving head first into research. In fact, at first, Nathan worried that I was going to get what he called "adoption research burnout." Well, I didn't. I have come across some great books that I would like to share with you. Since Nathan and I are readers, the books I review will sometimes be on subjects other than adoption. Reading, we think, will be a great way to pass the time while we are waiting for our baby to arrive.

The book, Successful Adoption: A Guide for Christian Families, is a must read for Christians who are interested in adoption.

In her book, Natalie Gillespie (an adoptive parent herself), goes through in detail the steps and thought processes involved in adopting a child either domestically or internationally from both a practical and spiritual standpoint.

The book was like a great skirt, long enough to cover the subject but short enough to keep it interesting. Successful Adoptions is full of great resource information including checklists, phone numbers, timelines and sample documents.

Additionally, this book gives heartwarming stories of Christians (most of whom you will recognize) who are either adoptive parents or adoptees. These real life stories are very inspiring. This book is well written in both its content and sentiment.

On a final note, congratulations to Eric and Nicole Echols who have accepted a referral of a 4 year old little girl from Taiwan. We are praying that you can bring Emma home soon!

Q&A Follow Up

Thanks to everyone who responded to my Q&A Blog. I appreciate all of the encouragement that I received from your replies. Nathan and I are convinced that it is God's will for us to start a family through adoption.

Their are two questions that came from the comments. The first is easy, "How did you decide on South Korea?" The second question is a little more complicated, "Is it right for Christians to adopt children, particularly taking them away from their country of origin?" While the second question wasn't asked directly, it was implied. In my estimation, it is really asking "Can it truly be God's will for you and Nathan to adopt?" I will attempt to answer both questions in this post.

First, let me say this. I am thankful for the comments on this blog. It lets me know that people are actually interested in what Nathan and I are doing. I may not always agree with a particular post, but I feel strongly that everyone has a right to their opinion and they are free to express it here on my blog. All are welcome!

Question #1 - How did you decide on South Korea? (see post from Heather for specific question)

This is a great question and I would say that it was both a drawing to South Korea specifically and circumstances that led us to decide on South Korea.

Let me explain...

Nathan has always felt some sort of draw to adopt from South Korea. My initial feelings were to adopt from a Latin American country. I think that my feelings were primarily related to my mission trips to Honduras.

One of the first things that comes up when you speak with an agency either by phone or at a pre-adoption meeting is "What country are you interested in?" At that point for us, we were thinking that we didn't really care, we just want a baby! As you begin to weed through all the different countries and their qualifications, you quickly find one that is a fit for you. For example, Kazakhstan seemed appealing to us, we met all of the qualifications, then we found out that there is a required 45 day in country visit. This is almost impossible for us to do and still keep our jobs!

For us, South Korea was a great fit. I actually deferred to Nathan on this point, he felt strongly about South Korea and I didn't feel as strong as he did about any other country that interested me. Now I am glad that I deferred to his judgment because Guatemala, a county that I was interested in, is having a lot of problems and we would have been in the big middle of it!

Let me also say that we also feel a strong call to adopt from China (another post for another day). I will elaborate on that in the future. Our plan (for now, subject to change) is to adopt our second child from China.

If we had a ton of money, our home would be filled with lots of children with lots of different ethnic backgrounds. Recently I read a quote that seemed to describe me very well "My capacity to love a child is not based on whether or not they carry my genes."

Question #2 "Is is right for Christians to adopt children, particularly taking them away from their country of origin?"

For this answer I will be taking my answers primarily from information I have read from the Carolina Hope Adoption Blog. This a great website for dealing with the theological issues related to adoption. I wish I could better articulate theological issues...I will give a shot at explaining it as I understand it, but if you are interested, again, I suggest you read the Carolina Hope Adoption Blog (CHAB).

All throughout the Bible we see people who are adopted or raised by someone other than their biological parent. Some well known examples are Moses, Samuel and Jesus (who had a step father). Moses and Samuel both would have been raised in a culture or country that wasn't their culture or country of their origin.

In addition, the New Testament is filled with language about how God adopts us into His family and gives us all the rights and privileges that His Son Jesus has. It is amazing to think that we actually become joint heirs with Jesus. God cherishes us and choses to love us, His children.

As far as transracial adoption goes, I love what Dr. Dave Garner from Westminister Theological Seminary wrote in a recent interview with CHAB "...because all of us are descendants of Adam, we are actually all one race. Language, cultural, or ethnic distinctions do not trump the central truth of our common heritage. The sons of Adam are alone those who become the sons of God in Christ."

The cost of any adoption - domestic or international - is high both financially and personally. One way that we "balance out" this cost is when we think of the great cost that God went to for us to be adopted into His family - the life of His Son.

I know this was long, but I have had it on my heart for sometime and I wanted to share. Thanks again to all of you who care enough about us and our family to follow our journey.

Have a great week.

FAQ

I thought I would use this time to answer a few frequently asked questions that Nathan and I get about our adoption process, but first, I have some exciting news! Last Friday we received in the mail approval to get the home study process started. This was at the end of a day that I had "whined" to my Mother about not hearing any news for a whole week about "my baby." She asked if I had checked my mail (how do Mom's know this stuff?)...I hadn't, but when I got home there it was not one, but two pieces of mail from Dillon International!

Question 1 - Do you want a boy or a girl?

We actually don't have a preference as to the gender of our baby. Which is a good thing because Dillon requests that we don't have a preference since we are first time parents. 70% of the babies adopted internationally from South Korea are boys.

Question 2 - Do you have to travel to South Korea to pick up your baby?

We have the option to travel to South Korea to pick up our baby or to have the baby escorted to us (probably to Tulsa). The flight to South Korea is about 30 hours and the stay in South Korea is only a few days. At this time we are leaning toward having the baby escorted so that only one person has jet lag, not three.

Question 3 - Does South Korea have a one child policy like China?

No, there is no one child policy.

Question 4 - Why are the babies available for adoption?

The reasons are probably very similar to the reasons a baby would be available in the United States for adoption.

Question 5 - Why are there more boy babies available for adoption from South Korea?

To the best of our understanding, South Korea has domestic adoption. Just like in the United States, the girl babies are preferred for adoption, for whatever reason. Nathan and I feel that all babies, regardless of gender, are a gift and a reward from God.

Question 6 - When do you expect to have your baby home?

The Dillon website says that we can expect to wait about a year. We are hopeful that we will have the baby home by this time next year.

Question 8 - How old will your baby be?

In South Korea, the babies are not allowed to leave the country for adoption until they are 5 months old. We expect our baby to be about 8-12 months upon homecoming.

Question 9 - Do you have names picked out?

Yes, but nothing set in stone.

Do you have a question that I have not answered? If so, feel free to post it and I will do my best to answer. Like many of you, we are learning about adoption and we may not have all the answers.

Thank you for your interest, it means a lot to us to see everyone keeping up with us through this blog.

National Adoption Month, 2007

Psalm 68:5-6
5 Father to the fatherless, defender of widows—
this is God, whose dwelling is holy.
6 God places the lonely in families;
he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy.
But he makes the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.

November is National Adoption Month. My prayer is that God will lay it on the heart of Christian families to adopt. Statistics show that many people have thought about it, but have not followed through.

Nathan and I read a book called "When God Writes Your Love Story" by Eric and Leslie Ludy when we were dating. I just read today that they are in the process of adopting a little girl from Korea. Click here to read their story.

Have a wonderful week.

The Rest of the Story

Since I didn't elaborate very much on Sunday's post - here is goes.

I don't know why, but for some reason over the weekend, it seemed like time. Have you ever had that feeling? We knew we were going to adopt, but for some reason, last weekend seemed like the perfect time to mail in our paperwork.

Nathan went to give a presentation on Sunday afternoon and I stayed home (I wouldn't want to miss my nap, after all it is a day of rest). While he was gone, I had the pictures of us and our house printed out and when he came home, I had all of the papers spread out. We finished up on our signatures and took off to Kinko's to make copies.

Literally, three pounds of paper later, our paperwork was in a box bound for Tulsa, OK.

Now we wait! We wait for a phone call from Dillion to let us know our next step.

This feels like a big step. In some ways it felt like a step out in faith, after all there is no verse in the Bible that says "Thou shall adopt." Or is there? We are commanded to care for the widows and orphans and God uses adoption to describe how we become a part of His family, but that is another blog for another day. I am sure over the next few months of waiting, I will have time to blog on that topic.

In the days since we mailed our packet, some things have happened to let us know that we made the right decision at the right time. We also are aware that God has been protecting us and that He is in control. Isn't it great when that happens? God lets us know by small circumstances that we are doing the right thing.

On a totally different note, tomorrow is our 4 year anniversary. I knew all those seven long years that we dated that Nathan would be a great husband, but I had no idea how great he actually would be. I am so blessed!

Have a great week!

PS - Since we've had a delay, I have reset our ticker! According to Dillon International's website, we should have our baby home in about a year!

Pregnant on Paper!

It is official! Our paperwork has been mailed. Tonight we finished making all our copies at Kinko's and sent the paperwork in Fed Ex. Not much else to report, but you know we will keep you posted!

Sealed!

Now we are waiting on delivered!

Thanks Jessica for coming by with your Notary Services. Things are moving along fast now and who knows...that paperwork may be in the mail with in the week.

I'll keep you posted!

Next step: Mail paperwork and schedule Home Study!

Signed!

We have taken a major step and have signed our paperwork! We have a few other small steps to take before we can send the paperwork into the adoption agency, but we hope to do those things this weekend. Nathan kind of chuckled when he had to sign next to "adoptive father." His comment was "Imagine me, a Dad!" Well, I have and I know he will be a great one! I don't worry about his ability at all!

Here is an example of they types of paperwork we had to complete. We had to designate a guardian for our children should something happen to us, we had to prove we were born and married, we had to state what type of discipline we would use with our children, we have to take child and infant CPR and read books about adoptive parenting, we had to complete paperwork that shows our financial situation and we had to have references. This list only scratches the surface. It is a lot of work, but when they hand us that child and say "He's yours," it will be worth it.

Hope you all have a great week!

Anita Renfroe - Women of Faith

Can you believe in one month we will be in Oklahoma City at this year's Women of Faith? I am so excited to be taking a fun bunch of ladies to the conference again this year. We are going to have a blast! I thought I would attach this Anita Renfroe video to get you all excited! This video is very funny - anyone who is a Mom or has a Mom will like this video.

Have a good week.

Showers of Blessings

Well...it wasn't pneumonia!

A week ago Wednesday, I started having the same symptoms that sent me to the doctor for a pneumonia diagnoses on Labor Day. This time the pain was on the opposite side of my back, so my assumption was that the pneumonia was back in my left lung.

We immediately called the pulmonary doctor to see if I could come in the next day, and thank God I could. He did a chest x-ray and requested that I have a CT scan done on Friday. The CT scan revealed that I had pulmonary embolisms (blood clots on my lungs)! The diagnoses earlier in the month was incorrect.

Thanks to God for protecting me!

I was in the hospital for three days of complete bed rest and two additional days of minimum activity on IV and oral blood thinners. I will have to continue the oral blood thinners for six months!

Thank you so much to all of you who reached out to us during this time. You are and continue to be the "hands and feet of Christ" to us. We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends who have done so much for us! It is hard to express with words how blessed we feel for all the blessings you have showered and continue to shower on us...everything from chocolate, to meals, to visiting us, to magazines, to loaning us your i pod...all of it, no matter how big or small, did not go unnoticed and we are very grateful and humbled by your generosity!

Especially thank you to all of you who prayed for us, no doubt God heard and answered your prayers! Please continue to pray for us as I recover from home.

Lastly, I would be remiss if I did not mention what exceptional care my husband took of me. I could not have asked for a better care taker. I know this was hard and exhausting on him, but he was a trooper! I am so grateful to God for giving me such a great companion for life.

"Who am I Lord?"

Under the Weather!

Hey Everyone!

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted, but I have been a bit under the weather. Actually, that is an understatement! I have had pneumonia! This is the second time in two years. I had the pneumonia vaccination two years ago and I thought I had "out smarted" this thing. Much to my surprise when I went to the doctor for a "back ache" he returned with the diagnoses of pneumonia. I was not thrilled, to say the least! This means a week off work and a couple of weeks of being exhausted, not what I had planned! I have been back at work this week and I think I am almost "caught up" if there is such a thing! Please pray for me as I will be having some tests done to try to determine the cause. This is not such a fun thing that I want to do this every two years.

If that is a picture of me this last week, here is a picture of Nathan...

He has writer's block! It is a terrible disease with which he is unable to write an autobiography! He gave it a start. He said it sounded like a laundry list of his life (born, 1970 to Paul and Doris, in Texas). He read it to a co-worker who at first glance thought it sounded fine, until he read mine to her and then she said "Your's sucks!" Needless to say, Nathan crunched his up and thew it away.

For those of you who don't know, this is one of the steps that we must complete for our adoption paperwork. I think it is to give the social worker something to talk to us about.

Please pray for Nathan that he is able to complete this task. I have tried to start some of it for him, but ultimately, this is something he will have to do himself - otherwise it would be a biography (isn't that right Leigh Ann?).

We are looking forward to Turner and Carter coming for a week long visit. They will be here tomorrow. They will be staying with Nathan's parents as Craig and Amy travel to Virginia to find a house for their next move, which is coming up soon. How time flies!

Please pray for us as it is our goal to finish our paperwork this week. This means that Nathan must finish his autobiography, we need some pictures of our home and us and we have to sign and notarized the "mound" of paperwork. The end to this phase is in sight, please pray that we get past this hurdle.

Have a great week.

Persistance!

We are in the middle of a big push to complete our paperwork! Our goal is to have the paperwork completed in the next week. There is so much required information, so many details, but...we know persistance will pay off.


Hope you all have a great week!

Our House Guest Are Gone

I am just returning home from the airport where we dropped the Bensons off for their long flight home. It has been a great time having them in our home since the middle of June and we will miss them like crazy! It is amazing how you can have so many connections with people who literally live on the other side of the world. Our world is small and thank goodness we have modern communications to keep in touch with. We will miss Payton's little squeal around the house, Luke's sense of humor and Pauline's all around sweetness. Thanks guys for coming to see us and we pray that you will be back soon for a much longer stay. Believe it or not, seven weeks is not long enough. Call us when you get home!

We love you!
Nathan and Emily

Time to Get Moving!

I know it has been a while since I have updated my blog. Thank you to those of you who actually mentioned that you noticed it has been a couple of weeks since a post.

The Aussies are here until a week from today. We have been very busy spending time with them and we dread the day they leave. Our prayer is that this will only be a temporary good bye and that they will choose to move here very soon.

Many of you know that I recently changed jobs. Since we have to wait for me to build up time on the job for me to have benefits and vacation time, we have been purposely delaying the completion of our paperwork. After our guests leave, we plan to get on finishing our paperwork post haste! Jessica - get your notary stamp ready. We estimate that this will put us in line to "get" our baby about a year from now.

The last few months have been filled with ups and downs and we know God is preparing us for the bumpy road we will have until we finally at long last, bring our baby home. We are confident that God holds everything in His perfect timing and He has slowed us down. God knows the baby He has picked out for us and He knows the perfect time for us to proceed!

Thanks to all of you who continue to hold us up in prayer.

Adopt(ed)

Thanks to Brittney G for the t-shirts she brought back from student camp for us.

This shirt is a great reminder that all of us who are Christians have actually been chosen by God to be His sons and daughters (Eph. 1:5) That is an amazing thought!

From what I have read a lot of people have thought about adoption. If all the Christian families who have considered adoption actually completed an adoption, far fewer children would be in need of a family. According to UNICEF there are 143 million children around the world who are orphaned (meaning at least one parent has died). This doesn't even count the number of children who are relinquished or abandoned.

God lovingly commands us to love others, especially those who are innocent, young and poor. The Bible makes a great case for Christians to adopt. If you would like more information, please read the book "Successful Adoption, A Guide for Christian Families." I loved this book and by the end, I knew this was the plan God had for us.

We continue to be encouraged by many of you about our adoption and about my job situation. Thank you so much! You have no idea what this means to us. Everything from a small word of encouragement, a prayer or things like Brittney did with the t-shirt - we are in awe of your encouragement!

I started a new job this week - thank you for your prayers. You can now pray that we have a productive week working on paperwork.

We hope each of you have a great week.

"Let's Play Adoption"

I love these girls!

One thing that is so great about them is that they totally "get" the whole adoption thing.

Ben heard them in their room the other night playing adoption with their new "babies" from Disney World. The next day at Mom's they had to have a Birthday Party for Gabriella Isabella - Brittni's new adopted baby (a Disney character). They needed to get their plastic cheesecake out of Mom's garage to celebrate. It was Gabriella's first birthday since being adopted. Sissy had adopted a baby on the same day, but she had not named her baby yet. Isn't that the cutest thing you've heard all week?

I am so thankful for a supportive family right down to our nieces. Even Turner kind of understands. She knows that Uncle Nathan and Aunt Emily are going to get a baby from South Korea - that is the pink country on her globe. If you even mention it, she runs off to find South Korea on her globe. Isn't she smart?

Please continue to pray for us as we seek God's guidance for our future.

Have a fun and safe 4th of July.

The Aussies Are Here

We are having a great time catching up with Luke and Pauline and getting to know Payton. Don't worry...we haven't taught her anything bad yet, but she does know how to give a "hand full of sugar" now and she drags out a great southern "Hi" instead of her cute Aussie "Hello." She is too cute and it is fun for us to have a little one around our house. It makes us ready to have our little one home.

Have a great week!

Pre-Adoption Workshop

Last Saturday we attended the pre-adoption workshop. We had a great time and it was great to have a little get away too. The meeting was to go over the requirements for each county, have a show and tell time with kids who were adopted and to discuss the aspects of becoming a multicultural family.

By far our favorite part was the show and tell. The kids were so cute. Once they came in the room Nathan was toast and watched them rather than pay attention to the meeting. We were pleasantly surprised to find a couple from Fort Smith among the show and tellers. I knew the wife from a Bible study I did a few years ago, but I had lost track of her and had no idea she adopted from Korea. How exciting is that?

Both of the other families at our table were adopting from Vietnam. It is so interesting to see how God lays on the heart of each family what they are supposed to do (domestic versus international and if international, what county).

This meeting really got us excited and Nathan finally feels like a part of the process. His comment is that he doesn't care about the paperwork or the process, he just wants his baby!

Please continue to pray for us as we seek God's guidance for us with regards to my new job.

Thank you to all of you who are interested enough in us to check our blog. I notice that we have had over 500 hits!

Have a great week!

Family in Cambodia

What a treat! It isn't even Wednesday and I am updating my blog. I wanted to take a minute to give you a link to an article about an Arkansas family who is trying to adopt from Cambodia. They need us to help them get their family home by contacting Senator Mark Pryor. Please read this article and if you can, please send Senator Pryor a short request.

Click here to read the article about this family

Have a great weekend.

Pre-Adoption Meeting This Saturday

We are excited to go to our pre-adoption meeting this Saturday in Tulsa. This is basically an informational meeting that is a required step for the adoption process.

One thing we are excited about is that we will have the opportunity to meet with other couples who are adopting.

We are also on count down for our Australian house guests. A week from Saturday Luke, Pauline and Payton Benson will be coming to our house to stay until early August. We are looking forward to their visit, especially meeting Payton for the very first time.

Have a great week!

Family Support

Build A Bear recently had a day where they let you come in and build a bear to go to a child waiting for adoption. Mom and Ben took Brooklyn and Brittni to build a bear. Brooklyn made a girl bear named Ava and dressed her in pink, Brittni's bear was a boy dressed in blue named Owen. I want to say a great big thank you to the girls for building a bear for someone else and not even buying anything for themselves. That is a fantastic way to give back and I appreciate your enthusiasm for our adoption plans.

If you want to help out, Wendy's will donate fifty cents for every Frosty that is purchased on Father's Day weekend to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. Sounds like a great excuse for a Frosty to me.

We are knee deep in paperwork and prayer for God's direction in our lives. We know that He is in control and He has a plan, we are just not sure of the details yet. Please pray for us as we seek the "details."

Amy, Turner and Carter have returned to California after an all too short visit. Here are a few of new pictures.

Here are two pictures of Brittni on her next to last day of school - Luau Day. Congratulations on your graduation from kindergarten!

Thanks to our family for the wonderful support you give us - we are blessed with a wonderful family and we love you all.

Why We Are Adopting

Sorry that I am slow to post this week. Amy, Turner and Carter are in for a visit from California and we are taking every opportunity we have to spend time with them. Turner is amazing with her knowledge of dinosaurs! Nathan says that she could school any adult in a game of "Are you smarter than a three year old - Dinosaur Edition!"

We don't have any news this week on the adoption, except that after part two of our application and our home study are approved, the expected wait is about one year. There may be some slow weeks on my blog. I figure this is a good way to keep busy while we wait.

Since this was a slow week, I thought I would share with you how we have come to the decision to adopt and why we chose South Korea. Hang on...this may be a long post.

My Mom says that I have wanted to adopt ever since she can remember. My earliest memories of wanting to adopt are seeing the Romanian orphanages on 20/20 when I was in high school. I begged my parents to adopt. When Nathan and I were dating, we talked about how we both had a desire to adopt. Our original plan was to have a child and adopt a child, but God seems to have a plan all of His own sometimes.

We both agreed right away that we had a very short fuse with infertility treatments. We think that everyone has to come to their own decision about this. We have close friends who have gone to great lengths to have their babies and we think that is great. For us, we felt that since we have such a heart for adoption and considering my age (my Dad says I am "no spring chicken"), we felt that we would opt for adoption after a year of trying on our own, both of us having test and two rounds of Clomid.

As far as South Korea, Nathan has thought for sometime that he would like to adopt from South Korea. I had more of a heart for a Latin American country or possibly China. I did a lot of reading and talking to other people who have adopted and South Korea seemed like a natural fit for us. We are both thrilled! At this point, we plan to adopt from China next (this is subject to change).

So that is the short version! I could talk your ear off about the subject. If you are interested in adoption, let me know and I can suggest some books and websites to help you learn more. Someone gave me advice to do my homework on the subject. I took them seriously, I bought way too many books - I would be glad to share.

Have a great week. Watch next week for updated pictures of Turner and Carter.

Application Part 1 Approved!!

Great News! Our "Application part 1" was approved! We received "Application part 2" in the mail yesterday. It is daunting. I am amazed at all the questions they ask - stuff we didn't even know we needed to know. We have a lot to think about.

A couple of weeks ago, our Pastor gave out 24 $100 bills to people in the congregation with instructions to "pay it forward." Click here to read the Pastor's blog.

Our dear friend Lindee Riley received one of the $100 bills. As she prayed about what to do with her $100 she felt like God wanted her to give it to us for our adoption. How amazing is that? Can I just say, this is the exact amount of the pre-adoption workshop that we are required to attend?

We feel so blessed! This showed us that God was working behind the scenes on our behalf. Also, not only did Lindee pay her $100 forward, but this will give us a chance to pay it forward also by changing the life of a child.

Our story will be told this Sunday along with the other "pay it forward" stories.

By the way, our plan is to update this blog on Wednesdays. Thanks to all of you who have checked in and offered encouragement.

The Journey Begins

It is official! On May 1, we mailed our application to adopt from South Korea. We are very excited! We are told the process can take about 9 - 12 months, which Nathan says is a perfect gestational period for us since we seem to take things slow (dating for 7 years). This blog is a place you can check in our progress.

We can't wait to get our baby home. We have not stated a preference for gender, although our chances of getting a boy are greater from South Korea. We have no girl names picked out - so Nathan's Mom says that means we will get a girl.

Our families are excited for us. My Mom and nieces can hardly resist a shopping spree. Mom says they talk about this baby all the time. She keeps reminding them that this will be a long process, but they keep finding cute baby things that the "baby" needs. Mom told them that we don't know if it is a boy or a girl or how old the baby will be. Brooklyn's response "Grammy, everyone starts out as a baby."

We will keep you posted (pun intended).