It has been 16 days since I last posted. I know that is some sort of violation of the blogger code but I couldn't help it. Well, I suppose I could have made some time but rest ashured there weren't many bits of time to choose from. I have been recently distracted by working on a new blog, theflockyouth.blogspot.com. I decided to put a blog together for our youth group so we'd have a safe online spot to keep in touch with one another. It has taken a bit of my blogging energy lately. Not to mention that I'm working one full time job (which I love, btw), volunteering at another part time (should be full time) job, attempting to fit some Jockey parties in, feeding and caring for an unbelivably wonderful husband, two dogs, and the cat (which, btw, is a male cat and not a female cat as previously posted). Oh, and did I mention the physical therapy appointments I have to go to at least twice a week for my back. I threw out my back three days before our wedding and have been dealing with that since then. Things are much better in the back situation, but I still have to go to the PT appointments until mid October. We're also adding a really neat prayer meeting format to Sunday nights so I've been working on the prep for that. All in all, I can't even really remember the last several weeks. Looking at my calendar, it doesn't appear that this level of business will be letting up anytime soon.
As for our ever changing adoption plans...There are many people in my life who won't be surprised that the plan has changed, yet again. Many of those people aren't entirely comfortable with how much change occurs in our lives. Nathan and I have a different way of dealing with our choices and which direction we are headed in than most of the people we know. We take risks and we pursue things doggedly until the Lord shuts the door. Once one door has been shut, either permanently or temporarily, we move forward in another direction until we find where we fit, or where God is asking us to fit.
On that note, everything about where we thought we were headed with our adoption has changed. We are now on a road neither one of us expected but we are both thrilled about. There have been several things that have contributed to our new path but more than that, there has been a general move of God in our hearts. Prior to Nathan's arrival in Kansas, all of our prayer time was done seperately. Our ability to have a relationship with God from a married perspective was dulled. We weren't able to seek Him as a unit, only as individuals. We hadn't really settled into our married roles nor did we have opportunities to sit face to face and discuss our feelings and thoughts. Not to mention that our feelings and thoughts were often so muddled by the situation we were in. Now that we have had a bit of time to be together and to pray together and to seek our Lord, we are feeling a sense that we must move in a new direction.
We are now actively pursuing the foster to adopt program through an agency called Youthville in Wichita. Through this program, we become licensed foster parents and a child who is in the process of having parental rights terminated will be placed with us. We will foster the child(ren) until all legal proceedings make them available for adoption. At that point, we would process through the adoption and become a forever family. This is a program that has its fair share of risk and frustrations but this is where the Lord has led so we are trusting that our child(ren) are in this program. We have already begun the process to license. We attended the orientation meeting, we are registered for our 10 week training beginning on October 16th, and our first home visit is on the 29th of September. I talked to our social worker yesterday and she said she would be surprised if we weren't licensed by the end of March. Which means that a baby could be placed in our home any time after that.
There is much to be done between now and the end of our ten week course. We have to adhere to some of the state guidelines regarding our home. We must baby proof everything, lock up all medications and knives, add another foot and a half to the fence surrounding our pool to make it at least five feet high, install fire ladders in the bedrooms, test all the fire alarms, get the dogs and cat up to date on all shots, etc, etc, etc. We will be working on decorating the baby's room at some point over the next several months as well. We have requested children aged 0-12 mos and are open to children up to 3 yrs of age if it involves a sibling group. We are willing to accept up to 3 children who are related. We are open to any race and any gender. My plans for baseball central may not work out so well, but that's fine with me. We have so much to do but it is all very very exciting.
Please be in prayer with us during this time that all would go smoothly and we would be financially prepared for whatever may pop up. Nathan had an interesting encounter yesterday evening with some people from Hawker-Beechcraft in Wichita. They were very interested in him at a job fair he attended. So interested in fact, they had a lady chase him down at the door to make sure all his contact info was in their possession. Please be praying that the Lord would lead him to the right permanent job that could allow for our family to grow. Pray that we would have paitence (yes, I said it) and that we would be prayerfully considering each step of this process. Pray for our child(ren) as it is more than possible that they are currently in the womb or living in a bad situation. Pray for wisdom for our agency and our social worker as they determine the course of our application and as they choose a child(ren) to place with us. Pray for our extended family that they would have peace about our decision to move in this direction and that they would be supportive. (Oh, btw, becoming pregnant does not affect this process at all, so we're off the BC.) Pray that all would work as God desires and that we would be good and faithful servants of His during this process. Thanks for all your paitence as I am a terrible blogger and disappear for lengths of time. I'll try to be better.
Be Blessed - K and N
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