Home Study update

Good Afternoon friends!

   We had our home study update this weekend and it went really well, once our finger prints are back we will be all ready for baby (again).  I wish I could say we had one on the way, but as of now we are still waiting.  There are a couple of promising leads we are pursuing, but only God knows when my baby girl will be here!  

Pastor Keith told us Sunday to remember that God can see the entire picture while we only see a little piece.  I am trusting my God in the big picture.

  To Do:

Please pray for us while we await our baby girls arrival!

Please pray we are able to save and get the rest of the funds (About $7000 short).

Know that we could not have waited this long without the love and support from our friends and especially our Families!

TZ

9 Months

         When you find out you are pregnant, you expect that in 9 months or so (just about 40 weeks) you will bring home your little bundle of joy.  You follow every online board you can detailing each week what you should be feeling and the size of your little one. You research the best car seat, high chair, toys etc. You prepare the room, you prepare your other children and you prepare for life to be changed.

        Well July 9^th makes officially 9 months active with our home study.  We have tried to prepare Quintin and Kai as much as we can for this journey, but they don’t understand. They know that when their sister arrives they will be big brothers. Kai has told me before he turned 4 “when I am 4, Zoie will be here”. Cute as that is, he is now 4 and he asks often about his sister.  A home study is only current for 1 year, we were hoping to have our daughter before having to renew our home study. That doesn’t look like it will happen.  So in October we will fill out all the paperwork again, get the doctor to sign the papers again and have a home visit with our social worker again.

       I know in my heart it is all in God’s hands and He has the perfect child for us, and I know in my heart His timing is way better than my timing. But it is hard. We are human of course. I know my God is a God who answers our prayers, whether that be with a Yes, No, or Not now, our family will be complete.

So as we pass the 9 month mark I ask for prayers that instead of worrying about when Zoie will be here, we worry more about showing others the love of Christ through our wait. I pray we become better parents to Q and K and they learn to love Christ and follow him in everything that they do. 

Until Next time friends!

Tarrah with Nick's edits:-)

Hurt

              People tell you when you are going through this process that it hurts when you are not chosen.  The first time we were presented I was not upset when we were not chosen because the birthmother chose a family member.  Well today, it happened again.  We have been presented to a mom due in July. Only 3 couples applied, 1 engaged couple, 1 married couple with no children and us.  The birthmother chose the couple with no children.  While I am thrilled for this couple, nothing could prepare me for the hurt and devastation in my heart when I read the words "she chose someone else."  I was sitting in a staff meeting shaking while watching my computer screen refresh and waiting for my phone to ring (I had told my Principal so she knew I was not being disrespectful).  I was told you get a phone call if it is a match and an email if not; I saw the lawyers name pop up on the screen and I knew.  I held it together for a few minutes and then had to walk out and take some time by myself.  My co-workers were awesome and could tell something was wrong, but no one questioned.  We did not tell many people this time that we were even being looked at mainly because if you have not gone through this you cannot even fathom the process.

Now, I know my God is faithful and I know he has the perfect plan and baby girl for our family, but today I just needed to cry and be upset.  It is kind of like the stages of grief. I was very sad, angry and then numb.  It did not help my partner was not at school today as he is at a conference, so when I calmed down enough where I could talk I called him and we cried together.

   Are we giving up?  NO WAY!  Will we apply to be presented knowingly soon, probably not.  I know remember why we chose the agency we did.  They do not tell you when you are being presented, the don't tell you until you get that yes.  I will trust God's timing for that yes!


(if this rambled or was not clear I am sorry, I am hurting bad right now)

Wow that was a lot! I told you all we would be an open book on how the adoption process works so that is what this entry is about!

Tarrah

Are you ready for a Challange?

 

FRIENDS AND FAMILY! Are you ready for a challenge???

 

Nick and I are challenging our friends and family to see who can be the first to get 100 friends to donate $10 to our adoption fund. I know we have a lot of the same friends, but we also have a large group of friends that are not shared. Just on Facebook we have 259 friends in common , but I have 918 and he has 350 that we do not share. I think my friends will prevail and I will reach the 100 friends mark first!

 

 

We will run this throughValentine’s Day,or February 14th. The loser will be forced to meet a demand of the winner. But lets be honest, with 100% of the proceeds going to our adoption fund, aren't we all winners?

 

 

Donations may be given by using out AdoptTogether link.   Want another win?  By using this link your donation is Tax Deductible!

 

https://adopttogether.org/00741

 

Our God is so big, so strong and so Mighty!

    The past few nights Kai has gone to bed and stayed awake singing this song "My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there's nothing my God cannot do!"  I love his innocence, because this song popped in my head this morning after reading our update!


  When I woke up today I had an email saying that this birthmother had chosen to place her baby with a family member.  I surprisingly was not sad at all!  The whole time we have been waiting I have been in constant prayer that she would make the best choice for her and her unborn baby, and if that choice was not us I would be at peace.  Well God knows what he is doing (big surprise I know) and I woke up and read my message and had an overwhelming amount of Peace.  I was not sad for us, I was not heartbroken, I was ok!

    Thankfully, I know that my God has our Zoie already chosen and that his timing is perfect. 

So friends and family I reiterate to you

 " Our GOD is so BIG, so STRONG and so MIGHTY, there is NOTHING my GOD cannot do!"


I hope each of you have a very Merry Christmas and enjoy the time with your families!


Love,

 Tarrah

Our first time being presented

Well it has happened!  This week we were presented to a birthmother through a private lawyer in south GA.  I promised Nick I wouldn't get too excited, but it has happened.  We (ok I) have wanted to make sure that you as our family and friends were in the loop during this whole process, even if it was the not so fun part!  So, because of that I have been telling everyone that we might here today whether or not the birthmother chooses us. 

 I ask for your prayers that if this baby girl is our Zoie that it will happen, and if this is not our girl I (Tarrah) will be able to process the idea of not being chosen.  This is the reality of domestic adoption.  You get shown to birthmothers and some do not choose you.  I know that God has our daughter chosen and I am ok with that. 

I will update you all on the outcome as soon as we know something, it may be a yes, it may be a no!

Love to all!!!!

 Tarrah

Some BIG news!

     When we got home from school today we were greeted with an amazing email. Our homestudy is now approved and we are officially on the wait list! Our family profile books have been sent out and we can be shown to birth mothers.  This part of the process is the true test of endurance, so to speak, and the next leg of our journey could take as little as 2 days or it could take as many as 2 years or more.  We know that God has our precious Zoie chosen already and we pray daily for her and her birth family. 

  This amazing news does come with a new set of challenges. One of the biggest is the financial needs that come with this phase of the process. While we know this whole experience is not only about money, we also understand that there are needs that must be met in order to make our dream a reality. When it comes to the funds, we are diligently paying off credit cards and trying to save as much as we can.  We fully trust that God will provide through our work in saving, grants and fundraising.   Two amazing friends have stepped up to offer family photo sessions all over the Cherokee and Forsyth County areas with a portion of the proceeds benefitting our needs. We will have a big garage sale in the spring and also hold a painting party at Picasso's Corner.   We still have an active Pure Charity link for anyone who feels compelled to donate.  This is tax deductible:-)

A little note from each of us......

Tarrah-
     Next thing up for me is to fill out as many grant applications as I can get my hands on.  I have printed a few already and need to finish filling them out.  If you have any grants that you know of please send me an email. 

Nick-
This is really awesome, exciting, scary, uplifting, frightening, and so much more all rolled into one. It's another major hurdle that we've passed just when we think that it will never happen. We had been figuring that the process would have gotten to this point back in early September at the latest. It's another reminder to us that God's timing isn't ours and that we simply need to sit back and trust in Him. Looks like I'm going to need to dust off my diapering skills and get ready for those all-hours-of-the-night feedings again :-) But like everyone tells me, I need a little girl wrapped around my finger :-)