Yesterday we met with our social worker for the second time. We handed over a stack of completed paperwork (woohoo!) and then sat down for a two hour interview process. Shew. I didn't really know what to expect with the interviews but they weren't bad at all. Jon and I recently turned in our autobiographies and our social worker just spent time clarifying a few things and asked a handful of other questions. Our next meeting will take place the second week of June, which feels painfully far away. However we have a few things we need to get in order prior to that visit.
The meeting in June will be our actual home-study. During that visit our social worker will complete a home safety inspection. He told me that visit should only take about 45 minutes. According to our social worker that meeting will be our last required meeting. How crazy is that?!? I'm assuming we may need to sit down with him one more time to discuss in detail our plans concerning special needs. We still need to talk with him and share what research we have completed and what needs we feel able to take on. Researching needs, praying and talking through what we feel God's calling for our family may be has been difficult to say the least. It's heartbreaking to know that there are needs we feel unable to meet. However we know that as we pray and seek the Lord he will lead us to the exact child he has for us. That day seems so far away!
So, as you can see we are slowly checking off our long to-do list. Honestly it feels unending. As soon as we accomplish one thing there are ten more papers we need to compile. We need continued prayers dear friends. Here are some requests you can lift up in the coming days and weeks.
Prayer Requests:
#1- Prayer for continued perseverance with trainings (we have 10 hours of Hague training to complete), paperwork and document collecting. This process is long and it is easy to feel overwhelmed. We need to continue to stay on top of this paperwork.
#2- Continued prayer for financial contributions. There are some fairly costly items we need to take care of in order to complete our home-study. Once our home-study is complete we can begin to apply for grants but until then we are on our own. Praise God that has been so faithful thus far. Pray that He will continue to provide and that we would rest in His perfect timing.
#3- Please pray that we would have discernment as we make decisions concerning special needs. We are open to quite a few things right now however there are some we still need to research and pray over.
#4- Pray for our daughter. Pray for her safety. Pray for her heart, that deep down she would know she has a family coming to get her.
Thank you all for the continued prayers. God is moving mountains and bringing us step by step closer to our daughter. We could not be more grateful!
Kristen daily you amaze me with the words you speak and with the love you feel for a child you have never met. I spend most of my life praying and wondering if God is hearing me, hoping that I am at least pleasing Him in some way. I have never met someone that I was more sure was doing God's will than you are. I pray for you and your daughter daily, I know some day she will realize that she was sent straight to you guys from Him
ReplyDeleteYou are sweet and your prayers mean the word. We just desire to obey and continue to learn along the way. But geez I have so many moments of fear and doubt. There are many days I struggle to trust God but He is so faithful. This journey continues to make that incredibly clear.
DeleteSince I'm not entirely sure who wrote this I can say that if you are a follower of Christ you can be sure He hears you when you pray. And if you have accepted Christ you are now co-heirs with him and are a child of God. What a beautiful picture and what a privilege to know the Creator God as your Father! I'm praying that whatever journey you are on is marked with a deep knowledge of God's great love and a desire to follow Him more closely. Thank you for your sweet comments!
Knowing that you can't deal with certain issues is good. Sometimes love is not enough even though we think it should be. We have stated in the past that we can deal with many physical disabilities but not unmobile due to our lifestyle. We are a lot more specific on things like Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Attachment Disorder, Sexual Abuse and Acting out and things like that which can disrupt a whole family. Sadly, a child who appears normal and to have everything going for him/her can often develop behavior disorders or special needs but you just go with it because he/she is your child. We have dealt with some issues we didn't sign up for. But in our electronic world, it's much easier to get support and information.
ReplyDeleteVery true. Jon and I have worked with children with trauma and abuse backgrounds and the difficulties that come with that can be overwhelming. We continue to go through tons of training, lots of research and have sought out friends and family who can offer insight and wisdom as we seek God's calling for our family. The thought that adoption contains so many "what if's" can be scary but we know without a doubt that God is calling us in this direction.
DeleteSince your family has a lot of experience in this area I would be more than happy to hear about your journey and the things you have learned.