We are DTC!

We are officially DTC!  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the adoption lingo, DTC stands for "dossier to China".  Our plea to adopt and all of our paperwork is on its way to China.  Once it arrives, we will wait 3-4 weeks for a log in date (LID) and then we are officially waiting on a referral.

We covet your prayers during this time.  These are the things we are praying for specifically.

-Wisdom for Lifeline (our agency) and Lily who will be matching us with our daughter.
-Clarity upon referral; that we would know without a doubt if we are staring at the face of our daughter.
-That God would provide a special person to love our daughter and comfort her while she waits.
-That God would prepare her heart to be adopted and provide a supernatural peace through the transition.
-That God would prepare our hearts and the hearts of our families and friends, to love her, accept her and grow her up in the Lord.
-That this process would continue smoothly and quickly. 

Thank you for supporting us and praying with us during this process.  Visit us at our family blog at http://www.birdsofafeather.blogspot.com/ if you'd like to see what we are up to as we anxiously await the day we bring our second daughter home.

Getting to Know You: Home Study Part 1

Today we had our first home study interview.  I have to be honest, I was a little bit anxious as we walked through the door.  I wondered what deep and probing questions we might be asked about the depths of our lives, but it was easy and comfortable.  It was really just a conversation so that Amy, our social worker, could get to know us.  She asked how we met and how long we had been married and she wanted to know all about Adair and her little personality.  It was like getting to know a new friend, which instantly put both of us at ease. 

Now we are working on finishing up the Hague online training, writing our autobiographies, and gathering documents and references that will eventually become part of our Dossier (dos-ee-ey, noun: a collection or file of documents on the same subject, especially a complete file containing detailed information about a person or topic) that will be sent to China.

Many people have asked, and I am sure you are curious too, about the potential timeline of this process.  So, here's a rough idea of how things may go (nothing is set in stone at this stage of the process).  It will take about 3-4 months to complete the home study.  Once we've completed that it will be sent to immigration (CIS) for approval which can take 3-4 months.  Once we receive CIS approval our Dossier will officially be sent to China and we will be "logged in".  This usually takes about a month.  Once we are "logged in" we will start receiving referrals.  At that point, we could accept a referral right away or it could take several months.  It will depend on when we receive the file of the child we feel like God has chosen to be in our family.  Once we are matched with a child we will travel within 5-6 months to bring our baby girl home.  So, within 12-18 months we will likely be meeting baby girl Powers for the first time face to face.

Relax and Enjoy the Journey

A friend sent me this devotional today from "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young and I just had to share it.  It could apply to any and all situations, but really spoke to me in relation to adoption.  We are stepping out in faith and following Him to the secret things He has for us.  This was a wonderful reminder to not be anxious, but to TRUST in His promises. 

I am leading you, step by step, through your life. Hold My hand in trusting dependence, letting Me guide you through this day. Your future looks uncertain and feels flimsy-even precarious. That is how it should be. Secret things belong to the Lord, and future things are secret things. When you try to figure out the future, you are grasping at things that are Mine. This, like all forms of worry, is an act of rebellion: doubting My promises to care for you.

Whenever you find yourself worrying about the future, repent and return to Me. I will show you the next step forward, and the one after that, and the one after that. RELAX AND ENJOY THE JOURNEY IN MY PRESENCE, TRUSTING ME TO OPEN UP THE WAY BEFORE YOU AS YOU GO.

Deuteronomy 29:29
"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law."

Psalm 32:8
"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you."

Officially Finger Printed

When I think of people's finger prints being in the "system" I imagine the criminals on "Law and Order" and now we are among them.  We went today to be finger printed and essentially to be cleared of any kind of bad record.  I have to admit, I felt a little bit like a criminal going in for booking as we walked through the back halls of the Homewood Police Department (also home to the Homewood Jail), but the officers who helped us were extremely nice and made us feel very comfortable.  There were alot of locked doors, but no "jailbird" sightings.  I was amazed to find out that they no longer use ink to capture your finger prints.  I know it makes sense, considering how far technology has come since the last time I was finger printed in elementary school, but I was still surprised.  Now, they use a fancy machine that looks like a copy machine and basically scans your prints.

All kidding aside, we have now completed one of the first steps on this long road.  In addition to sending off our finger prints, we are finishing up the Child Abuse and Neglect forms, too. We also had an overview call with our sweet social worker today.  She gave us an idea of what to expect and a list of things to start working on now...up next Hague Online Training and our Autobiographies.  We will also have our first meeting of our Home Study next week.

Stay tuned, things are starting to happen.  The sooner we get through the paperwork jungle and the Home Study, the closer we are to finding our daughter and ultimately holding her in our arms!

Adoption Application Complete-Check!

This weekend we completed our application to adopt through Lifeline and  today we sent it in!  We are so excited knowing that this first step will set things in motion toward bringing home a precious little girl to join our family.

I am trying really hard not to jump too far into the future with my plans, but it's really hard.  In my head I am already imagining what kind of big sister Adair will be, what we will name her, what her room might look like, introducing her to our friends and family, taking her to church...and on and on!  I know I need to slow down and I am sure I will once the next round of paperwork comes our way, but it's fun to dream about her.  It is also comfortable to do so knowing that God is in control and that we are following His leading. 

I know that no matter how long this road is, it is all in His plan and it is out of obedience that we are walking (sometimes wanting to run, leap, jump for joy) it together.

A Heart for China

Today, Hank and I met with two counselors at Lifeline Adoption Agency (http://www.lifelineadoption.org/), one specializes in domestic adoptions and the other in international adoptions.  It was very relieving to be able to ask questions openly and get answers.  The counselors were great to talk with and they didn't bother to "sugar coat" the adoption process. 

Over the years, as Hank and I have talked about adoption, it was obvious that I leaned more toward international adoption (China) and Hank was more interested in domestic adoption.  When I really started to think about that, it made sense...most of my friends who have adopted have adopted from another country, whereas most of Hank's close friends have adopted infants from the US.  We were each drawn to that with which we were most familiar.

So, my prayer going in to this meeting was 1) that God would use it to confirm the direction we are going in or to send us in a different direction and 2) that (if he confirmed our direction) Hank and I would walk out of it with a heart to adopt from the same place whether it be the US, China, Uganda, Twain, etc. 

Leaving the building, I felt like a giddy school girl.  In my heart, I knew that God had answered our first prayer and confirmed our direction, but I wasn't sure about the second one until we got in the car and Hank said, "my heart just swells to think of adopting a child from China".  Thank you, Lord, for clearly answering our prayers!

So, that being said, over the next few days we will fill out our application for adoption.  This is the first step (of many, many, many) toward bringing another precious child into our family.

What Brought Us Here

We have a wonderful, beautiful, smart and spunky 2 1/2 year old daughter (you can read more about her on our family blog at http://www.mybirdsofafeather.blogspot.com/) and have always desired for her to have a sibling.  In my perfect world, our children would be 2 1/2 years apart and we would have four...but we all know we don't live in my perfect world.

So, to bring you up to date, 15 months ago we started trying to conceive another child.  Since we had no trouble getting pregnant with Adair, I was surprised when six months went by and I still wasn't pregnant.  After eight months, I made an appointment with my OBGYN who perscribed clomid.  After five rounds of clomid, I made an appointment with a fertility specialist who discovered I had developed a good-sized cyst on my left ovary.  She perscribed a month of birthcontrol pills to shrink the cyst.  At the beginning of my next cycle the cyst was gone.  Praise the Lord.  I was thrilled and so thankful to have had quick success and glimmer of hope.  Next, I had to go through one natural cycle to see how my body was working without any medication.  I was thankful she was being conservative, but disappointed to (most likely) add another month to the already long list of those that we would try to conceive.  At the end of that cycle I wasn't pregnant, so the plan was to try a new drug during the next cycle.  Notice I said the plan "was". 

That brings us to today.  I walked into today's appointment expecting to turn a corner, try something new and have some success.  Instead, I walked out in tears.  Those who know me know that I don't cry often, but today I lost it like my two year old.  After an ultrasound, the tech turned to me and said "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you have three cysts each bigger than 1 cm".  I knew that with three cysts bigger than 1 cm each they would not let me take any fertility medications, hince the reason I started to cry.  Up to this point, I haven't shed one tear over my infertility.  I have trusted God and putted right along thankful for the glimmer of hope every month.  Today was different; today felt like a road block.

As I drove home, I started to think about how much I wanted to follow God's plan and not my own.  I have always had a heart for adoption and Hank and I have always been very akin to the fact that conceiving is not always easy and it's not always God's plan for building families.  I don't know if today's news and my reaction was God's way of pushing us toward adoption, but we are seeking His will.  We want to go where He wants us to go and raise the children He wants us to raise.  Biological or not.

We have decided to explore adoption fully while still trying to conceive, all the while praying for God to lead us where He would have us to go and that we would fulfill His purpose in our lives and not our own.  I strongly believe we will adopt a child.  I always have, I just never considered it might be our second child.

We are not giving up or fully committing to either road.  We are just walking both roads and allowing God to direct us.

Take us where you want us to go, Lord. 

I. AM. WILLING.