meeting on Tuesday

Through our adoption support group at church, we've been introduced to a couple who has domestically adopted through an attorney in Kansas City. She mentioned how the attorney has worked with birth mothers to arrange the adoptions.

Very excited about this meeting...I am glad that we are on the same page about which way we want to go in the adoption process. There are so many decisions to make, I'm glad we've at least narrowed it down to domestic.

We've been in contact with our local Foster Care adoption worker (through adoptUSKids). Her name is Alex. She's suggested that maybe if we move in the middle of the process we may need to redo our homestudies or retake some classes.

However, I think right now we're leaning towards domestic adoption from an attorney or private agency, not necessarily through Foster Care, but that may change. It will be a good meeting on Tuesday!

My husband also met someone from work that knows someone who adopted from Olathe, Kansas. It's so cool how God is putting all these different people in our lives, I don't feel so alone!

Saturday is a big day

Saturday at 7am we are walking in a 5k which supports the Zicker family orphan mission Fields of promise (on blogroll).

After that, our church is having their first ever "Adoption Support Group."

That night, we're going to a surprise 50th birthday party for a friend. So, it will be a busy day, but I'm hoping to make a large post on Saturday with everything I've learned from our church's adoption meeting.

Fields of Promise 5k

Registered my husband and I for a 5k Run (I will be walking) that benefits orphans in Ethiopia. After the run, the adoption group is meeting from church. It will be a day of learning about orphans!

I have been walking at 5am most mornings with a friend, last week it was only 1 day due to the rain. This coming week we should be purchasing a used treadmill.

I haven't weighed myself lately, I really don't want to see it! I am just praying that God would take away this desire to eat whenever I'm depressed or anxious.

My husband might be playing basketball tonight w/ the men's group. We have our budget to work on. Yesterday I did a bunch of laundry and paid bills. When did becoming an adult be so boring?

This is getting harder and harder to keep plugging away when month after month there is this roller coster of anticipation, a couple weeks of waiting, and then disappointment. We've tried all sorts of crazy "home methods" and "old wives tales," and we'll continue to do so. Nothing else to do while we're waiting to move into a bigger house, as we've decided we're not going to start filling out paperwork until we've moved. I have being so happy and hoping and then so disappointed. I just wish I could turn my emotions off or I wish I could be told that we're infertile, but there is nothing wrong, nothing to fix. It's just waiting, and when we get tired of waiting and nothing has happened, it's moving on to the next step.

New church adoption group

November 11th our church is holding a 5k Run sponsoring Zicker Family missions (on my blogroll to the left) supporting orphans in Ethiopia. After the 5k run, a group of families from our church is going to discuss adoption. S., someone I've talked with off and on the past couple of years, is going to be one of the speakers on her adoption story. She and her husband adopted 2 girls from China.

S. came up to me at the women's brunch today just to make sure I knew about the meeting as I've been asking her a lot of questions. So, I am very excited about our church starting this "Heart of adoption" discussion time and group.

[the following is taken from my church's bulletin]

This coincides also with Family Life and Focus on the Family have teamed up with Shaohannah's hope as one voice to call the body of Christ to care for orphans. During the week of November 13th-17th both radio programs will be discussing adoption and orphans. They have also launched a new website, www.voiceoftheorphan.org

So, as we're gathering all our paperwork and gleaming information, I think this will be a good time. Waiting is difficult. At the women's brunch today there were 2 women with very young babies. I know it was selfish of me, but I had to get out of there. Lately, I've had a hard time talking with or seeing people with young babies. I guess I would have expected to be a mom by now, and it's difficult to watch people younger, or my age, with children.

However, the whole point of the brunch today was that life doesn't always turn out the way that we want it to. If God calls us through certain trials or certain circumstances, those are ours to bear. It is all meant to glorify Him and draw us closer to Him. Doesn't always mean it's going to be easy, but that is what He requires of us. The speaker played a Ginny Owen song today, and the lyrics are as follows:

The pathway is broken
And The signs are unclear
And I don't know the reason why You brought me here
But just because You love me the way that You do
I'm gonna walk through the valley
If You want me to

Chorus:
Cause I'm not who I was
When I took my first step
And I'm clinging to the promise You're not through with me yet
so if all of these trials bring me closer to you
Then I will go through the fire
If You want me to

It may not be the way I would have chosen
When you lead me through a world that's not my home
But You never said it would be easy
You only said I'd never go alone

So When the whole world turns against me
And I'm all by myself
And I can't hear You answer my cries for help
I'll remember the suffering Your love put You through
And I will go through the valley
If You want me to

It's such a pretty song, and it expresses a lot of the hurts we go through that we really don't understand. If that's what God requires of us, however, we need to be willing to go through it.