Already Spoiled

Baby C already has a few things waiting for him or her at home.  Our family and friends have been blessing this baby from the moment we announced our adoption.  This little one does not even know what is coming!  I have only allowed myself to buy one thing outside of these gifts ... but I'm afraid all that will change when we know he or she is on the way!  (Who am I kidding?  I am not sure how much longer I can hold out!)  

And yes, that is a teeny tiny 6M cardinals tee ready for our little one!  Clay was ecstatic!  

I really want to use this space as a way to keep others updated, but I also want to make sure I'm documenting special moments along our journey as well.  There have been some cute moments thus far and I don't want to forget them because they mean so much to our story.  

Along with our families, we told a few friends of our plans before we went "public" with our news. Clay wanted to tell a few guys that he is really close to about our plans to adopt so he asked them to meet him for lunch.  None of them really knew what he was going to say.  One of them walked in and immediately said, "Ok so you are about to tell us 1 of 3 things:  Either you and Stacy are pregnant, you are leaving the church, or you have cancer.  Now which one is it?"  Clay laughed so hard! 

  One of my favorite moments came the night we announced we were adopting to a dear family in our church.  The entire family was there waiting for us as we announced our news.  Clay had mentioned a few days before that we wanted to talk with them about something.  They were scared to death of what we were going say, but the sweet grandma of the family jumped up as soon as we could get it out of our mouths.  She exclaimed, "I knew it!" and got up and ran into the kitchen and came back with a small baby gift.  It was such a fun moment for me as I opened it and realized that I was receiving my first baby gift!  It was surreal.  

Wednesday will mark one month since we signed our sign-up paperwork.  These are such fun days that we never want to forget.  I want to continue this journey with the same joy and excitement that we've had the last month.  I know that as the waiting goes on and the unknowns remain it is bound to get harder.  I am thankful for this as it is a daily lesson in placing my hope in Christ.  I have written the words "My hope is found in nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness" across my bathroom mirror.  Each day when I look at it I remind myself that my hope does not come from getting that much awaited phone call; it must come only from the hope that the gospel brings to my life.  I pray our child will one day know the same hope.  

I realize more and more every day just how ready I am to meet our precious little one.  It is amazing how much love you can feel for someone you do not even know!  

Waiting Joyfully, 

Stacy and Clay 

It Takes a Village

This process has been incredibly humbling as we have seen God use the body of Christ to minister to us.  We have received notes, fun things for our little one, and lots of hugs and encouragement.  There have also been those who have been sacrificially giving of their financial resources in order to make our adoption happen.  All of these things have been mind blowing to Clay and I.   We are immensely humbled and grateful, but we are also learning more about community and how God designed for us to live.  It is amazing to see how God weaves our lives together for more than just surface level friendships - He designed us to share in and support one another in all things.

Through all of these things we have come to realize that this adoption is not just an effort of Clay and myself.  It is so much more than that.  It is truly an undertaking of our community. And for that we are grateful and humbled.  To you who have made the time to write a note, give a hug, buy something for our sweet little one, give of your finances, and spent a moment in prayer over us - please know that we are thankful for you.  You are truly the family of God to us, and we pray that our child will learn to know of this same Love that is in you.

Because of that we are also excited to announce another fundraiser to help support our adoption costs.  We have been blessed to have received about 25% of our adoption costs so far.  In an effort to help raise money for the rest of our costs we are going to be selling these super fun t-shirts!

We know that it takes a village to raise a child, but as mentioned above it also takes a village to adopt one!  This is something that God has been teaching us daily and we are excited to see how God will use these t-shirts to teach us that even more.  We would be so humbled and thankful if you would consider purchasing one for yourself - all the proceeds will go directly to our adoption costs.

Here are the details:

• The shirts are $15.00 each.  
• They are a dark heather color with white ink.  (And they are super soft!)   
• You can order a regular tee in YS-YXL and AS-A3XL
• You can order a v-neck tee in AS-A2XL    

If you would like to order one, please email me at ourroadtoadopt@gmail.com or send me a Facebook message and let me know what style and size you would like.  I will email with you about payment and shipping options.  We will be taking orders through March 4th so they won't be ready until after the first week of March.  

We have one other favor to ask of you. If you purchase a shirt, we would love it if you would email us a picture of yourself wearing the shirt.  We are going to collect these pictures into a photo book for our child to have one day.  We cannot wait to show him or her all the people that were a part of bringing them home!  It truly does take a village!  

Waiting Joyfully, 

Stacy and Clay 

Some Common Questions: How it Works

As mentioned a few posts ago, we get asked a lot of the same questions as we share our news.   Here is some more info for those of you who are interested in learning more about our story!  

Why did you choose domestic adoption through an agency? 

When it comes to adoption, there are lots of options.  With options come a lot of decisions!  Domestic or international?  Agency or attorney or through the foster care system?  Newborn or older child?  Open or closed?  

With us, the decisions were all made very easily, believe it or not.  The Lord was truly orchestrating every step by putting Clay and I on the same page from the beginning. We met with some friends of ours who have not only adopted internationally but also have worked in domestic adoption for years.  This couple brought us a lot of invaluable information.  As we learned from them and then began to research on our own, we knew the Lord was leading us to adopt a newborn domestically through an agency.  (There was a lot more to this but for time and space's sake I'll leave it at that.  If you want to know more, please just shoot me an email!)  

We chose this route because of the ministry to the birthmother that occurs during and after the pregnancy.  She is cared for on every level - physically, emotionally and spiritually.  As we talked and prayed, we realized that adoption was not just about Clay and I getting something but also a way for us to be a part of God's working in this woman's life.  It is more costly than some other routes, but for us we really felt that God was leading us to partaking in this ministry to the birthmother.  

Are you going to know the birthmother?  
That is a good question, but one that really will depend on our particular circumstances.  There are all kinds of different adoptions - open, closed, semi-open, etc.  We are saying at this time that we are open to whatever situation God brings to us.  There is a lot I could say about this issue - it does open up a lot of questions and concerns in some people but after a lot of prayer and discussion, we feel that we are not going to limit what God might want to do in our life through this kind of situation.

So, the short answer to the question is - we may know her and we may not.  :)  There is a lot that is unknown at this point.

How long will this process take?  
Oh, how I would love to know the answer to this one! :)  With adoption, there is no normal situation.  There is no average because each and every circumstance is different.  It could be next week, but it could be a year from now.  For a control freak like myself, this is whole new territory for me to be living in!

Because our agency is small, there is a very good chance that this could go quicker than some adoptions.  We are hoping for a child within the year, but we know that God's timing is different than ours sometimes.

How does the process work?
I'm throwing this one in even though I didn't include it in our original list of questions.   I will try to briefly give an overview.  The way our agency works is through a matching system.  Clay and I have submitted a profile (a book with lots of pictures telling about us), and the birthmother is shown profiles of waiting families that might be a good fit for her situation.  She will then choose us from the selection of profiles she is shown and then we just wait for the baby to come!

Depending on the circumstances, there is a chance that Clay and I will get to be at the hospital when the baby is born!  I will write and explain more about this as the time comes, but each circumstance is different depending on the case.  The birthmother does have a right to choose to keep the child once the baby is born.  In our state, she has 10 days to make this decision.  However, our state does have a law allowing the birthmother to waive 5 of these days if she so chooses.  We have heard a lot of birthmothers are waiving these 5 days knocking the wait time down to only 5 days.

Once the time period has passed and the adoption will go forward, we will then wait for a court date when the judge will officially declare the child ours!!



I'll answer the rest of the questions in another post - I don't want this one to get too long!  :)  Please continue to pray for us in our journey.  We are we are wading through the home study process (don't worry I'll write some more about that), trusting the Lord with our finances and praying for the precious one who will be carrying our child!

Waiting Joyfully,
Stacy and Clay