Lately, we have been asked the same questions by multiple people. I think many people have the same questions so this post is to answer those questions.
1) Why do you need to fundraise more money?
The first adoption was a shorter placement, which meant less money. Because we are taking a longer placement the adoption is more expensive.
Right now we are working on some ideas for Christmas gifts. My favorite part of this project is experimenting with recipes for sugar scrub. Today's experiment was a lemon coconut scrub (which was surprisingly awesome).
We are also hoping to have another garage sale in January or February. We do still have t-shirts for sale. We are open to other fundraising ideas.
2) If this is a girl, are you going to "reuse" the name Talitha?
Yes, we are. The other little baby girl was not our daughter. She was not our Talitha. We have no doubt that someday God will bless us with our daughter.
3) What if this baby is a boy?
We would be thrilled to have a son.
4) Do you already have a boy name picked out? And what is it?
Yes. That has been a closely guarded secret for a while.
My question is now to you all. Which two seem to be the best ideas for Christmas gift fundraiser:
1) Various sugar scrubs
2) Christmas lanterns
3) Baked goods- Millennium Falcon shaped cookies amongst other more traditional cookies or delicious pumpkin bread
4) Custom made earrings or bookmarks
We'd like your input either here or on Facebook. Or if you have a different idea please feel free to share that as well.
As always, we thank you all for your love, your support, and your prayers. We are so very blessed with all of you.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Monday, October 31, 2011
A match
The day before we celebrated our 4th anniversary, we got a call from our agent Sue Deckrow. A family had called her stating that they were going to be placing a child for adoption. Sue has known this family for a few years and has worked with them before. They were interested in another couple, yet Sue for whatever reason took our book as well. The family just fell in love with our book (and us as well, I guess).
Sue then called us. We were pretty excited thinking "Oh, this sounds awesome"... I then asked "When is she due?"... "In June". Ever since we've started this adoption process we have been praying for immediate placement. We told Sue all we wanted was a short term placement (a placement is when you actually take custody of the baby). Sue tried four times to either match or place us with a short term or immediate placement. Sue expected us to say no because we had been very clear about what we wanted. She did tell us that she knows this family well.
When my dear sweet husband and I sat down to talk about this, which also involved me dropping a hot potato on my hand, we tried to think of many many reasons why we shouldn't take this match. We prayed a lot. The only reason we could come up with is that we didn't want to wait til June to be placed. We knew that if we were face to face with God, that reason would not fly. God quickly made it obvious that this is what He wants us to pursue. He gave us His peace.
On our 4th anniversary we accepted this match. A few days later we met with the birthgiver and her family. They gave us a couple of pictures of the first ultrasound. They asked us to come to every appointment. They asked me if I wanted to be the birthing coach. And, they were very clear about wanting us both in the delivery room. The last adoption attempt the birthgiver wanted nothing to do with us. She didn't want to meet us, didn't want us at appointments. We had no pictures or communication with her. This has been the opposite in every way possible. Normally, Sue doesn't match people this early on in their pregnancies unless she is confident they will place.
A lot of people have shared their hesitation about us taking such a long match. But, when we took a short match (6 weeks til the due date), it failed. So, the length of time doesn't seem to matter. We either trust God in ALL things or we spend the next 7 - 8 months fearing what will happen. Are we scared? Yes, of course but we are learning to trust Him more.
We are reminded now more than ever why we are adopting. We aren't adopting simply because we want kids. Medically we have been cleared since the end of July to try biologically. We are adopting because we are living out the Redemption Story. He has adopted us first.
We do still have all the money we raised but need to raise some additional funds. We will be starting some fundraising in the next few weeks. We will have some gifts that will be available to buy for Christmas presents. Any money we don't use towards our adoption will go to help someone else adoption.
Sue then called us. We were pretty excited thinking "Oh, this sounds awesome"... I then asked "When is she due?"... "In June". Ever since we've started this adoption process we have been praying for immediate placement. We told Sue all we wanted was a short term placement (a placement is when you actually take custody of the baby). Sue tried four times to either match or place us with a short term or immediate placement. Sue expected us to say no because we had been very clear about what we wanted. She did tell us that she knows this family well.
When my dear sweet husband and I sat down to talk about this, which also involved me dropping a hot potato on my hand, we tried to think of many many reasons why we shouldn't take this match. We prayed a lot. The only reason we could come up with is that we didn't want to wait til June to be placed. We knew that if we were face to face with God, that reason would not fly. God quickly made it obvious that this is what He wants us to pursue. He gave us His peace.
On our 4th anniversary we accepted this match. A few days later we met with the birthgiver and her family. They gave us a couple of pictures of the first ultrasound. They asked us to come to every appointment. They asked me if I wanted to be the birthing coach. And, they were very clear about wanting us both in the delivery room. The last adoption attempt the birthgiver wanted nothing to do with us. She didn't want to meet us, didn't want us at appointments. We had no pictures or communication with her. This has been the opposite in every way possible. Normally, Sue doesn't match people this early on in their pregnancies unless she is confident they will place.
A lot of people have shared their hesitation about us taking such a long match. But, when we took a short match (6 weeks til the due date), it failed. So, the length of time doesn't seem to matter. We either trust God in ALL things or we spend the next 7 - 8 months fearing what will happen. Are we scared? Yes, of course but we are learning to trust Him more.
We are reminded now more than ever why we are adopting. We aren't adopting simply because we want kids. Medically we have been cleared since the end of July to try biologically. We are adopting because we are living out the Redemption Story. He has adopted us first.
We do still have all the money we raised but need to raise some additional funds. We will be starting some fundraising in the next few weeks. We will have some gifts that will be available to buy for Christmas presents. Any money we don't use towards our adoption will go to help someone else adoption.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
In honor of our anniversary
In honor of our 4 year anniversary I thought I would retell the story of how we started dating.
July of 2005 I started attending Lakeside. Robert & I met through our Sunday school class. In November, he asked me out. We went for coffee at Starbucks. To his credit, he did offer to take me to dinner, but I declined and went for coffee instead. Honestly, the only reason I went out with him is because a friend told me to "Keep my options open". In my defense, I hadn't dated anyone in 5 years and was not expecting that to change. I was so inattentive to getting ready for the date that I wore two different tennis shoes. The date was ok. Conversation was easy but I just wasn't interested. After the date he asked for another one and I gave some lame-o excuse as to why I couldn't.
After that we started to become pretty good friends. From time to time I would sense that Robert may still be interested in me. Being the kind & gentle person I was, I said "Hey, we are just friends right?" Apparently, that is like outright rejection. Robert still remained my friend and our friendship continued to grow. At one point I had prayed "Lord, I want to marry my best friend and be surprised by the fact that I've fallen in love with him, but the only guy I'm close friends with is Robert. I don't want to marry him."
Somewhere in the midst of all that I started to fall in love with him although not consciously. I would get a little jealous if I'd see him talking to another girl, little stuff like that. He was always a gentleman, kind, and patient. Only recently we found out that there was a little bit of a conspiracy amongst our friends to get us together. Rachel Crissman to you we owe the final missing piece of the puzzle. You got Robert to spike his hair. Once his hair was off his face, it finally dawned on me that he was really attractive (talk about the scales falling from your eyes). The issue was never our compatibility.
For a solid month I kept dropping hints to Robert that I liked him. None of which he pick up on. Somehow, we ended up going on a non-date together and it was that faithful night we had this conversation.
"Robert, I didn't really give you a fair chance when we went out on that first date."
"Oh, that's ok! I forgive you."
(Darbi thinks to herself 'He is not getting this at all, I need to be more direct').
"Robert... I like you."
Silence fills the car
"I don't object".
We said good night and went home. The next day Robert asked me out (our second attempt at a first date). One year later we were married. When I asked him what "I don't object" meant, he said that he didn't object to dating but wanted to pray about it first. Although the only thing he was able to articulate was "I don't object".
I praise God for an interesting but amazing journey we've had together. We have cried (a lot), laughed, and grown up together. God used us as co-creators of three beautiful souls whose short existence here was a gateway to heaven. We are the opposite of each other, bringing out the best in each other.
We eagerly wait to see where the Lord is taking us next.
July of 2005 I started attending Lakeside. Robert & I met through our Sunday school class. In November, he asked me out. We went for coffee at Starbucks. To his credit, he did offer to take me to dinner, but I declined and went for coffee instead. Honestly, the only reason I went out with him is because a friend told me to "Keep my options open". In my defense, I hadn't dated anyone in 5 years and was not expecting that to change. I was so inattentive to getting ready for the date that I wore two different tennis shoes. The date was ok. Conversation was easy but I just wasn't interested. After the date he asked for another one and I gave some lame-o excuse as to why I couldn't.
After that we started to become pretty good friends. From time to time I would sense that Robert may still be interested in me. Being the kind & gentle person I was, I said "Hey, we are just friends right?" Apparently, that is like outright rejection. Robert still remained my friend and our friendship continued to grow. At one point I had prayed "Lord, I want to marry my best friend and be surprised by the fact that I've fallen in love with him, but the only guy I'm close friends with is Robert. I don't want to marry him."
Somewhere in the midst of all that I started to fall in love with him although not consciously. I would get a little jealous if I'd see him talking to another girl, little stuff like that. He was always a gentleman, kind, and patient. Only recently we found out that there was a little bit of a conspiracy amongst our friends to get us together. Rachel Crissman to you we owe the final missing piece of the puzzle. You got Robert to spike his hair. Once his hair was off his face, it finally dawned on me that he was really attractive (talk about the scales falling from your eyes). The issue was never our compatibility.
For a solid month I kept dropping hints to Robert that I liked him. None of which he pick up on. Somehow, we ended up going on a non-date together and it was that faithful night we had this conversation.
"Robert, I didn't really give you a fair chance when we went out on that first date."
"Oh, that's ok! I forgive you."
(Darbi thinks to herself 'He is not getting this at all, I need to be more direct').
"Robert... I like you."
Silence fills the car
"I don't object".
We said good night and went home. The next day Robert asked me out (our second attempt at a first date). One year later we were married. When I asked him what "I don't object" meant, he said that he didn't object to dating but wanted to pray about it first. Although the only thing he was able to articulate was "I don't object".
I praise God for an interesting but amazing journey we've had together. We have cried (a lot), laughed, and grown up together. God used us as co-creators of three beautiful souls whose short existence here was a gateway to heaven. We are the opposite of each other, bringing out the best in each other.
We eagerly wait to see where the Lord is taking us next.
Friday, October 14, 2011
I don't have a good title for this post...
Do you ever have one of those weeks where you think to yourself "Wow. What a week!" This has been one of those weeks.
Last Saturday I stumbled upon a great truth in the Bible that I've never seen before. When faced with the challenges of not being able to have children, I feel like I've become best friends with the women in the Bible who have walked this road. Sarah, Rachel, Hannah, Elizabeth (there are a few others). I was reading Luke 1 which says "In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years."
Two things jump out:
1) Both Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous before God.
2) Elizabeth was barren.
Wait, what? They were both righteous before God and they were barren. Since the first miscarriage with Peter there has been an indescribable amount of guilt that I had done something wrong. Perhaps I did something to lose the baby, maybe God was angry at me for doing such and so in the past, was I disobedient in some way? When Faith and Eve also passed away, this struggle continued. "Does God hate me? Why does he hate me? I feel so unloved. Is such and so a better, more spiritual person than I am that they are blessed with children and I'm barren?" Drug addicts are having children left and right, I'm not. I have watched many people go through their entire pregnancies and in some cases have had a multiple pregnancies, and then there's me... Still in the same trial. When the adoption placement failed these thoughts were even more prominent.
They were righteous, they were barren. Eurkea! Barreness is a struggle and a trial, but it isn't because God hates me. It is quite the opposite. He is purifying and showing both of us that He is sufficient and faithful when things do not make a lick of sense. And, nothing makes sense right now. From the outside, we must look like we are completely dysfunctional and have a giant bad luck magnet over us. But, truthfully we are learning joy and how to trust God in an incredible way.
Recently we had the opportunity to pursue a potential match. Waiting for the answer is like waiting for a pregnancy test to turn positive, except with a degree of insanity. We found out this morning, after waiting 9 days, they had chosen another couple because they were Methodist and had another child. It makes you wonder if there's something wrong with you, but that isn't thinking on what is true. Evidentally, God picked this Methodist family for this child. We want what God wants for us. Our agent did say that we are her #1 priority in being placed. She's an amazing woman who's heart is of gold.
Without a doubt, this story is so much bigger than just Robert & Darbi. This child that is coming into our lives has such a crazy story being written. A story of God's love for us, His love for adoption, and His love for His people. This isn't just about our child or our adoption. It is about Him.
I won't lie. Things are still a struggle. I hate baby showers more than ever. Being around pregnant women is still difficult (although I'm trying very hard to be). It's so difficult to wait. It's sucks to have an empty nursery. But, as much as I struggle, I have to constantly remind myself that God is still good even my circumstances are crazy.
In 6 days we are celebrating our 4th anniversary. It's been a wild 4 years (half of which has been in this trial) and honestly I wouldn't change it for anything. Robert, you never cease to amaze me.
As always, we covet your prayers and thank God for all of you.
Last Saturday I stumbled upon a great truth in the Bible that I've never seen before. When faced with the challenges of not being able to have children, I feel like I've become best friends with the women in the Bible who have walked this road. Sarah, Rachel, Hannah, Elizabeth (there are a few others). I was reading Luke 1 which says "In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years."
Two things jump out:
1) Both Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous before God.
2) Elizabeth was barren.
Wait, what? They were both righteous before God and they were barren. Since the first miscarriage with Peter there has been an indescribable amount of guilt that I had done something wrong. Perhaps I did something to lose the baby, maybe God was angry at me for doing such and so in the past, was I disobedient in some way? When Faith and Eve also passed away, this struggle continued. "Does God hate me? Why does he hate me? I feel so unloved. Is such and so a better, more spiritual person than I am that they are blessed with children and I'm barren?" Drug addicts are having children left and right, I'm not. I have watched many people go through their entire pregnancies and in some cases have had a multiple pregnancies, and then there's me... Still in the same trial. When the adoption placement failed these thoughts were even more prominent.
They were righteous, they were barren. Eurkea! Barreness is a struggle and a trial, but it isn't because God hates me. It is quite the opposite. He is purifying and showing both of us that He is sufficient and faithful when things do not make a lick of sense. And, nothing makes sense right now. From the outside, we must look like we are completely dysfunctional and have a giant bad luck magnet over us. But, truthfully we are learning joy and how to trust God in an incredible way.
Recently we had the opportunity to pursue a potential match. Waiting for the answer is like waiting for a pregnancy test to turn positive, except with a degree of insanity. We found out this morning, after waiting 9 days, they had chosen another couple because they were Methodist and had another child. It makes you wonder if there's something wrong with you, but that isn't thinking on what is true. Evidentally, God picked this Methodist family for this child. We want what God wants for us. Our agent did say that we are her #1 priority in being placed. She's an amazing woman who's heart is of gold.
Without a doubt, this story is so much bigger than just Robert & Darbi. This child that is coming into our lives has such a crazy story being written. A story of God's love for us, His love for adoption, and His love for His people. This isn't just about our child or our adoption. It is about Him.
I won't lie. Things are still a struggle. I hate baby showers more than ever. Being around pregnant women is still difficult (although I'm trying very hard to be). It's so difficult to wait. It's sucks to have an empty nursery. But, as much as I struggle, I have to constantly remind myself that God is still good even my circumstances are crazy.
In 6 days we are celebrating our 4th anniversary. It's been a wild 4 years (half of which has been in this trial) and honestly I wouldn't change it for anything. Robert, you never cease to amaze me.
As always, we covet your prayers and thank God for all of you.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
A temporary sabbatical
It's been several weeks since my last post. Honestly, between the shock of the failed adoption (for lack of a better term), dealing with the first anniversary of Eve's birth into heaven, and finally having time to process my joblessness after 5 years at the school, well it made for a difficult time to write on the blog. It was too painful to write.
A couple of weeks ago, I was expressing concern with a friend about going to church the next day. I was afraid that people were either going to ask about the adoption or about my job... We prayed about it. The next day a precious woman came up to me and asked how the adoption was going. Here's how the conversation went.
Woman (with great excitement in her voice)- "How's everything with the adoption?"
Me- "Uh, well. We just had a failed placement."
Woman - "Oh. I'm so sorry... Well, how's your job going? How's school?"
Me - "Um, yeah. I lost my job over the summer."
I began laughing because it is absurd, absolutely absurd. Even now, it makes me laugh. God in his graciousness allowed my praying friend to be a part of this exchange. One question is what on earth do I talk about with people? I don't have living children and am not pregnant (which is a topic that most women my age discuss)... I don't have a job outside the home... Does anyone want to hear about how shiny my toilet is because it will be once I stop writing this post. Or perhaps we can discuss the drama this past week involving my phosphate-free dishwashing detergent... Please don't misunderstand. I'm not looking down on being a homemaker. I'm transitioning to it and it is what I've wanted to be. It is a gift from my Savior.
So all that to say... Many of you are wondering what happened with the adoption and what is next. The birthgiver/mother changed her mind. It is a blessing that she changed her mind before she went into labor or into delivery. Please pray for this young woman. As for us, we are waiting to be re-matched with another birthgiver/mother. We have been waiting since the first adoption fell through. We would like to pray for either an immediate placement (which is preferred) or for a woman who is close to delivering. Our agent continues to work for us. She continues to encourage us to trust in God and his timing.
As for us, many have asked (or wondered) how we are doing. The adoption falling through was yet another heartache. My heart still loves that baby girl we weren't placed with. But, that wasn't our daughter and that's what we have to remember. But, through it all God remains our cornerstone, our rock, and our salvation. We have lost three pregnancies and one adoption, but we haven't lost our God. We haven't lost our Savior who is one thousand times more precious to us now than these earthly blessing would have been. Is that hard to say? Yes, but it's true. It is through these trials He shines forth as more precious and brings a healing that we didn't know that was needed. It is a spiritual healing. We don't deserve His grace. Even in this heartache, I don't deserve His salvation, His love, His kindness, and grace in which He gave at the cross by killing His son in my place.
As I write this, the song "I surrender all" is playing. "All to thee my blessed savior, I surrender. All to thee my blessed Savior, I surrender all".
We ask for your continued prayers. For the adoption, for our hearts to love God even more, for patience in waiting on the Lord.
A couple of weeks ago, I was expressing concern with a friend about going to church the next day. I was afraid that people were either going to ask about the adoption or about my job... We prayed about it. The next day a precious woman came up to me and asked how the adoption was going. Here's how the conversation went.
Woman (with great excitement in her voice)- "How's everything with the adoption?"
Me- "Uh, well. We just had a failed placement."
Woman - "Oh. I'm so sorry... Well, how's your job going? How's school?"
Me - "Um, yeah. I lost my job over the summer."
I began laughing because it is absurd, absolutely absurd. Even now, it makes me laugh. God in his graciousness allowed my praying friend to be a part of this exchange. One question is what on earth do I talk about with people? I don't have living children and am not pregnant (which is a topic that most women my age discuss)... I don't have a job outside the home... Does anyone want to hear about how shiny my toilet is because it will be once I stop writing this post. Or perhaps we can discuss the drama this past week involving my phosphate-free dishwashing detergent... Please don't misunderstand. I'm not looking down on being a homemaker. I'm transitioning to it and it is what I've wanted to be. It is a gift from my Savior.
So all that to say... Many of you are wondering what happened with the adoption and what is next. The birthgiver/mother changed her mind. It is a blessing that she changed her mind before she went into labor or into delivery. Please pray for this young woman. As for us, we are waiting to be re-matched with another birthgiver/mother. We have been waiting since the first adoption fell through. We would like to pray for either an immediate placement (which is preferred) or for a woman who is close to delivering. Our agent continues to work for us. She continues to encourage us to trust in God and his timing.
As for us, many have asked (or wondered) how we are doing. The adoption falling through was yet another heartache. My heart still loves that baby girl we weren't placed with. But, that wasn't our daughter and that's what we have to remember. But, through it all God remains our cornerstone, our rock, and our salvation. We have lost three pregnancies and one adoption, but we haven't lost our God. We haven't lost our Savior who is one thousand times more precious to us now than these earthly blessing would have been. Is that hard to say? Yes, but it's true. It is through these trials He shines forth as more precious and brings a healing that we didn't know that was needed. It is a spiritual healing. We don't deserve His grace. Even in this heartache, I don't deserve His salvation, His love, His kindness, and grace in which He gave at the cross by killing His son in my place.
As I write this, the song "I surrender all" is playing. "All to thee my blessed savior, I surrender. All to thee my blessed Savior, I surrender all".
We ask for your continued prayers. For the adoption, for our hearts to love God even more, for patience in waiting on the Lord.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
A painful post to write
Have you ever had a time in your life when you feel like you are completely in the dark? This is a difficult post to write and it grieves our hearts greatly. Up until last Wednesday everything was fine with our placement. The nursery was ready to go & we were just waiting on this baby girl to be delivered, her due date this Friday. But slowly the cracks became more evident. Our agent says "I don't know what happened". But we know we were supposed to pursue this placement. We raised $8,200 in three weeks to pay for our adoption (if you include the amount from the garage sale we have raised over $10,000). Circumstantially everything pointed to adopting this baby girl.
There is a lot of background information that we don't feel at liberty to discuss. But, our agent has confirmed what we feared. There is a very slim to no chance that we will be able to adopt this baby. We hope and pray for a miracle, a change of heart by the birthgiver (because it changed so rapidly from last week...).
There is a full nursery and a shower scheduled... To which one will have the door closed again for the time being and the other will be cancelled. Right now it looks like this is not our Talitha.
But we know that somehow this glorifies God. We keep thinking about our own spiritual adoption that was so much more costly and painful. God killed his own Son so that we might be called Children of God. Our Heavenly Father knows how we feel.
Romans 8:16-17 states "The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him."
Romans 8:31-32 "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?"
As for this earthly adoption, we are reminded now that this has been and will continue to be His adoption of our child. We may be the adoptive parents, but God is the One orchestrating it all. Our hope is in Him. We don't know the reason this is happening. We have no idea why. We don't even really know what to say. Except for this...He is our hope.
To everyone who is in this with us, we covet your prayers and love you all more as you walk this path with us.
There is a lot of background information that we don't feel at liberty to discuss. But, our agent has confirmed what we feared. There is a very slim to no chance that we will be able to adopt this baby. We hope and pray for a miracle, a change of heart by the birthgiver (because it changed so rapidly from last week...).
There is a full nursery and a shower scheduled... To which one will have the door closed again for the time being and the other will be cancelled. Right now it looks like this is not our Talitha.
But we know that somehow this glorifies God. We keep thinking about our own spiritual adoption that was so much more costly and painful. God killed his own Son so that we might be called Children of God. Our Heavenly Father knows how we feel.
Romans 8:16-17 states "The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him."
Romans 8:31-32 "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?"
As for this earthly adoption, we are reminded now that this has been and will continue to be His adoption of our child. We may be the adoptive parents, but God is the One orchestrating it all. Our hope is in Him. We don't know the reason this is happening. We have no idea why. We don't even really know what to say. Except for this...He is our hope.
To everyone who is in this with us, we covet your prayers and love you all more as you walk this path with us.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
My apologies for a delayed post
I went into a little bit of a mental hibernation! I forgot that we hadn't written anything about the circumstances surrounding the adoption of this little girl. (Thank you Michelle for your prompting)! So, here is an overview of what happened.
The evening of June 11th - My fear was confirmed as we found out that after 5 years, I no longer had my job. The reason? We were told was due to low school enrollment.
The morning of June 12th - I was praying "Lord, how on earth are we going to fund this adoption? We know this is your will for us."
The afternoon of June 12th - One of my grandmother's passed away.
The evening of June 12th - We got a text from Sue (our adoption coordinator) who said that she had a potential birthmother match. The birthmother was due August 16th. It was a little girl (which had been our desire to have a daughter). The birthmother didn't smoke, drink, or do drugs. We were told to be prepared for adopting a newborn with a meth addiction. There are a fair number of newborn's put up for adoption have meth addictions (they wean the babies off after birth and the babies can function normally just like everyone else). Before we pursued adoption we were aware that this was a possibility. To be honest, it scared me, but regardless we knew God would give us the grace to do what He wanted us to do.
Back to the story. The evening of the 12th, I knew when I got that text that this was what God wanted us to pursue. There was a peace & excitement that I cannot fully describe. When Robert got home, we prayed a lot. That's an understatement. We were still trying to mentally grasp that I had lost my job & process the fact that my grandmother had died. We prayed. We watched an episode of something, and then prayed some more. There was no good reason why we shouldn't pursue this, except for the issue of finances.
We needed to have the rest of our adoption cost at the placement of the baby. After much prayer, we decided to accept this placement. We also sought counsel as to how we should proceed to get the rest of the money. We found out after we accepted placement that the birthmother could go as early as 30 days before the due date. We decided to do a Facebook-A-Thon fundraiser for a portion of our overall cost $7,000 (because we had no idea when the baby would come).
Miraculously, in a little over two weeks time God provided over $7,000. If you were following the blog you also saw that an anonymous donor matched part of our remaining $1800ish funds. In two days we raised nearly $2500 (as we received some donations before the matching). We are still amazed at that and to be honest I don't think we have really "realized" what all has happened the past few weeks.
The Lord has graciously provided all the furniture we needed for a nursery, clothing for Talitha, and so much more. It's been so crazy trying to prep a nursery in the midst of everything but we are blessed with family & friends who made sure we had what we needed.
To make a long story even longer, I have been asked many times where does the name Talitha come from? We actually have had the name picked out for some time (Praise God because we had a difficult time picking paint color, the name would've been 10x more difficult under the circumstances). Last summer after the second miscarriage (literally like 4 or 5 days after), we traveled to the Rocky Mountain National Park near Estes Park, Colorado. I met a woman while washing dishes... One thing lead to another and somehow we got to talking about having miscarriages. She had one. After that she went on to have 3 healthy, full term pregnancies. Her firstborn daughter was named Talitha. I fell in love with the name & Robert thought "it was cool". It is the Aramaic name for Little Lamb or Little Girl. This word is used in Mark 5:35-42. Jesus' healing of Jarius' daughter. So fast forward a little... After the third miscarriage, while I was in the hospital one of my nurses was named Talitha. The only two times I had heard that were after the miscarriages. Recently I found out that the nurse Talitha is actually married to one of my brother's really good friend. We knew then that our firstborn daughter would be named Talitha.
Sorry for such a long blog post. There was a lot to say. We are now awaiting our Talitha to join our family. Please pray for a quick and healthy delivery. We are also praying that this is indeed the child that the Lord will add to our family.
Did I mention I also finally was medically cleared? After a year of waiting and monthly blood test, I am healthy. Praise the Lord that no molar tissue developed (which is actually a treatable cancer type of tissue). We are very grateful!!!!
We are in awe of what God is doing!!!!!
The evening of June 11th - My fear was confirmed as we found out that after 5 years, I no longer had my job. The reason? We were told was due to low school enrollment.
The morning of June 12th - I was praying "Lord, how on earth are we going to fund this adoption? We know this is your will for us."
The afternoon of June 12th - One of my grandmother's passed away.
The evening of June 12th - We got a text from Sue (our adoption coordinator) who said that she had a potential birthmother match. The birthmother was due August 16th. It was a little girl (which had been our desire to have a daughter). The birthmother didn't smoke, drink, or do drugs. We were told to be prepared for adopting a newborn with a meth addiction. There are a fair number of newborn's put up for adoption have meth addictions (they wean the babies off after birth and the babies can function normally just like everyone else). Before we pursued adoption we were aware that this was a possibility. To be honest, it scared me, but regardless we knew God would give us the grace to do what He wanted us to do.
Back to the story. The evening of the 12th, I knew when I got that text that this was what God wanted us to pursue. There was a peace & excitement that I cannot fully describe. When Robert got home, we prayed a lot. That's an understatement. We were still trying to mentally grasp that I had lost my job & process the fact that my grandmother had died. We prayed. We watched an episode of something, and then prayed some more. There was no good reason why we shouldn't pursue this, except for the issue of finances.
We needed to have the rest of our adoption cost at the placement of the baby. After much prayer, we decided to accept this placement. We also sought counsel as to how we should proceed to get the rest of the money. We found out after we accepted placement that the birthmother could go as early as 30 days before the due date. We decided to do a Facebook-A-Thon fundraiser for a portion of our overall cost $7,000 (because we had no idea when the baby would come).
Miraculously, in a little over two weeks time God provided over $7,000. If you were following the blog you also saw that an anonymous donor matched part of our remaining $1800ish funds. In two days we raised nearly $2500 (as we received some donations before the matching). We are still amazed at that and to be honest I don't think we have really "realized" what all has happened the past few weeks.
The Lord has graciously provided all the furniture we needed for a nursery, clothing for Talitha, and so much more. It's been so crazy trying to prep a nursery in the midst of everything but we are blessed with family & friends who made sure we had what we needed.
To make a long story even longer, I have been asked many times where does the name Talitha come from? We actually have had the name picked out for some time (Praise God because we had a difficult time picking paint color, the name would've been 10x more difficult under the circumstances). Last summer after the second miscarriage (literally like 4 or 5 days after), we traveled to the Rocky Mountain National Park near Estes Park, Colorado. I met a woman while washing dishes... One thing lead to another and somehow we got to talking about having miscarriages. She had one. After that she went on to have 3 healthy, full term pregnancies. Her firstborn daughter was named Talitha. I fell in love with the name & Robert thought "it was cool". It is the Aramaic name for Little Lamb or Little Girl. This word is used in Mark 5:35-42. Jesus' healing of Jarius' daughter. So fast forward a little... After the third miscarriage, while I was in the hospital one of my nurses was named Talitha. The only two times I had heard that were after the miscarriages. Recently I found out that the nurse Talitha is actually married to one of my brother's really good friend. We knew then that our firstborn daughter would be named Talitha.
Sorry for such a long blog post. There was a lot to say. We are now awaiting our Talitha to join our family. Please pray for a quick and healthy delivery. We are also praying that this is indeed the child that the Lord will add to our family.
Did I mention I also finally was medically cleared? After a year of waiting and monthly blood test, I am healthy. Praise the Lord that no molar tissue developed (which is actually a treatable cancer type of tissue). We are very grateful!!!!
We are in awe of what God is doing!!!!!
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