Hills & Valleys: Our Faith Journey

We're currently in the midst of our home study, and have been getting a lot of questions lately about what is involved, how long it will take, etc. So, I figured I'd give a little insight into this part of the process. :) First up, what is a home study? A home study is an assessment of our family to make sure we are good candidates for adoption. This process involves loads of paperwork, including background checks for every state we've lived in (we've lived in 6 between the three of us). Here's a rough idea of some of the paperwork involved: - Background checks - Questionnaires for each adoptive parent on our parents, our relationships with parents, childhood, siblings, education, career history, future career plans, personality, marriage, reasons behind wanting to adopt, and questions. - Special needs checklist--determining what we are open to considering (this is a very extensive list) - Various scenarios to consider and respond to - Physical exam, in...

Just thought I'd compile some of the answers to the questions we've been asked lately. :) What kind of adoption are you pursuing? Domestic infant adoption. At this time, we feel a baby would be the best fit for our family. We have looked into foster care, adoption of children, sibling adoptions, etc. While these are all very necessary types of adoption, it's not where we're feeling God's leading right now. How old will the child be that you're adopting? A newborn. :) What agency are you working with? We are working with COMPACT Family Services, which is a ministry of the Assemblies of God and provides matching services. We are so excited and thrilled to be working with them! How much does it cost? It's no secret that adoption is expensive. That being said, COMPACT operates a little differently to many adoption agencies--more like as a facilitator of a private adoption. They do not charge for their services, instead seeing it as a ministry opportu...

For those who might be wondering why or how we decided to adopt...here's a piece of our story! In 2010, we felt God stirring our hearts about adoption and the many children who need homes. We started gathering information, and in 2011, began working with a Christian adoption agency. We completed our home study and were so excited to begin our family via adoption. However, just a week before we were eligible to begin matching, we discovered we were pregnant. This put everything on hold. In 2013, Caleb was deployed to Afghanistan. We didn't get to talk often, and when we did, Caleb was usually so exhausted from the 16-20 hour work days that he didn't talk much. One conversation from deployment stood out though, for so many reasons--he told me he felt like God was stirring in him again about adoption. Little did he know, I had been feeling the same thing! That being said, the timing wasn't right, with deployment still happening plus a lot of uncertainty about a job ...