Hills & Valleys: Our Faith Journey

How has it already been over a month since my last update? Time flies! I've had a bunch of people ask about where our adoption is up to, so I figured it was time for an update. :) We finally finished all of our paperwork mid-April and got it mailed off to our home study provider. We were SO excited to have it out of our hands and hopefully schedule our interviews as soon as we could. My hope was that our home study would be complete by the end of May. Unrealistic? Maybe. I just want to have this piece complete so we can really start to get excited!! Anyway, we hit a bit of a roadblock with scheduling our interviews. We have three pieces to our interviews--one-on-one interviews with each of us, an interview with the three of us, and a home visit to make sure our home is safe. The issue was, the provider was only available during school hours. As many of you are aware, I'm in a long-term substitute position that meant I was working Mon-Fri through mid-May. The next times the ...

Over the past couple of weeks, we've been chipping away at our home study paperwork. It is difficult to explain just how involved it is for those who have never gone through it. Here's a quick run-down: - Birth certificates - Marriage certificate - Drivers license copies - Tax return copies - Pay stubs - Letter from employer - Background checks for every state we've lived in (we have six) - Local background checks - Fingerprinting for FBI background checks - Physical exam including TB test for all three of us - References - Statement from our vet that our dog is safe - Various documents to sign - Copy of our home study - Questionnaire completed by both of us - Individual questionnaires (very detailed) by each of us, including things like the strengths and weaknesses of our marriage, our upbringing, family values, etc. - Special needs checklist (what we're open to) - Various case studies - Letters from my counselors signing off on ...

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 ...

Thanks for following me over here for a bit of an update. I figured it might be easier to post here since I have a tendency of becoming long-winded on FB posts, and it seems fitting to include it here, along-side the other baby-related updates. Let's just get the inevitable question out of the way: No, I'm not pregnant. Here's the update: A few weeks ago, we underwent a fertility procedure that would increase our chances of getting pregnant. We were so hopeful and excited that this could be our month. A million little things seemed to click into place--from perfectly timed doctor's appointments to my body's response to the medication. We dared to hope. Two and a bit weeks later, we got an answer in the form of one pink stripe-- negative. I'm not gonna lie, I think it was one of the hardest moments of this journey for me. I tested and re-tested, hoping it was just too soon, but nope...that one silly line kept showing up over and over again. The last f...

I don't think it's any secret that the past four months, I've changed my eating habits and thereby have lost some weight. I've had a bunch of people ask me recently for more specifics on what I've been doing, so I figured I'd share here. First of all, I did NOT use any kind of subscription, pill, shake, etc. to lose weight. If that's your thing, go for it. I just don't like the idea of having to purchase something in order to lose weight and maintain a healthy size. I wanted something sustainable for life, that didn't cost me a lot of extra money (because let's face it, who has extra money laying around??). The Nutrition Side I absolutely love nutrition. I added a Nutrition minor to my college degree because of how much I enjoy it, and I honestly wish I'd had the time to take more classes. So, I've learned about a lot of different diets out there and why diets generally don't work. I also know that going to extremes (e.g. complet...