Changes are inevitable. As the seasons change, the signs are obvious...currently the leaves are changing to bright orange, red, and yellow as they fall gracefully from the trees. The sun is either shining or it's raining outside as we transition from summer to fall and eventually to winter. It's gotten colder at night and it's something I take for granted every single year. I LOVE the season of fall! As we start the transition of less daylight, Mark and I are also making changes and transitioning. Here are a couple of big things that are changing for us:
1) We have decided to work with Safe Families to provide respite care for families that are struggling in one way or another. The best way to describe Safe Families is that it is similar to foster care in terms of the child(ren) live with us for an amount of time, but it differs from foster care in that the parents keep legal custody of their child(ren) the entire time! As a Safe Family, we are there to support the biological families in times of need--whether they need their child(ren) hosted by us for one night or several months while they take care of their issues--that is what we are there for. Safe Families was designed to help families that are in some sort of crisis and don't have anyone to rely on such as a good friend or family member. Here is their website if you're curious to find more information or if you're interested in becoming a Safe Families family: http://www.safe-families.org/. This won't help our adoption process go any faster, but it will keep us busy! We said that we are interested in hosting children younger than one since we have been given a crib for our baby and have a nursery mostly set up for our baby--so we just want to use this instead of finding a bed for an older child. Maybe one day this will lead to "actual" fostering children within the foster care system...who knows. Only God knows our future and so we will continue to trust in Him. We got cleared by getting background checks done, three references wrote letters (thank you to you three!!), and we just have to "pass" a home visit. We had originally had it scheduled a couple weeks ago but both Mark and I were getting sick and then life got busy--so it's now set up for next Wednesday evening. We are excited to complete this process and to love on kiddos as we wait for our future baby.
2) We have also decided that I will be going back to school!!!!! Pending any big surprises, I will be finishing my Bachelors of Science in Human Development. As most of you know, this has been a long process in the making. I went to 4 different colleges to figure out what I wanted to be--and I've always come back to some type of social work. So we shall see if this leads to me getting a Master's Degree one day, but for now I'm focusing on just finishing my Bachelor degree. I will be attending Warner Pacific in their adult degree program so I'll only be attending class one night a week for 4 hours. The great thing about this is that as we wait for our child to come (and as we do Safe Families), I can attend classes. Then, when our kid comes, I can stay at home with him/her and then "trade" parental duties with Mark as he gets of work and as I go to class for that night. It will be hard, no doubt, but I'm looking forward to getting my degree done after paying so much money for my 2.5 years at the various colleges I've already attended and to make something of the coursework I've already taken. The cohort that I'll most likely be in starts at the end of January/beginning of February so I still have a couple of months until school starts, but I'm excited!
We would love to invite you to pray for us as we make these changes. We are nervous for both of the changes but we also know that this is what God has called us to, so we boldly step out and take them on. We would also really appreciate prayer in the adoption process. I knew that it would be an emotional process, but I didn't quite realize just how hard it was going to be. We have been on the waiting list for 4 months (well, just shy of 4 months) and we love that our book has been shown to several families! However it is just an emotional roller coaster for a variety of reason. We would just really love prayer for peace and rest. Also, we are asking for prayers for birth families and their unborn child(ren). I can't imagine having to make an adoption plan for my child and how difficultly heart wrenching it is. Prayers for their peace of mind, clarity and emotions to be protected during their journey would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for the prayers in advance!!
I think that's it for now--off to enjoy the sunshine for today! :)
