A Brother or Sister

Mommy and Daddy and I are praying that God will send a baby to us so that I can have a baby brother or sister. Here's what Mommy has to say about it:

Jeff and I would like to see our family grow, so we are applying to become adoptive parents through Bethany Christian Services. We hope to adopt a newborn within the United States. We're not sure what our family will look like, eventually, but the learning process has been really exciting.

So far, we have submitted our application papers, have begun our required reading, and have gone to an all-day seminar that is required for prospective adoptive parents. We met other couples who were also learning about the possibilities of adoption. Some of the speakers were social workers, birth moms, and adoptive parents. The seminar got us even more excited about the future. We are excited to love a baby and give him or her a chance at life that he/she might not have had otherwise. It's amazing to see, too, how much adoption appears in the Bible. We think it's an amazing privilege to adopt a child into our family just as Christ loved us and adopted us into God's family. We've also had interviews together and individually, and we had our home study today. We have a few things left to do before we are approved to be a "waiting family." (We need to put gates on our stairs, be re-certified in CPR and First Aid, and a few other things.) Then we'll create our profile-a mini scrapbook-about our family.

When a birth mom comes to a Bethany office to make an adoption plan for her baby, she looks through a binder of profiles provided by waiting families who are hoping she will choose them to parent her baby. We will be one of those families waiting for a "match." When a birth mom chooses us, we'll most likely have the chance to meet her in person and make sure that she-and we-think that this is the right match. If all goes well, she will have her baby and entrust us to be the baby's forever family. Adoptions are usually much more open now than they were in the past, so the baby will probably have the chance to know who his/her birth parents are and have visits with them as he/she grows up. Somtimes birthparents become like members of the family not only for the baby but for his/her entire adoptive family.

There is another way that we might be matched with a baby: a designated adoption. This would happen if a friend or family member, or just someone who knew of us through someone else, chose us to parent her child directly. Sometimes a birth mom feels much more comfortable entrusting her baby to someone known to her-even indirectly-rather than a family that she only knows from pictures. So, in writing this post, we're hoping to plant seeds in your minds and hearts. We never know what will happen or who our friends and family will meet. So, we hope that if you meet a young woman in a difficult situation who wants to place her baby for adoption, you'll think of us. We're happy to share our profile with anyone who would like to see it!

All that we're learning about this process is completely new to us, and we have a lot of questions that we're asking along the way. We know that you, our friends and family, may have a lot of questions, too, so we hope that you feel free to ask us the things you're wondering about. We'll all be learning together.

We've talked to Jonathan about this a little bit-as much as he can understand. When we pray with him that God will send us a baby to be a part of our family someday, he says, "A brother or a sister." We are all excited to see our family grow, and we hope you'll share our excitement and pray with us, as well. All these things have been happening pretty quickly, so we hope you don't feel too "out of the loop" if you're reading about it here. If you'd like to follow our adoption journey specifically, you can check the blog I've been keeping at http://ourwaitingfamily.blogspot.com/. I've added it to the sidebar on the right. Thank you for joining us in the journey!