Random thoughts...

Lately we’ve had people asking us really good questions about our adoption process. We realized, “Hey, if they’re wondering about it, I bet our other friends and family might be wondering about it too!” So here goes…

One of the big things that we didn’t write on our other blogs is that we have said that we are willing to accept a sibling group of two children if that is an option at the time we are being matched in the Philippines. We have met other people who were also willing to accept this option, but at the time there were only single children available in the age range they wanted. If we are matched with one child, we prefer ages 6 months – 2 years old. If we are matched with two children, then we prefer the oldest child to be 4 years old or under. And you never know they might match us with twins!! Only God knows :)

There is also this crazy form that we have to fill out for this process called the “Type of Child Form”. At the top of the form are the words, “Willing to Accept”, “Willing to Discuss”, “Not willing to accept”. Going down the left-side of the form you find at least hundred different disabilities, diseases, etc that a child might have. Some examples are cleft lip/palate, missing limbs, deafness, blindness, mental retardation or family history of mental retardation, heart conditions, Down’s syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome, and there are many more listed. It is an extensive list, and we didn’t even know some of these things existed! Karin had told us that it would be the hardest form that we will fill out. She was right. We’ve spent lots of time praying over our decisions, and we still haven’t finished filling out the form. Karin had a long talk with us about having mercy on these children, but at the same time being realistic about our own limitations. I really hate this form. If we were pregnant, we wouldn’t have the option of filling out this form; we would accept what God has given us and learn through the process. A good friend challenged us with this question, “What is God calling you to do? We know God is calling you to adopt from the Philippines, but what type of child is God calling you to adopt?” Please pray specifically that we are able to fill this form out, and that God equips us with what is needed for whoever God places with us.

On a better note, we wanted to blog a little more about what we learned last month in training because today we do a whole new day of training!! Exciting :) We spent a couple of hours using children’s research books (they have the best information!!) to learn more about the Philippines and the culture. Karin gave us a form with different words or ideas on it, and we had to look up as many as we could in an hour. We only halfway through the form, and the same went the rest of the group. The rest of the group was looking up information on the countries they’re adopting from – Haiti, China and Russia. A few of the things that we learned about were pakikisana, this is the deep camaraderie and helpfulness that Filipinos feel, even with strangers. We learned that the Filipinos are very family-oriented. They consider children a blessing from God, and children should stay obedient to their parents, even as adults. My favorite thing that I learned about was a food superstition. There is an herb called odom that some believe makes you invisible to the human eye when you eat it. That cracked me up. Dave’s favorite part of the Philippines is the jeepney. It is a little truck/jeep/taxi that Filipinos ride around in. We’re both excited to ride on one of these when we get to the Philippines!

Some of the other things we learned about in last month’s training was advice on what to name your child/ren, disciplining the child, positive discipline, creating self-esteem, getting friends and family excited about adoption (that hasn’t been a hard one!!), discrimination and racism, and what to expect when traveling to the Philippines. We’ll update you all on what we learn this month in our training. Thank you so much for all of the prayers, thoughts, letters, e-mails that have poured in. We are keeping them all so that during the waiting process, if we get frustrated, or forget why we wanted to adopt in the first place, we can look back at this awesome encouragement to build up that excitement again.

By the way, we also changed our blog settings, so anyone can post a comment to our blog. Please feel free to drop us a note, we'd love to read it!!

03-02-2007

Not much is new right now on the adoption front. I just didn't want our blog to look outdated :) Dave and I are dogsitting this week for a cutey-pie beagle. We have so much fun dog sitting, we usually stay at the person's house with their dog to keep the dog's routine going. We have one regular family that we sit for, and a new one that we have just picked up. It is funny to think of all of the things that will change after we have children. I don't think we'll be dogsitting like this anymore!!

Our life is so quiet and laidback right now. I'm excited for the day when I long for an hour to sit and watch tv or read a book. I know that sounds absolutely crazy and most of you parents may be rolling your eyes at this comment. However, I know that my life is meant for more than this. I'm meant to be a mother, and like my dad tells me - God didn't put that longing in my heart without the promise that he would fill that hole.

Right now we are still at a point where we are still super excited about the adoption process. Everything we are doing is so new, and we are rushing to get our documents finished for our dossier. However, I know that once we have the paperwork done and start playing the waiting game I will have a harder time with the process. I'm very much a "doer", it's hard for me to just sit and wait. God's going to teach me a lot about patience throughout this journey, even though I may not always enjoy the lesson :)