Category Archives: Adoption Milestone On homeschool and needing just a little extra time… We had a pretty chill week this week! Rico Suave and I started it out by visiting a few homeschool co-op schools that offer classes 2 days a week or half days and such. We are praying about the year ahead and knowing we will have […] Just a little China update!!! Called the agency on October 1st to inquire about our son. (Although we had to wait for approval from our LOI to officially be matched…we wasted NO TIME…and stepped out in faith to start our home study AGAIN!) Approval came…so while we were riding Splash Mountain–we were officially matched on […] Gotta love logging trees and getting cuts ;). YEA!!!! More steps are done…..and can’t wait to see God work through the rest! HE IS ABLE and …..I still totally stink at the waiting part. ugh. Yay!!! So excited for you all!!! We just brought our youngest home from China this summer… Praying for all those abbreviations to be swift – I think we were around 10months with a VERY slow HS. Lots of prayers for this newest little one 🙂 How awesome! I know how you feel to be done with all the paperwork, it’s crazy. We are adopting from China, just sent off I800a today and should be traveling in May! That is Awesome!!! It is with great joy that I get to share our big news that we are growing again! We’ve known since September 30th that we were growing…and this time it isn’t with pregnancy test…but rather through our hearts skipping a beat when we saw our little one’s face on Rainbow Kids (a site that posts […] Oh Andrea, my heart is just full with tears of JOY for you and your family! And it just builds my own faith seeing how God has used every change, tear and side journey to lead you to your little guy. We’ve seen it in our own journey thus far but as we sit in a period of unknown right now, I am so blessed by seeing His hand in your lives. And maybe I’m biased but I have a sister with 5 in 7 years (her first 2 were 13 months apart) and while there were some busy years for sure, it has been SO much fun and it’s even neater to watch now (they are ages 8 – 15). I’m confident that the same God who has walked every step beside you to this point will continue to be beside you as you work to bring your little guy home and continue to seek Him for your family’s future. Blessings! Blessings on your journey! This is so exciting! Oh!!! I couldn’t be more happy!! I can’t wait to read every detail of your journey and watch God at work! 🙂 Oh Andrea! I LOVED reading all the details! Praise God for how He has called your family! WOW! I am so excited to watch this adoption journey to your SON in CHINA!!! Much love to ya’ll!!! Your post has brought tears to my eyes. I really needed to hear the line about following your husband. Mine has now agreed to another adoption. I too have found a child that I have been praying over. I am trying so hard to be the patient wife who is waiting for my husband to decide. Thanks and blessings to your family!! Beautiful. Tears are dripping into my coffee. So sorry for the hard but blessed to watch God write your story and hear you praise Him in the midst of it all. Congrats! Praying for you and yours. CONGRATS!!! Isn’t it amazing looking back how you can see much clearer that God was in control…that He was faithful? Can’t wait to follow your journey! Such a wonderful story written by God’s hand! Excited for your family! Look forward to following/praying as you wait to bring your son home! Glorious God!! Amazing and beautiful. Praise him for this most precious gift and all the ways he confirmed this for you as you faithfully walked through the hard stuff to get to your son! He makes all things beautiful. Jessica i am rejoicing with you!!! what a beautiful love story of wanting and waiting. so thrilled for your sweet family! Yay!! So happy for you guys. I was so hoping that you would update the blog today. I’ve been waiting, and I had a feeling I knew what it would say! 🙂 We should be travelling next summer to bring home our precious treasure from the DRC. He truly does work all things together for His good. God Is Good!! Such amazing news! So happy for you and the blessings you will know! He will provide everything you need for what He wants you to do. Sure does bring tears to my eyes. I feel like I’m in the same exact boat as you – only God still has us waiting on Him. So hard to let go and trust His plan fully… but I know one day He will show us what He has in store. Praying for you guys and so happy to watch yet another journey. 🙂  I told you I’ve been reflecting while at the beach with my sweet family…that seems to happen often in this momma’s heart when I get away–as so often I’m crazy chasing littles, homeschooling and scrambling for what’s for dinner much too late in my day. I’ve also been reflecting as any transition for one of […] Andrea- this is so incredibly beautiful. I can’t tell you how much these words touched my heart. I appreciate your honesty and sincerity and for sharing this amazing song too. Such a beautifully written expression of redeeming love. Thank you for stepping up to help so many families through the “first years.” Jessica beautiful. all of it. Love the message of redemption here—this is beautifully written, feels like you got right inside my heart. As someone who also agrees that thost agency trainings are a joke and who loves ETC, THANK YOU for this post 🙂 I’m tucking this away to read and re-read now and in the future. Thank you for your honesty and sharing your story! Andrea, this is so timely as I have been mulling over many of the same thoughts you share here. We are only 6 mths in to a domestic adoption from foster care and already it looks almost nothing like what I imagined. 2 of the siblings aren’t with us and there are days when I look at my bio kids and pray for God to protect their hearts and give them understanding of the situations beyond their young years. I find myself surrendering almost daily to God after I have selfishly tried to “fix” their problems or behaviors through tough discipline instead of stepping back and looking and praying to see what the root cause is. The flesh in me sighs at the truth that 12 years of hurt and damage will likely take as long to heal, but we cling to the truth that His mercies are new every morning…thank you for writing what I couldn’t put into words…I will be sharing with family who don’t understand why we “put up” with the things we do. God bless you in your journey… i hope to be able to attend a CFC conference one day 😉 Wonderful post Andrea. So many challenges unique to parenting a child who’s experienced trauma. How in the world is it done without God?! Thank You! Thank You! I totally understand how hard it is to describe all the feelings that go along the initial attachment process. No amount of training ahead of time prepare us for that. For me, the good outweigh the hard. But at the same time I find myself relying on the Lord so much more than ever with my bio kids. It’s a beautiful journey that is as much for the parent as it is for the child. Andrea, The second child I adopted was almost 12. She had been through 10 foster homes. I knew from experience that it was going to be a tough transition and even harder because she was so hurt. She was 100 times tougher than my other daughter. She screamed, she cussed, she threw things, she pushed us all away, she was suspended from school 4 times in six months. Through it all I was patient, and loving, and praying with her and for her to accept us as family. I sought out help for both of us and for all of us as a family. She refused to participate. I told her no matter how hard she pushed, I would always love her. Then, my second daughter came to me and told how she was being abused physically, mentally, and sexually by this little girl. I pushed to have her placed in a mental health facility so she could get the help she needed. She was there for 9 months. She refused to come home and threatened some pretty horrific things if she were forced. A judge finally decided that it was not in my other children’s best interest to take her back into our home. She has been out of my home for three years now. There is a piece of my heart that will always be broken for the little girl who couldn’t accept family. Legally she is still my daughter, but last month she petitioned the court to change her name back to her biological name. The judge asked her why she wanted the change. And her answer was because they hurt me by wanting to love me, I don’t want to be loved. Breaks my heart. And, yes, I still love her with all my heart. You are right adoption is not for the faint of heart. It can and does often end well. My first adopted daughter is now 16 and I can’t imagine life without her. Thank you for sharing your truths. People need to be prepared for it when they say yes. That child will always have a biological family no matter how young they are when adopted. My daughter was horrifically abused and still, she wants to make contact with her dad (mom was murdered in a drug deal gone bad) because “he has probably changed by now”. Sorry to be so wordy. It is just not often that folks write about the more challenging side of adoption. It is a journey of many ups and downs, but one that is worth taking. I would do it again in a heart beat, but right now my girls just don’t feel like they can go through it again. This is my “blog”. I write it mainly for family, but feel free to read some of the trials we have been through. aknned.blogspot.com/ #1..LOVE that song. one of my faves. I have sang it many many times crying out to God. #2..thanks for sharing the real story. so many times I have looked at blogs/fb updates and wondered “what is wrong with us?” because it didn’t look like what everyone else was sharing. I was exhausted and feeling so alone many times. and oh the guilt of not having oooey gooey feelings in the beginning with one of them. thanks for sharing your heart. Andrea, I have been reading your blog for a couple of years now while my husband and I have steadfastly prayed about adopting, but have never commented. We have three bio boys and are now in the home study process of adopting from Ethiopia! We are so excited and yet completely terrified at the same time. However, we know that He will equip us and lead us through this entire process. I just want to thank you for writing such an honest and sincere post. I plan to pass this on to our friends and family so that they can better know how to support us when we bring our little one home. I’m sure I will be rereading this in the months to come. It’s so nice to know that I’m not alone in some of the uncertainty that I’m already feeling. Thank-you! YOU are a blessing. Thank you so much for sharing this. I saw the link on a friend’s facebook page. I have ‘always wanted to adopt’, though I know the challenges are immense. Reading your post made me wonder what you would say to someone who was where you were before this journey began for you? Andrea- thank you thank you thank you! I have been feeling sooooo alone lately in this. I could write so much, but I just want to say, I identify so much with what you wrote in this post, and I totally think the Lord has used it to encourage me. Thank you so much for listening to Him and being transparent. I can’t thank you enough. Thank you for your honesty and sincerity. These are the words our family needed to hear today. He alone is faithful. Praise the LORD! This is Beautiful ,Thankyou needed this today ! Andrea, I really appreciate for your honesty. As we wait to pick up our little girl from China, I have been trying to prepare my heart for just how difficult, humbling, rewarding, crazy, yet beautiful our life with our daughter will be. I’m thankful for the example of godly mothers and families who have walked this path before us. It is such a blessing to have “met” you online although I wish I could ask you so much in person! Praise our Father who has adopted us out of lonely, desolate places, and set our feet upon the rock, and praise Him for allowing us to do the same for these little ones. Excellent! I could relate to so much that you said. Especially the part about thinking you would have adopted again by now 🙂 We just celebrated three years home today (June 1st) with our daughter from China! Such a blessing! But oh so hard also. Been in the process to adopt from UG for 16 months and we wait for His clear direction. Blessings to you!!! Thank you!!!  If you know us–we are always looking for a reason to celebrate–and THIS reason we thought was worthy of a CELEBRATION! It’s official. Today we have been home 1 year!!! SO–we decided to invite Isaac’s friends over and family and CELEBRATE! We have come SO FAR in 1 year!!! This time last year we were […] Makes my heart swell – love!! happy one year home, Isaac!!!! Can’t believe it’s already been a year! What a cutie and an adorable family. God is so good!! i wouldn’t say you spared us! i think you’re just teasing us by not posting! ha 🙂 congrats!! |
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I wish I was your next door neighbor!! I think our families would have a blast together!!!! I’m all about letting my littles be LITTLE! 🙂 We have a very laid back approach to life (of course lots of passion too… but we don’t stress the unimportant “stuff.”) Love ya!!!
Hi! I realized through reading your blog that we live in the same area. I used to teach for a homeschool group called Veritas Classical Schools. It’s an AMAZING Christian school where kids go one to two days a week. Just wanted to give it a shout-out in case that’s the route you decide to go. 🙂
Praying for your adoption!!
The phone conversation was adorable. My grandfather was a quarterback at Alabama under Baer Bryant and my grandmother also went to Alabama and I grew up hearing her yell “Roll Tide.” Though it abviously didn’t rub off as we are brainwashing our children for A&M. :):)
Just love the ideas behind 2 choices with peacemaker and problem maker… and what are you hands made for! just priceless tools thank you for your devotion to your blog and your precious children you are one awesome mom!