A possible bump in the road

Todd listened to a conference call last week, and Gladney has decided not to accept anyone else into the Guatemala program. Because we are already in, we don't have anything to worry about, but it could prolong the process for us. We really are fine with however long we have to wait, especially since the boys are still so young and we have plenty to keep us busy right now! We really do believe that it will happen in God's perfect timing. Guatemala is currently trying to reform the adoption process because the system is very corrupt (people selling babies and things like that). Gladney says they honestly have no idea if anything will change, but they want us to be prepared in case things do happen and we have to wait longer.

Jezebel

I found out where Wil came up with Jezebel. It's from a book called Skippy Jon Jones about a siamese cat who wants to be a chiuaua. One of Skippy Jon's sisters is named Jezebel. Wil loves the name!

Waiting

We've pretty much done everything we can do, and now we are in the waiting process. As we understand it, we are first waiting for CIS approval, then we will be fingerprinted, and then we could receive our referral at any point after that. We hired a wonderful lady to help us with our dossier, so it's only taken us a few weeks to complete, thanks to her! After we receive our referral we will have to wait 6 - 12 months to go pick up our baby. I think that will be the hardest part of all of this. I just can't imagine what it's going to be like to know she is ours and then have to let total strangers take care of her. It is really going to test our faith, which I think will be good for us! Thankfully, it is not the people taking care of her we have to trust... it is a Sovereign and loving God.

Wil and Ben

Some pictures of Wil and Ben over the past few months. They are so adorable and so much fun!

Wil's thoughts about adoption

When we first asked Wil what he thought about having a baby sister he was very much on board. He, of course, doesn't understand exactly what is going on... he made the comment that we are going to buy a sister from a Spanish school, and he told his Mother's Day Out teachers last week that we are adopting a little sister named Helen from Guatemala who is 2 years old. Probaby the funniest thing he said is that he thinks Jezebel would be a good name for our baby. I honestly have no idea how he came up with that! I didn't know he'd even heard the name. On a more serious note, he is SUCH a sweet big brother to Ben. They are really starting to play together now and I love watching them interact. Todd always tells Wil that his most important job is taking care of Ben, and Wil takes his role very seriously. He monitors every move Ben makes and is sure to tell me if he is breaking any of our rules (like "no eating toilet paper out of the toilet" and things like that). I know he will take very good care of his little sister and I can't wait to see it! I'm a little worried about what Ben is going to think, only because he's so much younger, but I'm sure he will be fine. We're going to do whatever we need to do to make the transition as smooth as possible!

The Decision to Adopt

Ever since Todd and I got married we have believed that adoption would be part of God's plan for our family. We weren't sure when or under what circumstances, so we've thought and prayed about it a lot over these 6 years. After Ben was born last January we started feeling like maybe the right time was getting closer. We did some research, but then we put things on hold for a few months because it seemed a little overwhelming... Ben was not even a year old, wasn't sleeping well and wasn't very happy. We then found out he was allergic to dairy and things started to get much better, so we resumed the research process. At that point, we believe God made it very clear to both of us that it was the right time for our family to adopt. We both felt complete peace and excitement about the possibility of bringing another child into our family. At first, we really wanted to adopt from China and felt like it made the most sense for us, but both prospective parents have to be 30, so we looked at other options. We next looked into Colombia and Guatemala,and for a number of reasons felt that Guatemala made the most sense for our family. I loved the idea of adopting from a Latin American country because I have always loved the language and culture, and have felt called to minister to hispanic people. Once we learned more about adoption from Guatemala we became convinced that this was the right place for us. We looked into several different agencies along the way, but finally decided on The Gladney Center for Adoption in Ft. Worth because they were placing babies from Guatemala, and also because they are wonderful! Everyone we have talked to and worked with has been competent, helpful and caring. We really believe God led us to them.