Our Adoption Journey Part 1: Paperwork

Oh my paperwork! If you don't already know, Bryon and I have decided to jump into the adoption process with both feet.  We have been discussing adoption since we first started dating, and both of us have always felt a desire to adopt.  Because God has blessed us with two amazing boys, we would love to add a little girl to the mix.

The starting line is stacked under packets and packets and packets of paperwork.  We met our agency rep,  Amanda, yesterday and she collected what we thought was most of the paperwork, only to find we had about 6 more packets to complete. I thought it was just reading material but, oh no, more info they want to have. I think I have written our references 3 times, messed up my own zip code cause I have so many different numbers running through my mind, and wrote out our address more than I can count. When Amanda said she needed to do an hour interview with each of us separately, we laughed and said I think you know everything about us. She laughed and said I will know everything about you when this is through.

Let me bring you up to speed about how our journey began, before the paperwork....

Our church offers an orientation class for foster care and adoption to briefly tell you about the programs and process. We attended this orientation after we moved into our new house, however we decided we wanted to wait and have another child of our own before we started the process. I continually saw this orientation pop up in the message notes of what was happening at the church. This past January, I convinced Bryon to go to another one, just so we could get more information and ask the questions we now had. We attended the orientation and I left completely defeated because they said if we wanted to just adopt through the foster care system it would take years for us to get a child. I was completely shocked, they kept saying how desperate they were for families and now they say it would take years for me to have a little girl. Ugh!

When we left they gave us a packet of agencies, thinking that I was going to proven them wrong, I called a couple of agencies the next day (Friday).  I called three agencies, a private agency and two christian fost/adopt.

The last agency I called for the day was a Christian agency who won me over. This agency works with foster care children in Maricopa County. You can do fost/adopt, just adopt or just foster. Since we weren't committing to anything, still just looking to prove the people in the orientation wrong, I asked tons of questions and found out the same thing they told us in the orientation. Seriously it didn't make sense! Everyone was telling me that the best chance of adopting, is to foster first.  We both have always said no to fostering because of the emotional toll of getting attached to a child, only to have then be taken away at some point (unless they are put up for adoption).  The woman said we could think about it, however, they had just started certification classes last week and she could put me in touch with some one to see if we could start late if we wanted. She didn't think it was possible but said she would send my info to the Phoenix rep and we would go from there. Decisions Decisions.

Once Bryon got home from work I overloaded him with all the information, and told him we could possibly start classes next week. SURPRISE! We talked and talked and finally said let's pray about it and ask God to open doors wide open if this is the right time, or close them if it wasn't.

Monday rolls around and Calvin and I are off to the dentist when my phone rings. It was the Phoenix rep calling me back. Her name is Nicole and she is the nicest woman. She told she could swing in and meet us that after noon. I frantically called Bryon and three hours later she was at our house! Nicole and her coworker, Andrea (whom I went to college with) came and answered all of our questions. She approved us to start classes late and told us it started tomorrow night. We told them we would start classes.  One of the ladies also said something that has still not left me.  She told me that if we would consider fostering, we could think of it as ministering to that child, if only for a short period of time, until they could be reunited with their family, or possibly become available for adoption.  Now I was really considering fostering, which shocked me, and Bryon as well.

Later that night we had an uneasy feeling, and thought things were moving a little too fast.  God was definitely opening doors, but we felt a little panicked.  I called her and said we needed to take a step back and slow things down a bit. Mid April was the next start for classes and that was fine with us. It gave us more time to think and pray about adoption and foster care. Plus Bryon really wanted to wait until Caden was a year and sure enough classes start 1 week before his birthday.

We continued to pray and, long story short, God answered our prayers like only God can do.  We received a phone call that let us know a "Fast Track" class was just approved that would certify us in only five weeks, instead of ten weeks, starting in April.  Our panicking episodes were over, and we both felt very comfortable with starting classes, and are even considering fostering (but we haven't decided yet). 

So, we wanted you all to know what has happened so far, and ask that you pray for us.  Pray that God will continue to open doors, leading us to where he wants us to go.  Pray that we make good decisions for our family.  And pray that God brings us the little girl He has planned for us.