We're Approved!!!

We found out last night we are finally, officially approved for adoption!!! Woo hoo!!!!  The last six months have gone so slow at times; it felt like this day would never come.  All in the Lord's time, right…

I have to admit, there have been many little miracles along the way. At the beginning, we were told we would see the hand of the Lord work in ways we've never experienced, and we have. Here are four of the “big” little miracles I’m willing to share.

Miracle #1: We had decided last November we would start the adoption process in a year and a half (Spring 2012), when Jeff returned from his next deployment. Well, in the April 2011 Ensign magazine there was an article about couples struggling with infertility and their path to adoption. A comment by one of the couples featured stood out to us. They spoke of how they “actively waited for their children” by educating themselves as much as possible about adoption and what they needed to do to be prepared; we decided we needed to do this too. We called LDS Family Services and scheduled to attend their next orientation at the end of April. By the end of the orientation, we felt the overwhelming impression we shouldn’t wait and we needed to start now. Jeff was leaving the next week for three months, so time was extremely tight. We managed to get everything required by Jeff for us to be approved for adoption done before he left.

Miracle #2: My change of heart. At the orientation, when we were told LDS Family Services did open adoptions, I was very uncomfortable with the idea of having an open relationship with the birth family. I saw this child as mine and I didn’t want to share. I hesitantly agreed to move forward because if this is the way the Church did it, there must be something to it. A few days later, I was thinking about the birth mom and this amazing wave of love for her and her family swept over me. I thought about the love it must take to give up a child and the heartache such a decision would bring. I thought about the grandparents and the sacrifice they would be making. I realized this was not just about me and my family, but the birth family as well. I understood why open adoption is so good – it allowed them to heal and feel peace about their decision.

Miracle #3: Jeff’s deployment got cancelled. This allowed us to complete everything required to be approved for adoption. Had he deployed before we were approved, our file would have been placed on hold until his return.

Miracle #4: While Jeff’s cancelled deployment was wonderful, it caused a financial problem. We had planned for the extra pay that comes with deployment to be what we used to save for the adoption fees. For about a week we were unsure where we were going to come up with the money now that he was not deploying. We redid our budget several times and always came up short; we prayed for an answer. Jeff decided to go by the retention office, even though his reenlistment window was not open. He spoke with the retention officer and learned of a way his reenlistment window could open. We agreed to it, and his signing bonus was just enough to cover our projected adoption fees. We now had the money eight months sooner than we had originally planned.

Now it's time to (im)paitently wait for a birth mom to find us...