Present From A Student

Here's a picture of a candle that I received as a present from one of my students.  Little did she know that it holds so much meaning and gives me hope when I look at it!  :)  Maybe tomorrow will be "our day."

I Promised

I promised a real update, so here goes.

We're waiting.  We haven't heard anything.

That's my update!  :)  Exciting, huh?  

We're just stuck in the waiting game right now.

We haven't heard anything from the agency.  I do have more profiles to drop off sometime this week, so I'm hoping to talk with them and see if there are any updates.  While I am very thankful that we went with this agency, due to the fact that it's a Christian agency and with Dave being a minister, they let us list for free, I just hate the fact that we don't know anything or get updates.  I've heard that this is how it goes with most agencies, but it's hard not knowing if anything is happening.

I did talk with the people at Florida Baptist Children's Home.  In order to adopt through them, we would have to go through their home study process and take 30 hours of classes through them.  While I have no desire to go through all of that again, their cost is about half of what we are expecting through the other sources.  We would not be able to start any of that until April, due to the one of the ladies being on maternity leave.  This gives us some time to think about it and figure out if we want to go that avenue or not.  She said the wait time, once the home study and classes are finished, in normally three months, although this is not a given.

No emails or anything from the attorney or social worker with any possible situations.  :(

I looked through some waiting children the other day.  Probably not a good idea for me to do that, because it breaks my heart to see these children waiting for families.  Most of them need families that are able to provide things we cannot provide, like a parent that stays home or a family where they will be the only child, etc.  Many of them have emotional issues or medical problems and lots of them are part of sibling groups, normally three or more.  It still breaks my heart.

We haven't won the lottery or anything to provide the money to adopt, but we will find a way.  While in Virginia, we had some family members encourage us and let us know that they are so happy for us.  It's just a reminder that this is the path that we are meant to be on, even though it's not easy or pleasant.  Dave and I have been talking about different things that we can do to make it happen.

Here are some questions for you!  I'd love some input!
We've talked about doing some fundraising, setting up an tax-deductible account, t-shirts, etc.
Is it bad if we do this?
Does it make us into a charity case?
Is it worth the effort?
Do you have any ideas for us?

Email updates, Promise, and Pics

Email updates:

I've made a contact list in my email for those of you who read my blog and would like to be notified by an email when there is a new blog post.  If you would like to be added to this list, either contact me by emailing me at jennifervbk@yahoo.com or by leaving a comment with your email address.  I'm more than happy to add you to the list.

Promise:
I have lots to blog about and get your opinion on, but it will have to wait till tomorrow.  So, my promise to you is that I plan on blogging about that tomorrow.

Pics:

My side of the family

Dave's side of the family

i Heart Faces: Hilarious Outtakes

I Heart Faces : Hilarious Outtakes

Over at I Heart Faces, they are having their weekly photography contest.  Here are my 5 entries for this week:

1.  This is my lovely sister, Lisa, making a random fish face while at Rainforest Cafe.

2.  My authentic friend, Trish, wondering why I am taking a picture of her!  :)  She should know better.

3.  Some of our teens at church, Hannah and Rachael, playing a game at camp.  Two body parts are called out and they have to find each other in a crowd and put those parts together.  It appears that this round was elbow to eyeball!

4.  During our New Year's Eve bash with the teens, we played Survivor.  In this challenge, the teens had to hold the water balloons with their arms extended for a long as possible.  Perry was dying at this point, but was determined NOT to lose!

5.  And my favorite:  Baby Seth, totally not happy, and looking like an old man!!!!!  Poor thing!

Discouragement and encouragement

So, we got some discouraging news. 

While in Hampton, we decided to stop by the credit union that we belong to and talk to them about a loan.  We don't want to wait until we are matched to come up with the money.  We'd rather be prepared.  So, we got some bad news.  Because of the fact that we don't have anything that they can hold against us or anything to borrow against, they won't give us the loan.  We have good credit and they weren't concerned about us making payments.  We do own a house, but because we bought at the peak of the housing market and since then, the value of our house has gone down, that it out of the question.  We do have two vehicles, but neither one is worthy of helping us out with a loan. 

I cannot lie.  I was VERY discouraged.  VERY.  To the point of being in tears for over an hour.  It felt like another door was closing and the hope that I had felt just a few days earlier was slipping through my fingers.  I started seeing us as that couple that watches everyone else have a family.  That couple that is lonely and spends more Christmas vacations just as a family of 2.  It was a very, very dark place to be. 

Then, I'm encouraged by the amount of support and love we have felt from family about our decision to adopt, especially the encouragement we have gotten while around family this Christmas.   I have to remind myself that we will find a way, that maybe God has to help us realize that we can't do this by ourselves, that the only way it will happen is with His power and will. 

It's a ....

...NO!
Well, we waited too long.  :(  I just got an email from the attorney.  The baby has arrived and the mom has already made her decision.


Guess this was the answer that we needed.  We had been going back and forth all day and were torn.  Guess God just took care of it for us.

Please Pray!

I got up this morning and had received an email from the local Jax attorney.  The baby that we had been told about that was due in January is being born TODAY!  The mom is currently in labor and we have to decide TODAY if we want to be a possibility when she chooses an adoptive family.

So far, there are four other families that are "in the running".  If we decide that we want to be considered and are not chosen, we will be out of $100.  If we are chosen, we could possibly have a daughter by Christmas.

Here is some information I can give you:  (There are lots of things that I can't share.)

Here are the pros:  The mother is in her 30's, has given a baby up for adoption in the past, and since the baby is already being born, the mother would be choosing after the baby being born, leaving little time for her to change her mind.

Cons:  The mother was on birth control when the baby was conceived and remained on it for a while before she realized she was pregnant, we would have to get money ASAP, and I mean ASAP, if chosen, would have to leave for Florida right away (we're in VA with our families), and the baby is being born a month early, giving concerns.

I am so torn.  I feel like there are the cons there to keep me from saying yes, but wow, there are lots of pros too.

Wish decisions were easier.