OKAY! I will post. I WILL post. I WILL POST! :)
I've been so busy living life that I haven't had time to write about it! But here I go.... finally.
We are LIVE with our agency (Christian Family Services) as of this past Monday, July 2nd. This means that at any moment, we could be chosen by a birth mom as adoptive parents for her baby. The crazy thing was that they SHOWED OUR PROFILE to a set of birth parents THAT NIGHT (who gets presented on the first day that they go live!? It doesn't happen often.)... annnnnd..... the couple chose another family. We were just SLIGHTLY sad about this, while at the same time completely at peace with it. I told some friends that we were about 3% sad and 97% peaceful and trusting the Lord. He has the perfect baby for our family, and we trust Him to connect us to him/her when it's time. This process could be a pretty wild roller coaster. But the cool thing is....we get to abide in Him while we ride, trusting that His plan for our family WILL be accomplished in His perfect timing. Is it always easy to trust Him? No.... but it's worth it. :) Righteousness, peace, and joy....We get to walk in all of these while we wait.
In the meantime... since we now have a completed home study, it's super easy to get on the "waiting families" list at almost any adoption agency. Therefore... we have made initial contact with another local Christian agency here in Kansas City: The Light House. We know a few people who work in the maternity home that is run by the Light House for teen moms, and it is just generally a very reputable agency here in KC. We had our initial meeting this past week with their Adoptions Coordinator and are in the process of getting a few paperwork items (including our completed home study) in to them (which will happen this coming week) before we'll go "live" with the Light House also. They have a little more "traffic" in terms of completed adoptions per year than Christian Family Svcs has and are very comparable to CFS in terms of their fee schedule. We are excited to work with them in addition to CFS.
ALSO... A quick t-shirt fundraiser update:
We have reached 46 t-shirts reserved, on the way to our goal/"tipping point" of 65. This is awesome! Thank you so much to all our friends and family who've reserved shirts!! We have 19 more to go, and only 9 days to pull it off. If we don't reach our goal of 65, the shirts won't print! (which would be SAD.... but we can do this! :) I am so excited to wear my shirt, AND so excited to hopefully see lots of pics of those of you who have reserved shirts wearing them! :) Assuming we reach our goal, the shirts will arrive between July 25 and 29. Woohoo! Here's the link in case you want to reserve a shirt (or 2, or 10! :) https://teespring.com/stanaadoptionshirts
Giveaway Reminder:
Don't forget that if you share the link to the t-shirts on your blog, facebook, twitter, or via email, AND LET ME KNOW ABOUT IT, you will be entered in our amazon.com gift card giveaway! Don't forget to share the link and help us get the word out about these shirts. There are lots of people out there who love adoption but can't give a whole lot financially to help fund adoptions....but CAN pay 16 bucks for a cool t-shirt in support of adoption. :)
Annnnd that about wraps it up for me tonight. Typing up chord charts for a worship song and heading to bed! :) Hope you all are staying cool during these ridiculously hot days! My car's "outside temp" thing said 110 today! (?!?!?!) Crazy!! Thanks for your continued prayers for the fires in Colorado.... Lord, please send more rain!
Blessings, friends!
