Originally written: 5/3/08
I just thought that it might be nice for me to sit down and put our journey in writing so let me start at the beginning.
Kurt and I have always talked about adoption. I think that the first time we talked about it was when we were dating. So there was always a part of us that dreamed of adopting. Then we got married and had three children. My family can tell you that my pregnancies were quite difficult. So we decided when we had Katie that we would have no more babies. It was just too difficult on me, therefore the whole family suffered with me. Also, those who know me know that I always wanted to have four children. I dreamed of two boys and two girls.
I think the major factor in why we didn't pursue adoption sooner was the cost associated with adoption. We are blessed with so much day to day, but the large amount of money for the adoption fees just wasn't readily available. I had mentioned to Kurt a couple times that if people that had money would help those of us who didn't then we could give these children a home. After attending a Steven Curtis Chapman concert in April or May we found out that there are places that offer grants to people who are trying to adopt that may need a little help financially.
So we talked about it the whole way home from the concert. We knew that we would have to talk with the children, after all it was not just Kurt and I adopting another child, it was the whole family. The children immediately approved and were very excited. It was quite hard to keep them from telling people right away, but we wanted a few weeks of praying about our decision before we jumped right into to announcing our plans.
Once we started telling people of our decision to pursue adoption we had a mixed reaction. Of course some of my family thought that I was completely off my rocker. They thought that I already had three children why on earth would I want a fourth. One of them expressed to me that if we could not afford the adoption on our own maybe we should not be doing it, after all we already had three children to put through college one day. The biggest support we got was from our Christian friends and family. They understood our desire and supported us in any way they could. But, that did not stop Satan from putting people in our path who would attack our decision.
Soon after making our decision we found an amazing local adoption support group. We met with the other families every other month for a meal, support and fellowship. There were families in all stages of the adoption process. We felt extremely blessed to have found this group.
From there we had to find an agency. We requested information from several different agencies before deciding on AWAA. We just really felt like they were a true Christian agency. We sent in our application to AWAA in June of 2005. From that moment on we were very excited about the little girl God would place in our family. However, the fees for the adoption still caused us (me mostly) to wonder if we could actually do this. It was a total leap of faith for us to continue with our dream of adoption.
After turning in our application, we had a TON of paperwork to do. Kurt took on the majority (probably more than 90%) of the paperwork. It was stressful getting all the paperwork ready for the dossier. For anyone who has been through this before you know exactly what I mean. We also completed our home study in 2005. We had to rush it a little bit because of Kurt deploying in October, but it all worked out well. So the remainder of 2005 was just doing paperwork, being in constant prayer that all would go well, wondering about the child God had picked out for us and wondering how we would be able to afford this adoption.
Little did we know the joy this child would bring to our lives.
I just thought that it might be nice for me to sit down and put our journey in writing so let me start at the beginning.
Kurt and I have always talked about adoption. I think that the first time we talked about it was when we were dating. So there was always a part of us that dreamed of adopting. Then we got married and had three children. My family can tell you that my pregnancies were quite difficult. So we decided when we had Katie that we would have no more babies. It was just too difficult on me, therefore the whole family suffered with me. Also, those who know me know that I always wanted to have four children. I dreamed of two boys and two girls.
I think the major factor in why we didn't pursue adoption sooner was the cost associated with adoption. We are blessed with so much day to day, but the large amount of money for the adoption fees just wasn't readily available. I had mentioned to Kurt a couple times that if people that had money would help those of us who didn't then we could give these children a home. After attending a Steven Curtis Chapman concert in April or May we found out that there are places that offer grants to people who are trying to adopt that may need a little help financially.
So we talked about it the whole way home from the concert. We knew that we would have to talk with the children, after all it was not just Kurt and I adopting another child, it was the whole family. The children immediately approved and were very excited. It was quite hard to keep them from telling people right away, but we wanted a few weeks of praying about our decision before we jumped right into to announcing our plans.
Once we started telling people of our decision to pursue adoption we had a mixed reaction. Of course some of my family thought that I was completely off my rocker. They thought that I already had three children why on earth would I want a fourth. One of them expressed to me that if we could not afford the adoption on our own maybe we should not be doing it, after all we already had three children to put through college one day. The biggest support we got was from our Christian friends and family. They understood our desire and supported us in any way they could. But, that did not stop Satan from putting people in our path who would attack our decision.
Soon after making our decision we found an amazing local adoption support group. We met with the other families every other month for a meal, support and fellowship. There were families in all stages of the adoption process. We felt extremely blessed to have found this group.
From there we had to find an agency. We requested information from several different agencies before deciding on AWAA. We just really felt like they were a true Christian agency. We sent in our application to AWAA in June of 2005. From that moment on we were very excited about the little girl God would place in our family. However, the fees for the adoption still caused us (me mostly) to wonder if we could actually do this. It was a total leap of faith for us to continue with our dream of adoption.
After turning in our application, we had a TON of paperwork to do. Kurt took on the majority (probably more than 90%) of the paperwork. It was stressful getting all the paperwork ready for the dossier. For anyone who has been through this before you know exactly what I mean. We also completed our home study in 2005. We had to rush it a little bit because of Kurt deploying in October, but it all worked out well. So the remainder of 2005 was just doing paperwork, being in constant prayer that all would go well, wondering about the child God had picked out for us and wondering how we would be able to afford this adoption.
Little did we know the joy this child would bring to our lives.
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