Another Goddard Experience (I'll explain)

Let me begin by explaining why I called this "Another Goddard Experience." It all connects back to a time in our life when things were really tough. It was about 8 years ago and we were struggling financially (I mean really struggling...like barely able to keep our heads above water kind of struggling). I hadn't been able to find a job and we were getting farther and farther behind. We were praying, fasting, and doing everything we could to keep our faith up. One night at prayer I secretly set a "fleece" out to the Lord. I prayed and told God I really wanted a job before Rachel's next birthday. Her birthday was a few weeks away, but it fell on a Sunday that year. I went to several interviews and continued to sub in schools when I could.
The Monday before her birthday was the beginning of a downward spiral for me. Rachel was almost 5, Leah was 3 and Hailey was almost 1. I was so overwhelmed with taking care of them, taking care of our itty bitty house by the church, taking care of the bills, and stressing over the fact that I did not have a job yet. I knew we were blessed with Steve's job, but the financial burden was definitely overshadowing the blessings. All week I kept reminding the Lord of my plea and what I had prayed. I would remind him when Rachel's birthday was and then start the countdown in my head for how much time He had to come through for me.
Friday morning rolled around and I was devastated. I had prayed so hard and I truly believed He had heard my cry. He knew our situation better than anyone else and yet here I was still without a job. I can honestly say it was probably one of the lowest days of my life. In my mind it was the last business day of the week and there wasn't anymore time for any job offers. I mean, no one ever calls on the weekends to offer someone a teaching position. I knew the reality of the situation and it completely took over every part of me. I couldn't get out of bed and all I wanted to do was cry. It was so bad that my precious little Rachel called her daddy at work and told him she was worried about her mommy and that he should come home. (We lived right next door to the church so he could come home very easily.)
Steve came home and I was a basket case. I couldn't pray. I couldn't talk. All I could do is cry. He held me and prayed over me. He tried to encourage me and he so gently reminded me of all of our blessings. I was under such a deep attack from the enemy that I couldn't hardly function at all. Steve grabbed my hand and helped me sit up so he could hold me and comfort me. I began to pour my heart out to him and tell him of my secret prayer/plea/fleece I had laid before God a few weeks before.
As soon as I was finished talking, our phone rang. Steve answered he handed me the phone. I was in no shape to answer the phone, but he insisted I take the call. I said hello and to my amazement it was The Goddard School in Beavercreek. I had applied there weeks before this and hadn't heard anything. I had even went in for an interview. The woman on the phone said there was just something inside of her that told her she needed to call me and let me know I got the job. She explained that I wouldn't be able to start the job until the end of November, but she wanted me to know I got the job. I couldn't believe it! Here I was...at my lowest point ever...and God met me exactly where I was. I was so overwhelmed with emotion that I balled after I got off the phone. God had been faithful to me even when I had doubted Him and lost faith in Him.
We celebrated that night and went to dinner with my parents. I was absolutely thrilled that I had a job. It wasn't going to be the best paying job and the hours weren't the best either, but at that point I didn't care. I had a job!! It was truly a miracle and God was getting all of the glory.
The next day was a normal Saturday. We were preparing to celebrate Rachel's birthday the next day and doing some things around the house. The phone rang and I was shocked when I answered it. It was the principal at North Dayton School of Discovery (a charter school I had applied & interviewed at). She apologized for calling on a Saturday, but she had waited to hear from one of my references before she called me. She said she wanted to offer me the job as a Kindergarten teacher and that she wanted me to start on Monday. Plus, the pay was about $10,000 more then at Goddard. I was completely and utterly overwhelmed with emotion. I couldn't believe it!
I got off the phone and began to tell Steve about my conversation. The rest of the weekend was a blur because I was on cloud nine. I started teaching that next week and even though it was a rocky start, I will never regret or forget my time at that school. You see...it was through my job at North Dayton that I got connected to Pathway School of Discovery where I have been for the past seven years.
Shortly after I started at North Dayton I realized that God had actually done two miracles in my life that weekend. The first one was with the job at Goddard. Even though it wasn't the job I was supposed to have, it was what I needed at my most desperate time. God looked down and saw me in my desperation and wanted to show me how much He loved me. However, He had something so much better for me. He knew I needed to get the job at North Dayton so I could eventually teach at Pathway and then eventually move into a leadership position. But at the same time, He knew what I needed, when I needed it. I couldn't have waited until Saturday because it would have seemed like a hopeless situation to me. Who would ever have thought that a building principal would call someone on a Saturday? That just doesn't happen. :-)
So how does all of this connect to our Adoption Story? Let me explain...

Last Friday I was at work and hadn't been in my office much. Steve came by the school because I had forgotten something at home and he was bringing it to me. When I met him at my office I noticed I had missed a few calls on my cell phone. I normally don't worry about calls on my cell phone while I am work, but I noticed one of the missed calls was from our adoption agency. Many of you know that our agency has primarily been focused on international adoptions and we have decided that isn't the path God has for us right now. However, it is the agency the Lord led us to a few years ago. Within the last few months our agency has started getting involved in more domestic adoptions throughout the country. They will periodically send us referrals through email for situations from places all over the US, but it wasn't until 2 weeks ago that we actually submitted our profile for a particular situation. It was for a set of twin boys that are due in November. I had been nervous to submit our profile because I didn't want to get my hopes up, but I felt a peace about the entire thing.
So when I saw that the agency had called me and not just emailed me I immediately got curious. Steve encouraged me to call them back while he was still in the building because then I could talk with him about whatever it was in person rather than on the phone. After a few rounds of phone tag, I finally got connected to the Director and she began to tell me about an immediate situation. She told me some generic info about it and asked if I was interested in hearing more. Of course I was interested! She began to explain to me that they had received information about a little boy in California who had been born on 10/13. He was 4 lbs and 13 ozs. He was healthy and doing great despite being really small. Mom had been homeless and there was some trace of drugs in his system but he wasn't having any withdrawls. He was going to be released from the hospital that weekend and they needed to find a placement for him that day. She asked if we were interested and said if we were we would need to leave that day with $24,000 in hand and head to California to pick him up. Talk about being overwhelmed!!!!!
I told her I would call her back because I needed to talk to my husband about it. Steve and I immediately went for a walk and actually ended up driving over to the church parking lot. Steve prayed an amazing prayer of faith over us and over the little guy in CA. For about 20 minutes, the possibility of getting on a plane and going to CA was so real that it almost seemed like he was ours. But something just didn't seem right.
The reality of it all was definitely something we struggled with. We definitely didn't have $24,000...we had no way to pay for airline tickets to CA...the list went on and on. Yet it wasn't that stuff that made me question. There was something deeper that just didn't seem like this was the right match for us. Yes the $ issues were a reality, but I had a peace that if this was my son God would take care of all of that. SO many parts of my heart wanted this to be my son. SO many parts of my heart wanted to call her back and say YES we are on our way. But the voice of the Lord in my heart was telling me to trust Him in all things.
Steve headed into the church and I sat in the truck crying. I began to talk to God in my own way and I was pouring my heart out to Him. I was reminding Him (because once again I thought I needed to remind Him of everything He already knows) of how much I long for my sons and how desperately I want them home with us. Clear as anything I heard the Lord say to me..."This is your Goddard. Do you remember how I came to your rescue with the job at Goddard just in time. Then unbeknownst to you I had something greater in store for your real destiny. That's how I want you to see this situation. This little guy is not your son. However, I want it to be a reminder to you that I have something greater for you. Your son is out there and when the time is right I will bring him home. Until then, trust me and know that as exciting as this burst of emotion has been, I have something greater coming soon."
Once again...I was overwhelmed with emotion as I sat in His presence. I prayed for the little guy in CA and for his birth mommy. When Steve returned to the truck I told him what the Lord had just spoke to me. It was confirmed in his heart and together we began to thank God for His love and His mercies. We prayed for Josiah and Jeremiah and we prayed that God would help us know beyond a shadow of a doubt when the right match presented itself.

And here I am a week later...wondering how the little guy in CA is doing. Praying he was adopted by a loving Christian family who will tell him what a miracle he is. But more than anything I am longing for the day we find our boys and I can tell them what miracles they are. It's hard to not get discouraged. It's hard to hold onto the promises the Lord has made to us. It's hard to see how all of this will ever work out. And then...that's when He gently reminds me of His faithfulness and I have no choice but to lean on His everlasting arms and trust that He has it all in the palm of His hands.

Preparing for rain...

Have you ever heard the story of the two farmers who were talking about how long it had been since they had seen any rain. Their fields were in desperate need for rain and they didn't foresee any coming any time soon. They prayed and asked the Lord to send them some rain. God spoke to the farmers and told them rain was on its way. Every day they went to the fields and looked for the rain clouds and every day they were disappointed. They new they had heard God tell them rain was coming, but they weren't seeing any evidence of it. Finally, one farmer decided he would go ahead and prepare his fields as if the rain were coming soon. He began to plow the fields and sow the seeds. He wanted to be ready when the rain came. Then one day...the rain came. Which farmer was blessed when the Lord fulfilled His promise?

I first heard the line - "preparing for rain" when I was watching Facing the Giants. (If you haven't seen the movie you so need to.) Anyway, the coach uses the line and uses the story to illustrate why he is doing some of the things he's doing with the team. Every time I watch the movie and hear that line it gives me chills. Something about the level of faith it takes to think that way stirs me to my core. I want to be a person who holds onto God's promises so much that I am willing to "prepare for rain" even when His promises don't seem to be coming anytime soon.

We know that our adoption journey is very different than most peoples. We know that we are not always doing things the way agencies or other people would advise us to do according to what they know. They aren't wrong in their advice and they definitely aren't wrong in their intentions when they try to help us or give us guidance. However, we have to hold onto the promise God has given us and trust in the steps He has told us to take. We've been saying for a long time that "we are ready at any time for God to bring us the boys." Don't get me wrong, we ARE ready. We want them more than we can stand. There's not a day that goes by that we don't talk about them, pray for them, and long for them to be home with us where they belong. However, if the Lord brought them to us tomorrow, we would be scrambling to make this house kid friendly. (Let me remind you that it has been almost 9 years since we had an itty bitty in our house.) We would be rushing around trying to get the girls all moved to one room so we would have a room for the boys. Trust me...we would do it in a heart beat if the Lord decided to move in that direction. But something tells me that's not the way this story is going to unfold. Around every corner there's something new He wants us to learn. It's just another chapter to the story He has entrusted us to live out.

So, we have decided we are going to start "preparing for rain" around here. We know that God has promised us our boys. We know they are coming soon. However, we don't know when and we don't know from where. What we do know is that we have to start preparing for them as if they are coming tomorrow, or the next day, or next week. A few years ago the Lord gave me a dream about how we could remodel our house to make room for two more people. It was an amazing dream and at some point I will share it (if I haven't already in a previous post). Trust me...there will be lots of pictures and updates once our preparations begin. Anyway, we finally decided to have someone come over today and start the process of getting measurements, preparing a materials list, and starting to plan for when we are going to start the renovations. We are SO excited about getting started and we know that once we get this finished it will only be a matter of time before the Lord "sends the rain" (aka Josiah and Jeremiah) lol.

Here's where we need your help. We need your prayers. We know many of you are already praying for us and believing in what the Lord has promised us. We can't wait until you can rejoice with us when the boys are home and our family is complete. Until then, continue praying for the boys, their birth parents, and the whole process in general. Now we need you to add another thing to that list. This project that we are about to undertake is going to take several thousand dollars. Several thousand dollars that we do not have right now. We are not going to make any decisions until we know the Lord is directing us. Please pray that the Lord helps us find a way to fund this project. We know the adoption itself could possibly cost several thousand dollars as well and we aren't going to allow ourselves to go into horrible debt for all of this. That is definitely not what the Lord has called us to do.

So as we look out into the sky and we don't see any rain clouds, we are still going to prepare our fields because we know, that we know, that we know, that if He said, then it will be. Amen! Thank you for your continued prayers for our family and for the boys.

Until next time...

The Letter

To say I haven't done a very good job of keeping up with this blog would be an understatement. Rather than sharing what's been going on in our lives the past year and half, I think I would rather share a letter I wrote. I finished our family profile a few weeks ago and included this letter. I wanted to share it with all of you because you never know when you might meet someone who will need to read it. Plus, it is a great way for you all to hear our heart as we travel on this journey of adoption. Thank you for your continued prayers. Love you all!

Hello,
Somehow I thought when it came time to write this letter it would be much easier. Not easy in the sense of the circumstances being easy, but easy in the sense that I feel like you are already a part of our life. We have known for several years that adoption was how our family would finally be complete. We have talked about it for years knowing that it wasn’t just a way to add another child, but a way to expand our hearts in ways we couldn’t with our birth children. Whether you realize it or not, you have been an important part of our conversations and our plans. Now that it’s time to actually put all of this in writing I realize my only desire is for you to hear our hearts and get a glimpse of who we are as a family, hoping that you will choose to be a part as well.
Steve and I have been married for 14 ½ years. We met through a mutual friend and quickly became best friends. I know it can be cliché to say “I married my best friend,” but in our case it is very true. When we were first married and talking about our future family we both knew adoption was going to be an important part. We weren’t sure exactly how it would all come together, but even then we began praying for our future children (birth children and adopted). We even started praying for you. How could we pray for you if we didn’t even know you? Well, we believed that even if we didn’t know who you were, God did.
Steve is the youth pastor at our church and I am an administrator at a charter school. We have three beautiful daughters: Rachel is 12 (almost 13) and going into 7th grade. Leah is 10 and going into 5th grade and Hailey is 8 (almost 9) and going into 3rd grade. All three of the girls go to the school where I work. We live in a very quiet neighborhood with caring neighbors all around us. Our house is very close to our church and the school. We love being smack in the middle of our community because we get to see people from the church and the school everywhere we go. It’s not unusual for our driveway to become the neighborhood basketball court. We have a dog, Buckeye, who thinks he is the king of our neighborhood. He gets on top of the girls’ clubhouse and watches the neighborhood. All of the neighbors love him and even buy him treats.
Steve and I come from very similar families. Both of our parents have been married for over 35 years. We are both the oldest of three kids. His brother and sister are both married and have children of their own. My sisters are both married and one of them has two children. All together we have 5 nieces and 3 nephews. Family “get-togethers” include lots of cousins running around keeping us on our toes. Both of our dads were in the military. Steve’s dad got out of the military after Steve was born and moved back to their home town. My dad retired from the Air Force and settled down in the same area. Both of our families go to our church and we all live within 15 minutes of each other. It is such a blessing!
We definitely enjoy keeping busy and staying active. There are a lot of bike trails in our area and we love to go on bike rides as a family. We also really enjoy finding new places to go hiking and spending time outside. All three of the girls play soccer & basketball. Leah plays softball too and also takes horseback riding lessons. Hailey is our dancer and takes jazz & ballet lessons.
Each night as we get ready for bed the girls make sure they pray for two very specific people. The first prayer is for their brothers and that God would keep them safe wherever they are. They also pray that He brings them to us soon. The other prayer is for you. They pray that you are safe, that you know you are loved, and that God would bless you. Our hearts desire truly is to allow you into our lives in a very special way. Our desire is to have an open adoption with the possibility of building a lasting relationship with you and your extended family. We take the responsibility of raising your son very seriously and we will never allow the miracle of adoption to be forgotten in his life.
Thank you for taking time to hear our heart. We pray that one day our hearts and lives will be joined by the miracle of the little boy you call your son.

Steve & Shannon

Finally...

Hallelujah!! We are FINALLY finished with our homestudy. After months of working on paperwork, doing pre-service training assignments, and fighting with the local fire department, we are officially legal. :-)

We got the call last week from Erica that she wanted to meet with us one last time to sign some paperwork and look over the homestudy again. We were in Columbus for Rachel's soccer tournament all weekend and we weren't sure if we were going to be able to meet up with her or not. We had a lot to do to finish getting Rachel and Steve ready for their Washington DC trip and it was starting to look next to impossible to squeeze in a meeting with Erica all the way down in Middletown. However, the Lord is so good. He made a way for us to go directly to Middletown from Columbus, meet Erica at Bob Evans, and still have plenty of time to get home and get everything finished for their trip. (Side note...I'm not sure I've ever seen Rachel so excited. Steve and my dad are chaperones on the trip. They left last night and will be back Saturday morning.)

Now, we just wait. There is not a shadow of doubt that God is in control. We are starting the search for an attorney who specializes in adoption. Our plan is to establish a relationship with an adoption attorney so when the Lord brings the boys to us we will be prepared. Pray that God leads us to the attorney He wants us to use.

It's exciting to know that our blog entries will no longer be filled with the struggles and frustrations of the homestudy process. From here on out it's all about the search and waiting patiently on the Lord. It's such a wonderful feeling knowing that we are legally ready for the boys to come home and be with the family God has destined them to be with.

We love you Josiah and Jeremiah!!

Another Hurdle

Well, just when we thought we were close to the end of the homestudy process, we are faced with another hurdle. As we mentioned in our last post, we have been having some issues trying to get the fire inspection report finished. We were told by our agency and our caseworker that our local fire department should have no problem coming to the house and doing our inspection. When we called them about it, they said they don't do that anymore. So we tried a few people we knew who were fire inspectors and their captains/chiefs said they typically did not go outside their jurisdiction. We were left with no other option than to call the state Fire Marshall. He finally came a few weeks ago and we thought we were finally going to be finished with this part. Well, apparently the state Fire Marshall office will not fill out any forms other than their own. I told him this was a form from the State of Ohio and he informed me we would have no problem with the form he was going to give us. He said they deal with too many foster/adoption agencies to fill out each one's individual forms. It didn't make much sense to us, but we figured he knew what he was talking about. We sent in the form he gave us and celebrated that everything was finally turned in.
We received the draft copy of our homestudy write-up yesterday and started the editing process. We were so excited to see everything all in one document. We started making plans with our caseworker to meet with her one more time. Everything seemed like it was finally starting to fall into place.
Then today...we got an email from our agency saying they needed the form they sent us in our original homestudy paperwork. They said the Fire Marshall form was not enough and they still needed the other form filled out and sent into them as soon as possible. AAHHH! How are we supposed to get the form filled out when no one will come to the house to fill it out and when the state Fire Marshall refused to fill it out? We are so confused! Not discouraged in any way, but definitely confused and a little frustrated.
So...pray for us. More than anything, pray for the boys and their birth parents. We are confident that God is still in control and that all of this will be worth it very soon.

Almost Finished!

YAY! We are so excited! We are so close to being finished with our homestudy. We have all 5 medical forms ready to send to BBAS. The fire department in our city has given us the run around so we decided to go ahead and call the state fire marshall. He will be here Thursday to do our fire inspection. We finally got all of the information today that we needed for the financial report. We emailed pictures of the lock box for Steve's ammo and arrow tips to our caseworker. We both finished all of the pre-service trainings a few weeks ago. Whew! It's been a long haul, but we are finally starting to see the light at the end of this tunnel.
Josiah & Jeremiah....here we come!

God is in control!

Not too many updates on the homestudy at this point. We still have a few things to get finished and then we can meet with Erika again. Little by little we are knocking things out. All in God's timing. :-)

Isn't it just like God to send little reminders about His plan when we start to feel like we are never going to see the outcome to this journey we are on. To be totally transparent, it's easy to get discouraged when we are doing things so out of the ordinary. We know that the way God has instructed us to find the boys is very unconventional. We aren't using a placement agency and the homestudy process seems to be dragging on and on. With no specific direction, it's easy to start doubting whether or not we are truly moving in His plan for us. Just when we start to feel this way, God brings someone into our lives to remind us that He is in control and that this story is so much more than just us gaining two more children.
A few days ago Shannon was talking to a friend at work about the homestudy process. She didn't realize that we were so close to being finished. She told Shannon about a young girl who was due that weekend and had been looking for someone to adopt her baby boy. When the girl first found out she was pregnant she knew she needed to give the baby up for adoption. She went through a few agencies and didn't feel comfortable with any of the couples she had to choose from. It ended up that her OB-Gyn and his wife had been trying to get pregnant for quite some time. They ended up sharing their story with her and she knew right away that they were the ones who could give her little boy the life he deserved. Shannon's friend said she wished she had known more about our story earlier because she could have put the girl in contact with us.
To some people that might seem like a disappointment or a missed opportunity. However, to us, it is a reminder that God is in control. What a wonderful blessing to know that this precious little baby is going to be adopted by a wonderful family. It helped us to see that there really are stories like ours. Two lives crossing paths by divine intervention. We were so encouraged.
Then a few days later we received a phone call from a friend telling us about another young mother who is looking for a family to adopt her little boy. Our hearts lept as we thought of the possibility of being able to be in contact with this courageous woman. We aren't sure if anything will ever come of this connection, but nonetheless, it was a gift from God sent to encourage us. What a wonderful opportunity we now have to pray for this birth mother and this little boy. This journey He has us on is opening doors for ministry in so many ways. More than anything it is opening the ears of our friends and family to hear the stories of woman from all walks of life who have a tough choice to make. Pray for them and pray for their unborn babies who will be given a chance to live a better life.

Thanks for checking in on us. We'd love to hear from you!

Homestudy

The homestudy visit went GREAT last Saturday. Here's a picture of Erica, our caseworker, and the girls. We will update the details of the visit later, but we wanted to thank everyone for your prayers. We had a wonderful day and we are so blessed to have Erica as our caseworker. She will forever be a part of this amazing story!

How it all began...

As promised, here's the story of how our boys were conceived in our hearts (as told by Shannon) ...

In September of 1999 we found out I was pregnant with Leah. We were very surprised, but excited none the less. When I was about 6 months along, a guest pastor (who is also a very good friend of ours) prayed for me. He began to pray over Leah and asked the Lord to bless her even in my womb. He prayed that God would anoint her with His power and that she would grow up to do great things for Him. Then, with the guidance from the Holy Spirit, he began to pray for our next child. I must admit, it was a little weird at first because I hadn't even given birth to Leah yet and he was praying for our next baby. Nonetheless, we could feel God's anointing and we knew God was speaking something into our lives. The pastor said that our next child would be a boy and that "he would have a stronger anointing than his father. He would also help take back the city for the Lord." I can remember those words as if it were yesterday.
We held onto that promise, and although we didn't dwell on it too much, we never forgot what God had promised us. Eight months after Leah was born, we found out I was pregnant again. I couldn't believe it. We were doing everything we knew to prevent getting pregnant. It wasn't "our" plan to have three kids so close together. It took us several months to process it all before we decided to tell any of our family or friends.
Once we shared the news with everyone, the buzz began. All of a sudden everyone started remembering the Word that had been spoken over us and we all "just knew" that this baby was a boy. One Wednesday night in the youth service the Lord spoke to me as clear as I have ever heard Him. Steve was preaching out of the Old Testament. He was teaching the kids about King Josiah and how young he was when he became king. I remember putting my hands on my belly and as I did this is what I heard Steve say to the young people..."Josiah had a stronger anointing than his father and he helped take back the city for the Lord."
I couldn't believe it! There it was again. The exact same words we heard when I was pregnant with Leah. As clear as anything, I heard Him say, "Your son's name will be Josiah. He will have a stronger anointing than his father (Steve) and he will help take back the city for the Lord (bring revival to Dayton)." From that point on, I knew my son would be named Josiah. No doubt about it!
Well, as many of you know, on October 25th 2001, I gave birth to a beautiful little girl. Yep! That's right. A girl. Trust me, as I was laying on the ultrasound table expecting to see little boy parts and hear the nurse say "It's a boy" I was beyond shocked when the screen read "It's a GIRL." My heart dropped and I thought I was going to pass out. I have trusted God all of my life and He has never lied to me or let me down. I haven't always understood His ways, but I have always trusted His word. I struggled for weeks, wondering what it all meant. I mean, it would be one thing if our pastor friend had just goofed up and got a little emotional. I could handle that. However, I had heard the Lord speak to me and I knew that my son was supposed to be named Josiah.
After many restless nights, tear filled prayers, and conversations with Steve, we decided that we weren't going to have any more children after Hailey. We wanted a son more than words could describe, but emotionally we were spent. We made the decision that I would have my tubes tied after Hailey was born.
It was amazing. As soon as we made that decision, we both had a peace that we couldn't comprehend. Before long, the Lord started reminding me of my desire to adopt. From the time I was a in high school I have always had a desire to adopt someday. Of course, it was easy to talk about when it was hypothetical. Now, there was a reality about it. Once again, the Lord spoke to me so clearly. He said, "Shannon, I have promised you a son. Sure, the human who relayed the message got it a little mixed up, but My promise remains. However, I never said that your son would come from your womb. He is out there and his name shall be Josiah."
WOW! Talk about faith coming full circle. We were so encouraged and began preparing our hearts and minds for the day our son would come home. We talked to the girls about it and for many years they have talked about their brother as if he were already a part of the family. We told our families and we could sense the excitement as everyone began imagining what this little guy might look like.
Now let's jump up to February 2008. For years we had been talking about Josiah and praying for the day he would come home to his forever family. However, we had never taken any steps to finding him or getting ready for him. As we sat in the upper section of US Bank Arena at "The Call", the Lord began speaking to my heart again about adoption. One of the primary prayer focuses that day was for the thousands of abortions that are done in our country. An entire generation has been slaughtered and our government has allowed it. We were challenged to not just be pro-life from conception to birth, but from conception to death. We, as 'The Church', must be ready to help these young women and be pro-life through adoption.
As I was listening to one gentleman talk about his adoption story, I had this overwhelming desire to start asking for 2 boys, not just Josiah. Shocked and speechless, I began to barter with God. I told Him that if we were going to have another son someday then his name would have to be as significant as Josiah's. I started flipping through the Bible and looking for names that would pop off the page. Nothing. So, I thought "I should reread the story of Josiah. If they are going to be brothers, either naturally or adopted, they would need to have names that were connected in some way." I couldn't find anything that jumped out at me. Actually, there was one. I seriously thought God was joking and I laughed out loud (you can ask my sister and Steve) when the Lord showed me the name Hilkiah. I was like..."ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I'm not going to name my son Hilkiah!" So, like any stubborn woman, I started looking through the rest of the Bible again, searching for anything BUT Hilkiah.
Suddenly I came to the book of Jeremiah. I liked the way "Josiah and Jeremiah" sounded. However, I wanted to find out more about Jeremiah and the significance of his name. So I started at the beginning and read Jeremiah 1:1&2 "The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. The word of the LORD came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah..."
I couldn't believe it! There was the connection AND he was the son of Hilkiah, Josiah's high priest. I started crying and I knew that right then and there my second son was conceived in my heart. I shared it with Steve and instantly the Lord began working on him as well. We came home and told the girls. To say they were excited would be an understatement.
Since then we have been praying for "the boys" (as we call them) and believing God for His divine intervention. We are excited to see how He decides to bring them to us and we know that He is going to use this adoption process to bless more than just our family. The girls pray for their brothers every night and we pray for their birth families too. We want God to bless them and we know that the bond we will have with them will be supernatural.


So there it is. The unabbreviated version of how our boys were conceived in our hearts. Although we don't know when they will be coming home, we DO know that we are getting ready. Pray for us and pray for "the boys" because God is up to something!

Quick update with more to come soon...

We just wanted to give everyone a quick update...

We met with our caseworker a few weeks ago and she is so nice. It was a very relaxed meeting and she definitely helped ease a lot of our fears about the whole process. The girls didn't get to go with us when we met with her, but she will be here at the house next Saturday, January 3rd. The girls are so excited because they finally get interviewed. They are already planning what they want to wear and how they are going to give her the tour of the house. With the Holidays it has been hard getting things done around the house in preparation for the home visit. However, we are going to work hard this week and we have no doubts we will be ready by Saturday morning.

In our excitement to let everyone know how the preparation process is going we forgot to add some important things to this blog. It is so important that everyone know the ENTIRE story about the boys and how they were conceived in our hearts. They may not be conceived by us naturally in the physical sense, but God placed them in our hearts a long time ago and we are holding onto our promises!

So coming soon we will take you..."Back to the beginning!"

We are meeting with our case worker for the first time tomorrow. We have been emailing back and forth for several weeks now and we are very anxious to finally meet her face to face. Since this is our first meeting, it's only the two of us. The girls will be involved next time. They were pretty bummed about not going this time, but they understand that they will be very involved in the entire process.

Continue praying for us! God is proving more and more everyday that He is in control and He is watching over us. Even more...pray for the boys. Continue to pray for their health and the health of their birth parents. We have NO DOUBTS that God wants to use these adoptions to do more than just add two precious boys to our family. We want God to bless everyone involved.

We love you all and we will let you know how the meeting goes tomorrow night.

More Paperwork

Well, we received our second round of paperwork to fill out for the homestudy. We are shocked at the amount of paperwork that it takes to go through all of this. Here is the laundry list of things we will have to do over the next few weeks:
- meet with our social worker (She lives in Cincinnati. Our first visit with her will be somewhere in between Dayton and Cincinnati. This will give us a chance to get to know each other and discuss the entire process.
- complete a financial statement
- have the fire department come to the house and do a fire inspection
- all 5 of us have to go the doctor for a physical
- BCI and FBI fingerprints
- prove 5 years of proof of residency
- another copy of our marriage license
- another copy of our birth certificates
- another copy of our tax returns for the past 3 years
- we have to send a letter to the state requesting a "Child Abuse Registry Letter." Basically this shows that we are not in the child abuse registry for Ohio.
- both of us have to write a 2-3 page autobiography
- write an evacuation plan for our home in case of fire or tornado including primary and secondary routes.
- make a list of emergency phone numbers posted near the phone. This list must include our adoption agency
- get a copy of Buckeye's shot records (we actually need to take him to the vet first.)
- get our water tested since we are on a well
- get a living will written

Whew! And this is only the beginning! However, we have NO doubts it is going to be worth it once we get our boys home. Steve says that if he were to ever be President of the United States, one of the first things he would do is make it easier for families to adopt. :-)

Keep praying and believing God is up to something BIG! We love you all!!!!

Paperwork

We finally turned our paperwork in to initiate the homestudy process. We have been dragging our feet a little on this, but it is finally turned in. We had to get tax information, copies of birth certificates and our marriage license, as well as a pretty hefty check. However, God is so FAITHFUL! Last winter after we shared our story at church about how God has called us to find our boys, someone walked up to us and said they had $2,000 to go towards the adoption process. We were able to use some of this money to pay for the homestudy fee. It was such an answer to prayer and we will forever be grateful for the blessing. We know God has much more in store for us and we are anxious to find our boys. Once we start the actual homestudy we will update again.

Thank you for your continued prayers. Pray for Josiah and Jeremiah's birth families, their health, the finances for the adoptions, the preparations that need to be done to our house, and that God will bring the boys home SOON! Keep listening to the lives around you. You never know when God might bring someone across your path who could lead us to the boys. We love you all!

Wow! I can't believe it has been 2 months since I my last post. I apologize for not keeping everyone updated on the search for Josiah and Jeremiah. Unfortunately there hasn't been much to update.
When we first submitted our application back in July I just knew that things were going to start happening fast. I knew I had heard the Lord speak to me that night and I knew we were on the right track by submitting our application with Building Blocks Adoption Services. Well, the first packet we received after submitting the application was very overwhelming. It said we only had 10 days to decide which country we wanted to choose from and it was all about international adoption. Although we have seriously thought about international adoption, we haven't felt the Lord give us a definite answer about it. We know He wants to be in total control of this and we want to make sure we are following His will.
The summer got so busy and before we knew it the 10 days had past. I was sure we were going to have to start all over with the initial application. We let it go for a few weeks and then out of no where I got an email from the lady handling our file. She wanted to know if we knew when we would be able to have to paperwork finished because she wanted to open our case. I was excited that we were still able to get things going even though we had past the due date for the paperwork. I emailed her back and asked about the difference between international and domestic. She said there was a big difference between the two and they each had their own homestudy process. I asked a few more questions and she suggested I call the office to talk with the Executive Director. She would be the one to answer all of my questions.
Finding time to call her during office hours has been very hard the past few weeks. There is never a dull moment at school and I barely have time to eat my lunch, let alone call and talk to someone on the phone. Who knew that on the 15th of September school would be canceled because of the power outages everywhere? I was trying to nap on the couch when the Lord woke me and said "Now is as good a time as ever to call and talk to Denise at BBAS (Building Blocks Adoption Services). I got up and called her right away. She was very helpful and answered a lot of my questions.
I got off the phone with her and felt better about the difference between international and domestic, but I still didn't feel the nudging of the Lord like I wanted. I still wasn't sure which path we should take...domestic or international. International is definitely the easiest route. You choose which country, they help with the paperwork and the entire process, you pick out your child from the country's adoption agency and then you go pick up your child from that country. Some countries have a turn around rate of about 9-12 months from the time your initial application is filed. That is fast!
Domestic adoption is a different story. BBAS isn't a placement agency for domestic adoptions. They can help us with homestudy and they can do all of the post-adoption stuff, but we will be responsible for finding a domestic agency, the birth parents, an attorney, and anything else that comes up with the adoption. There are no guarantees with domestic adoption because the mother can always back out. Plus, most families wait a very long time for domestic adoptions. However, something still tugged at my heart toward this path of adoption. Wouldn't it be just like God to have us go the path that would be the toughest? I mean think about it...where will He get the most glory? International adoption is very prescribed and pretty much a guaranteed thing. Domestic adoption is like diving out into the unknown and waiting to see what comes your way. Isn't that what we have been doing for the past few years any way? Haven't we been saying all along that this is going to be a God thing through and through?
I picked up the phone and called BBAS back. I asked them if they could switch our file to a domestic file and if they could get the paperwork sent out asap for the domestic homestudy. After a few more questions and a great conversation with them, they said they would have it in the mail tomorrow. The process should take about 2-3 months and then it's up to us to find the birth parents or go through an agency that does domestic adoptions. I hung up the phone and said "Nope. It's up to God to find the birth parents!"
I have such a peace now and I am excited to see all of the doors He is going to open in the near future. So keep your eyes and ears open. You never know who He might have cross your path. Maybe He will use you to help us find our boys!

Lemonade Stand

I forgot to mention in our earlier blog how excited the girls are to get their little brothers. They pray for their brothers every night and they know that one day God is going to bring them home to us. They also know that this adoption process is going to cost a lot of money. So, they decided they would have as many lemonade stands this summer as they could. Grandpa Saunders made them a lemonade stand a few years ago and last week they set it up with some of Grandma's cookies, regular lemonade, and fresh strawberry lemonade. Hailey stood at the corner with a sign that said "Help us adopt our brothers!" She yelled at every car that drove by pleading with them to stop and buy some lemonade. Rachel and Leah manned the lemonade stand and counted the money every five minutes. All in all they earned $27.30. I was amazed! They agreed that they are going to take their money up to Universal One and open an "adoption account" for their brothers. Rachel even commented that she knows God could do a miracle with their lemonade stand money!! Let it be Lord! I was so proud of them as I watched from the living room window. It was amazing to see them working so hard and so passionately. I am excited to see how the Lord is going to use my beautiful girls to bring our boys home and bless this world!

This is one proud momma I tell ya!!!!

Ready, Set, GO!!!

"How am I going to be able to bring the boys to you if you are not doing anything to get ready for them?"

This is the question I heard the Lord ask me one night last week. Sure we have talked about the changes that need to happen to the house to get ready for the boys. Where we are going to put everyone, who will share rooms, what walls we need to knock out or build up to create the space we will need for our sons. We even bought a set of new bunk beds in faith preparing for the boys. The girls are using them now, but we bought them with the idea that we would have the girls sharing a room and the boys sharing a room. However, I knew the question God was asking me had nothing to do with material things or the way our house was set up. It was an eye opening question that made me realize that even if a pregnant woman walked up to us tomorrow and said I want to give you my baby boy as soon as he is born, we wouldn't be able to take him. In Ohio private adoptions are illegal and every adoptive family must go through what's called a homestudy. I knew all of this, but because we still have so many questions about where the boys are going to come from and how we are going to pay for the adoptions, we just put off the homestudy process.
I asked the Lord, "How are we supposed to start this process when we have no idea what to tell the adoption agency? All we know is that You have promised us our sons and someday they will be a part of our family. Adoption agencies need more information than that!"
"How am I going to be able to bring the boys to you if you are not doing anything to get ready for them?"
It was the same question I heard the first time and I realized what He was asking me. He wanted to know if we were willing to step out in faith and start the process. Even with all of our questions unanswered. We have been praying about this for so long! God was telling us it was time to get this thing started. :-)
So, that brings me to the title of this blog...Ready, Set, GO! We officially filed our application today with the Building Blocks Adoption Agency in Medina, OH. They are a Christian based organization and they are going to help us with our homestudy. The application was very general compared to what's going to be involved in the homestudy, but we wanted everyone to know that the journey has officially begun. What was conceived in our hearts years ago has now been officially initiated. We are not just talking about finding our boys anymore. We are anxiously awaiting their arrival.
We know that this process can take a very long time and it can be emotionally, physically, and financially stressful on a family. However, we know God is in control and He will guide us every step of the way. We look forward to sharing every step of our story with you on this blog. We covet your prayers as we go through this process.
Please pray for Josiah and Jeremiah. Pray God's blessings upon them! Pray for their birth families that God would bless them and help them make the right decisions. Most of all...Pray that God's will be done in this entire process!!

Ready, Set, GO!!! Josiah and Jeremish...HERE WE COME!!!