November is National Adoption Month

Chances are that you have been touched by adoption. Celebrate adoption by: (1) Praying for adoptive families and for birth families. (2) Support adoption foundations, like ABBA Fund. (3) Read a book about adoption or do some research on adoption. (4) Ask your library to display adoption-related books. (5) Learn positive adoption language. (6) Click the image above to be directed to Buckner where you can learn more about adoption and foster care. (7) Share our blog with your friends.

Gooooaaaaallllllll!!!!!!

We have reached our adoption fundraising goal of $10,000!!!!! We are so grateful for all of you and your willingness to back our adoption. We are humbled. We believe that God has a baby for us just around the corner. Please continue to keep the baby in your prayers. Pray specifically that the Lord would provide a baby now that we have reached our goal and that the baby would arrive before the end of December. We have no idea if this is a possibility, but we ask for your specific prayers.

Thank you for your prayers and your continued support. We pray daily that the Lord would bring a baby to us very soon. Sedah is very cute about the baby. She prays for the baby every day and if we forget to pray for the baby, she reminds us. The other day her prayer was this, "Dear Jesus, We pray that the baby would grow strong and healthy. We pray that you would bring the baby very soon. Lord, we are so ready!" Sedah is ready. We are ready. Please pray!!!

Thank you for your prayers,

Jeremiah, Amanda & Hesedah

PRAY: Profile Being Shown

Well, we got an email this morning from our caseworker. They are meeting with a young couple tomorrow (10/9) that is making an adoption plan for their unborn child. At that time, they will look at some profiles of potential adoptive parents. Our profile will be one of those shown to them. We are thrilled. We ask that you would pray for everyone involved. Pray for the baby. Pray for the birthparents as they make la decision. Pray for the Lord's will to be done--even if that means that we are not chosen. THANK YOU!!!

UPDATE: WE WERE NOT CHOSEN BY THE BIRTHMOTHER TO BE THE FAMILY FOR THIS CHILD. WE ARE EXCITED FOR THE FAMILY THAT WAS CHOSEN, KNOWING THAT THEY ARE FILLED WITH JOY. WE WILL CONTINUE TO WAIT FOR THE LORD TO PROVIDE THE BABY THAT IS JUST RIGHT FOR US.

Free Devotional Guide

Anyone who donates $5 or more to our adoption fund in the month of October will receive a 2014 devotional guide published by Buckner (our adoption agency). We're praying for big things this month: praying that a baby will arrive before Christmas; praying for the birthmother as she makes difficult decisions and takes a stand on an important issue; and praying that God would prepare our hearts and home for the child. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!

Adoption Update

We are so excited to be at 91% of our fundraising goal. We only need $875 more before we reach the goal of $10,000. Thank you for your prayers and support. We are grateful!

To give you an update on where we are in the process: We are simply just waiting for the call. The agency told us that the next call from them would be about a baby that's available. So, we are praying and waiting and waiting and waiting. This is the hardest part. We know there's a baby somewhere that's in need of a home, but we have to be patient for God's timing. Sedah keeps telling us that the baby is going to come in October, so we are secretly hoping for that. The reality is that we just don't know when the baby will come. It could be October or November or December or next year. Please continue to pray for us. Also, please pray that we will reach our goal of $10,000.

In the meantime, we are reading books. Here is the current book we are reading. It's a bit challenging because of it's length. It gives a lot of great insights, but reads like a textbook. This is one of three required books for reading.

Here are some ways to pray:
- Please continue to pray for the baby. We are praying that the baby (babies) would be strong, healthy, and that the baby would come to us soon.

- Keep the birthmother in your prayers. She has some difficult decisions to make and may feel opposition, guilt, and lots of pain because of that. Also, pray that she makes good health decisions as she carries the baby.

- We need prayer for patience as we wait. This is the most difficult time. Sometimes we feel that a baby will never come and just want to give up. We need to trust the Lord during this time.

Thanks for praying!

Jeremiah, Amanda, and Hesedah

Home Study Finished

We just received word that our home study is finished. Our caseworker emailed to tell us that her part is done and it has been submitted for review. This should not take too long. Please continue praying for us to become a waiting family. We need our profile to go into the books soon. Once we get there, birth mothers can start considering us to be the adoptive parents.

Thanks for praying,

Jeremiah, Amanda & Hesedah

Baby's Room

We started working on the baby's room the other night. The guest bed that used to live in there finally sold to a college student in Nac. We bought the bed and changing table a couple weeks ago. It was fun putting those together (sarcasm). The rocking chair was a gift from a friend. Sedah is super excited to be a big sister, she keeps talking about the baby as a little girl, but has given it the name baby Cooper (the name of our friends' newborn). She has told us how she is going to help with the baby. But the way she carries around her dolls makes us a little nervous. We still don't have any new information. We are just waiting to hear from Buckner. They need to finish up typing our Home Study, then our profile will be placed in "the book," which expectant moms choose from. We thought we would be in the profile book about three weeks ago, but they have been busy. 

Ways to pray:

1. Pray for the baby. We are praying for it everyday.

2. Pray for the birthmom and the difficult decisions she will be making.

3. Pray for us to have patience as we wait for details to come together. It's all in God's hands and he knows exactly what's going on. Pray for us to trust Him. 

Thanks for praying!

Jeremiah, Amanda &  Hesedah

Mailing Checks to Pure Charity

Thank you to all those making donations to our adoption. This is very exciting. We are in constant contact with the adoption agency, even hearing from them this morning. Please continue to pray for our family.

Pure Charity (the organization handling our fundraising efforts) just emailed us about a new way for mailing checks to them to support our adoption. We thought we would share the instructions here:

Their email:

Please note the NEW way we [Pure Charity] are receiving physical checks:
http://help.purecharity.com/customer/portal/articles/1555250-can-i-mail-a-check-instead-of-giving-on...

This is much more efficient and quick, so please advise would-be donors to NOT send checks to our office, but to follow the instructions in the link above. This way, their check goes straight to a lock box at our bank and the whole process is more smooth.

Again, THANK YOU for donating. As you can see, the gap is closing and we are continuing to trust the Lord through all of this. 

Thanks for praying!

Jeremiah, Amanda & Hesedah

Profile Letter

Our profile letter was approved by Buckner today. Copies of this letter will be placed in Buckner offices throughout Texas. When a prospective birthmother comes to the agency to draw up an adoption plan, she will be shown several family profiles that look like ours and will choose a family for her child. We are excited and hopeful that a child will come into our home soon. Thank you for your continued prayers during this time.

Homestudy: June 13

We are excited to tell you all that our homestudy with Buckner has been scheduled for Friday, June 13 at 9 a.m. Once this is finished, we become a waiting family. Many people ask, "What is a homestudy?" This is the final step of the process where our caseworkers come to our home and, literally, inspect it. On June 13, two things will be taking place. One of the caseworkers will be walking around our house looking for hazards, cleanliness, sufficiency of housing, and fire prevention. The other caseworker will meet with each of us in a sort of interview fashion to ask specific questions about our life. It sounds quite overwhelming, but it's really not. We are excited to be at this point of moving forward.

Ways to pray:
- Pray that our homestudy will go well and that the caseworkers can process it quickly.
- Pray that our financial needs will continue to come in. God has been so kind to provide so far. Thank you to all who have contributed.
- Pray for an unknown baby that is probably growing and developing right now. Ask the Lord to protect the child and to prepare it for our family.
- Pray for the birthmother who is weighing her options and considering an adoption plan. She is making a huge sacrifice for the goodness of her child.
- Pray for us as we prepare for the baby. Sedah is so excited to be a big sister. We are excited to welcome a new baby into our family.

Thanks for praying!

Jeremiah, Amanda and Hesedah

Hard Decisions to Make

We're at the step now where we need to make some hard decisions about the medical conditions and prenatal history of the child we will be bringing into our home. To give you an idea of the decisions we've had to make, we posted the form given to us by Buckner (see below). It's actually two pages, but only the first page can be seen. In my opinion, this is the hardest part of the adoption process. We would love to welcome into our home any child from any situation, but we have to take into account our abilities and what is best for our family. It's not easy to do. We have spent a lot of time researching each item, then prayerfully making our selection. This information will assist the social worker in matching us with a prospective birthmother.  We turned in the form today (5/9) to our social worker. We trust the Lord to bring together all of the details.

Some ways to pray:
- Pray for the baby that is living and growing somewhere in its birthmother's belly. Ask the Lord to protect the baby, keeping it healthy and strong.
- Pray for the birthmother and the decisions she will be making in the coming weeks and months. Ask the Lord to protect her and help her to make good decisions about her health.
- Pray for us as we get closer to becoming a waiting family.  The only thing left for us is our home study, which could be at any moment.  When that is complete, we will start waiting.  We hope to become a waiting family by the end of May.
- Pray that all of the funds we need will come together. Seriously, any little bit helps. Pure Charity has been super helpful, so we will continue using them. Soon we will be applying for a small grant through Abba Fund.  

Thanks for praying,

Jeremiah, Amanda & Hesedah 

I Like Adoption

Seminar is Finished

We finished our two-day adoption seminar today.  Today's information centered on legal issues in adoption, which was beneficial to us since Texas laws are different than South Dakota adoption laws.  We learned that, based on laws, Texas is an adoption-friendly state.  We also spent some time discussing "matching," which occurs when a birth family chooses us to raise the child.  They told us about placement and how to relate to the birth family after placement (when baby comes into our home).  They showed us how to put together our profile page, which is placed in "the book" which birth families will be choosing from.  Lastly, we were able to hear from a Buckner family who adopted a couple years ago and are now going through their second adoption.  We were encouraged to hear that they have encountered many of the challenges we have faced. 

On our way home we spoke with our case worker.  She told us that we just needed to get our fingerprints, then home study, which should be completed in the next couple of weeks.  Once the home study is done, we will be a waiting family!  The home study is our last step before we start waiting.  We are still raising funds and are so grateful for those who have supported us prayerfully and financially.  We still need about $6000 to reach our goal.  We may need this in eight weeks or eight months.  Regardless, these funds are due at placement.  It's hard to say when that is, but there is no doubt that things are progressing nicely.  

Thanks for praying,

Jeremiah, Amanda, and Hesedah

Hanging Out at Buckner

Today we attended the first of two seminars for adoption at the Buckner office in Longview.  You may remember that we also had our orientation meeting in Longview about two months ago.  We met some great couples back then...and all of them were there today.  We enjoyed reconnecting with them and seeing where they are in the process.

Today's seminar was primarily about attachment of the child, bonding with the baby, and having a sense of entitlement to parent the child.  These are common issues in adoption.  For many adoptive parents, there is a lack of the sense to entitlement to raise a child born by someone else.  We also discussed the losses experienced by the birth family, the baby, and the adoptive parents.  

Some of this is review, but very much needed.  The good news from this meeting is that Buckner currently has no families in the "book."  This means that those in our class are the only potential adoptive parents through Buckner in Texas. 

Thanks for praying,

Jeremiah, Amanda, and Hesedah

Adoption Seminar

One week from today we will be in Longview for a two-day adoption seminar.  This means two things: (1) our adoption paperwork is complete; (2) we are that much closer to becoming a waiting family.  We are excited to be at this point.  It's a long process, but so worth the wait.  The only thing left to do after we complete the seminar next week is our home study.  We expect that all will be completed by the end of May and that we will become a waiting family shortly after that. 

On another note, Sedah is very excited to become a big sister.  We've asked her if she wants a baby brother or sister, but her answer changes every time.  We have noticed lately how much she loves to see babies, so we anticipate that she will be a big help when our newest little one comes home.

• Please keep the seminar in your prayers.  
• Please pray for the birthmother who is making some difficult decisions right now.  
• Pray for the child(ren) out there who need homes.
• Pray for us as we continue down this road of adoption.  WE ARE EXCITED!!!

Thanks for praying,

Jeremiah, Amanda, and Hesedah

A Small Act Shows Love

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Faith-Focus--A-small-act-shows-love.html?soid=1101757536635&aid=0BPQRbuy_EA

All Are Precious

While at the Buckner office in Longview for our orientation meeting, we saw this painting hanging on the wall.  We loved the words because we often sing this song with Hesedah.  It was also a great reminder of the truth about God's love for us.  We thought we would share the painting. 

Buckner International

Find out more about the adoption agency we are working through.  Click the image to be directed to their website.

Adoption Seminar Scheduled

We are nearing the end of our formal application for adoption.  The things still left on the list for us to complete are the drawing up of a will, health exam, TB test, fingerprints, copies of the layout of our home, and submitting pictures of the house.  We are excited to be at this point.  The paperwork is overwhelming, so it's good to finally see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Our next step is a two-day adoption seminar on April 28 and 29.  We will travel to the Longview location of Bucker for these two days to meet with staff there.  It will be an intense time of learning and re-learning about adoption.  We will be talking much more in-depth about how we will relate with the birth family after the baby arrives, what we can expect with adoption, especially a second adoption, and many other things.  We will be one of several couples attending the seminar.

This seminar is a new experience for us.  Our previous agency did not host a seminar like this prior to adoption.  We only attended a one-day orientation.  We are looking forward to meeting the other couples and learning some new things about adoption.  The next step after the seminar is our home study.  Then, we become a waiting a family.  We are getting there.  Please keep praying.

We would like to say thank you to those who have become our adoption advocates.  Because of your support, we are able to pay for the seminar and part of the home study.  As you can see on Pure Charity, we are trusting the Lord to provide $10,000.  You have been a big part of that.  THANK YOU!

Continue praying for the birth mother and decisions that she is making now.  We believe there is a mother right now, somewhere in Texas, carrying the baby that will become part of our family.  We also ask that you will pray for us as we prepare for these changes to our family.

Thanks for praying,

Jeremiah, Amanda, and Hesedah

Formal Paperwork

Today (which happens to be the anniversary of Sedah's adoption day when she finally became a Betron) we have sent in our formal paperwork for our next adoption.  In the big scheme of things, this is only step number four of many more steps.  The entire application process takes about four months with the conclusion of our home study.  The paperwork we sent in today includes background information, copies of birth certificates, insurance papers, proof of will, pet vaccinations, copy of our marriage license, permission for background check, etc.  One of the things we've learned about adoption is that when it's all said and done, the agency knows more about you than you know about yourself. 

Specific ways to pray now:
- Pray for the birthmother who is considering an adoption plan for the child she is carrying.
- Pray that we would be patient as we move forward through this journey.
- Pray that the resources we need for this would come together to keep us moving through the different stages.  This formal paperwork is $300.  An upcoming seminar is $300.  A formal interview is $500.  An installment of $2000 follows our home study.  This is all due before placement. 
- Pray that our formal paperwork would be accepted by the agency and without any hitches.

Thank you for praying,

Jeremiah, Amanda, and Hesedah

Fundraising Through Pure Charity

We are starting down the road of raising funds for adoption.  This is a very difficult part of the adoption process, but it's also very exciting.  Our fundraising efforts are being hosted through an organization called Pure Charity.  We were directed to this agency through ABBA Fund, a Christian ministry assisting families with adoption grants and loans.  Pure Charity provides a platform for many people and organizations to raise money for things like missions, adoption, travel, and many other needs.  We like Pure Charity for a couple reasons.  For one, any gifts you give toward our adoption will go directly to our adoption agency, Buckner Child & Family Services.  This means that your gifts will be tax-deductible since they never pass through our hands.  Secondly, as you visit our Pure Charity fundraising page, you'll see that not only can you make a donation, but you can assist us in fundraising by becoming a field partner, sharing on Facebook and Twitter, or by embedding a widget on your blog.  Click the "Pure Charity" link in the sidebar on the right or the link below to reach our fundraising page.

CLICK HERE: Jeremiah & Amanda's Adoption

Thanks for praying,

Jeremiah, Amanda, & Hesedah

Orientation Meeting

We attended our orientation meeting yesterday at the Buckner office in Longview.  We were in the company of three other couples for 3.5 hours.  The meeting went by quickly and made us even more excited about adding a child to our family. 

Since we've been through the adoption process before, it seems sort of redundant to have to go through all of these meetings again.  As we sat at lunch before the meeting, we both said that we kind of feel like we know what it's all about.  However, it is important for us to go to these meetings, especially since we adopted Sedah in a different state and with a different agency.  A lot of the information is the same, but we also learned a lot of new things.  

We walked away from this meeting thinking about the baby that God is preparing for us.  As we watched a video of some parents talking about open adoption, the mother made a great statement.  She said, "We are advocates for open adoption because it's grounded in truth.  There are no secrets to hide.  Secrets are based on fear."  For both Sedah and the little one we will bring home, we believe that open adoption will provide a well-balanced sense of identity as they grow older. 

A second child is a long way off (18-24 months).  We did hear that there are only five couples in Buckner's system for domestic infant adoption, so we are coming in at a good time.  Our next step is to begin filling out a lot of paperwork - applications, fingerprints, interviews, and reference checks.  We'll also be starting our fundraising.  We will be selling wooden flower pots that Jeremiah will be making.  We'll post more info about that soon.

If you get a chance, check out Buckner's website at www.buckner.org. 

Thanks for praying,

Jeremiah, Amanda, and Hesedah

Our Journey Continues

On December 27, 2010, we started down the road on a journey toward adoption.  It was a journey that caused us to grow in our faith, trusting God for incredible things as He prepared us for the arrival of a child into our family.  It was a short seven months later that we met Hesedah.  We arrived at the hospital after she was born and fell in love with her as soon as we laid eyes on her.  The first leg of our journey has been incredibly rewarding and we often say we would do it a thousand times again.

On December 23, 2013 (just three weeks ago), we met with Buckner International, a foster and adoption agency in East Texas, to begin our second journey of adoption.  Our first application has been submitted and we will be attending an adoption orientation this week.  We are thrilled to be on this journey again.  Hesedah will be such a great big sister.  We are excited to be growing our family through adoption.

To give you a little background, our plans for having a family haven't been easy.  We've been through two miscarriages and have had plenty of infertility treatments.  From a medical perspective, everything appears to be fine and we should be able to conceive.  However, it does not appear that it is in the Lord's plans for us to have biological children.  As we reflect on how this has all worked out, we realize that if we had biological children, we probably would not have Hesedah.  The same is true now.  There's a baby that only God knows and we are looking forward to adding him/her to our family. 

As we think about this journey, our prayers are for a child out there somewhere.  We are also praying for a birthmother who is contemplating a plan for adoption for the child she is carrying.  Once again, we are trusting the Lord and asking you to pray with us. 

This blog will chronicle our journey of life and hope.  Please pray for us and follow our story.  Also, feel free to pass our story on to others.  Something that really helps the adoption process is networking, connecting with others who might know of an adoption opportunity.  The more people you tell, the better we will be connected.

Some ways to pray:
- Pray for the birthmother who is making a plan for her unborn child, especially that she will make a plan for adoption.
- Pray for our meeting with the adoption agency on January 16.
- Pray for our financial needs as we gather our resources for this journey.