Brandon Heath - It's Alright - Lyrics

This song is my prayer for our little boy that we are anxiously waiting for.  We don't know what you look like but we adore you.  We don't know how you are doing, but Jesus does and He wants you to know that He's with you and everything will be okay.  We are dreaming of you little one.  We love you.

The Home Study Begins

Last night Nate and I and the kids traveled about an hour and twenty minutes to Lima, Ohio to meet with AWAA Social Services.  The woman we met with was so nice and helped to make a lot of things clear with the paperwork involved.  She isn't our social worker that will be coming to our house, last night was an orientation.  Our social worker, Patty, will be calling us either today or early next week.  She will then set up the appointments to come to our home and get to know our family and how we function.  The kids are nervous because she will be interviewing each of them individually.  I keep telling them it's not an interrogation, just a time for her to get to know them.  =D  They have been real troopers through this process and we are so proud of them.  Therese, the woman we met last night, was very impressed with how much we've gotten accomplished in the paperwork.  I think my parents would be proud of me, all those years of desperately trying to instill organizational skills and responsibility (and keeping a filing cabinet for important papers) has come to fruition!  Because of their teaching, I didn't panic last night when Therese said she needed the first page of our 1040 tax forms all the way back to 2006 to present because my dad has always said to save important papers because you will never know if and when you'll need them.  Thanks mom and dad!!  We are very excited to have taken this big step forward and continue the paper chase.  There are still some concerns and fear that, at times, creeps in about the issues that come with adopting an older child.  Thankfully we know that the Lord is in control and there is a little boy out there who needs us.  The Lord will lead and direct us to the one meant for our family and He knows what's best for him and will give us what we need to raise this precious child for Him.  Please pray that we remember this whenever the fear of the unknown sneaks up on us.

Blessings

I have been learning a lot through this adoption process.  One, I realized that I can be a total nut about paperwork and insisting at the strangest times of day (like midnight) that we sit down and fill something out.  Two, that I'm not as patient as I once thought.  Three, that my life is so full and blessed that I need to slow down and enjoy what I have right here and trust that the Lord will see this adoption through and my obsessiveness will not make it go any faster or smoother.   I don't deserve the many blessings in my life, it seems that they keep flowing and flowing and I'm overwhelmed with thankfulness to my Abba Father.  I am learning to count my blessings every day and take note of every moment of Grace given to me by Him.

We are progressing, probably more that I feel at times.  Just sent out some more paperwork to the home study agency and it feels really good.  We are hoping to have the dossier and the home study complete by Thanksgiving.  I don't think that's too much to ask, it's better than what I have been aiming for. ...I wanted things done by September.  I'm so delusional sometimes.  :)  Anyway, the Warners will keep living this wonderful life, loving each other to the fullest, dreaming about our little one out there, and praising our Father every step of the way.  He is so good.

Let's Build!

We are now well into the dossier building process!  We are happy to finally have been assigned a Family Coordinator, she called today and introduced herself and sent us an email with documents that needed to be printed out and signed.  I believe I just printed out 8,963 pieces of paper.  The printer was smoking by the time it was all said and done. :o}  We also recieved a call yesterday from AWAA-OH social services and was also told there was an email with documents that needed signing.  Another 212 papers so that wasn't nearly as bad.  Sooooo, we now prepare our eyeballs for reading all documents, buy plenty of Visine and make sure we have a 50 count pack of brand new pens.  We are off and running!  Like I mentioned in my last post, I have indeed begun ransacking the house, decluttered and started organizing like I never have before.  Hey, I know it's not necessary, but it keeps me sane and if I'm sane, the whole family is sane!  Until next time!

Paperwork Part I

We are celebrating the send off of our first set of paperwork on Wednesday July 20, 2011!!  We had to sign and initial a boat load of papers and send in our first fee.  What a relief to have that simple step done.  Now we wait (anxiously) for the call to inform us of when the home study will begin!!  Until then, the house will be ransacked.........closets will be organized and anything that hasn't been touched in 3 months is outta here.  Yes, I understand that the social worker will not be investigating the state of our closets, but our kids (who will be helping) don't really need to know that do they?  =D  Every crack and crevice will be cleaned, dusted, scrubbed and sanitized.  Again, I do realize that all this isn't necessary, it's just that all this will keep me busy and prevent my mind from fixating on the long wait ahead.  Plus, my house desperately needs this deep cleaning.  We will post as soon as we hear from AWAA about the home study.  Thanks, as always, for your prayers!

Course Complete!

Nate and I both received our certificates for completing the Hague-certified Inter-country Adoption Course! 

We are both excited and relieved (we had NO idea the amount of reading that was required).  We are glad that we had to do this because we both learned a lot of helpful things and were given ideas on how to handle some potential problems along the way.  Now we prepare for the home study which should begin in about 2 weeks..........yikes!  We have been told that with the home study you don't need to make sure your home is in perfect shape.......HA!  Lets see if I can really be relaxed about that when the time comes! :) Anyway, that's all we have for an update, sorry it's been a couple of weeks, just not a whole lot to say!  Thanks for your prayers!

Preparation

Tonight Nate and I continued our adoption course and this module was about the issues that come with institutionalized children in foreign countries.  Let me just say that I knew that orphans come with problems......health, disabilities, mental problems and such, but when you read stories about specific children and the horrendous situations they have faced or are facing, it's even more eye opening.  While it's worrisome for us as we imagine parenting a child with such needs we are more concerned than ever about what our little boy is enduring right now.   I know that he is in Gods hands and God loves him more than we ever could, for that I'm thankful.  I just hope and pray that God can protect him and give him strength to continue on until we can wrap our arms around him and love him.  Please pray for us, to be prepared mentally and physically to parent this child and for wisdom to know how to help him in any area he may struggle.  Pray for our three kids that God will prepare their hearts as well.  We are all very excited to one day bring him home, but we know and understand that so much learning and getting ready needs to be done.