All the facts.

To say Thank You for all of your sweet words over this last week seems inadequate. The love and support you've all shown via comments (here and on fb), e-mails, big hugs & sweet letters has been unbelievable. I was so nervous about putting all of this out there --- but I see now that I was so silly for that. Seriously, thank you!

I've had several people ask about our adoption process, so I thought that this would be a good place to lay that all out for y'all --- but, I need to say some things first.

We are taking the route of a local DFCS adoption because we whole-heartedly believe that this is the path that God is leading us down. I, in no way, want this to come off as "you should do it this way, it's so much better" --- b/c while I DO think that this is a great way to adopt, if you want to adopt... I think you should PRAY about what type of adoption is right for you and your family. Pray long and hard about it --- read about it, get in the word, ask other people about it - and listen to them when they answer.  As you can see from the picture of all of my brothers and sisters (below) - I think that adopted children from all over the world are amazing, as are my siblings that were adopted through DFCS. Not ONE better than the OTHER -- all equally beautiful, all equally loved --- all equally a child of God! I just want to share this process with you b/c I have had SO many people say "I didn't even know you could adopt through DFCS" or "I always thought adoption was too expensive" ---  well, You CAN & it ISN'T ALWAYS! (although, I completely believe that the price is worth the reward --- and I have seen first hand that the Lord provides the money for agency adoptions!!)

Top from left: Kevin (biological), Daniel (DFCS adoption), John (DFCS adoption)
Bottom: Me (family adoption), Becca (Thailand), Dana (Thailand), LaDawn (biological) 

For those of you that are curious - here's how it works (the best way that I can figure out how to get this out is bullets...)

• First, we called our local DFCS and signed up for an orientation class.
• We went downtown to the DFCS building a watched a VERY informative video and filled out several pages of paperwork. It was at this orientation that we were asked if we were interested in fostering or adoption.
  {SN: George and I chose adoption over fostering b/c we know ourselves well enough to know that we would be heartbroken when a foster child got to go home, especially if it was to a situation that we thought was less than ideal... HOWEVER, please search your heart about this. Y'ALL --- there is SUCH A NEED for this in our community. It's unbelievable. and heartbreaking.}
• When we told them that we were interested in adoption, they told us that our chances of getting an infant were fairly slim & that if we wanted to adopt an infant we should probably go through an agency.  We're totally fine with that -  the Lord has called us to this & we believe that he will give us the child/children that the wants us to have. period. The only cap that we told them was that we would prefer a child younger than our oldest, only b/c we only have experience parenting children up to her age. --- Since we didn't rule out sibling groups, that  means our next child could be a 4 year old hispanic boy, or a 7 year old caucasion girl... OR a 2 month old bi-racial set of twins. We couldn't be any more thrilled about ANY of those possibilities, or about any of the other endless possiblities.
• After the Orientation, our social worker came to our house for a home study. This was just a brief home study --- she needed our financial records. she checked for home safety. she looked at our kids rooms. she asked questions about why we wanted to adopt.  It was very casual & nothing to be scared of (even though I was a nervous wreck that day).
• NOW, we are waiting on a phonecall to schedule our fingerprints & our background checks. As soon as those are scheduled, they will come to our house to do those. 
• Next we will be attending a 20 hour IMPACT training class in Colquitt County on June 8&9.
• After that, I have been told we will have hundreds of pages of paperwork to fill out and that should be about a 45 day process & we will also have to go through a much more in depth home study process --- complete with questions about how we met, our day to day routines and lifestyle, etc.
• After the paperwork, from what I understand, we then will be able to meet our child!!! Y'all --- add that up, that could be as early as the last week of July!!!
• If our child is older, we'll have to go through what our social worker, Monical, called a "meet and greet period" --- where we get to hang out at DFCS office for a while one day, then go out to dinner another day, then they could spend a weekend at our house and so on until the child in comfortable with us.

......and I know the question you want to know. How much does this cost? Well. Here's your answer...

That's right. Nothing. At the most, it might cost us our attorney fees - which will be less than $500.

------ the fact that it is free, for the most part, is not enough reason to rush to DFCS and apply for adoption. seriously --- PRAY ABOUT IT.

Let me tell you - This process has not been an easy process. The actual steps we have taken have been very easy, but the emotions that come with it are not.

It's never far from my mind that these children in our DFCS system live through some HORRIBLE things before they make it to "adoption eligibility" status--- and the state doesn't terminate parental rights of biological parents over small, insignificant things. Chances are, this precious child that the Lord is sending to us is already here &  has already lived through and seen things that no child ever should have to.

My DAILY (hourly) prayer is for protection for this child - Emotional, physical, mental protection.  Your prayers for this child --- and ALL of these children --- would be so appreciated. SO, SO appreciated. This is the verse I'm claiming:

“God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection." - 2nd Samuel 22: 31

Hopefully, in my next post - I can tell you more about our kids that we already have now and my oldest's reactions to this whole process!