Exciting News...
The news has been brewing for a while. Usually when I go through long spans of silence on the blog it means one of two things (1) there’s no time to write or (2) I have a secret. Well, this season happens to be a combination of the two.
We have exciting news. Very exciting news!
Remember that one time when we put our adoption on hold? Well after much prayer and many conversations with our family, pastors, and friends… we’ve lifted the hold and it’s official: We’re “paper pregnant!” To those of you who are scratching you're head going... WHAT IN THE HECK DOES THAT MEAN? In the adoption world that means that we're OFFICIALLY done with our home study (and THOUSANDS of pages of paperwork) and we've been approved by the great state of North Carolina and accepted by our adoption agency. In other words, we are officially in the waiting stage to be matched with a baby or get a phone call to rush to the hospital for a last minute situation.
We’re excited and overwhelmed with gratitude for the work the Lord has done to get us to this point! And we’re asking our friends and family to CELEBRATE with us and bathe this baby, their mama, and our family in prayer.
We don’t know a lot of details other than we’re waiting patiently (ok sometimes impatiently) on the Lord’s perfect timing. But here are some things we do know and would like to share…
- It’s a domestic adoption, meaning it's a child from the USA. More specifically, the child will be from North Carolina.
- We don’t know the ethnicity of the child, nor do we have a preference.
- We are requesting to be matched with a male (because they tend to be the more difficult to place in North Carolina), BUT if a need arises for a girl, we’ll gladly welcome her into our family. In other words - we don't care! :)
- We’re not planning on doing a multitude of fundraising events, but if you’d like to donate you can go HERE (and feel free to share this link with friends)!
- We chose an agency that is holistic in their approach to adoption. Our needs/preferences do not take precedence over the birth mother or child’s needs. All of us play a significant role in providing a thriving home for our child, and the birth mother’s role is one of the MOST important. Her choosing life is one of the bravest and hardest decisions and we so greatly admire her! Because of that, we wanted to make sure we chose an ethical agency that provided phenomenal care for the birth mother before, during, and after the birth of our child. We are honored to be partnering with an agency that takes a holistic approach towards the adoption process.
Ultimately, if you've spent much time with me or Ben, you'll know that we have felt called from day one to be advocates for adoption and have always prayed for the opportunity to grow our family through adoption. This is a joy and an honor for us! Now more than ever, we want our actions to stand behind our words. We are more than just pro-life with our lips; we want our family, our resources, our faith to all scream HOPE and stand in the gap on this issue. We do not believe adoption is just a quick fix to a complex problem within our society, but we do believe it is a start and it's what we can do right now. And it thrills us to be able to do so.
Thank you, in advance for celebrating with us. For loving us and loving our girls and our future children. We cannot tell you how MOVED we are by the love, prayers, and support we've felt over the past five years of our marriage. THANK YOU!
Much love,
Ben and Brittany