Part two of our journey to baby #2

When we moved to Phoenix we immediately started the process to foster/adopt through the state. And it was a process! In our county alone there are around 14,000 children in state custody. So to us this seemed like a great place to start. We had to go through 10 weeks (3 hours each week) of training. Training that was heart breaking and scared the pants off of us. There were a couple of times that we left in tears. Heartbroken for the children and some of their stories, heartbroken for a society that has hundreds of thousands of children not growing up with their families, and heartbroken over a system that is in need of a major restructuring. We were both extremely confident in ourselves. We were going to save the world! Before class even ended we started the process of transitioning two brothers (ages 4 & 5) from their foster home to our home because they had just become available for adoption. We spent a lot of time with them. We celebrated their birthdays, set up their room, and they even celebrated Easter with us. I was going to be a mom of 3 boys...yikes!

Do you see something missing from this story so far? God maybe? So many people are called to go this route and are so needed, but we weren't. We didn't even ask "Hey God, do you want us to do this? Is this how you want us to grow our family?" So without Him we fell flat on our faces...hard. Basically, boys wound up not being a good match for us and our agency asked us to withdraw. It was again a loss, yet this time it was so freeing. We had been forcing something that wasn't for us because it was a good thing to do. Other people were doing it, but we are Christians so we should definitely do it...isn't that how that works? No. There is so much freedom in Christ!! Do Not let yourself get guilted into doing something just because you are a Christian. Just because there is something that is a great thing to do does not mean you are the one who is supposed to do it. And we weren't. And that's okay.  "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV). It doesn't matter how many great things we do, we can not earn our way into heaven- thank goodness! God has already set up what He wants us to do, we just have to be willing to walk with Him and trust Him!

So onto now. After that we decided to go back to private domestic adoption (I will break down all the different options at some point this month). This is where God has us. The process again took a bit longer in Arizona then we were hoping, but we are officially home study approved! This means that any day we could be getting "the call" that says that we have been matched. We are beyond excited but also at peace. A peace that comes from when you are working within Gods will instead of working on your own. So please pray with us that 1) our funding comes in(we have applied for several grants & scholarships) and 2) that we get matched soon! Gods ways and timing are perfect, and even when they don't match up to what we had planned (and thought were great) we have to trust Him whole heartedly. Isn't that what faith is?