And so the waiting begins

Even as a child we are told to be patient and wait. It seems that things never happen fast enough these days. We want things to happen when we want them to happen not in God's timing. I remember thinking when we tried to conceive naturally... "I want to be pregnant now!" When we kept getting negative pregnancy tests I would plead with God... "Please PLEASE Lord I want to be pregnant NOW! WHY is this not working!" Then when we started the adopting process I remember our adoption worker telling us now its time to wait... I remember thinking "Well I know how to do that! This won't be so bad". We all know that Miss Zion happened SO fast. It finally felt like we got it right and God made it happen in just the right amount of time. I still believe that God knew what he was doing by making us infertile. He knew that we needed Abigail and Abigail needed us. 

A lot of waiting is about trust. Now that we have started the adoption process again it is time to wait again. This is the hard part. We are working with a new home state agency this time so we have to trust that they will do what they say they are going to do in a timely manner. We are currently waiting for the home study packet. I went and checked the mail today hoping it would be in the mail... It was not their. I will go again today before I go to work. Keep your fingers crossed... 

As we wait we are continuing to pray for the right situation. What I mean by this is when our adoption profile is being viewed by birth mothers/families that the person/s that chooses us will feel at peace with her/his decision. The hard part for me about adoption is that we gain from someone else's loss. As an adoptive parent already I feel so humbled that we were picked once before.Will it happen again? I hope so. I know that God knows who will pick us and has known this for my whole life. It is kind of strange to think about the fact that this has all been planned out and we just have to do our part. I guess for now I will just wait and see how things go.

Thank you for taking time to read our blog. If you have a chance check out our fundraising page. We know that times are hard and it is a lot to ask. We feel it takes a village to raise a child. We also feel that our dream of bringing home Hart baby #2 can be helped by you. If you can it would be amazing for you to donate, no amount is too small. If this is not a good time... Can you help us by sharing our blog and fund raising page with your friends and family? Every little bit helps us get closer to bringing home Baby Hart. The link is below :) Until next time. Have a blessed day!

 http://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/Help-us-bring-home-Baby-Hart/39968

Ring ring

I am happy to share that we received a call from Katie at CASI today. She received our application. She told us that she is sending our home study packet out to us. She said that we will have to complete some education and it sounds like they have more options then the last time we went through this process. I wanted to give you an idea of what exactly is in a home study. Below is from a. Site called ababystepadoption.com. I thought they explained the process quite well :-)

Adoption Home Studies

"Our Adoption Home Study Steps:

1. request and complete our home study questionnaire
2. submit the additional required documents
3. schedule your home visit with one of our case workers
4. review the draft of your home study report
5. follow up phone call with your case worker to finalize your report

An adoption home study is an evaluation written by a licensed agency detailing your family's suitability to become adoptive parent(s). This report is submitted to the Court and is a legal requirement for every adoption. The report must be completed prior to placement of a child in public, private, interstate, and international adoptions. The home study report describes your childhood, education, career, marriage/domestic partnership, experience with children, parenting philosophy, home and neighborhood, finances, health, and the type of adoption situation your are looking for. The information in this report is complied from your completed questionnaire, home interview, and the 
following required documents: birth certificates, marriage license, divorce decree(if  applicable), copy of most recent W-2 forms, child abuse and criminal record clearances, physical exam forms, and 4 letters of recommendation from family and friends. While this all may sound intimidating, the intent of the adoption home study is to support and prepare the adopting family for the adoption process and placement of a child. The home study is confidential, only to be submitted directly to the court or referring agency. It is not shared with the birthparents."

I have been asked a lot how long the process will take. All I can speak to is how long it took last time. The process for the home study took about 3 months for us. We are hopeful to bring home baby hart this year but we will just have to take things one step at a time. 

Help us bring home baby Hart # 2

Here is your chance to be apart of something truly amazing! Please checkout our fundraising site. Every little bit helps us get closer to bringing home baby Hart. Thank you so very much!

http://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/Help-us-bring-home-Baby-Hart/39968

Adoption application... Check!

Good Morning! Today marks the beginning of our new adoption journey. If you have never been through the adoption process you may not quite understand what all it takes to get to baby. The very first step is deciding on an agency. For this adoption we have decided to work with the same agency in Texas, Alternatives in Motion. 

However, we have to have a supervising home state agency. We decided to work with CASI here in Idaho. The first step is filling out the application. This is not a difficult process at all and we have completed it and we are sending it in today. This is very exciting for us as it marks the beginning of this new journey to baby Hart! We have been praying for a long time now about when the right time to start this journey. Over the last couple of month we have received RANDOM signs that now is the time!!! Please keep our family in your prayers. Our family is only built through the great and selfless sacrifice of someone else. Please pray for our birth mother/family and for the right situation.

First Birthday & Party

Hello all, I was waiting to write another update until we reached Abigail's first birthday. So here we are. February 14, 2012 our little miss Zion turned 1 years old. I continue to be amazed at how much she has grown and developed over the last 12 months. We also celebrated our one year anniversary of meeting on February 18, 2012. This was also the same day we had Abigail's first birthday party. And boy did we have a party. We ended up having about 40 people come to Abigail's party. I feel so blessed to have so many people care about my daughter. She is such a blessing to us and it's nice to know that so many people love her also.

Just walkin

We have had so much fun watching wee miss Zion grow and learn all kinds of new skills. I have to say though my favorite has been watching her learn to walk! She has been rearing to go since birth but she finally got up on the those feet all by her self December 1, 2011. She has it down now and is falling very little. I took some video yesterday of her steps enjoy!

New Year Forever Family

I yet again need to apologize for not updating this enough. We have had a great holiday season and have been enjoying our new family status. On December 23, 2011 we became a forever family! Judge Minder agreed that we are a good match and that we should be Abigail's parents FOREVER!!!!
It was an amazing day and one that we have waited for with anticipation. I am happy to report that everything is finished and all we are waiting for now is Abigail's birth certificate.

Abigail has been growing like a weed and she is walking all over! On December 1, 2011 she took her first steps and said mommy all in the same day. It has been so fun to watch her discover this new part of life. She is quite pleased with herself.
We are looking forward to 2012 and all it had in store. I again will do my best to keep this updated more often. In my defense Abigail is a bust little one so we will just play it by ear... Love you all!