How far along are you?

I'm beginning to get a feeling...similar to when I was pregnant. Everyone knows our news--we're expecting. :) It's going to be a long, slow process, with little bits of news and updates, but a lot of waiting and/or things I'm doing that are not noteworthy or not blog-appropriate. "How's the adoption going?" (aka: "How are you feeling?" to a pregnant woman.) I truly do not mind that question, but will attempt to update on the blog as often as possible.
*
Right now we are completing the pre-requisites for our home study/family study/adoption study--it has different names. We each got fingerprinted, answered about 96 essay questions (My form turned out 6 pages longer than Trent's. Neither of us was surprised.). We asked friends from different seasons of life to fill out an (also very long) reference questionnaire, we got letters confirming employment, bank & tax statements, etc. We are right now waiting for our dr's appointments, where we will each have a complete physical and HIV & TB tests. When those forms are turned in, we'll pay our fee and schedule our interviews with the social worker. I can't tell you how wonderful it feels to know we are ready to pay that fee. THANK YOU to all of you!
*
I've also been blessed to find/be directed to a few other adoption blogs, which I'm obviously very interested in. It's an added bonus when I discover one that is well written and finds a way to communicate what I've been feeling. THIS is a must read. Gwenn is an adoptive mom and also happens to run a small orphanage in Haiti. This post about adoption is heartachingly beautiful. As Tara said, I wish adoption weren't necessary. But until that's the case, I like what Gwenn said.

*

I'm also planning to visit this one very often in the coming months. It is written by the wife of a guy I went to college with, who is now pastoring a church in our old stomping grounds. Sarah is an artist, and she writes like one:

If 7% of the world's Christians adopted
ONE child,
there would be no orphans in the world.
After reading the quote above, Steve and I lost sleep, partly because it made us sick with the injustice of it, but also because we were filled with excitement. Something new, something risky and not quite within our control was working itself out in our lives. We dreamed and prayed, cried and celebrated. And here we are, standing at the cusp of the bravest and most unconventional adventure we've ever attempted. And already we can sense the joy, like the salty ocean air that hits your nose even before you can see the water...

Good stuff, huh?

*

And I was also connected to Nicole through a mutual friend. You gotta read her post about why they are adopting. Here is a little excerpt:

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…” - James 1:27
Why orphans and widows? Because we’re just like them: we were lost, without hope… strangers in this world and slaves to sin. But no more. We are sons and daughters now. We have a family… an eternal family. And in that family we have an inheritance much richer than ANYTHING the Trumps or Waltons could provide; we have the promise of eternal life. And because our Father — our Adoptive Father — loves us so much, He allows us to help him right now, to serve on the front lines today in His great redemptive work, to bring other brothers and sisters into the fold so they too can share in that great inheritance. What an amazing privilege, friends!

*

And through Nicole's blog, I found It's Almost Naptime--gotta love that blog title. They are selling shirts as a fundraiser that say "I'm adopted--Ephesians 1:3-14." Part of that verse was a reminder that "...He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love, He predestined us to be adopted as his sons, through Christ Jesus, in accordance with His pleasure and His will."

(FYI: we will NOT be partaking in a debate about predestination on this blog!) This may not mean much to some of you, but to me, who has spent hours thinking about the concept of adoption, the identity issues, the grief, the loss, the gain, the system, the risks, the benefits...this means a lot to me. Why? Because my adoption by my Heavenly Father was the best thing that ever happened to me. Because adoption, with all of it's brokenness, is a step towards wholeness. Adoption is beautiful. I thought I was beginning my first journey into it, but these bloggers, through Scripture, reminded me that this is my second time around. I'm just participating from a different angle of the triad. And I could not be more grateful.