Hello and Merry Christmas!!

I have an update for you! yay!!

Andrew and I are now finished with the homestudy officially and we are now in the waiting stage.

We have been shown a couple of profiles of mothers in need of a home for their baby, and we have said yes to one of them. It is now in her hands to say that she chooses us for her baby's family or not. We won't know anything, we are thinking, for at least a month or so, but we would just like to ask for your prayers that the Lord's will would be done, and that she would find peace through this very difficult decision she is making.We could never understand what a mother would have to go through in giving up her own child, and then have to watch  him/her be raised by another family. We are so humbled to even be this far in our adoption and we are so thankful for God's grace and peace through it all.

"4" The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew[a] you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

6 “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”

7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you.

 (Jeremiah 1:4-7)

We have also agreed to an "open adoption" which means that we, and whatever child the Lord blesses us with, will have a relationship with the birthmother. I am fully aware that this sounds unorthodox, it is, when compared to the original "closed adoption" law created in 1917. The idea of an open adoption, in my opinion, wasn't really taken that seriously until 1983 when the book "Dear Birthmother" written by Kathleen Siber and Phylis Speedlin came out and described how some birthmothers had been writing letters to their adopted children and explaining why they gave them up and to say good bye. This book really opened people's eyes to the fact that the both mother and child need closure, love, and acceptance.

I am reading a book right now called "the open adoption experience" written by Lois Ruskai Melina and Sharon Kaplan Roszia. This book has opened my eyes to how new the idea of an open adoption is and how beneficial it is for all involved. Here is a quote from this book, just for a taste of what it says:

"Those who have followed the changes in the field of adoption recognize that open adoptions represent an evolution in adoption thought and practice. They are the result of a growing belief that:

-Children have a connection to their birthparents that begins even before birth and cannot be changed or denied by legal documents;

-Children need information about their origins to help them form a personal identity, and it is better for children to deal with reality--even harsh reality--than with a variety of fantasies;

-Children need to know that their birth families care about them and that the adoption didn't represent rejection;

-Birth families need not represent a threat to their children or to the attachment between the children and their adoptive parents;

-Birth parents need to know the outcome of their pregnancy and adoption plan to feel peace about it;

-Adoptive parents feel more authentic when they receive permission from the birth parents to be their child's parents and see that the birth parents' involvement with their family does not diminish their parent-child relationship.

-Family relationships are healthier in an atmosphere of openness honesty."

So, this is a little bit about open adoption and why it is now the preffered practice for Domestic Infant Adoption.

We would also like to thank you for your prayers and your support through our adoption journey and we hope you each have a very Merry Christmas!!

Listyn and Andy

Baby Products

So!!! 

I had a pretty productive day! I have been doing a lot or research about being a bit more natural (especially for babies) and I have been reading about making your own baby products so, I decided that along with cloth diapering I will do just that.   Today I successfully make baby lotion, baby oil and a skin spray for after you change baby's diaper that prevents irritation and promotes clensliness.

This is the baby lotion, it turned out a bit greasy so I will be perfecting this 

recipe for sure but it would work awesome for a butt cream. 

ingredients: coconut oil, JoJo-ba oil, bees wax and lavender essential oil 

This is baby oil that is also an anti-inflamitory                                This is the bottom spray and its an all    

because of the chamomile flowers I boiled with it.                          purpose really but it works great 

Ingredients: Water, JoJo-ba oil, organic olive oil,                             for cloth wipes and preventing 

Chamomile flowers and peppermint essential oil.                             diaper rash.

                                                                                                         Ingredients: Water, Aloe vera, Tea                                                                                                             -                                                                                                         Tree oil and Lavender oil                  

There you have it!!

I am so excited!

diapering is not always easy

I am so sorry for the long wait!
So, I have news for you, our  home study is done!! yay! we have the singed paper proving that we are all set to move forward. We also have ordered our profile books and we have a meeting with our new adoption agent on the 10th.

On another note after a lot or research and budgeting conversations Andrew and I have officially decided to use cloth diapers for sure. I know that it is a lot of work and inconvenient but I am convinced that I am up for the challenge. So, if anyone has any tips to things I might not think of please let me know because there is a lot to this cloth diapering.

Thank you so much for reading!!

Still not much heard from our agency so it may be taking a bit longer than we expected but I am sure everything will be approved soon. I will be posting more as soon as I know something. Thank you.

Portfolio is done!!

                                              We have finished our Portfolio!!
 I just sent it to our agent today and she is super excited to look it over for us and make sure everything is in order. She also said that we need to be getting ready in the next week and a half to two weeks for a meeting with the full-time adoption agent that we will be transferred to after the home-study is all said and done. So, we are just about done and all we will have to do is wait on the Lord's timing.   

Projects

I decided that it was time to get stuff done before the adoption gets any farther, so I just redid my bathroom!!

Home Study Written!

YAY! Our home study is now written and has been past to a supervisor to be double checked! This means that we are just about there!! She said about another week or two should do it. I also only have one more page to go for our portfolio and I will then send that to our case worker so she can take a look at that and tell me if it is appropriate for a birth mother to read through or not.

I would just like to thank each of you for reading along and praying for us. Andy and I are feeling a little stressed out on trying to get everything in order (well, me more than Andy of course). I'm finding it difficult to just be still and know that God has everything under control, this may be a crazy observation but I think I may be a control freak. So, if I can ask for you help in praying that I will have peace and rely on His timing and order I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you so much again Andy and I are so thankful for you prayers.  

Two weeks and counting

         



              Well hello there, I am back now so I will fill you in on where we are in our adoption.
So far our caseworker now has all of our paperwork and has started writing the home study, which means she is basically accounting for everything we have done in the lats three years and putting it on paper. So she said that she would like to get it done in no more that  two weeks. During this time of her writing our job is to prepare our portfolio to be presented to a birth mother. So, I have spent about three days staring at the screen of my computer trying to make our portfolio AWESOME! With lots of pictures and stories of our lives together as a family. So, if you wouldn't mind saying a few prayers that this will all come together the way it should that would be fabulous.

      On another note, we have to be ready for a baby at anytime as soon as our home-study is done. so I am also over here wracking my brain trying to remember what I need for a baby hahaha you would think I could remember. After some brain storming for a bit I have decided that I want to go with cloth diapers for our new Baby/Babies. So I am  looking around for them for a good price. So, if you see some let me know if you don't mind. I am also looking on craigslist (I love craigslist stuff) as well, so I don't mind if they are used at all either. 

Thank you !! 

Chicago!

Landyn and I got the chance to go to Chicago again and visit with Shelli, Judah and Kirsi. We got to walk to to Lincoln Park Zoo and see lots of different animals, it was wonderful!!

Ruthanne Had her baby!!

My sister-in-law Ruthanne Grummet had her fourth baby yesterday afternoon!! 

Her name is Gwen Leigh Grummet. 

So Cute!!

More pics of Judah's progress