What will our adoption look like?

I have had lots of questions about what our adoption will look like. Well, there is no exact answer for that, as each situation looks different. But I can give a brief overview of the process and the basic break down of events.

As soon as we get final approval of our updated homestudy (which we hope will be in the next 2 weeks), we will begin the matching process. During this season, we will receive information about birth mothers who are expecting and would like to make an adoption plan for their child. We will read, think, and pray over this information and decide if that birth mother and child would be a good fit for our family. If we say yes to her, then she will be give a profile book of our family. (This is essentially a scrapbook that I have made, that gives her the ins and outs of the Cater family, our goals and dreams as parents, and our day to day life.) She will also be given the profile books of any other hopeful adoptive families who are interested in her. At this point, the decision will be placed in her hands as to which family is the best fit for her child.
This process has no timeline, no rhyme or reason. Just God's divine plan. So you can most certainly be praying for His perfect timing and His wisdom to inform every step.
From then, there is no specific guideline for how things will go. Those are decisions that will be made between the birth mother, ourselves, and our social workers.
Until then and even once the baby is born, there is time for birth mom to change her mind. In this, we know that God knows what is best for the child, and we will have to trust and have confidence in His plans.

So that is a brief and vague explanation of the road we have ahead. There are so many factors, legalities and emotions that will inform and guide this journey. But ultimately, we know the Lord is going to guide our steps and our prayer is that we will be able to remember that and have confidence in that every step of the way.

Thank you for loving us and supporting us. Thanks will never be enough.

Back Again

When I wrote the last post on this blog, I certainly had no idea that my next one would be 2 years later. But as always, the Lord's plans are far better than our own. Now, here we are, 2 years and 1 precious little boy later and we are so ready to re-enter this journey to adoption. We believe that the Lord has called us to adoption and that has only been confirmed over the past year as we have stepped into this new role of parenting. We are anxious to meet the child that He has in store for us. We are currently working to update our homestudy. We have had our home study update and completed all of our paperwork, so now we wait for our final approval to begin matching again. We hope to have this finalized within the next month. We feel an overwhelming peace as we enter into this next phase, knowing that the Lord is already putting into place the steps that will lead us to our baby. What can you do? - Pray for us as we enter into this time of waiting. Pray for patience and wisdom and peace. - Pray for our birthmother, wherever she may be. That she would feel the Lord's presence and that she would feel loved and supported through her journey. - Pray for our child. We still have a little bit of funds to raise, so be on the lookout for ways you can support us in this last bit of reaching our final goal! We love and appreciate each of you and the countless ways you have loved and supported us. We could never say or do enough to express our gratitude.