Formal Application is COMPLETE

Soo stinking excited to tell you the formal application has officially been submitted!! Yay!! We got to share it all from the size of every room in our house to our sleeping arrangements. Don't worry family members... As of 20 minutes ago Bethany knows it all about you as well because I definitely had to tell them. Now we are just waiting for our classes to start in October with Bethany. Please continue to pray for God's timing in this process. 

This past weekend Blake and I had a really remarkable time visiting with family in Chapel Hill. We got to ask questions and share stories with Blake's aunt and uncle who adopted their two children about 12 and 15 years ago through a similar adoption organization. They shared ideas, thoughts, and really was very supportive of us in our decision to move towards adoption. I'm in tears now as I reflect back on all that I learned through our visit. Soo blessed. One awesome idea was to create a child's book explaining "our family story" once the baby comes. It will include before, during, and after the adoption. Then we can add onto it once baby 2 is adopted one day. This will be a fun and exciting way to share how very much we prayed and waited for our sweet baby. 

Some fun news for this week is that Blake went and purchased the paint for the nursery!! We are going to start painting very soon. We are doing an awesome tree theme with gray and white. We'll incorporate our special picked out colors once we find out we are going to adopt a boy or girl... :) I'm going to be writing prayers and "tree" themed scriptures that I've found on the walls this week before he paints so Baby Alexander will be surrounded by God's living word at all times in his/her room. Pictures to come of the new paint.

Welcome to our blog!

 
Blake and I have so much we would like to share with our friends and family!! Many of you know that Blake and I have been trying to start a family for a couple of years now with no success. I was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome about a year and a half ago. We prayed and began treatments to try to help me ovulate. Well, we tried a medication last July called clomid. We did everything exactly as we were told. I took more medications, hormones, and vitamins and we waited. We were sooo excited and thrilled to get those 2 pink lines. We prayed and prayed for protection and a good strong lining. Unfortunately, PCOS and clomid both can cause a weak uterine lining. Sadly, one year ago this week (August 18) I lost my precious little baby at 7.5 weeks pregnant. We were completely heartbroken. We grieved and tried to find comfort. We named our baby Christian. This year on our due date we planted a Weeping Cherry Blossom tree in honor of our sweet baby, Christian, who we will get to finally meet and hug on when we get to heaven.

 After the loss, we waited a couple of months and continued our journey towards becoming parents. Cycle after cycle went by with only one pink line. Every “not yet” we received broke my heart again. It feels like an eternity waiting and waiting for test time only to get another negative. In April, I decided that I wanted to see a specialist. Blake was supportive. We researched doctors and made the appointment. I absolutely LOVE the doctor but HATE that our state benefits do not cover any fertility treatments. The doctor wanted us to try a more advanced treatment called an IUI since we had not had success with just the medication. The unfortunate part was that each cycle would cost us $1500 out of pocket. Talk about some pressure. Blake and I talked and prayed about what we should do. We decided to go for it. Blake and I went to many appointments and followed instructions very carefully. Disappointingly, both cycles were unsuccessful. I had had enough. I couldn’t do it anymore. We took a break from all treatments. So here we are…

Blake and I have always talked about wanting to adopt a child after we had our first baby. We have officially started the adoption process. Blake and I went to a Bethany Christian Services meeting over a month ago and felt an unbelievable peace come over us. It must be God leading us onto this path. We have been accepted into Bethany Christian Service’s Domestic Infant Adoption Program with our preliminary application. We are currently working on the 27 page formal application! It’s true what they say “So far no morning sickness but the paper cuts are terrible.”  

 I honestly can’t explain to you how excited I am about this process we have started. My sister-in-law encouraged me to start a blog about our journey in becoming parents through adoption. At first I thought it was silly but then I thought it would be an AWESOME way for people to get updates along the way. I ask you to all please, please, please pray for God’s will in our journey. We know He must have some spectacular child in mind for us. We can not wait to meet our beautiful gift from God. We are really trying to network with friends and family to let everyone know of our interest in adopting a baby. Please do not be shy in sharing our information with anyone who maybe could help us as we begin our wait.  My email: mindylane26@yahoo.com

Coming up soon:  We have to finish our formal application this week and then we will begin a 6 week course with Bethany in October. Once the classes are over they can begin our home study to make sure everything is safe and ready for a new baby!! :) So excited.