Time to swim!

That’s right… we are officially “in the pool” of waiting families!

At this point, all we have left to do is wait.

As I’ve mentioned before, the way it works is basically this:

An expectant mother comes into the agency to make an adoption plan. Our social worker (Elly) will then email all of the prospective adoptive parents who fit the situation (based on our answers to the “child you can parent” checklist). She gives us any information that she has on the health of the mother/child, the situation with the birth father, the expected due date, etc. We then decide if we want to be considered for this situation and respond with a yes or a no.

The expectant mother (and father if he is involved) will be shown the letters from each couple that has said they would like to be considered. From those letters, she will usually only pick a few whose profile albums she would like to see. And from those few albums, she will choose the adoptive parents for her child. Occasionally, a mother may decide that she wants to meet two or three of the couples in person before making her decision.

If we are chosen, Elly will call us to set up a time to meet with the expectant mother for the first time at the agency.

The first meeting is usually pretty awkward (so we’ve heard)… with us trying to find a connection with this woman we’ve never met, hoping that she likes us and praying that she doesn’t change her mind, and her trying to picture these strangers as parents for her precious child and probably hoping that we like her, too.

The waiting feels like the hardest part. So much uncertainty. It could be next month, it could be 4 months, it could be a year… we really have no idea.

Our profile is being shown for the very first time tomorrow, to a young woman whose little girl is due mid-October. It’s incredibly unlikely that we would be chosen so soon, but the possibility is exciting! All we can do is wait and pray, knowing it is in God’s hands. If she is meant to be our child, she will be… if not, we will wait for the one who is.

As always, we ask that you continue to pray for us and know that you are in our prayers as well. We truly appreciate having such a wonderful circle of family and friends…it makes this long process a whole lot easier!

And please join us in praying for this expectant mother who has a very difficult decision to make tomorrow… whether she chooses us or not, we hope she finds what she is looking for.