The Call

5:30 in the morning, my phone rings. As I pull myself out of my dreams and pick up the phone, I see it’s a “No Caller ID” call. This had better not be another fake credit card call I thought to myself. Wouldn’t it be nice if this was Lifetime I half heartily thought. I’ve received many early am calls due to the time zone difference, and none have been the one I’ve waited for.

“Hi Shaina, this is Diane from Lifetime.” I shot straight up, heart pounding. “Sorry to call so early, I know you are in Hawaii, but….we have a baby for you.” My first thought was, it must be a drop-in-the-lap because last time I received an email first with a phone call much later. “It’s a baby girl and she was born yesterday.” What? That means we are going to have to fly….today!

And that is how my day of absolutely craziness started. A healthy baby girl had been born the previous day and her parents wanted to meet us.

First thing I did was call Gabe. He had been training for 2 weeks at a range on island. His phone went right to voicemail, which was unusual. I called again, this time leaving a message. Then I followed up with a text. I’m in full freak out mode by this time. So I called my Mom and shared the news with her. Finally Gabe called me back and we had a short talk. I honestly don’t remember what was said, but their was no discussion of if we would do this – we both knew this was our chance.

After this, I took a quick shower. After all, I had to look nice when I meet the birthmom. My mind is going a million miles an hour, trying to figure out how to care for all the things that needed to be done before we fly out for an unknown amount of time. I called a friend and texted our church group ladies.

My day was spent on the phone. Responding to texts from the small group we shared our news with. Calls with the agency. So much to learn and keep on top of. Laundry to wash. Dishes to do. I had a ribeye marinating in the fridge. And I couldn’t keep one task separate or prioritize them. I really was in a functioning state of shock.

We have a great small group and the ladies swarmed around me. 2 moms came over to help me pack. They ran to target first, arriving with a mini baby shower. I had told them the baby was a full Hispanic girl. So one brought the most adorable outfit with 2 big bows….bows were nowhere close to being on my mind. They helped me with laundry, went through my large hoard of baby clothes from our previous attempt (and all the ones I’d bought over the years as a way of coping). They did my dishes, and just gave me great mommy advice, and helped me pack all the baby stuff I would need. Their help was invaluable.

Right before they arrived, Gabe got home. He had requested leave which was approved (sooooo thankful for understanding superiors), he just has to be back at work on Tuesday morning. This couldn’t have come at a worse moment in his schedule. He hadn’t been home for over a week, had just worked until 1:30am, and needed to get lots of time sensitive tasks off his list by March 5th so he can attend his Drill Instructor schoolhouse April 4-June 22. But they let him go! Thank you Jesus!

Getting Ready for Pink!

About 4pm, we got a call from the social worker in Nevada. She had just met with the birthparents and told me they are a really sweet couple and seem serious. They did name the baby, and didn’t want to do cradle care (Cradle care is a temporary foster family who takes a baby when they are discharged from the hospital until a private adoptive family gains custody….State of Nevada requires a 72 hour hold before birth parents can relinquish their rights). So the birthparents planned on taking baby girl home with them for the night. When we heard this, our hearts dropped. Here we go again….It was nauseating. The social worker assured us that she grilled the couple and felt they were committed to the process. We took a deep breath and said we are getting on a plane no matter what and would see what would happen. But the social worker did take a picture and texted it to us. We just stared at her face on our phones!

First Photo

We exhausted ourselves quickly, mostly mental tiredness. We had a neighbor who invited us over for dinner and then took us to the airport. I was such a bundle of nerves and thought several times I was going to throw up.

We got to the airport and unloaded our stuff. Holy cow we had a lot. We took our car seat, stroller, and base. Walking through the airport pushing that with no baby got a lot of looks. Lots of, “oh where’s the baby?” as if we left something that important at home. We just smiled and said “We’re picking one up!”

Airport security was interesting. No baby in a stroller, I was half expecting them to pull us aside and have a drug dog check us out. When it was our turn to put our stuff through the scanner, we couldn’t figure out how to get the car seat off the stroller! I knew it wasn’t that hard and had put it together, but that was a year and a half ago! So embarrassing. It seriously took us 5 minutes to figure out how to take the seat off, then how to fold up the stroller. All I could do was laugh…#firsttimeparentproblems.

The flight from Honolulu to Phoenix was only about 5 hours, but it was the longest few hours of my life. No cell phones, so I was so removed from updates. I didn’t know if we would land and get the news that, just kidding they are keeping the baby. The flight was quiet and empty, so we got to actually lay down and get the sleep we needed. Well, I did. Gabe didn’t sleep.

We had a 3 hour layover in Phoenix before heading to Reno. It was stressful, but the select group of people “in the know” texted us. Then, I got a text from the social worker that the birthparents changed their mind and were going to use cradle care. In that moment, I knew this was going to work out. Most of my nerves were gone. A peace fell around me.

Our flight to Reno was the longest hour and a half of my life. Gabe and I weren’t seated next to each other and I just prayed the whole flight. We landed, and split up: I got the rental car, Gabe went for bags. I texted our social worker to let her know we landed. She called and said to get to the hospital ASAP because little miss was going to be discharged in an hour. And the birthparents wanted to see us before that.

We raced to our rental car, madly loaded up, took off shirts and got fresh ones on (it’s been 36 hours since I’d had a shower….i smelled, had greasy hair, and all traces of makeup were gone), and hit the road. I did make up while Gabe drove. We were immediately in culture shock being back in the mainland and the roads, but we made it in one piece. Parked and headed inside to go see our little girl for the first time.

Waiting...and shopping

Waiting.  My least favorite word. I am a go-getter, someone who makes things work.  When I know what I want, get out of my way because it's going to get done done, my way. And if there is any word that goes alongside 'adoption', it's 'waiting'.  And honestly, it sucks. And it's exhausting. Emotionally exhausting. But waiting doesn't sound exhausting; it sounds easy.  Relaxing, after all, it's just waiting.  It's not. It's intense and agitating!

I have been blessed with people all around us, supporting us.  And I have been blessed with the knowledge that my father in heaven has this whole plan worked out.  A plan that is going to blow my mind with how perfect it is.  A plan that will surpass any small dream I can come up with.  But sometimes, my emotions win.  Even when I have all the head knowledge, my heart hurts and I have a mopey (mopy?) day or two. I see all these beautiful families who have waited just like me.  Who have beautiful stories.  And I wonder how much longer I will have to wait?

In my time of waiting, I went through a phases of baby shopping. *cringe* 2 weeks ago, I went on a major binge. Like 3 stores. But in my defense, I returned 2 shirts to Kohl's and had Kohl's cash to spend, so I got 7 outfit sets for only $11! I just felt as if I needed to have a diaper bag ready.  While I didn't go buy diapers or wipes, I did go buy a....what's it called....the wrap that makes the baby a burrito...a swaddle.  That's it.  I bought a swaddle.  I also bought several onies that are like a sleepers. Is that a sleeper or a onies?  (Can you tell I need to learn the names of all these things?). I also purchased a few newborn bottles because they were on sale.  Everything Most everything is gender neutral and is a good start should we get a spontaneous baby. Oh, and did I forget to mention the amazing Nebraska Huskers onies and sleeper set I got? And to smooth things over with Gabe since this was a secret shopping spree, I bought a set of Bronco onies (Go Broncos, beat Seattle!). I know that this doesn't change anything, it doesn't speed up the process.  But in a week of struggling to wait, it was something that I could do. But, I think that was my first and last spending spree.  Gabe has told me in no uncertain terms that I am not allowed to buy anything else until we are matched.  I'm ok with that, mostly because when I worked up the nerve to tell him about my shopping adventure, he didn't get angry.  He just rolled his eyes and shook his head.  I can deal with that.

Newborn clothes from Kohls for $11.  The pink was too cute to walk away from.  (Secretly hoping for a girl!)

And for having an adoption journey blog, I wish I had more to write about. I hate having no updates. It is discouraging at times but as Gabe would say, it is what it is.


(Well, Gibbs just unhooked the power cord to my computer.  Must be my sign that it's enough for now)

Profiles = Done

So, I've had lots of people asking me about what's going on with our adoption because I haven't posted an update for a while. I'd like to say I have a good excuse, but I don't. 

I'll start with the printing. I saved a PDF copy of our profile and went to Fedex Kinkos to see how it turned out and to try different kinds of papers. It turned out perfect....except for the price. Bankrupt-exceedingly-expensive. So that stressed me out a bit. But I talked with our coordinator and she gave me a list of online paper companies that other families have used. So I quickly picked one and ordered a copy. I didn't want to order all 50 copies in case they were poorly done.  I quickly received our profile proof, along with this note on it. 

What an encouragement to us. I wanted to use this company, but the paper was too thick and there weren't many alternatives. 

So I went to the 2nd company. Time is ticking down (in my head), and I don't want to waste anymore time from being presented to birth mothers.  So I decide to order 10, and turn them in so at least we can be presented a few times while I wait for the perfect copies. But a day or two later, I had a bad feeling and I did some research on the paper and found I ordered even thicker paper than the first company had!  Freaking out and tired with everything, I went to the third company and took a chance. I ordered 50 copies, guessing on the paper and hoping it was thinner. I nervously waited a week and they were perfect! Exactly like the expensive Fedex copy!

So I spent the whole next Saturday putting the profiles together: hole punching, brad binding, taping a picture to the front, and signing our name on the last page.  It felt so good to be done with them! 

 
I mailed them from work on Monday and thought that was the end of that. Later that week, a co-worker forwarded me an email from UPS which stated my package was on a train that detailed in Amarillo, TX. I started to freak out. Were they damaged? Lost? Soaked in train fuel? Would I get reimbursed? And since I mailed them from work under our work account, would a check be made out to my employer? I finally took a deep breathe and reminded myself I spent less money in the profiles that I thought I would. It I had to re-do them it would be ok. Fast forward a week, the profiles delivered and no one contacted me that they were damaged. Praise The Lord!

So everything is turned in.  Our profiles are sent to birth mothers with whom we have matching preferences.  And if anyone requests information about us, they can either receive the PDF file or one of these hard copies.  I hope that I don't have to make any more, but it feels so good to have it done!  Now just waiting for one of our profiles to fall into the hands of the special lady that is going to bring our child into the world.

Profile Done!

Time for another post.  Our lives have been so hectic!  Today, I finally mailed in our profile proof.  Our profile is a 7 page (front and back) booklet that contains our birth mother letter with pictures that let her get to see up a bit more.  I have been working on it for several months and am a little embarrassed it took so long to get done.  I had it close to be completed, but I just didn't feel content with how it turned out.  I didn't like all the pictures I had, or felt I was missing some.  I didn't like the layout, the color, felt it was too simple, etc.  I was stressing myself out about not feeling exactly right about it.  I felt like there was so much pressure to have it perfect.  I finally set it aside so I could come back to it with a fresh mind.  But then life decided to get crazy.  We then had to get ready for Gabe's move as well as having several family visits.  But now that Gabe is sipping Mai Tai's on a beach and I am sweltering in Missouri, I finally had time to sit down and finish my project.  I finished our profile, printed a proof, and mailed it to our agency for their approval and suggestions.  And I feel very comfortable with the profile I created.  It is simple like we are, nothing flashy or over the top.  I have a feeling they are going to say we don't have enough "action shots" (shots of us doing things like playing piano, playing basketball, etc. but it's not a posed picture).  But with Gabe thousand of miles away, they are going have to be ok.  I think it represents us the way we want to be presented to birth-mothers. 

Below I posted the first and last page of our profile.  I would post more, but Gabe doesn't like lots of personal information floating around (me having a blog is a big deal).  But if anyone is interested in seeing the full profile, I can email a copy in PDF form.

*first page of our profile*

Picture 2 glittery green brads on the left side binding the booklet

*last page of our profile*

Now our adoption is out of our hands.  We have done all the steps we can do for now.  It's a waiting game now.  Gabe is getting really antsy, and I'm getting anxious too.  We are so excited and ready for the next step.

Now to clear up one little thing.  Some people are wondering why I didn't go with Gabe when he left for Hawaii.  He is there to train which will be very time consuming, then deploy.  I didn't want to be stuck on an island of people I don't know, alone.  As it turns out, Gabe will be in Hawaii for a month, then will leave for a course in California, and straight on to his deployment.  So even if I was in Hawaii, he wouldn't be there.  It's also a God thing, because Gabe needs to take this course, and I'd rather him take it now than when he gets back from his deployment.  It would be hard for him to come home and adjust to life back home, then leave, then re-adjust.  And honestly, when he gets home I'm not gonna let him leave for a long time.

Homestudy = Complete!

In my last post, I shared how Nebraska lost our clearances and our home study was put on hold.  Well, we almost had another major glitch.  Let me set the background.  When we signed up with the agency to do our home study, they gave us a list of all the documents we needed.  Then we worked with them for over a month.  And they have let us know what documents were outstanding.  For the last 3 weeks, I knew we were only missing some state clearances. Well, last week, they decided out of the blue that they needed a copy of Gabe's adoption decree.  Why? I have no idea.  Maybe to make sure his parents didn't buy him on the black-market?  Well, it just so happens that the day they emailed me was the day Gabe's parents were flying out of Denver to go to the Philippines for a month!  I quickly called Terri, my mother-in-law, and to my relief they were packing.  I asked her if she had the documents and after a few minutes of looking, she found it.  Then, she informed me their scanner may be broken.  I was freaking out at that point.  And with our Nebraska documents getting lost in-transit, I didn't want her to mail such a important document.  But God came through (which shouldn't surprise me at all).  Somehow Bill was able to scan the documents to me that afternoon, which I forwarded to the agency. Crisis averted.

So all that was left was the pesky Nebraska clearances, take 2.  Gabe got back on Friday so we went and got the documents notarized on Monday.  I was all ready to mail the documents then thought I should fax them as well.  I made out a coversheet with my info and faxed it at work.  Only a few minutes later, I get a phone call from the people I sent it (at my work phone which really surprised me).  They said they got my fax, no need to mail the originals, and they would fax it back to our home study agency later that day.  This afternoon our coordinator emailed and said they received it and our home study would be finalized tomorrow!

All these little hiccups are just that: little.  Amazingly, the situation hasn't become overwhelming or too stressful. Everything has worked out pretty smoothly.  Which in my mind affirms that this is what God is wanting us to do.  If this was not his will, his hand wouldn't be on all these hiccup situations and it would be a mess, I'd be stressed out and cranky.  But the timing of everything, especially the situation with Gabe's parents leaving in a matter of hours, has all worked out because God is in control and he is making this all work out.  It's his grace on us and our choice.  What a comfort that is!

So with our home study complete, this makes us eligible for a baby.  No more legal compliance.  Once we are selected, we can bring a baby home.  We can get matched with any birth mother, even one in labor.  Or we could get a phone call that an infant in our area is a match for us.  Those are rare occasions, but it is a possibility.  Which is exciting and slightly terrifying overwhelming.  In a way, I want to have time to prepare and build a relationship with our birth mother.  But with Gabe moving to Hawaii in a little over a month, a quick adoption would be a gracious gift.

Our first hitch

We have been busy, busy.  Things are moving along quite well in some areas, but we have hit a hitch in others.

Our homestudy still isn't complete.  We are still waiting for our Nebraska background check.  We sent it off a month ago, and our homestudy agency still hasn't received it.  Nebraska doesn't keep track of what they have received or sent, so we are going to have to send another request.  Gabe has been gone for 2 weeks for his annual training (enjoying the northern part of the US with all the mosquitos and ticks) so I was just going to forge his signature. But it couldn't be that easy, right.  Nebraska is one of the states that require a notary. So its a waiting game.  I'm hoping that our background checks are just late and will come in this week.  Thankfully, Nebraska is one of the states that didn't charge for the background check.  So at least we aren't out any money, other than 2 postage stamps.

But we had our pictures taken, and they turned out really well.  We were recommended to a couple that does photos by a friend at church.  We chose to go with them because they are a christian couple who have adopted 5 kids, and are currently waiting to adopt their 6th!  The first, they adopted with an agency out of Kansas City that we looked into.  The remaining 5 have all been foster-adoptions and are sibling sets.  It gave us a connection to them and I have really enjoyed getting to know Heidi.  We are very similar in personalities and I am hoping to develop a good friendship with her. 

While Gabe has been gone, I have finished up our birthmother letter and our website is up and running!  I'm hoping things move along quickly, but I am very content with where we are now.  We are working on our profile, but I'm not letting it stress me out.  I'll work on it here and there, but not every day.

And I will leave you with some photos from our photo shoot.  Didn't I marry a studly guy ;)

First Homestudy Interview

On Wednesday we had our first homestudy interview.  I was so nervous about it.  It's weird to have someone pick through your life, giving you the 'ok' to be a parent.  I know that Gabe and I will be some awesome parents, but the thought of someone stamping "veto" on our dreams is scary.  So I went into the interview a bit uptight.

We had found a local christian adoption agency to do our homestudy.  They specialize in international adoption, which is why we didn't go with them for our domestic adoption.  We had to send an application.  Once approved, we filled out a rather length formal application.  Then, we were emailed an extraordinary amount of documents to fill out.  By the time we met for our first interview, most of the documents were done and ready to be turned in (or had been emailed already).

When we started our interview, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the coordinator we had been corresponding with was a young lady not much older than us.  She has a great sense of humor an we were able to laugh and joke around, making the situation and questions not seem so intrusive.  We were asked the basic questions about drug use, psychiatric issues, felonies, etc.  But then we moved into a marital interview.  She asked questions about how we met, what attracted us to the other, how we dealt with conflicts, etc.  Even though we were being quite open with a complete stranger, we were surprisingly at ease and I think it went really well.

Next week, we both have our individual interviews (done separately), and our home walk-thru on Friday after work.  Our adoption agency does not split up sibling groups, and because we see that as important, we are open to an older sibling up to 3 years old.  Because there is a slight possibility we will be blessed with a toddler, we have to have the house somewhat toddler-ready.  That includes locks on cabinets.  I'm not one to want to plan so far ahead.  I mean, it could be 2 years before we have a child in our home.  So baby-proofing the house right now seems silly, but we will do what we have to do.

So, we feel very blessed to be working with great people with Christian principals.  I think it gives us an unspoken bond that makes a stressful situation a little bit more calm.

**Oh, and here is a tid-bit of a fun fact: Missouri law states that for a home study, any firearms must be locked in a safe, with the ammo in a separate safe.  I can kinda see why they do this, but I hope that any burglars give us a 10 second head start.

2 Weeks In

It has been almost 2 weeks since we officially started the adoption process.  It has been a stressful 2 weeks, trying to coordinate documents for both the adoption facilitation center and the home study agency while working (and attending my sister's graduation and gabe's sister's wedding).  But, we have most of the documents turned in, have a temporary profile being shown to interested mothers, and so much more.  It is finally calming down!  Gabe has been great and while I do most of scanning and emailing, he has really pitched in.  I have been surprised by the interest he has shown about the process.  He is excited about having a baby, but to be excited about the paper work and creating a profile has been a surprise to me.

Now we need to create a profile.  A profile is a 750 word birthmother letter that is broken up into parts such as "about us", "shaina", "gabe", "our family", etc.  Each section is put on a color page that has pictures and stuff on it.  It seems like a lot of work, but I'm hoping my scrap booking skills will come into play even though it will be created on the computer.  We also get to include reference letters from family and friends.  We make like 100 of these, and they are given to birthmothers that meet our preferences.

We are halfway through our homestudy.  A homestudy is required by the state and it must be completed and up-to-date before we can bring a child into our home.  So far we have sent out requests from every state we have lived in for them to vouch that we have no child abuse records on file.  We also have been required to get our fingerprints run through the FBI (there goes my fallback plan of bank robbing).  The weird thing about that was that we went to a UPS store for it.  How secure, right?  Right now we are waiting for our actual meetings.  We meet once and will have a marital interview then, we each meet separately, then there is a walk-through of the house.  In the paperwork, it said we had to have a crib so they could approve it.  But since we are going to buy one, we just have to have it picked out so they can say it is safe. 

We also have to get a professional picture taken outside.  I'm excited about this as we haven't had a professional picture taken since our wedding.  A friend of ours from church recommended a couple who are currently in the process of adopting their 6th child!  I'm excited to work with them and to get some nice pictures.

Well, that's a brief rundown of what we have done so far.  I think in a week or two we should be done with all the paperwork and working on the profiles.  And hopefully we will have our homestudy done.  Once that is done, we can apply for grants, interest free loans, and are eligible for a drop-in-the-lap baby! 

It has been amazing the response we have gotten from our friends and family.  Everyone has been so supportive and encouraging.  It means so much to us to have people sharing in our excitement!  Thank you all!

Answers to Questions

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Now that we have blown your minds over choosing to adopt, I know there are lots of questions.  How does it work?  How soon will you have a baby? Etc.  I’m a little overwhelmed right now with paperwork.  SO MUCH PAPERWORK!!   You wouldn’t imagine how much there is to do.  I’m starting to think that this could be a full-time job, just the paperwork and all that is involved. And while none of it has to be done right this second, the sooner it gets done the sooner we adopt. 

We chose to go with a christian facilitation agency.  They work with birthmothers and help them find a family they are comfortable with to raise the baby.  Gabe and I give our preference as what we are comfortable with, and they present our portfolio to birthmothers that meet our criteria, along with other families.  The birthmother then chooses the family she wants to raise her baby. 

One of the main things that attracted me to a facilitation agency is that they care about the birth mother.  As some of you know, Gabe’s sister had her first child at 15 and seriously considered adoption.  She ended up raising her son, but if she had put him up for adoption, I would want the agency she worked with had sincere compassion towards her.  So it only makes sense to look for that quality in an agency we would be using. I want to work with an agency that treats their birthmothers the way I would want my sister to be treated.

We also liked that all the portfolios of birth and adoptive parents had some aspect of Christianity.  All the couples (that I saw) were active in a church, and most birth parents were looking for their child to be raised in a Christian home.  It made me feel that the agency is selective and wants to work with Christian families.  Overall, I just really liked the principal.

We get matched no earlier than 20 weeks.  So once we get matched, things will (hopefully) go quickly.  We could be matched right away, but won’t be able to be matched with a more imminent baby because we don’t have a home-study done.  We have to have a completed home-study to be able to bring a baby home.  So we are working on it.  We could have started there but with Gabe leaving, we wanted to get everything done as soon as possible.

What else?  From what we have been told, most women are looking for an open adoption just because they want that option.  They don’t know how they will feel and don’t want to have that door closed.  So we are open to an open adoption.  But we will be the parents and if the relationship isn’t healthy for the child, we can stop it at anytime – we’re the parents (it’s not a formal contract).  I am hoping we get matched with someone who in a different situation would be good friends with.  If there are visits, the birthmother pays to see us and we meet for dinner or at a theme park or somewhere neutral.  This aspect is hardest on Gabe I think, but I just see it as a very unique opportunity.  It is kinda scary but we will take it a day at a time, and I’m surprisingly excited to see what happens.

Well, that’s it for now.  My mind is on overload after a long day at work.  I hope that answers some questions.

A New Adventure

Oh, where to start? So much has been going on in our lives and finally we are to a place where we are comfortable sharing.

Gabe and I signed a contract with an adoption agency today!  We had always known, even before we got married, that we would adopt, but thought we would adopt an older girl from the Philippines or Brazil when our own children were older (like jr. high age).  But life has a way of being all-around unexpected.  So here we are, making a decision to adopt an infant as our first child.

This blog is going to be a way for us to keep friends and family update.  And for others to get an inside glimpse as what adoption entails.  Growing up, I and didn't have the opportunity to see adoption stories up close.  So adoption is going to be a learning curve for me and my family.  Gabe, on the other hand, was adopted from the Philippines at 12 with his younger sister.  He has 7 siblings, 4 of which are adopted too.  And their family has several friends who have adopted, most internationally.

Making a commitment to adopt has been on our minds for several years.  Two years ago, we actually had a lengthy conference call with an agency, but we weren't ready just yet.  Fast forward 2 years, and the thought of adopting is still scary.  It is expensive and as a woman I worry about finances, even though my husband more than provides for us.  I fear not having the motherly instincts kick in and being overwhelmed and not knowing how to be a mother.   But we decided we needed to step out in faith.  And after signing the papers and writing a big check, I have such a beautiful peace about it all.  No second thoughts.  And I'm so excited to move forward.  Gabe and I have such a strong marriage and we are walking closer to God than we ever had before.  And so far, we are snag free.  I think there have been many opportunities where God could have slammed closed a door, but so far he hasn't.  So I feel we have his blessing and that is comforting.

We also decided to start the process now because Gabe's job is getting unpredictable.  He has orders to be stationed in Hawaii (Yes, I know it's some people's dream place to live.  But I was born in the Midwest and beaches and water don't appeal to me).  He chose this station because he wanted to deploy, and it was the only unit leaving.  He deploys in December and will be gone 6-8 months on a non-combat deployment.  This give us the opportunity to have increased income which will help offset the costs we will see.  I will stay in Missouri until he gets back, which gives us over a year to adopt without having to go through a 2nd homestudy.  Also, I have friends and an AMAZING church family that I want share this experience with.  While Hawaii maybe nice, who wants to live there alone?

So that's a quick run-down on us.  As you can see, we have alot on our plates from starting a family to a MAJOR move in a year.  But it is exciting and we treat it all as an adventure.  God has blessed us and we can feel his hand on our lives, keeping us together when major stresses from the marine corps could pull us apart.  But we covet your prayers as we step out into the unknown.