Patience during the adoption process

Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

This year, God has really worked on making me more patient as we go through this adoption process.  You ask for patience and you will receive. He will give you ways to work on becoming more patient. It has been 10 months since we went to our first adoption meeting and we were finally told we were certified adoptive parents in March. Starting the next week, we put in an interest on a 10 year old girl. The next week, we put an interest on a 9 year old boy and a 11 year old girl, because we were told to put an interest on as many children as we liked. Two weeks ago, I was told by the first child's caseworker that they would be making their decision the next week and they would definitely let us know either way. Well, it's 4 weeks in and we have not heard anything about any of the children. We were hoping to know something about one of the 3 children before our first match party, which happens to be tomorrow 4 hours away.

I have been asked if that means we will be getting 3 children. No, it means we are interested in these 3. Once we are chosen for one, our interest on the others will go away. Again, we will have to be patient as we wait to see if one of these are the one God wanted for us.

We will be attending our first match party tomorrow at a church, where we will meet children of all ages. This seems a little odd, like the children are on showcase, but we have heard how many families actually make a match this way. We will get to interact with all of the children to see if there is a match between us.

People keep asking me, "How are you so patient waiting this long?" I have to tell you that I do not always feel patient. I want it to happen quicker and I want to know which one God wants for our family, but things don't happen in our timing, they happen in God's timing. This has been a great lesson for me. God is our everything. He will supply what we need when we need it. I have to continuously turn to God for peace and patience during this time. And he has continuosly given it to me. He shows me that he is in control and will reveal the one for us soon and it may not be the one we want. I know that He is preparing both our family and the child right now as I write. He is preparing our hearts and our lives for each other.

I think of a beautiful blooming garden when I think of patience. Plants start off as seeds and it takes weeks to grow into tiny little plants. Then months as we wait for them to mature and bloom.We have to be patient waiting for each plant to fully develop. In the end, it is all worth it as the vibrant flowers blossom so we can now enjoy the beauty. Adoption is much like this. He is working on us and preparing us as we wait. In the end, we will have the beautiful child He wants us to love and take care of.

I just reviewed Time4Learning on my Reviews tab.

Process of picking out the child

Now that we are officially certified adoptive parents, we can start to pick out the children! We started out wanting a boy and girl sibling group and then just one girl. We found a 10 year old girl we are interested in and we asked to be considered for her about a week ago. Then, yesterday, my hubby was interested in a sibling group of 3 girls. So funny, because my hubby was so set on just adding one to our family. Now, he is looking at adding 3! Shocking, but so sweet! He told me that if he could protect 3 girls from continuuing to get abused, then he would do it. But, we found out one of the girls has special needs. We're not sure if our family can handle that. We will just have to continue to pray. It's funny that I have seen so many adoptive families start off with wanting something specific only to end up adopting something totally different. You never know what the Lord has in mind.

This is how the process works from here on out. I am writing this post because we were told something totally different in the beginning. 6 months later, we were finally told how the process works. First, we look through the pages of children online or through emails sent to us. As a family, we pick out who we might be interested in. We see a short description of the child including: emotional, physical, and developmental needs. That's it. So, we pick out the child or children and put in a request to be considered for those children.

Next, the child's case worker looks through our applications to see which 3 families are the best choice for this child. Yes, can you believe there are more than 3 families. Each family in Texas has their own adoption worker. Now, each adoption worker from those 3 families plus the child's case worker get together to determine which family should be chosen.

Once they determine the top family, that family gets a folder of the child's entire life - what they know of him or her. Wow, you find out everything about the child including what kind of abuse they experienced! Then, after all that, the family decides if they are still interested. If they are interested, they set up a meeting date with the child and the adoptive family. If the family is not interested, they move onto another child and the process starts all over again.

I don't know about you, but that is one long process just to find out more information on a child. It seems like they could come up with an alternative process? Seems like more work for the workers than necessary.