Our Adoption Story

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
- 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

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This is a post that I have been waiting to write for some time now. When you have a blog, you have to weigh out how much of your life you share with the entire world! I was waiting for the right time and realized there is no “right” time.

I know that this will open up the door to many questions from you all and, honestly, I want to speak out on this so that I may be able to help other women/families who may relate to our story.

In 2010, Hubs and I decided that we wanted nothing more than to start a family. We figured I would get off “the pill” and everything would just happen. As I watched all my friends get pregnant (as you probably noticed from all the baby posts), I was eager to get started.

After a year had passed, I started to get a little worried and decided not run marathons for a bit and cut back on heavy cardio as this is what “everyone” said was best. I refused to go see a doctor as I knew nothing was wrong with me and that all was in God’s hands and when he wanted us to get pregnant, I would be.

After two years had passed, I started to get a little nervous and decided to go to a homeopathic doctor. I won’t go into depth of this visit, but let’s just say it was interesting, but did nothing more for us, so I decided to just leave it be and pray. During this time, Hubs had been checked and everything was good… or so we thought.

Two and half years had passed and we decided that if by the end of 2012 we weren’t pregnant, we would pray about adoption. Starting this past January (2013), I decided to go to my regular doctor and get checked for a few things, but not venture into infertility treatments. All my test came back great which I suspected (my body is all good). We knew more than ever God was drawing us in the direction of adoption.

Since the moment we were married, we both have agreed that we would adopt. Whether it be after we birthed our own children or before. Now I know what you are all thinking, “Watch! Once you adopt you will get pregnant.” We have heard it all friends! If that happened then we would be beyond blessed!

Adoption is completely terrifying, yet ever so exciting. We are confident that adoption has been in His plan for us. It just took a few minor bumps in the road, which only made God’s grace and beauty more evident to us. Praise be to Him!

There are so many different ways that you can adopt and we have been blessed to have friends in our lives that have adopt both privately and through the county. Through much prayer and wisdom for friends who we respect and trust, we decided to adopt through our county. We knew that this wouldn’t be any easy journey, but we could not be more ecstatic!!

Most importantly, we are thankful for a Savior who has adopted us into His family! We have been convicted about sharing the Gospel to others. We should not hide it; we should shout it from the rooftops! God offers His gift of salvation. He adopts us as sons and daughters in Him. “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” (Galatians 4:4-6). What a beautiful picture of His grace and mercy!

Our precious child will be (and now Rylee is) a constant reminder of God’s love for us and our family! Thank you for praying for our growing family!

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Many of you have already asked how going through our county (San Bernardino) has looked like versus a private company. Here was our “little” check list from the county…

  • Attend an orientation meeting.
  • Complete the Foster / Adoption Licensing application.
  • Pass a tuberculosis (TB) test.
  • Pass the Federal and California Background Check.
  • Have your doctor sign off that you are healthy enough to take care of a child if selected.
  • Complete a First-Aid and CPR class.
  • Take the required classes totally 24 hours. For adoptions through the county is done with PRIDE classes. These are a series of 8 three-hour classes that focus on different aspects of being a foster or adoptive parent. Private adoption organizations may have their own classes, but 24 hours is the state requirement. Classes must be completed within 120 days of submitted your application.
  • Complete the class homework. There are short assignments for each three-hour class. When all the classes are completed, this homework is turned in to your social worker.
  • Schedule a visit with your social worker.
  • Schedule a visit with the home inspector. Your social worker approves you as an individual. A separate social worker must license your house, making sure all chemicals, medicines, guns or poisons are locked up.
  • Wait for an adoptive placement. Although you will be a licensed foster parent, if your goal is adoption. A child will not be placed with you until the social worker is reasonably sure that child is available for adoption. How long this takes depends on the needs of your family and the children available.