18 Months

This Wednesday marks the beginning of our 18 month wait to find our forever baby. When we signed with Angel Adoption, Inc., we were told the average wait time was 12-18 months. Whelp.... here we are, 18 months in February. I keep reminding myself that what's meant to be, will be. And that God has many blessings coming our way. And really, at this point, we are closer to being parents, than we are from it. Angel claims 98% of their clients adopt within 24 months. Keep praying that we are one of the 98% and our baby will find us soon.


In other news, we were fortunate to be gifted a getaway in paradise - Cancun, Mexico. Last week, Jim and I spent 7 nights and 6 days relaxing, reading, and loving each other. I don't think Jim or I realized how badly we needed to get away and regroup.  It was the perfect vacation. I wouldn't change a thing. Well, chair clips; I'd bring chair clips for our towels :-)

MLK Day

Happy Martin Luther King Day!


Since this is our Passage to Parenthood blog, it seemed only appropriate to share this with you today. If you haven't followed this series, I recommend that you do. This lively, New York Times Bestselling biography series inspires kids to dream big, one great role model at a time. You'll want to collect each book.




December Update

Our profile went out 22 times in the month of December, to potential birthmothers, and our website was viewed 66 times. We keep praying that our forever baby will find us soon. In the meantime, we are enjoying this frigid weather….that’s a lie. This weather is miserable. But we are enjoying each other and we’re hopeful for what 2017 has in store for us. Happy New Year!

2017

To be honest, I can't believe it's 2017, and we're still not parents. That's not meant to start this post negatively; it's just the truth. I really thought it would have happened by now. We've come very close, but it just wasn't meant to be - our forever baby is still out there waiting for us.


We rang in the new year, as we did the year before. Our friends, Mike and Jenn, came over and we cooked a tremendous amount of seafood throughout the evening, and enjoyed a champagne toast at midnight. It was pretty laid back and relaxing. I've read a lot of things about people "being over 2016", etc. I mean, I get it, obviously. But, some of my best and worst moments were experienced in 2016, so it's difficult to write it off as a failure. It was just tough. As unfortunately, many years have felt.


But 2017 is a new year! New experiences, new opportunities to shine, new moments to show grace, mercy, and to give prayer. I've started my days and ended my nights in prayer; for God to stay at my side. For continued strength, hope, patience, and faith. Happy New Year to you and yours. May this year find you healthy, happy and rewarded.

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. we are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Years Day." ~ Edith Lovejoy Pierce

November Update

'Tis the season to be jolly, I guess! We received our monthly update from Angel this weekend, and our profile went out 35 times to potential birthmothers. Yowza! I can't help but hold on to the thought that we could be parents before Christmas or New Years. I am praying so consistently to make this dream come true; while accepting whatever God has planned is what's best for us. I have joy in my heart this Holiday Season. I know our baby will find us soon. Happy Holidays to you and yours. Don't take for granted the lovely families that you have today.


xoxo,
Anne & Jim

National Adoption Month

In honor of National Adoption Month, I ask that you do one thing to promote our adoption journey. That can be sharing our profile, reaching out to friends and family, making an announcement at church, or just a simple prayer. You never know when or how our miracle will happen. Thank you

This

"Sometimes God will inconvenience you to help somebody else. Instead of getting frustrated when our plans don’t work out, we need to remember that it’s not all about us. Maybe God has you there on purpose to let your light shine. Maybe He’s counting on you to be a good influence on them."

Joel Osteen

October Update

This morning we received our monthly update from Angel. In the month of October, our profile was viewed 132 online, and went out a WHOPPING 21 times to potential birthmothers. Wow. That's a lot! I have to keep reminding Jim and myself that we just have to trust the process. Yes, the journey hasn't been easy. But we are blessed in so many ways. We plan to continue to enjoy the life we have today - not focus on the life we hope to have in the future. All we ask is that you continue to keep us in your prayers, and don't hesitate to spread the word, our blog, our email, etc., with anyone you think may have a connection.
Have a great weekend and God bless!

September Update

This afternoon we received our monthly update from Angel Adoption, Inc. Our profile was sent out 10 times to potential birthmothers and our online profile was viewed 89 times. I don't really track the online profiles much, as I think it's mainly other adoptive families reading each others profiles (competition, if you will).
10 times. I guess that's 10 opportunities for us to find our baby. Sometimes though, it's a reminder like that was 10 opportunities that came and went. I start questioning our profile; is something coming out wrong? I start questioning us; what makes another family more appealing, and we get left behind? I know I just have to keep a good attitude and put all of our trust in God that this will work out as it is suppose to, and one day, the journey will all make sense. In the meantime, I've noticed that I'm feeling frustrated and a little sad.

Prayer

"Father, thank You for the blessing and victory You have in store for my future. Thank You for allowing me to see and hear in my heart the good things You have planned. I choose to keep my eyes on You and declare Your blessing over my life in Jesus's name." 1 Kings 18:41

Why God took so long to give me a baby

My dear friend, Jennifer sent this link to me today (luckily I was at home on lunch, because I was a blubbering mess).

Jim and I are coming upon our four year wedding anniversary. Also known as, to me, our four years of waiting to grow our family. FOUR YEARS. I vividly remember reading blogs written by women sharing stories of their fertility/baby struggles, and it taking 4+ years. I remember thinking "I just can't imagine..." "how do you get through that?.." "wouldn't you just give up?!.." 

I can imagine it now, because I've lived it. You get through it by waking up every morning, by breathing, by the grace of God, by the support of friends and family, and because the desire to be parents was placed in your hearts before you even knew each other. Yes, you do want to give up. You want to give up on trying every month with no success. You want to give up on injecting your body full of drugs that make you fat, bloated, bruised and a raging emotional bitch. You want to give up spending thousands of dollars to lose two babies in two years. You want to give up on your marriage because you want your spouse to have the family they deserve. You want to give up on yourself because you feel like your body, your womanhood is failing you.  You want to give up on adoption because all you really know is disappointment and heartbreak. But you never give up. You keep moving forward.  You keep loving each other through it. You keep praying in hopes It’s because He’s forming something so breathtaking and beautiful…it cannot be rushed.


You keep praying.

Broken Hallelujah

August Update

We decided it would be best to keep our profile active, even shortly after the failed placement. I guess our love for Nora proves our desire to be parents and we know our child is out there and we don't want to close any doors in the meantime. Since we had been in-active for several months, and most of August, our Angel update was a little lower than normal - Our profile went out 5 times to potential birthmothers, and our online profile was viewed 97 times.


We are hopeful for good news this month. Before we met Ayanna, I kept praying specific prayers to bring us a baby in September... once we were connected, I just thought God was showing off (totally kidding). So maybe that wasn't our answered prayer, and it's still to come this month?


Keep praying for us.

Let It Go

This.