Our Adoption History

Some of you may know our story, but many of you don't. I wanted to share with you where we've been in our journey. Our adoption has been interesting at best. We began the process about 13 months ago. We accepted the referral for 6 year old Kenneth Jayswen and were excited about what God had planned. We did things a bit backwards like a few others. We didn't have a home study or any paperwork completed prior to our referral. Because Kenneth is special needs (he has a burn on the side of his face that needs some attention) AOH (Acres of Hope, our placing agency) was able to begin the process in Liberia without our home study. Never in our wildest dreams could we have imagined what was coming next.

Just as we were beginning this process, Alan unexpectedly lost his job. Needless to say, we were devastated for many reasons, the main one being the adoption. After we got over the initial blow, we brushed ourselves off, rolled up our sleeves and began looking for a job for Alan. He works in health care management so we didn't think that it would take him too long to secure a position. Well, long story short and almost a year later, he has a job! Praise God!! He started in April with GE Healthcare and we didn't have to relocate which was a huge answer to prayer. We knew that a move would be difficult on the kids and wanted to avoid it if we could. The down side to Alan's new position however is that he is travelling Monday thru Friday on most weeks. We miss him terribly and I'm not going to lie, it's hard. But right now HE HAS A JOB! That's what I keep telling myself especially on those looong days with just me and the kids.

During the unemployment phase of or lives everything was put on hold with regard to our home study. We completed everything that we could that didn't require proof of employment. Our home study was completed a couple of weeks ago. AOH and immigration now have their copies, so we are now waiting on our I600 to arrive.

So now we wait. Sometimes that is the hardest part. The kids and I keep busy and pass the time this summer with swimming, baseball, gymnastics, playing, relaxing, and getting our hearts and home ready for Kenneth.