#2

Well, Nicholas has been home for almost a year and a half now. Naturally our thoughts have been on making him a big brother. We’ve been thinking and praying about it for awhile, but our circumstances would not allow for us to grow our family. But, things seem to be turning around, and so now we’re ready for #2.

Is it time to go back to Russia? No, we’re not returning there this time. Evan and I have prayed about it and do not feel led to adopt from outside of the United States at this stage in our life. Speaking about praying about it . . . Do you know how hard it is to hear God’s voice when you have your own ideas in mind? I told God and Evan that I would let Evan have the lead this time. Last time I was the one that had the strong conviction to go to Russia. This time I prayed that God would show Evan what we should do.

I have to admit that I didn’t do a very good job of being patient. I tried to sway him in different directions. I am sucker for waiting child lists. For awhile, he felt strongly that we were supposed to wait and do nothing. That’s really hard to do. Finally, he felt that God was calling us to stay put and adopt a newborn from the United States.

It’s nice to stay home in the U.S., but this wait could be even more unpredictable than the last one. We will have to submit our profile to birthmothers and wait until someone chooses us. We could be chosen right away or it could take a year or more.

Home studies are good in Ohio for six years, if they are updated every two. Well, our two year deadline happened November 2009. Unfortunately, Evan did not have a strong job then, so we had to let it expire. Thankfully, we are very familiar with the process and I prepared a lot of the paperwork before we even applied to our agency. In fact, now that I am a self-proclaimed “paperwork expert” I found the paperwork way too easy. I actually got it done in record time.

The biggest pro about doing a domestic adoption is that the paperwork is less intensive. Paperwork does not expire every 3-6 months. There are no certifications or apostilles. No worries though. We still have two of Nicholas’ post placement reports left, so there are still a couple more apostilles in our future.

We went to our agency’s orientation this past Friday which confirmed our decision. While we have obviously adopted before, there are so many different components to a domestic newborn adoption. Some of these things I will blog about in the future. In fact, you’re going to find a lot of things different about this adoption for many reasons.

This blog was started to keep everyone updated on Nicholas’ adoption. This blog will keep you updated on the baby’s adoption too. However, you will probably see more of our everyday life (like normal). I will talk more about the process and the emotions, but they probably won’t happen as frequently this time.

With that said, we have no timeframe to give you. We don’t have a gender requested. We just know that God’s timing is perfect, so we will rest in that truth. We do ask again for your prayers. We really need a lot of wisdom and guidance during this time.

We’re very excited.  We’re also thankful for the select few that already knew our announcement. They have been patiently keeping it to themselves. You are free to tell!