Papparazzi

Our dearest pals,

We need pictures! Shane and I have to design a scrapbook profile for the adoption agency. If you have any pictures of us together, or as individuals, could you please send them to us? We desperately need pix. My limited collection makes it appear as if we have no life before this year. I would be glad to make copies and return them if they are near and dear to you.

Thank you!
Wendy

Puddles

We finally finished our fourth training session (our third this week) at Bethany. It has been awesome! The room of quiet, serious people quickly erupted into a cacophony of conversation. It has really been an awesome experience. The nine couples in the room are truly diverse, not just racially but in experience and interest. I have truly enjoyed this experience. We have this very hip and cute trainer named Shayla. She is actually the birthmother counselor for Bethany. She has brought some reality and perspective to this process. I'm afraid that I still had my rose-colored glasses on when I started this process. I appreciate the agency's goal to inform us of all possibilities.


Last night we had an assignment. We had to imagine that we were birthparents that had to make a plan of adoption for our child. We had to write a letter to our child, explaining ourselves. This was one of the most difficult assignments I have ever had to do. We all brought our letters and then some of us read them aloud. There weren't many dry eyes in the room. Many of us have struggled with the concept of open adoption. Open adoption is when the birthparents may have visits (supervised) with the child and the adoptive parents. This assignment gave us a new perspective on the whole thing. Now I know that my happiest day will be someone's saddest. What a bittersweet time.


Please pray for wisdom for all of the future parents in this class. We all have tough decisions to make. Also pray for those birthmoms and dads. Pray that God would guide and direct them in their very important decision making. Praise God for Bethany and their incredible ministry.

On the run . . .

That's how our week has felt. I feel like I'm running on a treadmill without all of the awesome calorie burning. Tuesday was our first training meeting. We cruised through McD's for a fast bite. We smelled like quarter pounders when we arrived. We met 9 other couples who are in the process as well. It's funny how people interact with other strangers. We were all crammed into this little meeting room. As per my usual habit, I searched the room for a pair of eyes to connect with (Shane was in the bathroom). No one would look up. Everyone was so serious. I just wanted to make a little small talk. We opened with our name and something interesting about ourselves. As soon as I sat down, I realized that my socks didn't match. That was my interesting fact. Shane's was that he was adopted at 4 months. There were definitely interesting people there, but you can't help sizing them all up and comparing yourself. I had to confess this later. We watched a very moving video describing the process of adoption from a birthmother's perspective. I tried to cry quietly but I made little snorting sounds. How embarrassing!


Today we had our home inspections by the fire marshall and health department. Talk about under the microscope! I was neurotically finishing the all important wipe of the fridge seal when the fire marshall arrived. He was all business. I always find those kinds of people a challenge. I try to disarm them a bit and at get at least a smile or a laugh. I got one smile and a passing score. He looked behind our dryer. I won't tell you what he found. It was lint pergatory back there. The health dept. inspector arrived a half an hour early as I was finishing the basement. Just before he rang the bell, Maxi made her escape and proceeded to run around the neighborhood for 2 hours. What a day! We also passed this inspection and now I'm chasing the weekend. Training next week is Mon-Wed. Pray that we both don't collapse! I need some Gatorade!

The Juggler

Do you ever feel like a juggler with too many objects in the air and not enough hands to catch them all? That's me right now. I'm balancing being a teacher, wife, and secretary. I love teaching, but I can't help thinking about that new little person. I love my husband, but laundry just doesn't seem to be on the top of the priority list right now. You can pray that God would straighten out my priorities. Seems he's sending me the message to slow down. I have the cold that won't quit. I feel like a dish rag. It would be an underused dish rag if it came from my home!


A few things have happened since I last sat to blog (also low on the list right now, though tons of fun). We registered at Target on Saturday. I realized that adoption brings it's own set of obstacles. We had to enter a due date in order to register. I had to make one up:) Talk about overwhelming. There are even baby chotschkes. Just what we need. Tonight we finished the monster 40 essay questions called the self study. Whew! What a relief! Another ball goes rolling away!


Continue to pray that we would trust God to provide for us. Things are squeaky tight right now. Pray also that we would be shining lights at our training with the other parents. Pray that we would be prepared for all that is ahead (if that is even possible). Thank you for getting calloused knees on our behalf. Little Lankford will thank you too, one day!

The Paper Pregnancy

Well, we are happy to say that we passed through our screening interview with flying colors. We arrived at the agency and sat in their cute little office. I met Linda, the perky receptionist. She's as perky in person as she is on the phone. Sally, the social worker, greeted us and led us back to her office. She had pictures of her family (her husband and two boys) on the table. We sat down and she ran through the details from the agency's end of things. She asked us questions. One of the questions was to describe each other with 3 words. Shane rambled on past the 3 words. She said she always lets the husbands gush a bit. We decided that we would be a good fit for the agency and then we began to sign papers. It felt like we were closing on a house or something. She gave us a packet of paperwork.


We are now on Phase 3 of 5 phases. In phase 3 we must complete 21 hrs. of training, a home study and inspection, and a 6 page autobiography. We also have additional paperwork to complete. Shane is very organized and meticulous, so we have about 2/3 of the paperwork done already. That's why it's taken me so long to blog. I'm pooped. I guess I feel tired just like any other mother to be. The magic number for this adoption is $15,050. Please pray specifically for this number. We know that God is able to supply all our needs with this process!

Tintinnabulation

"To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells

From the bells, bells, bells. - Edgar Allen Poe"

I heard bells yesterday. Not the type that let you know that a cat is near, or the type that warn you of an impending fire. I heard the bells that remind me that God is in the details. Last week we turned in our initial application for adoption. I sent the envelope certified mail so that I could know for sure that the agency had received it. We received confirmation on Thursday. I spoke with my friend Shon, who has gone through much of this process to adopt two boys from Haiti. As usual, she reassured me and encouraged me to be patient. What a testimony of patience she exhibits as she waits for her two boys that she already knows by name, Isaac and Essai.

I wanted to call the agency to find out about the next step. I called the office and Linda, the kind receptionist, let me know that the social worker would call us. Not even an hour later, Sally, the social worker at the agency, called to set up an interview time. How funny. I was worried and the phone rang not even an hour later. We have our first screening interview next Wednesday at 10 a.m. This interview determines whether or not we are a good fit for the agency. Please pray that we will speak words, seasoned with salt. Also pray that we would be calm and that our answers would truly reflect who we are and what we are about.

Ramble On

Well, here I am...blogging?! Never thought I'd be doing it, but I guess I have some thoughts on this whole process (man, who am I kidding...I'm really excited and I have a ton of thoughts on this and I think you all need to know what they are!).


In some ways Wendy has mentioned alot of my thoughts/feelings with what has been going on so far, but as the father in this obviously I'll have some thoughts of my own.
Can I really raise a human being? I love dogs and our 2 seem to be healthy...so I'm sure I can keep a human alive to grow up. Man, changing diapers will be GREAT I'm sure!!!
Can I raise a child with solid Christian principles...I know I can for God is sovereign and all the stupid stuff I do will teach this child what not to do, and then there is my awesome church family who will help "train him up in the Lord"!
The waiting process will be the toughest though, but the time will give us space to make preparations for the "little one".


I'm no where near as good of a writer as Wendy (she will be posting more than I), normally I write my thoughts out in songs/lyrics...but as things come to me to share I will "hit the blog" with what's going on in my head!

We covet your prayers!

God bless you,
shane