Beginning

The beginning of our specific journey started when Erin (Josh’s sister) mentioned a couple at her church had adopted through the state of Arizona.  Not fostering.  Not thousands of dollars.  ADOPTION of two beautiful children.

Erin contacted the agency they had gone through, Arizona Adoption and Foster Care (AAFC), and forwarded a response e-mail to me.  Here’s what she said:

                Here’s a response and info on that adoption agency my friend used :)

                Should we go to the May 7^th info meeting together just to find out more?

                Hope you & Josh had a great weekend!!

                Love,

                E

I received this e-mail on April 28^th, 2013.

I did NOT want to go.  I wasn’t against adopting.  But it wasn’t my dream.  We all know about dreams and feeling like we would miss out on something unless we get exactly what we want.

Josh was ecstatic.  He would go to the moon and back for this, but he was always very patient with me.  I was the one holding back.

So, we decided to attend the informational meeting on May 7^th.

I was nervous, emotional and feeling overwhelmed at the thought of going to this meeting.  The first person I told was Emily (my sister).  I bawled.  She was understanding and sweet and very happy for us.  The second person I told was my mom.  I cried.  She was happy, overjoyed (this is a true understatement) and helped to counsel me in some of the fears I had.  These two conversations had a wonderful way of helping me to be excited and prepared for the meeting.  They also paved the way to healing hurt I had no idea was there.

May 7^th arrived.  I had done some homework and reviewed some of the documents on their website of qualifications and what we would need to do to be certified to adopt.  I woke up a tad bit excited.

That night we had dinner with Erin and later went to the meeting.  Do you ever have the feeling that something is completely right?  Completely?  God is faithful to grant peace when we are headed the right way.  It was easy to be there, easy to do the paperwork that would send us to the next step, easy to say “yes, this is what we are going to do.”

So, we filled out the Initial Questionnaire and waited…