Post # 301

I wanted to give all you faithful readers an update on us. We received an email from our adoption agency informing us that we needed to renew our home study, as it is only valid for a year, and our year is up in mid-August. We had no idea what this meant and were a bit stressed about it, because we weren't sure what it would entail and if there would be any additional cost. In this email we were also told that there have been no birthmoms considering adoption with our agency in the past 12 months. So we weren't even sure we wanted to update our home study with them at all.

But a few days later we heard from our new case worker again, and she told us that there is no charge to update our home study. We just have to meet with her and fill out a few papers. This was a huge relief as we have already paid a large amount for our initial home study and we would not be able to do that again right now. So, we decided to at least update our home study with our agency, knowing that if we do decide to pursue another agency or a private adoption that we would need a valid home study anyway.

We meet with our case worker on Thursday, July 16th. This is a new case worker, as our previous one has left to be an IMB missionary. Please pray that our meeting will go well, and that this "renewal" process will be as easy as we were told it would be. Pray that God would give us wisdom in regard to whether we should pursue another agency. There have also been 3 different "friend of a friend" situations where our names were passed along. We're not sure if that is the way God is going to grow our family, but we are trying to be open to what He brings our way.

In light of my birthday a couple days ago, I have been thinking about this next year in my life. I hope and pray that God will grant me the deepest desire of my heart before I blow out any more birthday candles!