Road to Rowan

We get asked a variation of this question almost daily - "When does Rowan come home?"  "What is the timeline to custody of Rowan?"  "When do you think you will travel?"  It is so very clear - People care, are excited for us, and are hopeful for us, in adding to our family through adoption.   I wish the answer was RIGHT NOW!  But there is a legal process that we are just at the beginning of, and its equal parts amazing and heart breaking to watch her grow through once a month pictures and medical updates.   On one hand, I feel so so incredibly blessed that an answer to prayer - a consistent loving caregiver - is answered for her, and for us.  Rowan is living with a foster family, who is caring for her in this process.  What a gift they are to Rowan, and to us!   And at the same time, we wait for a month to get ONE picture of her sweet face.  And that picture is everything.  EVERYTHING.  I just never thought a...

 While we are apart, we just can’t wait to show you just how loved you are!  Our agency let us know that we can send packages to you, and they recommend sending one every 3-4 months (though you are able to send one monthly!).  Knowing this is one of our only ties to you, as we wait to become a forever family of 5, we will most likely send one to you monthly, sharing pictures, videos, snacks, clothes, and toys we want to share with you.  We will also send along little things for your foster family, because we are eternally grateful that they are loving you so well in this time.   Our first care package included a lovey, a photo album of us (Mommy, Daddy, Palmer, and Quinn), jammies, treats to help you hone your fine motor skills, a stacking toy, and Starbucks treats and a thank you not for your foster family.  We hugged and loved each and every gift before placing it in that box, and sending it your way.  We hope to see pictures soon, of you with your g...

It has been a pretty incredible week for our family! After a pretty difficult snag in the process last week, we have some VERY exciting news to share! But before we get to that, we have to go back to the beginning. On April 8th, we got an email from Holt.  It was right in the middle of bath time for Palmer and Quinn, and from the hallway, Ross says “we got an email from Holt!”  Of course, we open the email sent to us, as the title was “Children in Need of Homes.”   Everything stopped.  We see this sweet face.  (One we wish we could share fully, but can’t just yet!). This face of a little girl, who although she lives across the world, she looked familiar, like we just knew her. Like we were meant to be with her. It is this little girl, who we have been pursuing every day since then.  We have filled out pages and pages of questionnaires, had interviews, delays, read and responded to articles, more phone calls with social workers, and more delays.   Real...

Today is Easter, and as I listen to the song, “It is Well With My Soul” the lyrics “this mountain that is in front of me, will be thrown into the midst of the sea.” 🎉🎉🎉 causes my souls to rejoice!! Rowan, In this season of waiting, it is easy to feel like we are camping out in “Saturday.” Even when we do not see it yet, God always comes through on His promises.  His Sundays.  This Sunday, we celebrate His greatest promise. He is risen! You are our daughter, and you have been prayed for.  You are so very loved by God, and by us!  We rejoice over you, and we look forward with hope, in sharing this day with you in the future!

  We have been in a holding pattern, waiting to hear back about our first review of our home study, and in this time, we received an email about a handful of children who are in need of homes.  We felt such a strong connection to one of the children, and we are so hopeful that they are our child!  This child is not listed publicly, so we are waiting to give any more details until we are, hopefully, matched with them! (Even then, we won’t be able to post pictures or give any identifying information!) All we know at this point, is that we are one of three families reviewing this child’s file.  We have gone through a medical review with our International Adoption Doctor, we have filled out a TEN page questionnaire on how we plan to help and care for this child now and forever, and we have been hopeful in prayer.   We would, more than anything, love to bring this child into our family, if we are the best fit.  We love this little person so very much alread...

  Our home study visits are complete, as well as our psychological evaluation.  And now we start our second "go" at waiting. Our first round of waiting, was when we gathered all of our paperwork and waited to schedule our home study.  Now that we have everything on our end complete, we need to wait on the approval from our agency.      Something I have learned already, is that there is a lot of waiting in adoption.  (and we're just at the beginning!)  But there is also sanctification in waiting, as well.  While I'd love for every process to go smoothly, and I pray for that daily, I also see that there has been blessings in the waiting as well.  Back in February, had our home study process gone a little quicker, we might not be adopting from Korea, or we might have had to have a complete home study update, tacking on even more time.   It hasn't been that long, but I can already look back, and be thankful for how that waiting he...

    This announcement is long and coming for our family!  For many years, we have talked about "someday" adding to our family through adoption, and the exciting thing, is that the time is now! We are adopting a little boy or little girl from South Korea, and we could not be more excited!! (Read on for details!)   Though we have talked about this for years, it is only in the last 9 months that we have been actively walking down this path, searching for the direction we were meant to go.  First, we explored fostering or adopting through the foster care system.  We were starting from a stance of whole heatedly supporting reconciliation, and if it were ever possible, we would adopt.  We took classes, and prepared our home for  welcoming one or many children into our home, one at a time.  And then I got a new job, with much different (and later) working hours.  The case worker that was working with us was very clear with us that we need...