Big Life Decisions

Tomorrow evening, the husband and I are going to a meeting about adoption. (!!!) We're still a couple years off from the whole thing probably, but we're ready to gather more information.

Dave was the one who was ready to adopt first. If you know Dave and I, this is a little bit shocking. He's a bit of a slow mover when it comes to life changing decisions. And I'm.... well... let's just say I am not a slow mover. The fact that Dave's heart was in it before mine is a huge encouragement to me that we're doing the right thing. We definitely want to get our lives a little more in check before we take off with the entire process; we're total newbies to the whole thing, but we're excited about taking a baby step forward. We've already got some things decided on.

We'd like to adopt domestically first and then maybe internationally for the next one or two... or 10. In the past several months my heart for domestic adoption has taken on a whole new life and I'm excited to look into it more. Lots of sweet American babies out there need some love.

We're both feeling VERY much like we'd like to adopt from Haiti, but Haitian laws say you must be 35 to adopt from Haiti. That's 10 years off for us, unless they change their laws. I'm personally hoping for a change of laws. I'm just not sure I'd want to be in my 40's and sending my kid off to Kindergarten, you know? It works for some people. Obviously my plans for my own life aren't always what God has in mind for me, I have noticed.

We're only slightly concerned about the finances. This is sort of crazy because our finances aren't exactly impressive. We know that God's plans have very little to do with money. We've seen it in the past and we trust completely that we'll see it in the future. That still leaves some room for concern. I've seen the fee schedule involved in domestic adoption. It's not pretty. It's probably unwise to leap into the process with very little savings available for application fees, attorney costs, and all the other financial things involved. It's SO expensive. (Straw Heart Project could help!) There are a lot of organizations that do grants and loans, there are a lot of people surrounding us that would be willing to help, and there are a LOT of ways God can surprise people, so though finances are scary, they're not a hindrance.

Though this meeting is little more than adding to the information we've got about adoption, I'm awfully excited. It's like saying, "ok. we're sort of more ready!" and that's a fun place to be.