Making some progress

It's been busy at the Woodyard house!  December is flying by! On top of Christmas festivities, Jamie received his Master of Divinity degree (a 93 credit hour program) from Southern Seminary in Louisville.  We traveled to Louisville to celebrate his graduation with family and friends.  Additionally, we also celebrated our 12th anniversary, and had our home inspection and interviews as part of our Home Study.  If your not familiar with the Home Study,  it is basically documentation that declares you are not crazy parents and you can provide the most essential and basic needs of life.  (Funny how no one came into our home with our biological children to do this...)


I'm very blessed to have a tidy husband and when it came to cleaning for the home study; it was a bit humorous to watch him.  I've never seen him dust so much in all my life!  I shared with him that no one would say,  our home is too dusty and therefore find us unfit as adoptive parents.  I did some extra cleaning as well, I admit.  But then I slightly panicked.  We had a problem with our well and we didn't have water.  Water is pretty much a basic need.  The same weekend as our water trouble, Jamie's sermon was on contentment, not worrying from Matthew 6.  I think God has a sense of humor!  We were able to get the situation remedied before our interviews.  (And our social worker never even checked the bookshelves for dust.  Too bad they were spotless.)

We still have a few missing pieces of our home study, but it's coming together.  I'm excited for our Home Study to come to completion.  The conclusion of the Home Study will then allow us to apply for grants and loans.  Then our next step will be to submit our Dossier or in-country papers.  After our Dossier is in Thailand, we will officially be placed on a list for a little girl!  We have a long wait ahead, possibly as long has 3 years.

We are excited to celebrate Christmas.... It is always a unique time for our family to reflect on the mission of our Savior.  We take each evening to share the different portions of the Christmas narrative by candle lights while the boys create a nativity scene with some laminated clip art.  (I got this idea from Noel Piper's book Treasuring God in our Traditions.)  The boys love taking turns blowing out the candles when we are finished.  The first night after blowing out the candle, a spark floated to the Bible and Jamie had to prevent the Bible from catching on fire.  The boys loved it!  Sometimes the best memories are those that are unexpected and lack perfection.  May your Christmas be filled with unexpected joy, peace, and rich memories!

-KW

Orphan Sunday

Creation Groans from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.

We Applied and Our Program is at Capacity

Our program is closed to new applicants, but we made it in!  So where are we adopting from?  Thailand!  I agonized over this decision for a little over 3 months now.   In fact, we met with a domestic agency, but it didn't seem probable that we would be selected by a birth mother since we already have two children  However,  if you know a woman looking for an adoptive family, would you share our story with her?


Honestly this whole process has felt a bit surreal.  I'm excited and overwhelmed at the same time, knowing that there is a mother-less DAUGHTER out there for me.  We picked Thailand in the interest of wanting to add a daughter to our family and the travel requirements.  (Several countries require 2 trips and the stay can be 45 days long!)  We prayed much over this decision, furthermore it certainly wasn't an easy one.  There is no child more worthy of our love than another.  I'm thankful that the Lord doesn't love me based on my merit, skin color, or geographical location.  


We are currently working on our Home Study, which will approve us as "fit" parents.  As part of this process we will have a social worker come into our home and interview us and inspect our home.  We also have a mountain of paper work to tackle.  As I mentioned earlier, our program is at capacity.  Our program is a relatively small program.  I learned that there are 19 families waiting for their Referral.  Your Referral is aka the day you get your child's picture and background information.  There are 25 families working on Home Study and Dossier submission.  The Dossier is basically the Home study translated in Thai and submitted in country.  


We will not officially be on "the list" for our child until our Home Study is completed and our Dossier is submitted.  I desperately want to get on the list before the other 25 other families!  Essentially the sooner we get on the list, the sooner we will have our referral.  I've been informed that our wait could be 3 years.  But, if we get on the list before the other families, it is likely to be shorter-like 2 years!  


We are currently raising funds for our Dossier and have become good friends with Craigslist!   We are selling everything we can think of!  When our Home Study is completed, we will be applying for a matching grant.  Would you please pray that we can raise $4,000 to double our money to $8,000 and that we will be chosen for this grant?  (Currently there are more applicants than ever before.)  Would you pray for our birth mother and for the pain she will endure choosing to give up her daughter?  We covet your prayers in this journey ahead.

May we have power, together with all the saints, 

to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.   

Eph 3:18

Check out this fundraiser to order great Thirty One products and help bring our little girl home. 20% of sales will go towards our adoption.  If your going to be Christmas shopping, take a look! (This fundraiser has ended.)

-KW

Never Ending Amazement

Yes, we made some decisions!  We are underway.  Our initial application is filed, application fee paid, and some preliminary paperwork is in the mail.  In many ways it is refreshing and in other ways the work is mounting.  
We already have so much to be thankful for in just a few days since our official start down the path of adoption.  We have been able to sell some personal items and have already had two different families give joyfully and generously.  We are overwhelmed and extremely thankful.  We have known all along, that to bring our baby, we are going to have to trust God for every dime.  (We still have a long way to go, check out the thermometer.)


Additionally, we have already seen a growing desire by our faith family in this gospel endeavor.  Two weeks ago, Krista did a fantastic job sharing our story with our congregation.  Since then, many of our brothers and sisters are praying and considering how they can partner with us in this pursuit. This past Sunday, I was able to hear the heart of another young couple in our church who has and is considering adoption.  Her tears, as she told part of their story, were like a refreshing rain in my heart.  What a joy to listen to the hopes and dreams of compassionate, cross-centered people!  May more join  the mission to care for the orphan.  May more embrace the orphan and widow with love and compassion. May more eliminate things from their life to give more time, resources, and prayers for the widows and orphans of our world.   
(We have the privilege to serve alongside some great people.  What a undeserved blessing and what a great church to call home! )


It is sure to be a roll coaster ride.  Yet, we are confident that God is Sovereign and his plans will not be thwarted.  We are just humbled to be apart of His plan and by His grace part of a another child's life.   

Pray for us that we will be relentless and wise in:

• praying with each other every step of the way
• preparing our boys 
• preparing our house for a third child
• getting all the paper work filled out.  (Pray for my patience when things go wrong or when we have to potentially redo or re-submit papers and details.)
• raising the funds...
• preparing for potential negative responses, and that we would respond with grace and kindness
• understand that adoption is spiritual warfare
• pursue joy through the process
  
  
   -JW

We made some decisions!

We have picked an agency!  We will make the official announcement with some more more details once we receive our acceptance into the program.   Meanwhile, we are ready to raise some money :)   If you would like to bid, please do so in the comment section.  Since we have family in OH and KY, we are willing to deliver the items.  Thanks!


Items to bid on:

Brand new baby crib in box and never opened.  It is Babi Italia brand from Babies R Us.  The crib style is Eastside Classic in cinnamon and retails for $340.  Click here for the crib manufacturer site.

Ruger stainless steel gun model 270 with scope case and strap, retails for $500.  The gun has only been shot 2 times! 

What I've learned in 2 months

I have been overwhelmed.  The amount of information surrounding adoption is mammoth.  

Many of you have been so kind in asking if we've made any decisions yet.  I've made several precise slow decisions that I hope to share in the near future.  Truthfully, the process has been slow because I'm afraid of making a mistake.  Incidentally, I've come to learn that nothing in adoption is guaranteed!

(Now review the above pic again.)

I've spilled a lot of tears at my computer screen uncovering heart breaking information.  Do you know how many orphans there are in the world?  147 Million.  And, those are just the ones counted.   In reality there are many more.

                                     
                                                                                                                 

Those of you that know me well will know that I've always wanted a girl.  When I learned my oldest would be a boy, my dream of a butterfly nursery was abruptly ended.   My aunt jokingly told me, "Krista, boys like butterflies too.  They just like to rip their wings off!"  Ah, yes... that is true. (Sigh.)  Did you know that there are 5 boy orphans to every girl?  It's made it extremely hard to decide if I will ever have a pigtailed little girl.

Questions Asked...
I asked my youngest what color baby we should adopt- white, tan or black.  To which he replied, "We should adopt a Blue baby!"
Jamie asked our oldest if we were ready to adopt a baby.  No, daddy we aren't.  I had a bit of panic in my stomach.  I was quickly out of panic mode when he responded, "We don't have enough beds."  
I've asked myself, "Does this (adoption) make sense?" This kid is going to cost a lot.   Yes, it makes sense.  I can't turn my head any longer.  (Although, I'm not implying that everyone should adopt...)  Adoption has been stirring in my heart for quite some time.   

"Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world." -James 1:27 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

-KW

Amazed by grace & providence

A few months ago, Krista and I attended an adoption conference (Summit VII ) in Louisville, KY.  We had been discussing adoption periodically over the course of a number of years.  We would sporadically pray over the opportunity.  I'm sure Krista was more focused and consistent in this prayer more than me.  However, after attending the conference, our Father 'wrecked our lives.' That is, we cannot see our family not pursuing the joy and mission of adoption.

Since the conference, Krista has been a machine with research, web-browsing, reading, etc... As a matter of fact her intensity is, honestly, a little frustrating at times.  What resolve!
We are not certain on all the details to date, but we are certain we are walking by faith down this path towards bringing home another child.  The goal is large, the task complicated, the means short (to say the least), but our hope is alive and well.  In addition, we are convinced that we are truly undeserving of the two wonderful boys we have been given and feel the same about the privilege of adopting our third.

To say the least we are excited and in many ways unsure.  Not unsure about adoption, but from where, when, how much, and everything in between.  A couple of years ago I read Crazy Love by Francis Chan and he posed the question, 'What are you doing that causes you to live by faith?'  At the time I was hard-pressed to answer that question.  Today, looking at the enormous need in our world with the orphan, the cost of adoption, the details of transitioning, the assimilation of a little one into our family  and vice versa, and the thought of how some may respond to our new addition,  I must confess we are walking a little more by faith.

We don't consider ourselves heroes in any way; we often fall short.  Our battle is not over.   We don't see nor want adoption to be a means of pride in our lives.  Rather, we want it to be a means of simply boasting in our great God who has enabled us to cry 'Abba Daddy.'
If you would have asked me years ago that I would ever consider adoption, I would have easily and readily dismissed the idea.  Today, I'm amazed at His grace and providence and can gladly say, Our anticipation grows each day, our discussions about a new child saturates our home, and our prayers are more focused.
JW