God will lead the way!!!

Last week, Chris and I sat down to "figure" out our finances and to see just how we were going to be able to afford this blessing. Unfortunately, we realized that we need to come up with another $15,000 to feel "secure" enough to proceed with the adoption. However, WE KNOW THAT GOD WILL PROVIDE (HE ALWAYS does)!!! We're not going to let finances stop us from fulfilling our dream of being parents! Sooooooo...we decided on FUNDRAISING to help us with our goal! :-) Below is our first one! CHECK IT OUT AND LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!!!!

Visit Our Adoption Fundraiser Site Here!

In Christ,


A VERY SPECIAL THANK YOU TO CAROLINE!!! :-)

An Everlasting Gift!

Monday afternoon we received another adoption agency packet in the mail. As with all of the other packets, we were VERY eager to see what they had to offer. However, we were already running late to our appointment with the adoption attorney, so I placed it on our kitchen counter for us to review when we got home. When we arrived home, Chris stepped outside to take a phone call as I sat down to begin reviewing the earlier packet we received. :-) As I was reading the "Why Choose Adoption" section of the packet, I began wondering why I had never read some of the information that this agency was offering that previous agencies were not. HMMMMM!!!! I decided to continue to read in hopes of finding something familiar that I had read about in prior packets. Fortunately, that information never came! It didn't come because as I read on, I found out that the agency had "accidentally" sent us their packet for BIRTHMOTHERS, rather than ADOPTIVE MOTHERS. I'm not going to lie, at first I was not a happy camper that the agency had made this mistake. However, I stopped to think for a moment and realized that this was NOT a mistake. In fact, it was a gift! A gift from the Lord who knew that my heart needed to be opened to the feelings of a birthmother. Up until Monday, I never really thought about how hard it was for the birthmother to hand over her baby, but rather during this whole process, I always thought about me! About us! About MY family and how WE were going to deal with it. I never thought about the birthmother. About her feelings. About how SHE was going to deal with it. For the first time, I put myself in the birthmother's shoes and was able to look at adoption through their eyes and man, what a sight to see! I read stories about them grieving a loss by giving up their child, about them going through life wondering if the baby hates them, and how some of them would need counseling for their guilt. As I came to the last page of my "gift", I came across a poem that touched my heart, one that I will frame and give to my child one day, one that no matter how many times I read it this week, made me cry, yet made me smile! :-) I can't thank God enough of this "mistake". I somehow feel closer to our birthmother even though we've never met. I pray for her constantly and can't thank her enough for her selfless decision to help us become "BLESSED BY ADOPTION!"

*Legacy of an Adopted Child*

Once there were two women
Who never knew eachother
One you do not remember
The other you call mother

Two different lives
Shaped to make yours one
One became your guiding star
The other became your sun

The first gave you life
And the other taught you to live in it
The first gave you the need for love
And the second was there to give it

One gave you a nationality
The other gave you a name
One gave you the seed of talent
The other gave you an aim

One gave you emotions
The other calmed you fears
One saw your first sweet smile
The other dried your tears

One gave you up
It was all she could do
The other prayed for a child
And God led her to you

And now you ask me through your tears
The age old question through the years
Heredity or environment
Which are you the product of

Neither my darling, neither
Just two different kinds of LOVE

http://www.everlastingreasons.com/ginajohnson

Some people just don't think!

I decided on my way home from being out, that I would stop by Barnes and Noble and pick up Jodi Picoult's new book House Rules since I would have the house to myself tonight. After picking up this lovely book, I went to the Family/Child reference section to check out the adoption books. After about five minutes of searching and finding NOTHING, I went to the kiosk and typed in "adoption." Just then about 7 pages came up on books about adoption that were located in the Family/Child reference section. I thought to myself, "HHMMM....I was just there and didn't see anything" so I went back over to try again. AGAIN....I still couldn't find any. Confused as heck, I walked back to the kiosk and completed the search again. This time I wrote the author's name down. After searching the family/child reference section for the THIRD time and still not finding a book on adoption, I began wondering if they "misplaced" them and I checked the next bookshelf. BINGO! I found 3 books on adoption. YES! You read that right, there were only 3!!! In addition to being shocked that there were only 3 reference books on adoption, I noticed that the books were actually located in the "Children with disabilities" section. Now, I am well aware that raising an adopted child comes with challenges, but is it right to mark adoption as a "disability?" It's bad enough that we (the parents) already feel "disabled" that we can't concieve on our own.


Oh wait....it gets better!!! So I grab my 3 books and make my to the checkout counter, where a lady (let's just say her name is Susie) is standing behind me in line. Little did I know that Susie was reading the title of one of my books (20 Things Adoptive Parents Need to Succeed) as I was waiting to pay. Susie thought it would be a good idea to strike up a conversation with me. Here's how it went:



Susie: Oh, you're adopting


Me: (With a huge smile) YES!



Susie: Why? Having a child of your own is the best thing that could ever happen to you.


Cashier: "NEXT PLEASE"


Me: (After picking my jaw up off the floor) Well...if I could have one on my own lady, I would. GOD BLESS YOU!


REALLY???? Who does that???I walk up to the cashier (the VERY happy cashier) and FIRMLY place my books down to pay, Now, here's our conversation:



Cashier: Hi sweetie! How are you today?


Me: OH JUST FABULOUS!!! I couldn't be better (sense my sarcasm?).


Cashier: (as SHE'S now looking at my purchases) Are you looking to adopt?


Me: (already disgusted and wanting to leave)Ya!


Cashier (in her cheery voice): Oh, what a wonderful thing! Do you want an infant? A child? A teenager? What?


Me: A newborn


Cashier: Oh you're so brave to be choosing a newborn and taking on the challenge when they're so young.


Me: Ya! Well....if you really want to know, I can't have children. My husband and I have tried and we can't. We then tried IVF and it failed!


Cashier: Oh, I'm so sorry...(I then pay for my books) Good luck with your kids!!!


As I walked out the door of what use to be my place of "serenity", I began wondering.... if I would've walked up to that counter with a book titled 20 Things Drug Abusers Need to Succeed, would "Susie" or the Cashier have asked if I am looking to become a druggie? NO! Or what about if I would've had 20 Things Women Need to Conceive? Would they have asked me if I'm having a hard time conceiving??? Man, some people just don't think.


Don't get me wrong, I have no problems talking openly about adoption. In fact, I LOVE LOVE LOVE talking about it. However, I do have a problem when a complete STRANGER asks me why I don't have children on my own.



LESSON LEARNED: Please pray for ignorant people. :-) Just Kidding! The real lesson I learned is to not let other people's comments "get to me" and that it takes a strong person to adopt! Boy, am I becoming stronger and stronger everyday! Who knows maybe by the end of this road, I'll be able to run a marathon! LOL! Again, we can't wait to be "BLESSED BY ADOPTION!"



Gina

Choices! Choices! Choices!

Well....we contacted our first adoption agency and we weren't impressed. :-( So we moved on to option #2 and much to our surprise, we weren't impressed with them either. AARRRRGGGHH!

As I sat there on the couch (Thursday night 4/15 around 8:30pm) thinking about our future, it dawned on me the two agencies we didn't care for were the ones I had chosen. Of course, I began to sob uncontrollably. I then started asking myself a million questions. How could this be, when all I did for the past week was research? Did I not do ENOUGH research on them? Did I not follow my heart? Did the agencies "sell" a good game? Would we ever become parents? As I was crying like a little baby (no pun intended), Chris came out from the bedroom, sat down next to me and gave me a huge hug and just let me cry! I'm so glad he just held me while cried and didn't try to "fix" things (as he often does). After the tears had stopped (man, did it feel good to cry), I took a shower, gathered the two agencies information packets and placed them in a file tucked away in a drawer! :-) We "regrouped" and went back to researching other agencies/attorneys. After lots of prayers that night, God led us to an adoption attorney that a friend of ours used three years ago. We called and made an appointment to meet with him to discuss our options. We currently have an appointment with him on Monday (4/19) @ 4:00pm. In addition, we contacted another agency and another attorney to further interview. Please pray that we find the right fit for us!!

LESSON LEARNED: To always remember that "God is in control" and knows what He's doing. That this is going to be a long road but one WORTH THE WAIT!!! Our time will come when we're "BLESSED BY ADOPTION"!!!

Gina

Our decision!

OUR EXCITING NEWS: We have made the decision to adopt!!! How did we make this decision you ask? Well......As some of you know, Chris and I have struggled with infertility and failed IVF cycles. After completing a failed cycle in January, we prayed about our "next steps" on what was best for our family. :-) Well, God led us to adoption. Anyhow, I decided to create this blog so our family and friends can follow us on this amazing journey God has laid upon us!!!

We are in the beginning stages of this journey. Next week we have a phone "meeting" with an agency to discuss where we go from here. We're not sure if we're going to with an agency or an attorny at this point. Right now we're just interviewing places and have Faith that God will lead us to the one that's right for us!

Thank you for following us as we become "Blessed by Adoption"