We have met our social worker and it went well. She is very knowledgeable and had lots of tips and information for us. We felt reassured that the process is finally underway, eventhough there is so much to do!
We have tons of meetings with her, as part of the home study, and homework to complete between each meeting! We are going to be pretty busy, but it is great to feel like God's plan for our lives is comming to pass. We still have lots of uncertainty and details to sort out, but we are stepping out in faith, not really knowing where God is leading us, but following anyway!

We have given an outline of the process in the list on the right, but just to fill you in, once the homestudy (all the interviews) are complete, our social worker puts all the inforation together on one form, whcih is edited lots of times, by us and other social workers. It is then sent to panel, which is where we meet a board of people made up of social workers, parents, adopted adults and medical professionals, who look over our form, talk to us and then we leave the room while they decide what recommendation to make. Can we adopt or not? How many children? From where? What age? The we return to hear their verdict! Their recomendation is passed on to the Decision maker, who gets back to us with a week, to let us know if we are approved. If they say yes, we can then collect together all the papers, and complete the legal side to send to the Sending Country. Then we wait to be matched, which can take a very long time!

The date for Panel is a big day! It seems a long way off yet, but it is nice to have a date!
We hope you have a great Christmas. Love

Well, both medicals are over! Nothing too embarrassing thankfully, but glad to be done. We made it into a very friendly competition between us, and I wont say who won what, but we both came out fine! They will be sent off to our agency's doctor to be checked, then added to the pile of things completed. We hope not to hear about them again, all being well.
We are now trying to get floor laid and painting done in our house, ready for our home visit in a couple of weeks.
Please continue to pray that

• we would feel at ease and be able to talk openly to our social worker when we meet. She is very experienced and an adopter herself, so we are sure she will be very understanding. It is more our own nerves we are worried about!
• Also pray that we are not too tired! We are meeting her the first Monday after we break up, normally the day to collapse and get the flu!

Thanks for your ongoing support (and kind comments AM!)

One medical down, one to go!! Then on to our appointment to meet our social worker on December the 22nd. Although not an official visit, she is coming to our home to chat through our reasons and choices regarding adoption. We must say, it feels official! But we know that God is in this with us, and our prayer is that she understands our faith and we have the right words to say without getting too emotional!

Also you will now notice a link at the bottom of each post we write which says 'comments'. You can click on this and write us a little note! It would be great to hear from those who are reading this, so feel free to write to us there.

God Bless,

We have more paperwork to complete, including a family tree each and a chronology of our lives until this point! I am rubbish with dates but thankfully I have Luke!

We just wanted to add a big thank you to those who have written references for us, and are grateful to have such wonderful friends and family.
Now we wait for the training to begin in January and try to get our house in order for when the home study begins!

We have received more forms to complete, medical appointments to make and have been assigned a social worker.
Please pray that:

• We know God's peace as we answer so many questions!


• That we can make practical arrangements for attending the training


• That we know God's presence as we prepare to complete our home study and meet our social worker

We really appreciate your support, Thank you xx

Today family and friends received their letters from our agency asking for references. It feels a little more real and a lot more scary, but we have at least begun! We are looking forward to seeing how God uses this journey to grow us and show us new things about Himself.

Today we sent our forms to PACT, which means we have finally begun the process! It feels strange yet exciting. We think we will start the training and Home study in January, which gives us another couple months to get ready, and continue waiting. I am sure that waiting will become a way of life soon, but it feels good to step closer to our goal of becoming parents.

Well, I feel like I can finally write about the reason for this blog and the journey we feel God is calling us to. Today I am 30! Most people may find reaching an age mile stone a little scary, but I have been waiting for this day for some time ... years in fact!

I am now the right age to adopt, and this is the year we will begin the process. We have felt since the first year we were married that another nation would play a part in our lives, and have known before we were married that adoption would be how God added children to our family, so the coming together of the two seems very right. Of course we are open to God changing things, but we are going to move ahead and allow God to close the door if He so desires.

I know it will be many years before this will be realised, as the process seems never ending, but I have waited, and will wait for God to use us in His time.

Today I feel one small step closer, and know that soon it will feel a little more real. At the moment excitement seems premature, but I am hopeful.