Getting caught up to speed

Hey guys! David & I have decided to start this blog together, so each of us will be able to share our thoughts and our journey with you. Today, I will start. First, I will catch everyone up on our story. Our adoption journey started years ago. Since I was in college, I have had a passion to one day adopt a child. Lucky for me, the Lord led me to David, who also shared in this passion.  We were married in March of 2003, and of course everyone soon after began asking..when are y'all going to have children?  Since we were only 22 years old at the time we were married, we were absolutley in no hurry to do such a thing!  We both agreed that we wanted to accomplish our educational goals first, so we finished college and last year we both enrolled in graduate school. David will graduate in August with his Master's in Education Administration (way to go Dave!) and I am scheduled to graduate with my Master's as a Family Nurse Practitioner in May 2012.

As each year passed....and they pass much quickly these days, we began talking more and more about our family.  We knew we wanted to adopt and have biological children...we just didn't know what the Lord's plans were for us and how we would have a family....sometimes our plans and HIS plans are so different :) We prayed over this for many years, and knew that He would bless us with children (whether biological or through adoption) according to His plans and at the time He had planned for us. We feel certain, that all along, His plans have been for us to adopt our children and we cannot express the excitement we feel that we have been chosen by Him to do so!!   

David would agree with me, when I call myself somewhat of a "control freak"....I don't mean in a crazy way, but I do like to be in control of things and am very much a planner.  In Sunday school today, we talked about how much we as a society try to control everything and how hard it is to stop the worrying about tomorrow, and just let our Father take care of us.  He knows what we need, before we even ask and He will always take care of us. One of my favorite bible verses, Jeremiah 29:11 says "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  I have a bracelet that I wear daily that has this enscribed, it is my reminder to let go and let God.  

So, about our adoption...I am kind of a rambler, so I will work to keep my thoughts clear for you guys! Ok! After years of not knowing how we would have children, our prayers were answered in January. We were at church one Sunday and were singing the opening hymn, when I felt a strong feeling in my "gut"(an overwhelming sensation went through my body) that it was TIME...I was 100% ready to start this journey! As we sat down after singing, David leaned over and whispered in my ear..."I am ready to adopt"....I wanted to shout with excitement, because little did David know, that the Lord had just spoken to me as well....our God is awesome! I could hardly wait to tell David after church that I too was ready! 

And so, after weeks of praying and asking our Father to lead us to the country of our child, our prayers were answered in February....Taiwan! We received our referral on June 10th for a healthy baby boy. We are honored and overcome with joy as we announce that we have been chosen to be the parents of the most precious boy...Jack Everett Williams!  Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Where are we now? Right now, we are awaiting our FBI background checks to be completed...it has been 3 weeks and the wait time is estimated to be 7 weeks. I called Friday and have requested them to be expedited, because as soon as we receive these, our homestudy can be finalized and we can hopefully receive our first court date!! If you don't know what a homestudy is, it is your life story (ours is 13 pages!) that is presented to the courts. It is THE document!  The sooner we can have this document finalized, the closer we can be to bringing Jack Everett home! Right now...it is "guestimated" to be Novemeber when we will be able to travel to Taiwan and bring him home.  However, with the adoption world...anything can happen! Please keep us in your prayers as we embark on this journey!  

Many Blessings,

Sherra