Class 1 - "Introduction in the Adoption Experience"

So tonight was our first adoption class, and boy, does it feel more real than it has in the past few months!  Before class, I was extremely excited to begin this part of the certification process as well as meet other couples in this process.  If I am THIS excited NOW, I can't even imagine how I will be when we get the well-anticipated placement phone call!  I even had to force myself to eat dinner before we left!

I'm pretty much wide awake at this point now that we are home from our first class, and it's the night before the last day of school!  My brain is on overload to say the least.  Tonight we went a mile wide and an inch deep in the adoption process (laws, homestudy process, placement, writing a match letter, etc.).  We went over what our life may be like over the next 12-18 months, give or take and even stretching to the next 18 years of our child's life. We will have to put our faith in God now more than ever.  As hard as the past 2+ years of infertility have been, I can see how God has used that time to prepare us for what may lie ahead.  I think there will be many ups and downs, a lot of unknowns, and waiting just as we have experienced, but isn't that how life is?! So thankful to serve a God who knows us and loves us.  He knows what we can handle and how far to stretch us!  He is bigger than anything we may face!

This class also helped me process what the birth parent(s) are going through.  I look forward to learning more about this in the weeks to come.  I'm not sure if I could ever express my gratitude enough to our child's birth mother for her strength, selflessness, and bravery!  This pregnancy isn't planned, and yet she is willing to put aside any embarrassment or shame to choose life for her baby.  Then after carrying this baby for 9 months, once again chooses life for her baby and places him or her into our arms.  When our baby is born, she will be saying hello and goodbye to him/her all at the same time.  It hurts to think that when we leave the hospital with our baby and are overwhelmed with joy, she will be leaving with empty arms and overwhelmed with heartache.



Side note - I do have to say my favorite part of this whole night was on the way home.  I was driving and Bobby was "resting his eyes". Out of no where he says, "Our match book letter is going to be a pop-up book!"  Ha! I love that he was thinking about how to market us better! ;)The match book letter is basically a resume/advertisement the agency will give to birth mothers to help them choose a family for their baby (and is only 2-dimensional. Ha!).