Getting ready for deployment brings a whole range of emotions. I delayed this post several times because I was hoping to be able to explain it better as it got closer. I can't. Some days you wouldn't be able to tell what's coming up. Other days, Jeremy deserves a medal for dealing with unexpected crying spells. My best friend will not be home with me everyday. The list of things I'll miss about him is much too long for this blog. At the same time, our roles will change too. The way we love, support, and encourage each other will change. The way he leads and I follow will look different.
Deployment is a pause in what we know as "normal." We also found out that our adoption process is also paused. It's on hold because we have basically run out of time. It doesn't really change our story much since we knew we weren't going to be placed with a child during the deployment. But completed paperwork was the goal. A year of waiting to be chosen is now a year with an incomplete file taking up space in a metal box somewhere- to be continued. We are at peace with it knowing that this doesn't change our calling, just a break in the process.
Thankfully we are reminded over and over that this isn't God's first rodeo...er, adoption or deployment. We are both very hopeful of what is to come. For everything there is a season. Not a season I would pick necessarily -- refer to "For our good" post -- but our season nevertheless. We'll be able to look back and say look what God did.
oh one last thing - please check out this blog:
http://jordan-jordansjourney.blogspot.com
This is my sister in law, Jordan's blog and she did a fantastic job explaining the picture of adoption and our family's clear call to it! Thanks Jordan. I love you! You're going to be a great aunt!
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Not Yet
Welp, I got my first taste of Army wife life today at Family day with Jeremy's unit. It was good to meet the guys whose last names I know and I've heard about. They are really nice bunch! I met the ladies of the FRG (something I thought only happened on Army wives shows)! I look forward to getting to know those ladies better in the coming year. These are our shirts. Love them!
During our time with other military families, I was reminded that many wives are new to the "don't get excited" rule. "Don't get excited" means my husband may tell me something is going to happen but I shouldn't get too excited (good or bad) because it may change. Things are always changing and yes, that's a part of everyone's life... but especially in the military. Until a plane has left with or without your spouse, nothing is official it seems. When your husband is deploying, you have to come to terms with "not yet" on some things you thought were going to happen.
Bottom line, God is saying "not yet" to all the things we thought this year had for us, to the things He asked us to do. And for that I am thankful. I am thankful that God is (and will be) patient with me when I lose mine. For His comfort when I start to doubt what this wait is about. For His gentle reminders through a friend and my sweet husband that He's at work in the wait. For His strengthening our marriage and getting us ready to be parents. While I won't lie or say it's going to be easy to adjust to, I know He wrote the story and is saying, "Not yet. Keep reading...."
Adoption Update: Jeremy and I went to our second and last training session this week. We'll be finishing up the paperwork plus medical forms to turn in early next week! Then inspections and home study after that. Woot!
Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes
- Matt Redman "10,000 Reasons"
During our time with other military families, I was reminded that many wives are new to the "don't get excited" rule. "Don't get excited" means my husband may tell me something is going to happen but I shouldn't get too excited (good or bad) because it may change. Things are always changing and yes, that's a part of everyone's life... but especially in the military. Until a plane has left with or without your spouse, nothing is official it seems. When your husband is deploying, you have to come to terms with "not yet" on some things you thought were going to happen.
Bottom line, God is saying "not yet" to all the things we thought this year had for us, to the things He asked us to do. And for that I am thankful. I am thankful that God is (and will be) patient with me when I lose mine. For His comfort when I start to doubt what this wait is about. For His gentle reminders through a friend and my sweet husband that He's at work in the wait. For His strengthening our marriage and getting us ready to be parents. While I won't lie or say it's going to be easy to adjust to, I know He wrote the story and is saying, "Not yet. Keep reading...."
Adoption Update: Jeremy and I went to our second and last training session this week. We'll be finishing up the paperwork plus medical forms to turn in early next week! Then inspections and home study after that. Woot!
Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes
- Matt Redman "10,000 Reasons"
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Getting oriented
Pregnancy gives you nine months to prepare. Adoption gives you paperwork. :) I attended adoption orientation last night and wow, talk about a lot to take in. Three and a half hours of information and forms. 44 at my best count. This weekend at the womens conference I went to, the speaker talked about thanking God for the gifts He gives us. (Much more on this later!) So as overwhelming as the paperwork seems, it is our chance to sit down and prepare to be parents in a way. Some of the forms are just facts and figures and others are questions about the size of our windows, our emergency plans, and number and dates of our smoke detectors. The biggest component of the paperwork is an autobiography for both Jeremy and me. It has some tough questions about how we'd handle specific situations when it comes to our child. Basically it's the questions that every parents probably wishes someone had asked them to think through.... we get the chance to sit down and discuss and pray over those decisions now. That's gracious of Him to give us this opportunity. For our good. For our child's good. So let's do this.
From this point, I probably will not be blogging as much about the actual process. Paper work isn't exactly blog worthy. Our next steps will be two days worth of training and paperwork in the next few weeks. The goal would be to have paperwork and training all completed sometime in April- Lord willing and the creeks don't rise. :) From there it's up to DSS to schedule our home study if all paperwork looks good. I'll still be blogging about what I'm reading and other lessons I'm sure we'll learn along the way.
Love y'all!
From this point, I probably will not be blogging as much about the actual process. Paper work isn't exactly blog worthy. Our next steps will be two days worth of training and paperwork in the next few weeks. The goal would be to have paperwork and training all completed sometime in April- Lord willing and the creeks don't rise. :) From there it's up to DSS to schedule our home study if all paperwork looks good. I'll still be blogging about what I'm reading and other lessons I'm sure we'll learn along the way.
Love y'all!
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
For our good...
Romans 8:28 says "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose."
This verse has been a huge comfort to me. It's going to work out for our good. Now, our good may not be what we plan. It may not even be comfortable, simple, without pain, without a wait, without frustration.... but it will be good. That's for sure.
Also notice who works it out... God. Not me. Not Jeremy. Not DSS. He is sovereign and in charge. Sovereign is defined as supreme in power and independent. Independent. It's not about us.
This whole new step isn't about us.
This verse has been a huge comfort to me. It's going to work out for our good. Now, our good may not be what we plan. It may not even be comfortable, simple, without pain, without a wait, without frustration.... but it will be good. That's for sure.
Also notice who works it out... God. Not me. Not Jeremy. Not DSS. He is sovereign and in charge. Sovereign is defined as supreme in power and independent. Independent. It's not about us.
This whole new step isn't about us.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
We are adopting!
Never thought I would be a blogger. But given our life right now, this is a great way to share our updates, answer questions, and share what God is teaching us. Just don't correct my grammar - it's sure to be writing like I talk... which is southern and not always "proper"! :)
We are adopting! We have always wanted to adopt but thought it was years down the road, after a few biological kids. Back in January, we celebrated one year of marriage. Jeremy and I headed up to the mountains to spend time together and reflect on the past year. We've been so blessed by our church community and God has taught us so much through the year. When we talked about 2012, "baby maybe" was definitely in our minds.
A few weeks went by and our pastor announced that an adoption rep was going to come and answer questions for interested couples. We talked afterwards and said for lack of better words - this may be our "baby maybe." As we talked/prayed about it, it became more and more clear that God was opening our hearts to adoption. We called our families and here we are- preliminary application into our local Dept of Social Services and background checks being done. Next up -orientation, training, and homestudy.
Then a little bit of a curve ball came at us. Deployment was always a possibility but in my mind, it was back burner. It didn't really play into our conversations about adoption. Until the weekend I mailed the first application. That same weekend, Jeremy found out that deployment was happening. Pause - if you know anything about the military, you know that happening doesn't mean happening until someone is putting your bags on a plane but my math brain says 90% chance. We had a decision to make- is this God closing the door for now? I'm not going to pretend I didn't get discouraged, disappointed, and down right annoyed. I had it all laid out in my head and this was not part of it. Now, my picture looked different and the time line was all out of whack. But pretty quickly and so patiently (thankfully), God gave me peace in knowing I was never in charge and reminded me that it wasn't up to me anyway.
I should stop and say Jeremy is amazing. He's so calm and his trust in the Lord is solid. He is always quick to remind me that God knows who our child is and when we'll meet him/her. Our dating story is a good reminder of His right timing and sovereignty. We'll meet our child just like we met each other - on God's watch and not when we planned it. Jeremy is definitely my best friend and I wouldn't want anyone else walking this journey with me.
The next few weeks will be busy as we get things done on our end. Training classes, lots of paperwork, and home study. We'll fill out forms and make calls with open hands. Knowing that this will happen when it's supposed to happen. If that's possible before he leaves while still giving us time to spend together, great! Other adoptive families are probably laughing at my optimistism--- but it really won't happen if we do nothing. So we'll take steps. If we are stopped short of certified, that will be God slowing things down for our good. This year apart does have purpose. God is good and gracious.
We are adopting! We have always wanted to adopt but thought it was years down the road, after a few biological kids. Back in January, we celebrated one year of marriage. Jeremy and I headed up to the mountains to spend time together and reflect on the past year. We've been so blessed by our church community and God has taught us so much through the year. When we talked about 2012, "baby maybe" was definitely in our minds.
A few weeks went by and our pastor announced that an adoption rep was going to come and answer questions for interested couples. We talked afterwards and said for lack of better words - this may be our "baby maybe." As we talked/prayed about it, it became more and more clear that God was opening our hearts to adoption. We called our families and here we are- preliminary application into our local Dept of Social Services and background checks being done. Next up -orientation, training, and homestudy.
Then a little bit of a curve ball came at us. Deployment was always a possibility but in my mind, it was back burner. It didn't really play into our conversations about adoption. Until the weekend I mailed the first application. That same weekend, Jeremy found out that deployment was happening. Pause - if you know anything about the military, you know that happening doesn't mean happening until someone is putting your bags on a plane but my math brain says 90% chance. We had a decision to make- is this God closing the door for now? I'm not going to pretend I didn't get discouraged, disappointed, and down right annoyed. I had it all laid out in my head and this was not part of it. Now, my picture looked different and the time line was all out of whack. But pretty quickly and so patiently (thankfully), God gave me peace in knowing I was never in charge and reminded me that it wasn't up to me anyway.
I should stop and say Jeremy is amazing. He's so calm and his trust in the Lord is solid. He is always quick to remind me that God knows who our child is and when we'll meet him/her. Our dating story is a good reminder of His right timing and sovereignty. We'll meet our child just like we met each other - on God's watch and not when we planned it. Jeremy is definitely my best friend and I wouldn't want anyone else walking this journey with me.
The next few weeks will be busy as we get things done on our end. Training classes, lots of paperwork, and home study. We'll fill out forms and make calls with open hands. Knowing that this will happen when it's supposed to happen. If that's possible before he leaves while still giving us time to spend together, great! Other adoptive families are probably laughing at my optimistism--- but it really won't happen if we do nothing. So we'll take steps. If we are stopped short of certified, that will be God slowing things down for our good. This year apart does have purpose. God is good and gracious.
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