The Six Month Mark

It is hard to believe that it has been six months since we turned in all of our paperwork and became "public" to birthmothers. As I've mentioned before, only about 50% of adoptive parents are matched to a birthmother in less than six months, so in terms of statistics we are still well within the norm.

In the last few months, we've been able to get a lot done in preparation for a baby. We've also decided that I need to go back to work temporarily to help offset some big expenses - one of which was to our adoption agency. I'm hoping that by claiming the Adoption Tax Credit on our 2012 taxes we will see a lot of that money come back to us. But in the meantime, Bill wants to make sure we stay out of trouble with our bills.

Although I thought my time in public education was over, I have signed up as a substitute with the school district. It's a flexible, easy way for me to work immediately while I look for something more steady. Ideally, I'd love to work from home. But those jobs are not easy to find, and I'm not exactly wild about starting my own home business. I do have a lead on a part-time tutoring position at one of the elementary schools. So we will see where it leads.

In the meantime, please continue to pray for us and the birthmother of our future child. We had a lot of "do you want to be viewed?" requests from our social worker right after turning in our paperwork and about a dozen total so far. It's been 1 1/2 months since the last one.

And then there are the updates. When your homestudy is nearing the 1 year mark, it's time to update it with any changes. In Washington, we don't have to update until the 2 year mark - which we will be approaching in about 5 months. So we are looking ahead to that while praying that we'll be matched before then. Thank you for your prayers as we wait through the Lord's timing!