Beginning the Process

So here it begins...our adoption journey. We began this process in our hearts last summer, and now we've registered with our agency and begun our paper work. Monday was a particularly good day...let me tell you about it.

First, we've just moved house and so I've not been able to check my email for about a week while we've waited for our internet to be set up. Today when I checked it, one of the 113 there for me to read was from our placement agency. I called them to ask a couple of clarifying questions and I got GREAT news!

1. We CAN request a girl 0-2 years old. Apparently the Philippines is very specific about who is allowed to specify what. The only families that can specify a girl under 2 are families of Filipino heritage (thank you Steven :) ) that do not already have a little girl. WOW!
2. We can not use the home study agency we'd planned on using. There are actually only 2 agencies in TN that our placement agency can currently work with. The first is too far away and will not work with us due to distance. The second...well if you know me at all you know that I am utterly in love with all things to do with Israel. Her people (God's people), her land (God's land), her history and most of all her God. So when I found out that the home study agency that He chose for us - because let's face it, He did - is Jewish Family Services I actually laughed out loud. Actually so did several of my friends (they know me well).
3. When we first began this journey last summer we got losts of conflicting information on how long the process should take and how long you have to wait for a referral. Today we found out that this year families of Filipino heritage have been waiting 6-12 months for a referral (compared to 18-24 months that we were told last summer). Again WOW!

So anyway, stay tuned. I can't wait to see how God is going to write our adoption story.