Thank you!

Many of you are wondering how our meeting went on Friday with the birthmother. We had a good visit, but at this point there is not much of an update to give. We are just waiting and trusting that God will make his plans clear to her and to us.

On a different note, we have recently received several very generous gifts from some of you. Thank you so much! We can't express our gratefulness for your kindness. When we felt God leading us to pursue adoption, we had no idea how he would provide. He has been so faithful to provide just what we need at each step in the process, and many of you have been the means he has used. We continue to trust him for provision, and we pray many blessings on you for your generosity.

~Stephen and Jill

Another Meeting

The due date is drawing close, and we have another meeting scheduled with the birthmom this Friday. She has requested to meet Grant, so we will be taking him along and meeting her for ice cream. A side note about Grant...he is so excited about being a big brother! We have been very open with him about the process and also the possibility that the adoption might fall through. He frequently asks us if "the mommy has decided yet if she's going to let us have the baby." One day while explaining to him that we won't know until after the baby is born, he said in a cheerful tone, "well, if she says no we'll just find another one!" This made us smile at the simplicity of the process in his little mind.

In addition to prayer for this meeting, would you please continue to pray for God's provision? We are in the process of applying for a loan and a grant. With the possibility of the adoption tax credit expiring in 2010, we need wisdom to determine how much is wise to borrow if the credit is not renewed. However, we are also aware that we could potentially owe the remainder of our balance any day, as we will need to pay the remainder the day the baby is handed to us. Since the birthmom is due November 3rd, this could be any day if she decides to go through with the adoption.

There are so many unknowns, but we find peace and joy in the fact that God knows all things and has a perfect plan. Thank you for your friendship, prayers, encouragement, and gifts. We are overwhelmed with gratefulness.

Love,

Stephen and Jill

It's a.......

BOY!!!

We just received the call from our social worker, and it was as we (and the birthmother) suspected. We are thrilled and cautiously hopeful that we will be able to adopt this little boy.

There is still a lot of question as to whether or not this mother will choose to parent or place this baby for adoption, as there often is in these situations. Although our meeting with her went very well, some things came up in our discussion that our social worker referred to as "red flags". Because of this, Bethany Christian Services has decided to continue to show our profile to birthparents until either the baby is born and we are able to adopt him, or the mother decides to parent. We are at peace with this decision, and grateful that Bethany will continue to show our profile in the meantime.

Thank you all for your prayers and support. We will keep you updated.

~Stephen and Jill

The Meeting

Today we met with the birthmother who chose our profile. It went very well--she is a sweet, sweet girl who has had a difficult time of it and wants what's best for her baby. We talked about everything from our favorite ice cream flavors to baby names we like.

As I think I mentioned before, she is due November 2. From visiting with her, it seems that she wants to go through with adoption. However, we know that often in these situations once the baby is born the mom then decides to parent. We were able to communicate to her our respect for her and her decision--whatever it finally is. And we were also so impressed with the mature way she is handling this decision. If she does decide to parent, she will do a wonderful job.

So we are trying to prepare for the possibility of having a new baby in our home in a month's time or maybe less, while at the same time guarding ourselves from becoming too attached to this little one. By God's grace, this has not been much of a difficulty so far. However, as the time nears and we make the necessary preparations for the baby, it will probably become a bit more challenging. Please pray for us, that we would continue to please the Lord and trust Him in all things. Please also pray for the birthmother, that she would experience peace and come to trust the Lord if she doesn't already.

Some of you are probably wondering if this is a girl or boy. And the answer is.....
we don't know yet :) She was not able to have the sonogram last week but has another one scheduled for Monday. We will update when we have more news.

Thanks for your prayers.

Love,

Stephen and Jill