New Baby

IT IS OFFICIAL! As of this morning, June 22, we have finished and sent off our paperwork to America World Adoption Agency. We are going to be adopting a baby boy from Rwanda, Africa!! WAHOO!! This is something that we have been talking about as a family for at least a year. We have talked, prayed, researched, processed, prayed some more, talked to other adoptive families, etc., and have made it official by turning in our application this morning. We are so excited to meet our sweet boy. We have been praying for him and talking about him and he already has such a special place in our hearts. Through our blog you can come on this exciting journey with us. Here are some FAQ's.

1. When will you get him?
We just talked with an America World rep yesterday and she said that from today (when we turn in our application) until we bring him home it is usually about 10-14 months.

2. Why Rwanda??
Rwanda is a very special part of the culture of our church. Brad has been there and it was one of his favorite countries. Because our church is so connected to Rwanda and other families in our church have and are adopting from Rwanda, we know he will always have Rwanda as part of his culture. There are over 1 million orphans in Rwanda.

3. Why adopt?
As many of you already know orphans have always been a huge part of Brad and I's hearts. In fact, the first time we really started to take interest in each other it was a conversation about orphans. There is a love, compassion, and heart for orphans in our family that only God could have placed there. We are super excited to expand our family in this way and to have the priviledge of loving one of the ones that is so dear to His heart.

4. How do Jackson and Olivia feel about you adopting?
They are very excited. We have had many conversations with them about their new brother. They have both been praying for a brother for quite some time. We got to meet a sweet little Ugandan (Uganda is the country right next to Rwanda) baby boy at the park who was about six months old. The kids loved him and meeting him sparked a lot of great conversations about our baby. As for Lucy, we asked her if she wanted a new baby brother and she said, "nope." It's good we still have some time to prepare her. :)

5. What is the next step??
We should hear back from America World in about 10 days on whether or not we have been accepted into the Rwanda program. The next step is starting our homestudy. This is where a social worker comes into our home with a fine tooth comb to make sure we are a suitable family for an adopted child.

6. How can I learn more?
Go to www.orphansandthechurch.com, check out our agencies website at www.awaa.org, and go to www.saddlebackfamily.com and click on the "archived services" tab (upper right corner) and watch our pastors, Rick and Kay Warren, give an amazing message about the Fatherless entitled "Familes Make a Difference".

We will try to keep the blog updated as we move through this process. We would LOVE your prayers. . .prayers for our sweet boy wherever he is - for his health, protection, and safety. You can also pray for us as we prepare our family for a new forever Baker.