Moving along

We are almost finished with the dossier paperwork. I'm hoping in the next week or so to be able to send it to be apostilled. I can't even believe that I can pronounce those two names. I would have never been able to do that two years ago. The waiting list is going to seem so sweet after waiting so long just to be on it. I think just having that number will relieve some of the stress of paperwork, I know months later I'll be pulling my hair out waiting for a call from Tami though.

Things are changing in our family, we have been Home Schoolers for the past 10 years, and next year our daughter (who will be a sophmore) asked to go to school. After lots of prayer and crying, Jason and I have decided to give it a try. This is so hard for me letting her go, but I really feel it will be good for our relationship and for her to stand on her own feet before college.
Our Son will be in the 7th grade and he will be joining an online Christian School this year. So no homeschooling for me. WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH MYSELF?

I can feel Gods presence though! He is an ever present help that I sometimes take for granted, but just when I need him I feel him surround me!

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1

What was I whining about again?

It's been a while since I last posted. We were just having one delay after another with our home study, and I was getting more and more discouraged. One of my dear friends in our area started her adoption process the same time Jason and i did and she is traveling to pick up her precious daughter from Russia this month! This was very healing for me because we've been really involved in praying for them and helping them in any way we could.

OUR HOME STUDY IS COMPLETE! If I could have I would have had the drum roll sound before that little announcement!!! Anyway our I800a has been sent in, our passports applied for and our Dossier started. WOO HOO! Things seem to really be moving now, but I know that there will probably be more delays. That's just part of the adoption process I think, I do know however that even in the midst of the despair that Jason and I are hooked. This will not likely be our last adoption story, there are just so many precious children around the world with no home.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!

—Psalm 100:4

Struggling

We received the notarized copy of our homestudy today, I was so excited I could hardly sit still as I read it. Well, there is a mistake on it and when I called they told me it was significant enough that it has to be fixed. I'm really struggling, I know God has a plan and it's his timing. But in times like this you just want to cry in frustration.
Jason is really keeping his spirits up and trying to keep mine up also. He just keeps saying at the end of all this it will have been worth it. I just really praise God for such an amazing husband, if he was in despair I just really think I would have completely lost it by now.
Please for those of you that read this pray for our family and our peace as we walk this journey with God.

Home Study part 2

Well, I don't know if I just have the winter blues or exactly whats going on. I am very down and have been since Christmas. Everything seems to be taking longer than it should in our adoption process. We are still waiting on our social worker from our home study to type up her report. She said it would take a few days and we are now waiting almost a month. We had to re do finger prints because it had been to long since our last ones. There was a problem with our paperwork for child abuse clearance(our s.s# were not on the paper work we sent in) I know these are just minor annoyances but for some reason they are hitting me pretty hard this time. Our total time dealing with a home study from beginning to now has been several months! Of course we had to switch to another agency for our home study and that took awhile. I keep wanting to scream WHY? Why is everything taking so long? I know that God is in control and has a specific child for us and this process can't be rushed but I feel a yearning so deep that at times it feels as if someone has ripped my heart out. Well, I guess that was a ridiculous amount of whining on my part and it's time to pick myself up, dust myself off and continue to hold Gods hand. I have realized that I let go of it somewhere between Christmas and now. And from now on no more whining! You all have my permission to blast me for whining from now on! God Bless all of you.

Home study visit part 1

Well, we had our first home study visit with the social worker in our home. Praise God we all survived, I literally cleaned my house like a mad woman. Dust was afraid to show it's face in our home. Ha Ha. Kendra arrived and all I can say is that she was like breathing a breath of fresh air, her personality was so refreshing and fun. She put us right at ease, I found myself talking about myself and our family life as if I was talking about those things with a friend. It was nothing like what I imagined! I find myself actually excited about our next visit just so I can visit with her.

You know in the midst of all the stress involved in Adoption, the excitement is still there! I find myself everyday at least once getting choked up with the thought of our precious child waiting for us to bring him/her home. And I'm reminded everyday of how good our AWESOME GOD is! You know I was so very worried about that social worker visiting that I put off sending the paper work in for over a month, there was absolutely no reason for this fear it just wouldn't leave. And the Day after Thanksgiving, my Lord very plainly said "Liberty, it's time! Stop being so afraid and hold my hand, I have a plan for you!" I can't tell you the relief I feel when he reminds me that HE is in control, not me. When things look scary, especially the finance part I'll remember that it is God who is in control and he loves our baby even more than we ever could and he wants good things!!! "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11
So I end this posting giving Thanks to an Awesome God who's love is so amazing! Thank you JESUS!

We officially mailed our application to the home study agency on Saturday. I'm a nervous wreck about this part. I don't know why, I just am. Sometimes the wait for our baby just seems unbearable but I know it is in God's precious timing.

Jason and I let the entire family know that for Christmas this year we will not be buying gifts for everyone except for our two kids(Aubrey and Anthony). We are saving every penny we can to bring home our baby.

God has blessed us with two amazing kids, we have been cutting back on everything and they have been so understanding. I really thought that with a teenager and an almost teenager in the house when we had our satellite TV shut off we were going to hear lots of screaming. They were really sweet about it and it's almost become a game to find areas where we can cut back.

We could use lots of prayer as we go through this journey so please consider saying one for us today!!! God Bless

September 15, 2008

Hi! My name is Liberty McClelland and this is my blog about my adoption from India.
My husband Jason and I began this journey two years ago when we heard God calling us to adoption. But we officially began in April of 2008 with our application to Dillon International. Even though it has only been 5 months it has been quite a journey already. We are currently ready for our homestudy to begin. We had an agency picked out and things just have not worked out with them. By several papers that we were asked to sign we knew that God was moving us to another agency. And thats where we are at this point waiting for the packet from the other agency. I guess thats it for my first post. I'm still learning how to do this blogging thing so hang in their with me and hopefully it will get more interesting. Ha Ha