Malachi is growing in his mommies tummy!

Today, Gavin and I got our finger prints taken.  This is the first thing the agency asked us to do because finger prints take a long time to process.  I was told to get them taken but was not sent a finger print card.  When I called the police department to see what time they were doing finger prints, they told me to bring my own card.  Well I didn't have one!  So I called Dillon Southwest who told me to get it from the courthouse.  The courthouse had no idea what I was talking about.  Finally I got some cards from a friend of mine who is a police officer and we got our finger prints taken!  We are going to leave in a few for our appointment with the adoption agency.  I cant wait to get a better understanding of how this all works!  We have a two hour drive to North Scottsdale and the orientation will be over at nine, so it will be a late night.  I plan to take pictures of this whole process to put in Malachi's baby book since he will be missing a few months.(We will not get him until he is about a year old.)  We are praying daily for our little boy who right now is growing in his mommies tummy.  We pray that she has the means to eat healthy and get plenty of rest.  We pray that God gives her peace in this trying time and that she will feel comforted by the fact that her baby is going to a home where he will be loved and cared for.

O the paperwork!

I am in the process of applying to adopt Malachi and the paperwork is out of control!  I can not believe how much there is to do.  We have officially decided to use Dillon Southwest as our adoption agency.  We have a few friends that have used them and were very happy with how smooth the whole process went.  We have to get finger printed, makes a LOT of copies of a LOT of documents, write 10 page autobiography's, and much more.  It is all very exiting but also a little overwhelming.  I also received a fee schedule.  It made me realize that this is all very real and happening very fast.  But we have a plan:)  We are putting on a huge yard sale to try  and raise money.  It will be at the end of February and we are already starting to collect stuff.  The community is really stepping up and getting involved!  I also found a great website called "wepay"  which allows us to collect donations online!  What a great tool!  I have put a link to this website on the blog.  We have a meeting with our social worker tomorrow to discuss just how quickly we have to come up with the money.  So far for the home study and application, it is about 1500.  God has faithfully provided this much money just in time!

The idea of Malachi was conceived

"I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you"  John 14:18.  This is the verse that started it all.  A few month ago, Gavin and I felt a calling to adopt a child.  After prayerfully considering our options, we decided to adopt from Ethiopia.  Ethiopia has a huge need for adoptive parents to adopt baby boys.  So we have decided to request a boy and we will name him Malachi....God's messenger.  We are so exited to see how God will use us through this process.  As you may know, adoption is very expensive.  About 30,000 to be exact.  This is our biggest hurdle but God is bigger.  We are trusting God completely to bring us everything we need to complete this adoption!  We feel nothing but excitement about watching God's perfect plans unravel right before our eyes.  We just got our pre-application accepted and are currently working on the application and home study.  Lots of paperwork to do!  I find nothing but joy in doing it!