Today I found out who our new caseworker is: her name is Maggie. She will be taking Kari's place until Kari returns from maternity leave. Kari is due to give birth on Friday, keep her and her new baby in your prayers. Also pray that Maggie meshes well with us and that we are able to work well together.
Also, we have several friends, employers and loved ones filling out references for us right now - hopefully you are all trying to make us look good! Pray that God uses our references to match us perfectly with baby Gurt.
We are getting ready to hand in more paperwork, we are missing Ryland's social security card, please pray that the process for getting a new one goes swiftly.
As always, keep Gurt in your prayers. I am so in love with this child and every new day brings us closer to holding the child that was created for us.
Love and Hugs!
Ryland and Mindy
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
The Homestudy
Thank you so much for all of your prayers. As usual, God is faithful and delivered the perfect person to lovingly guide us through this phase of our adoption.
Codi Canning showed up at 5:00 for what was supposed to be a 1-2 hour visit. Immediately she out us at ease. She smiled and laughed with us and was very encouraging even when we had to share uncomfortable information with her. She had a packet of 45 pages of questions. She told us that in the course of our visits we would cover every question in the packet. She asked us questions about everything; our families, our hometowns, how we view discipline, our medical history, how we deal with stress, the losses we have expereinced, our motivation for adopting, shoe size, weight, favorite kind of underwear. (Maybe I am exaggerating a little. :) ) Codi lives in Guthrie and was kind enough to give us her personal cell phone number for questions. She even gave us great information about our town, daycare centers here, etc.
3 hours later, at 8:00 we said goodnight to Codi and she left.
We had been warned that there were some contract workers who were jaded. We were told that some would come in rush, rush, rush, do a shoddy job on your file and then leave. We had an extremely positive experience with Codi. She was thorough, she listened, she cared. God gave her a special gift to be able to help people feel comfortable and work through the good, the bad and the ugly questions.
Codi will be coming back on May 6th to finish our homestudy and then she will make one more visit so that we can review our file and be finished! We finish our parenting classes on May 20. It is very possible that we will be waiting on our little Gurt by June or July!
Also this week I found out that I do get maternity leave from work when Gurt comes home and my good friend Chalea is going to babysit while we are at work. Gurt will get plenty of "mommy" time and will have a wonderful person to take care of him while we are away. Having these two things taken care of are a great comfort to me.
Prayer Focus:
1) Praise be to our God for putting everything perfectly in order.
2) Pray for Kari, our caseworker. She is due to have a baby very soon and we have no idea who our case will be handed to. Pray that God will put us with someone who will lovingly care for our case. Also pray for her health and her new baby. Ask God to give her an easy delivery and some much needed rest during her time off.
3) Pray for Codi as she prepares our file and continues our homestudy. Ask God to help her make us sound really good! :) Pray that God continues to guide us through this process.
4) Keep our sweet little Gurt in your prayers. Pray for his health and safety, that he is being loved and has enough to eat. Pray that someone is caring for him and making him feel loved. Pray that God is preparing him for us even as we are being prepared for him.
God is good, and things just keep getting better. We love you all!
Mindy and Ryland
Codi Canning showed up at 5:00 for what was supposed to be a 1-2 hour visit. Immediately she out us at ease. She smiled and laughed with us and was very encouraging even when we had to share uncomfortable information with her. She had a packet of 45 pages of questions. She told us that in the course of our visits we would cover every question in the packet. She asked us questions about everything; our families, our hometowns, how we view discipline, our medical history, how we deal with stress, the losses we have expereinced, our motivation for adopting, shoe size, weight, favorite kind of underwear. (Maybe I am exaggerating a little. :) ) Codi lives in Guthrie and was kind enough to give us her personal cell phone number for questions. She even gave us great information about our town, daycare centers here, etc.
3 hours later, at 8:00 we said goodnight to Codi and she left.
We had been warned that there were some contract workers who were jaded. We were told that some would come in rush, rush, rush, do a shoddy job on your file and then leave. We had an extremely positive experience with Codi. She was thorough, she listened, she cared. God gave her a special gift to be able to help people feel comfortable and work through the good, the bad and the ugly questions.
Codi will be coming back on May 6th to finish our homestudy and then she will make one more visit so that we can review our file and be finished! We finish our parenting classes on May 20. It is very possible that we will be waiting on our little Gurt by June or July!
Also this week I found out that I do get maternity leave from work when Gurt comes home and my good friend Chalea is going to babysit while we are at work. Gurt will get plenty of "mommy" time and will have a wonderful person to take care of him while we are away. Having these two things taken care of are a great comfort to me.
Prayer Focus:
1) Praise be to our God for putting everything perfectly in order.
2) Pray for Kari, our caseworker. She is due to have a baby very soon and we have no idea who our case will be handed to. Pray that God will put us with someone who will lovingly care for our case. Also pray for her health and her new baby. Ask God to give her an easy delivery and some much needed rest during her time off.
3) Pray for Codi as she prepares our file and continues our homestudy. Ask God to help her make us sound really good! :) Pray that God continues to guide us through this process.
4) Keep our sweet little Gurt in your prayers. Pray for his health and safety, that he is being loved and has enough to eat. Pray that someone is caring for him and making him feel loved. Pray that God is preparing him for us even as we are being prepared for him.
God is good, and things just keep getting better. We love you all!
Mindy and Ryland
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
HOMESTUDY PART1
Guess What?
First - I need to preface this by saying that our God listens to us even when we are whiny and frustrated and answers our prayers. Sometimes He makes us wait because that is what is best for us. Sometimes he answers fast - just because He is a bit of a show-off.
We started praying on Sunday that God would let our homestudy contractor call us this week. Not only did our contractor call us, but we are starting our homestudy on FRIDAY!!!!!!
Our contractor, Codi, called us tonight and scheduled us for 5:00 Friday evening. She will be interviewing us about our families- so Mom, Dad, Fred, Cyndi - be prepared. We will be airing all your dirty laundry and telling her all the ways you messed us up as children. For example- I asked for a puppy one Christmas - a real puppy- and I got a STUFFED puppy. That is the reason I have three dogs now, because I was scarred for life by the stuffed puppy. Fred and Cyndi- you are "rumored" to have spanked Ryland for playing in shaving cream when Jilian was the culprit, then you LAUGHED when the truth came out. Ryland still cries about that sometimes. That is also why he never shaves and is always scruffy- shaving cream makes him sad.
Jilian, Lane, Hayden and Hilary - we will be telling stories about you too. We will be telling stories about false college class cancellations, matresses in the road, lipstick markings in the buff, and little boys in their under wear selling OU bobbleheads to their neighbors, eh Chuck Nuck? Your secrets are not safe with us!
Actually, she just said we would spend 1-2 hours talking about our families. I have no idea what she will ask, but since we came from the best families in the whole world, I am sure that by the end of the evening she will love you all without ever having met you. We love you all more than we could ever put into words and we are so excited about what God is doing in the life of our family. We just hope that we can be parents who are soft-hearted like Fred, generous like Cyndi, fun like Jeana, and good advice givers like Mike. We are so lucky to have been yours. Lord willing Gurt will share those same sentiments someday. We can only pray.
Prayer Focus:
1)Pray that Codi will be able to see straight into our hearts and by the end of our first meeting that she will know and be full aware that we want a "Gurt" in our life to love. Pray that God will keep our nerves calm and that we will be able to say all that we want to say. Please try to remember us specifically on Friday at 5:00 if you remember. We will update soon after and tell you all about it.
2) Pray for Gurt. Pray that his care-givers are meeting all of his needs. Pray that he feels loved and safe, pray that he has a full belly and is healthy. Pray that even though we have no idea who he is ,that even know God is preparing him for us.
3) Pray for Jil and Jon's little bean that we love already.
Have a great week- we love you all like crazy!
Ryland and Mindy
PS- If anyone you know wants to foster a cavalier, my organization really needs people who have a fence to foster these sweet dogs. If you know anyone who is interested please let me know.
First - I need to preface this by saying that our God listens to us even when we are whiny and frustrated and answers our prayers. Sometimes He makes us wait because that is what is best for us. Sometimes he answers fast - just because He is a bit of a show-off.
We started praying on Sunday that God would let our homestudy contractor call us this week. Not only did our contractor call us, but we are starting our homestudy on FRIDAY!!!!!!
Our contractor, Codi, called us tonight and scheduled us for 5:00 Friday evening. She will be interviewing us about our families- so Mom, Dad, Fred, Cyndi - be prepared. We will be airing all your dirty laundry and telling her all the ways you messed us up as children. For example- I asked for a puppy one Christmas - a real puppy- and I got a STUFFED puppy. That is the reason I have three dogs now, because I was scarred for life by the stuffed puppy. Fred and Cyndi- you are "rumored" to have spanked Ryland for playing in shaving cream when Jilian was the culprit, then you LAUGHED when the truth came out. Ryland still cries about that sometimes. That is also why he never shaves and is always scruffy- shaving cream makes him sad.
Jilian, Lane, Hayden and Hilary - we will be telling stories about you too. We will be telling stories about false college class cancellations, matresses in the road, lipstick markings in the buff, and little boys in their under wear selling OU bobbleheads to their neighbors, eh Chuck Nuck? Your secrets are not safe with us!
Actually, she just said we would spend 1-2 hours talking about our families. I have no idea what she will ask, but since we came from the best families in the whole world, I am sure that by the end of the evening she will love you all without ever having met you. We love you all more than we could ever put into words and we are so excited about what God is doing in the life of our family. We just hope that we can be parents who are soft-hearted like Fred, generous like Cyndi, fun like Jeana, and good advice givers like Mike. We are so lucky to have been yours. Lord willing Gurt will share those same sentiments someday. We can only pray.
Prayer Focus:
1)Pray that Codi will be able to see straight into our hearts and by the end of our first meeting that she will know and be full aware that we want a "Gurt" in our life to love. Pray that God will keep our nerves calm and that we will be able to say all that we want to say. Please try to remember us specifically on Friday at 5:00 if you remember. We will update soon after and tell you all about it.
2) Pray for Gurt. Pray that his care-givers are meeting all of his needs. Pray that he feels loved and safe, pray that he has a full belly and is healthy. Pray that even though we have no idea who he is ,that even know God is preparing him for us.
3) Pray for Jil and Jon's little bean that we love already.
Have a great week- we love you all like crazy!
Ryland and Mindy
PS- If anyone you know wants to foster a cavalier, my organization really needs people who have a fence to foster these sweet dogs. If you know anyone who is interested please let me know.
Monday, April 21, 2008
A Gift for Gurt
Gurt is so lucky to have his sweet cousin, Jaisa, to welcome him into the family. She will be so good at teaching him the ropes and helping him adjust to how things work. I am so glad she will be there for him.
Gurt's aunt Jilian is so generous that she is even having another baby just so Gurt won't be lonely. That's right! Jilian and Jonathan are having another baby. YAY!!!!!!!!! Gurt will have another cousin and Jaisa will be the cutest big sister ever.
I love the thought that Jilian and I could be getting our babies around the same time. It would be amazing for God to bless us both that way. I have always wanted to share the pregnancy experience with someone close to me. I guess we are sharing a mutual "expectancy". (But I get to skip the weight gain and morning sickness, sorry Jil.)
Jon, Jil and Jaisa- congratulations. We love you so much and are thrilled with the thought of "Jaisa- the sequel". Being her aunt and uncle is a bigger blessing than we could ever put into words.
Prayer Focus:
1. Pray for our sweet baby. That God will keep him healthy, safe and loved. Protect him and put someone in his path that will show him love today.
2. Pray for Jon and Jil's little bean. That the Lord will keep this sweet baby safely tucked in her womb until the day that we meet. Pray for comfort and peace for Jilian, that God would provide her with every good thing she needs as He creates this child in her womb.
We love you all. Congratulations again guys!
Mindy and Ryland
Gurt's aunt Jilian is so generous that she is even having another baby just so Gurt won't be lonely. That's right! Jilian and Jonathan are having another baby. YAY!!!!!!!!! Gurt will have another cousin and Jaisa will be the cutest big sister ever.
I love the thought that Jilian and I could be getting our babies around the same time. It would be amazing for God to bless us both that way. I have always wanted to share the pregnancy experience with someone close to me. I guess we are sharing a mutual "expectancy". (But I get to skip the weight gain and morning sickness, sorry Jil.)
Jon, Jil and Jaisa- congratulations. We love you so much and are thrilled with the thought of "Jaisa- the sequel". Being her aunt and uncle is a bigger blessing than we could ever put into words.
Prayer Focus:
1. Pray for our sweet baby. That God will keep him healthy, safe and loved. Protect him and put someone in his path that will show him love today.
2. Pray for Jon and Jil's little bean. That the Lord will keep this sweet baby safely tucked in her womb until the day that we meet. Pray for comfort and peace for Jilian, that God would provide her with every good thing she needs as He creates this child in her womb.
We love you all. Congratulations again guys!
Mindy and Ryland
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