We are official!!

Our home study was officially approved today and our family profile is now on the Bethany site!!

We are just so excited and praying for God's perfect will as he directs us to our little one.

Proverbs 16:9
In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.

The Process

I thought this post by Mark Hamby of Lamplighter Publishing sums up well a few thoughts on how God wants to grow us through a process He takes us through and how we are tempted to misinterpret His timing and His goals for us. Such great reminders for us as we travel the road of adoption. We desire to follow His will while learning the lessons He wants us to learn for His glory!

The Process  Today I was reading a devotional written by Oswald Chambers and it smacked me right between the eyes. So if you don't like someone taking a swing at you, you may not want to listen any further. If you can take it, then this is what Chambers had to say:   "Often, Christians think that if Jesus Christ compels them to do something, He will lead them to success in the endeavor, if only they are obedient to Him. If you agree, then you are in for a rude awakening; our dreams of success are not God's ultimate purpose for us. The question of whether or not we arrive at a particular goal is not of primary importance. What we see as only the process of reaching a particular end, God often sees as the goal itself. If I can stay calm, faithful and unconfused while in the middle of the turmoil of life, the goal of the purpose of God is being accomplished in me. God is not working toward a particular finish-- His purpose is the process itself. God's purpose is to enable me to see that He can walk on the storms of my life right now. If we have a further goal in mind, we are not paying enough attention to the present. However, if we realize that moment-by-moment obedience and trust are the goal, then each moment as it comes becomes the real standard of success."

Trust and Obey

Trust and Obey,
For there is no other way,
To be Happy in Jesus,
Than to Trust and Obey.

This sweet song that I learned in BSF, has echoed in my heart many times throughout this journey. It is easy to get discouraged or let doubts creep in.....this profile book is harder than I thought to put together, will finances come together, will we be "picked" by an expectant mother, we have no baby stuff, etc. etc.

But my trust in God is greater than these doubts. His plan is the one we want to follow and will be for our good. We will trust in Him alone.

This week we've mailed off the following documents to the Bethany office in Columbia. We've also been fingerprinted and those have been sent to the Bethany office.

-Photos of our family and home
-Our written testimonies of faith
-Statement of Understanding regarding Domestic Adoption procedures
-Family profile
-Profile release forms
-Adoption Service Contracts

Next Friday, August 24 we will attend an all day training in Columbia. We will get to meet with Bethany birth parents, Bethany adoptive parents, lawyers and Adoption Tax credit experts. We are praying for this time and hope that the Lord will give us some clarity through this training.

Thank you so much for your prayers as we continue to trust and obey!!

Domestic Update

We found out during our beach trip that we will be able to attend the next Domestic Adoption Training class on August 24 in Columbia. This is a huge blessing as many families are waiting to get into this training that is only offered to three families in the state every other month. It is an all day training where we will get to meet with birth mothers, adoptive parents, lawyers, and Bethany social workers who will share more information with us about their experiences and the adoption process. 


In the meantime, I am working on compiling our Family Profile Book which is a scrapbook of photos and words about our family. Expectant mothers will view our profile book in order to select our family. Since our home study is complete, once we have this profile book complete and submit a few other items like getting finger printed and sending in a few other forms we should be ready to enter into the pool of potential families come the end of August!


The average wait time until an expectant mother and family are matched is about 10 months! So....we are eagerly awaiting our newest Snyder!!! When we began this journey back in January, we were thinking Haiti and perhaps a sibling group - now we see that God has closed that door for now and is leading us to probably just one child and most likely a newborn!!! Oh what a ride this is!


The truth of this Proverb is very real to us right now! To Him be the glory!!


Proverbs 19:21
Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.

Decision for Domestic!!

After praying through our options and lots of discussion we have feel that God is leading us to pursue a domestic adoption through Bethany. We are excited about this change in direction (even though it meant that God closed the door to Haiti for us) and trust that God is preparing us in ways we don't even know for our sweet baby to come!!
In the coming weeks we will learn more about transitioning to the domestic program and will keep all of you updated here.
In the meantime, we hope like us you will continue to pray for Haiti and its movement to become Hague compliant. Our hearts and prayers are with all of the precious children that are waiting for homes each and every day that it takes while their government sorts out the issues.
Thank you for your prayers!

Discerning....

We were informed on June 21 that due to Haiti's decision to become Hague compliant their adoption program is now considered high risk due to delays and unpredictable procedures as the country seeks to amend is adoption procedures. Long term this is a good thing for Haiti and for the many, many children who are in need of families. Short term it does create a watershed moment for us as we discern how to proceed from here.
So we are seeking to discern what God would have us do. At our final home study visit today, we discussed the options of staying in the Haiti program and "waiting out" this transition time, moving to another international country program like Uganda or Ghana, or moving to the domestic program.
We covet your prayers as we seek God's will for us. We know He is good and His plan is best and we desire to obey.

Haiti Update

An update sent to us from our adoption agency:


Haiti 
May 4, 2012 
Alert: Temporary Suspension of New Adoption Cases 
  
Haiti's adoption authority, l'Institut du Bien Être Social et de Recherches (IBESR), informed U.S. Embassy Port-au-Prince that it will suspend processing of new adoption cases effective May 7, 2012. IBESR indicated that the suspension will enable it to expedite processing on its backlog of pending cases and begin internal restructuring to bring it closer to international standards. The U.S. Embassy has been assured the suspension is temporary and that IBESR will continue to process all cases that are filed before May 7. 
  
This is consistent with the information we sent to you on 4/23 and 4/24, with the exception of the dates of the IBESR closure.  IBESR has indicated they will not accept new dossiers starting May 7 instead of the previous April 18.  We have also heard that it is possible that they will extend the closure to July 31 instead of June 1 as previously reported. 
Sincerely, 
Haiti Team


How you can pray for us:


Please pray that IBESR will use this time wisely in order to reorganize and restructure in a way that will allow for a smoother process of adoption paperwork.


Please pray that there will not be unnecessary delays in IBESR reopening and accepting new cases.


Please pray for our patience in going through the home study process and for accuracy when we begin completing our paperwork for Immigration at the last home study meeting.