A few weeks ago we celebrated the baptism of our newest God Daughter. It was such a lovely day. Most memorably as Fr. Clark did his second pour of Holy Water over our God Daughter’s head just as she was opening her mouth for a big wail…our hearts fluttered, and she survived. 😉 Afterwards we celebrated with cookies, pizza, and each other. It was a glorious day!
Baptism isn’t just a milestone, it is an instance of overwhelming salvation. Through the waters of Baptism, our sins are forgiven. We are made adopted children of God, “partaker[s] in the divine nature.” We receive un overwhelming amount of Grace and are welcomed into life in the Holy Spirit. Made a member of His Holy Church, united in the Body of Christ and marked with an indelible seal, that we are His. We are given every grace needed to live a life in the Light of Christ, to walk in holiness. We are shown Mercy. We are welcomed, wholly and fully.
In Baptism, we see the Glory of our own adoption. Where God invited us into the waters, where we became his in a huge public way. I have spent a lot of time lately pondering what that means, to be an adopted Child of God, to be a part of the Body of Christ, His Church. Remembering our baptism is to also remember the wonderful gift of being welcomed, adopted, into Divine life. In this remembrance, strive to live my life in a way that is worthy of the gifts and graces bestowed upon me through that Baptism and Holy Adoption.
Today, November 21st, is National Adoption Day. And as Aaron and I walk through this journey of adopting a child into our hearts and home, I am reminded how loved we are by our Heavenly Father through his adoption of us.
Once we started this journey, I immediately felt a draw to the Holy Family that I had not previously. Joseph, being Christ’s “Adoptive” earthly father...What that process was like for him, for Mary? I had Aaron paint an image for the nursery and our home. We then made this image into prints and prayer cards for so many of you who are praying for us. Thank you. As we remember our own Adoption into Christ’s family, please join is in this prayer as we pray for adoption in our little family.
Overall, things are moving right along. Our last chat with our social worker revealed that an above average number of birth moms are looking at our profile. A birth mom can come across our profile in two different ways. The first, is organically through an adoption database. The Second, is more specific. Just as we have a case worker, so do potential birth moms. The birth mom case worker selects profiles of couples who might fit their criteria and sends them to the moms to look at. Ours has gone out an extremely high amount of times to birth moms in this way. In addition, most of the moms looking at our profile are due between now and the end of January. This is because we are fully home study and state approved. Thus, in their eyes ready to go. This initial round of Covid quarantine mammas, can look at us an option since we are ready to go.
So, it could be very very soon, and our case worker is hopeful. But as far as concrete details, we do not know any more than that at this time. We have not been officially matched. When that happens, we could have a few weeks or days or hours notice. It just depends. Thus, we are in a bit of a weird place of being ready…but not too ready…if that makes sense. We have a crib put together…and a car seat/carrier/stroller…a Baby Breeza…and some other gently used items from friends. So, if we got a call today, we are not at ground zero, but have room to grow 😉.
With that said, I have been asked about our Baby Registry. This one is hard for me, as we have already experienced such overwhelming generosity. But some of you are insistent 😉, so here it is.
Once, we have been matched there will be some additional legal expenses. At this time we do not have a number for this, nor will we until we have an attorney on retainer. This must wait until we are matched, because the state where the baby is born makes a difference in this. I bring this up, as in addition to the registry, we have been asked about the GoFundMe. The remainder of funds raised will go towards these legal fees.
On this National Adoption day, we hope you join us in prayer. Prayers for us, and all those walking through the adoption process at this time. We have been so blessed by all the support, prayers, and well wishes of you all. There are not words to express our gratitude. Thank you.
-Kristin
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