Hey everybody. This will be an exciting post. Because we could all use some excitement, am I right?

Elsie's service was on Saturday and it was beautiful. Everything went just as we imagined it should, and we packed tons of our dearly loved friends and family into a gorgeous room in a gorgeous house overlooking the water, and we filled said room with colorful balloons and candles and pictures of Elsie, because that seemed fitting. We cried and sang and listened and I got so many hugs that I felt like my arms were going to fall off which is a really really really good thing.

So to all of you who came, and to all of you who drove many hours just to spend a few with us--we are deeply moved. My heart was sad and happy at the same time..my mind was totally overwhelmed and totally at peace. All things that don't make sense but make total sense. I was reminded again of how grateful I am that I am able to experience a nearness of God that I had only ever experienced with losing Ellie. He surely is the comforter of those who mourn. Mourning can suck. Being comforted by God is indescribable. {And to my Bethel loving friends/DCF loves: did any of you listen to Kris' sermon from the very next day (Sunday the 11th!?) If not...you guys HAVE to go listen to it. I listened to it today and I cried when I thought of all of you. You guys are some intense spear holders. (You'll get it.) Go listen! And I love you!}

Anyways, so the main point of this post is to introduce you guys to where we are in the adoption process and to take you along with us on this ride. We are learning a lot and we feel really really really good about this.

First- the fundraiser. Good golly. I did NOT expect it to take off so quickly and we are blown away every single time we get an update. You guys are so generous. I can't even comprehend it. Please continue to share it as much as you want! The faster we can get it to where it needs to be, the faster we will be able to say YES to adoption situations that come our way! Which leads me to the next thing..

How does this all work!?

Well, first of all, we are headed down the domestic adoption route for the first child.

I was so happy to talk to a friend of mine who told me to look up one agency in particular that is based out of the Greenville area. They are called Special Link. Feel free to look them up! I emailed them right away after hearing about them, and they got back to me immediately.

See--I was slightly worried because the first step in this process is to get a home study completed. I didn't hesitate to contact our local adoption agency, but quickly found out that they no longer accept clients and they aren't even renting their office space anymore! (Not sure what's up with that.) I felt like this was already a brick wall that I had hit.

Buuuuuut, it wasn't. Because I included this news about our local agency in my email to Special Link, and they basically said, "No worries--we are going to send our person down to do your home study as soon as possible." The next day, I got in contact with the girl who does the home studies and she made an appointment with me right away for this Friday! Like....four days from now. She's heading down here on a Friday evening to come talk with us and get the ball rolling.

Mind blown.

What happens after the home study is complete, is that we will be put on a list of "waiting families" where we will get contacted when adoption situations arise. They will email us and describe to us certain situations in which newborns need to be matched with an adoptive family. This particular agency only places newborns. The birth families may be pregnant at the time that the situation is sent to us, or may have just given birth. Either way, we can review the situations and then say yes or pass. If we say yes to the situation, we begin to "apply" for it by letting them know of our interest and then we will send our adoption profile to the birth family so that they can take a look. Here is an example of a few pages from our adoption profile: