Gentle (or not) reminder

Our lives recently have been a constant gentle (or maybe not so gentle, but more a kick in the pants) reminder that we need to trust in God's plan and that His plan for me may not be the same plan that we had laid out...

I've really been struggling for the last few weeks with decisions about what to do as far as a job goes come this fall. I am going to nanny for a close family this summer, for their nine year old and it will be a really fun and relaxing summer with her. In the fall, however, I had originally planned to take a full time teaching job and do that with the hope that we'd be licensed to adopt in Sept/Oct and then wait for the phone call that says someone wants us to be the parents of their child. Then I would stay home.

Well, God is good, and our adoption paperwork and licensing is actually moving MUCH quicker than we expected. We had our two orientation sessions, the first one was mostly information we already knew but was good to hear again. The second one, we heard from an adoptive family and the birth parents and it was WONDERFUL to hear their experience and their story and their continuing journey. It really made us super excited for our own story to unfold. That was so fantastic. We then turned in all of our paperwork and they are sending it all off to be licensed, our references have to send things in, and they'll get to work checking us out! Then we have two Homestudy Group days where we are with our group for the whole day and we learn about Open Adoption and we learn about the profile and video we have to create. The third Homestudy Day is when our caseworker comes to our home and gets to know us individually as well as our home and our environment. We expected these to be scheduled in a few months, but they're actually in just two weeks! After that (depending on how fast we get out "homework done) we'll be ready and licensed. And all who know me know that my homework will be done long before they expect it :-)!!!

So anyway, that was just updates on adoption, but we'll most likely be put in the pool of prospective adoptive parents come early summer. This significantly changes the attitude towards a full-time job for me. Since we don't know when we will have a baby and we won't know far in advance when we do have one, I am super hesitant to step into a contract. I don't want to place myself in that position, nor do I want to leave an employer hanging when I inform them that plans changed halfway through a month/semester/year! There are more reasons, but I won't continue to bore you :-)!

Therefore, we feel that it is best for our family if I continue to substitute teach in the fall. This gives me the flexibility if we do get a phone call that we are having a baby. In addition, it allows me to continue doing something that I am really enjoying.

We have been involved in a young couples group at St. Pats now for almost a year. There are four of us couples and they are amazing people. We really have grown in our marriage and in our faith through them and we are so thankful for this group of friends. Well, one of them is expecting a baby, due in November, and is a teacher, and is planning on going back to work in January. Somehow it came up that I wanted to watch another child when I have my own, as my mom always did. She asked if I would be interested in watching their baby! It really was a door that was blown wide open for both of us. She and her husband had struggled with what to do as they have options, but none that seemed to fit for them. And the same for me. So anyway, that is an opportunity that I believe God placed in our lives and they are very comforted knowing that someone they know and trust would be taking care of their child while they have to work.

It just has been very comforting and interesting to see the doors that God opens and nudges me towards and to see how they differ or are similar to the plans I have laid out for myself. It is a constant reminder to trust in His will and be open to His plan!




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Oh, and as a side note, I am very open in general about our plans and our ideas for our family and our future. I feel that honesty is always the best route and I don't have anything that I want or need to hide. However, I get so frustrated when people question our choices and decisions and our reasoning. All I ask is that people support us in our decisions and understand that everything we do and all decisions we make we do so thoughtfully and prayerfully and with our family's best interests at heart. I just get so tired of trying to justify everything to everyone, especially people who don't know us all that well. So as much as I try to be patient with the "advice" and "pushing" that I know comes from good intentions, it really is hard and frustrates me!